Preview NAB Cup Grand Final - Brisbane Lions v Carlton

[doddgey]

To be honest, I was just about to post that this is a better balanced side than what we put up last week. 1 genuine tall forward, 1 ruck-forward and 1 third tall. 2 genuine tall defenders and one who can play tall, medium or small. 1 ruckman.

Purely based on structure, that seems perfect to me.

Agreed, it is the run and carry that I worry about with Carlton. We have named a strong team with the right balance, in saying that I think the Bookies still have it right - Carlton $ 1.36 Lions $ 3.10.

Underdog status suits us, and along with being bent over a barrell by the AFL I reckon Voss will be into our boys big time. We will get an early indicator on what sort of ticker our young list has developed thus far.
I will be having a dabble on us at those odds.

 

[chopperduck]

Would be great to go out there and stick it up em, take home the choccies even after being stuffed around. Our boys will be up for this game, lots of youth, they will be keen to play in big game and come away with a win.

 

[Ceebee]

Friday is my Birthday,win for me boys,will be a great present.
Go Lions

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

To be honest, I was just about to post that this is a better balanced side than what we put up last week. 1 genuine tall forward, 1 ruck-forward and 1 third tall. 2 genuine tall defenders and one who can play tall, medium or small. 1 ruckman.

Purely based on structure, that seems perfect to me.

Can't disagree for a home and away match but with six on the bench (all smalls) we could have replaced one of them with Sam Michael. It would give him the exposure to a step up in pressure and allow us to go lighter on Billy. If Leuey is going to be a week to week proposition this year we may need Billy more than we had planned.

 

[chopperduck]

If Michael isn't in round 1 calculation, but we have a few smalls competing for a spot, makes more sense playing them. Martin will play more ruck time this week to give Billy his rest.

 

[BuntonRules]

At $3.10worth a little flutter

 

[Ironmonger]

Can't disagree for a home and away match but with six on the bench (all smalls) we could have replaced one of them with Sam Michael. It would give him the exposure to a step up in pressure and allow us to go lighter on Billy. If Leuey is going to be a week to week proposition this year we may need Billy more than we had planned.

I tend to agree. I think we should have tried to give Michael at least a half.

Plus if one of Martin or Longer happens to pick up a niggle, we'll be putting a lot of strain on the other one. Probably not bad practice to have a third ruck option around when you have the luxury of three subs.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Jeez I like the look of our team on paper. Absolutely no one on there that I look at and think "ugh... how is he getting a game" except for maybe Polkinghorne but I am not seeing him as a lost cause yet..

Voss has said this year is about starting to bed players down in permanent positions. I think this side would be pretty much what we can expect for most of the year... obviously Black, Staker and Leuenberger will force their way in at some stage.

 

[Scubaveg]

Jeez I like the look of our team on paper. Absolutely no one on there that I look at and think "ugh... how is he getting a game" except for maybe Polkinghorne but I am not seeing him as a lost cause yet..

Voss has said this year is about starting to bed players down in permanent positions. I think this side would be pretty much what we can expect for most of the year... obviously Black, Staker and Leuenberger will force their way in at some stage.

And the good news is we have to look for players that will make way...don't forget Polec either!

 

[Happy_Neale]

Try adding at least another four players into that squad (Black, Leuey, Staker and maybe Polec). Who misses out?

 

[TheRoyLuckClub]

It's cooled down. Saturday looks like a top of 23, low of 13.

Just to be clear, it's on Friday night

 

[pulsade]

I gotta say I am shocked that Lester didn't make the 24 man squad. He dominated in the reserves on the weekend through the midfield and had a goal in both the games he played in. But I guess you gotta go with the form. Such an interesting game, really hope we get into them!

 

[MacMum]

Does anyone know if country vic are getting this game...my elderly parents don't have foxtel, so haven't been getting any footy, but are rapt that we are in the final and naturally want to see it...it doesn't say in any of their tv guides....often what is showing in melbourne isn't being shown on their telly up there.

I looked at AFL site thinking it might mention regional areas, but it doesn't....I see Qld is getting it on 7mate, so that is my hope if not on main 7, then the other will have it.

 

[patfullfankezz]

I reckon it should be on every channel everywhere so everyone has no choice but to watch it. And that includes Lifestyle Home channel.

It's on my to-do list for when I rule the world.

 

[pulsade]

Does anyone know if country vic are getting this game...my elderly parents don't have foxtel, so haven't been getting any footy, but are rapt that we are in the final and naturally want to see it...it doesn't say in any of their tv guides....often what is showing in melbourne isn't being shown on their telly up there.

I looked at AFL site thinking it might mention regional areas, but it doesn't....I see Qld is getting it on 7mate, so that is my hope if not on main 7, then the other will have it.

Yeah it should be one seven or seven mate everywhere so as long as you have digital tv you should be right. I mean it is live into Queensland *GASP*

 

[MacMum]

Thanks pulsade...will tell them to check both channels at 7.30

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I gotta say I am shocked that Lester didn't make the 24 man squad. He dominated in the reserves on the weekend through the midfield and had a goal in both the games he played in. But I guess you gotta go with the form. Such an interesting game, really hope we get into them!

Yeah it's a bit surprising that he seems to be slightly on the outer of the primary side at the moment, if that is in fact the case and I'm not just reading far too much into it.

I'm not sure you could just go off his reserves game last week though as justification for why he should be in the squad. Most likely for Lester to make the lineup, he would've replaced Karnezis who turned in many similarly impressive performances last season in the reserves, and has backed that up in the NAB Cup so far. Just hard to make room for him I reckon.

If players like Ace, Karnezis, Yeo, Green and Beams can take the step this year from being in and out of the side to being best 22 regulars, it will have a massive influence on our performance. It may be the year that some older players start struggling for games - McGrath is one who's been regularly brought up, and could be in the firing line potentially. I'm also slightly concerned about Raines. Love what he brings to the team and think he's perhaps the most dedicated player on our list, but am worried that a few poor matches by him while the young guys continue to noticeably lift their output might mean he finds himself in the NEAFL and struggling to make the seniors again. Just not sure how much we'll need a tagger this year.

Probably a very unpopular opinion (I don't even completely agree with it), but if it came down to a considerably more developed Claye Beams or Andrew Raines for the last midfield spot, I feel like I'd just lean towards Beams. Better skills, a greater ability to make an impact offensively, and can also perform run with roles as seen in round 1 against Melbourne last year.

Big fan of Raines, but if this is the year that some of these players who haven't quite been able to cement senior spots over the past few years reach that stage, others will have to make way for them. Hopefully he can also take his game to the next level though, which would just create more midfield dramas. Never a bad thing to have a great depth of midfield options though.

EDIT: I perhaps should've caught up to date on the 2013 Team thread before posting an opinion about Raines. Already covered, it seems. As you were.

 

[pulsade]

Yeah it's a bit surprising that he seems to be slightly on the outer of the primary side at the moment, if that is in fact the case and I'm not just reading far too much into it.

I'm not sure you could just go off his reserves game last week though as justification for why he should be in the squad. Most likely for Lester to make the lineup, he would've replaced Karnezis who turned in many similarly impressive performances last season in the reserves, and has backed that up in the NAB Cup so far. Just hard to make room for him I reckon.

If players like Ace, Karnezis, Yeo, Green and Beams can take the step this year from being in and out of the side to being best 22 regulars, it will have a massive influence on our performance. It may be the year that some older players start struggling for games - McGrath is one who's been regularly brought up, and could be in the firing line potentially. I'm also slightly concerned about Raines. Love what he brings to the team and think he's perhaps the most dedicated player on our list, but am worried that a few poor matches by him while the young guys continue to noticeably lift their output might mean he finds himself in the NEAFL and struggling to make the seniors again. Just not sure how much we'll need a tagger this year.

Probably a very unpopular opinion (I don't even completely agree with it), but if it came down to a considerably more developed Claye Beams or Andrew Raines for the last midfield spot, I feel like I'd just lean towards Beams. Better skills, a greater ability to make an impact offensively, and can also perform run with roles as seen in round 1 against Melbourne last year.

Big fan of Raines, but if this is the year that some of these players who haven't quite been able to cement senior spots over the past few years reach that stage, others will have to make way for them. Hopefully he can also take his game to the next level though, which would just create more midfield dramas. Never a bad thing to have a great depth of midfield options though.

It wasn't so much his performance in the reserves, seeing him train with midfielders and line up on talls in defense I thought his flexibility was really valuable. Also a read a few times about him emerging as a young leader but that might just be because he has a loud voice.

I agree in terms of Patty K, loved watching him on the wing and in the middle, he has been great all through the NBA cup. I thought Lester might be ahead of Beams though and since Polks started in the square last week and has been playing through the backline maybe he has taken on that utility type role but anyways probably just reading too much into things. He will get his opportunities this year.

 

[The_Wookie]

hey lads, special for you

2013.03.13 - AFL 360 - brisbane v carlton nab cup grand final preview

 

[Grimreepah]

Thankyou Wookie. Interesting that McClure identified Merrett, Patfull and Maguire as our weakness. The most interesting area of the game for me is how our defensive smalls go. With Docherty, Yeo and Golby we have some real pace to match the Carlton smalls. They are inexperienced, but seem to play a more accountable style of footy than players like Hanley and McGrath, who we have used in the past. I'm worried about travelling three weeks in a row, with a six day break, and think that a blow out after half time is a possibility. Will be an impressive performance if we manage to get up.

 

[weevil]

I know this will sound crazy to a lot of folk, but it's almost like McClure does not have a clue what he is talking about.

 

[whatboutbob]

God the constantly parroted over-simplification of 'the trade disaster from a few years ago' gives me the irrits.

I'd love to see the commentators explain how Bradshaw, Rischitelli, Brennan and Henderson would have had us playing finals these past few years...

Also, in McClure's defense (can't believe I just wrote that), it sounded like he was more saying that we didn't necessarily have the backline match-ups for Carlton's forwards - particularly the smaller guys. Going by last year's efforts against them it is hard to fault that.

 

[chopperduck]

God the constantly parroted over-simplification of 'the trade disaster from a few years ago' gives me the irrits.

I'd love to see the commentators explain how Bradshaw, Rischitelli, Brennan and Henderson would have had us playing finals these past few years...

It's something that annoys me so so much. They still keep going on about all that we lost, without haven't an actual look. We lost bugger all for what we got in, Riska was the only real loss as a player who would have helped our mid rotations, but we've also covered that loss.

Also, in McClure's defense (can't believe I just wrote that), it sounded like he was more saying that we didn't necessarily have the backline match-ups for Carlton's forwards - particularly the smaller guys. Going by last year's efforts against them it is hard to fault that.

I was going to say that until he followed it up with we haven't beat anyone above us for 2 years. This is how people think we are going south of the boarder. They remember the 4 wins in 2011, and are mentally stuck on us being crap. In their minds they can't process that we recovered quickly, not when it took super Melbourne clubs like Carlton, Melbourne and Richmond so so long to get off the canvas.

 

[matwt73]

But to be fair they also said:

This is Voss's team
With a few exceptions these are kids hee has brought in and or developed and they are competing.
What they didn't say but could have was that a,lot of them seem to be signing on for the long haul. thought it was a good wrap overall.

 

[BuntonRules]

I was going to say that until he followed it up with we haven't beat anyone above us for 2 years. .

He said that? The Weagles were top last year when we beat them, & the Crows 2nd, IIRC. Don.t let the facts get in the way of a good show for a Victorian audience.