Noobz0r
Tom Jonas Fan Club Junior VP
- Aug 18, 2009
- 30,325
- 40,078
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
Sup.
Apologies for the delay, I’ve been busy fighting the fight with Eagles fans in person. That thorne89 is just such a flog (and we’re definitely winning the Lewis Stevenson Cup, Thorney). This week we back up at the Adelaide Oval against the West Coast Eagles. We’re coming in off 3 wins in a row, and the rumblings out of the club suggest we’re nowhere near our best yet. Our win against Adelaide last week came on the back off hard working team defence, with our run and carry misfiring too often through fumbling and missed targets. But we build from the back, so the base is there! Robbie Gray won the Showdown medal, whilst Boak, Ebert, Schulz and Carlile were our other best players. West Coast pantsed the Giants over in the west, ending their good start to the season. Josh Kennedy kicked 6 goals (though there are big question marks over his elbow), whilst Yeo, Masten, Shuey and Gaff racked it up against a hapless Giants midfield.
Last Time We Met
We met at Subiaco Oval in Round 5 of last season, and stormed home in the last quarter to win by 15 points. We were forced to hang in there for the first half as we looked jittery and missed crucial targets. It was our pressure and intensity in the second half that won the game for us, we got numbers to the contest, we forced West Coast into making mistakes, and then got our slingshot working to perfection. Robbie Gray was huge as a forward mid, Ebert showed us what has become par for the course, a massive gut running effort, Trengove and Carlile were very good in defence, the former on the resting ruckman, the latter on Kennedy. Wingard was our hero of the night, having a huge last quarter despite being sniped by then captain Darren Glass. For the Eagles, Masten and Priddis picked up 30+ disposals each, whilst Darling looked very dangerous and could have easily kicked 5 goals (thank God he is injured).
Battle of the Gameplans
The key to beating West Coast is making it hard for their forwards to score. We should easily have their midfield covered, but when they do get it forward we need to do what we did to Adelaide last Sunday, push them wide, clog their space, and pressure their entries inside 50 (and disposal once they have it inside 50). Kennedy kicked 1.5 last time around because Carlile put him under tremendous pressure, he’s one key as he is so strong on the lead and very good when the ball is on the deck. Carlile needs to keep his form running. The other danger man forward is LeCras. He’s so good at working hard up the ground and then running back towards goal, but is also strong on the lead. Their glaring weakness is a one-paced, ineffectual midfield. This just happens to be our major strength, our hard working, two-way runners. We can push back hard, and then out run them towards our forward 50. They are OK around the contests (which we’ve been losing all year), but they tend to hack the ball forwards, particularly their Brownlow Medallist. This should play right into the hands of our Shotgun, and I fully expect our half backs to have a field day. They’re also limited with tall timber down back this season, and we should stretch them with Schulz, Westhoff and Ryder / Lobbe.
Key Match-Ups
Carlile v Kennedy
He beat Kennedy last year (despite his having 6 shots on goal) due to not letting him off the leash on the lead or once the ball hit the ground. I would suggest he is the form fullback of the competition at the moment, and has scalped Roughead and Walker in the last fortnight. Kennedy is their best avenue to goal (though, he does better when his midfield are on top and hitting targets), and their most potent forward. We’ll win the midfield battle, but they’ll still get the ball forward and we need Kennedy to be ineffectual.
Jonas / Krakeour / Pittard / Broadbent v Le Cras
Take your pick. All 4 were seen on Betts at various times last Sunday, and I expect we’ll see them rotating on Le Cras this weekend. Jonas had first crack at Betts, and was done for a bit of pace. Le Cras doesn’t quite have the same turn of speed, and relies on smarts and good leading patterns to get the job done. This suits Jonas, as he is an absolute Glove on the lead, and is a very smart defender. I think he’ll get first crack again this week, and hopefully he lasts a bit longer this time around.
Westhoff v McGovern
McGovern has been an absolute gem this season, filling a vital role down back and often doing it alone. He is just so clever at reading play and chopping off attacks (I feel he watched a fair bit of Glass when they were teammates), and is a very strong 1v1 defender. I think Schofield gets Schulz, and McGovern gets Westhoff. Westy likes floating up the ground, at which point McGovern will probably drop off and guard space as a spare man. We’ll need to make sure we work it over him or around him when heading forward, anywhere near him and he’ll manage to get himself in the way of a clean forward entry.
Prediction
Port by heaps.
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