Preview RD 15:- Carlton v Western Bulldogs, discussion, changes

[StringyDog]

Carrazzo is tagging midfielders this year and Houlihan is doing the defensive forward role.

Gilbee's role has changed from previous years, he is playing a mixture of half back, wing and half forward and I think Carlton would rather keep Houlihan in 50 as he provides avenue to goal. Houlihan is more likely to play on Murphy.

 

[krayfesh]

Houlihan to Gilbee, Carazzo to Griffin.

Joseph to whoever. No matchup comes directly to mind.

 

[zeeCFC]

Lake > O'hAilpin
Hargrave > Betts
Garlett > Harbrow
Morris > Henderson
R Murphy > Houlihan
Gilbee > Yarran
Picken > Judd?
----------------------
Carrazzo > Griffen
Walker > Grant
Russell > Higgins
Bower > Hahn
Armfield > Giansiracusa
Joseph > Hill (assuming Johnson is injured)
Jamison > Halls

Murphy, Gibbs, Judd, Simpson vs. Cooney, Boyd, Griffen, Cross

 

[The Coach]

Robert Murphy is playing in the backline.

Yarran, Garlett and Betts need to harass Gilbee, Murphy and Harbrow who launch their attacks from the backline.

The Hawks appeared to go extra hard at Harbrow whenever he got his hands on the pill.

Houlihan might get the actual job of running with Murphy.

 

[parrot]

Have a feeling Yarran is going to have a huge game against the Bulldogs. Looks to be in great touch. The Bulldogs have always been a very unaccountable side, and they're 2 small defenders short of being able to cover Eddie, Garlett and Yarran. It should be entertaining.

 

[Ryan Dixon Webb]

I was thinking Houlihan would goto Bob Murphy. I think we need to strike the right balance between being defensive and attacking. We can sometimes carry a very defensive game plan into games like this, we just need to play our style of footy.

 

[Kramer1]

Houlihan MUST go to Harbrow. Gilbee doesnt pose the risk he did 12 months ago. Harbrow is dynamite. They wont get him to play on Eddie as he has struggled in recent weeks when having to cope with a real defensive shutdown job.

Disagree on a couple of fronts. Gilbee is still far and away their most damaging player of half back. Had a subdued 09 but seems back to his best this year.

Hoops is far too slow for Harbrow (and playing injured I suspect). Seems Armfield or Joseph would be a mroe natural match-up.

 

[Lukesta63]

I seriously have a bad feeling about this one.You can forget our recent record,the Doggies want blood!
Hope I'm wrong.

 

[ThePine]

i think our biggest worry for this game is brian lake.

we will need to have a specific plan in place to stop him from taking marks in our forward 50.

he used to have his hands full with that guy but with the form o'halphin is in it could get ugly.

 

[ThePine]

would rather sacrifice someone like thorton than russell. get him to follow lake to every contest and make it at least a 2 on 2 instead of allowing lake to peel off and be third man up in the contest.

would be interesting to tag a full back but i think he is that much of a threat we might do it.

 

[ThePine]

fair enough. do you remember russels conversion rate as a half forward?

will be an interesting game any way it pans out.

will give us an indicator if we are up to finals football in our current form.

 

[blue healer]

i think our biggest worry for this game is brian lake.

we will need to have a specific plan in place to stop him from taking marks in our forward 50.

he used to have his hands full with that guy but with the form o'halphin is in it could get ugly.

Agree Lake is a real worry I only hope some of his marks don't stick which may let the helpers in.

I worry more about Hall as I don't think we have anyone to hold him if their mids get their hands on it.

Thats why I don't see that we should even consider dropping Thornton, we may need someone filling the hole and I still think he's the best we have for that.

Afraid, unlike others, I have real concerns about the way Jammo is playing

 

[LemmingMaster]

I am ready

He meant football, not playing with yourself! Otherwise you would be first picked every week.

 

[Snoozer]

Agree Lake is a real worry I only hope some of his marks don't stick which may let the helpers in.

I worry more about Hall as I don't think we have anyone to hold him if their mids get their hands on it.

Thats why I don't see that we should even consider dropping Thornton, we may need someone filling the hole and I still think he's the best we have for that.

Afraid, unlike others, I have real concerns about the way Jammo is playing

Agreed. He was a liability for much of the Brisbane match. Outmarked in the air and on the lead by a novice in Cornelius.

Main problem with Jamison is that he is too concerned with watching his opponent rather than the flight of the ball. He doesn't back his judgment, unlike Lake who continually backs himself to win the ball on its merits, which is what makes him so good.

The Hall match-up is a massive concern if Jamison is down.

 

[fnm_just a man]

Main problem with Jamison is that he is too concerned with watching his opponent rather than the flight of the ball

They should be working on ironing this out of his game. Has been caught out countless times this year because of it.

 

[ThePine]

Agreed. He was a liability for much of the Brisbane match. Outmarked in the air and on the lead by a novice in Cornelius.

Main problem with Jamison is that he is too concerned with watching his opponent rather than the flight of the ball. He doesn't back his judgment, unlike Lake who continually backs himself to win the ball on its merits, which is what makes him so good.

The Hall match-up is a massive concern if Jamison is down.

Hall is more of a lead up forward which suits Jamison.

Was the first time in a while he was beaten by an opponent like that and hopefully it was just an off night for him.

 

[The Grover]

wtf?!?!

Yes Walker out, he can't stick a tackle. Can't hit a target, did you notice the one across half back, only had to kick 20 metres & he kicked 10 metres too far.

Has no penetration on his kicks, is weak in one-one contests.

Can't believe how we overate some of our players.

Oh well, if you're happy to come 7th-8th each year keep playing him.

 

[Kramer1]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dogs swing a surprise and start Lake forward. Dogs would still have the muscle in defense to cover Henderson and Setanta (with Williams a likely recall), while our own defense would struggle to cover two big marking forwards.

 

[Snoozer]

IN: Bower (if fit)
OUT: Joseph

Bower to free up Gibbs to move into midfield, which has been basically the sole reason for Gibbs having to play back all year.

Joseph has been on the edge all year... some lucky performances where he hasn't been made pay by normally deadly opportunistic small forwards... and Banfield on the weekend was the only one that looked ominous.

If the Dogs were ever going to pull a shifty and throw Lake forward, this will be the week. They will back in the likes of Hargrave, Williams, Morris to handle our lack of quality key talls, and Lake will end up getting Thornton or Bower as a matchup in our back half... shudder.

 

[blue healer]

I'm not sure about it being the first time this year for Jamo.

The fact we all like him so much holds some back from saying that he hasn't really had a great year to date.
The ball has also bobbled in his hands on quite a few occassions I can readily recall, and he just doesn't seem so self assured as we are used to seeing.

It is Jamo and he will come good, but he is not performing to his high standards right at the moment.

I agree his year has been average IMO and he flys under the radar with the attention given to Thornton. As bad as Thornton is supposed to be playing I still have more confidence in his ability to both win the ball and dispose of it than I do in Jammo

I believe Jammo has lots of potential but not too many fullbacks hit their best before their mid to late 20's. I think Lake is an example of this

 

[BlueYoss]

I'm not sure about it being the first time this year for Jamo.

The fact we all like him so much holds some back from saying that he hasn't really had a great year to date.
The ball has also bobbled in his hands on quite a few occassions I can readily recall, and he just doesn't seem so self assured as we are used to seeing.

It is Jamo and he will come good, but he is not performing to his high standards right at the moment.

Ever since he became the star of his own podcast he's been acting like a bit of a first round draft pick...

 

[blue healer]

IN: Bower (if fit)
OUT: Joseph

Bower to free up Gibbs to move into midfield, which has been basically the sole reason for Gibbs having to play back all year.

Joseph has been on the edge all year... some lucky performances where he hasn't been made pay by normally deadly opportunistic small forwards... and Banfield on the weekend was the only one that looked ominous.

If the Dogs were ever going to pull a shifty and throw Lake forward, this will be the week. They will back in the likes of Hargrave, Williams, Morris to handle our lack of quality key talls, and Lake will end up getting Thornton or Bower as a matchup in our back half... shudder.

Rather than drop Joseph, I'd like to see him spend more time on the ball. He's always reminded me of a young Ratts with added speed and agility.

Think he will eventually make a very good onballer as he develops and why not start now?

 

[jj1978]

One a bit from left field... but how about we go in with one ruckman? We can always use Thornton/Setanta/Henderson as a temp ruckmen for 2-3 minutes a quartder to give Jacobs a rest.

If Setanta is also slightly injured we pull him out as well.

This is a game where we have to play players with physical presence, form and desire for a contest... we can't afford to lose this! The Dogs will be without players like Johnson, Minson, Aker, and maybe a couple more due to suspension.

They like us have a few pacey smalls that will need close checking throughout the game so we can't affort to drop any of Armfield, Joseph and Carazzo.

The big dangers to us I believe is Lake, Murphy and Cooney.

Out: Hampson
In: Wiggins

If Setanta is injured replace him with Fisher/Hampson.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Yes Walker out, he can't stick a tackle. Can't hit a target, did you notice the one across half back, only had to kick 20 metres & he kicked 10 metres too far.

Has no penetration on his kicks, is weak in one-one contests.

Can't believe how we overate some of our players.

Oh well, if you're happy to come 7th-8th each year keep playing him.

I believe our best game plan is reliant on Walker. He works extremely hard to support players on the half back line and takes on the players on the mark in order to keep the ball moving forward quickly. That drive is absolutely vital to us right now, and I have not seen any of our defenders capable of getting to as many of these opportunities after having left his forward opponent in his dust. Yes, his disposal is not always great, but every game he still pinpoints some fantastic kicks. Unfortunately several good kicks will always be overshadowed by a couple of howlers, especially if they cost goals. These sort of errors are magnified and multiplied in our minds.

 

[Bluebear]

How good is Yarran?

Still should have taken Rich.

Why did it take us until the 3rd Q to kick it long and direct to Hampson?
Betts goals as a direct result. Ridiculous.
He didn't present well, but we did our best to ignore his height and speed advanatage by moving the ball in really slowly.

Kicking I50 has been poor all year and has cost us a top 4 spot, and may well cost us top 8.