V
Carlton vs Hawthorn @ UTAS
Round 6 - Sunday 28th April, 3.20pm AEST
Live on FTA at 3pm on 7
Carlton vs Hawthorn @ UTAS
Round 6 - Sunday 28th April, 3.20pm AEST
Live on FTA at 3pm on 7
Recent encounters:
Rd 18, 2018: Carl 52 - Haw 124, L
Rd 22 2017: Carl 77 - Haw 70, W
Rd 19 2016: Haw 74 - Carl 55, L
These pompous ****ers.
What’s new in 2019 for Hawthorn?
They’ve gone out and traded one of their genuinely talented youngsters in Burton for Wingard. Then they did a sketchy under the table deal to get Scully for peanuts. Annoying. They also got Scrimshaw on the cheap, but I couldn’t care less.
Puopolo and Breust are still running around and will cause us issues, as usual. Thankfully, they are likely to be missing Burgoyne and Frawley because of hamstring injuries, which helps. They do, however, likely regain Shiels into the midfield.
They’ve won a few matches, but they don’t exactly strike fear into me as an opponent. We, on the other hand, have yet to win a match (as of writing this), but are trending upwards with a healthy list and on track to make significant inroads as the season progresses.
Key matchups:
Defence:
Weitering vs Roughead: Pretty confident that the young star can curtail the influence of the geriatric forward.
Jones vs Gunston: Liam is in tremendous form and I back him against either of the above, especially if the midfielders can apply pressure.
Not sure who plays on M. Lewis if he is named, he’s a bloody big ball of meat. Marchbank may be more suited to Gunston as the athletic running defender with Jones playing on M. Lewis. I think we’ve got their talls covered.
Wingard, Breust and Puopolo: **** me. We’ve got our work cut out here with these guys. Newman probably gets the job on the least athletic of them, which is likely Breust. That has the potential to be a devastating matchup. Plowman will do his best to sit on Wingard, bless him. Then Thomas will attempt to try defending Puopolo.
I am genuinely worried.
Forward:
We should be able to cause serious issues aerially here.
C. Curnow, McKay, McGovern vs Brand, Stratton, Sicily?
Expecting Brand to play on McKay, perhaps Stratton on C. Curnow. Does Sicily take McGovern? That is a really good matchup for us. They all are, really.
Hardwick and Impey will handle our smalls, unless Cuningham comes in, who will smash them both. The two aforementioned defenders will also run it out of our forward line frequently, again, unless Cuningham plays (pls be ready).
Midfield:
Where the game will be won or lost; we won’t be outmuscled against this mob, but we may get cut upon with superior structure, as we did in the practice match.
Cripps vs O’Meara: head to head, Cripps is better, quite simple. O’Meara is good too, no disrespect, but he’s no Cripps.
Dow vs Worpel: Two young guys with burst speed, contested ball winning ability and inconsistent foot skills. Worpel’s physical development is more advanced at this stage, shapes to be a good contest overall.
Walsh vs I. Smith: Huge engines, great footskills and will be relied upon to kick the ball inside 50 a lot. Should be a ripper.
SPS, Fisher, Murphy, LOB (or Cuningham, Williamson, Silvagni, depending on who is available and how we structure) vs Scully, Henderson, Morrison, Shiels, Cousins: We’ve got the young talent, by my eye, but they’ve got the experience and structure.
My changes, at this stage:
In: Cuningham, Williamson
Out: LOB, Polson
Need the footskills, speed and ball movement of Cunners and Willo, ASAP, desperately.
I’d like to fit in Kennedy, for sure, but I don’t know whether there is a requirement for it against Hawthorn and it will depend on the performances of a few currently in the side. Stocker is also applying serious pressure in the reserves, and those smalls/mediums in defence would want to raise their standard pretty quickly. Lang seems another week or so away. Macreadie building beautifully.
Verdict: Carlton by 17 points.
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