Competitions Round 1 Lineup vs Fremantle - CLOSING TONIGHT!! 9.00pm. GET YOUR FINAL TEAMS IN BY THEN

[Dav1d]

Morris Roberts Wood

Murphy Hamling Boyd

Dahlhaus Macrae Suckling

Minson Bontempelli Liberatore

Adcock Stringer Wallis

Dickson Redpath McLean

INT: Picken Roughead JJ Hunter

Biggs, Campbell, Cordy, Collins, Dale & Daniel, Stevens to come in for anyone that wasn't fit

If Fremantle don't play the second round, then Stevens comes in for Roughead

 

[Struggle]

Morris Roberts Boyd

Wood Adams Murphy

Hunter Picken JJ

Dahlhaus Redpath McLean

Stringer Boyd Dickson

Minson Libba Bont

Stevens Wallis Suckling Daniel

 

[Sparkles Buttercup]

Sorry to the last two posters but I just can't see how Macrae doesn't make either of your best teams.

You just can't but a guy that will get you 30 touches week in week out. He is our version of Nick Del Santo, Matthew Priddis (pre-Brownlow), Scott Thompson. Underappreciated but exceptionally important.

Should be in the first 6-8 picked. when I look at the side there are probably about 15 that are almost certainties to be in the team. my certainties would be as follows:

back 6: wood, murphy, Boyd, Roberts, Morris
Mid: Bont, Macrae, libba, Wallis, Picken, Dahlhaus,
Fwd: stringer, Dickson,
Swingmen: Roughead, JJ, hunter

From there, it's anybody's guess but given recent history would suggest as follows:

Minson v Campbell - anybody's guess. Not really a fan of either so hoping that Luke Goetz (in true bulldog supporter fashion) is the answer. Fully expecting ruck to continue to be a massive problem for a while yet

Boyd v redpath - with Roughead touted As a forward option, expect only of of the two to play most weeks. Think Boyd is likely option for round 1 but fully expect him to get dropped when form dips at some stage.

Midfield - Think Dale will be the surprise and play most weeks and show real promise. Stevens will play a lot and is underrated by most. Sucking will play early buy wouldn't be surprised if he is dropped at some stage. McLean will continue to impress but wouldn't be certain of him starting round 1 if form is right to begin the year, prudden should never play again and be immediately delisted (sorry fans but he is a nothing player from everything I have seen - kind of reminds me of a poor mans Simon Atkins).

Backs- hamling - will play a lot and may push out Morris late in year but don't expect hi. To be first pick all year. Cordy - will play up to a dozen games but no more. Expect he is a year away. Biggs - will fill specific gaps in team -
(Ie if JJ, murphy, hunter or Boyd is out but won't be first pick). Jong - will play games but not show enough to to prevent delisting at end of year but I hope I'm wrong as his upside intrigues me

Forward - adcock. Will play but I hope not every week.

If I missed anybody, apologies but my battery is running out....

 

[Dav1d]

Sorry to the last two posters but I just can't see how Macrae doesn't make either of your best teams.

What do you mean, he is in my side?

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Sorry, has taken me a little while to get to these posts.

The logic behind Boyd's exclusion is contradicted by Adams' inclusion.

Perhaps we should wait and see how they play in the NAB games. No-one has even seen Adams play at this level. He could just as easily be a massive fail....god forbid.

I don't think there are any contradictions in my post as the logic behind the two decisions was entirely different. Boyd was excluded as I think he lost his spot fair and square in the second half of the year and I personally feel that the coaching staff will push Boyd to press for selection rather than being given games on what he will become - and at the time of writing my prediction, reports on the pre-season thread were critical of Boyd. They have since picked up, though, which is excellent news. The Adams call, on the other hand, is more structural; I believe we'll go for a more attacking back six given Fremantle's dearth of genuinely threatening key forwards. Adams' style of play is more offensive than Roberts' and if he has an impressive pre-season (which he seems to be) I wouldn't be surprised to see him viewed as the more likely to give us some extra drive out of the defensive 50. Funnily enough I made a post outlining similar thoughts to yours a while back. I stand by both that post and the gut feel prediction above. We agree that we shouldn't just expect big things from Adams based on limited exposure and that he could just as easily struggle to become an AFL-standard player...but my argument was never that he'd come in and dominate, just that I have a feeling we may prefer this sort of structure in round 1, pre-season pending.

On your "perhaps we should wait and see" comment, though...this is a prediction thread. Waiting and seeing is of course the only way to know for sure, but the thread is for discussing options prior to us finding out for sure. Like I said, it's a prediction based on nothing other than gut feel at this point so don't look too deeply. It's also quite different to my personal "best 22" - which at present features both Boyd and Roberts.

All good arguments!! Would you have Boyd as the second ruck as well in that or would you pick a ruckman in support on the bench??

I'm tossing and turning between how I want our ruck combo/forward line to setup.

I'm not against picking 2 rucks (Campbell and Roughy) and not having a genuine big defender with Boyd and Stringer as the tall forward combo.

That way we pick an agile tall defender setup (Hamling, Adams, Morris) and have Roughy play back on occasion against the resting ruck.

Campbell rests forward when Boydy is having a rest.

Think we delay pushing Stringer into the middle to heavily until Crameri returns back into the fold. Strings is going to need to push up the ground as a marking target quite regularly.

I've done a complete 180 on this issue in the past 12 months: I really like Boyd as a second ruck and I was staggered by how excellent his ruck craft is already. Now, whether he holds down that role permanently is another question. If Boyd can reach his potential as a key forward (and we can find the personnel/structure to make this work) I'd want him spending as much time up forward as possible. In that scenario, I'd prefer to find a competent second ruckman. But right now, it keeps Boyd in the game and allows him to get his hands on the ball even if he's struggling, and that's important. Further, he needs to become more comfortable at both covering ground and drawing the ball up the field, and this will help. Having Boyd as our second ruck, in my mind, is a no-brainer until he's a consistently dangerous forward and we demonstrate that a two ruck + Boyd structure can work.

Not sure we'll see Adams playing the defensive monster role anytime soon. He plays more like a 98KG Easton Wood only taller with a touch of mongrel that isn't going unnoticed. Given his physical attributes and better that average game sense I see him fitting into our back six in some capacity sooner rather than later. He's attacking flair, speed and monster boot should fit in nicely with our game style.

One thing for sure it makes for some good competition and depth which can only be a good thing

We're in complete agreement, but we're playing a side that doesn't have a "monster" forward, so even if Adams plays full back he's not really playing a monster role. He'll play his natural role, which, yes, appears to be more oriented towards intercepting than one-on-one defending. My point was that I can see us going for an aggressive, attacking defensive 50 structure in order to break through Fremantle's transition defence, not that Adams would be expected to anchor our defence and take the "monsters" permanently.

 

[Pannalstaroz]

Sandilands out for the game against us through suspension. At least Bontempelli won't have to ruck against him this year...

 

[Super Hans]

That's huge for them.

 

[fred cook]

Sandilands out for the game against us through suspension. At least Bontempelli won't have to ruck against him this year...

and bad boy Ballantyne has a dodgy hamstring

 

[Pannalstaroz]

Well, assuming we go in without significant injuries, at least we can't say we didn't have a good chance. 2 important players out, first game and in Melbourne - if we lose it'll be because we're not good enough.

 

[Doggstats]

Sandilands out for the game against us through suspension. At least Bontempelli won't have to ruck against him this year...

The best news all pre season. Arguably their most important player IMO. The Sandilands > Fyfe combo absolutely destroyed us last time, and it didn't help that Cordy was our sole ruck (and Bont at times...). You take out Fyfe and Sandi just taps it to Mundy instead, who is just as unstoppable (192cm beast). But you take out Sandi and it all shuts down.

I think Bennel is still in their rehab group as well and Fyfe just got out of the rehab group after post season surgery. Looking good for us.

 

[Doggstats]

Well, assuming we go in without significant injuries, at least we can't say we didn't have a good chance. 2 important players out, first game and in Melbourne - if we lose it'll be because we're not good enough.

Who's the other?

 

[Pannalstaroz]

#betresponsibly

 

[Pannalstaroz]

Who's the other?

Ballantyne did a string, he may be right, but it'll be 4 weeks without a preseason game of note. He'd have to be unlikely.

 

[Big Wilbur]

Sandilands might be out but one of the blokes we played against him last year (with some effect I should add) is also out for us. Brett Goodes.

 

[fargy]

Brett Goodes did the majority of rucking against Freo last year.

 

[Dogsman16]

I'l be very disappointed if we lose this game now.

Pav is a year older and wouldn't be in the top 10 KPF's of the competition anymore, there best one on one KPD has retired and Sandilands who 99/100 would destroy us probably won't play.

Yeah I'd be filthy if we lost this. I think that without those guys we should have their measure at home.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

No McPharlin either.

 

[Dogsman16]

Possible Freo Lineup (From the top of my head) vs Dogs possible lineup

FB: Ibbotson, Pearce, Johnson
FF: Dickson, Boyd, Stringer
HB: Spurr, Dawson, De Boer
HF: Dahlhaus, Redpath, McLean
C: Hill, Fyfe, D.Pearce
C: Hunter, Wallis, JJ
HF: Bennell, Taberner, Ballentyne??
HB: Murphy, Hamling, Boyd
FF: Griffin, Pavlich, Walters
FB: Morris, Roberts, Wood
R: Clarke, Mundy, Neale
R: Roughead, Bontempelli, Liberatore
Int: Barlow, Suban, Mayne, Weller/C.Pearce
Int: Macrae, Picken, Stevens, Suckling

A lot of interesting matchups there! Particularly the midfield battle.

 

[bobs head soup]

Boom recruit Bennell is another not guaranteed to play. Has had a troublesome calf all pre-season and has been limited in his preparation.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

Surely Freo contest that ban though. Not much the big fella could do really, he's a victim of his freakish height there.

 

[FUS_RO_DAH]

I come in peace!

Bennel joined the main group at training today and is apparently running and kicking with ease.
Ballantyne is iffy at this stage but is jogging slowly.

For what it's worth I'm shitting bricks about playing you guys at Etihad. You'd have to be confident surely?

 

[maddog37]

I come in peace!

Bennel joined the main group at training today and is apparently running and kicking with ease.
Ballantyne is iffy at this stage but is jogging slowly.

For what it's worth I'm shitting bricks about playing you guys at Etihad. You'd have to be confident surely?

This is the Dogs board mate, we are never confident......

 

[Dogsman16]

I come in peace!

Bennel joined the main group at training today and is apparently running and kicking with ease.
Ballantyne is iffy at this stage but is jogging slowly.

For what it's worth I'm shitting bricks about playing you guys at Etihad. You'd have to be confident surely?

I'm confident that it will be a very close game. With your outs/possible outs and that we got very close last year, I'm probably more confident than usual.

We aren't going to beat you at Subi so this is our best chance at beating you in some time.

 

[bobs head soup]

Surely Freo contest that ban though. Not much the big fella could do really, he's a victim of his freakish height there.

Not so sure. AS moves away from his direct competitor, lines up the 'third man up' and bumps him to the head. Doubt the tribunal will see height as a factor (that's a dangerous precedent). The golden rule is, if you choose to bump and make contact to the head you wear the consequences, especially when the guy doesn't even have the ball. I reckon he's gone.

 

[fargy]

I come in peace!

Bennel joined the main group at training today and is apparently running and kicking with ease.
Ballantyne is iffy at this stage but is jogging slowly.

For what it's worth I'm shitting bricks about playing you guys at Etihad. You'd have to be confident surely?

Freo fans generally have had some really good discussion with us here over the years so definitely welcome in the lead up to the first round. Cautiously optimistic (as I'd imagine you guys are too), but there is so many unknowns in round one! We both hit the ground running last year so hopefully the same happens this year and it's a cracker of a game.