Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
All right everyone. Have we got over the euphoria of the Orange Tsunami win against the Dockers?
If not, next Sunday afternoon in the Red Centre might be just the tonic, as I believe this is our first trip to play in the Northern Territory. For a bit of perspective, those out-of-form Demons have been playing there since 2014, winning four and losing four.
We got smacked by the Dees at the MCG last year to the tune of eleven goals. That was in Round 5 and there’s been a lot of water under the Todd River bridge since then.
Getting Taylor and Kelly back from injury undoubtedly helped against Freo, but there was more to it than that. The group looks to have settled into the new game plan. Kingsley always thought it would take about a dozen or so rounds before that happened, and it seems to be true. But having Kieren Briggs start performing like one of the finds of the season might also have something to do with it. We’ve now got a bit of mobility in the ruck that hasn’t been there since the Mummy era.
So, what might happen on our trip to Alice Springs? Whitfield is out, which is unfortunate, because he seems to have rediscovered some of his old touch recently. The good news is we might have Binga Daniels, Hogan and Haynes back, which will help cover for him.
Daniels would be very handy indeed because he’s quick. If all three are available we could drop Keeffe. And I reckon Bedford will want to score a goal or two against his old side.
This is what I think the line-up will be:
FB Jack Buckley, Sam Taylor, Connor Idun
HB Lachie Ash, Harry Himmelberg, Nick Haynes
C Josh Kelly, Harry Perryman, Finn Callaghan
HF Daniel Lloyd, Jake Riccardi, Toby Greene
FF Xavier O'Halloran, Jessie Hogan, Toby Bedford
FOL Kieren Briggs, Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio
IC Aaron Cadman, Brent Daniels, Callan Ward, Callum M. Brown
In: Daniels, Hogan
Out: Whitfield, Keeffe
I favour keeping Brown in the team because he adds some speed up forward. Speed has a way of catching opponents flat-footed and Melbourne have been flat for the past couple of outings. I hope we can take advantage of it. If Haynes isn’t fit, Isaac Cumming or Jacob Wehr could replace him.
The bookies have us at very long odds for this game, which is fair enough because we haven’t taken a big scalp just yet. A few weeks ago, I thought we weren’t a finals side, but at 6-8 we’re still in the hunt. It’s getting to the stage where every game is like a de-facto elimination final. That kind of pressure can work in your favour if you’re hungry enough.
The wildcard is the bye. Over the past decade, our record after the mid-season break has been three wins, nine losses. Yes, we won last year, but that was against North. We’d really be causing an upset to knock off Melbourne at a venue we’ve never been to. But then, Fremantle beat them at home a few weeks ago…
I might see if I’ve got a spare couple of hundred dollars lying around somewhere.
If not, next Sunday afternoon in the Red Centre might be just the tonic, as I believe this is our first trip to play in the Northern Territory. For a bit of perspective, those out-of-form Demons have been playing there since 2014, winning four and losing four.
We got smacked by the Dees at the MCG last year to the tune of eleven goals. That was in Round 5 and there’s been a lot of water under the Todd River bridge since then.
Getting Taylor and Kelly back from injury undoubtedly helped against Freo, but there was more to it than that. The group looks to have settled into the new game plan. Kingsley always thought it would take about a dozen or so rounds before that happened, and it seems to be true. But having Kieren Briggs start performing like one of the finds of the season might also have something to do with it. We’ve now got a bit of mobility in the ruck that hasn’t been there since the Mummy era.
So, what might happen on our trip to Alice Springs? Whitfield is out, which is unfortunate, because he seems to have rediscovered some of his old touch recently. The good news is we might have Binga Daniels, Hogan and Haynes back, which will help cover for him.
Daniels would be very handy indeed because he’s quick. If all three are available we could drop Keeffe. And I reckon Bedford will want to score a goal or two against his old side.
This is what I think the line-up will be:
FB Jack Buckley, Sam Taylor, Connor Idun
HB Lachie Ash, Harry Himmelberg, Nick Haynes
C Josh Kelly, Harry Perryman, Finn Callaghan
HF Daniel Lloyd, Jake Riccardi, Toby Greene
FF Xavier O'Halloran, Jessie Hogan, Toby Bedford
FOL Kieren Briggs, Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio
IC Aaron Cadman, Brent Daniels, Callan Ward, Callum M. Brown
In: Daniels, Hogan
Out: Whitfield, Keeffe
I favour keeping Brown in the team because he adds some speed up forward. Speed has a way of catching opponents flat-footed and Melbourne have been flat for the past couple of outings. I hope we can take advantage of it. If Haynes isn’t fit, Isaac Cumming or Jacob Wehr could replace him.
The bookies have us at very long odds for this game, which is fair enough because we haven’t taken a big scalp just yet. A few weeks ago, I thought we weren’t a finals side, but at 6-8 we’re still in the hunt. It’s getting to the stage where every game is like a de-facto elimination final. That kind of pressure can work in your favour if you’re hungry enough.
The wildcard is the bye. Over the past decade, our record after the mid-season break has been three wins, nine losses. Yes, we won last year, but that was against North. We’d really be causing an upset to knock off Melbourne at a venue we’ve never been to. But then, Fremantle beat them at home a few weeks ago…
I might see if I’ve got a spare couple of hundred dollars lying around somewhere.
