stkildathunda
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Its probably bit early but i was bored so decided to do a Preview of next weeks game.
ROUND 24 MATCH PREVIEW: STKILDA VS CARLTON
The equation is quite simple for the Saints, win and they earn themselves a home final at Etihad against the Swans and lose and they face them up at ANZ Stadium. For Carlton they have already locked in a home final in a MCG blockbuster against the Bombers. In essence it’s a meaningless game for the Blues and then they also have to contend with the curse of the bye, where only a handful of teams have won coming off the weeks break.
Carlton have flagged that they might throw Jarred Waite in the deep end and play him without any match practice. Coming back from injury this is always a concern and last time it backfired on them as Waite injured himself very early on and were forced to sub him out of the game. They will also be tempted to bring Michael Jamieson back after a couple games back from injury, especially given they need to try and combat the twin towers of Nick Riewoldt & Justin Koschitzke.
StKilda will more then likely go in unchanged but they do have Irish recruit, Tommy Walsh knocking on the door and the calls from the Saints fans for him to play is getting louder & louder every week. After a bag of 6 goals last week & being named emergency he is extremely close to being named. Can the Saints go in with three blokes over 195cm? Given Carlton’s lack of tall defenders it could certainly be a masterstroke to try and stretch them. Finding someone to come out of the side will be the hard task with everyone performing well against the Kangaroos. Alternativly Steven Baker could come in to play on one their small forwards in Betts/Garlett.
KEY MATCHUPS
Sean Dempster vs Marc Murphy – Last time Dempster was put onto Murphy at half time after Murphy dominated the 1st half.
Dempster managed keep him to only 7 touches in the entire 2nd half. Not sure if they will go with this again but stopping Murphy is one the keys to defeating Carlton.
Sam Gilbert vs Chris Judd – Gilbert ran with Judd in first half last time and had his measure. For some reason Ross Lyon took him off him after half time and Judd went onto dominate and get the Blues over the line. Think its well worth the gamble to see if he can do it again.
David Armitage vs Chris Yarran – Yarran is their key playmaker and you need to stop him (just look at Leon Davis against Saints couple weeks ago if you don’t know why) and think Armitage could be given the job to keep him accountable. Armitage has also shown he can kick goals and can also run with him through the midfield.
Ben McEvoy vs Robert Warnock – Carlton have the edge in this area with the man mountain Warnock. Can expect Warnock to dominate the hitouts but McEvoy should have the edge around the ground. Really needs to stand up and win his own ball and compete well to try and make Warnock as ineffective as possible.
Zac Dawson vs Jarred Waite – If Waite plays then Zac will take him, otherwise he will have to play on Kruezar or Warnock, whoever the resting ruckman is.
With it all on the line for the Saints you can expect them to come out all guns blazing and the Blues will have to be on their game from the start. The main concern for them is the fact a win has no affect on any end result and coming off a bye they might just think they will cruise into the finals. Last time these teams met the Blues got over the line by few points after a disgraceful umpiring decision gifted them a goal late in the game. The Saints were given no hope in that game as it was in middle of their form slump but they stood up and showed there was fight in them afterall. They have improved since that game and question marks remain around Carlton as they are yet to really win a big match when it matters most.
Given the Saints are playing for a home final and Blues aren’t playing for a great deal I think it will see them salute in a classic.
Saints by 15 points