Preview Round 6, 2023: Carlton v St.Kilda - Marvel Stadium, Sunday 23rd April, 3:20PM AEST

[Oh When the Saints]

This is the concern for me. Last week was a VERY taxing game, shorter break, and the first real "hurdle" in our season so far, other than injuries. It will be interesting to see how we bounce back and focus, especially after the distractions of this week......

And then we follow it up with a 5 day break for the Port game...

 

[Saints TV]

Got one of the best Carlton blokes on for a chat to his perspective on our boys and how his side stacks up this weekend. Enjoy Sainters!

 

[HunterClarksHeadband]

I'm absolutely flipping terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

 

[ScrappyDo]

You saw i asked a question yeah?

Righto, l thought it was rhetorical.
No l wouldn't want and never suggested removing Wilkie from the backline. That would be straight up dumb.

 

[GTrains Love Child]

I'm absolutely *ing terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

And they’re delivery coming from their midfield straight into the “Lyons Cage” is something that will terrify them.
All well and good to have two Ferraris up forward, but if you have Datsun 180B’s delivering it to them you’re not going to get to far.

 

[BucketsandBanger]

With Saad out and likely Steele and Membrey in we should be pretty strong favourites really. They are still very dangerous and you never know with them. If our mids can break even and Howard and Wilkie do a good job on Curnow and Mackay we should win.

 

[Dard Ball Get]

I'm absolutely *ing terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

Battle and Wilkie in career best form, Dougal going well too. They score less than us, and have allowed 100 points more than us already this season. Confident in RTB’s system to shut them down

 

[Remboy]

I'm absolutely *ing terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

That's why the midfield battle will be critical. Our back six is fine. Steele back will help but we'll need to put pressure on the delivery into their forward line.
If they are able to waltz it in and hit Curnow and McKay on the chest we'll have problems.

 

[bergholt]

That's why the midfield battle will be critical. Our back six is fine. Steele back will help but we'll need to put pressure on the delivery into their forward line.
If they are able to waltz it in and hit Curnow and McKay on the chest we'll have problems.

Yep spot on. And they're a different team with Walsh playing well. He was just OK last week but if we let him and Cripps get on a roll then we'll have a battle on our hands.

 

[joydivision22]

If we can break even or win the centre clearance count, that will be crucial to setting up the defensive structure. If they dominate that differential, I think Curnow/McKay will get too many really good opportunities one out, even with our defenders all going very well.

Feel as though the loser of this game could miss finals.

 

[The_Steadier]

It's nice to have a team in as much injury strife as us.

Will be interesting to see how we go against a team who is on paper an even matchup- but us with the expectation to win.

I suppose the bombers game was fairly similar, and we passed that test in terms of not mentally folding under pressure.

If things get tight though, it will be another good test of whether we truly have banished those mental demons we had under richo and ratts.

 

[TheNewEnsign]

On paper we should probably win this comfortably. I say this because it seems like good defensive match ups - Doogs to McKay, Battle to Curnow and given the rest of their talls (no Martin, Silvagni an De Koenig aren't really goal kickers at all) it means Wilkie can play looser and help out, intercept. I could see him having a field day. In terms of smalls, no Owies (he has been good this year) and Motlop seems more interested in playing for frees than actually helping his team win.

From a coaching perspective for Carlton, the strat to counter I think would be send Cripps forward a lot, but he's not a great goalkicker so that seems marginal.

Perfect week for Cordy to play the spoiler role - all he really needs to do is keep Weitering out of the contest as much as possible so that we get one on one looks to Mitchi and Membrey - and they don't even need to mark it with Higgins and Gresh at ground level.

The wildcard / even up is the potential for their midfield to absolutely destroy us such that we get very few decent looks inside 50; Steele really needs to get up. I don't think we'll win the midfield battle by any stretch (even with Steele) but as long as we fly the flag in there it should be enough to get the win.

If Steele gets up and there's no Pittonet I think we'll go in as favourites by game day.

 

[Plugger35]

Saad out is a big loss for them, an even bigger loss than Docherty with the form he is in this year and gives us the edge in the defensive rebound battle.

They still have a strong midfield but I think we can at least break even with them there, they have the edge with their tall forwards but we have better small forwards and we also have them covered with our running ability and workrate.

It won't be an easy game but I'm fairly confident we can beat them if we bring our A game.

 

[gringo2011]

With Saad out and likely Steele and Membrey in we should be pretty strong favourites really. They are still very dangerous and you never know with them. If our mids can break even and Howard and Wilkie do a good job on Curnow and Mackay we should win.

They are playing below last season but still not far off the pace. If we come with all our intensity and focus and they turn up a bit half in it should be an easy win. If they turn up and we aren't as finely tuned as we have been we will get rolled. This season is so close that you can't take anyone lightly and our biggest danger is getting ahead of ourselves. Bringing players back had better not give the rest of the players the idea that they can coast a bit.

 

[Minga]

I'm absolutely *ing terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

Genuine question but when was the last time a big forward kicked a bag on us? I feel like it’s been ages but perhaps I’m just biased.

Have faith in Wilkie, Battle and Howard - we are the best defending team in the comp.

And if they do get off the chain, that’ll only be because something has broken down through our whole system. Should be more concerned about if Carlton will manage to evenly distribute its scoring opposed to channeling it through just 2 players.

 

[gringo2011]

If we can break even or win the centre clearance count, that will be crucial to setting up the defensive structure. If they dominate that differential, I think Curnow/McKay will get too many really good opportunities one out, even with our defenders all going very well.

Feel as though the loser of this game could miss finals.

Yep, we should be able to set up quite well against them because they don't move the ball very fast. That said if we lose out of the centre they can split sides open through possession and have those two get out of jail forwards. It's another test and with each week the bar has to get set a bit higher as sides work us out.

 

[Sully111]

Reckon there'll be a little extra satisfaction winning this one for RTB given Carlton sh*t the bed after initially chasing him as coach.

 

[Klaatu]

I don't think we have failed any test this season yet even last weeks loss against a credible side we performed well enough to nearly pinch it, previous seasons point to a Saint's win beating them 7 out of the last 10 encounters, our speed & the strength of the backline will get us over the line.

 

[TheOsprey]

I'm absolutely *ing terrified of the McKay and Curnow combo - if they get off the leash we're farked.
No Saad or Doc is nice. Big Ro' needs a massive game this week I tell ya

If we bring the pressure Carlton hopefully resort to the long bombs like they did against Crows.

I’m more terrified of the favourable umpiring these 2 get, especially Curnow. Our back line are going to have to be incredibly disciplined to be by the book wherever possible (even that is no guarantee against soft frees).

 

[bird_man]

Genuine question but when was the last time a big forward kicked a bag on us? I feel like it’s been ages but perhaps I’m just biased.

Have faith in Wilkie, Battle and Howard - we are the best defending team in the comp.

And if they do get off the chain, that’ll only be because something has broken down through our whole system. Should be more concerned about if Carlton will manage to evenly distribute its scoring opposed to channeling it through just 2 players.

It didn't really happen last year. I think Wright was the most with 4.

 

[TheNewEnsign]

It won't be an easy game but I'm fairly confident we can beat them if we bring our A game.

The significantly pleasing thing is that we can now almost guarantee the effort will be there; it seems now with us a question of execution / ensuring all the right decisions are made on field (i.e. not letting Gresh kick into our forward 50 )

 

[stavro#4]

 

[bird_man]

Still nothing on Jones. Thought he was back to full training weeks ago?

 

[Ducky Tie]

Still nothing on Jones. Thought he was back to full training weeks ago?

The article says he should be playing within the next fortnight. You’d think possibly next week then, but annoyingly, Sandy have the bye then. Frustrating for Billings too to have a lack of continuity in his return.

 

[Plugger35]

The significantly pleasing thing is that we can now almost guarantee the effort will be there; it seems now with us a question of execution / ensuring all the right decisions are made on field (i.e. not letting Gresh kick into our forward 50 )

Yeah you can question our skills and decision making at times so far this year but you can't question our effort, that is a non negotiable under Ross.

If we bring maximum effort then we will at least be tough to beat and should win more games than we lose and so far this year that has been the case.