Preview Round 9 North Melbourne Hosting the Sydney Swans - 7:25 Saturday Blundstone Arena

[SlingshotFooty]

The first of many Nick Blakey cups begins this Saturday at 7:25 AEST that's 2:25 am PST for those of us who unfortunately don't live in Australia.​

Where:

Blundstone Arena; Hobart Tasmania




The Teams

Swans: In Rowbottom; Out Jack (Omitted)
North: In Marley Williams, Scott Thompson, Luke McDonald; Out Curtis Taylor (Omitted), Sam Wright (Injured), Sam Durdin (Suspension)​

Weather:

Looks to be pretty calm so we won't have one of those gales that blows the footy backwards when trying to kick it forward.



Stats:


2 wins 6 losses with an 82.7 percentage



2 wins 6 losses with an 80.9 percentage







History:

Sydney leads 87-74-1 all time

*Last Three*
15.8 (98) RD 17, 2018, Etihad 16.8 (104)

9.12 (66) RD 7, 2018, SCG 9.14 (68)

1.12 (78) RD 8, 2017, Etihad 18.12 (120)


*Sydney leads 2-0 at Blundstone Arena*

10.16 (76) RD 22, 2016 12.13 (85)

13.14 (92) RD 3, 2013 20.11 (131)​

My Take:

We have had good recent form against the Kangaroos winning 13 of the last 16. Obviously most of these players haven't played in many of those games. I just wanted to remind of you of that. Swans defense played fairly well last week so hopefully we can keep it up. I see our biggest challenge putting up a big score. I feel that if we hold North to under 80 we can win, hopefully with Blakey sealing the deal at the siren. At worst this should be an entertaining match and hopefully we'll come away with the points. So, Buddy isn't playing which is too bad. Bad news is Mason Wood is playing as well. Not sure why, but he only has good games against us. I think we can still win by between 1 and 2 goals. Go Swannies!​

​

(Sorry about the delay in getting this up. It was Mothers Day here yesterday, so that threw a wrench in the works Sunday.)​

 

[Ticky009]

Time to get on a roll. The Blakey Cup is an important calendar event.
Blakey avatar this week I feel.

 

[Donza]

Norf look putrid today

 

[RUNVS]

Out
Ried (injured)
Heeney (injured)
Jack

In
Franklin
Menzel
Rowbottom

I think Reid got injured in the last quarter last week and the reveal that Heeney can't train due to his ankle injury tells me he needs to get as much time off as he needs to actually get the ankle healed, rather than playing him with his injury. Jack needs to be dropped as he again provided nothing last week. The three in's are reasonably self-explanatory. Bit of a risk with Menzel, but since there is no NEAFL game next week we may as well play him.

 

[caesar88]

IN - Buddy, Rowbottom
OUT - Reid, Jack

 

[connolly]

Out
Ried (injured)
Heeney (injured)
Jack

In
Franklin
Menzel
Rowbottom

I think Reid got injured in the last quarter last week and the reveal that Heeney can't train due to his ankle injury tells me he needs to get as much time off as he needs to actually get the ankle healed, rather than playing him with his injury. Jack needs to be dropped as he again provided nothing last week. The three in's are reasonably self-explanatory. Bit of a risk with Menzel, but since there is no NEAFL game next week we may as well play him.

He seemed ok against Uni. Seemed to pull up ok. He kicked three and as they say knows where the goals are. We will have four marking options on the forward line with him and Buddy back. Clark played well in the reserves and it might be a nice touch to give him a game against his old mob.

 

[SwansProudly]

Would you put Franklin and/or Menzel on ~2 hour flight to play in Hobart on a cold Saturday night?

 

[RUNVS]

Would you put Franklin and/or Menzel on ~2 hour flight to play in Hobart on a cold Saturday night?

Sure, I mean it being cold does not mean they are more likely to get injured. Plus 2 hours isn't that long.

 

[caesar88]

Sure, I mean it being cold does not mean they are more likely to get injured. Plus 2 hours isn't that long.

Alternatively though, what's the rush? Buddy I'm OK with if he's fit, because they've already been pretty safe with him (pleasant surprise!) but Menzel I'm not sure what the rush to get him in is. We're not in a race to be playing finals, so I don't see what the harm is in giving Menzel an extra week or two to get back into the swing of things.

 

[Mick Oxlong]

Alternatively though, what's the rush? Buddy I'm OK with if he's fit, because they've already been pretty safe with him (pleasant surprise!) but Menzel I'm not sure what the rush to get him in is. We're not in a race to be playing finals, so I don't see what the harm is in giving Menzel an extra week or two to get back into the swing of things.

As of yesterday Menzel was fit, Franklin wasn’t...

 

[The King!]

in buddy menzel
out reid jack

 

[SilentHunter_]

Blakey to go off.

 

[caesar88]

Blakey to go off.

I have seen an angry lizard before. They spread their legs out and stick their heads up and look you dead in the eye. Scary stuff.

 

[The King!]

just dont let wood look like Carey again

 

[caesar88]

Winner of this one goes clear of the bottom two. Is this the Blakey Cup or the Noah Anderson Cup?

 

[Swan4Life]

Norf look putrid today

Disagree, they have their weaknesses but look much smoother with their run and carry than we do. And Brown's leading patterns are far superior than anyone in a Swans jersey. Not to mention he does not miss from inside the arc. And they scored 80 points against the best defence in the comp after scoring 120 last week. Conversely we have only scored over 82 once in 8 games.

In short - we will need to improve dramatically this week to beat them.

 

[RW]

Even if they beat us, which let's face it looks likely if they can give Brown similar delivery to what he got today, I will still think of them as norf thanks to bigfooty.

 

[mtooler]

Vital that we lose this one, we cant afford any more slip ups.

 

[robbieando]

Late decision but after missing the start of the season and the first few games in Melbourne I'm heading down to Hobart for this one. Not expecting a classic but could be worse towns to watch a game in.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Out: Jack & Reid
In: Menzel & Franklin

Will be a close match, we will need to start well, North have enough quality to beat us.

 

[The King!]

AFL sending us to help make north relevant down here before the eventual relocation

 

[LukeParkerno1]

A night game again though, wish it was a day game.

 

[kelpie_X]

I have seen an angry lizard before. They spread their legs out and stick their heads up and look you dead in the eye. Scary stuff.

WTF So random but so true

 

[kelpie_X]

Late decision but after missing the start of the season and the first few games in Melbourne I'm heading down to Hobart for this one. Not expecting a classic but could be worse towns to watch a game in.

hahahaha I just can't get over your avatar. Absolute classic. We all should wear it

 

[Jack Lord]

Play the kids.