News Sandilands ruled out of Roos' clash

[malpaso]

Bring Bradley, Palmer and another middie. Run, Run, Run and run...

 

[sabre_ac]

Come on down, Zac Clarke !!

Argh,

Can't say I agree, has struggled on the big stage everytime he has played.

How has he gone in the WAFL?

 

[Mayneman]

WE DESERVE IT

Balla's is very much injured, and if Sandi is a touch tender in the feet, dont play him on Etihad.

 

[E Shed]

I would play Keps and MJ. Clarke isn't ready for the big time.

 

[esquilax]

The club has decided 5th spot is the target.

 

[longsuffreosupp]

Whilst I am pining for a top 4 spot to guarantee we get at least 2 finals into the team/young guys, 5th spot isn't so bad. It guarantees a home final in the first week against the 8th placed team. The 8th placed team this year is likely to be one of Carlton/Sydney or Noth Melbourne.
If its Carlton, they will have to head out west to Perth two weeks in a row to face us. Surely that would be a massive advantage to us.

It's interesting. North Melbourne would be great to play over here (with a full strength team), though even if Harves is planning to give them a leg up, I dont think they can win a couple more to get to 8th.

Maybe the resting will be done in the next couple of weeks, with a view to sending over a competitive team to Tassie to win. Maybe top 4 is still in view with a big of gambling. Hopefully we wont lose the upcoming couple of games.

 

[Quokka]

Argh,

Can't say I agree, has struggled on the big stage everytime he has played.

How has he gone in the WAFL?

Definitely improving from the sounds of things but still I couldn't see him getting a run without MJ and Bradley also covering that's going to mean a lot of changes leaving us short on run, Palmer in will help but still...

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

We've got enough hunger and tallent to muster up a win - and a win is all we need at this stage - especially with 211 set to return next round

Rhys will star, with the same/similar midfield to last week reading the ruckwork

 

[Kapow!!!]

This is getting beyond a f***ing joke

 

[Marius08]

I also don't think Clarke should get selected. Too risky. I'm just gutted I won't be able to see Sandi and Balla's live
Still, being the ever optimist, I reckon that, especially at Etihad, we can handle it without Sandi for one week.
Just will be interesting to see how the team handles not having Kep and MJ strafing off HF/HB when they are in the ruck.
Heard Hale might be coming back for the Roos though, not that he will do much

 

[yakamoto]

Clarke has to play. MJ and Kepler do very little ruck work with Sandi in the team.Their main contribution is as link up players around the ground and as tall forward targets. If they had to provide all the ruck contests they would both be stuffed by half-time.

 

[Dormammu]

Coincidence that Zac gets an excellent write-up earlier in the week ahead of today's announcement?

It's not just exercise bikes and spiders that spin

 

[prattsta]

We're in a pretty good position. Our remaining games are against the 4 teams below us on the ladder. Every game we win puts us further out of someones reach.

Fourth place is out of our control somewhat as we need the Dogs or St Kilda to lose at least one more game than us. We could win all four games and still not get there.

Securing fifth place can be done with just two more wins though. The club might be thinking the Sydney and Carlton games are the ones to go for since they are played at Subiaco. Therefore resting key players for the away games - which will reduce the travel burden and increase recovery time - is a smart way to go.

In saying that, just the 1 win against the Hawks could also secure 5th place even if they won their other 3 games...

 

[Wizard]

Thats top 4 over and done with for us.
Guess we will have to settle for 5th and hopefully not the Hawks in the first week.

 

[DRDGroup]

Zac Clarke didnt fly. Keps and Johnno in the ruck.

 

[Brad Roo]

Who says we can't beat your mob without him?

Not me, but I think your chances are diminished with Sandilands out of the side.

If Kepler comes back you're entering a world of pain.

Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place mate.

 

[nurries]

Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place mate.

Kep will tell Lightning if he wants it to strike twice in the same place.

 

[Quokka]

Really wish people would let up on the "THATS IT WERE SCREWED" posts, there's one POSSIBLE bright side (and we won't know till we see the game Saturday) and that is no side can be really competitive if they can't win without any one player. Hopefully another season or two and Clarke will be real cover for Sandi but for now IF we can scrap over the line at Etihad without Sandilands it would be a massive win for us and really show that there's some talent in our team apart from the headline players.

If MJ and Bradley can be competitive in the ruck, Palmer, Hill, Morabito, De Boer and maybe even Broughton (although he'll probably be needed down back) do the job in the middle and we're in with half a chance. Even without Tarrant our backline is looking better then it was a few weeks ago and players are still stepping up with season best games (Suban, Ibbo, de Boer etc).

We're not dead in the water.... just listing a bit .

 

[ballanFYNE]

would rather save him for finals. Deserves the rest.

 

[Dimitri_Mishkin]

Release the kepler!

 

[micfreo]

you know plenty of teams have been competetive against us with sandilands there's no reason why we wont be competetive against others without him, we have a good enough midfield to compete with them and a backline that is very strong even without taz , and im thinking now that kep might have been deliberately rested last week.......

 

[Memories]

Haha our midfield is good enough. That's a good one micfreo. Sandilands makes our midfield better than it is, the best ruckman in the game does that to a team. Our midfield without Barlow is clearly in the bottom 8 midfields in the league. So clear that if you can't see it questions must be asked.

Regardless though, North Melbourne are a rabble, no reason why we couldn't beat them playing Fyfe in the ruck. I just wish they would fold back to the VFL already, it's a slur on the AFL that this poor team is still struggling away in it.

 

[BeepTest]

What was the result of the last 3 games, including pre-season, where sandi didnt play?......

If i remember correctly... we were thumped by the saints in the pre-season which resulted in one of the funniest dummy spits by an individual on the freo board that i can remember, We scored 1.9 against Adelaide in 2009 and were thumped by North in the pre-season by over 100 again in 2009.

Hopefully the boys have been practicing for life without sandi since then. I guess this is a line in the Sand(ilands) game so to speak.

Carn Freo

 

[Dormammu]

Our midfield without Barlow is clearly in the bottom 8 midfields in the league.

Whilst our midfield has been hit with injuries, it's worth noting that it still includes Messrs Pavlich and Hill, reliably backed up with Fyfe and Palmer, with good cameos from Broughton, Ibbo and Duffield.

And whilst your obsession with Munday precludes rational debate it is refreshing to see that more objective, experienced and impartial judges - i.e., the AFLCA - still rate him as one of the top 15 players in the comp this year.

So clear that if you can't see it questions must be asked.

It's so clear that I can't be arsed as to why you question it.

 

[Scootyb]

If Sandi is only out for this week, we can definately still make the 4. Beat Kangas (are they really that good?), get him back next week. Our only difficult game is the Hawks at Tassie.