Apparently............
Judd, Murphy, Robbo, Jeff, Yazz, Warnock, Walker, Betts, Simpson, Thornton, Setanta, Scotland, Duigan, Laidler, Carrazzo, Jamison, Armfield, Henderson, Joseph & Davies
.......................are all carrying injuries and none are certain starters.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

You missed Gibbs

This is finals, I don't think this game is about injuries, its who wants it more.

Carlton need to play their game, go in hard, make 90-100 tackles, use the ball properly, kick straight and play the game plan and we will win it if we are good enough. The bigger oval should help with using the pace of our smalls aswell.

Last time we played, we didn't have Jamo after the 1st quarter and had a backline of Gibbs, Thornton and Austin, until Hendo was switched on Kennedy and did a good job mid way thru the 3rd quarter. Gibbs was playing on Q-Stick for a bit due to being so depleted. Jamo's injury really threw us off that game. Other factor was that we didnt have Robbo, Duigan and one other player l can't remember and l think Juddy had the flu that day. Judd was very quiet, no brownlow votes.

We still got within 3pts at 3qtr time, but they rolled over us in the last, but to even be in that match at 3qtr time was a good effort.

As for the crowd over there, i'm expecting a good showing of Carlton fans over there like when l went to Brisbane a couple years ago. 40% of the crowd was bluebaggers. Which should nullify the home ground advantage bit, after playing infront of 90k fans, it shouldnt bother them anyway.

Having said all that, l am pretty confident about the boys over there if they bring their A Game.

Lets kick their ass Blue baggers!!!!

People were saying in the leadup to 07 GF Geelong would struggle in the GF after a tough PF while Port had a big win. A bit like the 95 situation (we ran away from the Roos after a tough slog for 3 quarters) where the cats belted their opposition.

My point is that a soft win (and that's what last week was, Essendon* were simply awful) isn't great preparation for a big final against hardened opposition.

West Coast are a tough team, playing at home. We struggle against disciplined teams that close down our space.

On the other hand WC have played the last 10 weeks, while we've had a bruise-free game against StK and an easy kill last week following our break.

I expect us to be competitive, and may win if we play Hampson and can negate Cox and Nicnat. Warnock was good last week but strongly doubt he can go the distance against their rucks - they're a different class. We also need Judd to be more productive and to take more of our chances - I guarantee we won't get 44 scoring shots this week.

Even when either side has been shit over the last 6 seasons, there's always been some rough and tumble in the matches that we usually came off second best on.

They might not always have the talent, but they have the mind games down pat. Essendon*, North, Freo & Hawthorn are other clubs that do this well against us.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

I'm on my phone.....plus I'm lazy....so I haven't checked the previous 14 pages to see if this has been mentioned already.....but who thinks Ratten accidentally let the cat out of the bag in his presser that we will play Watson on Saturday night?

Rattan said "when you consider last time we played them Jamison went off, laidler didn't play, duigan didn't play, Watson didn't play, there's a fair difference to the team".

IIRC Rosa played well for them that day & will be missing this week

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#DonTheStash

Cat and mouse at it's finest I'd say.

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

The more I look into it, the more I realise we are playing mind games. Doubt we are playing Watson, but putting his name up just throws some confusion into WC's minds.

As for Gibbs, I think he will play. Doc Larkins keeps saying it is minor and he will be fine. Gibbs said his shoulder was 'alright' on twitter on Sunday, and then tweeted to Hughesy the day after 'what r u talking about, who's got a sore shoulder'?

IT MAKES SENSE to play these mind games. Gibbs is our most versatile player. He is our Brendon Goddard. He can play forward, mid, back. He creates headaches. This is a cut-throat finals match and it is just as much a mental game as a physical one.

Maybe WC's coaches can detect possible lies, maybe they can't.

But come 5pm tomorrow when the squads are announced, they may be a little surprised to see Gibbs named.

Then you have to consider, West Coast could be lying about Cox. They may want to give us the impression that Cox is playing when he isn't, so that we name Hampson and could be exploited for being too top-heavy.

I may be looking into it a bit too much, but I can see why both sides would play mental games.

Fingers crossed I am right and that Gibbs is alright

Also forgot to mention that Brisbane lied about Bradshaw and Black in lead-up to 2009 EF. Said they were very unlikely and we were led to believe they wouldn't play.

They even had them do a fitness test on the ground before the game. Seriously, they both looked absolutely FINE during the match. Black had 29 possessions, Bradshaw kicked 5 from 11 marks. There is the proof that MENTAL GAMES do exist.

Thank god Ellards ok.

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I see you watching me watching you.

6pm news on 6PR reported that Cox didn't train today at the West Coast closed session.

Kade Simpson on 6PR:

No passengers last week
Praised WCE
We travel well. Big deck suits us and them.
Arrive tomorrow arvo.
training at WACA.
Hendo doing well in defense (Jamo injury blessing in disguise for Hendo)
1 or 2 of the Bullants had 30+ possessions might be a chance to come in
Murph has had good year. Would like to see Murph win B&F.
Hasn't been tagged playing against WC.
Karl banged on about how good Eagles are at pressure compared to Essendon*...
Eddie, Jeff & Walks did well. T-Bird played well against Dockers took about 15 marks.
Mark of the Year: Walker - marked it on his chest because the ball wasn't high enough!

Open session at WACA at 10 or 11am Friday.
Talk about Carrots triplets.

Another nothing interview by Karl Langdon and Peter Bell

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when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

Feelgood Hit of the Winter - GHRP-2, GHRP-6, CJC-1295, AOD-9604, Humanofort and Hexarelin

So ridiculously confident. Even gone double or quits on my 'we'll beat the bombers by 10 goals' bets I made at work last week.

Easy 6 goal plus win. Blues will be very, very scary this weekend.

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"In better news for Blues fans, Jarrad Waite was not named on the club's injury list."

Aah the old Cox fox...

Great post. Geez I love this thread. So much so that I unfoed a HTP post for the first time in donkeys (wish I hadn't but).

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I hope Essendon* folds.

We need to park Robinson on Hurn to take their springboard away.

Touhuy a dark horse for selection...

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Bawditawaba

I wish they would all just shut the eff up.Mind games more often than not backfire.

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All my dangerous friends

Let's also not forget the sleep factor for Judd.

The team flying over tomorrow = two nights uninterrupted sleep for Judd.

There is a precedent for this as well. I picked judd as my super coach captain the game we played against Freo in Subi for exactly this reason and he scored through the roof.

My prediction - Judd to have an absolute blinder this week.

You heard it here first etc.