Agree TBB, Prenda is not a good body player. I'd go with morell, he can only be in the side to play on Rocca, he's too slow to take on any of the other Pie forwards. Norman has the pace to go with Tarrant, but hasn't the strength to compete in marking duels. I hope those two are well below their best. Tarrant cut us up last time and Thornton was on him for 3/4s. If Livo is fit enough for the Bullies I'd give him a go on Rocca given that he has been first choice for Neitz, Q Lynch and other gorillas.

I, for one, am worried about this game. We should have flogged Essendon* last week and were lucky to win. We were shocking for 2/3 rds of the game. And the Pies on paper don't look too bad. Their back half is solid, in Clement and Wakelin they have a couple of players capable of holding Fev and Whits and Rocca and Tarrant in form are likely to be far to good for our defenders. Lets hope we flog them in the midfield and the pies early season form stays true. Lets face it, we're only a kick away from an equally poor start to the season. I'll take any win in this one, and if we lose things could get a bit ugly with some tough raod trips in the near future.

rocca and tarrant can't jump at the moment though - both horrible. saw them against the dogs and a bit against the crows. whatever is wrong with them may disappear on the weekend but its in our favour now.

i thnk norman will have to take tarrant, morron on rocca and teague on walker. walker isnt a pack marker and with a spare man in defence, i think the plan is to use frenchy back a fair bit.

plan A is to not have it down there, and the way the pies chip side to side rather than go direct, we should have enough time for frenchy to get back. they are not a direct club, so i think thats why we've gone with the same defence and not rushed livo back.

Does anyone else think we weren't that bad against the Bombers in the 1st 3 quarters? W eweren't leading on the scoreboard but everything else probably said we should have been leading.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Agree TrueBlueBrad.
Apart from the third quarter where we looked to have just given up completely, our first half wasn't bad.
All we needed to do was correct our disposal and not get so anxious in the forward line.

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I reckon we were pretty bad. We should have been in front for most of the game apart from bad kicking by us and good kicking by Essendon*. But the bombers had a really ordinary side in. No Lloyd, Hird maybe injured and having a shocker, no rucks, but we still almost lost it. Most of our disposal was dreadful. I've got a bit of time for Davies but really, how can a league footballer who is clear pass to a leading forward 25 metres away and drop the ball ten metres in front of him, and handball to a player running towards him, away from goals and land the ball at his feet rather than his hands. Those sort of mistakes can't be lack of skill, Davies isn't a bad kick, to me it is lack of concentration. We can't keep throwing opportunities away.

Also our tackling was really ordinary. We made so many errors and almost threw away a game against very average opposition. Turned into a good win in the end but indicated we have a long way to go. We need to be really on our game this week.

I think he was named at CHB last week but never played there. I wouldn't take much notice of positions named.

Rocca cant run and I think prenda may be able to run off him and provide some drive, while Prenda hasnt set the world on fire down back I dont think he is any worse than Morell. Tarrant is mobile like Lucas and a better mark.. I dont see Morell being able to cope with him.
If Norman cant handle Tarrant then I would switch Prenda onto Tarrant...I dont want to see the undersized Teague on either of these two....they wont have to lead just stay at home and outmark him....

DEAL

can we settle for a pint of domestic beer instead?

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Love Cricket? Love me

Semi-Final 2001 Vs Richmond, Round 1 2002 Vs St Kilda, everyone said the same thing about Manton playing on Ottens and Loewe, bomb it down long and they'll out mark him. I think they had about 3 goals between them.

So far we've determined Teague can't play on anyone quicker or taller than him. That probably accounts for 95% of players in the AFL, yet he still won our B&F last season. Why? Because he has heart, courage and determination. Rocca will probably out-mark Teague from the goalsquare, not so sure about Tarrant though....Henneman certainly couldn't.

Having said that I don't believe Teague is our #1 option on either Tarrant or Rocca, but he's probably #2 on Tarrant and an option on Rocca.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

teague has solomon the whole game didn't he? similar height, different pace. bombers fans were rapt in solomon's game, but on our side, he didnt kick a goal and his I50's weren't always effective.

that being said, TBB you're right about teague and the 95% rule, i just think he covers the whole backline well, sort of like peter dean used to. very reliable as the third man up while keeping his man under control. Essendon* tried to keep teague out of this by pulling him up ground with solomon. i still think norman / morrell will take the big 2 - you cant be the backline general whilst trying to hold a key forward, its too much to ask.

You hear that, Thornton? No more - I say! You can either take a key forward OR be the general but none of this multitasking business - understand?

Nah, I'm just taking the piss

Back to the serious discussion. Which, by the way, is occuring in spades in this thread. Remarkably insightful and respectful comments. It's interesting to see the celebrity tipsters today making us almost unbackable favourites whilst here in Cyber-Carlton-Geek land we're all respectfully nervous and not talking ourselves up like flower

Anyway ...

Blues by 100

Nah, just taking the piss again

good point HTB, but i was writing with teague in mind. if we try him on an ace forward, he might struggle to do the rest, say like when he took tredrea last year.

but our defence balance works best when he's on #3 or #4 forward in my view.

thorny's stats are very different when he splits roles though, he's had a few games without a name opponent and hit 20 stats back there. with a name opponent, his average stats are lower - say i'd guess 10-13? jarusa could calculate it!

I hear you, man - I was just taking your point about Teague and deftly applying it to Thornton - a player who CAN marshall the troops AND play on the best key forward! My attempts at humour are somewhat pale on a Friday after a day on the road schmoozing with clients!

Here's to a successful weekend's footy - there's quite simply no feeling quite like it

Actually - having said that - what a year this is! Blues back, Star Wars III released, Jonah Lomu on the comeback trail, Blues back ... uh ... some other stuff ...

Rambling now - go home

Teague may be well suited to Caracella. Caracella was their best forward last week. He is 185 cm but is a marking forward. But the feeling is he doesn't like it tough. Teague should stop him taking marks, and is hard enough to make him look over his shoulder. If Malthouse instructs Caracella to try to suck him up the ground as with Solomon, then we will have won that battle before the ball is bounced. Who cares if he gets possessions outside 50?

I'm actually leaning towards Prenda on Rocca actually. I know he's been tried and found wanting at CHB before but in the past 8-10 games his game has gone to another level confidence-wise and he is now taking some big pack marks and doing some body on body work.

The thing with Rocca is he has no gas in the tank. You always see him at stoppages gasping for breath because he is not as fit as he could be. Prenda could really exploit that by running him ragged. With Barney or Whits hanging around down there Prenda could just keep peeling off him and run the ball out of the backline.

As for Tarrant I think Norman is the right guy. If Norman fails I would consider maybe a shorter guy like Sporn or Houlihan who can match him for pace. If he has no room in the guts he'll lead out wide, and the closer our guy sticks to him the further out he will lead. If Tarrant has his shots from 55-60 out on an angle they will really struggle to get enough goals on the board.

They real key though will be in the centre. Barney versus Cam Cloke and Tristan Walker SHOULD be a total shellacking. It's just a matter of having the right guys in the middle to get the takeaways. Burns and Holland are their main in & unders and I would suggest putting Campo in the forward line and take Holland out of the action.

Also McGrath on Woewodin is a good matchup. Cory is a physical player and Woey won't like it one bit, but he won't man up either, meaning Cory could be a good player to carry the ball through, and unlike others he has good disposal and won't get caught short with stupid turnovers.

Teague on Caracella
Morrell or Prenda on Rocca
Norman on Tarrant
Carrots on Davis
Morrell or Prenda on Walker when forward
Johnson on Obree
McGrath on Woewodin
Kouta on Burns


WE SHOULD WIN. If we don't I will be assuming Agro's username as a state of mind.

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Ronald Reagan

I would play Prenda on Rocca with Barney dropping back to help him out. We'll have Prenda & Barney able to do the rucking in the back half as well & De Luca & Whitnall doing the rucking in the forward half meaning that Barney can help out the backline. I wouldn't waste Kouta on Rocca. I'm not worried about Rocca as much as Tarrant. I'm just not convinced that Karl has the application at the moment & well Digby, I'm not sold on him at all. This is where Livo would come in handy today, just so we have another option.

I haven't read the rest of the thread so sorry if this has already been mentioned!!

Naughty, naughty, Bluegirldanielle

For not doing your homework, you have detention. You'll have to sit through 2 showings of our last game in 2003 against the Roos

haha, well as long as I get to still go today then I'll survive I guess.

Tyrant just lost $20...