Try 5.
No one is saying Murphy is banned from the centre square but we need to rotate more. At the moment, it's Cripps, Ed, Setterfield and Murphy. If we can put Dow in there, it may allow us to play our best players through the condensed fixture by giving them less time around the contest. Plus it gives us a point of difference with his burst and ability to accelerate from the stoppage.
The key is to understand Dow has deficiencies but to maximise his strengths. Cripps is a very poor kick but we maximise his strengths which is the contested footy. Dow may not pinpoint his kicks going forward but if we can get a 50/50 contest in our forward line at worst instead of the ball going the other way, it's a win IMHO.
He's not a forward. He's a midfielder and he needs opportunity to hone his craft. It's not like we're carrying him. He has earned his opportunity.

I reckon we should soldier on with Cottrell

I think Dow has to come in. 12 clearances in the ressies. But he has to play midfield.
Murphy to the wing, Cottrell out of the side and Dow into the midfield rotation. By all means rotate Murphy and Walsh through there as well but we need leg speed in the middle. At the moment, I think Newnes has taken Cuninghams role. He was clean as a whistle with his ground balls on Friday and he set up a number of goals with his hands. Half forward is his to lose at the moment IMHO. With players like Elliot in the midfield, we need some wheels in there as well and Dow deserves the chance with 2 BOG's out of the past 3 reserves games.

Beyond Pittonet and Cottrell, it’s hard to see anyone else who would go out. Having in-form players who can’t get a game is new territory. I’m excited to see what we look like in a couple of years.

Murphy has been lining up at wing-HFF all season. He'd have an attendance rate of less than 10% at centre bounces. Setterfield & Kennedy make up the third midfielder, with Ed & Crippa each being there for 90% of the rotations.

I was interested in how often Murphy was attending centre bounces, as I thought it would be low too. He has actually attended a smidge over 27% of CBs this season.

Here's his game by game numbers (his attendances/total centre bounces that game) :-
21/32, 11/19, 1/27, 1/18, 3/23, 6/26, 0/21, 2/22, 7/27, 4/22, 10/13, 7/15

Dropping Pittonet for another runner is not such a bad idea. He hasn't done much wrong but doesn't have the athleticism the top ruckmen of today have eg Grundy, Gawn, Goldstein, Nic Nat. TDK has.

Issue is which runner to bring in. Topic of discussion has been Dow which I favour but apparently and according to Russell both Kennedy and Cuningham are fit and ready this week. Nice problem.


However based on the coach's usual team selection my money is an unchanged lineup.

I reckon we should soldier on with Cottrell

Our capacity to get the maximum benefit from our forward entries will decide the game. We are still very unreliable when shooting for goal.