All in all I'm pretty happy with the ins. Ellard and Curnow have been flying under the radar for a while now and while only Curnow's been omitted this week, I'm sure words have been had with Ellard along similar lines. Without looking any further than stats, it's clear that both their performances have dropped significantly post-injury/concussion. I'm not surprised to see the doomsayers out in force (mainly on the Carlton Flogbook page) over the selections, given that McLean and (still for some reason) Hoops are much maligned players. I'm disappointed at the amount of disrespect going around the place suggesting that Hoops doesn't deserve another game because he's not the future. These people are either new supporters, flogs or completely oblivious to the terrific service he has given the Club throughout its darkest days, with some of the best skills in the comp. Whether the game has passed him by pace-wise or not remains to be seen, but it's great to see Ryan chalk up the 200 and reach a milestone that only a select group in history have done in the navy blue. Congrats Hoops! There's a few out there throwing round the 'What did Twomey do wrong?' card, and it's not a case of doing anything wrong, it's just not doing enough. I loved what he did against the Scum, one of his tackles was basically a scoring assist it was that good, but 4 touches in a bit over 3 quarters of football isn't enough. He'll be a solid addition to our senior list in time but for now he's had a taste and will have some things to work on in the Ants to come back again later.
I'm tipping McLean to have a big impact tomorrow. I am one of his supporters, mainly because he's never had much luck with injuries, he hasn't had a good run with the MC and he's severely maligned by most supporters. I like his underdog status and he's certainly been busting his butt in the Ants, not to mention he's also one of the most active socially with supporters online and is a genuine nice guy, despite all the crap being slung at him. I wanna see him do well, either with us or someone else. I can't believe there's people out there going 'McLean for Curnow? Noooo we're screwed' etc etc. Curnow had only 11 touches last week in a romp against the Scum where the midfield won the game, and only 8 the week before against the Filth. Bear in mind for the first 6 rounds he didn't tally below 23 touches a game. He is well down and has been for a while. Brock on the other hand racked up 40 touches, 13 clearances and 9 tackles for the Ants in a losing side. I know, "it's only VFL yadda yadda yadda," but if one of your favourite boys puts on a good showing in the magoos it's never discounted. The Ants are all we have to assess potential in the seniors and I feel if Brock gets a few games up he might find some touch and surprise a few. Even with VFL-AFL translation, McLean's recent form eclipses the flatness of Curnow and/or Ellard. He deserves his chance and I hope he can show a few Doubting Daisys out there.
At this time of the year you start to wonder whether some players are getting a run to show prospective teams come trade time. Maybe McLean was always gonna get a run now and his good form in the VFL is coincidental. Whether his elevation is genuine or not, I hope he does well. If he does well, he either stays and gives us something, or another team sees enough to give him a shot somewhere else. If you're at the game and you see a fellow Blues supporter booing him, clip them across the ear and tell 'em what's up - we really need to stamp out this pervasive attacking of our players by our own. There's enough Blues haters out there without us helping from the inside!
Being that we've proven that this year is
HoodooBreak '11 I'm not too worried about our poor records with any teams previous. We've knocked some doozies on the head this year and this won't be any different. The biggest hoodoo we have to start breaking is the Etihad Curse. Get used to it boys, you've gotta play on it. Strange that our kicking for goal is poorer there than the G also, given there's no wind. You all know the drill, flat dry deck which can only favour us fielding a smaller team. Norf aren't particularly fast (contrary to some flogs who think McLean's lack of pace will allow the Roos to kick 400.232 as a result) and we should easily have their measure in the midfield. Hendo on Petrie will be a work in progress and will require Duigan and Laidler to provide way more backup than they did last week...boys need to lift for those double-ups. If we can keep the pressure on and force Norf to kicking to Petrie all the time, we can double team him and win the ball. Clearances are key as is tackling pressure and I think McLean will get in and under with Robbo and help give Judd and Murph a bit of a beef up, hopefully free Juddy up in the forward line a bit more - he's dangerous as a mid directing traffic in our forward 50, as we saw last week.
I'm gonna be conservative but other than superstition, lack of desire, nonsense decision-making and rubbish disposals, we should win this easily. The quality of our team is far and above Norf and we need another big statement, no more Demons' style rollercoasterball. While the media and haters will continue the 'flat track bullies' garbage coz the Roos aren't Top 8, it doesn't matter - we need the 4 points, we need the percentage and we need the consistency. If we come out hard and fast, we can blow them out of the water early doors
and really stick the boot in.
50+ points, a great win for Hoops' 200th and a big game from McLean that sees Curnow sort his shoulder out in the Ants for a bit.
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