played golf today, was bloody hot

almost balmy now

tomorrow night will be warmish but not too hot

probably will be perfect footy conditions

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Big game for Russell. I hope Ratts has a role for him and does not start him as the sub.

Forward line looking great. Terrific mix of talls and smalls.

yep I am concerned.

Last time that happened was against wet coast last year. Seriously unsettled the team. Let's hope they've learnt from that.

Time for Giblets to step up. I expect a huge game from him and Robinson.

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Robinson has been having a great year especially after being injured. He will continue to get better and by the end of the year will be our 3rd best mid

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Koperek.

It's been a long time that we have had 5 ins who could boast 50 games or more - not sure if this means we are definitely going to win but it means we are batting deeper as far as player stocks go.

It's a far cry from:

Out: Morrell, Beasy & Campbell

In: Prendergast, McCormick & Bowyer

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Me too - hopefully Joseph will be made sub.
Fingers crossed Walker has the necessary fitness and touch to play well.

_________________
There is no footy god

Oh we used to wish for Prendergast, McCormick and Bowyer, us.

Back in my day it was... In: Mansfield, Gallagher and Cranage.

You tell that to the kids today and they'll never believe you.

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Dear Mitch,

Please don't confuse yourself for a ruckman and hurt Mr Megan Gale or Kreuzer by trying to win the tap

kthxbye,

Kouta.

While 5 changes is far from ideal, the experience of the ins says a bit about our depth.

Side looks pretty good on paper. Simply have to deliver the goods on the park.

Big opportunity for those that are or have been on the fringes. JR, AJ, Thornton.

Please no over correction to last weeks softness. Just head over the footy, hard at the contests and run like mad.

And if any one of our players reacts to Ballantyne and gives away free kicks I swear I'll jump the fence

_________________
We are on our way back...

I didn't see Bower's omission coming at all. I think he is out because the MC want a specific role for the opponent or ground.
Same for McLean. On a big, fast ground we need players who can cover the ground quickly as well as get clearances. Armfield is one such player and is in the best 22 imo, whereas McLean is in the best 30.

Now Sandilands isn't playing, it puts a whole new perspective on the midfielders. Freo is used to having a winning ruck division and without Sandilands, we should take care of that and our mids should get a better run at it. That leads to inside 50s galore and we are top of the league in keeping the footy inside our F50. We have three great crumbers in Tex, Eddie and Jeff plus Murphy and Judd are scoring the odd goal from stoppages.

Their tall forwards are pretty good. Pavlich is a star, Clark can do anything on his day and Anthony has a good pair of hands and is a confidence player. If they get their share of inside 50s they will score.

Speed does kill so if we decide to run all day to beat the flood or to kick long over it to running forwards we should win this in a canter but if we let them dominate the pace if the game it will be a boring defensive arm wrestle, which we will probably lose as we are not structured as well to cope with that. I like the fact that the MC has chosen to go for broke and make Freo keep up. Kt would have been easy to try and select a team to react to their defence instead of one that will stretch it for pace and run.

Yarran is a big 'out' for us so Russell and Zach will have to run with it.

I hope 1AW has a great game and his fitness level is OK. He certainly adds another dimension to the forward line and he is also one of the best set shots for goal in the comp (based on last year's form).

I'm looking for a five goal win.

_________________
Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Not happy with the Bower omission, but I can see the logic. The sub rule has hurt some of the advantages of our list it seems. Most of the other changes are as forecast, and make enough sense. Russell is perhaps lucky as well.

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

thornton is a much better option for the role bower was being asked to play

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Feel sorry for Bower as he hasn't really done much wrong. He started the season well in the first two rounds playing in defence, but in rounds 3 and 4 he was shifted between defence and the forward line as a kind of 'swingman' which does not appear to suit him. We seem to be obsessed with the idea that our tall defenders and forwards are largely interchangeable. While Thornton can provide this versatility, Bower appears to be purely a defender and is suffering for it.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

The 5 outs is not so significant when you think 3 of the ins played in the win against the Pies just 2 weeks ago. I really don't think it will unsettle the team that much.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Navyblue95 -
my youtube channel tracking carlton news on television and paytv

awesome stuff mate.

Thanks Wookie! That's brilliant.

Disappointed with our odds at $1.70 given every man and his dog is picking Freo!!

Can someone tell me, is this the first game where we have had Waite, Kruze, Jamo and Walker all on the paddock at the same time??

I agree. Last year against WC when we had a lot of changes we had players like Austin in who hadn't played a game in months.

We were going to have 3 forced changes anyway.

Walls giving it to Ratts.
Wonder if Ratts read it.....

http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/flat-blues-must-swing-the-changes-20120426-1xo06.html