Hate to sound pessimistic, but I don't have a particularly good feeling about this one:

- Possibility of a "let down" after last week
- Lack of height in the team (no tall forwards and no viable second ruck option) - our strength might be in our run but you still need some big blokes to straighten the team up; the small forward line worked last week but the adrenaline has worn off and the element of surprise has disappeared. Henderson returning would help in this regard, but he seems a risky inclusion and would probably be underdone even if he did play. In the ruck, Kreuzer is basically going to have to do it all again and if he gets injured, then we are in serious strife;
- Potentially weakened midfield (with Simpson out and particularly if Murphy doesn't play; and even if he does play, there is some chance that he too would be underdone)
- North Melbourne are in good form (yes they gave up a six-goal lead, but they got six goals ahead of West Coast, who most would consider a legitimate contender and have beaten Adelaide and St Kilda in recent weeks)
- North are perpetually aggrieved about their lack of Friday night games and will want to give a good account of themselves in their only Friday night game for the season)
- For whatever reason, we always tend to struggle against North Melbourne, even when we do end up beating them
- For whatever reason, we just don't play that well at Etihad Stadium

I think we'll be doing well to win this one.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

All I want to see is that flower little husband of that bush pig get chased down and his big freaking nose driven into the concrete turf of Ethihad by Chris Yarran and I will be happy.

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

Winston Churchill

David Cloke?

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#DonTheStash

Are they even married? I mean, why would you?

Just on that
We have to run with 1 ruckman
The MC gave the 3 ruck trick 8 weeks of failure before switching, now this needs due course to determine whether it works or not. So far, so good
I don't think the crows say 'what if' sauce goes down
Same goes for the pies and Jolly, the dees and jamar, the swans and Mummy
All sides have 2 or 3 viable rucks on their list yet they generally play just 1 per game with a tall forward or back giving relief. This worked for us last week and while it's not broken I don't think we should try to fix it

#mytwocents

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i AM CARLTON

Cant marry your sister can you?

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Touché.

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

Winston Churchill

I'm looking forward to it. Every game we play from here on in is basically an audition for the final spot (maybe two) in the finals.

Many of these games are against mid ranking teams and so, even with injuries, we should be very very competitive because everyone else is the same boat.

Could be the best two months of footy we've enjoyed in a decade.

.........or we could just fizzle out and get done by the Roos and Dogs.

Nah, a good two months coming up.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

What's North's injury list like at the moment?

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#DonTheStash

You may be a king .. Or a street sweeper .... But sooner or later ... You'll dance with your sister

McIntosh and Thomson is about it from memory.

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The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Ronald Reagan

Play Thornton but this is the week to give Watson a chance at full forward

There is a great difference between playing back and FF. You can't just put somebody there without experience.

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

Not convinved that putting Murphy, Henderson or Waite back into the ones straight away after such long layoffs is such a great idea. I guess the MC would have been considering a half game in the Ants for one or more of them if a normal round but yet another VFL bye puts paid to that thought.

From the outside it looks like a speedster/mid to replace Simpson. A good case can be made for at least Ellard, Dale, Lucas and Bell with equally compelling arguments against each. Perhaps Murphy will get up otherwise I guess that one of those four will be the sub.

Mate of mine played in a flag for North under Barassi. Despite being a tough guy on the ground, he told me that he always worked out the players bio-rhythms before a game. Before the days of computers. He believed that it had a definite effect particularly if there was a big cumulative discrepancy between the two sides. Who knows, maybe he has been advising North in that capacity in recent weeks as they have been playing with great spirit.

The choice of second player is the most intriguing. If Kreuzer goes down Casboult will be doing a fair bit of the ruck next week whether we like it or not. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen and with one game back from a knee I agree with other posters that Casboult should stay in the Ants this week and preferably a few more.

I hear the wise words of those who say that Mitchell isn't ready. No disrespect, but I'd still consider it. The Squid seems to have a fairly healthy ego so might be the type to rise to the occasion enough to make a worthwhile contribution even if not fully fit. Two part/majority games from him before Henderson and Waite return should be a good investment for next year. Squid would get run off for sure, but so will any other available tall/semi tall that they pick this week. Thornton the more experienced choice. If Bret plays I hope for his sake he kicks a bag, but fear for his future if his return is say 1.2 or 1.3 unless he can massively impact the game otherwise.

Equally, won't be surprised if the MC opt for adding a second runner and use Watson to give Kreuzer the occasional rest. We'd be conceding a lot of height though. We'll be going pace only and North know it. So 'uber' pace could be on the cards. They have to actually get it and keep it to be able to hurt us.

Not inclined to bet on what the MC will decide this week. Interesting selection issues.

This is the classic 8 point game. They know it. We know it. Like the games earlier where we ghad to win to go top and then we had to win to stay in the eight, we lost both.
This is a game to stay in touch with the eight. At the start of the season it was inked in as a win. Now it is a danger game and yet another elimination final for us. It was mad worse by StK beating Essendon*. Murphy has been on the bike and runnng for a while now so he could get a game if the medicos think his shoulder can hold up. He will replace Simmo if that is the case. Hampson is the hard one to replace because of Warnock's idiocy. They have a tall front half and Petrie and Harvey like playing against us. I htink we will be forced to go a tall down back so if Hendo is deemed fit, he will come in but if not, as others have said, Thornton or Bower. I am of the opinion that playing players who are not physically ready through lack of game time should not be played. Casboult couldn't possibly run out a game after so long sidelined and Mitchell will probably be leg fit but who knows? I don't think a critical game like this one is the time to be blooding unknown players. Maybe against the Dogs or GC, which should be certain wins. This one is best left to those in the know.

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

Out: Hampson, Simpson
In: Thornton, Dale

I need a new rookie for my Supercoach team.

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Silvagni

..i think we all get far too pre-occupied with height, when we're far more dangerous with our running game.. ..i wouldn't worry about not having tall fwds, cos sticking a tall player up fwd doesn't auto mean you've got a genuine KPF.. ..we were better after we rejigged our fwd set-up post Hammer injury, and last season our fwd structure functioned far better with our small/medium fwd set-ups..

..i would continue with this.. ..Walker can play tall, Betts is a fine contested mark and an excellent midget FF.. ..i'd rotate Betts and Walks out of the square.. ..i'd also give both of them bursts on ball to mix things up.. ..Collins to sharpen up our HF line, i'd stick Gibbs across there too.. ..and get Jeffy to play more of a high HF role too, to exploit his run and carry along the wings.. ..Yazz to be given even more license to do the same as well..

..we can't match the height of them this week, so we need to go the other way and aim for extra run and spread.. ..they're playing a free wheeling, shoot-out style of game these days.. ..they like to run and carry, setting up via handballs from their HB line.. ..we're at our best when we go the run and carry gameplan too.. ..so we ought to turn this into a shoot-out, and load up our F50 with speed.. ..no long bombs, but rather smart short kicking to leading F50 targets.. ..they won't be able to cover Betts, Jeffy, Walks, Army, rotate Judd and Murphy [if he plays] thru there as well and keep spreading their defence.. ..use speed and hit-up targets and we'll go far..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

banjo dual

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I'd blood either Mitchell or Cas as hammer's replacement. Lets use Etihad to our advantage. If you were ever gonna blood a new tall, it would be on Etihad with your number 2 & 3 rucks out with injury/ suspension. I'm sure they'll get gassed, but they won't be out on their feet if we were playing at say Pattersons or the MCG

Lucas in for Simpson if Murphy needs another week.

Watson has to play down back and nowhere else. He's starting to find his feet down there, and has won his matchup 3 weeks running. You can't mess with that.

In a week when we are playing against a particularly tall forwardline?