Paddycripps wrote:
Steve_C7 wrote:
A game that will be won in the midfield, both teams have good offence and defence.
Although we are strong in the clearances, PA are the best in the comp and their big bodies mids need to be stopped.
Murph out for JSOS in playing a inside mid role and whilst putting a block on for cripps.
All games are won in the midfield.
Quite often but not always. Richmond were 18th for clearances, 15th for hitouts and 10th for centre clearances last year and won the flag. Hawthorn won a number of flags starting their attack from defence.
Port won the stoppages against Brisbane and were dismantled. I agree though that you'd rather have dominance than not.
Port are playing very aggressive footy and reaping the rewards but so are we. We're playing quite aggressively but the downside is we've conceded more points this season that any other club than 18th placed Adelaide.
I don't understand the love for Silvagni in the midfield. He did a decent job on Fyffe last year but he hasn't shown any ability to win the ball in the midfield in either the VFL or AFL. We need a bit of zip. Jack is too one-paced like most of our other mids. If Murphy misses, I'd bring in Fisher.
It will be interesting to see who Ed goes to. Boak has been their best mid this year. He's their highest possession winner, most clearances, most inside 50's, most metres gained, virtually double any of their other players for goal assists etc etc etc.
The key is to see who can control Robbie Gray if Boak is locked away by Curnow. I'd expect Wines to go to Cripps.
We have to watch their kick ins. They're very aggressive and will go straight down the middle and they've scored a number of goals from it. Centre bounces they'll quite often try to nullify the contest and get a secondary stoppages. As much as they're the best stoppage team in the AFL, they're 11th for centre clearances. Lycett doesn't have a great leap but if he can body up the opposition ruckman, he's quite good at taking the ball and getting the kick away. They'll also bring players like Byrne-Jones and Powell-Pepper up to the stoppage to block.
As Paddycripps said, the key is to win the contested ball. They're a bit like St Kilda in that they'll back their team mates in to win the contest and run forward of the ball looking for the cheap possession. When you have the ball though, their pressure is very good, they'll happily peel off their opponent and get in your face with pressure and force the turnover. They kick long, use the corridor and back their tall forwards in. Dixon can be lethal or he can be shitful. Jones should get the job as he may be too tall for Weitering IMHO.
I'm really looking forward to to. We'll soon see where we're at. They have a great record at Metricon (4 wins this year) but lost their only game at the GABBA.