Hi crew

Thought I would get in early and hope too get some constructive input from my fellow TCers on who we should match up with who.

I genuinely believe we are a big chance, just hope we get our selections right.

Plenty in the know more than me.

I am a big wrap for Lance in the forward line, and I really hope we have the balls too play a forward structure similar to:

Waite Whitnall Fisher

Lappin Fevola Betts / Murphy

And a backline

Saddington Livingston Walker

Houla Thornton Bannister ??

As much as I would like Walker in the mid field, I would like him (after his efforts on Croad) too have first crack at Richo. Could run with him on the lead, and position himself well enough too take the one on one stuff (sure Richo is a bit bigger and stronger but is he smarter).

Livo could come in and take the resting ruckman perhaps ie Stafford / Simmonds. Simmonds may have slightly more pace, although McLaren may drop down if height is exposed.

And the like of Thornton, Saddo, Houla, and Bannister we could get constructive match ups on.

Doubt Brown will play, although if he did it probably would suit us, as he is well short of the player he was.

Our defense would have some great rebound / attacking ability. Russell is a chance at a swap with Houla.

Our forward line I think would be potent, sure this means that De Luca and Ohailpin may have a spell in the twos. Alhtough De luca could come off the bench.

I think he was a lot better last week, but we just need too focus him on going the next step, and translating his marks and game in contested marks and possessions that will really hurt the opposition.

Sentanta is great in what he has done, but with that forward structure, and potentially a Kennedy and Harteltt etc available in the future, how can we give him the time too develop into a key forward. He has mobility, but seems a bit lost. Leadership on the field will help him heaps (which I believed we lacked early last week, until Lance went forward)

But just not sure we have the time anymore - happy too be proved wrong as I would love it too work.

(Question - how would Sentanta's future at the club effect his brothers development. Ie if he was delisted over the next year or two, would his brother be able too deal with that or not ?)

Mid field wise who do we run with Deledio, is it Carrots. He would have the leg speed (nearly), and seems our only option.

In terms of Ruckman - toss a coin, depends on the night. Simmonds is more likely too hurt us kicking goals, and too a lesser extent Stafford. I think French and Mclaren can hold their own in the rucking contest though.


Too bring in a Bannister, Livingston, Fevola and Waite, four must go out though, that's the other hard bit I had.

O'hailpin, Teague, ?, ?

How hard is that.

Just hoping for some ideas to brew on in the next few days.

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Supporting the Blues No Matter What

i would really like to see walker on richo too.....seems like he is developing nicely into an excellent rebound defender, a la andrew mckay but with a bigger body and more pace.

i think carrots has to get first crack at deledio, although i think deledio may very well carve up carrots...perhaps a run with roll for AB??? see what he's like at tagging.

Lance will play back with waite and fev to come in and i would really like to see deluca dropped for chris bryan....this would also give us the option of bryan dropping back and covering richmonds resting ruckman and kicking out from defence and pushing lance forward. but i just think bryan at CHF taking marks and bombing it into the square where fev will beat any defender richmond can throw at him one out is a great option.

what about Tuck?? prolific ball winner..........i'd start with cory mcgrath and failing that, give the job to lappo.

thats my two cents

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Walker on Richo sounds good. Walker's defensive punching in marking contests this year has been outstanding, he seems to judge it perfectly almost every time.

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Will we see Murphy on DeLedio?? Probably not but man, will I be excited if it did happen!!! AB's would be way too slow for DeLedio so I doubt that we would see that match up bnz.

If Richmond go with a tall forward line we will struggle. Richo, Stafford, Simmonds & Pattison (although he's not that good) will be difficult for us to shut down so I definitely think Lance needs to play back this week.

Bowden will probably get Fev, as I think Gaspar is still going to be out (??). Other than that, I can't see their back line troubling us too much..

We will win.

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Walker on Richo..... I dunno. Richo has a good 4-5cms on Croad. Walker on Richo might be a stretch, and if Walker's run got going they'd drag Richo back to the square. I think Walker on Pettifer or someone like that is more likely. We should be trynig to get Walker on their least effective forward to encourage the run. Some one like Rodan if he's there. Walker would tear Rodan a new cake-hole

T-bird on Richo, Whitnall on Simmonds, Setanta on Stafford!

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If Livo comes in we have three guys Livo, Thornton and Saddington capable of sharing the load against, Stafford Richo and Simmons.

Throw in McClaren(Lance) who could match up super on Stafford (IMO ) and i think we have the guys capable of holding there own.

Walker to be used on Richo is a waste for mine. I would much rather Walker exploited someone of lesser "quality". ( Unless Brown Plays then he gets Brown fit or not so fit and runs him ragged. )

Walker becomes our most influential defensive player this week. If our "Big Boys" hold there own Walker becomes very damaging. And if Brown is out then Carrots can play back and this can release Walker up the grough into the midfield.

"Lids" I would be happy to see Banno as an inclusion just to be another option available if required.

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I would go Walker vs Deledio. Livo vs Richo - afterall, thats what Livo was recruited to do.

Walker vs Deledio would be exciting to watch.

I think we match up very well with Tigers, and have a distinct height advantage over them in our forwardline with the inclusion of Waite and Fevola, whilst they have a height advantage over us in their fowardline. We also seem to have bigger bodied midfielders and a good rebounding HB with Walker and Lappin or Houla and Scotland.

Success for the Tigers has come from their height advantage and Brown (2005) in their forwardline.

We have to cover

204 Stafford
196 Richo
191 Bowden

We have

198 O'hAlpin (if he is selected)........Stafford
193 Saddington..............................Richo
192 Thornton.................................Bowden
190 Whitnall (Richo leads all over the place, and I'd want Whits in the 50m arc)
189 Walker (Too small for Richo, and I don't want him in the last line)

Regardless of condition, someone to tag Brown at FF...and whilst Walker could do the job, I would rather give that job to McGrath, or we would have to use Houla or Carrazzo therefore robbing them from our midfield.

Tuck, Delidio and Coghlan did the damage last week, and Delidio needs to be tagged by Carrazzo or Murphy. Bentick on Coghlan with the 188 cm Tuck a hard match up , but maybe good for Kouta and Stevens with Johnson. I would prefer Kouta at CHF, with DeLuca in a FP (unless Kennedy is a surpise selection), but Tuck is a worry.

IMO it looks like our forwardline will be:

HF: Fisher 191 Tivendale 186/ DeLuca 202 Hall 196/ Waite 194 Bowden 188
FF: Betts 173 Raines 182/ Fevola 191 Kellaway 190/ Murphy 178 Newman 183

Kouta at CHF and DeLuca (with gloves) in a FP would surely stretch them if the boys in the middle get the nut and deliver it well to our strengths. Therefore a good match up for Tuck could be Houla or Walker.

Whilst I would like to retain Russell and O'hAlpin, I think one may be retained although Bannister deserves Russell's spot. I think it will be:

OUT: Teague O'hAlpin
IN: Fevola Waite

I can't see who would make room for Bannister (on Bowden) or Prenders, who both had excellent games for the BullAnts let alone trying to fit in Kennedy (for DeLuca...doubt it). Can't see Simpson or McGrath being dropped for a relatively quiet game last week.

At this early stage, with the Tigers having two good games in a row, and almost at full stregth it will be a close one with the Blues winning by 33 points.

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Yeh Walker is no good to us in the backline he just gives us too much drive and run whilst he beats his opponent. Let him loose, I say put him on the ball where he can get tagged and scragged and then we will see him in full flight

I think we're seeing him at full flight now because he's played IN defence.... its a simple premise for him, and one perfect for a player his age. Spoil your man... get it... run forward and deliver.

I think Walker is almost our most effective defender. He and Lappin are our drive, and Walker has been awesome so far. Walker would be doing really well in our B&F at the minute.

I would be using Walker as our Lindsay Gilbee. Get him on the worst forward so he can exploit him for run... and keep encouraging him to break the lines. Don't let him get dragged to the goalsquare. Use McGrath/Russell deep in defence and rotate if Walker's man drags him back.

I would be minimising Walker's defensive expectation and increasing his attacking ones (but, from defence)

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FB Carrazzo Thornton Mcgrath
HB Walker Saddington Lappin
C Simpson Murphy Russell
HF Waite Whitnall Houla
FF Fisher Fev Betts
Ruck French Stevens Bentick

Int from McLaren Scotland Kennedy McGrath
In Waite Fev Kennedy
Out Setanta Teague ADL

This isn't a bad looking team sheet. Problem is, we're still along way from competing with the big boys How can we improve this? who goes?

We could either play this structure or drop Lance lose in defence and try to open up the F50 (yeah right). Alternatively, Lance to FF Fev to CHF pinging them from 60 out.

I have confidence that Denis is designing a team to bring back the game plan we all love. Brisbane dominated only 2 years ago with KP football, we can lead the comp back to the promised land with a new structure.

By the way, I don't think ADL will be dropped but I'm hoping we can see Kennedy squeeze into the side somewhere soon.

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If we play a tall forward line I reckon we should play Eddie and Lappo predominantly up forward - one of our biggest weaknesses, IMO, is the constant ease in which the ball is rebounded from our fwd line when the ball hits the deck.

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"I had to eat"

Need someone more accountable than Fev on Bowden. Have to isolate Fev one-out in the goal square against him, and give him space. If he's double-teamed look out for teammates who will then not have an opponent.

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I'm not sure what line P.Bowden plays on, but I'd like to see Walker match up on Bowden or Jackson and run them into the ground.

I'd wouldn't mind putting Lappin on Jackson so he can runoff and create, but Jackson's pretty solid for a kid and we might have to throw Russell onto him who has the height and pace to go with him. Both Russell and Jackson need to work on their awareness in traffic so it might be a good match up.

We should try to work Lappin onto Dwayne Russell's Brownlow winner Tambling because he'd beat him for run, carry and even strength.

I hope Waite plays because I'd like to see him isolated against Bowden in a one on one and hopefully reduce the damage he can create with his disposal off half back.

Simpson playing on Raines would be a good contest if it eventuates but I think Kade will take the honours.

Kane Johnson and Stevens will probably play wide of each other and get a lot of the ball.

I still think we should drop Deluca even though he wasn't terrible last week and go for a mobile forwardline with Fisher running big Ray Hall around on the HBF. He's good enough to push up the ground and will outrun him going forward to mark like he did against Hodge on Friday night.

Fevola will pants Kellaway or Hall or whoever they put him and perhaps we might see Richo in defence again.

I hope they pick Pattison again because Saddington would slaughter him for mobility on a Friday night at the G.

i'd bring in fev, waite (if ready) and banno

have to drop setanta, de luca and teague.

banno i reckon could go a run with role with tuck and be used if someone is getting carved up down back.

i say keep russell in if he's over the concusion. i'm happy for him to keep learning in the ones.

walker on rich is a good one. free's t-bird up to CHB.

with Fish Fev and Waite back we are looking a lot more potent.

Waite Whitnall Fisher
Betts Fev Kouta

a forward line like so would be very hard for the tigers to contain. Fish and waite would probably still be a tad under done though

I am wrapped to see so many thoughts early on, gives me some more too think about, and agree that sure Walker probably isn't s sensible option on Richo.

Keep the good info coming, it's been great too read.

Cheers

NOTE

Nathan Brown not playing this weekend

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Supporting the Blues No Matter What

can't waite for this game. First night game at the New MCG, tiges coming off a surprise win, blues playing well and due for a win.

should be a pretty decent crowd. i reckon anything under 60 000 is bad, but i'm not really expecting that many.

hope the spaces of the G will give our forwards room to move and our runners in russell, simpson, houla, walker, murphy and betts plenty of chances to use their speed and skill.

this game should be a lot of fun, too simillary placed clubs playing reall football hopefully without all the keepings off and uber flood bullshit.

i want to see some contested footy for a change.

i reckon bentick might rack up 30 odd like he didn in his last night game at the G

I really can't wait to get to the G, my favourite ground (ok, apart from MCL Park) & with the new stand finished it will be breathtaking. I didn't see any comm games at the G so this will my first time since boxing day. Bring it on!!!

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Only prob it is an away game

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Supporting the Blues No Matter What

got my 12 tickets today, just gave $392.40 to the tigers... ouch...

Livo must come in... if he doesn't whats the point of having him on the list.
Don't think Lance can take Richo or Simmonds, they are way to fast for Lance on the lead. Simmonds leads too much into the centre and Lance is not good there, Lance needs to be around 30-40 out to chop out Richo's leads.

Fev to bag 10 to make up for last week and we kick 20 goals 5 for the night.

We owe these pricks one, I was at the corresponding game last year when we got thumped and our season went backwards. Love to pump these a-holes by 12plus goals Friday night......... Can only hope that these pricks are tried after going to Perth and then Brisbane.