Blue Vain wrote:
I'd forget one on one footy for starters. Playing with designated opponents all over the ground gives the opposition MC the ascendency straight away.
If we give them the opportunity to manipulate the structures around the ground, we may as well give up now. Gibbs will be dragged into the BP, Murphy will be taken out of the square and we'll end up with 2nd stringers doing the work.
We should go in with one or two tags and a couple of accountable forwards.
Our midfielders are a strength. Dont give up any ascendency we may have. I suspect Clinton Jones will run with Judd. I'd be happy with that. We just need to smash him at every opportunity. Juddy isn't overly accountable but then again, Jones doesn't hurt you with his ball use as some can. I'd perhaps look at running someone with Hayes and put AJ on Montagna out on the wing. Let Murphy go head to head with whoever they want (I suspect he'll end up with Ball) and tell him to work hard into the forwardline at every opportunity.
As we saw with NM, pressure is the key. The Saints defenders love running forward of the ball. If we can apply chasing pressure and force turnovers, they'll get hurt badly going the other way. Montagna is a big target for us. They struggle for footspeed and he's one of their few mids who can run and carry.
If you go through their list, they have a lot of players with serious deficiencies in their games. They just function well as a team and everyone does their job. I'd run Carrots on Goddard as a half forward. I'd tell him to get right up Goddards nose. BJ has a tendency to lose focus and play the tough man when he's physically challenged recently.
The one area of concern is our lack of a tall defender who can zone off and be third man up at backline contests. I know some people bemoan Waites loss in this area but IMO, his value was cutting off leads. If you look at Geelong, Hawthorn and St Kilda, they have defenders who drop off their own opponent at the appropriate time and assist a teammate with a spoil. We dont do that anywhere near well enough. Too often our backmen are left to contest one on one marking duels. It's been a problem for years and the Saints will hurt us if we allow them them ascendency in this area.
Carlos on Kosi, Bower on Riewoldt, T/bird as a defensive forward on Sam Fisher, Carrots forward on Goddard and AJ on Montagna.
I've been an advocate of Fish but I'd bring in Harts to give us a bit more flexibility.
Spot on...!
The two players they do get drive into 50 from are Goddard and Montagna.
Fisher hasnt had as good a year.
Gilbert is very one sided and turns like the Queen Mary..also he panics under pressure especially if ball is coming in from a height...
You want them to be using Gram and Jones.. they have awful disposal especially under pressure.
They lack foot speed and i agree on Hartlett.. he should come in for this game.
Another genuine tall forward that should be able to kick pretty well from 50 to stretch them... and look for him.
We need alot of forward line pressure cos they set up from half back.
Gardiner in and King out is a plus as King is a mongrel.. and we should be able to exploit McEvoy...
Then hope that defensively we can do ok on Riewoldt and Kosi.. with Bower and Setanta... with Setanta looking to run out of the 50 at every opportunity .
Win the midfield and pick at their weak players...
We need to isolate a few of them this week...
Intensity will be the key..