Certainly don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but with the bye after the Richmond game and then North, we could then be ready to load up with guys like Weitering, Walsh, Martin and Motlop coming back to present some selection headaches.
Richmond will be better with Martyn and possibly Nankervis back this week.
Grainger-Barrass from Hawks copped a turf toe injury early in the pre-season games and was listed for 10-12 weeks out......hopefully Motlop's isn't that bad.
Agree with the earlier post.....Elijah Hollands probably straight in for Round 3....he showed enough in those pre-season games.
Carroll did more than enough on Friday night to hold his spot and probably come into the 22. I'm not sure Cincotta comes in as we have Newman, Saad, Williams and Boyd as the smaller/running defenders.
Fantasia didn't get a lot of the ball the other night, but when he did, some of his disposal was superb and he could be a bit of a surprise packet this year.
I doubt we'll be experimenting too much. Acres has been one of the standout wingmen in the competition and his running ability makes it a great position for him. He covers the ground as good as anyone.
Ollie Hollands was pretty quiet but his form in the pre-season games suggests he'll hold his spot.
So maybe it's just Carroll into the 22 and Binns in as the sub.
Richmond were terrible yesterday in the first half and if we get plenty of ball, Curnow and Harry should have a night out.
A weird feeling. Almost resigned to the fact that it'll end today.....but at the same time, confident that if we DID win, we're capable of beating Collingwood next week.
I'm with you GTC....Kemp and Owies have been good. Owies averaging nearly 1.5 goals per year for the games he's played, not to mention the forward pressure stuff that him and Motlop apply.
I'd be staggered if Boyd comes in....he was playing well until he got suspended but has missed way too much footy to risk it in a game like this?
Sounding less likely that Payne will be available for Brisbane....unless they're talking it up as a "tactic". Regardless, Voss sounded pretty sure, assuming he's fit, that McKay will come straight back in, along with Martin.
Assuming Acres and Docherty are right to go, we're pretty much at full strength other than Williams and Silvagni. As much as I'd love JSOS in the team, he's missed too much footy now to risk bringing him back. The Pitto/TDK combination has worked really well in the first two finals....both were huge last week in different ways and nullified Gawn's overall influence.....along with TDK's two goals.
Safe travels to all you east coasters heading up to the Gabba for the game.
Cunningham is one that's likely to go out. He's been good since coming back into the team but quiet in recent weeks.
I'd keep Owies in. Him and Motlop provide plenty of pressure and as someone else mentioned, Owies has consistently hit the scoreboard when he plays. I think Kennedy might be the other one that makes way, with Hollands remaining as the sub.
I thought Marchbank was ordinary on Friday night and made plenty of errors. But likely we'll need him down back as the other "tall" to maybe play on Hipwood.
Silvagni/Motlop in for Martin/Harry.......Dow or Kennedy as the sub. Personally, I'd opt for Dow just because of a bit of extra leg speed later in the game. Only other possibility might be an extra smaller defender given Melbourne won't be playing too tall unless they bring Brown or Schache in.....likely it'll be McDonald and Joel Smith up forward.
Love the confidence LP but not sure Martin could get off that one.....it looked pretty ordinary and while Blakey returned to the field, it's gotta be one week IMO. It was pretty clumsy.
Martin is a big loss for us. His form since coming back into the team has been excellent and pretty sure he's hit the scoreboard nearly every week in that run. Was at the game on Friday night, and seeing it live you get to see the work he does off the ball....he's very tough and hard at it. Hopefully we can get up this week, and get his suspension down to one week so both him and Harry would be available the week after.
If JSOS is fit, straight in this week, and still play both ruckmen.
I'd like to see Motlop into the 22 and maybe Dow as the sub.
Marchbank was pretty shaky early on Friday night but steadied and I thought he was okay. Playing him would also give us the option of swinging McGovern forward at stages if needed.
Charlie, Doc and Cripps were all a bit below their best for big parts of the game last week, so plenty of upside there too.
Goal at the beginning of the year was to make finals....we've done it. And to bounce back from being 15th on the ladder and finish 5th was a fair effort given we were missing blokes like McGovern, Cerra, Walsh, Silvagni, Kennedy, McKay and a few others for a lot of that winning sequence. And in that run, beat 3 of the top 4 teams as well as St Kilda who were 5th at the time.
Shawny....I guess the fact that Sydney are perennial finalists, and we're playing our first finals match in a decade, was always going to mean the focus was on us. I'd like to think that someone like Voss, who's been there and done it on the biggest stage as a player, would be the perfect bloke to keep them focused this week.
Assuming all of Cripps, Doc, Pittonet and Motlop come back in.....that's 4 reasonably unlucky ones to miss out this week....and possibly one more if Kennedy was to be selected too?
IMHO....Fogarty, Durdin or Fisher, Marchbank (with Dow the sub)....and one other....wouldn't want to be sitting on the MC this week.