Carlton Supporters Club

Mirkov barely broke even against Sweet in the ruck. I don't think we need to rush him - coming along nicely but he is a big bloke and needs another pre season imo

I rate Sweet. His best is pretty good. He hasn't got a lot of time at the Dogs and he isn't consistent, but his best is much better than most of his opponents at VFL level. I was quite happy that Mirkov broke even with him.
Another guy I rate is Sam Hayes at Port. He has similar issues to to TDK, in that he isn't hugely strong, but he is a ruck on the rise. Both he and TDK will be better in the dry. At the moment, the bull-type ruck has the advantage. Pitto is our only bull.
Darcy is a bull, which puts TDK at a big disadvantage. Tom couldn't get on top of him last year when Darcy wasn't playing so well. While Tom has improved, his confidence is not what it was a couple of weeks back. Against Sydney he could do little wrong.
With the game at Marvel, Tom will play better: the conditions suit him more. But Jack hasn't been able to influence things. I'd bring in Mirkov: he has that extra reach that spoils Darcy's ability to direct the ball. He can also out-jump Lobb. The dry track also helps him.
If the game were at the MCG, I don't think I'd try him. He doesn't have the ability to out-body his opponents yet. But the dry track gives him a better chance.

I'd be tempted tp play Silvagni in defence against Taberner. I don't think he's the man to play on Lobb. I don't think Kemp is either. Lobb has that extra height, but struggles against physical opponents. We don't have any uninjured.

Jordan Sweet is the type of backup ruck we should pursue if the Dogs were looking to move him on, he is reasonably physical and has Pittonet type qualities in that he competes well without being a worldbeater and its surprised me why he hasnt been paired with English more and the Dogs have gone with Martin and now Schache who has no idea in the ruck imo.

I get the interest in Sweet, but didn't the Dogs have him behind Lewis Young in the backup ruck pecking order?

Is someone who is displaced by Schache as a ruck a viable option?

Sam Jacobs was displaced by Robbie Warnock and Shaun Hampson once upon a time.

Sam Jacobs was displaced by Robbie Warnock and Shaun Hampson once upon a time.

People are always worried about the bad stuff, they tend to see the worst case all the time.

If Freo load up on talls to "take advantage" of our bad tall defender situation, they better hit targets, because if the pill hits the deck they won't stop Saad, Doc, LoB and Boyd, even Durdin and Owies, streaming it out of our D50 almost unhindered! All we need is to ensure we have the pressure on in the midfield to affect those disposals entering our D50!

Swings and Roundabouts, there is always a way!

So we should pick them all just in case, obviously that is untenable!

I didn't read a single forum member on here positively mention Sweet when we were into Young, and both Sweet and Young have been in the system playing together since 2018.

No matter which one we pick up, some will assert in hindsight it should have been the other, some will assert it in advance!

I am really hoping for some post-bye lethargy from Freo.  They weren't that great against an undermanned Hawks team, and I am expecting that anything Lobb and Tabberner can produce will be significantly less than H and Charlie.

This is where we win the game if we can generate enough supply, Harry and Charlie are our trumps, we probably need more output from our small forwards to match the Freo group who stitched us up last time.