WIth no Doc/JSOS available, this is almost our best 23 with probably Motlop and Fogarty as the only ones to come in....and maybe Williams if in form. If Marchbank could stay on the park I could see him being the second key defender.You've forgotten about another bloke who could be useful right about now in Saad! Will be good to get him back
On paper, both teams look very evenly matched. We've probably got the two better key forwards, but they've got arguably the best key defender combo in the game. Midfields are probably pretty even although Gawn probably gives them a slight edge...but we have two ruckmen compared to Gawn and Van Rooyen as backup.
I don't really get the criticism of Lewis Young. He might provide a few heart in mouth moments but I thought that he defended very well against Collingwood and did the job on Cox and Cameron when they went forward.I reckon Weitering will have to take Petty given the latter is a lot bigger than Kemp or McGovern....a player who has given Melbourne a different look up forward is ex defender Turner who is 194cm. There might have been a case to keep Young in the team this week for the extra height. Petracca when resting forward will also need a minder and with Fritsch and Pickett also in attendance its going to be a busy night in defense if they get enough supply.
Only two of Young's eight marks were contested but he led the way for us with nine 1%ers and only Nic Newman had more intercepts. On top of that, he only had one turnover for the game, not bad for a "panic merchant".
I imagine that Weitering will take Van Rooyen and we'll need another tall KPD to go with Petty and Gawn when he goes forward.
I wouldn't play Kemp on Fritsch. Fritsch is too elusive and would exploit Kemp when he provides the extra at marking contests.
A Friday night game against the Swans who are flying in Sydney. Doesn't get much harder than that!Wonder how Will Hayward will be treated by our blokes......