FWIW, I've just watched highlights of the previous Geelong clash and highlights of last Saturday.
In both games Byrne set a tone with tackles and bumps on bigger and heavier opponents. In Rnd 12 he smashed Blicsav's, on Saturday he had two significant momentum changing tackles and a big physical contest in our D50, how the stats claim otherwise is bizarre as they just cannot be missed. You can't find that sort of contest or create it easily, it's something that gives to the team and it is contagious.
The bump on Sharp in particular left the opponent wondering WFT, you know that is the response when they get up and look around to see who it was, Byrne had long moved on!
Pitto or Cripps stopping someone in their tracks goes largely unnoticed, Byrne or Evans doing it sets a tone.
i am not really confident about this game ,we finally meet a team at full strength and a week off ,we need to go to another level lets hope so
The start will be critical, getting the right balance between attack and defence, momentum control, we gave them a head start last time we played, just like last Saturday, we can't do that repeatedly and expect to win, especially in finals.
I suspect Scott the Elder will have his team try on the Berserker tactic early, to take the run out of our legs.
Last time they didn't ruck Blicsav much, they tried Neale, this time I expect they will split the ruck more evenly between Edwards and Blicsav unless Blicsav is carrying some injury we don't know about.
Acres will want to be in form and making them hurt with deep running both ways.
They will have lost Holmes who played well against us, and we have Hewett back.
I thought in the previous game our D50 was down, basically a one man show under Weiters, but we got hold of them from the ruck. Also if I recall, our DE was horrendous, much like last weekends 1st-Qtr. I'm pretty sure we got the mix wrong, we had Ison, Young, Byrnes and Evans all in, and Evans not yet in form. With the pill exiting our F50 like a bullet train, and Bailey Smith hitting up targets inside our D50, our D50 struggled to cover the options, yet we won courtesy of Walsh et. al!
Byrne did get involved a bit, but dropped 2-3 easy marks (he wasn't alone in that) and also appeared quite fumbly and nervous with ball in hand - finals nerves but he wasn't alone. Haywood for Young makes good sense too, as you say it just depends which way they want to go, and if haynes gets up or not.
It's the unwillingness to ruck Cameron anywhere on the ground that makes the situation interesting. I understand avoiding the center square, but I've never really understood why they do not have him take stoppages inside the arc, it just doesn't make sense.
Last time we played you may recall they rucked Neale and he came off lame.
The latest forecast I've seen is rain late Friday evening after 10pm, or early Saturday.
If Haynes is an out, can Derksen and Hayward both come in, it could give us the necessary freshness to keep us competitive?
I presume as everyone will, if Hayward is fit then he is a given. Geelong's lack of ruck stocks makes it interesting about the 2nd ruck role. I'm dead set curious which direction Fraser takes, but I think we have no better coach to assess this issue.
If I recall correctly, last time we played, it wasn't a great night for rucks from either side.
Expect another Dangflog human missile effort, it's been his trend in recent times but he's generally pretty much cooked early in finals now. Will he again be able to torpedo opponent legs without being penalized?
Same for me, replay only and I agree what you say. If Haywood is fit and ready, then I think Byrne or Cottrell makes way.; but I think Byrne because he looked lost and out of his depth and had zero impact. Byrne wasn't alone tbh, but we don't want to start making too many changes to a winning combo.
I thought Byrne did OK at becoming a target as the Dees sat on Evans, Byrne attracting the footy a couple of times on the wing helped diffuse the Evans tag, even if not much come out of it. Of course I concede Hayward will cover this easily, but I don't think that Byrne wasn't contributing.
Given the Cats ruck situation, Edwards then Blicsav, I wouldn't be surprised if Young goes out for Hayward, it may depend on Pitto's freshness.
I could see Cottrell or Lord in a negative role on Bailey Smith, so the MC might want to preserve those options, last time we played Smith was let off the hook.
If Haynes is an out it may be unlucky for Derksen, if Hayward gets up Hayward / Haynes might well be the only change, or we could also see Derksen / Young if Haynes is an out. I thought last time we played the Handbaggers our problem was stopping them scoring, despite Weiters having one of his better games before he went out, our F50 functioned pretty well.
I can tell you the club that has historically been into Weiters more than any other, courtesy of his relative's activities at player management level, is Melbourne. The team Weiter's barracked for before becoming a Bagger, and a team short of KPDs after the ultimate demise of May and the ongoing injury issues of Lever.
The "Norp" part of the "Norp Melb" rumour is the error / fiction, and none of this necessarily means Weiter's himself has had any involvement, which is often the case.
Player Managers usually act in the best interests of the "Player" and the "Player Manager"!
We shouldn't be shocked, excluding a few radical fans, players like Weiters, Walsh, Cripps, Harry, etc., etc., are in high demand, if there is even a slight chance they will be investigated.
Just as well Pickett was busy being a show pony - flying for big marks and trying to kick goals whenever he was inside the 50 metre arc - we might have been behind at 3/4 time if he had managed to kick some of the goals
True, but we had already hit the post 3 times by then, and would do it again.
Bad start, terrible skills early, but what a finish. Walsh, Jagga, Weiters, Pitto take a bow.
Bad becasue of skills not because we were outplayed, we must always look at the game on it's merit and not focus on the outcome, I thought we had more footy than the Dees despite not finishing.
Pitto terrific again, by the end of the game he had Gawn covered and was doing his solo clearance trick. Just needs to clunk a few more marks and he'd be in the votes.
IMO (and this is a separate issue), the AFL's desire for supersonic footy is making the game unwatchable. The skills errors in this game were appalling.
I agree, on average it's ordinary, when it's done well it's electric.
We sort of judge the style based on outcome, convert a few of those late behinds it would have swayed fan opinion, because we failed to finish a lot of good work it loses some gloss, but I feel we were quite dominant all game, even when we were four goals down I said as much to @Thryleon in the coaches thread.
Some of the gloss comes off because of umpiring variability, but it must be very difficult to umpire the chaos. We've talked about in danger, was any paid tonight, and how many times did players run with the footy get caught and not penalised, it's inconsistent at best and that inconsistency can determine the outcome.
I thought we made it too easy early, kicked predictably and that gave the few Dees talls an easy run not forcing them to move. When we stretch them we look better and we found more space. Run Gawn into the ground, they'll either have to rest him or do without him at the contests, and without him they are half the side.
Not sure how Kosi keeps getting so much space.
Already dropped too many marks, hopefully no more, blokes get hit up and drop it cold, that isn't a game plan or midfield problem. Some weeks Harry looks like he reliant on the umpires awarding infringements, if they don't he is not involved, just clunk it Harry, don't get too technical.
