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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL First Wildcard Final 2026 Pre Game Predictions Carlton vs Melbourne at the G
Last post by DJC -
Melbourne has gone with a very short team.  Their average height is around 186cm to our 188cm (and Gawn’s 209cm is a significant outlier).

Melbourne has six players who are 190cm or taller and we have ten.  Melbourne has one player over 200cm and we have three.

Now, the old saying is that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.  Countering that is the maxim, a good big man will always beat a good small man and, all things being equal, that’s true.  Dean vs Pickett should mean that Dean wins around seven out of ten contests, but Kosi’s three wins could result in three goals.

Then there’s the old adage about tall players not getting any shorter as the game goes on.  While that’s true too, good ball delivery can negate a height advantage.

All that waffle boils down to us having a significant height advantage, but that advantage will only make a difference if we play to the best of our ability.



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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL First Wildcard Final 2026 Pre Game Predictions Carlton vs Melbourne at the G
Last post by crashlander -
Our line-up:

B:   2 Lachlan Cowan   23 Jacob Weitering   4 Oliver Hollands
HB:   15 Billy Wilson   35 Harry Dean   26 Nick Haynes
C:   13 Blake Acres   9 Patrick Cripps   5 Adam Cerra
HF:   12 Ben Ainsworth   11 Mitch McGovern   44 Francis Evans
F:   36 Cooper Lord   10 Harry McKay   39 Talor Byrne
R:   27 Marc Pittonet   18 Sam Walsh   7 Jagga Smith
Int:   14 Oliver Florent   29 George Hewett   33 Lewis Young   17 Brodie Kemp   46 Matthew Cottrell
Em:   47 Wade Derksen   30 Jack Ison   25 Liam Reidy

[1] Derksen a bit stiff, but, if we win, he'll probably get another chance. He's done everything he could.

[2] Interesting to see Reidy as an Emergency. Especially as Melbourne have named Heath as an emergency. What are they trying to tell us?

[3] Have we matched up? Melbourne are structurally different to us. Hopefully, our forwards can do the job.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL First Wildcard Final 2026 Pre Game Predictions Carlton vs Melbourne at the G
Last post by Baggers -
I was sure that we already had a thread for this game but I can't find it.

One change for us; Nick Haynes comes in for Wade Derksen who has been demoted to emergency.

Wade is stiff to miss out but Melbourne relies on its small and medium forwards - as well as Gawn drifting forward.

Yep, understandable. Keeping Lewis Y in the side is also a good move.