Next Sunday night at 19:20 at the MCG.
I guess we'll see if the Drug Cheats have a dead cat bounce.
Danger game... :D
It actually could be.
Out tails are up, we'd be as big a favourites as Geelong were last night.
You get ahead of yourself, and the unexpected can happen.
Will they get their sugar hit?
We'll know a bit more about that tomorrow night.
Hirds first game for a while as coach....
They do have a long injury list and will be returning from a trip to the West. But we are all aware that Carl v Ess often delivers unexpected outcomes.
The biggest challenge for Fraser this week is making sure the group don't get ahead of themselves and turn up next Sunday thinking it will be a walk in the park.
Id like to think this is a win for us but there is always:
1. "Dead" coach bounce.
2. Carlton doing Carlton things.
Might even be no changes this week. Its must win.
We will win by 10 goals plus imo....the cries for Hird the savior will only get louder. Welsh and his mates will be cheering us on...
Be interesting to see how they come back from the west.
The weather over there is supposed to be pretty bad this weekend with some wet and windy conditions.
Talk of worst conditions in ten years.
Whether that is still the case at match time we'll have to wait and see.
Well the heavy rain didn't come.
But the wind did.
While Essendon and West Coast aren't the most skilful of sides the wind probably made skills look worse than they actually were.
The trip West shouldn't be a big factor.
So suddenly we have a bit of pressure on us.
They have little on them.
They didn't get the sugar hit.
The expectation will be that we should account for them quite easily.
And that's where we often come undone.
We're on a high after the Geelong game.
Some of our younger players are in uncharted waters with the 'heavy favourite' tag.
They haven't experienced the 'two steps forward, one step back.' situation AFL often throws up.
So next weekend will be as much about mental preparation as the tactical approach.
Solomon has shown he's not afraid to shake things up a bit and given their position there will probably be a few surprises in selections as they seek to evaluate their list. They also have a huge injury list and some of those may be inclusions next week. It all makes planning a little more difficult.
Realistically we should win, and win fairly easily....but there will no doubt be some point where the run comes to an end and we drop a game, and these sometimes come when you least expect them.
Keep it clinical and we should be OK
Ended up a dead cat splat. They didn't lift one bit in intensity.
cripps late withdrawl guy needs a rest
Lets see what happens next Sunday.
Yes, still have to keep the eye on the prize.
I'd rather not underestimate CheatsFC, they are most likely playing possum just to stick it to us.
My personal preference is that if I see them playing dead on the road is to line them up on the right front and accelerate! ;)
Our older heads should be using this game to put the CheatsFC kids into a submissive and subservient mindset for the next decade, like so many teams have done to us before. Hurt them so much, they can't see any hope against us!
Whoever (teams) hasn't realised you have to play 4 qtrs at high level week after week, will get beaten by anyone. The penny seems to have dropped with our blokes, they have a taste of winning and it seems they like it. Flirt with form and odds at your peril.
Yep. In a funny way this game on Sunday is another test - winning a game we're expected to win, and win it well. How often have we made hard work or even fallen over against a lesser opposition over the years!
I we plan and treat every opponent like they are "Geelong", we will do ok.
Nic Newman apparently underwent finger surgery today. Availability for this game yet to be determined.
I believe that Newey’s return to the team is a significant factor in our changed fortunes. He’ll be missed if he doesn’t come up, even against the floundering Bombers.
He has done a few very ordinary and un-Newmy like things since his return. He may be on the slide. I personally wouldn't say his return was a significant factor in our 3 wins.
hope this this NOT another richmond game ,red hot fav etc etc
Bombers want an assistance package and the first pick, they wont be interested in winning.
This weeks MC will be most interesting, because I suspect in the absence of injury Fraser would be starting to think "we don't want too much change", it's a natural consequence of having some recent success.
But on the flipside, you could make a valid argument that it's selection changes bringing some of the benefit, you could even argue it was dropping Hewett for a couple of weeks that was the trigger for our new level of intensity.
Acres come in last week with wares to sell. Ison, Byrne and Young in the weeks prior, something to show.
Too many changes can be bad, not enough can be just as bad.
If Walsh has sore shoulder no point flogging him, give him a rest. If Newman has a broken finger rest him also. They can come back in 2 weeks against the Giants.
3 ins, no outs
Williams, Derkson Lord.
All 3 are on the extended bench with 3 to come out from them and the following 5
Cowan
F. Young
Byrne
Ison
Hewett
Our lineup for the moment:
B: 35 Harry Dean 23 Jacob Weitering 26 Nick Haynes
HB: 24 Nic Newman 14 Oliver Florent 15 Billy Wilson
C: 5 Adam Cerra 18 Sam Walsh 13 Blake Acres
HF: 19 Will Hayward 11 Mitch McGovern 12 Ben Ainsworth
F: 17 Brodie Kemp 10 Harry McKay 44 Francis Evans
R: 27 Marc Pittonet 9 Patrick Cripps 7 Jagga Smith
Int: 2 Lachlan Cowan 29 George Hewett 45 Flynn Young 39 Talor Byrne 30 Jack Ison 6 Zac Williams 36 Cooper Lord 47 Wade Derksen
I guess we'll have to wait to see if Nic Newman plays. He has been good in recent weeks.
1 ruck vs 2: Bryan has played well on Pitto before, but he is coming off a serious injury. But this is a structural issue we cannot do much about with our 3 rucks. Hopefully, we can recruit a jumper this year.
Blakiston ... I haven't seen enough of him to know if he is any good, but he is a jumper.
Historically, we haven't done so well when we've been expected to win. I hope he can reverse that trend.
On paper and form, this should be a certain win. However, it has become the case that any team can beat any other team, regardless of ladder position, form, or history. All it takes is for the underdog to play to its full potential and the favourites to be just a little off their best.
As others have suggested, this will be a real test for us. We could serve up a thorough shellacking but I won’t be surprised if it’s a fairly tight contest.
While I accept that Newey and Worpa might benefit from sitting this one out, “managing” players could well contribute to overconfidence, as well as weakening/unbalancing the team. I reckon that Geelong is regretting “managing” Jack Martin.
Rumour around Weitering might not play.(calf).
Wait for official word.
Weitering officially out according to the CFC website. Minor calf strain.
Not what we need. Hopefully, he'll be right after the bye, but he is a significant loss.
If you have to, it's a good time to do a mid-season restoration.
But I'm a bit worried about Weiters, since Voss departed he's looked a little indifferent, and the rumours never quite go away!
Disagree LP. I thought he was really solid last week, even smiled broadly after the win.
Seems engaged to me.
Now that Voss has gone yeah.
Not sure I fully understand the preference of Derksen over L Young as Weitering's replacement but anyhow.
Both have been performing well in the VFL.
It could be a match-up thing with the Essendon forwards.
It could be as simple as wanting to see a bit more of Derksen at senior level.
Both give you a bit of flexibility in terms of switching them forward.
It may be that a decision has already been made on Young and the jury is still out on Derksen.
(Some of those are probably questionable seeing as we don't have a list manager to make those decisions) ::)
Yep. Let's not start jumping at shadows... could be something really mundane like Weiters bit worried about carrying an injury!
He was as "happy as a pig in mud" after the win last week. ;D
Yes, going with two KPDs with only 15 games between them is a risk and they will both be conceding height.
Derksen is quicker and more mobile and doesn’t serially hold up play as Young is inclined to do. Both have been playing well in the magoos and I probably would have gone with Young. Derksen is a riskier selection but perhaps more suited to the way we’re transitioning from defence.
Even with Derksen, Dean and Wilson, our defence is significantly more experienced than Essendon’s forwards.
If the team applies the same pressure on the Bummers midfielders as we have the past few weeks, there won't be much clean ball going forward and our defence will be fine.
A good win tomorrow should see us jump North on the ladder on percentage.
Times are desperate when we’re struggling to get above North on the ladder 🤞
How many times have we said this and we have failed?
It's a game we should win comfortably but for some reason I feel edgy. Think i'm just mentally scarred after all these years.
This is known as life of a Carlton supporter.
I too are not comfortable at all about tonight's game, complacency may bring us undone.
We have no reason to to be complacent, surely we come out hard tonight.
Another uneasy one here. Reason? Expectation. We've really had nothing to lose over the past three weeks, now we're favourites... expected to win (and win well). Anything could happen. We'll learn more about the 'above the shoulders' tonight.
We need to be fully focused and in the most ruthless mood possible. Take no prisoners!
Nope, not just win, we need to be focussed on crushing an opponent for a generation.
Hurting them to the point this generation of CheatsFC players never recover, eternally subservient to Carlton, we must show we are prepared to inflict an eternal bruise! ;)
Until we develop that killer instinct, we are consigned to mediocrity, there is no playing nice, nice in AFL is reserved for also rans!
I apologise if I offend someone with comments like this, but it is reality, not an idealistic meme!
Seems there are a lot of nervous supporters on the forum. I'm not one of them.
JF won't allow any complacency to creep in and nor will the younsters.
The Blues by 55.
Agree...Bombers are no good and hopefully we slaughter them and they react by wanting the messiah Hird back and then they stay down for another ten years.
If ever there was a kiss of death, this is it.
We should win and should win by 10 goals.
Whether we do....well....we all barrack for Carlton, so we know what thats like.