Round 1 team

[liz]

Last time - Bris 14.16 (100) d Syd 8.8 (56), preliminary final, 2003, at Telstra Stadium
The Swans dominated most of the match and looked like they would ruin Brisbane's three-peat a week early but the Lions showed why they are a champion team, kicking six unanswered goals in the final term to run away with the game.

- Lyall Johnson [/B]

Methinks Mr Johnson didn't actually watch that game. No way known did we dominate any part of that game other than the last 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter!!!

[The Boot]

Allright .. enough is enough.

Let's all put our POSITIVE-thinking hats on, class!

One more sleep, and then sweet dreams ... mmmm

[Sid]

I think everyone expects the lions to win. Personally I do too. But its an even younger team than we had last year, its the first round of the premiership season and we are playing last years premiers.

So although i dont expect a win, i expect the team to do their best and it will hopefully provide a positve for whats to come for the rest of the year. If we do pull of a win, then what a way to start of the year. A real confidence booster.

[Rizzo]

Matchups will be interesting -

Crouch on Aker is a given. Both will be looking forward to it

Voss on paper is starting in the centre (Kirk). How long will that last?

Saddo on Lynch doesn't make me that comfortable.

There no way Leppa will be able to keep up with Goodes for an entire quarter. Expect rotation.

If Magic gets good supply I'd expect him to tear up Michael

How long will Willo stay forward (if at all). Who gets the gorilla Johnson. Gee, his lost his cool at the SCG last year!

Double team on Hall?

LRT on Charman makes sense.

Our bench looks young!

Anything else worth comment?

[Go Swannies]

I've been presuming Mal Michael on Hall. You think he'll be on Magic?

[dendol]

He played on Hall for all the games last year didnt he? Bazza tore him up, especially in the last quarter, in that Gabba game just before the finals.

Lepptisch is probably the only one who can hold Goodes in that team. The others are either too short, or too slow, or not fit enough to keep up. Even Leppa will only be able to keep up with him for part of each quarter.

Willo will pay in the middle. He will go forward to rest.

[Captain]

Originally posted by penga
dont let his ungainly gait fool you, he is by no means slow... dont watch him in pursuit of the ball, watch a midfielder beside him and be surprised how well LRT keeps up

Hang on a sec fellas.

I wasn't having a go at LRT, I was only making a point that we have speed down back and he probably would be the slowest out of those named.

Fact is we are blessed for pace as opposed to size, hence my argument for including Rogers instead of Bevan.

[dendol]

hmm.. if you look at Brisbane's named forward line though, you will see that the two big guys are Lynch and Charman. It has widely been tipped that Leppitsch will only play if Lynch doesnt. Even if all three play, and they are all in the forward line, we still have Saddo, LRT, and Bolton to take them. Then there is Powell as well. Including another tall back there would be overkill. I think there is always more of a need to have runners in your side, especially when you come up against such a talented midfield that Brisbane have.

For Rogers to be included, I think one of Powell, Saddo, or LRT need to make way.

[Captain]

Originally posted by dendol
hmm.. if you look at Brisbane's named forward line though, you will see that the two big guys are Lynch and Charman. It has widely been tipped that Leppitsch will only play if Lynch doesnt. Even if all three play, and they are all in the forward line, we still have Saddo, LRT, and Bolton to take them. Then there is Powell as well. Including another tall back there would be overkill. I think there is always more of a need to have runners in your side, especially when you come up against such a talented midfield that Brisbane have.

For Rogers to be included, I think one of Powell, Saddo, or LRT need to make way.

Basically we have Saddo, LRT and Bolton to cover their 3 tall forwards. This is quite alarming as LRT has never played a key defensive position and we all agree Saddo is better suited to a flank.

I think this is a pretty good case for having a backup should one of these match ups fail. Rogers may not have the experience, but he has the size and strength to go with Lynch far more so than say Powell.

We have plenty of runners to rotate through the midfield - Williams, Jude, Kirk, Mcveigh, Fosdike, Mathews, Crouch, Ablett, Maxfield and even Davis.

Brisbane's strength is its strength. They are all tanks and love destroying nice new 75kg rookies. Hence why not try and change this by adding a bit of size to our team and match them in physicalness.

[thommoone]

On the other hand, why should we play their game? Isn't that what they want us to do?
We should stick with our runers as that is our game

[penga]

michael is their only real option for hall, bradshaw will take magic

i can see brennan coming in for lynch and tagging goodes

dont discount leapin in the ability to take someone big

IMO, its the "recession we have to have", we need to unearth some young talent and saturday night will be the best opportunity for that... id love to see LRT take on lynch! has some dire potential as far as the game goes, but if he were to relish the opportunity, LOOK OUT!

[Captain]

Originally posted by thommoone
On the other hand, why should we play their game? Isn't that what they want us to do?
We should stick with our runers as that is our game

Interesting point.

I agree in principal that we shouldn't change our game plan just because we are coming up against Brisbane. Of course our running game was a huge strength last year.

On the other hand, the Lions are obviously doing something right and their strength and size is a big part of that. If it's good enough for them then it should be good enough for us. I would rather base our team on Brisbane than anyone else.

[liz]

Originally posted by thommoone
On the other hand, why should we play their game? Isn't that what they want us to do?
We should stick with our runers as that is our game

I agree -we will not beat them playing their own game. We will only win if we can play to our strengths and do it more effectively than they do to theirs.

Since the Lions success, a lot of clubs seem to be working on the basis that you have to be big and strong to be challengers - witness the reports of clubs like Freo and Hawthorn packing on kgs to many of their players over the off-season. But what is the point of trying to become a second rate version of the benchmark.

I think Roos has a very clear idea of the best way to be competitive with our squad and with his notions of football and I think he has the confidence to stick with that.

None of our rookie defenders will stand a chance of containing Leppitsch or Lynch if the ball is getting to them with any regularity. They will just be tossed aside like rag dolls. We need to win this game in the midfield and through bringing the ball to ground when it does come into our defence and then running it out quickly and surely.

[dendol]

None of our rookie defenders will stand a chance of containing Leppitsch or Lynch if the ball is getting to them with any regularity. They will just be tossed aside like rag dolls. We need to win this game in the midfield and through bringing the ball to ground when it does come into our defence and then running it out quickly and surely.

and thats why I think Bevan (or another hard runner) is a better option that another tall, since he is essentially replacing Tadhg.

And even if LRT hasnt been tried at CHB, now is as good a time to try it, without J Brown in the side. He physically looks like he should be given a chance to prove himself there.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by Captain
Basically we have Saddo, LRT and Bolton to cover their 3 tall forwards. This is quite alarming as LRT has never played a key defensive position and we all agree Saddo is better suited to a flank.

I think this is a pretty good case for having a backup should one of these match ups fail. Rogers may not have the experience, but he has the size and strength to go with Lynch far more so than say Powell.

We have Saddo, LRT, Bolton, James and Powell to cover for their 3 tall. I dont know if that is not enough, then what is.

They will need to cover 3 of our talls too: Hall, O'Loughlin and Goodes/Powell/LRT (my guess is that Roos will rotate these three to have one extra tall up forward).

It will come down to the question of which one would be more damaging.

Rogers is no match for Lynch strength. None in our team would be for that matter.