Defensive Match Ups

[Jeffers1984]

If we choose to play C-Bolts on Judd (which i think is the way to go), what do you think would be the defensive match ups?

[NMWBloods]

Who can kick their goals?

Assume Matera is out.

Cousins might play half forward (and I think Mathews on him).

Resting ruckman - Cox or Seaby - covered by one of our ruckmen perhaps.

Gardiner - LRT.

Barry on Lynch assuming he returns.

Dempster on Embley.

Sampi is tricky. Possibly Kennelly. Might make Sampi accountable as he seems very lazy defensively.

[giant]

Woosha will definitely experiment down forward, especially if it's dry. Expect a reprise of a combo of Hunter, Chick or Judd up forward as he's done in the last few finals as well as some other "off the wall" line ups.

Gardiner is the key for us - LRT was brave but soundly vanquished last time. Can't afford to hope he doesn't hurt us this time with that match up. So who takes him? Dunno, but that's what the coaching staff is paid for.

[TheHood]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Who can kick their goals?

Assume Matera is out.

Cousins might play half forward (and I think Mathews on him).

Resting ruckman - Cox or Seaby - covered by one of our ruckmen perhaps.

Gardiner - LRT.

Barry on Lynch assuming he returns.

Dempster on Embley.

Sampi is tricky. Possibly Kennelly. Might make Sampi accountable as he seems very lazy defensively.

If Sampi gets dangerous, Crouchy will probably be moved on him.

[NMWBloods]

I think Sampi will be too good for Crouch in the air.

We will need to watch Hunter too.

Unlikely they will move Chick into the forward line unless they get desperate as he will be needed on MO'L.

[timthefish]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Unlikely they will move Chick into the forward line unless they get desperate as he will be needed on MO'L.

i think we will see that considering the success of chick's move forward in the preliminary. they need a bit of aggression forwards.

[barry]

Originally posted by giant


Gardiner is the key for us - LRT was brave but soundly vanquished last time. Can't afford to hope he doesn't hurt us this time with that match up. So who takes him? Dunno, but that's what the coaching staff is paid for.

Gardiner did ok, but only got a couple of goals I think. I think "soundly vanquished" is a bit theatrical.

Big test for LRT in the dry though. We have the option of moving Ball down there, but the way to defeat Gardiner is via midfield pressure, and rebound defense. Gardiner has zero defensive value to the weagles.

[giant]

Originally posted by barry
Gardiner did ok, but only got a couple of goals I think. I think "soundly vanquished" is a bit theatrical.

Fair cop. Let me be less theatrical. He was absolutely bollocksed. Especially in the first half.

Not all LRT's fault - it was a poor match up.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by giant
Fair cop. Let me be less theatrical. He was absolutely bollocksed. Especially in the first half.

Not all LRT's fault - it was a poor match up.

A tough matchup for LRT, but there was no bollocksing.

[barry]

Originally posted by giant
Fair cop. Let me be less theatrical. He was absolutely bollocksed. Especially in the first half.

Blah, blah, blah. What about the 2nd half ?

[giant]

Originally posted by barry
Blah, blah, blah. What about the 2nd half ?

you don't really want to be reminded of LRT's second half do you?

In the first half, Gardiner had scored 40% of WCE's goals. He was clearly their most dangerous forward - LRT was constantly caught behind & was not strong enough. Gardiner finished with 6 marks for the game tho I don't know how many of those were taken in the first half.

I'll be shocked if he lines up on Gardiner this week.

[Schneiderman]

The thing that worries me about WC's forward line is that its so inconsistent. That makes them an unknown quantity and so dangerous.

That said, they are all average to above average types only. Barring maybe Matera, and Sampi if he is in the zone, they really dont have much firepower down there. They certainly dont have a game-breaker in the ilk of Hall/MOL/Davis/ROK/Schneider/Goodes.

We need to concede that they will kick goals, and quite a few of them from weird and wonderful match-ups. Chick will float down, Wirrpunda may, Judd/Cousins/Kerr will get a few, Embley a couple, Gardiner/Cox one or two.

All-in-all that amounts to 10-12 goals. That has to be the task of the Defensive unit. Stop whatever you can, dont stress if a couple go through every quarter.

We just have to kick 13-15. Our Offensive unit has to accept this responsibility and trust that the defense will keep it to less than what they kick.

[barry]

Originally posted by giant
you don't really want to be reminded of LRT's second half do you?

In the first half, Gardiner had scored 40% of WCE's goals.

40% of not much, is even less.

Gardiner finished with 6 marks for the game tho I don't know how many of those were taken in the first half.

A forward with 6 marks. Woo hoo. Is he the new Carey ?

[chammond]

Neither Gardner nor Sampi will ever kick a 'bag' against a half-decent defender.

If Matera doesn't play, the ones to watch out for will be Hunter, Chick and Hansen. But if Hunter and Chick play forward, the Eagles will be very thin in defence . . . who could they play on O'Loughlin?

Let LRT run around with Gardner, and if he kicks a couple of goals, so be it. I'd much prefer the Eagles midfield to be looking for Gardner than for Hansen or Hunter.

If it comes down to a shoot-out with Gardner as their main target, we'll win easily.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by giant
I'll be shocked if he lines up on Gardiner this week.

Prepare to be shocked.