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Bringing three kind-of independent chains of thought together:
a) the ol' Blighty bottom 6 theory
b) the '4 players who are playing their first GF' story that's had a run this week, and
c) the 'who will stop Judd and Cousins in the 3rd and especially 4th quarters?' issue,
I actually reckon that a good nomination for the 6 players who we're relying on to win us this thing are:
Nick Malceski: Really hurts oppositions, breaks lines, quality disposal, makes it impossible for the opposition to stop our run off half-back merely by playing an 'attacking tagger' on Tadhg. If you were going to pick one guy to come from the clouds and be the hero, you'd back Mal all the way.
Jarrad McVeigh: Put simply, we cannot win if Cousins, Judd and Kerr all have a day out. At least one of them must be held down; we're relying on McVeigh to repeat the dose from 3 weeks ago, at least for the first 3 quarters.
Ted Richards: Saw him referred to today as 'The Barometer': when he's playing well, Sydney is playing well (although you could easily argue that the causative relationship is the other way around). If he's dropping back into the hole taking marks in front of Lynch, Hansen et al, West Coast heads will drop.
Stephen Doyle: Dean Cox had 27 disposals last week. Can you believe it? Compared with Adelaide's ruck division, the effect was that the Weagles had another quality player in the midfield. Darren Jolly will have to work his arse off to stop Cox from dominating again, and so will definitely need strong back-up to ensure he doesn't wear himself out; plus Donk should be thrown forward every now and again to put the Weagles' defensive structure out. He'll at least look more dangerous than Gardiner did in '05!
Nic Fosdike: He's quick. He's a pretty useful tackler. He looked very sharp against Freo. He has a happy history of stepping up in the GF. He's the midfielder who tends to spend the most time on the pine. You want a guy to wear Cousins or Judd like a glove in the 3rd and/or 4th quarters, if their existing opponent is starting to tire? Fossie's gotta be your man.
Nick Davis: Again, a lot of time on the bench so will be fresh come the business end. Did some really important stuff in the clinches in the 4th quarter in the 2005 GF. You wouldn't use him as a specialist tagger, but rather a counter-attacker: if he's bursting out of the packs when the Weagles' midfielders are tiring at the end, it's them trying to stop us rather than vice versa.
I wouldn't suggest that the above are our bottom 6. But we're relying on the reliables-- Kirk, JBolt, BBBH, Leo Barry, CBolt, ROK etc-- to maintain their form and do what we know they can do. The above is more of a list of the 'unknown quantity' players: if they all play to the best of their ability, we'll give it an almighty shake.
a) the ol' Blighty bottom 6 theory
b) the '4 players who are playing their first GF' story that's had a run this week, and
c) the 'who will stop Judd and Cousins in the 3rd and especially 4th quarters?' issue,
I actually reckon that a good nomination for the 6 players who we're relying on to win us this thing are:
Nick Malceski: Really hurts oppositions, breaks lines, quality disposal, makes it impossible for the opposition to stop our run off half-back merely by playing an 'attacking tagger' on Tadhg. If you were going to pick one guy to come from the clouds and be the hero, you'd back Mal all the way.
Jarrad McVeigh: Put simply, we cannot win if Cousins, Judd and Kerr all have a day out. At least one of them must be held down; we're relying on McVeigh to repeat the dose from 3 weeks ago, at least for the first 3 quarters.
Ted Richards: Saw him referred to today as 'The Barometer': when he's playing well, Sydney is playing well (although you could easily argue that the causative relationship is the other way around). If he's dropping back into the hole taking marks in front of Lynch, Hansen et al, West Coast heads will drop.
Stephen Doyle: Dean Cox had 27 disposals last week. Can you believe it? Compared with Adelaide's ruck division, the effect was that the Weagles had another quality player in the midfield. Darren Jolly will have to work his arse off to stop Cox from dominating again, and so will definitely need strong back-up to ensure he doesn't wear himself out; plus Donk should be thrown forward every now and again to put the Weagles' defensive structure out. He'll at least look more dangerous than Gardiner did in '05!
Nic Fosdike: He's quick. He's a pretty useful tackler. He looked very sharp against Freo. He has a happy history of stepping up in the GF. He's the midfielder who tends to spend the most time on the pine. You want a guy to wear Cousins or Judd like a glove in the 3rd and/or 4th quarters, if their existing opponent is starting to tire? Fossie's gotta be your man.
Nick Davis: Again, a lot of time on the bench so will be fresh come the business end. Did some really important stuff in the clinches in the 4th quarter in the 2005 GF. You wouldn't use him as a specialist tagger, but rather a counter-attacker: if he's bursting out of the packs when the Weagles' midfielders are tiring at the end, it's them trying to stop us rather than vice versa.
I wouldn't suggest that the above are our bottom 6. But we're relying on the reliables-- Kirk, JBolt, BBBH, Leo Barry, CBolt, ROK etc-- to maintain their form and do what we know they can do. The above is more of a list of the 'unknown quantity' players: if they all play to the best of their ability, we'll give it an almighty shake.
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