Round 8 changes V Hawthorn

[Swansongster]

Out: Fri night

In: Sat afternoon (when it will be 24 and sunny)

And when there will be less traffic clogging up the buses.

[barry]

We r rolling the dice playing buddy, tippet, goodes and reid together for the first time. Would have been better to tune it against a lesser opponent.


All 4 have had interupted year so far.

[ernie koala]

We r rolling the dice playing buddy, tippet, goodes and reid together for the first time. Would have been better to tune it against a lesser opponent.


All 4 have had interupted year so far.

I agree with you here Barry.

I'll be very pleasantly surprised, if they can dominate in this, their first hit out together, in a high pressure game.. Against the No.1 team in the league.

[Triple B]

I'll be very pleasantly surprised, if they can dominate in this, their first hit out together, in a high pressure game...

I'll be very pleasantly surprised if they actually all play. I'm not normally overly skeptical, but I can't help but thinking that the extra 10K+ tickets they may sell today and tomorrow has something to do with the 'Buddy is good to go...at this stage' media line.

I'll be less skeptical when the teams are named tonight, but reserve the right to jump back into full-on skeptical mode tomorrow at 4pm when I arrive at the ground and there is an unexpected emergency or two missing when the ressies run out against the Giants...

[Ludwig]

We r rolling the dice playing buddy, tippet, goodes and reid together for the first time. Would have been better to tune it against a lesser opponent.

All 4 have had interrupted year so far.

This is true, but the fact is that our next 5 opponents are all difficult ones, so if they don't play against Hawthorn, then we have to try it against Essendon, or Geelong. So there really isn't an easy solution to this. I was hoping that they could all play Brisbane, but it wasn't to be.

On the positive side, they are all experienced players who have a pretty good idea of what to do on the footy field. Only Tippett hasn't played this year, and he showed that he can come right in after a long layoff and play well, as he did last year. Buddy is a 190 game player who has only missed one game, similar to playing after the bye, so he hasn't missed much.

Goodes, Buddy and LRT have never played a game with Tippett, and Reid only played the few minutes last year before he re-injured his quad. So there has to be some starting point where they introduce themselves to each other.

Playing all 4 big forwards is similar to the usual Hawthorn setup, such as last year when their usual setup included Buddy, Roughy, Hale and Gunston (so similar or our big 4). It also may force Hawthorn to play Schoenmakers as a defender, making it easier on our defence. Hawthorn have a short defence. Geelong exploited this, and hopefully we can too.

We have to trust out medical staff that if they are declared fit to play, they are truly fit to play.

[goods78]

I'll be very pleasantly surprised if they actually all play. I'm not normally overly skeptical, but I can't help but thinking that the extra 10K+ tickets they may sell today and tomorrow has something to do with the 'Buddy is good to go...at this stage' media line.

I'll be less skeptical when the teams are named tonight, but reserve the right to jump back into full-on skeptical mode tomorrow at 4pm when I arrive at the ground and there is an unexpected emergency or two missing when the ressies run out against the Giants...

My thoughts exactly Triple B

[aardvark]

I'll be very pleasantly surprised if they actually all play. I'm not normally overly skeptical,

I have visions of the four of them all sprawled on the bench with assorted ice packs applied to various bits of their anatomy just before 3/4 time. Hopefully i'm wrong.

[barry]

Another jab misses the mark.

The fans have spoken Mr Koala.

[Ludwig]

I have visions of the four of them all sprawled on the bench with assorted ice packs applied to various bits of their anatomy just before 3/4 time. Hopefully i'm wrong.

scream__1_.jpg

[Matt80]

This is true, but the fact is that our next 5 opponents are all difficult ones, so if they don't play against Hawthorn, then we have to try it against Essendon, or Geelong. So there really isn't an easy solution to this. I was hoping that they could all play Brisbane, but it wasn't to be.

On the positive side, they are all experienced players who have a pretty good idea of what to do on the footy field. Only Tippett hasn't played this year, and he showed that he can come right in after a long layoff and play well, as he did last year. Buddy is a 190 game player who has only missed one game, similar to playing after the bye, so he hasn't missed much.

Goodes, Buddy and LRT have never played a game with Tippett, and Reid only played the few minutes last year before he re-injured his quad. So there has to be some starting point where they introduce themselves to each other.

Playing all 4 big forwards is similar to the usual Hawthorn setup, such as last year when their usual setup included Buddy, Roughy, Hale and Gunston (so similar or our big 4). It also may force Hawthorn to play Schoenmakers as a defender, making it easier on our defence. Hawthorn have a short defence. Geelong exploited this, and hopefully we can too.

We have to trust out medical staff that if they are declared fit to play, they are truly fit to play.

Our 4 prong attack will dominate if three things occur:

1) Our midfield and half back line gets on top.

2) One of the key attackers (probably Franklin) keeps Gibson out of the play. With Lake out, the Hawks defence will rely heavily on Gibson flying in 3rd man up. If Buddy does not compete in one contest, but neither does Gibson, our attack will dominate. I would back Tippett, Goodes, Reid against Schoenmakers, Stratton and Cheney. I think Gibson will follow Buddy wherever he goes instead of his usual preference of reading the play (which he is brilliant at).

- All attackers have got to defend well. They can't let guys like Gibson and Burchill space to pinpoint left footed kicks out of defence.

[Plugger1300]

Sorry if someone has already covered this topic.

Who will play 2nd ruck for Tommy? Will they bring back LRT or will Sam have to pinch hit?

[Industrial Fan]

That made me think of Winston Burchill.

[Flying South]

Our 4 prong attack will dominate if three things occur:

1) Our midfield and half back line gets on top.

2) One of the key attackers (probably Franklin) keeps Gibson out of the play. With Lake out, the Hawks defence will rely heavily on Gibson flying in 3rd man up. If Buddy does not compete in one contest, but neither does Gibson, our attack will dominate. I would back Tippett, Goodes, Reid against Schoenmakers, Stratton and Cheney. I think Gibson will follow Buddy wherever he goes instead of his usual preference of reading the play (which he is brilliant at).

- All attackers have got to defend well. They can't let guys like Gibson and Burchill space to pinpoint left footed kicks out of defence.

Agree. It's all about applying pressure and working harder and longer then your opposition. If we apply the Geelong model of playing man on man, applying pressure all over the ground and not allow them to have numbers in defence, I think we can beat them. Making the most of our opportunities in front of goal is crucial as well.

[ernie koala]

The fans have spoken Mr Koala.

What, like 18000 turning out, at 'White Elephant Park', for a final a few years back?

It's a dog of a ground for players and spectators alike...

All I hope, is the shameful surface won't leave us with injuries.

[Slade]

I think we will go in with a pretty simple plan - Goodes and Tippett in the square and Reid and Buddy on the circle with the mids told to move it on quickly, relying on our forwards winning a one on one. Whoever Gibson is marking will take him away from the contest. If they try to get Gibson spare we need to add another forward to give him something to worry about. I think we will use K Jack as the small crumbing forward - a nightmare of a match up for them.

With this combination I am confident that we will win more than out fair share of one on ones even with the lack of match practice together.