Round 8, Sydney v Hawthorn

[Swansinger]

A player returning from a week out , another in for his 1st game of the season and another playing only his 2nd after ten months out.And no Pykey.
Hawks by 35 - at least.
"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist" - Sir Humphrey Appleby.

[wolftone57]

It's been raining this afternoon in Sydney...quite heavily (but not for an extended period).

Didn't see any heavy rain in the inner city Liz, a bit of a spit maybe.

[Matt80]

Very much the same as Hawthorn's Premiership team of Roughhead, Hale, Buddy and Gunston. In fact, a very similar lineup including 1 identical.

Gunston dominated under this system because the top three tall defenders had to go to Hale, Buddy and Roughhead. Either Reid or Goodes needs to be continually dominant under this system because they get the 3rd and 4th best tall. I also think if Rohan can find fitness, confidence and form, he could be a menace taking the 5th best defender. Rohan is very strong over his head at his best.

[Triple B]

Didn't see any heavy rain in the inner city Liz, a bit of a spit maybe.

It pissed down in Pyrmont mid-afternoon. But of course, you know better, we must have imagined it...

[annew]

Is absolutely torrential rain at the moment - goodby blockbuster, goodbye any chance of winning

[jono2707]

Is absolutely torrential rain at the moment - goodby blockbuster, goodbye any chance of winning

Hope the players aren't thinking like this....

[Auntie.Gerald]

Homebush weather - local weather forecast

it will be slippery but no rain predicted tonight

[annew]

Well I am basing this on the fact it is hard enough to get a crowd to ANZ when not raining and Hawthorn belted St Kilda in the rain but swans were beaten when they played in the rain and when they played against Collingwood at ANZ plus it is hard for a tall team in the rain

[O'Reilly Boy]

The BOM website shows no rain west of Ashfield over last 24 hours. Today's rain is predicted for the coastal fringe. Anyone from that area to confirm?
Just hope that the mids and HB line go super hard tonight. Tall timber in forward 50 does not win games.
I'm worried about the bench and who goes sub. It will be Lloyd, I guess, but I'd love to have him running the whole game. No point in having either Reid or KT as sub; perhaps Goodes for impact in late third quarter? Go hard Bloods.

[707]

I notice Towers is an emergency again. Are the coaching staff seeing something in him that the ressie watchers aren't? Or do they just name guys like Towers, Membrey, Aliir etc just to give them a little bost knowing they won't actually need to come into the team as the other two named would be the actual elevations if needed.

Worried about the weather, even if it doesn't rain I assume it will be slippery, not conditions we have handled well n the past :-(

IMO Lloyd has to start after his breakout game last week but then can't see the sense in having a tall as the sub.

Relief ruck is who?

[Zlatorog]

I live next to Olympic Park and there was no rain in the area yesterday or today.

[707]

We haven't seen the thread yet but I reckon it will be a fairly strong ressies side this afternoon.

Oh, I do like the Olympic Park weather observations, please stay dry all day and night ...... please

[mcs]

Please stay dry.... if the swannies are going to help me celebrate my birthday with a big win, it'll need some good weather and a dry track!

Carn the mighty bloods - we need to stand tall tonight and show we are the real deal!

[jono2707]

I'm not sure on the "we have too many talls" line. In an AFL sense, a 'tall' is normally a ruckman or a key position player (in the old fashioned sense). I don't see any of Buddy, Goodsey or to a lesser extent Reid being 'talls', as they are pretty mobile with good hands when the ball's on the deck. They certainly aren't lumbering talls who are next to useless when the balls on the ground or when required to place defensive pressure.

So our lineup including Tippett, Buddy, Goodsey and Reid up forward (or elsewhere around the ground) shouldn't be considered to have too many talls, as some of these guys are particularly mobile and skillful (which makes Goodsey and Buddy such special talents). I'm looking forward to seeig them all out there.

[Melbourne_Blood]

I'm actually pretty excited for this. I know the big boys are underdone but there's a lot of magic there and you can't shot them all down surely