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Seems like it's time to get this thread kicked off.
The match is scheduled for 7.45 pm on Saturday night 20 March AEDT (I think that means Sydney time - which will be different to local time because we'll still be on daylight savings in NSW but those of you in Queensland won't be).
Who is going to play? Have we seen enough of the candidates, or will it still come down to the way they're training over the next 10 days?
How much of a chance are Stephens and McInerney to make the team as they come back from minor niggles or off-season surgery? My feeling is that how they train will make a fair difference in their cases (and therefore for those they are competing for spots with too).
What are we going to do in the forward line - one tall or two? I can't see it being three. If two, will the second one be Sinclair, McDonald or McLean? How many of our new draftees will be selected? I'm guessing one - Gulden. However, could be more than one if both Stephens and McInerney are not ready to play.
It seems like Hickey is destined to be the primary ruck - does anyone see it differently? Will the Lions play two rucks? How does this influence our thinking? Do we want to create an imbalance by playing one and hope that it works in our favour?
Will any of Warner, Ling or Bell get a game? I can't see Bell being selected and the other two are not likely if Stephens and McInerney are ready to go.
Is Hayward in any danger of actually being dropped? If not, how likely is it that he could be moved to defence?
Will we persist with Hewett in defence? That was a conspicuous experiment last weekend. Hewett didn't do much wrong but I'm not sold on the idea. I guess Hewett, like Mills, is composed and a good user of the footy, which is valuable at half back in marshalling the play. But I'm not sure he has the same intercepting ability and lockdown defending skills and nor does he have the speed and elite kicking to be a great rebounder. And to date, he has been too quiet and unassuming to be thought of as having the leadership to guide the team around him. If we don't use Hewett in defence, does it become too difficult to keep him in the team? Is there a chance of him missing?
Someone has already started salivating about the McCartin v Daniher and Rampe v Hipwood match ups. I'd like to think these would be irrelevant because the game will be played in our F50 but that's wishful thinking so they should be some excellent battles. I wonder who Brisbane will send Harris Andrews to? Reid is actually a tricky one to match up on because he moves around so much. However, I suspect they will be more worried about our small and medium forwards, and also our mids streaming forward too. They seem better placed to match up against a taller attack than ours.
What will the weather be? It's kind of handy that in our pre-season games we had one wet, one dry. Gives us a bit of reminder of the difference and how to prepare.
Will be great to get the season started. Right now I'm feeling that we will be clear underdogs in this match. Quite apart from the fact that after two good seasons and then a good off-season they are flying, we are still young and figuring stuff out.
The match is scheduled for 7.45 pm on Saturday night 20 March AEDT (I think that means Sydney time - which will be different to local time because we'll still be on daylight savings in NSW but those of you in Queensland won't be).
Who is going to play? Have we seen enough of the candidates, or will it still come down to the way they're training over the next 10 days?
How much of a chance are Stephens and McInerney to make the team as they come back from minor niggles or off-season surgery? My feeling is that how they train will make a fair difference in their cases (and therefore for those they are competing for spots with too).
What are we going to do in the forward line - one tall or two? I can't see it being three. If two, will the second one be Sinclair, McDonald or McLean? How many of our new draftees will be selected? I'm guessing one - Gulden. However, could be more than one if both Stephens and McInerney are not ready to play.
It seems like Hickey is destined to be the primary ruck - does anyone see it differently? Will the Lions play two rucks? How does this influence our thinking? Do we want to create an imbalance by playing one and hope that it works in our favour?
Will any of Warner, Ling or Bell get a game? I can't see Bell being selected and the other two are not likely if Stephens and McInerney are ready to go.
Is Hayward in any danger of actually being dropped? If not, how likely is it that he could be moved to defence?
Will we persist with Hewett in defence? That was a conspicuous experiment last weekend. Hewett didn't do much wrong but I'm not sold on the idea. I guess Hewett, like Mills, is composed and a good user of the footy, which is valuable at half back in marshalling the play. But I'm not sure he has the same intercepting ability and lockdown defending skills and nor does he have the speed and elite kicking to be a great rebounder. And to date, he has been too quiet and unassuming to be thought of as having the leadership to guide the team around him. If we don't use Hewett in defence, does it become too difficult to keep him in the team? Is there a chance of him missing?
Someone has already started salivating about the McCartin v Daniher and Rampe v Hipwood match ups. I'd like to think these would be irrelevant because the game will be played in our F50 but that's wishful thinking so they should be some excellent battles. I wonder who Brisbane will send Harris Andrews to? Reid is actually a tricky one to match up on because he moves around so much. However, I suspect they will be more worried about our small and medium forwards, and also our mids streaming forward too. They seem better placed to match up against a taller attack than ours.
What will the weather be? It's kind of handy that in our pre-season games we had one wet, one dry. Gives us a bit of reminder of the difference and how to prepare.
Will be great to get the season started. Right now I'm feeling that we will be clear underdogs in this match. Quite apart from the fact that after two good seasons and then a good off-season they are flying, we are still young and figuring stuff out.
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