Changes v West Coast

[barry]

I think hub life is going to hurt our season. Maybe not this week, but the weeks after.

[stevoswan]

I think hub life is going to hurt our season. Maybe not this week, but the weeks after.

I am actually not that worried about hub life where our boys are concerned. By all accounts they really bonded in the hub last year and subsequently set themselves up for a great start to this season.....and one has to admit, we have not been performing great at the SCG anyway. Of course, any extended time away from home is not ideal but I think our club and players handle these situations very well.

[Markwebbos]

It’s a pity they only took 33 players. Otherwise I would see it as a positive, like the 2020 hub.

[707]

It’s a pity they only took 33 players. Otherwise I would see it as a positive, like the 2020 hub.

I think most of the others are heading to Melbourne soon.

[MattW]

Here's some clarity on who's in Melbourne and who's in Newcastle

Swans reinforcements forced out of Sydney as COVID cases grow

- - - Updated - - -



I have no clue and no need to know, but am happy to go back and edit that out if you think it's a problem.

I think we stuffed that travel plan thing. John kind of admitted it yesterday. He explained that they had only a few hours to decide who would go and that they made their decision based on an expectation they would be down there for a short time.

But it was pretty clear at the time that it would be longer.

Obviously, they must rue not bringing them all down like GWS did.

[The Runner]

I think most of the others are heading to Melbourne soon.

Correct. Being in Newcastle, they can apply for a permit to Victoria once (I think) 14 outside of the Sydney red zone.

In: Wicks
Out: Bell

Warner, McDonald aren't available. No injuries from the game we're aware of.
Blakey was ok in reserves but needs more time learning down back. There's no point playing Taylor - he's not a longer term prospect. It's better getting games in to RB, Florent etc go learn on the job instead of dropping them for poor games

Matchups will be interesting.
Darling - McCartin
Kennedy - Rampe
Allen - Brand
Petruccelle - Cunningham
Fox to take the resting midfielder (usually Sheed, Cripps).

The Bulldogs did a great job forcing West Coast deep in defence and to the wings. Gave up cheap marks in the back half to force them wide.
And their midfield just rolled over. They are known downhill skiiers but will be wanting to rectify last week's performance. We'll need to be ready for a battle in the middle.

West Coast are the best team in the league at defending aerially. But the worst at ground balls - terribly bad. So Papley, Gulden and Wicks will be vital in not just applying pressure but collecting ground balls.
Hayward playing the tall decoy will be important again. But more to break up the talls and bringing the ball to ground.

[mcs]

The Bulldogs did a great job forcing West Coast deep in defence and to the wings. Gave up cheap marks in the back half to force them wide.
And their midfield just rolled over. They are known downhill skiiers but will be wanting to rectify last week's performance. We'll need to be ready for a battle in the middle.

West Coast are the best team in the league at defending aerially. But the worst at ground balls - terribly bad. So Papley, Gulden and Wicks will be vital in not just applying pressure but collecting ground balls.
Hayward playing the tall decoy will be important again. But more to break up the talls and bringing the ball to ground.

Some really good observations there.

It is a disadvantage of playing at Geelong that we don't have much width to play with on the weekend in terms of the ground - but to balance that, its not like West Coast play that ground well at all for plenty of other reasons. So + probably outweigh the - in that sense.

Maybe we need to intentionally kick it in crap into the forward line against them! We usually are brilliant at playing to the aerial strengths of the opposition's defence more often then not. A few more scuffed kicks in dribbling along the ground!

[NeonBible]

I'm making the drive down the highway for this one! Quite excited. I don't wish to sound elitist but every time my hubby and I make the journey to Geelong, I am reminded of why I am glad I live in Melbourne!! It is a cold and rainy and windy part of the world! Not that Melbourne isn't cold heh... but Melbourne is like the gourmet ski resort in Gstaad while Geelong is a damp tarpaulin research base set up in Antarctica

I only kid! Geelong ain't all that bad!

Wouldn't it be great if we could get back to our winning ways at this oval? Wasn't this where we won something like 5 games in a row back in our finals days?

[The Runner]

I'm making the drive down the highway for this one! Quite excited. I don't wish to sound elitist but every time my hubby and I make the journey to Geelong, I am reminded of why I am glad I live in Melbourne!! It is a cold and rainy and windy part of the world! Not that Melbourne isn't cold heh... but Melbourne is like the gourmet ski resort in Gstaad while Geelong is a damp tarpaulin research base set up in Antarctica

I only kid! Geelong ain't all that bad!

Wouldn't it be great if we could get back to our winning ways at this oval? Wasn't this where we won something like 5 games in a row back in our finals days?

We've won 3 of the last 4 going back to 2016

[707]

Showers forecast, will that suit either side?

[longmile]

Showers forecast, will that suit either side?

West coast famously can't play in the wet

[Matty10]

West coast famously can't play in the wet

It’s certainly not our forte either. Hopefully we learned a bit from last week.

[bandwagon]

I don't understand this reluctance to play Taylor because of his age - I mean he is the same age as Hewett & O'Riordan!
Every time I watch the ressies he is among the best. Surely he could play a role in the firsts if required?

[mcs]

It’s certainly not our forte either. Hopefully we learned a bit from last week.

Yeh that was going to be my comment too - that rain hurt us a lot last week (though one could note we did dominate reasonable parts of the 2nd quarter but couldn't turn it into scores). But I guess it plays more into the hands of our small forwards and against their defenders, so maybe a little bit of a positive for us in net terms.

[Ralph Dawg]

I don't understand this reluctance to play Taylor because of his age - I mean he is the same age as Hewett & O'Riordan!
Every time I watch the ressies he is among the best. Surely he could play a role in the firsts if required?

I like Squizzy. He has talent and showed in his first few years at the Lions that he can play. Found himself behind 2 pretty good small forwards in McCarthy and Cameron. I agree with you though that he could work for us, delivery into our F50 and sniping a few of his own.