Rnd 24 vs Melbourne at the SCG, Sunday 27 August at 3:20 PM

[neilfws]

Back to the game: apparently Papley, McInerney and Amartey are all "test" for the weekend. Which I guess is encouraging.

Injury Update: Stars a test for the weekend

[chalbilto]

Seeing that they are going to play finals would't be more prudent by not selecting them this week and save them for the first final.

[Mark26]

Seeing that they are going to play finals would't be more prudent by not selecting them this week and save them for the first final.

Absolutely. It could be time to play a youngster or three, just to give them a taste of it.

[barry]

Seeing that they are going to play finals would't be more prudent by not selecting them this week and save them for the first final.

Absolutely not! Don't flirt with form. We have a week off before the first final.

[troyjones2525]

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[waswan]

Im strong on there being 4 games to win in the next 6 weeks.

Next 2 weeks irrelevant, we have to play 4 in a row and if we play the first one at the SCG I doubt that makes a big difference.

We have a better record on the road and if the first final is away, it is off an extended break.

Id rest who needs it with the view of attacking the first final and see what happens from there.

Id happily, take JMAc and Amartey into the first final after their time off.

- - - Updated - - -

And I doubt we are flirting with form, the last qtr against Adelaide was the worst we played in 2 months.

We are flirting with niggles

[Nico]

Absolutely not! Don't flirt with form. We have a week off before the first final.

Sanity prevails. The AFL won't allow "resting" players.

[Maltopia]

If we lose, we are playing Carlton or St Kilda away.

If we win and St Kilda lose (and they play the day before us, so we will know), we get a home final vs St Kilda (most likely) or GWS (if they win and make up the 3.3 percentage on the Saints).

There is a also a slim chance we can make 5th (if GWS win, St Kilda lose, and we gain 4.5 percentage on Carlton) and we would again either face either St Kilda or GWS.

There is no scenario I can see where we play anyone other than the Carlton (away), GWS (home or away) or St Kilda (home or away) in week 1 of the finals.

GWS is our bogey team in the finals though...

[chalbilto]

Sanity prevails. The AFL won't allow "resting" players.

I am not suggesting "resting" players or flirting with form, but err on he cautious side in not selecting Papley and Amartey to give them that extra time to fully recover from their niggles and have them cherry rife for the first finals.

[barry]

Nothing would send a shudder throughout the AFL finals teams more than us delivering a comprehensive win against the top 4 demons. It will give us a great mental edge.

[Markwebbos]

Isn’t it a bit of both. We want to win but not at the expense of having players in the net possible shape for the first round of finals.

That’s potentially going to mean a different thing for each player. Might be good for JMac to get a game under his belt but dangerous to risk Papley.

The club will know best.

[waswan]

Paps, Mills, Parks, Hickey from last week need to be 100% for the final.

If that means not playing this week, then im all for it.

[barry]

I am not suggesting "resting" players or flirting with form, but err on he cautious side in not selecting Papley and Amartey to give them that extra time to fully recover from their niggles and have them cherry rife for the first finals.

That is the very definition of resting players and flirting with form.

[Maltopia]

Given St Kilda play the day before us, we will know by game day whether we have a guaranteed home final from winning (if they lose).

Our team list would have been submitted but we can swap from emergencies without too much scrutiny.

Eg Papley and Almartey could be named and swapped from Emergencies (or vice versa) after St Kilda result is known.

[Nico]

So we go in resting 4 players and get flogged by 10 goals. How does that help anyone's confidence going into a final. We've won 6 in a row so as Barry says, "don't flirt with form".