Pre-Match. Magpies v. Demons. All comments.

[daics aka the ruckman]

I was a bit annoyed with the coaches V bulldogs. Taking two defenders in Frampton and Markov out of the defence to be forwards was too much.
Take Sidebottom out for the forward line as he is much more adaptable and offers better leadership for the hobbled together forward line.

I hope this week Frampton and Markov return to defence and the forward line can welcome the return of WHE to be the tall forward alongside Reef McInnes and Johnson / Kreuger.
We can beat the Dees. Rough up Gawn and he shrinks. Their midfield are not playing well, their forward line is no good and the defence is missing Lever.

[gurugeoff]

maybe they should have played no talls in the forward line last week, and with a team instruction that all entries into the forward line should be kicked along the ground, giving the advantage to our smaller forwards

[dalyc]

I'm finally jumping on the Kreuger bandwagon: bring him in! If only just to see what he's capable of.

Otherwise will be good to see McInnes back in the forward line along with, hopefully, Hoskin-Elliott if he's good to go. Otherwise it feels like we have more players needing to be dropped than to come in; whoever survives out of Johnson, Bytel, Macrae and Parker will be pretty fortunate. (I'd keep Macrae personally.)

Bandwagon? Dray pulled by broken down mule perhaps.

[Gerry Cooper]

Bandwagon? Dray pulled by broken down mule perhaps.

I am not on the Kreuger bandwagon one way or the other, though I do wonder after so much time out of the game what sort of tank he has, and how he will go up against defenders who are better than the standard he has been used to. Hopefully he can contribute positively if he is selected.

[RudeBoy]

Based on Fly's presser I doubt Krueger will play.

But McInnes and WHE will be back.

[The Black and White Lion]

is it true that Kreuger's wagon broke from all the fans jumping on the band. poor kid can't take a break.

In other news I'm looking forward to Josh Eyre getting through a full VFL game against Casey this weekend.

[Kingston Lucas Tuck]

[Kingston Lucas Tuck]

The team v Dees
Lessons to be learned from the defeat via the Doggies
1. It’s not sensible to take a ping pong racquet out to face Cummins, Starke and co in a World 20/20 carnival yet by playing Frammers and an out of form AJ plus an out of position Oleg up forward ….we did pretty much that .
Replacements
The best mark in the team- Howe
The strongest big man on our list - Fred K
A non stop leading decoy type in the Hyphen or Reef

2. Dean v a beanstalk footy freak in Darcy wasn’t a smart choice ….why not try Frammers ? At least he comes up to Darcy’s shoulder

3. Anyone who has seen Maynard with ball in hands and the Magpie scoring zone within striking distance will understand what we have missed out on by having Bruz bolster our defence . Every Maynard kick from the middle threatens the scoreboard or is likely to add to our total indirectly .

4. Who replaces him in defence …….for me Parker …with IQ and Oleg , Dean, Frammers and Nobes with Captain Darcy at CHB
That defence has a mix of dash, strength, height and introduces new blood in Parker

[Magpietothemax]

Just a reminder, Carmichael has been battling the after effects of concussion for close to a month. He hasn’t even entered the protocols yet. To listen to Wade, it sounds like he may also be out for a while to come

Sad to hear this.

[Magpietothemax]

My selections:

IN: WHE, Reef, Freddie
OUT: Bytel, Parker, AJ

SUB: Dean

Freddie and Reef to create mobile forward targets. Frampers back in defence where he belongs.
Sullivan to continue his great efforts from last week in creating space for Naicos.
Lippa, Beau, Bruzza, Fin to run through the midfield rotationally and give support to Naicos, Sullivan and Darcy C.
WHE to play wherever we need him, and potentially to swap places with Sidey.

We bring the same kind of pressure that we have achieved over the last few games, we can win.

Ten day break will help us with running the 4 quarters out.

[Brown26]

It's all well and good to take players and play them in positions that they have great attributes for, but don't play, like Bruz, and Howe, and McCreery, but in that sense you potentially lose twice - they don't play as well in the midfield, or the forward line, AND you don't have them in positions that they excel at.

I would take a different approach. How is this game going to be won? It's going to be won by keeping the ball away from bloody Steven May AND not letting Petraca and Oliver get the clearances. That will give up more inside 50's and more repeat 50 entries, and let us do more with them.

Moving Maynard and Howe and Franptom from defence actually HINDERS the way we will win this game, unless you're going to play one of them on May as a defensive forward.

I would stack the midfield with tackling machines, give Lachie Schults the licence to tackle anywhere from forward 50 to defensive 12 (especially if it's Petracca) and let Nick Daicos get half the teams clearances hopefully with a bit more physicallity for support, but if not tell Sullivan to kick it quick forwards, as long as May is contained some how.

That could also involve the grubber kick into the forward line mentioned previousy, it doesn't matter how it happens, but nullify Petracca and Oliver (that'll get us more inside 50's) and nullify May (that'll get us more effecitive inside 50's AND reduce the rebounds) and we win. Hell, put Charlie Dean on May, it would probably work!

Our midfield needs to win and be smart with forward entries, and we'll be ok. We don't need or want crazy changes - we need to keep Melbourne to 10 goals and we win. Best way to do that - Frampton, Maynard and Howe back IMO.

- Ben

[RudeBoy]

I'm with you B26.

We need to maintain our strongest possible defence. I'd stick with Moore, Howe and Frampton as our starting defensive talls. Dean can relieve Frampton off the bench when Frampton is needed in the ruck.

Our forward line should be significantly strengthened by the return of WHE and McInnes. Despite his poor showing last week, Fly might persevere with Johnson, as a high half forward.

We will need a super game from Crisp if we are to prevail. He's our midfield barometer imo.

Ins: WHE, McInnes

Outs: Bytel, Parker/Johnson

Pies by 17 pts.

[Piesnchess]

I really do hope the MCC Toffs boooo the heck out of Bruzza, it will only get him riled up and play a blinder, nothing fazes Bruzza Maynard, nothing.

[What'sinaname]

Crisp moves to 2nd outright in the list of most consecutive games with 227.

[Charlie Oneeye]

Lots of backline legends were never moved out of their spot. Or hardly.

Overall, as Juniors move up the ranks, the better onballers get picked for the middle and the lessor one's get shifted to the flanks.

To say a half back should play in the middle is not fully considering the players he is pitted against have already proven to be the more nible, duel sided, or more skilled or have a special attribute to have made it there. (Tony Shaw... >Sullivan)

That's not to say it should not be done, Crisp for example can operate in the centre, overlap, and run all day, but a Maynard or IQ will provide good limited service, but would lose on points against the best imo.