Pre Match: Pies v. Cats - all comments please

[Wokko]

Amazed that MM hasn't picked his old time favourites! has the leopard changed his spots! Even if we lose MM has made a great statement. All hail MM for this weeks selections

O'Bree is still in

[David]

O'Bree and Johnson are playing. Toovey, too. Remind me, just who are MM's favourites again?

[Sultan of spin]

The team selection is very interesting with lots of experienced players left out despite it being a massive game, I think if this was a final then Fraser, Lockyer and Presti would all be in the team and Jack and Anvil would be right in the mix. We may not necessarily have selected our best team to win this match but we are selecting a team that will benefit us in the long term with Brown, Reid, Caff and to a lesser extent Wood exposed to what will be as close as possible to a finals atmosphere.

With the VFL not playing this week id expect a few players to be rested/rotated next week after what is likely to be a tough/hard contest in the seniors and with another road trip to come.

Actually on form I'd say we have.

I agree with you on form but certainly not on experience, my point is that if it was a final we would have included the experienced players who have been left out, Im not saying its a bad thing I glad to see the young players get the experience on the big stage.

[think positive]

dont give a stuff how or who,

lets just kick those arrogant cats back to kardinia!

[E]

[pietillidie]

Wellers' return is big.

Hate seeing JA dropped, but with Jolly pushing forward there was probably no choice.

The youngsters get backed in to take on Geelong's forwards. We've gone slightly quicker, they've gone slightly slower.

Looking forward to it.

Tipping Leon for a big game - he has been working hard, so his luck is due to turn.

Yes. Wellers back is great.

Not so sure about the makeup of the team this week, though. Some potential concerns:

Wood: Is not a second ruck, and will be playing on Hawkins, who is not a ruck at all. Should win the taps, but that's not such a huge advantage. Has potential to be seriously exposed for lack of around the ground ability. Will need plenty of help. I'd have Fraser ahead of him, without question. And even if Fraser weren't ready, Leigh Brown would have been an excellent matchup for Hawkins.

Reid: He's not a good body on body defender. Geelong have three tall forwards. I've no concerns about N.Brown taking either Pods, Mooney, or Hawkins when he goes forward, but would have questions about Reid's ability to shut down any of them - remember the job he did on O'hAilpin.

We've gone in a forward lite. Not sure I'd have brought Lockyer in, but with Medhurst out and Anthony omitted (the right call; three talls and two rucks is just too big), there is a slight concern. Hopefully we'll see Macaffer play more of a forward role and have a greater offensive impact than we've seen from him so far.

Not a bad team, but could have been better. I just hope we're not taking the faith in inexperience a little too far. Will be a good test for some of these players, but will be interesting to see which direction we take when picking our fair dinkum best 22.

I reckon we've rightly viewed this game within the context of both the season and our development trajectory. Geelong's bag of tricks only goes as deep as adding Podsiadly simply because they can't get much better than they already are. On the other hand, we've still got a lot of potential adjustments we can make between now and the finals, particularly forward and back, and a lot more improvement in us generally by virtue of our age. So what we seem to have done is go for them where they're particularly awesome - in the midfield. We're playing two rucks and an extra running player to test ourselves against them in the part of the ground which matters most in finals. If we can't match their runners, we can't beat them in the finals anyhow. Best to work on beating them around the ball first, then make forward and defensive adjustments later on.

If as I've argued this is a test of our midfield division (including rucks), it doesn't matter so much if one of their big forwards kicks a bag and they win - as long as our midfield gets a good look at them and runs the yardstick over itself. If we win, all well and good. If we don't, our midfield sees the standard it has to attain. Once that standard is achieved - hopefully sooner rather than later - we will more than match them forward and back.

This game is all about developing a premiership midfield.

[nulla]

Pies to run out winners.

I am thinking that most goals will come from running players and small forwards

Looking for a big one from both Leon and Didak in the goals dept.

Wood and Jolly to play a big role resting rucks in forward line.

Pies by 42pts


Go Pies

[John Wren]

bloody hell geelong look strong

They look strong but they could look a lot stronger.

Geelong Cats
B: Josh Hunt, Matthew Scarlett, Andrew Mackie
HB: Corey Enright, Harry Taylor, Darren Milburn
C: James Kelly, Cameron Ling, Jimmy Bartel
HF: Steve Johnson, Cameron Mooney, Travis Varcoe
F: Mathew Stokes, Tom Hawkins, Gary Ablett
Foll: Mark Blake, Joel Selwood, Paul Chapman
I/C: Shannon Byrnes, James Podsiadly, David Wojcinski, Tom Lonergan

Weaknesses for mine are Brynes, Lonergan, Podsiadly, Milburn and Josh Hunt.

Pods hasn't kicked many goals away from Geelong, Lonergan is being carried in a top side, Byrnes is just a forward pocket and Milburn has struggled so far this year (too old??)

Yes they still have the nucleus of a great team, but their are more holes in their side then in previous years.

I am confident, simply for the fact we have been winning without Wellingham, and with him back, we will grow another leg and perform above expectations.

I still think we will win, selection hasn't changed that for me.

i may have been watching a different geelong. byrnes has been more than handy this year and has looked quite threatening without being in the same echelon as some of his more credentialled team mates. josh hunt is on the comeback from a serious injury and provides greater stability for their backline.

podsiadly has only played two games at the mcg and on both occasions i don't think hawkins helped his cause much, nor the delivery into the forward line.

[jackcass]

The team selection is very interesting with lots of experienced players left out despite it being a massive game, I think if this was a final then Fraser, Lockyer and Presti would all be in the team and Jack and Anvil would be right in the mix. We may not necessarily have selected our best team to win this match but we are selecting a team that will benefit us in the long term with Brown, Reid, Caff and to a lesser extent Wood exposed to what will be as close as possible to a finals atmosphere.

With the VFL not playing this week id expect a few players to be rested/rotated next week after what is likely to be a tough/hard contest in the seniors and with another road trip to come.

Actually on form I'd say we have.

I agree with you on form but certainly not on experience, my point is that if it was a final we would have included the experienced players who have been left out, Im not saying its a bad thing I glad to see the young players get the experience on the big stage.

Hard to disagree with that but give these kids another 10 weeks of senior footy and they might just have all of us questioning that assertion as well.

[HAL]

That sounds like a plan.

[Lazza]

Amazed that MM hasn't picked his old time favourites! has the leopard changed his spots! Even if we lose MM has made a great statement. All hail MM for this weeks selections

FWIW, I totally agree with the team selection this week. Not convinced about Anthony's consistyency as yet, especially against the better fullbacks in the AFL. Wellers in an automatic inclusion if fit these days and the Caff is more versatile than Anthony.
My worry is Reid and Brown, they MUST play out of their skins tonight, no less than that. They MUST beat their opponents or at least break even by keeping them to as few goals as possible.
And PLEASE kick straight!!
Cany wait!! Should win it by 2-3 goals I reckon.

[melliot]

Akers preview of Cats and Pies Game Plans.

Well worth a look and well explained.

http://player.video.news.com.au/heraldsun/#1498995197

[Bob Sugar]

Amazed that MM hasn't picked his old time favourites! has the leopard changed his spots! Even if we lose MM has made a great statement. All hail MM for this weeks selections

FWIW, I totally agree with the team selection this week. Not convinced about Anthony's consistyency as yet, especially against the better fullbags in the AFL. Wellers in an automatic inclusion if fit these days and the Caff is more versatile than Anthony.
My worry is Reid and Brown, they MUST play out of their skins tonight, no less than that. They MUST beat their opponents or at least break even by keeping them to as few goals as possible.
And PLEASE kick straight!!
Cany wait!! Should win it by 2-3 goals I reckon.

i 100% disagree with the non selection of jack, i honestly cant believe it TBH, if they play 3 tall fwds (for the majority of the game) jack wouldve been perfect to switch up, as it sits now, if reid or brown are getting beaten there isnt a lot we can do, we've left ourselves short IMO, i just hope it pays off, remember if they do play the 3 talls fwd, they will go through who ever maxxy takes and they'll isolate him, well thats what id do anyway, harry will have his hands full with stevieJ so we cant expect him to support our talls all that often, maybe we''l play toovs on stevieJ, we might have too.

id of prefered leyroy to replace wood if presty or jack wernt playing TBH, at least leyroy could be used down back if needed, poor work from the selectors IMO.

[Joel]

Akers preview of Cats and Pies Game Plans.

Well worth a look and well explained.

http://player.video.news.com.au/heraldsun/#1498995197

Yeah, I watched that. Not a bad explanation the Aker. He'd probably make a good coach one day at some level.

[Pied Piper]

Geelong's bag of tricks only goes as deep as adding Podsiadly simply because they can't get much better than they already are. ...

This game is all about developing a premiership midfield.

Agreed, but the Cats can add Corey, Rooke and Ottens. They've still got a couple of aces up their sleeves yet.

If we lose tonight, we'll actually learn a lot more and be under less pressure than if we win. The main thing is we don't get pumped.