Hypothetical - round 14 team?

[jackcass]

[Museman]

[swoop42]

Assuming we don't have all of Brown, Keeffe and Frost in the side then I'd go with Langdon on Gunstan, Toovey on Breust and Williams on Rioli.

If all 3 kp size defenders were in the side then I'd go with Brown on Roughead, Keeffe on Hale and Frost on Gunstan assuming of course the hawks don't play another tall key forward/ruck.

[35forever]

I'd like to see these sides in terms of match ups, rather than just our side. That's going to be the thing that decides the team & makes the difference. It has to be a 'Horses for Courses' game for us, and psychology will play a huge part. Last time we played them we kicked ourselves out of contention. We tend to stay with them until half time, sometimes three quarter, then let ourselves down with poor decision making and kicking.
For Hawthorn we'd want the most experience we can put on the park, as well as big bodies, fearlessness & speed.

Question no 1 must be who does Caff take? Shame we don't have 3 of him to lock down on Rioli, Hodge & Mitch.
Nullifying their forwards is our next main problem, Breust, Gunston, and Ruffy seem to be killing all comers at the moment. If god really does wear Black & White there might be a minor injury or six and a couple of suspensions the week before at Hawkland.
Maybe Swanny could have a word with a good mate of his who plays for Carlton and see if he can't start a fight or seven in round 13? Perhaps deliver a nice corky to a couple of their runners? THAT would help!
As it is the Blooz will be facing the Hawks after being wiped off the park by Geelong in Rd 12, so if a few journos name names, and call them weak...
Those kinda things really do change games, y'know.

The other aspect beyond our control is the umpiring. Last time we played Hawthorn the white maggots bent us over the desk and dry fist f$%^d us big time. If someone at Collingwood had the agates to do a blood vessel in the press about our treatment from the mongrels in Rd.12 against Footers-cray it might see them back off us a bit (losing the frees after keeping a side goalless for a whole half last week is a JOKE!, it was, once again, the ONLY stat we didn't win!)

My first picks would be Langdon Caff, & Marley. One has never played the hawks and so isn't scared of them. The next goes without saying, and the third is utterly fearless. Next would be Bally who tends to do well against them, as has Clokey recently. I'm afraid Wittsy is too slow to face the Hawks, unless we played him as one of 3 tall forwards to half time then replaced him with a runner like Seedy or Sinks. We'd probably want Reid in the backs, though speed will be a concern. Our best-in-the-business mids would need to be firing, hopefully Swanny, Pendles, Beamer and Sidey can put up ten sausages between them, while Reid, White and Cloke manage 6 all up & Elliot dobs 4. The 15-20 points we kick plus an odd goal from a Caff, Goldy, Hurt-ya, or Blair would get us up to the 120 odd we'll need. If our getting-stronger-by-the-week Backline can just apply the brakes for a bit, that would see us home.

A big feature of our last couple has been an amazing ability to keep sides goalless for whole quarters, So far we've kept sides to a single goal or less 10 times out of 28 quarters, 4 of those without a goal, if they can manage even 1 of those against the Hawks (preferably the last), we might even kick their arses, providing we've found a fix for the ball-crushing, soul-destroying last quarter fadeouts!

A helluva lot of things are going to happen between now & Round 14, including myself showing the bat to the crowd as I become officially old . Lets just hope some of those things involve a continued winning streak like the ones we managed in 2010, 2011, & 2012, a form slump from Hawthorn (and Geelong & Port), and some well placed injuries (but only minor, soft tissue stuff, I really don't enjoy seeing players hurt, even Geelong players)

Since the nightmare of round 1 our performances have been far better than anyone could have hoped, even our loss to Geelong could have gone either way - especially if we kicked straight. If we had we would be equal first, (though our woeful last quarters mean we'd probably still be third on percentage) and we definitely had a worse draw than the sides around us.
Personally I expected we'd be 3-4 at the bye, so 5-2 is amazing, and the games I thought would be tough (Tiges, North, Anzac, & Carlton) turned out to be relative doddles, over by ¾ time, but they've been nothing if not quirky, slow starts, great middles, woeful ends. If we could use the relatively easier games ahead to put four of our best quarters together once or twice, who knows, by round 14 Hawthorn might be $hitting themselves!

[Stupied]

TLDR.

You don't need to write a novel for a simple 'what team would you pick' thread...

[DT]

[DT]

[mackasmatt]

I think Langdon was given a dress rehearsal on Friday night of playing a Maxwell role. Might struggle to see both in the same side from here on in?

We are still a big injury or two away from dangerous times. Our ACLs last year were for a forward, a tagger and a back. As long as we can keep Swan, Pendles, Beams, Ball, Sidey, Grundy and Macaffer (tagging) fit we will do some damage.

Maybe we should start thinking the other way.. Who are we going to lose / delist? Im thinking Hudson, Yagmoor, Marty Clarke. Maxwell might retire and we might trade away a few players.

[Mossi]

[35forever]