lemmon
02-05-2013, 08:56 PM
When & Where:
Round 6: Pattersons Stadium, Sunday May 5, 2.20 local time (Eastern twilight game)
Changes:
Western Bulldogs:
In: Addison, Markovic, Howard, Pearce
Out: Goodes (Suspension)
West Coast:
In: Rosa, Schofield, Wellingham, As.Smith, Naitanui
Out: Butler (Calf), Cripps (Omitted)
Lineups:
FB 1 Mitchell Brown 23 Darren Glass 25 Shannon Hurn
FF 6 Luke Dahlhaus 19 Liam Jones 15 Jason Tutt
HB 8 Beau Waters 16 Eric Mackenzie 12 Sharrod Wellingham
HF 9 Jake Stringer 22 Dylan Addison 25 Koby Stevens
C 3 Andrew Gaff 11 Matt Priddis 18 Bradd Dalziell
C 11 Jack Macrae 5 Matthew Boyd 17 Adam Cooney
HF 33 Josh Hill 27 Jack Darling 7 Chris Masten
HB 39 Jason Johannisen 47 Mark Austin 31 Tom Young
FF 9 Nic Naitanui 17 Josh Kennedy 2 Mark LeCras
FB 38 Dale Morris 23 Jordan Roughead 42 Liam Picken
Followers Minson, Lower, Liberatore
Followers Cox, S Selwood, Schuey
Benches from Markovic, Pearce, Wallis, Veszpremi, Smith, Howard, Cross
Schoefield, Kerr, Hams, Smith, Brennan, Rosa, Sinclair
Last Time:
Round 1 2012: Western Bulldogs 12.15 87 defeated by the West Coast 21.10 136
The two clubs haven’t met for over a year, the last being Round 1 2012. For anyone who can possibly remember way back then it was the Eagles emerging victorious by 49 points at Etihad. In what was a proud debut for Clay Smith who kicked four the Dogs won plenty of the ball but turned it over and proved quite ineffective up front. It was of course Josh Kennedy who put us to the sword, kicking 7 of the Eagles 21 goals. It was the same old story with the Eagles big forward who has turned the dogs into mincemeat on a number of occasions.
Leading Disposals:
Dogs- Boyd 38, Cross- 28, Libba- 27
Eagles- Priddis 33, Rosa 31, S. Selwood 27
Goalkickers:
Dogs- Smith 4, Daulhaus 2, Higgins 2, Gia, Cooney, Jones, Picken
Eagles- Kennedy 7, Hill 3, Hams 2, Cox 2, Embley, Natanui, Darling, Gaff, Masten, Schofield, Lynch
Previous Games:
On recent form it’s been all Eagles winning four of the last 5. In that time Kennedy has been the dominant player with 3 big returns of 4, 10 and 7 goals
Formline:
West Coast:
After last year’s jump into the top 4 the Eagles have crashed back to Earth with some injuries and a tough run. The Eagles young mids who had such great years, particularly Andrew Gaff has crashed back to Earth. Their ball use in particular has been poor coming through the middle and the output of Kennedy and Darling has suffered. It’s the loss of Natanui and the relative poor form of Cox that has been a bit of a catalyst, they have missed the extra midfielder, bullocking clearance work and delightful tapping out of the big Fijian…just our luck he’s back this week.
Western Bulldogs:
The up and down dogs have shown improvement without putting it on the board. Our good performances have seen a hard contested edge, improved ball use and at times it has been a rejuvenated forward line. The young pups showed great heart against the hardened Cats last week which can only please supporters. Just as injury weakened as the Eagles, both clubs go in without a few of their best and at 1-4.
Matchups:
Liam Jones V Eric Mackenzie
Last week the man who has had our collective heads in our collective hands with his willingness to run under the ball and miss set shots repaid the talent that seemed so obvious a few years ago. He was a cross between Carey/Superman/Riewoldt last week, flying at the ball, leading hard and kicking straight, it was the performance of a true Centre Half Forward. Mackenzie is the Eagles best stopper, a big guy who has decent speed and with Glass sitting in the hole in front of them Jones will have to answer the challenge again.
Nick Lower V Luke Schuey
There are a lot of very even, very good players in the Eagles midfield without having an outright star. As such I’ve gone with the tag on Schuey, who is just that little bit different to the other mids. He has speed around the contest, wins a lot of inside ball and the ability to run with the pill through traffic before delivering with a nice foot. I tossed up whether to tag Kerr or Priddis but Kerr doesn’t seem as damaging as he was and Priddis is a poor man’s Boyd, will give it back us much as he gets it.
Morris/Picken V Lecras
An elite player who is a genuine goal kicker up forward and finds a lot of the pill in the middle, I’d be running our best defensive stopper Morris on him when he is up there and sending Picken to him in the middle. He is a lovely combination of slippery speed, great disposal and a strong overhead mark and on his day the Eagles best player, we have to curb him.
Roughead V Kennedy
A lot of our defenders have been scarred by the Eagles spearhead but Roughy is yet to have a go and it’s a matchup I don’t mind. The thing you wouldn’t call Kennedy is explosive, he is a smart lead, a good grab and a great kick at goal so Roughy should be okay for pace and with his long arms hopefully he can get his fist in where Marko and Morris haven’t been able to in the past. As mentioned Kennedy must be stopped, we have been his bunnies recently.
Young V Darling
A big matchup for young Tommy even though the Eagle has been in relatively poor form. Without Lynch recently he has played as a genuine second tall and has suffered. What Young gives away in speed and strength he will have to make up for in willingness to work and tenacity. Our halfbacks have to be wary also, Darling’s forward pressure is notorious. That isn’t short changing Tommy Young who has shown to be a player, his mopping up work has been great.
Cooney V S. Selwood
Our most damaging mid on their best tagger. Selwood is deceptively quick so should match Coons on the outside and has a strong body so won’t be monstered on the inside. It’s a massive game for Adam, he needs to keep proving he can play 4 quarters and Selwood is no slouch. I like Coons in the middle this week, his tail is up and we lack some speed in there
Minson V Cox/Natanui
A stat for all the Minson doubters: which player of the last decade has the most hitouts to advantage up to Round 5? Will Minson with 66. Will has been huge around the contest and is almost on All Australian pace, he has given our mids arm chair service and bullocked in the clearances like Huddo used to. It’s a different match up this week though, he faces the best ruck duo on their home patch. Both supreme athletes although Cox has been down and Natanui returns from injury it’s a huge challenge. Will must work around the ground and the second ruckman must give him a significant chopout or the twin towers will run all over him. His biggest challenge for the season is Sunday.
My Prediction:
Young teams travelling after a few hard rounds, doesn’t usually end well. West Coast still have some quality in that 22 and are getting more back all the time. I cant see us getting up against what is a very big bodied team. Eagles by 22
Round 6: Pattersons Stadium, Sunday May 5, 2.20 local time (Eastern twilight game)
Changes:
Western Bulldogs:
In: Addison, Markovic, Howard, Pearce
Out: Goodes (Suspension)
West Coast:
In: Rosa, Schofield, Wellingham, As.Smith, Naitanui
Out: Butler (Calf), Cripps (Omitted)
Lineups:
FB 1 Mitchell Brown 23 Darren Glass 25 Shannon Hurn
FF 6 Luke Dahlhaus 19 Liam Jones 15 Jason Tutt
HB 8 Beau Waters 16 Eric Mackenzie 12 Sharrod Wellingham
HF 9 Jake Stringer 22 Dylan Addison 25 Koby Stevens
C 3 Andrew Gaff 11 Matt Priddis 18 Bradd Dalziell
C 11 Jack Macrae 5 Matthew Boyd 17 Adam Cooney
HF 33 Josh Hill 27 Jack Darling 7 Chris Masten
HB 39 Jason Johannisen 47 Mark Austin 31 Tom Young
FF 9 Nic Naitanui 17 Josh Kennedy 2 Mark LeCras
FB 38 Dale Morris 23 Jordan Roughead 42 Liam Picken
Followers Minson, Lower, Liberatore
Followers Cox, S Selwood, Schuey
Benches from Markovic, Pearce, Wallis, Veszpremi, Smith, Howard, Cross
Schoefield, Kerr, Hams, Smith, Brennan, Rosa, Sinclair
Last Time:
Round 1 2012: Western Bulldogs 12.15 87 defeated by the West Coast 21.10 136
The two clubs haven’t met for over a year, the last being Round 1 2012. For anyone who can possibly remember way back then it was the Eagles emerging victorious by 49 points at Etihad. In what was a proud debut for Clay Smith who kicked four the Dogs won plenty of the ball but turned it over and proved quite ineffective up front. It was of course Josh Kennedy who put us to the sword, kicking 7 of the Eagles 21 goals. It was the same old story with the Eagles big forward who has turned the dogs into mincemeat on a number of occasions.
Leading Disposals:
Dogs- Boyd 38, Cross- 28, Libba- 27
Eagles- Priddis 33, Rosa 31, S. Selwood 27
Goalkickers:
Dogs- Smith 4, Daulhaus 2, Higgins 2, Gia, Cooney, Jones, Picken
Eagles- Kennedy 7, Hill 3, Hams 2, Cox 2, Embley, Natanui, Darling, Gaff, Masten, Schofield, Lynch
Previous Games:
On recent form it’s been all Eagles winning four of the last 5. In that time Kennedy has been the dominant player with 3 big returns of 4, 10 and 7 goals
Formline:
West Coast:
After last year’s jump into the top 4 the Eagles have crashed back to Earth with some injuries and a tough run. The Eagles young mids who had such great years, particularly Andrew Gaff has crashed back to Earth. Their ball use in particular has been poor coming through the middle and the output of Kennedy and Darling has suffered. It’s the loss of Natanui and the relative poor form of Cox that has been a bit of a catalyst, they have missed the extra midfielder, bullocking clearance work and delightful tapping out of the big Fijian…just our luck he’s back this week.
Western Bulldogs:
The up and down dogs have shown improvement without putting it on the board. Our good performances have seen a hard contested edge, improved ball use and at times it has been a rejuvenated forward line. The young pups showed great heart against the hardened Cats last week which can only please supporters. Just as injury weakened as the Eagles, both clubs go in without a few of their best and at 1-4.
Matchups:
Liam Jones V Eric Mackenzie
Last week the man who has had our collective heads in our collective hands with his willingness to run under the ball and miss set shots repaid the talent that seemed so obvious a few years ago. He was a cross between Carey/Superman/Riewoldt last week, flying at the ball, leading hard and kicking straight, it was the performance of a true Centre Half Forward. Mackenzie is the Eagles best stopper, a big guy who has decent speed and with Glass sitting in the hole in front of them Jones will have to answer the challenge again.
Nick Lower V Luke Schuey
There are a lot of very even, very good players in the Eagles midfield without having an outright star. As such I’ve gone with the tag on Schuey, who is just that little bit different to the other mids. He has speed around the contest, wins a lot of inside ball and the ability to run with the pill through traffic before delivering with a nice foot. I tossed up whether to tag Kerr or Priddis but Kerr doesn’t seem as damaging as he was and Priddis is a poor man’s Boyd, will give it back us much as he gets it.
Morris/Picken V Lecras
An elite player who is a genuine goal kicker up forward and finds a lot of the pill in the middle, I’d be running our best defensive stopper Morris on him when he is up there and sending Picken to him in the middle. He is a lovely combination of slippery speed, great disposal and a strong overhead mark and on his day the Eagles best player, we have to curb him.
Roughead V Kennedy
A lot of our defenders have been scarred by the Eagles spearhead but Roughy is yet to have a go and it’s a matchup I don’t mind. The thing you wouldn’t call Kennedy is explosive, he is a smart lead, a good grab and a great kick at goal so Roughy should be okay for pace and with his long arms hopefully he can get his fist in where Marko and Morris haven’t been able to in the past. As mentioned Kennedy must be stopped, we have been his bunnies recently.
Young V Darling
A big matchup for young Tommy even though the Eagle has been in relatively poor form. Without Lynch recently he has played as a genuine second tall and has suffered. What Young gives away in speed and strength he will have to make up for in willingness to work and tenacity. Our halfbacks have to be wary also, Darling’s forward pressure is notorious. That isn’t short changing Tommy Young who has shown to be a player, his mopping up work has been great.
Cooney V S. Selwood
Our most damaging mid on their best tagger. Selwood is deceptively quick so should match Coons on the outside and has a strong body so won’t be monstered on the inside. It’s a massive game for Adam, he needs to keep proving he can play 4 quarters and Selwood is no slouch. I like Coons in the middle this week, his tail is up and we lack some speed in there
Minson V Cox/Natanui
A stat for all the Minson doubters: which player of the last decade has the most hitouts to advantage up to Round 5? Will Minson with 66. Will has been huge around the contest and is almost on All Australian pace, he has given our mids arm chair service and bullocked in the clearances like Huddo used to. It’s a different match up this week though, he faces the best ruck duo on their home patch. Both supreme athletes although Cox has been down and Natanui returns from injury it’s a huge challenge. Will must work around the ground and the second ruckman must give him a significant chopout or the twin towers will run all over him. His biggest challenge for the season is Sunday.
My Prediction:
Young teams travelling after a few hard rounds, doesn’t usually end well. West Coast still have some quality in that 22 and are getting more back all the time. I cant see us getting up against what is a very big bodied team. Eagles by 22