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It's out of Sweet or Martin for the ruck battle this week.
Sweet doesn't have to be better than Martin to win selection, just be 'nearly as good' because we gain more in the long run.
If I was...

Like McComb and Wally at VFL level?

We ave Scott waiting as well if he passes his concussion tests

If we could somehow afford it, I would. Whether he would work with Bruce is a sticking point but Josh Bruce will be a 30 year old coming off an ACL when he plays AFL again.

Caleb Daniel BOG.

The first quarter will tell the tale. If we kick the first couple, the doubts will creep into their play.

May actually be worth starting Libba & Dunks in the centre for the first bounce as our...

Yep - say what you will about his disposal, but he was our best performer at VFL level and he's gotten two games on the back of that.

His 13 disposal game that day was more influential that any of Parish's 35+ disposal games

Lets face it - when he's on song, Jake is an absolute star but he's Jarrad Grant in a lot of ways - his...

IIRC we considered him too - our back up plan if Rozee, Smith and B King were taken

I'd argue our handball use is far more effective than Essendon's, but I'd argue right now the Keilor u13s handball it more effectively than Essendon too

If you watch them, it's not even the fact that they handball more than they kick - it's more that the handballs are often backwards to a player under just as much pressure as they are.
The "We Are...

Kicked 4 against Essendon's VFL side

Essendon are basically our search for a KPF for 20 years, always looking for a single messiah to save them rather than acknowledge that multiple people need to help all at once.

Another moment I liked - Dunks' tackle in our front half.
He buried him.

I liked it not because it turned the game, but because it showed ruthless intent despite the game being already won. That...

This might be the only chance this year to bring Sweet in, give Tim one more week of rest, play him with Martin and absolutely work over the opposition ruck division.

I don't think it's likely...

18 pressure acts. I can see some method to the MC madness, regardless of whether I agree with it or not.
Garcia, McComb, McNeill - we love our pressure type scrappers at HF

Of that 'fire sale', no club touched any of them with a 10 foot pole, save for Melbourne jumping on a Ben Brown trade after he demanded a bigger deal.

McComb's not getting dropped - coaches would love a guy with 18 pressure acts in the front half.

We seem to purposely go short so we'll likely bring in West for Wally. I'd opt for Schache or...

I'm not as down on Bont forward as others are.... except against sides with small midfields, which basically means Essendon and Brisbane. I really thought this week was the week to give Khamis a...

Well, they're utter shite and they are targeting two rucks from last years' Grand Finalists.

Unless they pay way overs - like, $900k for English or $1.2m for Jackson - I'm not sure they are that...

Eagles have Brisbane in Brisbane then Melbourne over the next two rounds.

Potential 100 point losses three weeks in a row?

Gaff was the medi-sub. If he wants to come back to Vic to finish his...

Parish late out, Bulldogs just get over the line in unconvincing fashion.

First goal: McComb
BOG: Libba

Next in line who can play we really only have Wally, West and Khamis. Not sure anyone else is demanding a spot right now.

I'll give you Menegola, Ted Richards, and perhaps even Podsiadly who kicked on late in their 20s. It's a damn short list though.

More than the midget fleet who surrounded Hannan.
Cordy will at least compete in the air in a contested situation. Marra (at this stage) and Schache, less faith.

Naughts chopping out in the ruck/resting leaving us with Hannan as the only marking target in the F50 (undersized).
They just kept intercept marking and getting clean ball out of defence.

Given it's one of the oldest tactics in football - I wonder what the hell we were doing all pre-season?

In the first Melbourne game last year Angus Brayshaw just stood in the way of our switch...

I just hope we learned form the 'experiment' in the 3rd quarter of the pre-season game - Essendon have a lot of intercept marking capability and we're coming off a game where Adelaide exposed us by...

Post - Adelaide game it's line ball for me.
Lose this week and I'd put a line though our season.

"We have injuries" - well, we deliberately went thin in key parts of the ground and now it's...

Bankers

Tim O'Brien - was actually have a legitimate intercepting tallish defender on our list. Hooray

Libba - Best on for us and it wasn't close

Dunkley - 10 tackles. Even if it's not his...

For mine he kept us in it in the first half. I was a bit fan of his intercept marking, something we sorely lacked last year.

Sam Collins was delisted, went back to state footy, then got picked up as a DFA.
There's every chance we'd be the Fremantle on the Sam Collins situation.

Given Marra & Darcy are developing, Keath injury prone since age 17, Bruce out with an ACL... that would have to be the thinnest KPP group in the AFL.

4. Libba
3. O'Brien
2. Dale
1. Dunkley

2. Smith
1. Naughton

If we had a mid (besides Libba) who would set up to defend a stoppage, that would be a great start.

Keays gets two clearance in the last so what do we do? Leave him all alone on the crows goal...

The crows dropped a number back so we helpfully kicked to that extra number all day

We should get a close up look at Crossley today. Mindful of the cap, we should be looking for cheaper depth options.
As much as other clubs have mined the state leagues for developing rucks in the...

Is Sweet even playing this week or does he take another week off with concussion? He'd definitely need a solid bit of VFL from under his belt before being considered.

A lot of us are glad Martin is still with us, although for some of us we were hoping it was just in a mentoring capacity and we'd have another AFL standard ruckman on the list to support English.

So, where does he play this weekend?
Good luck to him and he absolutely deserves his opportunity, but he has been playing mostly in the centre at VFL level.

TOB was brought in as that intercepting 3rd so he gets to play the position we chased him for.
TBH if Williams moves onto a wing rotation we're not losing much rebound from defence. Ed has him...