Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

[comrade]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Excellent summary comrade, just wondering what the chance of Higgins retuirning to the side is now that his groin appears to be healing well?

If he does, who goes out of the side?

It appears Higgins will get another week on the sidelines, but we’ll be asking the same question next week.

I think Everitt might be in the gun but I think he could play a key role against the Cats next week, where clean kicking skills are crucial.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

What's AKA got to do with the 1954 Grand Final?

[LostDoggy]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

I wouldn't have thought so, we need to play him as much as we can to build up his experience & confidence.

I haven't seen much of Melb this year, but would be intersted to know from those who have what type of role Davey is playing? He seems to be picking up a lot of touches so I suspect he is spending more time in the midfield.

Totally agree Mantis, we need to get as much game time into Tommy for exactly the reasons you state - his confidence and match day experience. I am not as learned as most of you on this site, but IMO, as long as he isn't taking a very fast player, surely being tall is not an issue? Maybe an old fashioned point of view, but I always thought that no matter what, a tall player doesn't get any shorter as the game progresses. It seems we are always being criticized for being short and giving away so much height, so why would we rest a tall player?

[Bornadog]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Comrade, great preview. I will be very disappointed if we don't win well in this game. I know they pushed Geelong for a few quarters but once Geelong put the foot on the pedal it was all over. We need four consistent quarters , not just one big one like last week.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Totally agree Mantis, we need to get as much game time into Tommy for exactly the reasons you state - his confidence and match day experience. I am not as learned as most of you on this site, but IMO, as long as he isn't taking a very fast player, surely being tall is not an issue? Maybe an old fashioned point of view, but I always thought that no matter what, a tall player doesn't get any shorter as the game progresses. It seems we are always being criticized for being short and giving away so much height, so why would we rest a tall player?

MG,

Don't give the posters on this site too much respect, they're not really that knowledgeable about football, they just claim to be.





Except for me. I am clearly the smartest one here.

[boydogs]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

What's AKA got to do with the 1954 Grand Final?

AKA = Also Known As

[boydogs]

Re: Round 8 Preview – Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs AKA THE '54 GRAND FINAL REMATCH

Totally agree Mantis, we need to get as much game time into Tommy for exactly the reasons you state - his confidence and match day experience. I am not as learned as most of you on this site, but IMO, as long as he isn't taking a very fast player, surely being tall is not an issue? Maybe an old fashioned point of view, but I always thought that no matter what, a tall player doesn't get any shorter as the game progresses. It seems we are always being criticized for being short and giving away so much height, so why would we rest a tall player?

When the opposition has the ball delivering it to their forward line, having players too short or weak to compete against their opponent in a marking contest, or too slow to keep with them on the lead is a liability. The saying 'a tall player doesn't get any shorter as the game progresses' refers to tall players having more chance to take marks towards the end of the game as running players become tired and stop presenting as much, so the ball is kicked to a contest and the talls can use their height/size to advantage. It probably is old fashioned to rely on this strategy as these days the fitness level and interchange reduces the fatigue of the running players at the end of a game, the opposition forward line is not where you want to stack talls waiting for the opposition to get tired at the end of the game.

This is something our own forward line takes advantage of - sides develop their defense to play against a forward line that includes a couple of talls or strong one on one players, so they struggle for match ups with our leading forwards

We have quite a tall backline now - yes in the past we were short but now with Lake, Williams, Morris, Hargrave, Everitt and Tiller things are different, I can see Brad Miller as being a player whose quality and position at CHF may tempt us to play Tommy on him, whereas as was proven last week in the first quarter with Taylor Walker taking mark after mark on the lead with Tommy out of the picture we need a smaller defender on the quick leadup players. I see Miller as Melbourne's Rob Murphy, quick off the mark putting space between him and his opponent to be a target when bringing the ball forward

Tommy wasn't great for us last week and could be struggling to recover from his foot injury and benefit from the week off, if not then it may be a chance for us to send Lake forward and expose Melbourne's lack of height and strength that way