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When: Saturday, April 28th @ 1:45pm
Where: Manuka (Bankstown)
Last (and only) Time they met: NAB Cup Round 1 (Lightening Round)
Giants (1.3.3) were defeated by the Dogs (0.5.3) by 5 points. Best for the Giants – Palmer, Power and Hampton (with big Giles going well in the ruck) and for the Dogs were Boyd, Skinner (2 goals), Liberatore and Cross. I was at the game and whilst the Dogs pretty much dominated the possession count, the Giants were very committed to the footy and actually could have pinched the win late.
Last week
Giants put together their most competitive performance yet – going down to the Cows (sorry, Crows) by 8 goals in pretty difficult conditions. The Giants were actually within striking distance of a win during the 3rd quarter, before the experience/class of Adelaide’s – particularly Tippet – took charge of the game. Ward, Scully and Luke Power continued on with their consistent seasons and Hampton continued on his merry way with another 3 goals.
As for the Dogs, a solid win against a motivated opponent...whilst they weren’t great they weren’t terrible and to perform so strongly through the midfield despite the rare poor outing by skipper Boyd was a good sign. Cooney performed well in his best outing for a while, Dalhaus was effective and Cross showed supporters he still has a bit to offer.
Key Matchups
Minson vs Giles – Awesome – two of the top 5 ruckman in the league for ruck knocks that go directly to the opposition! Regardless of that, both are still learning and competitiveness is their key attribute. Both are better overhead marks than they have shown so far this year – and their inability to hold their grabs has really limited their game impact. Neither player will take a step backwards, neither will concede...really looking forward (from a Dogs centric viewpoint) to see if Will continues his combative and determined mindset from the Melbourne game where he really gave the more talented Jamar more than he could handle.
Boyd vs Ward – Can’t wait for this one. Unlike many supporters, I bode no ill towards Ward and quite honestly have been proud of the way he has kept sticking his head over the ball this year in an undermanned midfield. Boyd will be dirty on his game last week vs Magner and looking to really earn some possession. Neither will take a backward step and the winner of the contest will go a long way to deciding which team wins the stoppages.
Bugg vs Giansiracusa – Bugg has been in terrific form as an accountable small defender with good ability to spread from the contest. Gia – well, struggle town. He will need to use all of his smarts this week to get back on track against a quality opposition small but in a game where inside 50 supply is likely to be high.
Picken vs Scully – Thought about nominating Palmer as the go-to ‘taggee’ – but decided that Scully’s inside/outside game was more of a threat than Palmers gut running. Make no mistake though, the Dogs cannot allow the Giants youngsters spaces outside the contest to operate in – as a side they have been killed by outside runners in all 3 losses and even vs Melbourne allowed too much uncontested ball to the likes of Morton and Bail. Picken to take Scully, limit him as a receiver and force the young Giants half-backs/mids to shoulder the run and carry work load.
Hargrave vs Hampton – a 188cm clever, fast moving forward should be the perfect match-up for Shaggy. Actually, probably the perfect match-up for Morris, but he isn’t there so Shaggy it is. Hampton has been in ripping form and if he actually decides to be a little more selfish with his ball use could easily kick a bag of 5 or more. Hargrave has been in solid form (except for the Saints game of course) and is well placed to both account for Hampton AND provide run for his side.
Other comments?
Well, it is a bit hard to say too much – particularly given Sheedy has forecast yet another raft of changes up in the land of the Giants (http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/sheedy-f...s-changes.html). I guess Coniglio and Cameron come back in – maybe Shiels and Devon Smith are due for a rest? To quote Sockeye, 'It is as if they don’t care about my DreamTeam at ALL!' For the Dogs, Hargrave seems to have avoided the attention of the tribunal and Lake should be straight back in...I personally would like to see Liberatore promoted in place of Wood (though he would be another potential match-up for Hampton) and admittedly was better vs Melbourne last weekend...
What else? I was pleased to see a move away from the incredibly slow ball movement the Dogs displayed against St Kilda in the Melbourne game and would like to see the ‘ENERGY’ used to move the ball during the 2nd quarter especially repeated this week.
Prediction: Dogs by 54 points.
Where: Manuka (Bankstown)
Last (and only) Time they met: NAB Cup Round 1 (Lightening Round)
Giants (1.3.3) were defeated by the Dogs (0.5.3) by 5 points. Best for the Giants – Palmer, Power and Hampton (with big Giles going well in the ruck) and for the Dogs were Boyd, Skinner (2 goals), Liberatore and Cross. I was at the game and whilst the Dogs pretty much dominated the possession count, the Giants were very committed to the footy and actually could have pinched the win late.
Last week
Giants put together their most competitive performance yet – going down to the Cows (sorry, Crows) by 8 goals in pretty difficult conditions. The Giants were actually within striking distance of a win during the 3rd quarter, before the experience/class of Adelaide’s – particularly Tippet – took charge of the game. Ward, Scully and Luke Power continued on with their consistent seasons and Hampton continued on his merry way with another 3 goals.
As for the Dogs, a solid win against a motivated opponent...whilst they weren’t great they weren’t terrible and to perform so strongly through the midfield despite the rare poor outing by skipper Boyd was a good sign. Cooney performed well in his best outing for a while, Dalhaus was effective and Cross showed supporters he still has a bit to offer.
Key Matchups
Minson vs Giles – Awesome – two of the top 5 ruckman in the league for ruck knocks that go directly to the opposition! Regardless of that, both are still learning and competitiveness is their key attribute. Both are better overhead marks than they have shown so far this year – and their inability to hold their grabs has really limited their game impact. Neither player will take a step backwards, neither will concede...really looking forward (from a Dogs centric viewpoint) to see if Will continues his combative and determined mindset from the Melbourne game where he really gave the more talented Jamar more than he could handle.
Boyd vs Ward – Can’t wait for this one. Unlike many supporters, I bode no ill towards Ward and quite honestly have been proud of the way he has kept sticking his head over the ball this year in an undermanned midfield. Boyd will be dirty on his game last week vs Magner and looking to really earn some possession. Neither will take a backward step and the winner of the contest will go a long way to deciding which team wins the stoppages.
Bugg vs Giansiracusa – Bugg has been in terrific form as an accountable small defender with good ability to spread from the contest. Gia – well, struggle town. He will need to use all of his smarts this week to get back on track against a quality opposition small but in a game where inside 50 supply is likely to be high.
Picken vs Scully – Thought about nominating Palmer as the go-to ‘taggee’ – but decided that Scully’s inside/outside game was more of a threat than Palmers gut running. Make no mistake though, the Dogs cannot allow the Giants youngsters spaces outside the contest to operate in – as a side they have been killed by outside runners in all 3 losses and even vs Melbourne allowed too much uncontested ball to the likes of Morton and Bail. Picken to take Scully, limit him as a receiver and force the young Giants half-backs/mids to shoulder the run and carry work load.
Hargrave vs Hampton – a 188cm clever, fast moving forward should be the perfect match-up for Shaggy. Actually, probably the perfect match-up for Morris, but he isn’t there so Shaggy it is. Hampton has been in ripping form and if he actually decides to be a little more selfish with his ball use could easily kick a bag of 5 or more. Hargrave has been in solid form (except for the Saints game of course) and is well placed to both account for Hampton AND provide run for his side.
Other comments?
Well, it is a bit hard to say too much – particularly given Sheedy has forecast yet another raft of changes up in the land of the Giants (http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/sheedy-f...s-changes.html). I guess Coniglio and Cameron come back in – maybe Shiels and Devon Smith are due for a rest? To quote Sockeye, 'It is as if they don’t care about my DreamTeam at ALL!' For the Dogs, Hargrave seems to have avoided the attention of the tribunal and Lake should be straight back in...I personally would like to see Liberatore promoted in place of Wood (though he would be another potential match-up for Hampton) and admittedly was better vs Melbourne last weekend...
What else? I was pleased to see a move away from the incredibly slow ball movement the Dogs displayed against St Kilda in the Melbourne game and would like to see the ‘ENERGY’ used to move the ball during the 2nd quarter especially repeated this week.
Prediction: Dogs by 54 points.
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