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lemmon
02-05-2013, 07:56 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

The bulldog tragician
02-05-2013, 08:48 PM
A great review, but did I miss something.. Griffen not back is he?

It will be interesting to see Roughy on Kennedy, a guy who must circle his calendar for Bulldog games.

lemmon
02-05-2013, 08:50 PM
A great review, but did I miss something.. Griffen not back is he?

It will be interesting to see Roughy on Kennedy, a guy who must circle his calendar for Bulldog games.

Was meant to read Cooney, not sure why Griff was stuck in my head

bornadog
02-05-2013, 10:46 PM
Nice Preview Lemmon.

The matchups will be interesting and I am sure West Coast will try and stretch us in our backline Minson will have a hard time rucking on a big ground and with the weather forecast being 28. We can't afford to have Roughie in the ruck at any stage so Austin will have to relieve Minson.

Greystache
02-05-2013, 10:53 PM
Good job Lemmon. The match ups will be interesting, West Coast have brought back in some big names but they may be a bit underdone, hopefully we can exploit their lack of match conditioning.

West Coast have been starting games very well but fading badly, we need to keep in touch early and not get blown away.

Dry Rot
02-05-2013, 11:20 PM
Bloody good review.



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.



Do you think this slump is temporary, or perhaps they have over preformed in recent times?

lemmon
03-05-2013, 12:24 AM
Bloody good review.



Do you think this slump is temporary, or perhaps they have over preformed in recent times?

I'm starting to think last year was a bit of an anomaly. They should be better than where they are now, definite top 8 side but that midfield just lacks something for mine. Gaff, Schuey and Lecras are their keys in the middle, long term. They need more out of these guys who are the ones in the right age range with the star potential but at the moment it isn't there. Their spine is excellent, Glass has been replaced while Darling and Kennedy are better than anything the Swans, Collingwood and probably even Geelong can put on the park in terms of key forwards but we all know that with an inadequate midfield you could have Carey at one end and EJ at the other and it wouldn't matter.

Priddis, Schuey and Gaff are a fair step down from Swan, Pendlebury and Thomas

LostDoggy
03-05-2013, 04:22 PM
The one game I really care about this year. Win this one, boys, and I'll be happy with whatever you serve up for the rest of the season. Really hate these guys.

I agree with Stache, if we can keep within sight of the Weagles until half time our chances improve dramatically. Let them out in front, however, and the crowd gets involved at the worst stadium in the league to have an opposition crowd's energy up.

jeemak
03-05-2013, 04:34 PM
Nice one Lemmon.

It would be really nice to see us take it up to West Coast this week, though I think such an innexperienced side will have issues playing on the narrow, albeit long Subiaco.

LostDoggy
03-05-2013, 04:38 PM
Gotta play overlap footy for the whole game and with the same urgency as last week. Continual running from behind and running to create will test our fitness and concentration. And if we can't overlap and hit targets we will find we are being monstered yet again by a much stronger team. Stop start footy will ensure defeat on this ground.

mjp
03-05-2013, 04:45 PM
Did Priddis pass his concussion test?? Who wins the stoppages out of him and Liberatore is going to be important.

Hill could be important...don't like the idea of JJ playing on him - JJ not good enough overhead.
Separating Waters and Hurn from the mids and preventing them becoming hb receive players very important.

Not sure what WC are doing with Sinclair/Natanui/Cox all named - though I guess Sinclair is on an extended bench.

lemmon
03-05-2013, 04:56 PM
Did Priddis pass his concussion test?? Who wins the stoppages out of him and Liberatore is going to be important.

Hill could be important...don't like the idea of JJ playing on him - JJ not good enough overhead.
Separating Waters and Hurn from the mids and preventing them becoming hb receive players very important.

Not sure what WC are doing with Sinclair/Natanui/Cox all named - though I guess Sinclair is on an extended bench.

Yep Priddis passed his test. Perhaps Addison comes in to play that defensive forward on Hurn?

bornadog
03-05-2013, 05:02 PM
Did Priddis pass his concussion test?? Who wins the stoppages out of him and Liberatore is going to be important.

Hill could be important...don't like the idea of JJ playing on him - JJ not good enough overhead.
Separating Waters and Hurn from the mids and preventing them becoming hb receive players very important.

Not sure what WC are doing with Sinclair/Natanui/Cox all named - though I guess Sinclair is on an extended bench.

Final teams:

WCE - In: Wellingham, Smith, Naitanui. Out: Butler, Hams, Cripps;

WB - In: Addison, Howard. Out: Goodes, Veszpremi.

lemmon
03-05-2013, 05:11 PM
Addison to play on a back flank or as a defensive forward?

westdog54
05-05-2013, 09:06 AM
Did Priddis pass his concussion test?? Who wins the stoppages out of him and Liberatore is going to be important.

Hill could be important...don't like the idea of JJ playing on him - JJ not good enough overhead.
Separating Waters and Hurn from the mids and preventing them becoming hb receive players very important.

Not sure what WC are doing with Sinclair/Natanui/Cox all named - though I guess Sinclair is on an extended bench.

Apparently they're all playing.

Thats a Naitinui/Cox-Sinclair-Kennedy-Darling forward line.

I have it as Roughie to Cox-Naitinui, Morris to Kennedy, Young to Darling and Austin to Sinclair, with the latter two to alternate if need be. Picken or Lower take LeCras. That leaves JJ/Howard to take Josh Hill, which, as you said, could get very untidy.

Does Addison have the tank to go with Waters or Hurn and make them accountable off half-back? Not sure he does.

Sinclair is named on the bench. Staggering that they're playing all that tall timber, can't see them all being on the ground at the one time but surely having Sinclair off the bench would play havoc with their rotations. Surely Woosha isn't stupid enough to start Sinclair as the sub?

F'scary
05-05-2013, 03:25 PM
Hill could be important...don't like the idea of JJ playing on him - JJ not good enough overhead.


As we all know, Hill is bone lazy - just hangs around for the speccy. JJ will burn off him all game and amass a lot of very damaging possessions.