Strategising a Grand Final Win vs Sydney

[bulldogtragic]

Call me superstitious, but I'm doing everything the same as the last 3 weeks. So here's my strategy thread.

Do we need to close mark any particular midfielder?

Do we need a second ruckman? If so, who? If Roughy is out, who replaces him?

Do we have a defensive forward role for Cordy this week?

Who gets Buddy?

[westbulldog]

Just a starting thought, I would watch Tom Papley closely, the kid is becoming every bit as good as his grandfather Max.

[1eyedog]

Mitchell is their form mid and I would like some work put into him to curb his influence. I'm hoping Rampe has to go to Stringer to keep Rampe accountable.

[LostDoggy]

I don't think we'll be too focussed on midfied tags or matchups. Sydney's strength is their consistent high quality, with Kennedy, Hanneberry, Parker, Mitchell, Jack, Heeney, McVeigh, McGlynn, Papley and others delivering death by 1,000 cuts as they rack up the possessions. They usually wear opponents down. We stack up okay as our inside depth can compete against them over 4 quarters, and we have better runners. I reckon we'll go in with our plan A rotations, and trust that we can roughly beak even in tight, which will go a long way towards winning.

[MrMahatma]

Swans have been fast starters. We need to keep it tight for the first 30 mins and then it's on for young and old.

[Go_Dogs]

Start ferocious and continue that for the entire game.

Happy for us to have Buddy away from the F50 but we need to ensure we keep our third man up/zone deep because he's using the ball so well spotting up targets.

Limit their clean ball on the inside and through the first possession out - tough ask against their experienced unit.

Play through anyone but Rampe's man and try to keep him away from the contests in the air.

They were bloody strong Friday night, going to be a belter.

[boydogs]

We match up well against Sydney with a large group of players sharing minutes in the midfield and mobile forward and defensive lines. If their best players all fire though they will be tough to stop

[Mantis]

We match up well against Sydney with a large group of players sharing minutes in the midfield and mobile forward and defensive lines. If their best players all fire though they will be tough to stop

Like in rd 15?

Have a look at the stats sheet that day and you will find:

Kennedy - 34
Parker - 34 -10 tackles - 3 goals
Hanneberry - 33
Jack - 26
McVeigh - 23
Mitchell - 23
Buddy - 21 - 10 marks - 5 goals

They threw the kitchen sink at us and we still found a way.

Make no mistake this game will be won by the bottom 6-8, not the top 6-8.

[EasternWest]

Like in rd 15?

Have a look at the stats sheet that day and you will find:

Kennedy - 34
Parker - 34 -10 tackles - 3 goals
Hanneberry - 33
Jack - 26
McVeigh - 23
Mitchell - 23
Buddy - 21 - 10 marks - 5 goals

They threw the kitchen sink at us and we still found a way.

Make no mistake this game will be won by the bottom 6-8, not the top 6-8.

Remarkable figures, on their patch and we still won.

We'll win this week.

[Mofra]

The Swans have been much faster starters in the last 1/3rd of the year, and being experienced they will settle faster too.

Michael Tuck (I think it was him) says that the team that normally wins the Grand Final is the one that settles first as they'll start to control the play and eventually get the game on their terms. This game could be a little different as both teams have a strongly contested style of play, although the Swans have Buddy up forward who has to be stopped while our scoring power is from a fleet of small players with our talls really just there to bring the ball to ground.

[The Pie Man]

We've started well in each of the 3 finals, just failed to capitalize on some opportunities (where have we read/heard that before..)

Trust the group to be switched on from the first bounce, absolutely need to bring the ball to ground if forced into a high ball/contested F50 entry.

[Stefcep]

The Swans have been much faster starters in the last 1/3rd of the year, and being experienced they will settle faster too.

Michael Tuck (I think it was him) says that the team that normally wins the Grand Final is the one that settles first as they'll start to control the play and eventually get the game on their terms. This game could be a little different as both teams have a strongly contested style of play, although the Swans have Buddy up forward who has to be stopped while our scoring power is from a fleet of small players with our talls really just there to bring the ball to ground.

Michael tuck also forgot the name of the award that was named after him.

[The Doctor]

We must match them early. smash them in the contest as this will set the tone. We have good endurance and run out games well so if they fight back we still have something in the tank.

I would put Easton Wood on Buddy

[The Doctor]

double post due to crap IT

[bulldogtragic]

double post due to crap IT

That's what Sydney will be doing to release the internal pressure after we shove IT Right Up Them.

[boydogs]

Like in rd 15?

Have a look at the stats sheet that day and you will find:

Kennedy - 34
Parker - 34 -10 tackles - 3 goals
Hanneberry - 33
Jack - 26
McVeigh - 23
Mitchell - 23
Buddy - 21 - 10 marks - 5 goals

They threw the kitchen sink at us and we still found a way.

Make no mistake this game will be won by the bottom 6-8, not the top 6-8.

Their first quarter that destroyed Geelong was that same group at their best. I think they have the best top 6 in the league

[Eastdog]

- Stop Buddy - Team defence to be in full operation
- Make sure we do not give them any sort of big start and keep with them
- Get right on top in the middle and give our forwards strong delivery - big games from Libba, Hunter, Macrae, Bont
- Tom, Clay, Stringer, Dicko to all have great games

[jeemak]

Our midfield effort and accountability will be a given so.....

- Force them as high up the ground as we possibly can by locking it in our forward line early. This will draw the likes of Franklin and Tippett to where they're less dangerous

- Keep doing the above

- Use the width of the MCG coming from full back to half back when going to the fat side, but immediately after that get it into the corridor. The Swans will play it like it's a longer version of the SCG on the attack but they won't really expect us to be that bold. They will expect us to lose ourselves in the flanks due to their pressure

- Due to the space of the MCG our grid will be tested, and we need to make sure when it goes one side of the ground we diagonally lapse it from the other side to compensate and sure up space

- Make sure our forwards play as forwards. Open space dragging members of our team to execute the above too high will kill us

[Ghost Dog]

Rabid pressure. Not kicking long to contests mindlessly. Make every shot for goal count.

[Remi Moses]

Territory battle again, and conversion .
We need not to fluff our lines . Intensity ( obviously ) and manic pressure .
No bombing forward, as we looked great against them when we lowered our vision going forward in round 15

[LostDoggy]

Sydney have been starting brilliantly. Their first 20 minutes against both Geelong and Adelaide were frighteningly good. We've conceded the first 2-3 goals twice in 3 finals and the other time we frittered chances. If we are with them at this point, that will be a significant victory. We'll win from there.

[1eyedog]

Like in rd 15?

Have a look at the stats sheet that day and you will find:

Kennedy - 34
Parker - 34 -10 tackles - 3 goals
Hanneberry - 33
Jack - 26
McVeigh - 23
Mitchell - 23
Buddy - 21 - 10 marks - 5 goals

They threw the kitchen sink at us and we still found a way.

Make no mistake this game will be won by the bottom 6-8, not the top 6-8.

Yep it's why Geelong got blown away.

We need big games from Mclean / Dunks / Biggs / Cordy / Smith and Jong / Suckers. Not a bad bottom 6!