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Bulldog Joe
14-07-2011, 11:59 AM
Match details

North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs, Sunday 17 July 2011, 4:40pm, Etihad Stadium

This Week's Teams

North Melbourne

B: Scott Thompson, Cameron Pedersen, Michael Firrito
HB: Brady Rawlings, Luke Delaney, Scott McMahon
C: Daniel Wells, Ryan Bastinac, Levi Greenwood
HF: Jack Ziebell, Aaron Edwards, Brent Harvey
F: Matt Campbell, Drew Petrie, Lachlan Hansen
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Leigh Adams, Andrew Swallow
I/C: Gavin Urquhart, Ben Warren, Liam Anthony, Benjamin Speight, Jamie Macmillan, Shaun Atley, Kieran Harper
In: Gavin Urquhart, Ben Warren, Benjamin Speight, Jamie Macmillan
Out: Lindsay Thomas


Western Bulldogs

B: Easton Wood, Lukas Markovic, Dale Morris
HB: Liam Picken, Tom L. Williams, Robert Murphy
C: Daniel Cross, Matthew Boyd, Lindsay Gilbee
HF: Callan Ward, Liam Jones, Luke Dahlhaus
F: Jarrad Grant, Barry Hall, Daniel Giansiracusa
Foll: Ben Hudson, Ryan Griffen, Adam Cooney
I/C: Dylan Addison, Shaun Higgins, William Minson, Josh Hill, Brennan Stack, Sam Reid, Andrew Hooper
In: Dylan Addison, William Minson, Brennan Stack

Key Match ups

Forward Half

Hall vs Thompson

After last year’s celebrated incident will Thompson go with Hall. Other options for North are Grima/Delaney

Barry has certainly been up and about the last 2 weeks and gives North plenty to ponder

Gia vs Rawlings

Gia has been our most consistent forward and is starting to cop the heavy tag, due to his form. Rawlings has been North’s best defender for smalls over the past 2 years. He has the motor to stick to his task, but is not overly creative on the rebound. Will make Gia work hard and can go with him when Gia has a midfield stint.


Midfield

Boyd vs Swallow

Both players win plenty of it in the contested ball and clearance work. Head to head they may both play their own game unless one starts to have a big influence, when the other might be required to defend more. I’ll back Boyd to keep on going as he always seems to dominate the possessions more in the second half of games.

Picken vs Wells

Oiled Wells is the smooth class player in the North side, particularly with Boomer Harvey not playing. Picken is resolute and just keeps at his task. He can sometimes be caught out by a burst player. Wells just does things effortlessly when he is on song. Liam does not allow anyone to do anything without effort.
Opposition players must dread when they find Liam Picken on them.

Edit: With Harvey still retained it is certainly likely that Liam will go to Boomer if he does come up. This would require Rocket to assign someone to Wells, but he may be happy for a head to head using someone like Ward.

Hudson vs Goldstein

The Jeweller has been the success story in North’s season and is a significant challenge for the Beard. Huddo will need to scrap with all his intensity to wear done Goldstein, who is a strong around the ground player. This match up concerns me most, so we will need to have our class midfielders in Griff, Coons and Ward take away any advantage stemmimg from Goldstein.

How do North approach Cooney/Griffen/Ward. Can they pick one to tag. Who do they have that can be relied on to do a shut down job. This is where they seem to lack class and depth. Ziebell, Greenwood and Anthony will certainly need to work hard to contain their Bulldog opponents. The ability of Daniel Cross to keep running and provide the get out option is also important to the Dogs ability to get a release from any opposition pressure.

Defensive half

Morris vs Thomas

Morris just continues to get the job done. After the demolition of Betts, he should control Yip Yip Thomas.
Edit: Well north have decided the Yips are too much to overcome. May mean Morris is assigned to Campbell. Edwards is the other forward to look at but Easton Wood looks well suited for that contest.


Markovic vs Petrie

Marko is a very defensive minded, who does well in aerial contest, by simply taking the balance of opponents in the air. Can be caught out by a fast leading player, but should be suited to the Dish who relies more on contested marking. Like all Doggies supporters I am wary of Petrie after that absolutely brilliant display at the MCG in 2007 where he scored 6 1st quarter goals playing on Brian Harris.

Williams vs Hansen
Tommy is in career best form over the past few games and is showing the confidence to take marks and provide some rebound as well. I will certainly back Tom to get the points over Hansen.
Edit: Plenty suggest that Hansen will play back, but North need to find some scoring options and not rely on Petrie as their sole marking target.

How do we win?

One of the big dangers is complacency. The Dogs have not been good at maintaining winning streaks, but the situation of the season demands that now. North will be undoubtedly fired up to atone for their dismal display against Collingwood.
If we can get on top early we should deflate their intensity and set up a comfortable win. However if we come out just expecting it to happen we could easily fall behind and struggle to get back in the contest.

Our midfield absolutely has more class and depth. Cooney is back to good form and Griffen has been superb all year. Ward is now having a consistent influence.
Up forward we have looked better since Barry’s return to form and this has helped Jones as well. Jones is also benefiting from his runs in the ruck, getting him involved in the game. Barbie Dalhaus has just added life and we have improved our forward pressure immensely since his introduction.

My Verdict

Well a game the we need to win, should win and should win comfortably. Our class players have come good. Our pressure has emerged and we again have forward options to score goals, while our backline showed last week that even without Lake they are a very good defensive unit.


Dogs by 72 points as I expect them to dominate after a tightish first half..

note
Edit after team selections now completed.

bornadog
14-07-2011, 12:25 PM
Well done BJ, another quality preview.

Bulldog Joe - "One of the big dangers is complacency. The Dogs have not been good at maintaining winning streaks,"

This always worries me with the dogs and North always give us a hard time. The 72 point win is a bit optimistic, however, if we are on song like last week we should win comfortably.

w3design
14-07-2011, 12:36 PM
Williams will go to Petrie.

Hansen has played CHB last couple of games. He'll probably go to Jones.

Bulldog Joe
14-07-2011, 12:46 PM
Williams will go to Petrie.

Hansen has played CHB last couple of games. He'll probably go to Jones.

I prefer to see Williams at CHB and I think Petrie will be more from the goal square and happy for Marko to go to him. Would be a good test for Marko.

Curly5
14-07-2011, 12:56 PM
On Insiders, Scott hinted that Thomas may be dropped.

Hopefully North Melbourne's confidence is shot. :)

Sockeye Salmon
14-07-2011, 01:12 PM
Morris vs Thomas

Morris just continues to get the job done. After the demolition of Betts, he should control Yip Yip Thomas.



That matchup could do to Thomas' career what Warne did for Darryl Cullinan's.

SlimPickens
14-07-2011, 01:54 PM
Cheers for the preview BJ.

Key match up definitely Huddo V Goldstein.

Mantis
14-07-2011, 01:59 PM
Key match up definitely Huddo V Goldstein.

For sure. Goldstein really works hard to push forward so Huddo is going to have to be ready for this come Sunday.

Good job BJ, it certainly is a game we should win and win well, but Norf will desperate to have a dip after their insipid efforts last week... In saying that I think we have turned the corner and expect to see us play the hard, committed footy we showed against Carlton.

Happy Days
14-07-2011, 02:03 PM
Two people need to go to Petrie from the word go; he is too strong for pretty much any defender in the AFL. I'd have Markovic on him, with Wood standing in the hole in front of him.

bulldogsman
14-07-2011, 02:16 PM
Thanks for the preview Joe

Hansen has been playing in the backline for most of the season though. Williams to Pedersen

LostDoggy
14-07-2011, 03:27 PM
Just heard on SEN that Brad Scott said at a presser this arvo that Thomas has been dropped.

Curly5
14-07-2011, 05:13 PM
On Insiders, Scott hinted that Thomas may be dropped.

Hopefully North Melbourne's confidence is shot. :)


Just heard on SEN that Brad Scott said at a presser this arvo that Thomas has been dropped.


Hah! :)

LongWait
14-07-2011, 05:44 PM
Good read BJ.

We need to play a defender behind the ball if Petrie becomes a handfull. Collingwood did this to great effect. Winning the midfield battle and ensuring they don't get clean ball into their forward 50 with Petrie one-on-one will be a major factor in winning or losing this game in my view.

ratsmac
14-07-2011, 09:39 PM
Nice work BJ. Agreed complacency the key. If we play like we did against Carlton, the result will take care of itself.

Ghost Dog
14-07-2011, 10:39 PM
Thanks for the preview. I have three tickets courtesy North Melbourne who have been doing the rounds at Unis and TAFES, RTOS, trying to get International students to the footy. I suppose it's not a bad ploy, but not many of my students seem interested in footy much. We have two big boxes of North Melbourne scarves at work, gathering dust.

Hope for a big turnout by our fans to put them under the heat, and our blokes need to just ignore the colour of their jumpers, repeating last week's effort.

Greystache
14-07-2011, 10:44 PM
Good preview BJ

LostDoggy
15-07-2011, 04:30 PM
Thanks for the preview BJ - norf always seem to worry us, no matter how our season is going? But, then on relfection, our season hasn't been stock standard, so I'm sure we will win this! Has Harvey been confirmed as an "out"? Perhaps we won't know until Sunday?

The Coon Dog
15-07-2011, 04:52 PM
Thanks for the preview BJ - norf always seem to worry us, no matter how our season is going?
R 9
North Melbourne 0.5 2.10 4.13 7.15 57
Western Bulldogs 6.0 11.1 18.4 20.7 127

R 18
Western Bulldogs 6.2 9.3 13.7 22.11 143
North Melbourne 3.3 6.6 8.8 10.12 72

Not last year they didn't!

LostDoggy
15-07-2011, 06:38 PM
Which end is the Cheersquad this week?

LostDoggy
16-07-2011, 09:01 PM
R 9
North Melbourne 0.5 2.10 4.13 7.15 57
Western Bulldogs 6.0 11.1 18.4 20.7 127

R 18
Western Bulldogs 6.2 9.3 13.7 22.11 143
North Melbourne 3.3 6.6 8.8 10.12 72

Not last year they didn't!

Thanks for the reminder CD - must be the "old timers" setting in! Happy to be proved wrong, of course!