I don't think the Swans will be under the pump. No journo's going to bag them for their last two when three games ago they won the premiership. In addition Paul Roos has been talking down their start to the season so no-one is really surprised that Sydney has struggled early.

Get a grip.

There are many teams worse this week.

The Swans will escape scrutiny. When we beat them, that's when questions will be asked.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

G-d I hope we beat the swannies.

To see them go 0-3 and us 2-1 would be fantastic, especially since living in this town, you get a fair amount of uneducated comment if you know what I mean.

DH

_________________
From little things big things grow....

Last time the differences were Hall and Bolton (J). Whitnall played a blinder, kicking 5, but then was called into the ruck in the last quarter when Bryan ran out of gas after a superb debut. French was out injured.

Bolton J beat Bentick out of the middle and AB was dragged in the second from memory.

Hall did the runaround on Livingston, before Thornton was moved on and did better. Livo then gave up a couple of goals to O'Loughlin, although both from memory were hard to stop.

I think we'll have to see if Bentick can take Bolton or perhaps see if Carrots has enough strength to take him out. Thornton straight to Hall. Waite gave LRT severe headaches and will be keen to bounce back from last week.

If we wre close enough last time after sitting on the bottom, can fix a few of the matchups, then I think we're in with a real chance.

Blues by 30.

the question all dreamteam coaches want to know.

will saddington play this week

i reckon he is great value at $250k but he isnt worth shit if he isnt playing

as for the game,

yep, we are a real chance this weekend, a real big chance, sydney arent playing anything like they did last year.

hall is about the only danger IMO, players like him, on fire, you cant defend against, if we can limit the supply to him we will win.

hehe

how times have changes, hope is a wonderful thing.

winning the first game, almost winning the second away in freo after having bad first quarter and even then not losing by 100+ points, its all positive around the club at the moment.

still i have some concern that Medhurst (Houlihan) and Carr (Murphy) havent gone up yet .... Carr is a coward, i dont care what team he was playing, to smack a kid (murphy who is 18) in the guts is the sign of a coward.

_________________
Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

I hear ya.

So does KK, TheHalford, CarltonClem, P(12)terg, Sydney Blue, Bondi Blue, Markno3, etc etc...

_________________
Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

After a tough trip to Subi and injuries to Barney and Lappin, it's gonna be a hard one to win. Hopefully we'll axe ADL and bring in Kennedy and Saddo for one of the injuries.

We don't want to go in too big as most of the swans are smaller and quicker which will hurt us if they are able to flood and run the ball out of the D. Hopefully Simmo and Walks will have the legs to keep up.

They WILL NOT kick to a contest this week, so prepare yourselves for a crap game.

Murph looked absolutely stuffed in the last Q and could well be rested, it's a long year and we don't want to burn him out yet.

Fev needs another big chasing/tackling game and the Panther needs to give alot more than he did Saturday night. I agree, Kennedy to CHF against a smaller swans outfit and Waite running as a KP midfielder.

Blues by 8pts.

_________________
end of message

I noticed that too. Was going up and down in the one spot. Probably a good idea to rest him.

_________________
Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Swans on the rebound will be tough....Barry Hall had a quiet game vs Port so I would expect him to be in the goals this week and its usually six every game vs us so we need to do better down back than in the past....dont think Livo will be getting Hall this week..
French, Mclaren and Deluca were all pathetic to borrow a term from Malcom Blight and need to do better....Swans are missing Ball and Jolly and Chambers have been found wanting so in my view so we should expect French and co to at least break even..if Nick Stevens can lift his game and we can get it down to Fev we might be a chance ...

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

I think the trick, Elwood, will be to drag Hall downfield, and even if he gets 20 kicks, if he's 60-80m away from goal, he won't be nearly as damaging.

And if we can take Bolton and Williams out of the equation, we're 90% there.

I think we've got the cattle to match it with them. I've never been as confident of handing it up to them as I am about this weekend.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I think the Swans are the worst team to win the flag since the mighty pies in 1990.Bit harse you might say.I dont think so.We were right in it last year but they got on top in the last 15 minutes. I think we have progressed as a side .They will be keen to atone for their pathetic first half against Port and Hall is the major worry.Stop him you beat the Swannies.We have more grunt in the middle now.I reckon we are a big show but must come out snarling from the first bounce.

I think the trick is not to let the footy get down there..Oloughlin, Hall, Okeefe, Goodes will kick a winning score if you give them enough supply...agree get Hall further up the ground if possible but he is a good player and will dish off to another swan in better position if you give him too many opportunities. 20 kicks is alot of a ball for a player of his ability..my tactic would be double team him and by that I mean have Lance try and congest the area where can lead to and have Thornton perhaps doing the spoiling...one on one he will beat any of our players...Livo, Thornton etc have been tried before and it doesnt work..midfield pressure and a congested forward line are the answers..Swans have a few sneaky little forwards like Schnieder, Davis and Buchanan who need watching also....be a good test for Denis pagan getting the matchups right..I think we can win providing we cut the Hall factor out of the game...he kicks 5-6 then its over....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

I don't think Goodes is a factor.

Is he playing any further forward than HB?

The most overrated Brownlow Medallist since Woeful.

I make the following based on nothing more than gut feeling, so don't tee off on me if you think my matchups are stupid, just explain why they are, and what you'd do instead

Chambers on Goodes
Livo on Hall (and maybe Saddington too)
Thornton or Lappin on O'Loughlin
Carrots on Schneider
Walker on Bolton


Leaves Whitnall free, maybe even Lappin to either be mobile HB, as he did in the same match last year.

Let the Swans worry about Stevens, Kouta, Smurf, Fev, McLaren, French

I think that's a good start....

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Goodes, most overrated brownlow medalist, i don't think so. He is brilliant, he can run like a midfielder, he will probably slam us if we don't make sure we get him in their backline. Goodes is a HUGE factor.

Most overrated since not-Kouta, no worries.

Chambers on Goodes - that's an interesting one KK. Sure, CC has the motor, but does he have the smarts and accountability? Never mind the ability to get it running forward. That's a massive risk, but it'd be bloody awesome if it worked.

_________________
Cer 'ch 'n alluog Blues

Goodes goes ok against us however the man who has had some success from memory is Prenda....gumps like French and Mclaren might go ok in the hitouts but Goodes will get plenty of ball around the ground and hurt us...

Oloughlin v Lappin.....I wouldnt..Oloughlin will outmark Lappin and probably drag him closer to goal and get him out of play...I would play Lappin on the lazy Nick Davis and have Lappin run off him and expose him as the cheat he is...great offensive player but lazy as when he doesnt have the footy...

Walker on Bolton..dont mind that matchup..Walker will be around the ball and taking out a good player...

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

If he's a factor, where's he been the last couple of weeks?

He SHOULD be able to have single-handedly beaten Essendon* in Rd 1. But he didn't. His work ethic is patchy to say the least, and his second efforts make Fev look like Diesel. And his disposal has been shocking lately.

I think Chambers definitely has the Tank to run with Goodes, but yes, is he made of the right discipline to stay with him and do the right things? I don't know. I don't think Goodes has a whole lot of discipline either, and if it can be made to impact negatively on Sydney's game plan, then it gets worse through the match.

I think we could go in with 4-6 "negative" matchups, that is, to take their most damaging out of the match and let our second tier do the job, and our B-graders are a hell of a lot better than Sydney's. I'm not advocating a "mass flood" or "taggers picnic" match, just the right strategy for the right players.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

You make a good point re: Lappin/O'Loughlin, and that Lappin may be better on Davis, who seems to have a field day against us every time in Melbourne.

And, yes, a more mobile tall like Prenda may be a better option to stifle Goodes.

Still confident we've got the manpower to a) stop them damaging us, and b) damage them on the scoreboard.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Must play Thornton on O'Loughlin. Or Saddington on O'Loughlin.

Livo can play on Hall.

Elwood is right in that we have to make sure the ball doesn't get down to the Swans forward line. Having said that...Hall was double-teamed very well yesterday and we have to do that, Whitnall has got to stand in the spaces where Hall will lead. That much is obvious.

Swans midfield really lacking dash - looked very very flat and tired yesterday, hungover perhaps. J. Bolton was nowhere to be seen. Always second to the ball. They looked like it against Essendon* as well.

My g/f was saying about 10 minutes into the 1st quarter - they don't look like winning. At that stage, they were only 2 goals down, but she was right - they never had any rhythm. Even with a massive 33,500 crowd behind them, they never looked like getting out of first gear.

Their disposal - their trademark from last year - was appalling yesterday. Worse than us and that's saying something.

_________________
"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

Oloughlin is playing to deep for lappin and he has to much strength for him- Thorton should line up on Oloughlin - Livo on Hall -Mcgrath on Davis - Saddington on Okeefe - this would alllow Whitnal to move forward and create the miss match he caused last year.

Chambers should be playing with Campo or the Bullants he is a terrible footballer and all his possessions are cheap. Bigger dud than clarke and thats saying something

We are a good chance this week if we get the match ups right and of course if sometime between now and next week Kouta learns how to deliver the ball to a forward and not cough it up like he did about a dozen times against Freo

I only wish Sydney had won yesterday

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws