Round 5: Eagles vs Carlton

[Pinion King]

Poor selection table work again if this is a development year. Missed the opportunity to get a game into one or two younger players and rest some slightly sore ones. Big game next week and we will not be able to play with such things for the month after that either.

I think Simpson said he was planning on playing more youngsters in the next few weeks. It's round 5 and we have debuted four players. There's another 17 weeks to bring in new players.

He said in his presser that it's hard to judge on form because of EP no show in R1 and bye in R3. There will be a few more over the next few rounds. All bar one of the emergencies are kids.

I had a look, Ainsworth hasn't played a game for almost a month.

Kruzer out is huge. Nic and Scott will be laughing the whole way over.

[Fat Side]

Poor selection table work again if this is a development year. Missed the opportunity to get a game into one or two younger players and rest some slightly sore ones. Big game next week and we will not be able to play with such things for the month after that either.

I think Simpson said he was planning on playing more youngsters in the next few weeks. It's round 5 and we have debuted four players. There's another 17 weeks to bring in new players.

He said in his presser that it's hard to judge on form because of EP no show in R1 and bye in R3. There will be a few more over the next few rounds. All bar one of the emergencies are kids.

I had a look, Ainsworth hasn't played a game for almost a month.

Kruzer out is huge. Nic and Scott will be laughing the whole way over.

Hutchings in means that Simpson has a role for him. I suspect he wants him to sit on Cripps, although a 185cm Hutchings may have difficulty with a 195cm midfielder.

[MrWoollie]

Poor selection table work again if this is a development year. Missed the opportunity to get a game into one or two younger players and rest some slightly sore ones. Big game next week and we will not be able to play with such things for the month after that either.

I also thought this was a chance to blood Petrucelle or give Watson a run.

[domo_the_eagle]

Lose this and it will set us back to square one.

This carlton team are missing key players, we need to crush them and make a statement.

BE RUTHLESS EAGLES, GO FOR THE KILL.

[DALBY]

I agree, if we lose this, we deserve hell from the media. No excuses, no Murphy, Kreuzer or Weitering(Out of form I know) etc. We should win comfortably.

[lazzas]

Poor selection table work again if this is a development year. Missed the opportunity to get a game into one or two younger players and rest some slightly sore ones. Big game next week and we will not be able to play with such things for the month after that either.

I also thought this was a chance to blood Petrucelle or give Watson a run.

I think there will be an out for the Eagles. I hope there is not but the body language wasn't good from Simo when asked if Boots was playing wasn't good, even though he said he would be.

[Mead]

If Shuey is struggling I hope we don't play him- given no Murphy and Kreuzer there will be no excuses if our midfield doesn't come to play even without him.

Would happily take a narrow win against Carlton and a fresh Shuey for the derby.

[HH]

BE RUTHLESS EAGLES, GO FOR THE KILL.

Sweep the leg! No mercy.

[WCE Booka 89]

If Shuey is struggling I hope we don't play him- given no Murphy and Kreuzer there will be no excuses if our midfield doesn't come to play even without him.

Would happily take a narrow win against Carlton and a fresh Shuey for the derby.

Its a tough one. With the game being at the MCG, there is some real importance in getting a win there to get the media off our back so it is tempting to risk it, Beating Carlton at the MCG is more important than beating Freo. But at the same time if we were to lose shuey for weeks then that would not be worth it at all.

With Carltons out, we should be able to win without shuey aswell, so I guess rest him and if we lose then we really do deserve the media scrutiny.

[farmer joe]

If Shuey is struggling I hope we don't play him- given no Murphy and Kreuzer there will be no excuses if our midfield doesn't come to play even without him.

Would happily take a narrow win against Carlton and a fresh Shuey for the derby.

Its a tough one. With the game being at the MCG, there is some real importance in getting a win there to get the media off our back so it is tempting to risk it, Beating Carlton at the MCG is more important than beating Freo. But at the same time if we were to lose shuey for weeks then that would not be worth it at all.

With Carltons out, we should be able to win without shuey aswell, so I guess rest him and if we lose then we really do deserve the media scrutiny.

If he is fit he should play. To early to start messing with stuff and we need every win we can get.

Plus....Freo are a rabble and we will beat them by 15 goals plus with/without Shuey.

[CouchPotato]

If Kreuzer is out, suggest we drop one of the ruckmen or forwards for another mid. If it's going to be Nic Nat, they shouldn't have made him fly over, so I'd guess it will be a tall forward.

Waterman could probably use a rest and be good to see another kid get a run.

But I do agree - it's too early in the year to be resting people with a niggle - we still don't know where we sit in the scheme of things yet.

It's also one of those games where about 10 minutes in, we will know if it will be a thrashing, or a grind because of the Eagles pressure (or lack thereof).

[MrWoollie]

Jetta now an out as well due general soreness. If they don't fix the surface at Optus we could be down 1/2 a team by mid year.
Cole the replacement. I actually thought that Petrucelle as a pacy wing who can run off half back would have been the like for like option. Ainsworth added as emergency.

Shuey still a concern.

If Kreuzer is out, suggest we drop one of the ruckmen or forwards for another mid. If it's going to be Nic Nat, they shouldn't have made him fly over, so I'd guess it will be a tall forward.

Waterman could probably use a rest and be good to see another kid get a run.

I looked at the team as named and a forward line of Waterman, JK, Lycett, Cripps, Darling and LeCras looks horribly tall. Yes I know that what is named and who starts where are only casually related, but...

Agree that with Kruezer out we could take it down to one ruck and still be better in that area. Rest one and bring in Watson or Petrucelle.

[Peter_Melesso_Fanclub]

Same concern about height that I had earlier in the thread. I think after a certain point, size advantage becomes mismatches everywhere, and depending on the conditions and game style those mismatches don't always go in favour of the bigs. i.e. it gives Carlton a potential tactical advantage that we really don't need to give them.

I haven't kept up with who travelled, and there's not a big in the squad who doesn't deserve to retain their place, but I'm hoping we leave one of them out.

[penrith eagle]

These are the games that annoy me

Overwhelming favourites against a rabble we should win easily but that is not often the case with us in melb especially at the mcg. I do not want to see us repeat past mistakes and lose to a rabble, be ruthless and get the job done

Don’t care how we win just get the 4 points

Ps turn the mute button off today it’s all going to be about the blues ..blah blah blah

[CouchPotato]

3 minutes in and I can tell the eagles are off

We are in for a grind...