Pre game postulations: AFL 2020 Rd 7: Carlton vs Port Adelaide

[LP]

If we contain and beat their midfield then that would largely starve Dixon out in his forward role. Of course he could then be moved to his ruck/on ball role - Pittonet come on down?
If we keep F50 pressure on that would mean the Hoff in a defensive role.

[member=36]cookie2[/member]‍  Port have Lycett, I doubt they'll use B-Grade ruck options just to find someone useful employment.

We've been doing that for years, like when we played Kreuzer forward and left Phillips rucking, and I'd assert it's a significant factor in stifling our progress.

[flyboy77]

Dixon last played against us in Rnd 15 2018, he took a mammoth 4 marks and kicked 1 goal. Rnd 5 2017 2 marks 2 goals. Rnd 8 2016 3 marks 2 goals. The most he's kicked against us is 3 goals in 2015. Thats hardly cause for Jonesy or Weiters to quake in their boots. He's kicked one decent bag (6 this year) in 3 seasons albeit injury interrupted. I'll back our tall defs at this stage.

Dixon strikes me as a pretty lazy type.

Give him silver service and an undersized opponent - sure he'll kick goals.

He kicked 6 on Tom Barrass (who was conceding 5cm and 10kg) and WCE got spanked in the midfield.

Against the Lions no goals, then 1 last week which was a charity free from the ump late in the 3rd quarter which got the Power back in the game....

[Thryleon]

No doubt, but bullying isn't about collecting stats, bullying is about having an impact on an opponent, like the impact Mumford has on opposition players.
Our focus becomes the bully, and the rest of the bully's team have a feast!

I think tactically, one of BBs shortfalls was not hurting the opposition going the other way. He'd leave us with two or three blokes standing a guy like Dixon while we lose all intercept marking and defensive run. I'd go the very opposite, and have players like Weitering and Jones hurting Dixon's team going in the other direction, make Dixon accountable right down to his own D50!

They have Dixon and Westhoff, we've Mckay, McGovern, Casboult, Weitering and Jones in potentially the same roles!

We've lost the last three outings against Port, the last win we had was when Kreuzer had a day out at Etihad back in 2016.

Last week McKay had a statistical average game.

His impact was enormous which involved him in scoring chains on multiple occasions, but the stats show a decent but not outstanding performance.

Charlie Dixon has that kind of game frequently.

[LP]

Last week McKay had a statistical average game.

His impact was enormous which involved him in scoring chains on multiple occasions, but the stats show a decent but not outstanding performance.

Charlie Dixon has that kind of game frequently.

 
That's a nice way to look at it, and a better way to describe it than bullying.

[Thryleon]

Stats are not illuminating generally.

I remember back to Bryce Gibbs 46 posession game against West Coast and remember thinking that he was involved a lot with maintaining posession but he didnt win his ball, and didnt set up a lot of our play, he simply accumulated.

I remember thinking to myself, that it was the worst dominant performance I had ever seen in a match we won easily.

Greg Williams record deserved much better than to have it broken in such fashion.

Charlie has gone up a level this year.  He is leaner, bigger, stronger and faster than he was.  Underestimate him at our peril.  Our boys have been in good form back there, and I havent been this confident in our defense since the 90's so it will be interesting to see how this game pans out.

[Gointocarlton]

No doubt, but bullying isn't about collecting stats, bullying is about having an impact on an opponent, like the impact Mumford has on opposition players.
Our focus becomes the bully, and the rest of the bully's team have a feast!

I think tactically, one of BBs shortfalls was not hurting the opposition going the other way. He'd leave us with two or three blokes standing a guy like Dixon while we lose all intercept marking and defensive run. I'd go the very opposite, and have players like Weitering and Jones hurting Dixon's team going in the other direction, make Dixon accountable right down to his own D50!

They have Dixon and Westhoff, we've Mckay, McGovern, Casboult, Weitering and Jones in potentially the same roles!

We've lost the last three outings against Port, the last win we had was when Kreuzer had a day out at Etihad back in 2016.

I am not for a minute suggesting this will be a walk in the park, if we dont respect them we will lose.  If we give them a head start, we are gone. If we play to a plan and play at our best fpr 4 qtrs like last week, we are a chance and it will be a cracker of a game.

[WASurfer]

Jones is probably a better match up for Dixon than Weitering? He's got a bit more pace and probably stronger than Weitering too. Jones was outstanding last week in completely shutting Bruce out of the game...coming off 6 goals the week before. I think Weitering was playing on Schache who went virtually unnoticed all game...2 possessions I think! Weitering seems to be playing with confidence this year...backing himself in...and his field kicking has been really good for the most part.

Agree though that it's the likes of Rozee, Gray, Motlop, Boak, Butters etc that are the threat...and Duursma likely to come back in. Would love to see someone drill Butters.

But Port will have their concerns too....match ups on Betts, Martin, McGovern etc.

[laj]

If we didn't piss 2 games down the drain with horrible starts this could well have been a top of the table clash. We may be underestimated. Port certainly overestimated. Good, but not that good.

At our stage of development and maturity we are likely to win this game then lose the next one against North...lol. It's probably going to be 2 steps forward, one step back for a short while until we develop further and win consistently. Part of the journey.

[LP]

Jones is probably a better match up for Dixon than Weitering? He's got a bit more pace and probably stronger than Weitering too.

I agree about Jones, but I disagree about Jones being stronger than Weitering.

Weitering is a monster now, and I doubt our club has any player stronger than Weitering or Casboult, they'd be well ahead of the competition.

I know some will refer me to the Aints game, but King was able to work outside the rules penalty free wrapping arms around Weitering and throwing him to the ground multiple times. McKay did the same thing as King last weekend and was penalised.

[LordLucifer]

There is a lot of people around the net (both professional media commentators & armchair keyboarders) who are going ape droppings about the Blues and how much of a threat they are etc.

It's great to get some positive hype for a change but realistically, it's completely blown out of proportion and totally unwarranted.

We have hardly fired a shot for many a year and even though we have some young exciting players who are starting to play with more consistency, the simple fact is a couple of wins in a shortened & bizarre season shouldn't warrant such adulation.

This week's game against Port is going to be some sort of acid test, stink it up and the knives will be back out. Take it up to them and lose narrowly or better still, pinch a win and there is some room to have more higher expectations.

Enjoying the way the lads are performing but I will not go over the top until the ferocious effort on the contest we saw last week happens every week and by every player.