Teams: Sydney v Essendon

[Auntie.Gerald]

i felt we carried around 5 players last weekend and almost won against a white hot lightening fast Dee's on our dead end field the MCG

I felt, in part what kept us in the game was having the 3 very fast tall leading players............it made the matchups difficult for Melb

Given ROK played a fair bit in the backs last week and will again where needed this week and most backs played 90% plus of the game and did a pretty good job - I would suggest :

White, Bird, Rohan, Sumner

But Sumner will get to play a little more midfield and sub into the backs only when the place a small fast midfielder up there in the Forwards

[Peace]

My bet is Meredith will be the sub. Pyke will rest in Defence, Mummy in the forward line when Pyke is rucking.

[On-Baller]

My best guess is Pyke wont play,i think Mummy will ruck when Hille rucks and White when Ryder does,yes we loose out in the ruck but Jesse has the pace to go with Ryder around the ground i dont think Pyke does,Bird will be the sub imo.

[Captain]

I think the bench will be: White Rohan Bird with the substitute being Meredith

[The Big Cat]

Some people must be out of their minds. There is no way you could risk Pyke playing a KP backman. You need years of developing footy smarts.

[chalbilto]

Everyone won't win and the teams chances of winning is diminished if "CCC" Bevan remains in the starting 22. (courage, clangers and crook goalkicking). Bevans DNA will not change (according to Roos anyway) and I have long been of the opinion that his clangers and crook goalkicking cause far more damage than his courage is worth.

His courage is undenialable, his goalkicking is generally good but his clangers are unbearably bad. If he plays, and I am sure he will as he is listed, I hope he plays in the forward line where his clangers will not be as costly as down back.

[Bas]

Some people must be out of their minds. There is no way you could risk Pyke playing a KP backman. You need years of developing footy smarts.

I am out of my mind. It helps me deal with reality!

Tell that to Karmichael Hunt and GC.

[Triple B]

My best guess is Pyke wont play,i think Mummy will ruck when Hille rucks and White when Ryder does,yes we loose out in the ruck but Jesse has the pace to go with Ryder around the ground i dont think Pyke does,Bird will be the sub imo.

Personally I think Pyke is much better equipped to run with Ryder than Jesse. Not to say he will do a great job, but he'll do that role better than Jesse, imo.

[stellation]

Personally I think Pyke is much better equipped to run with Ryder than Jesse. Not to say he will do a great job, but he'll do that role better than Jesse, imo.

I agree, Pyke would be fine to run with Ryder. My biggest concern with Pyke over White if it comes to that is, assuming he isn't a sub (obviously they may go with the idea again), we'd be playing 2 ruckmen that don't really have a solid second position to play. Mummy can get it around the ground (didn't really against Melbourne), but that only is really when running in the ruck.

[magic.merkin]

My best guess is Pyke wont play,i think Mummy will ruck when Hille rucks and White when Ryder does,yes we loose out in the ruck but Jesse has the pace to go with Ryder around the ground i dont think Pyke does,Bird will be the sub imo.

??? Pyke is lightening, sure he didn't get to show it in the GF slippery dip the other year, but I think his tank as well would be competitive with Jesse and he is quicker, and dare I say it a better set of hands marking wise.... Oh yeah I went there.

[RogueSwan]

... we'd be playing 2 ruckmen that don't really have a solid second position to play. Mummy can get it around the ground (didn't really against Melbourne), but that only is really when running in the ruck.

Mummy's second role can be tagging Watson and letting him know that every time he gets the ball Mummy will be the one tackling him.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I really hope they don't repeat the ruckman=sub thing again, but I too fear they may. And if they do play Mummy & Pike I suspect they'll drop Jesse, for fear of being top heavy.

But I think there may be another either all question.

If, as seems possible, Bird will be included to try to reverse the contested footy problem.
Is that a solution?
They pulled Jude out of the midfield partly because the Demons made him look VERY slow, could that have adversely affect our ability in tight?
And is Craig a whole lot quicker than Jude? Will either of them he be able to keep up with Essendon's speedsters?
Can we afford to include the pair of them?