Team List Team Selection: QF v Brisbane @ SCG

[KSAS]

No Change for mine. Reward the team who did so well collectively to defeat North under the circumstances.

Teams changes only come into consideration for the following final (hopefully that's the PF) if required.

Amartey will be available, but has missed far too many games to make an immediate impact, particularly in a final.

Green is providing a good ruck chopout for Grundy to keep Mclean out. Brisbane has a 2 Ruck setup, which reinforces Green's retention.

May consider McInerney for the following final (if fit), but also wary of selecting him after such a long lay off. Much will depend on team's performance this week.

Shame VFL team got knocked out early, as it would've been so handy to give Armatey and McInerney a run their first.

[imuninformedtwo]

Agreed. We will need all the run in the world to match the Lions so don’t need an extra tall, and if Joel comes in for Green, it’d force Logan to be second ruck, which I hate given the form he’s in down forward, as Joel simply wouldn’t have the tank to play any ruck time.

(Plus there’s a little bit of me that thinks the guys who fronted up in that game against Norf deserve to be rewarded.)

[Dow]

IF joel comes in,
id drop a small probably Sheldrick he doesn't get a lot of TOG anyway and he doesn't contribute much

[cubby]

IMO, If Joel comes in ....Hamling out

[Nico]

Why would we bring in an underdone Amartey. Longmire erred on too many occasions playing injured players in finals. I was at the Carlton/Melbourne game and couldn't believe Melbourne trotted out Viney. He was an absolute waste of space. Couldn't get out of his own way.

[Mountain Man]

I agree; no change
* reward the team that performed against North
* continue with the younger players from last week as they may be playing next year as the best (available) 23

[Syd76]

I agree; no change
* reward the team that performed against North
* continue with the younger players from last week as they may be playing next year as the best (available) 23

Agree with the sentiment... unless players pass strenuous fitness tests, there is not point playing injured players.. certainly no more than one anyway.

[SwanSand]

Cox pretty much ruled out Amartey by the way he spoke.
Let’s keep the team the same.
Corey Warner the only possible replacement for Hanily?

The game will be won or lost depending on curtailing 3 things
1. Uncontested marking by Lions
2. Stoppage transition from inside to outside. Players such as Neale, Rayner, Zac Bailey and Will Ashcroft are seasoned in transitioning from inside to outside. Stopping this aspect is paramount. It is particularly important on the SCG.
3. Zorko - we need to go after him. Maybe Papley can get under his skin and physically harass him.

Our game
1. Serong Rowbottom and Sheldrick have to match the inside game and prevent easy transition. Grundy will have to play that extra midfielder.
2. Somehow get Gulden off the leash, I think they will harass him. Dunkley and co will make his life difficult. We cannot be over reliant on him.
3. Lower our eyes in the forward 50. Otherwise we are in trouble of giving too many intercept marks.

[KSAS]

Good analysis SwanSand. We're definitely up against it taking on a best 23 Brisbane team, even if we were at full strength.

They're expected to win. AFL has scheduled this game in the least sexiest timeslot, fearing it might be a blowout (2nd team always gets Friday night. Surprised this hasn't been raised). Teams wishing to get into our side of the finals draw.

Cox has plenty of ammunition to fire up the players with our backs against the wall. Don’t think he'll need to do much. Balance of strategy and fierceness will see us take it right up them! Go Bloods!!!

[SwanSand]

I watched some of the 2025 game against them. We played exceptionally against them for the entire game. Unfortunately the stars in that game were the ones we are missing currently. However, that game was one of the kind of firsts for our forward handball game that really took them by surprise. What eventually made it a closer affair eventually was their clearance game.

I reckon we are better at clearances than last year and generally since 2022.
stats wise
1. We were terrible in 2022 and 2024 in clearance game and now we are not that far behind Brisbane.
2. They are leading in clearances or atleast top 2 over last many years
3. They are poor in Ground ball gets in their defensive half. Maybe that is personnel related. But I think they are more reliant on intercept in defensive half and if we could stop them intercepting Dattoli, Cootee and Papley need to go and get the ground balls to create the scores. The only way is to lower the eyes and either get a loose player forward half hand ball or a 60 m loose player in the middle of the ground to change the angle.
4. we are not bad in the forward 50 ground ball gets this season despite a lot of personnel change through the year.
5. Their retention from kicks especially short kicks is exceptionally good. And what they say is ‘short kicks, create angles and make the ground wider’ is their philosophy of playing the game. We are poor at stopping these. Our defensive structure is always zoning rather than man on man. But maybe we could change that for the finals a bit especially in their forward 50.
6. We are nearly the best or the best in terms of entries in forward 50. We need to look at the quality of entries. And avoid easy interceptions.

Please don’t bring on the fake muscles, just attack the ball and not the opponent.

[cubby]

From what I'm reading on the afl site, Amarty is likely to play. I hope this is a smoke screen by Cox.

I agree with others here, he shouldn't be selected considering how long he has been out.

It is only the rare elite player, on rare occasions, who can come back in, after a layoff, and have a positive impact.

So the question remains, if Cox does play him, who comes out ?

I guess it would be either Hamling or Green. Probably

If it's Green, given his lack of experience, thatwould leave us with 1 ruck...Big mistake IMO.

If it's Hamling, that would leave us without his versatility to go back or forward plus his big game experience...Big mistake IMO.

[imuninformedtwo]

I watched some of the 2025 game against them. We played exceptionally against them for the entire game. Unfortunately the stars in that game were the ones we are missing currently. However, that game was one of the kind of firsts for our forward handball game that really took them by surprise. What eventually made it a closer affair eventually was their clearance game.

I reckon we are better at clearances than last year and generally since 2022.
stats wise
1. We were terrible in 2022 and 2024 in clearance game and now we are not that far behind Brisbane.
2. They are leading in clearances or atleast top 2 over last many years
3. They are poor in Ground ball gets in their defensive half. Maybe that is personnel related. But I think they are more reliant on intercept in defensive half and if we could stop them intercepting Dattoli, Cootee and Papley need to go and get the ground balls to create the scores. The only way is to lower the eyes and either get a loose player forward half hand ball or a 60 m loose player in the middle of the ground to change the angle.
4. we are not bad in the forward 50 ground ball gets this season despite a lot of personnel change through the year.
5. Their retention from kicks especially short kicks is exceptionally good. And what they say is ‘short kicks, create angles and make the ground wider’ is their philosophy of playing the game. We are poor at stopping these. Our defensive structure is always zoning rather than man on man. But maybe we could change that for the finals a bit especially in their forward 50.
6. We are nearly the best or the best in terms of entries in forward 50. We need to look at the quality of entries. And avoid easy interceptions.

Please don’t bring on the fake muscles, just attack the ball and not the opponent.

A good post. If Brisbane get their clearance game going, which is best in class, then it'll be lights out given the potency of their half forwards and Morris, and ability to use the moment to set up behind the ball. If we can stay close on that count, we're half a sniff. We're good on turnover (even without the five missing players) have a potent forward line, and we need speed on the game to ensure Harris lacks the time he likes to read the play and position himself in the line of play.

Oh, and one other thing - can someone please smash into Berry early. He'll be the one set to run with Errol.