Pre-match: MAGPIES v Kangas - all comments here.....

[MargOZ]

Do we have a chance? And do we have anyone who can kick enough goals???

Pies by 7 points!

[surfer1]

no and no

[Go_The_Mighty_Magpies]

I'm not sure how we're going to fare this week as I don't have a gut reaction either way so far. Part of me does think we're bound to get up as we can't keep losing forever and we showed signs of coming close at stages on Sunday. If Tarrant gets off on appeal it will definatly be a big bonus.

[3rd degree]

Lokan will come in for Tarrant and bag 9 for us. Davidson or Morrison should be given a chance. Leigh Harding will hit the post again and his mouth guard will be glued to his teeth as punishment by a furious Laidley.

[stoliboy]

It's getting close to round 22... expect Andrew Williams to make a return, then stay on our list for another year.

[MagpieMad]

rest everyone that needs resting, treat it like a training run and hope to keep the margin under 100, this game means nothing, a win here will mean nothing if it costs us beating the filth next week.
rest em and prime and pump them for next week, roos mean nothing, we have to secure the spoon for the filth, bitchmond the softc*cks rolled over for them which makes next week all the more important!
keep the eye on the only prize we'll get this year, beating the filth and handing them a second spoon!

[jonesy86]

this week we should bring back the midget foraward line that worked so well against freo last year in perth, a forward 6 of licuria, burns, buckley, didak, davis and caracella should do the trick. at least this will leave no match ups for colbert, watt and leigh brown

[Clokey]

I find out lack of talls disturbing. I think we have no choice but a small foward line anyway. Bring up the best from Willy to come play, and try some creative coaching please. Could we win? Yeah I believe so, I just would'nt bet on it.

Our midfield is almost full strength - ruckmen, as is the backline. I think just depends on how well we go from half foward.

[DaVe86]

Tarrant out has probably blown all our chances.

This is what will happen:

Clement will not allow corey jones another 5 goal game, Wakelin and Presti will make life next to impossible for Thompson and Rocca who are not fast or mobile and are perfect matchups for the duo.

Midfields will break even. Licuria vs Simpson, Holland vs Shannon Grant, Lockyer vs Wells, Harvey vs Swan.

We will win plenty of the ball but have absolutely no one to kick to. We will see how much we will miss Tarrant. Atleast he provides a target and contest.

Hall or davidson will probably come in to cover tarrant, jason cloke and maxwell will go forward, neither will present any danger. Travis Cloke will have another shocker, he needs a rest, a long one. Caracella may get his hands on it to keep things interesting, didak will kick a few, leon will have a good one. We will lose by about 20 not because we were any worst than the roos, but because we do not have a forward line capable of kicking a winning score. We will kick more behinds than goals.

What i would love to see is Malthouse experiment.

Egan vs Wells: SHaw did a good job on Wells earlier in the year and we used shaw to tag faster, smaller framed players. Id like to see egan take this job and see if he can get some accountability into his game

Jason Cloke vs Thompson: Put Clement in the middle, rest Presti and give Jason Cloke the job on the key forward. See if he is up to it. Bring in Hall to take ruck duties, put Maxwell up forward and Jason Cloke the chance to general the backs. Give him a test, and it will help answer the question if we should keep him or not.

Fanning first ruck, Hall full forward.

Cole in the guts with egan and Rowe if he is fit. Test all 3 players in key roles. Try Licuria, Burns and woey rotating up forward. If we have no targets, then we need an honest contest at ground level and Licuria kicked 4 gutsy goals last week this way.

This might baffle laidley a bit who thinks he knows malthouse's game to a tee. Mick should mix it up to show he is still the general when it comes to coaching and laidley is still very much the apprentice and has much to learn.

They have a top heavy defence. Colbert, Watt and Leigh Brown are tall and very slow. Colbert is especially slow. Play small with Hall there to cause some damage and crash through packs.

Hale vs Fanning is a fairer matchup. If Petrie goes into the ruck, Hall should go into the ruck, or jason cloke so he can match him aroudn the ground.

Id preferably like to see Maxwell take Petrie when he pushes up forward. Maxwell is on our list to be a backman but has been belted the last 2 assignments he has got on Lucas and Medhurst. He needs to win his position this week because it is still a choice between he and jason cloke.

O'Brien up forward could be another smokey move as laidley will know nothing about the kid.

If Egan plays on Wells, it will allow Lockyer to go to Harvey who has been the most underrated player this year. Watch Harvey for the brownlow, mark my words. We cannot allow harvey to have another 25 possession game and 2 goals because he is too creative and hard to matchup on. Lockyer at his best is the perfect match because he is quite fit and can run with him. Lockyers form however has been bad apart from a decent game last week.

We always matchup well against the roos, the problem is we just do not have a forward line capable of winning us the game so we must try something different. I will not mind loosing if we experiment a bit and learn a bit about a few players. The last 4 rounds should be treated as pre season training for next year. Malthouse must mix it up a bit.

[3rd degree]

I like your idea of Egan on Wells Dave he is the only one in our side with the pace to match him. Egan looks exciting but still needs to work on his disposal !

[Streak]

Clement will not allow corey jones another 5 goal game, Wakelin and Presti will make life next to impossible for Thompson and Rocca who are not fast or mobile and are perfect matchups for the duo.

Harvey ... has been ... creative and hard to matchup on.

These two reasons are why I'd expect their forwards to kick 1-2 each, and Harvey to bang through 9 goals. He's been a decent performer in my Dream Team this year, and I rate him. Very tricky, and on his day, a game-breaker.

The Roos are Finals-bound, and though it might be nice to derail the Finals hopes of some teams, I'd love to see the Roos make it.

Add to that the fact it could be Big Sav's last game against his old club, and it doesn't look good for us.

With Rhyce out, we might struggle to match up on both Harvey and Wells, so your idea of playing a kid on one of them has merit. I like the Egan/Wells scenario.

Still, our tackling and defence has been solid this year - and had our accuracy been 20-30% better than it was, we might be on 10 wins at this point. I hate to say it, but with Taz out we might play a bit better going forward.

To explain: Rocca's been out, and Taz has been struggling with injury - but he's still been the main target going forward. With Taz out, our players are going to have to be a bit more creative - they might be inclined to run longer, have shots on goal themselves, etc. It makes us unpredictable, since they can't just run the usual triple-team on Taz.

Hell, Taz's omission might even get us some extra free kicks in the forward line... the invisible man isn't playing .

[Sultan of spin]

It's getting close to round 22... expect Andrew Williams to make a return, then stay on our list for another year.

Don't even joke about it, the mere thought of that sends a shudder down my spine!

Any chance odf any of Davidson, Fraser or Richards stepping up this week? We need somebody to play FF. lets just hope MM doesn't resort to his old favorite and put Jas Cloke at CHF!

[Sultan of spin]

Cole in the guts with egan and Rowe if he is fit. Test all 3 players in key roles.

Those 3 vs Grant, Simpson and Harvey? Surely your kidding Dave? If that happens we'll lose by 200 not 20

[surfer1]

My team, one day I will get it right, am assuming Didak and Rowe out injured

Johnno Presti O'Brien
C1 Clement Wakes
Swan Burns Egan
Maxwell C3 Buckley
Davies Caracella Davis

Fanning Holland Lica

int H Shaw, Lockyer, O'bree Woey

emer Hall Morrison Cole

out Tarrant Lonie
in Johnno Davies

[maggies2003]

Out: Tarrant, Lonie
In: Johnno, Lokan