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cino
SotS Media Liaison
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 2145
Location: Stuck between South and West
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 Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:58 am Post subject: R2 - Dogs V NMFC, MCG, 2.10 (3pm Ch 7) |
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| Quote: | Tall forward shortage 'no problem'
Martin Boulton | April 1, 2009
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/tall-forward-shortage-no-problem/2009/03/31/1238261580134.html
BRAD Johnson is confident the Western Bulldogs have the forward structure to adapt to any conditions and dismissed suggestions the Dogs lacked a tall forward.
After kicking 25 goals against Fremantle, the Bulldogs arrived home unscathed, ready to take on North Melbourne in Sunday's emergency services appreciation game at the MCG.
Johnson said the 63-point margin in Subiaco followed meticulous planning over the pre-season and "everything we put into place went quite well for us" on the day.
"We've always scored pretty well over the last few years, that hasn't changed too much," the skipper said. "We've got the ability and we've got the players on the park at the moment to kick a winning score, but the way games are played these days we'd be happy to kick 10 goals to eight.
"You've got to adapt, you come up against different (game) styles and I can't see us kicking 25 each week."
Forward Robert Murphy, sidelined following a knee operation in October, could add to the Doggies goal-scoring power as early as Sunday, according to Johnson.
"He trained (yesterday) and was close to playing on the weekend, so fingers crossed he can get over the line this week," Johnson said.
"He creates something different for us, a different sort of forward and to have one of our leaders back in the side would be great."
Emergency Services personnel have been encouraged to attend the game and can collect four free tickets outside the ground by showing their organisation's identification.
"It would be great to see thousands of them, hopefully in their uniforms," Johnson said, referring to the thousands of people who helped fight the recent Victorian bushfires.
The Bulldogs have been widely tipped to reproduce the form that took them to third last year, despite a less than perfect build-up to the season.
"Our form over the pre-season was a little bit scratchy, but we got things going against Melbourne in our last game and used a bit of that momentum going into round one," Johnson said.
AFL ambassador Kevin Sheedy said Sunday's game was "a great opportunity for the AFL and two AFL clubs to say thank you" to the thousands of men and women who "put their lives on the line" to help others.
"It should be pretty exciting, both teams had a win (in round one) and they'll be wanting to get that four premiership points ahead," he said.
Sheedy was a driving force behind the now traditional Anzac Day and Dreamtime games at the MCG and said he supports an annual game to recognise the state's emergency service personnel.
Police and Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron encouraged those involved in the Black Saturday fires to "enjoy a day at the football" with their family and friends. |
Murph's in/out? Rocket thinks maybe a month, Johnno thinks maybe this week.
Was Mitch playing FF a lot of Sunday's game? We seem to do fairly well when we sit his big strong butt there.
Ahh, first home game of the season. Exciting!
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Mazza
The Griff
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 1631
Location: Eastside
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:39 am Post subject: |
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Yeah there was an interview with murph during the telecast the other day and he said he might be back this week too so who knows?
Yep Mitch spent pretty much all his time in the forward line. His presence, attack on the contest and marking were awesome. Hasn't got the height of your traditional FF but has the strength. Minson spent some time down there too but didnt do a lot.
Can't wait for this game!!!! Totally pumped, should be awesome.
I'm very surprised that Petrie didnt get reported for ripping James McDonald's head off on Sunday. I watched a fair bit of the game and the Kangaroos were less that impressive imo, and this was against one of the worst teams in the comp. Only started getting on top in the last quarter against a melbourne team largely made up of 1st and 2nd year players.
We should win this. We're a better team by far across the board. But the roos have seemed to have something over us in the past few years.
Harvey loves tearing us apart, so Dale needs to do the job on him.
Petrie can be a heavy annoyance if he gets going, I'd give the job to Tommy first up, and possibly Hargrave if it doesnt work.
They tend to play either David Hale or McIntosh forward at times which will give Brian a good match-up. But Huddo and Minno have to keep and eye on their opponents too.
The kangaroos' most dangerous forwards are actually their smalls, Matt Campbell and Lindsay Thomas. Dyl should be able to take one, and i suppose Tiller on the other? but he'll probably be too slow, Andrejs could be another option.
I'm quite confident of a win on Sunday. and it should be comfortable. However we always tend to play badly when coming back from Perth. But if we want to get to the top this year, we have to win games like this |
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