NAB Cup Round 1

[Pup]

Now i know 1 game has already passed and Rog has placed the sides up but i thought i would give you my NAB cup tips as well as give a thread for discussion of all the games. (Maybe excluding the Port one)

Saints Vs Richmond- I dont expect the Saints to take this to seriously while i think Richmond will. We are unlikey to see the likes of Riewoldt, Hayes, Ball, Gram and co while Richmond will field a pretty good side. Look for Jordy McMahon to continue his good form. Tambling and co have been working hard over pre season and will be interesting to see Mitch Morton at his new club.

Richmond just over St Kilda.

WB Vs Kangaroos- Played up in Darwin with terrible conditions on the cards. The WB have played here every year for the last 4 years so will have a home ground advantage. Both sides will field pretty good sided with Corey Jones and Smith the injury worries for the Roos. The Dogs have been in Darwin longer and i expect them to adjust better. Watch for the the return of Nathan Thompson and the trimmer fitter Adam Cooney.

Bulldogs by about 5 goals over the Roos.

Geelong Vs Melbourne- First hit out for the Cats since that brilliant day late in September. Both sides will field some what depleted sides with Geelong having no Scarlett, Chapman or Egan while Melbourne will be without Bruce, Neitz, Mclean, Rivers and Carroll among others. While Geelong may be prone to be a slow start to the season it wont in this game. Watch for Tom Hawkins to claim his spot in the side with the departure of Nathan Ablett and also i look forward to watching some of Melbournes draftees especially Cale Morton and Adam Maric.

Geelong comfortably

Port Vs Carlton- Both sides will be without key players, Carlton will be missing Judd, Fev, hadley and Walker while Port will be missing Cornes, Wilson, Lade and Peter Burgoyne. Played at Aami gives Port the distinct advantage and they will utilise that and win comfortably IMO. Watch the new version of Marc Murphy, fitter bigger and faster. Will have a big year with the inclusions of Judd and Stevens. Also look for the first game of much hyped Matthew Kreuzer. Looking forward to watching the younger brigade of Port with the likes of Carlile and co pressing for selection early in the season.

Port by 4 goals

Essendon Vs Brisbane- It is always hard to get a reading on sides before the season starts and this is no different. Injuries have been good to the Brisbane backline and midfield but their forward line will be a makeshift one this weekend with no Brown, Bradshaw or Clark. Essendon will be without Lucas, Lloyd, McVeigh, Fletcher and other senior players. Brisbane performed well in the NAB cup last year and i expect them to do the same this year even without Brown. Watch for the battle of the future superstars of the competition at opposite ends of the ground between Gumbleton and the big Burger from Brisbane. Also watch hoe Travis Johnstone fits in in a very good midfield.

Brisbane by 6 goals

WCE Vs Freo- The first local Deby for the year and still expect a few scuffles here and there. Freo will have a real crack at the NAB cup this year IMO and so they should. They will field a near full strength side against WCE come sunday in scorching conditions while WCE will field a much younger side with the likes of Cox and Kerr not playing. Expect WCE to tinker with their set up quite a bit and also watch Sandilands dominate with no Cox. Cant see WCE getting close to be honest. Watch for Priddis and Rosa to spend a lot of time in the middle and also keep your eye out for WCE new forward set up including the likes of Chad Jones and Josh Kennedy. The only doubt is if Freo have failed to recover as well as expected from the Sh Africa trip but should not be a concern.

Fremantle Easily

Sydney Vs Hawthorn- Sydney tend to use this format to blood new players and experiment with their game plan and i dont think this year will be any different. Hawthorns squad is looking fit and well but some players will rested including new recruit Stuart Dew. Hawthorn have a very good record in Tassy so expect them to win this game easily especially with most of the Swans match winners being rested. Look for Martin Mattner to impress on debut while it will be interesting to see how the Hawks forward line adapts to Mark Williams being back.

Hawthorn by 7 goals.

[rogernumber10]

Of all the Victorian sides at the moment, Kangas are travelling the best in terms of training and track-watch etc. I'm going with them. St Kilda pulled out five senior guys late last night in a further update to their team and put in the likes of Steven, Van Rheenen, Chivers, Allen. If Richmond don't win this, bad times ahead already.

[Rik E Boy]

Hard to argue with any of the above Pup but I reckon the Bombers might get closer than you think. Not too sure what to make of the Dogs v Roos encounter but I reckon the Dogs additional exposure to NT conditions makes them a slight favourite despite the good points raised by rog.

Now, how's that preview thread going Puppy?

regards,

REB

[Pup]

Haha its struggling, Found myself a little busy the last few weeks. Will do my best next week for you REB

[Punk Rooster]

Port Vs Carlton- Both sides will be without key players, Carlton will be missing Judd, Fev, hadley and Walker while Port will be missing Cornes, Wilson, Lade and Peter Burgoyne. Played at Aami gives Port the distinct advantage and they will utilise that and win comfortably IMO. Watch the new version of Marc Murphy, fitter bigger and faster. Will have a big year with the inclusions of Judd and Stevens. Also look for the first game of much hyped Matthew Kreuzer. Looking forward to watching the younger brigade of Port with the likes of Carlile and co pressing for selection early in the season.

LMAO!
He has never played for Carlton, how can he be listed as an "out"?

[Dirko]

Port Vs Carlton- Both sides will be without key players, Carlton will be missing Judd, Fev, hadley and Walker while Port will be missing Cornes, Wilson, Lade and Peter Burgoyne. Played at Aami gives Port the distinct advantage and they will utilise that and win comfortably IMO. Watch the new version of Marc Murphy, fitter bigger and faster. Will have a big year with the inclusions of Judd and Stevens. Also look for the first game of much hyped Matthew Kreuzer. Looking forward to watching the younger brigade of Port with the likes of Carlile and co pressing for selection early in the season.

LMAO!
He has never played for Carlton, how can he be listed as an "out"?

True Punk true, first game he'll be listed as an In...

[Pup]

I said Carlton are missing him, which is right considering he is a player on the list and will be playing this year.

[Dirko]

I said Carlton are missing him, which is right considering he is a player on the list and will be playing this year.

Still love ya work Pup !!

St Kilda def Richmond by 40 points
Dogs beat Roos by 11 points

[Pup]

St Kilda easily accounted for Richmond tonight in the end winning by 40 points.

Milne and Gehrig both got 3. Deledio and Brown with the multiples for the Tigers.

How i saw it

Richmond- Were pretty ordinary IMO and look to be in for a long year (Yes i know it is only NAB cup). Forward line did not function very well, Deledio out of the square is a good tactic when he is down or they need a lift but other than that he needs to be in the middle or running off HB. I would be leaving that tactic in the cupboard if i was Terry. Jake King showed why he is fast becoming in the Tigers top 10 players. Newman was excellent as was Foley. Moore took a brilliant mark that is worth seeing as well. Polak needs to stay back, he is not a CHF, Freo tried it and didnt work, and now hopefully Richmond dont make the same mistake.

Saints- Very good with a lot of experienced players out of the side. The intencity and tackling was excellent. It was good to see Michael Gardiner get through a game. Charlie Gardiner was excellent in the first half and Steven King was the best ruckman on the ground tonight. Kosi showed glimpses of why people think he can be in the elite players in the comp. Gee Dal Santo is good, so clean and composed. The most pleasing thing was the performance of the rookies and the younger players who really played well. Terrific performance by the Saints tonight.

[Pup]

Well at least i will get 1 right for the week.

The Dogs beat the Roos in a low scoring dull scrap in Darwin by 11 points thanks to a Lindsay Gilbee super goal in the dying minutes. Caught most of it but missed a bit but sure Dutchy will fill us in. Daniel Wells has had an injury scare apparently hurting his groin but the positive was Thompson and Harding got through unscathed.

Adam Cooney had 26 touches for the dogs while ex Adelaide ruckman Ben Hudson had 14 hit outs. Lachie Hansen looked promising for the Roos.

[Dutchy]

to be honest I struggle to watch footy this early, its still cricket season!....flicked between it and the cricket last night....from what I saw the Roos tried quite a few different things and IMO wernt fair dinkum about winning....my prediction of the Bullies handling the conditions better was very obvious, couldnt believe Roos were favs for the game....I backed the Bullies! $$$$$$$$$$ Davies looked OK, but as Pup said big plus was THomo getting thru OK and still attacking the ball like we all remember

Other postive is we dont play on the DOOM next week....

[Rik E Boy]

I agree Dutchman. From what I saw the Saints rucks looked excellent and blow me down if perennial dud Charlie Gardiner bobs up with a good game in his first outing with St Kilda. Couldn't be arsed watching the slug fest in the tropics, or too much of it anyway but it looked like North went in a little top heavy and the Dogs are more advanced in their preparation.

regards,

REB

[Dutchy]

I couldnt believe commentators were saying the Roos were more advanced when we went 3 weeks deeper into 2007 season than the Bullies

[stan]

I agree Dutchman. From what I saw the Saints rucks looked excellent and blow me down if perennial dud Charlie Gardiner bobs up with a good game in his first outing with St Kilda. Couldn't be arsed watching the slug fest in the tropics, or too much of it anyway but it looked like North went in a little top heavy and the Dogs are more advanced in their preparation.

regards,

REB

Have to agree there REB, Your ex-dud looked alright. Although there were a few out for the saints I think he might fit in well there. King was around a bit, and with there other tall men they looked good in the ruck.

[MightyEagles]

I'm going for Carlton to beat Port.

[Rushby Hinds]

Watched the dogs/roos game from start to finish, wasn't exactly the greatest game of footy ever played.

VERY scrappy game, the dogs had a lot more of the ball but were doing nothing with it.

The dogs definitely imposed more "physicallity" then the Roos, and have allegedly put on an average 3 kilos each in the off season.

Best for dogs : The usual suspects + Big benny Hudson who was very good

Some of the young players for the roos looked very good.

The only bit worth watching for the game is the last 15 minutes when the Roos doubled their score within a few minutes ( 2 goals + a supergoal), matty Campbell tried to take mark of the year, and failled, then fell asleep and let Lindsay Gilbee run off him and kick a supergoal to seal up the victory.

Welsh did nothing for the dogs, was thrashed by the North fullback (cant remember name), Welsh ended up in the back lines himself.

[hearts on fire]

i don't think any of the forwards did anything, can't really blame Welsh.....

[Rushby Hinds]

i don't think any of the forwards did anything, can't really blame Welsh.....

True. Brad Johnson had a quiet night as well.

[MightyEagles]

Geelong up by plenty at half time and in complete control.

Port v Carlton about to start.

[Thiele]

Port leads by 7 points at half time

Geelong won by 66 points over Melbourne