Round 5 Selection Dissection
Angry Brad is back. That is all.
Hawthorn v Geelong
Monday April 18 3.20pm
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Hello darkness my old friend!!
The less said about last Sunday against the Saints the better. A quick shout-out to Mitch Lewis who took a ripper mark and could have kicked six.
Our grand final for 2022 has come early - Easter Monday against the Cats. It doesn’t matter where these two sides are on the ladder, when they play these games, they are usually tight. Hopefully on Easter Monday we see that trend continue.
After last week’s thrashing, selection this will be interesting. Will Sam Mitchell swing the axe or back in last week’s side in again?
The backline
After their incredible start to the season in the opening three rounds our backline had a shocker. 22 goals and over 140 points conceded against St Kilda of all teams was not pretty.
Jade Gresham and Bradley Hill kicked eight goals between them…seriously??
Unfortunately we will be forced to make at least one change with Will Day suffering a concussion. Hopefully he only misses the one game.
With Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron to come, our backline are in for a long day this week. Hopefully our midfield can step up this week which will help our backline immensely.
The midfield
Another lacklustre outing from the midfield group.
Stand-in captain Jaeger O’Meara continues to struggle. James Worpel had only the five disposals and will be lucky to hold his spot. Youngsters Josh Ward and Connor Macdonald really struggled and looked tired.
Hopefully being a Monday game, with a couple of extra day’s break they hold their spots and get to experience Easter Monday in front of 60,000 fans at the MCG.
A special mention to Jai Newcombe, who continues to impress. What a great pick-up he has been.
The ruck
Take a bow Ned Reeves. Coming up against arguably the game’s best ruck duo in Ryder and Marshall, Reeves really stood up. We know he came into the game sore and had to ruck one out all day. Once he puts on more size and has a few more pre-seasons, he will become one of the league’s top ruckmen.
Max Lynch looks to finally be fit after concussion and a bout of COVID and will need to come back in to give Reeves a chop-out.
The forwards
Mitch Lewis once again was the star. He finished with 3.5 and a huge speccy. He could easily have kicked six goals.
Dylan Moore once against battled hard all day finishing with two goals. Jack Gunston had an absolute shocker and will looking to bounce back this week.
We will need to kick 15+ goals against the Cats to have even a slim chance of winning, so our forwards will need to have their kicking boots on early.
What should happen
In: Lynch, Phillips, Long (Debut)
Out: Day (Injured), Worpel (omitted), Howe (omitted), Maginness (medi-sub)
B: Hardwick Frost DGB
HB: Jiath Sicily Scrimshaw
C: Morrison O’Meara Phillips
HF: Moore Nash Macdonald
FF: Lewis Breust Gunston
R: Reeves Mitchell Newcombe
Int: Long (debut), Lynch, Impey, Ward
Sub: Maginness
What will happen
In: Lynch, Phillips, Shiels
Out: Day (Injured), Macdonald (managed), Howe (omitted), Maginness (medi-sub)
B: Hardwick Frost DGB
HB: Jiath Sicily Scrimshaw
C: Morrison O’Meara Shiels
HF: Moore Nash Worpel
FF: Lewis Breust Gunston
R: Reeves Mitchell Newcombe
Int: Phillips, Lynch, Impey, Ward
Sub: Maginness
No Lynch so Kosi must play