Big Guns Back For The Bombers
Well the Bombers have made some big inclusions this week Fletcher, Laycock, Lonergan, McVeigh, Ramanauskas, Reimers and Winderlich come into the side and McPhee (suspended), Lovett-Murray (suspended), Atkinson and Nash come in. It is a welcome return for Bomber fans and heck don’t The Bombers need it! For the Swans in comes Ablett, Brennan, Malceski, Smith and out goes Matthews. As this game is on Sunday the final teams are not finalized yet.
The Bombers are certainly not in great shape at the moment and there has been a lot of off field talk with board members getting involved in on field issues, not a good thing. Also on talk back radio the other day on SEN there were a huge number of fans calling for Knight’s sacking! Give the guy a go!
Adam Goodes has found hinself in some great form, he was The Swan’s best player 2 weeks ago and was amongst the Vics best last week. He is the player the Bombers need to shut down. Bachar Houli continues to impress for the Bombers and with Fletcher, Mc Veigh and Rama back in the side suddenly the Bomber get some experience back. Sydney at ANZ Stadium is a tough ask at the best of times but the Bombers are down at the moment and I don’t think this is a game they can win.
The Kangaroos take on the West Coast Eagles up at Gold Coast Stadium and this game could break the world record for the least amount of people to a game! For the Kangaroos Riggio, Gibson, Obst and McMahon come in for Pratt, Brown, S.Thompson and Josh Smith. Over in the West Davis, Priddis, Seaby and Staker at the expense of C.Jones (ankle), Waters (thigh), McNamara (thigh) Armstrong. The Eagles have some big outs there but Matt Priddis will be welcomed back. He is a much needed asset in the middle.
The Eagles are in real bad shape and their midfield looks even more depleted now that Kerr is out as well and I just don’t see Priddis being able to take the number 1 role on his own. Goals kicking is another huge issue. Looking at their side on paper and they have named Ben McKinley on the bench. I thought he was the only forward that has been looking dangerous! Brent Harvey is in great touch and will need to be watched closely by the Eagles as will live wire forwards, Thomas and Campbell. The Ruck duel between Cox and McIntosh should be a good one but you would expect Cox to win, he just doesn’t have the cattle around him to take advantage of it. Kangaroos for me easily by 42 points.
AAMI Stadium this week will host the game between the Adelaide Crows and the Melbourne Demons. In Adelaide you would expect The Crows to win quite comfortably but you never know, stranger things have happened, like the Demons actually winning a game! A couple of big INS for the Crows McGregor, Maric, Jericho, Reilly and Rutten and at the moment only Douglas has been omitted. For the Demons in comes Buckley, Bode, P.Johnson and Valenti and out goes only Wheatley at this stage.
Austin Wonaeamirri’s four goals against Fremantle was the talking point in The Demons come from behind win against the Dockers as they broke through for their first win. He is certainly an exiting player and a goal kicker. Brad Miller finally did something for the Demons last game, but if they have to rely on him as their best player to win games then they will not win to many. Robertson was OK up forward and looks dangerous now that he and Kate Cebrano have parted company. The Crows midfield of Van Berlo, Thompson, Mackay, McLeod, Edwards, Porplyzia and Goodwin should run rampant over the Demons. The Crows for me quite easily here by 52 points and the Demons to come back to earth with a thud.
The under siege Fremantle Dockers tackle one of the in form sides in the competition this week in the Western Bulldogs. I like the look of the Doggies this year and they are playing some great footy. But the Dockers, well what more can you say than they got run over by the Demons!
In comes Bradley, Warnock, Campbell, Peake, Black, Duffield and Hayden for the Dockers and out at this stage are Mark Johnson, Gilmore, O’Brien and Murphy. For the Doggies in comes Ray, Skipper and Ward but there are no outs as yet. The Dogs midfield of Boyd, Cross and Cooney have been instumental in their efforts this year and Adam Cooney is in Brownlow Medal winning form. Jason Akermanis is also in great touch up forward and his ability to kick goals from anywhere inside the forward 50 is a great asset. Robert Murphy is another one that is in rare form and was again in good touch for the Vics last week.
What can we say about the Dockers? Well apart from Pavlich there is not much form in their side, really Sandilands should DOMINATE most weeks given his size and the mid fielders should be hungry to play underneath the big man, but he just can’t seem to get any consistency in his football and is a big worry. Even at Subiaco I can’t see the Dockers winning this one and Mark Harvey will again have to face the media attention after another loss. Doggies by 45 points.
