Little devils: 2010 Round 1 projections v3 (2/4)

Melbourne’s James Strauss is one of a number of bolters bidding for a late call up for round 1.

I’m going as fast as I can cap’n, she canna take any more!

Melbourne
FB: Jared Rivers, Matthew Warnock, Cameron Bruce
HB: Joel Macdonald, James Frawley, Aaron Davey
C: Jack Trengove, Brent Moloney, Jack Grimes
HF: Brad Green, Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn
FF: Addam Maric, Brad Miller, Ricky Petterd
Fol: Mark Jamar, James McDonald, Nathan Jones
Int: Stefan Martin, Tom Scully, Jamie Bennell, James Strauss
In: Strauss, Dunn
Out: Austin Wonaeamirri, Colin Sylvia
Iffy: Dunn, Bennell, Maric, Strauss
Waiting: Colin Garland, Rohan Bail, Clint Bartram, Kyle Cheney
Injured: Sylvia, Wonaeamirri, Liam Jurrah, Cale Morton, Paul Johnson, Jack Watts, Sam Blease, Luke Tapscott, Max Gawn, John Meesen, Daniel Bell

If you don’t get a game at Melbourne this week and you’re fit, you may never play in the ones at all. It’s all hands to the pump at Casey Fields. The club is still talking up Sylvia’s chances but I don’t think so, and Dunn’s flexibility playing as a forward makes him a natural (if inferior) replacement. Strauss is the most interesting one from a fantasy perspective, as he may very well end up being a better cash cow rookie midfielder than the Scullgrove combo.

Hawthorn
FB: Josh Gibson, Stephen Gilham, Brent Guerra
HB: Rick Ladson, Ryan Schoenmakers, Grant Birchall
C: Xavier Ellis, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis
HF: Michael Osborne, Beau Dowler, Jarryd Morton
FF: Garry Moss, Jarryd Roughead, Campbell Brown
Fol: Brent Renouf, Liam Shiels, Luke Hodge
Int: Jordan Lisle, Matt Suckling, Thomas Murphy, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson
In: Lisle, Morton, Suckling, Murphy
Out: Wayde Skipper, Cyril Rioli, Shaun Burgoyne, Beau Muston
Iffy: Muston, Rioli, Burgoyne, Kayler-Thomson
Waiting: Sam Grimley, Ben Stratton, Carl Peterson, Rhan Hooper
Injured: Burgoyne, Skipper, Rioli, Max Bailey, Cameron Stokes, Simon Taylor, Brad Sewell, Brendan Whitecross, Luke Lowden
Suspended: Lance Franklin, Chance Bateman
Retired: Trent Croad

Melbourne FC may only be fronting round 1 with the Casey Scorpions All-Stars, but the same goes for Box Hill, I mean Hawthorn. The questions over whether JKT and/or Peterson will be promoted are yet to be resolved. Not that there’s a lack of LTI players for the Hawks to be replaced. All sorts of mixed signals are being sent through the media as to the make-up of the Hawthorn ruck division, which says to me that not even the Hawks coaches know for sure as yet. Hawk fans will howl at the sight of Murphy’s spud-like countenance but I have Murphy ahead of Stratton as necessary cover for the tall backs, mainly because coach Clarkson will probably want Schoenmakers to swing forward at times.

Brisbane
FB: Ashley McGrath, Daniel Merrett, Joel Patfull
HB: Jed Adcock, Matt Maguire, Josh Drummond
C: Cheynee Stiller, Daniel Rich, Travis Johnstone
HF: Jared Brennan, Jonathan Brown, Justin Sherman
FF: Brent Staker, Brendan Fevola, Amon Buchanan
Fol: Mitch Clark, Simon Black, Luke Power
Int: Matthew Leuenberger, Michael Rischitelli, James Polkinghorne, Tom Rockliff
In: Power, Staker
Out: Jack Redden, Tom Collier
Iffy: Polkinghorne, Rockliff, Maguire, Stiller
Waiting: Troy Selwood, Sam Sheldon, Albert Proud, James Hawksley
Injured: Xavier Clarke, Callum Bartlett, Jamie Charman

I had a feeling this might happen. At the start of this preseason there was still hope for a number of younger Lions that they would survive the onslaught of mercenaries hired by coach Voss in the offseason, but as round 1 approached I suspected that we’d start hearing whispers about the more senior players, like Staker, being given first crack. Voss will know that home to the Eagles is a trap game as far as Brisbane is concerned, so he will want to put a full strength, experienced line up on the park, to match John Worsfold’s usual style.

West Coast
FB: Beau Waters, Darren Glass, Will Schofield
HB: Adam Selwood, Mitchell Brown, Shannon Hurn
C: Tom Swift, Daniel Kerr, Brad Ebert
HF: Mark LeCras, Josh J. Kennedy, Sam Butler
FF: Ben McKinley, Quinten Lynch, Mark Nicoski
Fol: Dean Cox, Matt Priddis, Chris Masten
Int: Nic Naitanui, Andrew Embley, Matt Rosa, Luke Shuey
In: Schofield
Out: Matt Spangher
Iffy: Rosa, Butler, McKinley, Shuey
Waiting: Bradd Dalziell, Eric MacKenzie, Brett Jones, Ashley Hansen

The Eagles have a completely clean injury report, albeit that Kerr, Priddis and Waters started the preseason with minor issues that have since been worked out. There are two matchup queries here: whether either Shuey or Swift will be sacrificed for MacKenzie as cover for the Lions’ three tall forwards, or whether either of those two misses for a dedicated tagger like Patrick McGinnity.