Geelong VS St. Kilda- MTTY's Preview

[MTTY]

Geelong V St. Kilda

Friday March 25th

MCG 7:45 PM

Pre-season form

Geelong- WWLLW
St.Kilda- WDWLL

Injury Lists

Geelong
Shannon Byrnes (foot) - 1-2 weeks
Paul Chapman (groin) - test
Marcus Drum (ankle) - 1-2 weeks
Cameron Ling (hamstring) - test
James Podsiadly (broken hand) - 1 week

St Kilda
Michael Gardiner (knee) - 6 weeks
Justin Koschitzke (ankle) - 2-3 weeks
Dean Polo (finger) - TBA

Teams

Geelong

B- Corey Enright  Matthew Scarlett  Josh Hunt
HB- Andrew Mackie  Harry Taylor  Tom Lonergan
C- James Kelly  Mitch Duncan  Joel Corey
HF- Travis Varcoe  Cameron Mooney  Matthew Stokes
F- Daniel Menzel  Tom Hawkins  Steve Johnson
FOLL- Ben McEvoy  Jason Gram  Clinton Jones
Bench- Darren Milburn  David Wojcinski  Taylor Hunt  Cameron Gutherie

EMER- Paul Chapman  Allen Christensen  Josh Cowan

St.Kilda

B- Steven Baker  Zac Dawson  Jason Blake
HB- Sam Gilbert  Sam Fisher  Brendan Goddard
C- Nick Dal Santo  Lenny Hayes  Leigh Montagna
HF- Andrew McQualter  Nick Riewoldt  Stephen Milne
F- Raphael Clarke  Ryan Gamble  David Armitage
FOLL- Brad Ottens  Jimmy Bartel  Joel Selwood
Bench- James Gwilt  Sean Dempster  Farren Ray  Brett Peake

EMER- Jarryn Geary  Daniel Archer  Jamie Cripps

The match
These matches between the Cats and Saints always seem to end close despite one team gaining a large margin earlier in the game. With both teams having some key players out it seems this game is going to be won through the midfield, at that without Cameron Ling to lead and tag one of the Saints stars that simply could be the difference along with Paul Chapman not playing at this stage. For the Saints Riewoldt may be confined to stay in the 50 and play less up the ground without another huge forward, with Gamble being a medium tall. My prediction for this match is St.Kilda by 19 points.

Key Players

St.Kilda

Brendan Goddard- With no tag this could let him absolutely dominate this game, if he gets going off the half back line and through the midfield that could be enough to take the Saints to a 1st round win.

Nick Riewoldt- He along with possibly Gamble and Milne will be the key scoring options for the Saints, he needs to produce a great performance and possible kick the most goals for the Saints to win, either that or there needs to be a big spread of players kicking goals.

Geelong

Joel Selwood- He needs to loose the tag from Jones if he does get one and then needs to continue racking up the possessions and use them well into his 50, a key to the success of the cats not only in this game but for the year.

Harry Taylor- He needs to concentrate on keeping Riewoldt goaless as well as lowering his influence on the game.

Jimmy Bartel- May not get a tag so has to use this to his advantage and use the ball to the best of his abilities.

Key Match Ups

Joel Selwood V Clinton Jones
I would expect Selwood will get the Jones tag, whoever wins this battle Geelong or St.Kilda will probably win this game.

Nick Riewoldt V Harry Taylor
As i said above Riewoldt needs to kick a bag while Taylor needs to keep him quiet.



Predicted High SC scorers

Brendan Goddard
Sam Fisher
Jimmy Bartel

Predicted Low Scorers

Tom Hawkins
David Wojcinski
Zac Dawson

Note- This is my opinions on the game feel free to comment with your thoughts

[HillHero13]

I think Bartel will get the Jones tag

Selwood is too hard to tag, he is in and under all the time which is an impossible type of player to tag.

[j959]

I think Bartel will get the Jones tag

Selwood is too hard to tag, he is in and under all the time which is an impossible type of player to tag.

noo! tag Selwood Jonesy, tag Selwood!   ;)

cos he copped a knock that last pre-season warm-up i reckon Lyon will target Selwood ... at least that's what i'm praying for SC/DT wise!  ; )

cheer for the analysis MTTY!  ;D