Collingwood is considering playing three tall forwards for the first time in 18 months against Sydney on Friday night, with Ben Reid and Brody Mihocek in great form and American Mason Cox pushing to return from an ankle injury.
Collingwood will consider trialing a three-pronged key forward setup for the first time in 18 months against Sydney Swans.
Coach Nathan Buckley is faced with his biggest selection dilemma of the season so far as preliminary final hero Mason Cox pushes to return from an ankle injury.
Key forwards Ben Reid and Brody Mihocek should be retained for Friday night’s clash against the Swans after bagging seven goals and 15 marks in the 41-point win over St Kilda on Saturday.
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If he can prove his fitness at training, Collingwood will weigh-up whether to select Cox as part of a much taller set up on a smaller SCG ground.
The move would break new ground for Collingwood as Cox, Mihocek and Reid have never played together before in the same senior side.
Buckley has shown a strong preference for only two key forwards as Collingwood notched its sixth-straight win of the season over the Saints on Saturday.
Reid, 30, said the Magpies had hardly practiced the three key forward set up over summer.
“To be honest, we haven’t really trialled the three tall set up,” Reid said.
“We did it once against Melbourne (in a practice match), when we had a hit-out against Melbourne earlier in the preseason.
“'Checkers’ (Mihocek) is that real mobile type that could potentially play up higher up the ground and do that, but it’s one of those things that is up to the coaches.
“But we probably haven’t done it in the past.
“Whether they try it, hopefully they do because it means that all three of us get to play.”
Cox has missed the past three matches since hurting his ankle against Essendon.
Jordan De Goey is also under an injury cloud as the superstar goal kicker attempts to overcome shin and calf soreness.
De Goey missed the win over St Kilda on Saturday.
Carlton's Dale Thomas will front the tribunal tomorrow night charged with abusing an umpire during the third quarter of the club's heavy loss to GWS.
It is believed the Blues veteran called a boundary umpire a cheat and his comment featured an expletive.
Blues co-captain Patrick Cripps was also charged with striking during the second term. He can accept a $1500 sanction with an early plea.
MORE TO COME
Mick Warner
Richmond stand-in ruckman Ivan Soldo has copped a week for a raised elbow on Hawthorn midfielder James Worpel yesterday.
The Tigers are almost certain to appeal.
Brownlow medallists Gary Ablett and Nat Fyfe escaped sanctions for raised elbows last weekend.
Ablett got off another elbow the previous week after an incident involving Essendon's Dylan Shiel.
Richmond's ruck duties will be left to eight-gamer Noah Balta and possible debutant Callum Coleman-Jones, who was named in the extended squad to face Hawthorn.
Meanwhile, Collingwood's Travis Varcoe and Brisbane Lions Rhys Mathieson have been offered one-week bans.
Carlton's Dale Thomas has been referred to the tribunal for umpire abuse.
Mick Warner
Richmond stand-in ruckman Ivan Soldo has copped a week for a raised elbow on Hawthorn midfielder James Worpel yesterday.
The Tigers are almost certain to appeal.
Brownlow medallists Gary Ablett and Nat Fyfe escaped sanctions for raised elbows last weekend.
Ablett got off another elbow the previous week after an incident involving Essendon's Dylan Shiel.
Richmond's ruck duties will be left to eight-gamer Noah Balta and possible debutant Callum Coleman-Jones, who was named in the extended squad to face Hawthorn.
Meanwhile, Collingwood's Travis Varcoe and Brisbane Lions Rhys Mathieson have been offered one-week bans.
Carlton's Dale Thomas has been referred to the tribunal for umpire abuse.
West Coast's Lewis Jetta will miss the clash against Adelaide on Saturday after accepting a one-match ban for a sling tackle.
It means the tribunal won't sit tonight after both Jetta and Elliot Yeo ($1000 fine) accepted their sanctions.
Mark Robinson discusses what's next for Carlton, why he's frustrated with St Kilda, and answers your questions.
Mark Robinson discusses what's next for Carlton, why he's frustrated with St Kilda, and answers your questions.
GWS Coach Leon Cameron has hailed his star forward Jeremy Cameron as the ultimate selfless player, despite a sudden and rare drop in his goal-kicking productivity.
The Coleman Medal leader booted 30 in the first seven rounds, sparking widespread talk he could be the first player since Lance Franklin in 2008 to reach the 100 mark.
The GWS spearhead has since gone goalless in successive games for just the second time in his career and the first since his maiden season in 2012, kicking four behinds in each of the Giants last two matches.
Against the Blues he compensated by racking up 27 disposals, his second biggest tally ever and equalled his career-best mark of 11 contested possessions in a game.
“His comments were at the 10-minute mark, ‘I’m playing up the ground, I feel as though I’m more use to the team there, we’ve got (Jeremy) Finlayson and (Harry) Himmelberg clearly dangerous 0-30 (metres out),’” Leon Cameron said.
“He had 27 possessions, they are midfield stats for a centre half forward that kicks goals, so he’s the ultimate selfless player that will forgo any amount of goals as long as we win the game, so that’s really pleasing.”
The coach was also happy with the strong comeback of veteran Brett Deledio, who kicked three goals, his best return as a Giant, in his first senior game since Round 2.
“We’ve got to continue to manage him throughout the year, If we can get four, five six games in a row, I think that’s fantastic, but we’ll keep looking at how he pulls up,” Cameron said.
“At 32 he’s hungry as anything. We’ve got our fingers crossed that his body holds up because clearly he’s still in our best 22.”
GWS Coach Leon Cameron has hailed his star forward Jeremy Cameron as the ultimate selfless player, despite a sudden and rare drop in his goal-kicking productivity.
The Coleman Medal leader booted 30 in the first seven rounds, sparking widespread talk he could be the first player since Lance Franklin in 2008 to reach the 100 mark.
The GWS spearhead has since gone goalless in successive games for just the second time in his career and the first since his maiden season in 2012, kicking four behinds in each of the Giants last two matches.
Against the Blues he compensated by racking up 27 disposals, his second biggest tally ever and equalled his career-best mark of 11 contested possessions in a game.
“His comments were at the 10-minute mark, ‘I’m playing up the ground, I feel as though I’m more use to the team there, we’ve got (Jeremy) Finlayson and (Harry) Himmelberg clearly dangerous 0-30 (metres out),’” Leon Cameron said.
“He had 27 possessions, they are midfield stats for a centre half forward that kicks goals, so he’s the ultimate selfless player that will forgo any amount of goals as long as we win the game, so that’s really pleasing.”
The coach was also happy with the strong comeback of veteran Brett Deledio, who kicked three goals, his best return as a Giant, in his first senior game since Round 2.
“We’ve got to continue to manage him throughout the year, If we can get four, five six games in a row, I think that’s fantastic, but we’ll keep looking at how he pulls up,” Cameron said.
“At 32 he’s hungry as anything. We’ve got our fingers crossed that his body holds up because clearly he’s still in our best 22.”
Sam Docherty wasn’t expecting Carlton to plummet back to earth with an embarrassing 93-point AFL loss to GWS.
Injured co-captain Docherty suggested there was a belief the worst of the Blues’ struggles were over after an honourable round-eight loss to Collingwood. They instead slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season at Giants Stadium on Sunday, renewing pressure on coach Brendon Bolton.
It left the Blues outright last with a 1-8 record after earlier losses to fellow bottom-three sides Gold Coast and North Melbourne.
“They’ve all been hard (losses) in their own certain ways,” Docherty told RSN radio on Monday.
“The Gold Coast game we let slip late in the game and we were disappointed with how we played that last little bit.
“The North game hurt as well because … we played six or seven games that were pretty consistent and that was a bit of a blip on the radar. “This hurts because we thought we were past it.” The Giants kicked away to a 40-point lead at quarter-time to virtually kill off the contest.
Docherty highlighted the seven-goals-to-one first quarter as a recurring issue after poor starts against Richmond and North Melbourne across the first nine rounds.
“I probably learnt less than two weeks ago that we have to rock up with a brutal mindset early in the game otherwise you do get punched in the face against a good side, and that’s what happened,” he said.
Sitting out a second straight season with a ruptured ACL, the All-Australian defender called on the Blues to show more against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
“We’ve got to ask hard questions and we’ll do that internally this week and, hopefully, we’ll get the response next week,” Docherty said.
“It would be naive to think that … these losses don’t burn with us and they don’t hurt us.”
-AAP
Carlton's head of football Brad Lloyd has ticked off the Shane Mumford hit that left Marc Murphy in hospital, lamenting the fact the Blues were not as physical as the imposing Giant.
Murphy is still in a Sydney hospital, with suspected fractured ribs after he was crashed into by the GWS ruckman during the Blues' shocking 93-point defeat on the weekend.
And while MRO Michael Christian is yet to reveal whether or not Mumford will be charged, Lloyd said he had "no issue" with the hit.
"Look, in some ways, that's the way you like footy to be played," Lloyd said on SEN Breakfast.
"You don't like seeing players hurt, but I would have liked to have seen more physicality from us yesterday.
"I hope Murph's ok, but Mumford plays a pretty strong brand of footy that everyone's admired for a long period."
Lloyd said his side needed to "be more brutal in the contest".
"We're not close enough, we need to work on a lot of things," he said.
"We need to be more brutal in the contest, we got smashed yesterday. We need to work really hard on our skill level, it's an area where we need to smash into it as a playing group."
Lloyd said there was pressure across the club after the loss.
"A performance like yesterday, I think it spreads throughout the whole playing group and club," he said.
"Brendon (Bolton) comes under pressure, but we all do.
"There's no way around that.
"We're disappointed and we've got a lot of work to do. It was very poor."
Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have named their AFL team of the century so far – and debate is already raging. What do you think? Have your say on eight of the most contentious issues.
It’s been 25 full seasons of the AFL since the turn of the century – so who makes the cut in the best 23? Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane took on the almost-impossible task of deciding.