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This Thursday night should be a real test. I'm not sure why it's fixtured for then as it doesn't coincide with anything but there you go I guess. I'm not sure if we'll get Aaron Heal back...probably another week you'd think and Ben Newton had his hand in a splint last Saturday so he's no chance. I thought all the young blokes stepped up well last weekend against WCER and hopefully will do the same again this week. A short turn around is not ideal but it's the same for Perth and shouldn't benefit either side. Perth have shown they can go with the best and have a terrific midfield but seem to have lapses in concentration and effort at critical times. Hopefully we can get the job done and think we'll win by about 20 points.

If we could agree on a 20p loss to Perth right now and abandon the game, I'd jump at it. This game is all about damage control for Perth. If any players have a niggle, rest them. Winning is absolutely out of the question. We just need to avoid losing too much percentage. There are 4 teams in the mix for 4th and 5th. Our percentage is 95, compared to Peel 101, WP 97 and WC 93. We can't afford to get knocked back below 90. Last time we played Subi we lost 13%. As unusual as it may sound, I think we should tag Delahunty. He will run rings around Eyres. In any event, Eyres has carried the ruck all year, so we may as well rest him. We also need to tag at least one of Subi's midfielders, maybe two, and also play one, maybe two players loose in defence. Otherwise, make it an ugly, low scoring contest and we may be able to keep the margin under 8 goals.

I think you do your boys a disservice Ted and reckon it will be much closer. We had 8 players with 20 games or less last weekend given we're missing a few. Just the fact it's an evening game with dew and slippery conditions will reduce the chances of a blow-out either way considerably.

Whilst i can understand your skepticism Ted we can't go into a game with a losing mentality, fair enough if we get blown off the park in the first quarter we need to stop the bleeding first approach but I am confident our midfield can hold their own against Subiaco and our defence is working well, our problem has been up forward. If we can get that right we can be more than just competitive.

BC wrote: This Thursday night should be a real test. I'm not sure why it's fixtured for then as it doesn't coincide with anything but there you go I guess. I'm not sure if we'll get Aaron Heal back...probably another week you'd think and Ben Newton had his hand in a splint last Saturday so he's no chance. I thought all the young blokes stepped up well last weekend against WCER and hopefully will do the same again this week. A short turn around is not ideal but it's the same for Perth and shouldn't benefit either side. Perth have shown they can go with the best and have a terrific midfield but seem to have lapses in concentration and effort at critical times. Hopefully we can get the job done and think we'll win by about 20 points.

I’m mostly just interested in STT’s ramblings on the game

Jeez Singha...don't get him started again...I've only just closed him down.

Singha, I think the term "ramblings" in relation to the bile that STT posts on here is actually being complimentary. What he posts is an indication of much deeper problems this bloke has. We should not take his situation lightly as he obviously needs some help. Maybe OF admin can arrange an intervention.

Will be interesting to see if any of our injured senior players make the cut for thursday night, I'd think there wont be any changes as the youngsters who have come in deserve their spots, they are our future. Hopefully Perth wont do a complete defensive game plan and flood the back 50 all night as that will play into Subi's hands and allow easy rebounds into an open forward half. Perth are a team on the rise, they are substantially better than recent years and this year is a step on that path. Play finals this year and then next year push for top 3, so changing their game plan substantially would harm their long term planning imho. Sure drop a sweeper back if things start to go pear shaped and tag a couple of key mids like Horse and Dela (good luck tagging Dela) but dont lose sight of the bigger picture. As BC says it will be a slippery night game so wont be expecting high scoring.

Cant understand the thinking behind this fixturing, middle of winter, mid week game at night and it's on TV. If more than 700 turn up I'll be shocked and amazed. I'm up in York so wont be making the trip down for a 7.00pm mid-week bouncedown, The WAFC need a reality check.

DD, the trouble is that our club never seems to be able to change our game plan when things are going pear shaped. If we had stemmed the third quarter bleeding last week after C kicked three early goals, the result could have been different. It might sound negative, but I also think our only chance of winning is to keep it to a low scoring contest. We certainly can't beat Subi in a 18 -16 goal shootout. I still say tag Delahunty, so give Eyres a rest and play Langdon as our primary ruckman to run with Dela. Maybe bring in Bennell to replace Langdon up forward. Nicholas might come in to play a loose man in defence role, or to free up Sinclair for that role.

Senior Seagull wrote: Cant understand the thinking behind this fixturing, middle of winter, mid week game at night and it's on TV. If more than 700 turn up I'll be shocked and amazed. I'm up in York so wont be making the trip down for a 7.00pm mid-week bouncedown, The WAFC need a reality check.

Obviously Kerry needs something to fill the time slot to sell some advertising space. This game would have drawn 3000 i reckon on a Saturday arvo.