Agreed. Without Luke, Gunston was always going to be a difficult match-up for us.
For mine, the first-choice defensive match-ups are something like:
Roughhead – Dawson (at least close to goal)
Schoenmakers – Johnson (playing off him)
Breust - Ibbo
Smtih - Suban
Rioli - Spurr
Puopolo - Sutcliffe
We’ll have to reshuffle a bit when Hale plays closer to goal, and I suspect that the Hawks will want to keep Johnson occupied by parking Hale forward a fair bit. Roughy might head up the ground, and that would cause us some real problems. I can easily see the Hawks getting to the ball forward through Roughy in the centre of the ground, using Hale as a decoy, and leaving the forward 50 empty with Rioli and Puopolo.
If these match-ups play out, I’d actually be really concerned about Puopolo. He’s crafty, and strong, and given Sutcliffe is carrying a shoulder injury, he won’t be strong enough for him. You could swap Spurr and Sutcliffe, but that just shifts the problem. Maybe Suttcliffe can get up the ground on Smith, and we send Suban back closer to goal. I’m not sure.
Who’d be a coach, eh?
