3 minutes ago, Go the Biff said:

Well, you got what you asked for. The team has responded to your call. Should have posted it after the Geelong game.

186?

Just now, Clint Bizkit said:

186?

Hadn't thought quite that far back but now that you mention it.................

9 hours ago, ProperDee said:

All of the above plus allegedly.........repeat allegedly:

A VERY frank discussion between team leaders where damaged bridges were not only mended but reinforced very strongly.

Several players being told to completely commit to both skippers and the team or enjoy Casey regardless of their ability.

Three players told to pull their heads in and play team footy or be Casey bound.

A coaching conflict remedied.

One players health issue identified, recognised and professional treatment sought and ongoing.

I don't have great inside info but the one source I have pretty much backed this up. Issues were brought up and resolved I believe before the Bombers game and voila.

8 hours ago, Webber said:

 

Great Thread.
1. A fit list. Statistically the biggest market of success, also breeds player inter-familiarity.
2. Tom McDonald is the new Nick Riewoldt. But then so is Jesse Hogan. 2 Nick Riewoldts! 
3. The best ruckman in the league, playing in his best form.
4. Oliver and Viney two of the top 5 (or so) ball hunters in the league.
5. Jones, Lewis, Vince, 3 exceptional older heads playing like their future depends on it.
6. Jake Lever and Michael Hibberd playing to their All-Australian form.
7. Oscar McDonald playing himself into the next 10 years of a career. Never in doubt.
8. The return to form of Angus Brayshaw, who is now (post Sam Mitchell), the most double-sided midfielder in the league.
9. Jake Melksham, currently the best one-on-one player in the league, by a long way apparently. 
10. Younger players finally coming into their peak period of age and experience ..... Salem, Harmes, Nibbler.
11. The intangibles.....confidence, belief, motivation (last year's shame). 

I was waiting for this. He has gone from talented and athletic, but a bit flakey and prone to mistakes to just about the form fullback in the AFL. Can’t be underestimated in my view.

10 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

All we needed in the Neeld years was more confidence and winning, why can't you see this?

If we just do the winning bit, I think we will win most weeks. 

Also I’ve looked back on the last 5 results, there’s a direct correlation between being in front on the scoreboard at the end of the game and winning. 

12 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

 

 

This plus....

Lever gaining confidence and intercepting a stack more of the ball vs first 4 rounds.

Harmes lifting work rate, coming into some form and spending a bit more time inside prior to Jack returning.

Return of Gus, then hits some stellar form (above) and his extra time inside. Amazing poise, agility and work rate.

Spargo's willingness and ability to push himself to contests through the middle and get back into the 30 meter zone.  Providing about 25% more work / opportunity than Jeffy (except on a very good day).

FritschKrieg same with more time spent off the wing and his ability to hit targets inside 50 or kick to advantage.

Hannan providing some extra run and finding space inside 50 offering more target options and creating some further opp / chaos.

Melk finding the goals more often and hitting targets i50.

Lewis finding form and winding the clock back.  Hit some stellar form also and easily in our top 5 players so far.

The injection of Smithy in the last two weeks has taken the forward line (read scoring potency/potential) to another level.

More players taking opponents on more often, trying to break tackles and finding short targets by hand and foot.

Improved kicking efficiency by many, meaning we hit more targets short, alowing us to control and switch more often.

The general work rate of players to present on the lead and benefiting from the former meaning the ball is in our possession more of the time vs the opp.

Fixing the press - ie, not pushing so high and ensuring there's always one or two covering the back.

Not playing Harmes in the ruck.

Not using chunk as a run with.

Not playing Hunt, or any other sucker, in the ruck. Three talls plus Max.

critical difference

I think it was defensive workrate of the forwards.

We had 15 to 8 FWD 50 tackles on the weekend and Hawthorn smashed us 20 to 7.

Ball spends so much time in our forward half that when it gets out of there - the other team is so up the ground and out of position we get the ball back and we certainly punish that inevitable turnover.

5 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Some nuffie started this thread.

I’m still spewing for not selling you hope while it was at a huge premium. The stuff is everywhere now and my stock is worthless ?

10 hours ago, deejammin' said:

I don’t have the hit out to advantage stat. But I would be stunned if it wasn’t up over the last 4 weeks over earlier in the season. Max has been awesome all season but it really looks like they’ve got a real system going with him and our mids now.

My understanding (and i could be totally wrong!) is that for the "hit outs to advantage" stat to become valid (and be effective in terms of effective clearances) it also needs the mid fielders to be getting on the end of the taps.

Working hard to block / push and create space so designated mids, can take advantage of this space and run through it more often (fitness / work rate / timing ie., reading the tap off Maxy's hand).

This started to work more effectively IMO with the induction of more inside time from Gus & Harmes (in Viney's absence) from the Bombres game onwards.  That gave us 4 potent mids working the inside and finding form and saw us really start to over power and either neutralise (or win) center clearances and dominate at around the ground stoppage clearances.

The outside work and second efforts from the likes of ANB, Salem, Harmes, Clarry and Chunk has also seen us dominate contested since the Bombres also.

Dominating clearances and contested we then had to get the balance right in terms of who is going in to contest (getting the contested clearance ball) and who is waiting on the outer rim to receive that clearance and quickly escape congestion.

In the past when we have got that mix right we have looked a million at times.  But certainly not for more than 2 or 3 quarters.  When we stuffed up in 1 or 2 quarters we would pay a huge price. 

Getting the 4 inside mids going and in form as well as the inside / outside mix right (at the contest) for longer periods of time (eg., 3.5 quarters or so....no team is perfect) was the final key IMHO that was going to open everything else up, including forcing the opposition to defend / chase and run their butts off trying to get so much of the clearance wins, and subsequent outside posessions, back off us.

Dominating on clearance and outside run / possession, we just needed better users by foot to deliver off the wings or HB (or directly from center clearances).  The outing of less efficient players and injection of better ones solved this.  We now hit many more targets working our way up field off HB, off the wing and directly from center.  We are much more efficient allover and coming inside 50 also.

From the above confidence has grown week by week.

Add to the mix the return of T-Mac, then Viney....and kaboom!  Going to another level again.

Edited May 30, 20187 yr by Rusty Nails

I'm interested to hear that some posters have information that there were some heart to hearts. I have no inside knowledge but something happened after the Richmond game. 

Before that there was a real lack of confidence in each other. Particularly in the back line, everyone was contesting marks together and not leaving anyone on the ground to mop up. From the bombers game on we started trusting each other and believing. That meant we had more players at the spill ready to clear. 

Same in the midfield. players started positioning for the clearance, believing that we would get the loose or contested ball. There must have been some hard conversations had. We never lacked the skill but we weren't trusting each other enough. 

Also i think we have underestimated how important 2 way running is to our game. TMac brought that in spades when he came back in. Hogan and ANB were already bringing it. I am certain that was why ANB didn't get dropped in the first 4-5 weeks when he was in such poor touch. Our forwards weren't sucking back up the ground fast enough when the ball exited our forward 50 and it the resultant lack of pressure on the ball carrier was really exposing our defensive press. 

2 hours ago, Farmer said:

Not playing Hunt, or any other sucker, in the ruck. Three talls plus Max.

critical difference

What about Lever's form?

Some interesting points.

Personally I think round 1 is round 1, don't read too much in to a round 1 performance.
Brisbane and North games were good besides terrible patches.
Hawthorn game had a great first quarter but terrible once the rain started
Richmond game we played very well for 3/4's and just didn't have the fire power up forward, eventually not scoring enough leads to a break down in motivation when the game becomes out of reach

A lot of 'what's changed' really needs to be in context of what happened in the first 5 weeks. The foundation of a good side was still there in those 5 weeks. 

On 5/29/2018 at 10:11 PM, Adzman said:

I'm not going to win many friends with my thoughts, but I think Jordan Lewis has been huge over the past few weeks.

His calmness, leadership and decision making has helped control ball movement from the back half and really helped settled the back 6.

He has also publicly stick up for Lever, and I'm sure he has been instrumental in settling Jake down back.

Half back - really sitting off the back - of a good midfield group is really the role he should've been playing all along.

It's the role he trained for all summer but injuries to Viney and Gus needing to come through the VFL opened up the wing spot so they used Lewis there for the first half of round 1 and rounds 3, 4. He's just not suited for the wing any more, in fact probably never was.

Half back is a far easier position to see the game and zone off his opponent. Along with Salem we now have a couple of smart ball users and guys who naturally get in the right positions. They are predictable to their team mates which allows Hibberd to play his full throttle style. Bernie can also take a man and simplify his game.

The other benefit is Lewis is out of the midfield so he can communicate and position those guys from behind the play and he can bark instructions at them. 

The big test for Lewis will come against a side like West Coast that has 7 dangerous forwards and can move the ball quickly. He'll have to show he can defend but I'd still rather that than having him floundering on the wing.