1 minute ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Purely based on the fact if they don’t lower their eyes and instead bomb it in long, then 4 tall defenders could dominate in the air.

Mind you, none of their tall defenders are that much chop, although Collins has revitalised his career after Ross Lyon got rid of him.

Fair enough. Our best forwardline for mine, is when we go smaller. Hope that remains the case. 

17 hours ago, maximum bob said:

"We need to maintain core stability" according to Hemingway. More like "core instability". We fell over the line by 5 points and got lucky for once and now have two wins. Forget injuries, operations and limited prep. Either O'Mac takes the game on and shows a bit more footy nous, awareness and attack or he'll be treading the same water that Petracca sank in.

Our win against the Hawks was a tenuous one; it was dominated by the final count-down of the clock - something could go very wrong at any moment and the umpires were not to be trusted with such responsibility for an even football field. Core instability was present and fortunately, we avoided the looming loss. We know who almost lost the game for us by inaction and confirmed liabilities. The team overcame these handicaps working as one and for that, we are all grateful. Now it is up to the selectors in the next few weeks until the key elements of the injury list return, and before our real talents dissipate. 

It is a dilemma to juggle who is coming back, who we need to persist with and team balance. Although Keilty didnt win the game, he added more than I thought Weid would have. So I hope Weid and Keilty stay where they are for 2 more weeks. Thats fair. Because of that change I would now consider Viney and Fritsch. Do either of them deserve a game this week? Would we play better without one of them? They are not exactly in good form. There will be good players available in the coming weeks.The season is dark and full of terrors. We need to pick the team carefully.

Last night I tried to imagine a best case scenario, namely that Hannan, J.Smith, Preuss, Lever, Viney, May and Vandenberg would be fit and available in 4 weeks. The Demons could still become a very formidable proposition especially if and when Tom Mac finds some form. The interesting issue then would become who do you leave out?

31 minutes ago, dieter said:

Last night I tried to imagine a best case scenario, namely that Hannan, J.Smith, Preuss, Lever, Viney, May and Vandenberg would be fit and available in 4 weeks. The Demons could still become a very formidable proposition especially if and when Tom Mac finds some form. The interesting issue then would become who do you leave out?

ANB, Keilty, Hore, Stretch, Omac, Lockhart, Garlett, Lewis, Wagner, hell even TMac himself.

We still have plenty of either underperforming or depth players to drop. I like what I've seen of Lockhart and I think we look more dangerous with jeffy but they're far from guaranteed once we start to get players back. I'd like to see keilty get a 2-4 week run at it though. 

Edited May 6, 20195 yr by ArtificialWisdom
English

For all the haters 

there is a lot of love for OMAC eh :)

55 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Our win against the Hawks was a tenuous one; it was dominated by the final count-down of the clock - something could go very wrong at any moment and the umpires were not to be trusted with such responsibility for an even football field. Core instability was present and fortunately, we avoided the looming loss. We know who almost lost the game for us by inaction and confirmed liabilities. The team overcame these handicaps working as one and for that, we are all grateful. Now it is up to the selectors in the next few weeks until the key elements of the injury list return, and before our real talents dissipate. 

That's true, but we're not talking about the umpires in this thread.

 

(Actually, I thought the umpiring was reasonable on Saturday apart from two glaring errors. One, when Roughead dropped the ball when tackled in the 3rd(?) quarter and it was called play on and the failure to pay the obvious 50 metre penalty in the last when the Hawks kicked the ball away well after the free kick was paid.)

16 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

For all the haters 

there is a lot of love for OMAC eh

If we had lost it, a large portion of the blame would have to sit with OMAC.. He looks relieved. 

13 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

Whilst I agree that Omac has not been in as good a form as his last half of 2018, it's worth remembering he has just turned 23 and is still developing both his game and body. 

People need to remember that guys his size often don't reach their peak until 26 or even later. I have Richmond supporting mates who hated Alex Rance for his first 4-5 years. Btw, I'm not saying Omac is equal to Rance.

Omac has 62 game under his belt. The marker for AFL player development his usually around 100 games. I saw enough good things last year to tell me he's worth persevering with.

He's had a few mares this year and is the type of player who looks dreadful when out of form. Apart from the last quarter yesterday he was ok, considering he's coming back from a spell and has also had concussion. He'll be better for the run, and the game against GCS will hopefully build his confidence further.

Some posters think Omac was gifted games too early in his career and are calling for Petty to be selected. Careful what to wish for or we may do the same thing again.

Clearly the FD see Omac as part of our future. I'm glad their memories aren't as short as ours

Good post with a number of good points.

On where he is at I'd add to the point about his young age for a kpd, he like his brother and others had post season surgery and an interrupted pre season.

As you say when not playing well ite seems to be a beacon for crtisism. But even when playing well some, including commentators, only seem to note his mistakes. I agree with the crtisisms of him not moving towards the ball twice in rhe last quarter and being outmarked as a result. But to suggest he nearly cost us the game is ridiculous.

What nearly cost us that game - one we should have won by 5 goals - was our appalling handball and kicking skills all game. But particularly in rhe first half. Hore, Fritter, Lewis , gawn and Oliver made multiple howlers that cost both goals and chances at goal. It was a joke. Capped off by traccs shot on goal

Jeffy for all his improved work cost us a sure goal with his selfishness (though it was great that he made up for that later) and don't get me started about harmed and his two identical  50s. 

Omac did not miss a target by hand or foot. 100% de in a team that at half time was going at a woeful 52%. And before anyone says that his kicks were all easy crosses remember several were high risk 40 metre arrows that picked out teammates and set up forward attacks (besides half our team can't make those easy 30 metre crosses).

Another positive is that he took a couple of good contested marks (the second one at an important time), something he rightly has been knocked for for not doing.

So all in all an improved game from omac. But i'm sure, with petty among our best in the vfl that if goody thinks omac is the liability some think he is then he will drop him. We'll see Thursday night.

2 minutes ago, SPC said:

If we had lost it, a large portion of the blame would have to sit with OMAC.. He looks relieved. 

I'm amazed that Oliver was on the bench for the last minute or so. I recognise that every player, particularly midfielders, need  regular breaks but I would have thought our best clearance player should be on the ground at this critical stage of the game.  

13 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm amazed that Oliver was on the bench for the last minute or so. I recognise that every player, particularly midfielders, need  regular breaks but I would have thought our best clearance player should be on the ground at this critical stage of the game.  

Yeah he was off for a while too. Just one of those patches where there are minimal breaks in play. 

On 5/4/2019 at 8:16 PM, Engorged Onion said:

Not bells - this place

yiiiissshhhk!!!!! 

the wedge!  

On 5/5/2019 at 12:46 PM, Deemania since 56 said:

Absolutely. A wasted jumper, week in, week out, year long, two years long, every time he plays, for that matter. Occupies enormous defensive resources to back up his predictable errors, flaws, weakness, lack of endeavour and snail's pace. ABSOLUTELY.

generally speaking, looking back, hindsight, reflection and all that...I feel as though 90% of the time he has been absolutey [censored].  Always bemused then frustrated by what he actually brings.  Slowest footballer Ive ever witnessed, seemingly even slower 'upstairs' on critical plays.  Seemingly zero grunt.  Have we ever seen him physically impose himself? It's a strange one.  

But he was OK in our finals push and so on last year or was he not?  I remember thinking once or twice 'shi*, he's playing well.' I remember it because it felt odd to think that about him.

But, in conclusion, he does seem to be sh*^house.

14 hours ago, jacey said:

He was a late in for Tim Smith.

Keilty wouldn't be playing if pruess was fit n pruess should be back

 

 

What went wrong for T Smith.?  Ive never actually heard why he was a late out

I thought Fritsch was starting to get back to some exciting footy trying hard to impact the game.

I wouldn’t  drop him just yet , I reckon he is due and can play in most positions.

13 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

I thought Fritsch was starting to get back to some exciting footy trying hard to impact the game.

I wouldn’t  drop him just yet , I reckon he is due and can play in most positions.

Thought Fritsch was really important. must play forward of the ball. Calls to drop him are not warranted at all IMO. 

3 hours ago, Damo said:

It is a dilemma to juggle who is coming back, who we need to persist with and team balance. Although Keilty didnt win the game, he added more than I thought Weid would have. So I hope Weid and Keilty stay where they are for 2 more weeks. Thats fair. Because of that change I would now consider Viney and Fritsch. Do either of them deserve a game this week? Would we play better without one of them? They are not exactly in good form. There will be good players available in the coming weeks.The season is dark and full of terrors. We need to pick the team carefully.

I don't quite understand this reverence for Keilty's game.  Is it because he was a first gamer ?  Because his Brother posts here ?  I'm scratching my head.

He had 6 disposals, 2 marks, 3 hitouts and no goals.  If Weideman puts up those numbers he's pilloried left, right and centre.

Btw, I'm not knocking Keilty and I'm kind of hoping he gets a second game, but for the life of me I don't get the comments surrounding his first performance.  Weideman's first 5 games of the year were all far better than Keilty's game on the weekend.

Edited May 6, 20195 yr by ProDee

12 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

I thought Fritsch was starting to get back to some exciting footy trying hard to impact the game.

I wouldn’t  drop him just yet , I reckon he is due and can play in most positions.

Fritsch is a forward. Used as a fill-in type to do everything whilst still being a lean and keen machine just ain't fair on his longer-term outcomes, at all. He can get by himself in space, he can mark reasonable deliveries, he can kick well and is accurate in front of goal but is losing these two latter skills the more he 'fills in' out of position. This FD tendency does not add to his skill repertoire, it merely removes a gaping gap in team selections. With a low body weight and lean upper torso, his pace and mobility cannot be exploited in seriously necessary defensive tackling. Get him forward - that's where he excels.

55 minutes ago, pinkshark said:

What went wrong for T Smith.?  Ive never actually heard why he was a late out

He had Back Sorness. 

I disagree. Weiderman never looked like trying to take a mark or even attack the football in the last 3 games. Keilty is ready to give it a red hot go. I dont think his efforts turned the game, I do however think the umpires did. He just did slightly more than I expected the Weid to do. I hope Sam W. turns it around but Im down on him ATM.  

Keilty was OK, nothing special. Happy for him to get another game as I'd prefer us to give new players more than just one game before sending them back to Casey, but if Preuss or Weideman need to come back in then Keilty's had his taste and knows what's required.

Other than that one potential change I don't think we'll see any others. Surely Viney needs more than one week with his history of injuries and we have a six-day break into a second consecutive road trip after this week, so I don't want to see half-baked players running around on the GC and then trying to back that up in Perth.

Also i must say although Jeffy did a couple curious things i though he was so clean and got to the right places more often than not.. it was encouraging. I think with Jeff you need to take the bad wit the good, his first shot at goal clearly should have been a handball to Tom and after that it looked like he lost confidence to have a shot but he was so clean, and there was a free kick against Tom Mc i think where Jeffy roved it beautifully off the pack as well as the match winning tackle. 2 direct goal assists and 4 score assists.

 

 

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm amazed that Oliver was on the bench for the last minute or so. I recognise that every player, particularly midfielders, need  regular breaks but I would have thought our best clearance player should be on the ground at this critical stage of the game.  

Oliver played the least amount of game time, and seemed to be on and off all game. Not sure if that is a fitness issue or a game plan to have him on for bursts more than long stints, but the danger with that is you can get caught on the bench at the wrong time. Maybe it's a way to try and shake any tagging, as they would disrupt their own game plan bringing players on and off for no reason. 

 

49 minutes ago, Damo said:

I disagree. Weiderman never looked like trying to take a mark or even attack the football in the last 3 games. Keilty is ready to give it a red hot go. I dont think his efforts turned the game, I do however think the umpires did. He just did slightly more than I expected the Weid to do. I hope Sam W. turns it around but Im down on him ATM.  

Weid was very good with his attack against the Swans, but poor the last 2 weeks, I think he's best 22 and they'll want him back in as soon as he finds any form, so if he look good at Casey there's every chance he'll come in for Keilty. 

We finally found some form on saturday or some players found some form.

They say winning form is good form so unless there are any injuries I would not change the 22.

Keilty deserves a second week, there is a considerable difference between the pace of an AFL game and the vfl.

Give him a chance to adapt to the increased speed.