6 minutes ago, Webber said:

This is why Sam is at Casey now mirroring the role Luke Jackson is currently playing….. 2nd ruck - mobile forward half interloper. He’s not a KPF, and has always been better in that role. Barring injury to current stocks however, I can’t see how he gets a gig, so will probably look to leave at season’s end, which is sad, cos he’s great depth. 

Hi Webber. Good point. Weeds could well be the right player in a different position but as you say he'll still have to wait his turn regardless. 

It does feel like now Weids leaving would be a win-win for us, though i'd suspect we won't get anything like the value in a trade for him that we might like 

Got to back Ben Brown in now though, he hasn't played a huge amount of footy in the last 2 years really, a good run at it and i reckon he'll be back to his best by our rd 19 game against the Suns. 

In addition - Fritsch is freed up from being under high balls which he hates.

He has built a habit of not leading at the ball carrier because of his days under that ball so he will get better and better as the last 6 weeks progress IMO.

Yep - he’s in the 22 next week.

 

I think the addition of brown made a huge difference and the coaches made a huge mistake last week with one tall short. It’s no secret TMac plays his best games when there is another big man around.  
I just feel like Weid is the better long term option (I know he’s had his chances) 

 

Definitely made a difference and I think it helped Fritta out a lot because he suddenly didn't have one of the best defenders on him and he could stay closer to goal. He has to stay in the team now. 

McDonald does seem to play betetr when he has Brown there and it allows him to go up and get the ball. 

On 7/9/2021 at 10:29 AM, Little Goffy said:

I'm not going to get carried away but what I liked the most was that he, for want of a better expression, looked like Ben Brown.

As in, he wasn't out of sorts, wasn't hesitant and second-guessing or only half-competing, didn't rush.

Throw in some examples of very composed and immediate ball movement with competent kicks, and I feel very confident about his coming contribution.

And there can be zero concern about his effect on McDonald's game, that's for sure!

I like that description. His role and its flow on impact aside, he looked like the Ben Brown I hoped to see, minus the run up that starts in the car park.

In fact he was a little bit better than expected with his ground level work as others have noted. I had dismissed him as a lost cause below his knees but perhaps not so.

He’s a seasoned key forward who knows where to position himself and how to impact the play for the benefit of others. He isn’t renowned for his contested marking but when fit, like he appears to be, he competes strongly in the air. He should’ve been awarded at least one but probably two grabs in dangerous positions. His hands were looking good. And when he gets more of those shots on goal, which he will do if he plays like that in future, he’s a reliable set shot. Something we can’t say about many players in the league let alone in our side.

It’s one game but I’m actually pretty pumped about what I saw of him against Port. On that evidence he makes us a better and more potent side even if he doesn’t star himself. I reckon he could be the difference in making us a serious challenger.

Give him a decent block of games, I think he played a part. No need to pretend otherwise.

BB managed to stay involved in the game without hitting the scoreboard, Weideman goes large parts of games being unsighted.

Kane Cornes made a valid point this morning on the AFL website. Brown leading hard up to the ball created the space in behind that we were able to exploit, Petracca in particular

Edited July 10, 20213 yr by Better days ahead

On 7/10/2021 at 10:05 AM, Dwight Schrute said:

It does feel like now Weids leaving would be a win-win for us, though i'd suspect we won't get anything like the value in a trade for him that we might like 

Got to back Ben Brown in now though, he hasn't played a huge amount of footy in the last 2 years really, a good run at it and i reckon he'll be back to his best by our rd 19 game against the Suns. 

I so hope you are correct.

I understand the club giving Weids a run and dropping Bb now although 3 games was not much of a run and he wasnt that bad imho.

If he starts hitting his strude now and gets better each week we could be in a very good position come finals.

In this game he did some good things without hitting the scoreboard but could have had two majors.

If he gets back to his form of 2019....2018....2017 then we are in for a great ride with a fwd. Go BB.

It wont just be a matter of freeing up other fwds and aiding our smalls. He used to win games off his own boot.

He looked pretty fit and wasnt slow.

Took a big hit early on and was none the worse. Such a safe pair of hands.

With our fwd line struggling in a few games, an in form bb is a game changer.

Go BB. 

Ps Great to see Tmac and Kozzie back to their  best and our Mids

Best to have a slump when we did and move on.?

On 7/9/2021 at 9:08 AM, dazzledavey36 said:

He was incredibly stiff not be paid 2 decent marks.

Umpire was absolutely rubbish. 

Brown will only get better. He makes our structure so much better.

Spot on..and not only that he was nudged in the back several times in marking contests as was Tom McDonald. See Gerard Healy's article. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/07/09/the-only-steve-hocking-rule-change-gerard-healy-strongly-disliked/

Brown did well. 

let’s see how he does when our midfield doesn’t fire. We need him as the out kick