I re-watched the game and kept an eye on TMAC's contribution or lack thereof.  I am not for a minute saying he played well but was surprised to see that he did contribute more than I would have thought.  This is a summary of his impact on the game.

1st quarter

- Hit up mark 60 out, plays on passes to Brayshaw who misses shot/pass to Brown.

- Crashes pack ball spills to Sparrow, goal.

- Takes ball out of forward line ruck dual, spills to Kozzy for a goal.

2nd quarter

- Leads out 5 metres clear 30 meters out from goal, Neal-Bullen kicks over his head.

- Marks 45 out, misses.

- Brings contest to ground to Petracca who misses.

3rd quarter

- Blocks for Brown who marks 20 out.

- Had front possy and hands on it for mark and Brown spoils him.

4th quarter

- Brings mark contest to ground, Petracca picks up passes to Brayshaw who misses.

 

Some may say this is not a good enough contribution and I went out of my way to find whatever small impact he had, but that is a summary his performance.

Fritsch and Brown have a good understanding at present, especially when Brown is an idle target taking up defenders and Fritsch comes over the top with a clean run at it (while opposition defenders are stagnant defending Brown). Working well that. Not even sure if it’s a set play but it’s happening a lot and Fritsch is the beneficially. I suspect none of it would happen without Tmac being a mobile target and spreading the forward line out, and taking that extra defender out. He is the perfect bloke  (when fit) to play the mobile forward role. Weideman more plays deep so I can’t see him coming in anytime soon. It would mess things up.

23 minutes ago, Stinger2 said:

I re-watched the game and kept an eye on TMAC's contribution or lack thereof.  I am not for a minute saying he played well but was surprised to see that he did contribute more than I would have thought.  This is a summary of his impact on the game.

1st quarter

- Hit up mark 60 out, plays on passes to Brayshaw who misses shot/pass to Brown.

- Crashes pack ball spills to Sparrow, goal.

- Takes ball out of forward line ruck dual, spills to Kozzy for a goal.

2nd quarter

- Leads out 5 metres clear 30 meters out from goal, Neal-Bullen kicks over his head.

- Marks 45 out, misses.

- Brings contest to ground to Petracca who misses.

3rd quarter

- Blocks for Brown who marks 20 out.

- Had front possy and hands on it for mark and Brown spoils him.

4th quarter

- Brings mark contest to ground, Petracca picks up passes to Brayshaw who misses.

 

Some may say this is not a good enough contribution and I went out of my way to find whatever small impact he had, but that is a summary his performance.

In the big league and in important games you can't only provide that off the ball as a key position forward. 

He had 4 touches. If it was a defensive forward role and he was instructed to shut an important oppo player down and only had 4 touches then we'd view it differently. 

But he was poor again for the second week in a row. Really poor. Just look at his body language post game, he looked dejected compared to everyone else. 

Tricky situation. I'm of the believe that we function better one tall less. So I'd look at dropping T Mac and potentially bringing Melksham back depending on who we play. T Mac and Brown were also going up for the same ball on many occasions. I don't think they compliment each other. 

I have no idea what we'll do, but we've carried Tom the past two weeks. 

 

Edited August 29, 20213 yr by JimmyGadson

It's great that TMac can have two down games in a row and the forward line still functions well overall. If one, or even two as last week, are off, others are there to pick up the slack. Not ideal, but imagine if we dropped someone every time they were off.... We'd destroy confidence and never settle. If it ain't broke.....

It’s a bloody tough decision to make.

I hope Goody can, and I get the feeling he will, read the mood of the group and act accordingly.

While we don’t want to demoralize the group by dropping one of their mates, we need to consider the list as a total of 40 odd players. We keep Tomald in while clearly out of form, and what happens to the psyche of blokes like Nate, Hibbo and Melk?

Weed was a no brainer after 4 poor outings mid season, but dropping someone one game out before the GF is a different matter. That can be, rightly or wrongly, relationship destroying stuff. See Derek Kickett FMI.

Personally, I’d give him one more game, but does that paint Goody into a corner? Do we rip the band aid off now? It’s very difficult to say.

Edited August 29, 20213 yr by Colin B. Flaubert
Slight edit

2 hours ago, Stinger2 said:

I re-watched the game and kept an eye on TMAC's contribution or lack thereof.  I am not for a minute saying he played well but was surprised to see that he did contribute more than I would have thought.  This is a summary of his impact on the game.

1st quarter

- Hit up mark 60 out, plays on passes to Brayshaw who misses shot/pass to Brown.

- Crashes pack ball spills to Sparrow, goal.

- Takes ball out of forward line ruck dual, spills to Kozzy for a goal.

2nd quarter

- Leads out 5 metres clear 30 meters out from goal, Neal-Bullen kicks over his head.

- Marks 45 out, misses.

- Brings contest to ground to Petracca who misses.

3rd quarter

- Blocks for Brown who marks 20 out.

- Had front possy and hands on it for mark and Brown spoils him.

4th quarter

- Brings mark contest to ground, Petracca picks up passes to Brayshaw who misses.

 

Some may say this is not a good enough contribution and I went out of my way to find whatever small impact he had, but that is a summary his performance.

Good summation.

Off-the-ball impact aside, McDonald could very easily have ended up with 2 important goals. He was on a red hot lead to ANB that missed him due to no fault of his own (ANB skill error), and had an easy shot at goal curtesy of Brown that he missed (plenty of easy misses across the board last night).

Needs to lift, and hopefully will after another 2 weeks to get his body right, but there's no way he's going out of the side now we're deep into finals and actually look to finally have a decent forward structure that is capable of kicking goals.

The McDonald vs Wied vs small debate is over for this year. It'll come up again next year no doubt, but it's over for now.

The thing with TMac is that either injured or negative head space seems to go on for weeks....he's a liability but not as much as Weidmann...interchange so he can use his aerobic capacity when needed

Still gets a game for me. His first shot at goal just missed. 
he competed hard all night 

Love the way he bounced back this year but the worry is he hasn't played well since Port game

5 minutes ago, Chook said:

Good summation.

Off-the-ball impact aside, McDonald could very easily have ended up with 2 important goals. He was on a red hot lead to ANB that missed him due to no fault of his own (ANB skill error), and had an easy shot at goal curtesy of Brown that he missed (plenty of easy misses across the board last night).

Needs to lift, and hopefully will after another 2 weeks to get his body right, but there's no way he's going out of the side now we're deep into finals and actually look to finally have a decent forward structure that is capable of kicking goals.

The McDonald vs Wied vs small debate is over for this year. It'll come up again next year no doubt, but it's over for now.

Agree with all of this Chook.

Said it in another topic, he won’t be dropped. Sometimes we look for reasons to drop people or make changes.

Yes, he wasn’t great, but the team and the forward unit was.

He requires a good defender on him, it helps the others when he is in and defenders can’t peel off him as they would a smaller player.

He stays in for me.

Sparrow is the one who has surprised me and made it hard to play either of Jones or Melksham.

TMac had a poor game, but we won a Qualifying final by 33 points, and the forward line as a unit looked as potent as it has all year. No way he gets dropped. 

I don't see us dropping TMc unless we are specifically looking for a structural change. It's a very tough decision but I don't see Melk, Jones or JJ kicking 3 goals for us, but TMc still could. But I'm also concerned, because when TMc is out of form, he seems to be massively out of form and can put in nemerous consecutive stinkers. A 2 week break to get the body right, if that's the problem, might do the trick.

Edited August 29, 20213 yr by Boots and all

11 minutes ago, Yokozuna said:

Said it in another topic, he won’t be dropped. Sometimes we look for reasons to drop people or make changes.

Yes, he wasn’t great, but the team and the forward unit was.

He requires a good defender on him, it helps the others when he is in and defenders can’t peel off him as they would a smaller player.

He stays in for me.

Sparrow is the one who has surprised me and made it hard to play either of Jones or Melksham.

Sparrow took his chance

An out of form TMac still requires cover from their first or second defender

Fritsch doesn't do what he did without Brown and TMac.

He can be better but what did we have - 3 players lowering their colours?

Do people not know that even when you're playing finals and are the best team - there will be those that struggle in games.

The amount of time that will go into Oliver in the PF will be intense - he may work through it but he will also need the kind of support that Tommy's forward brethren gave him last night.

Personally not worried, he’s a cog in the machine, just needs to take his chances when they come. 

TMac must continue to play, given that our likely GF opponent is Port Adelaide. He will take Alir Alir, leaving BB and Fritta with lesser defenders. I'll be happy if he then spends the entire GF taking Alir Alir where the ball isn't. We will laud his game if he gets only a few kicks, but Alir Alir is taken out of the game.

But we know that he will retain his place because Goody has total faith in the 22 players who destroyed the Lions, so this discussion is pretty pointless.

Just remember that it may be TMAC who lifts when the attention goes to Brown and Fritta.

3 hours ago, loges said:

Love the way he bounced back this year but the worry is he hasn't played well since Port game

Yep has sadly regressed to Tom of last year.

He was incredible for the first half of this season but after the dons game, his port one was his only good game, Since then has scored very few goals.

In the cats game I thought well hes been out for a couple so fair enough. But last night in a final he had a total of four possessions....no goals and gave away two frees.

There is no suitable replacement so I guess he stays, but he cant not perform in a prelim or granny. 

last night, It was Bbb doing Tmacs old job of coming down the ground and making a contest.

Would love to see him back to what he CAN do. What a potent forward line it would be.

 

What worries me is not so much his lack of input, it's the fact that he has looked cooked and is being overpowered easily at times.

It has me querying whether his early start to pre-season means his year effectively ended a couple of weeks ago.

I'm not stuck on this idea but it just concerns me a little. The week off could be just what he needs.

Edited August 29, 20213 yr by Cheesy D. Pun

People wanted Jackson "rested" after a few down games 4-6 weeks or so ago. I have confidence TMac can turn it around and fire up when we need him to. He's shown it earlier this year.

The back spasm and soreness clearly slowed him a bit but he has continued to play his role. Definitely the week off will be important for him and I suspect we've got a few other sore bodies, both old and young, who will appreciate some time to tend to their bruises.

I have a strange gut feeling that destiny is calling him to be a kind of forward tagger on Aliir Aliir, providing a priceless breakeven on grand final day.

But, for now, one game at a time.

Can see why we have an interest in Jack Gunston. 

His mobility at ground level appears to have returned to 2019 standards, but as a few posters have rightly pointed out, he still requires a good defender and did take Harris Andrews a number of times last night.

He stays in for the rest of the year, but who knows what our forward set up looks like next year. This may well be Weideman's position to lose next year. 

And yes, Daz, Gunston would be nice additional insurance.