12 hours ago, DeeMee said:

Did Dusty play? Or more correctly - Which of our players took Dusty out of the game? No mention in the commentary.

Gerard Healy commented in hte first 1/4  on Goody playing young Judd McVee on Dusty, giving him a tatste of the big time .  Did well , lost the odd one-on-one but great test McVee passed well IMO

The other thing I will add was how baffling a decision it was to play Laurie ahead of Jordon. Laurie looks a mile off the pace and will need to get Jack Viney strong to make it. 

Yze said in presser that the midfield got tired end of last season so they will be sharing the load through this season - that was a intereating. 

Loved the fact we looked for different options in transition. We got one dimensional last year to our detriment. If we are as clinical as we were yesterday,  the unpredictability, we will be very hard to stop. 

A fit maxy helps a heap too 

9 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Thought Kade Chandler was very good today, but he has to learn to finish his work. His kicking at goal is really ordinary. 

He was off target today for sure, but his kicking action looks pretty good.  The one thing he can do that Kozzie, Spargo, ANB (and if he was still at the club Toby Bedford) can't do is cover the distance from +45 metres out quite easily.  

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by grazman

Big tick for the Gawn Grundy axis yesterday. Both marking and kicking goals and Maxy a presence all over the ground. They are a real point of difference for us. What odds both are in the AA team this year? Worth a punt i reckon.

8 hours ago, Deemented Are Go! said:

Just finished watching on replay. 
My main take away is that Kamdyn McIntosh should just shave his head. C’mon mate, you’re not fooling anyone. 

My wife made exactly the same thing!

6 hours ago, Demonland said:

Both are bad. The head was meant to be sacrosanct last year but the MRP turned a blind eye to “name” players. No name players of course are canon fodder for the MRP. 

Cotchin will get off scot-free

He might get a fine.

27 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

The other thing I will add was how baffling a decision it was to play Laurie ahead of Jordon. Laurie looks a mile off the pace and will need to get Jack Viney strong to make it. 

I think the rationale for both JJ and JVR was to give them a full run in the twos and get the miles into the legs by play 90% TOG rather than 50-60% TOG in the firsts.   JJ is in the frame for round 1,   to me it was testing out Laurie to see how ready he might be if he were to get an opportunity this year.  I think he's still a fair way off.

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by grazman

13 hours ago, chook fowler said:

I love Bowza!

Played an absolute ripper. Reads the fall and bounce of the ball so well and accurately and consistently hits up a player. Back to his best yesterday and in that form a lock in best side.

35 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

Gerard Healy commented in hte first 1/4  on Goody playing young Judd McVee on Dusty, giving him a tatste of the big time .  Did well , lost the odd one-on-one but great test McVee passed well IMO

He lost a one on one when Dusty pushed him in the back and grabbed his jumper. 4 umpires didn’t see half his torso showing as his jumper was pulled up and away from his body.

McVee is a real find and added to Hunter and Grundy who improve our best side, helps improve our depth.

Also didn’t see much of Woey given his late appearance on the ground , but he did a couple of nice things. Coming along nicely. 

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by Redleg

8 hours ago, kev martin said:

about Gotchin putting the elbows into Harmes head, when he had him pinned on the ground. Stupid, unnecessary, poor self control, should get cited by the match r

Not like he doesn't have priors in this exact move.

13 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I don't reckon Im going out on a limb here but geez I like the look of Sparrow. 

He appears to have developed/matured and I'm tipping a monster season from him.

He reminds me of a Tracca in some ways.

Chandler worked really hard but I wondered whether he feels he has to start kicking goals so took low percentage shots (two I think) from the 45-50m range. 

Not sure he should have licence to kick for goal from that range especially when there is a breeze.  The ball floats off line or tapers off at the end.  At least one of the two was a point.  If he doesn't have the distance he should aim for the top of the goal square.

He could learn from Spargo who always looks for a closer target when he is that far out.  Spargo knows his limitations and plays to his strengths.

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by Lucifers Hero

24 minutes ago, Redleg said:

He might get a fine.

Still Scot-free in my books. Light tap on the wrist stuff. 

 

"Captain Cotch"? Say it ain't so! There's a poster of him at MRP headquarters with the words "Our Hero" under it.

13 hours ago, Ollie fan said:

I loved it but I still think there are major things to improve. BBB is not a CHF and really, I don’t think there is a place for him - lovely human being that he is- given hoe Grawndy performed in the forward line. And I think we need to do a LOT of work on our leading patterns in the forward line - there were too many times when we got a great centre clearance tgat was crying out for a good forward lead but instead went nowhere. 
 

Bowey is wonderful. His place is surely cemented now.

I disagree to an extent about the leading patterns, they were leading, some were blocked off and there were a number of occasions balls were kicked on top of heads - Brown being a constant recipient of that whilst being out numbered…I thought they function rather well IMO, it’s a stark contrast to the way we moved the ball last season

19 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Chandler worked really hard but I wondered whether he feels he has to start kicking goals so took low percentage shots (two I think) from the 45-50m range. 

Not sure he should have licence to kick for goal from that range especially when there is a breeze.  The ball floats off line or tapers off at the end.  At least one of the two was a point.  If he doesn't have the distance he should aim for the top of the goal square.

He could learn from Spargo who always looks for a closer target when he is that far out.  Spargo knows his limitations and plays to his strengths.

I mean he was running into goal and clearly had the leg for the distance…he kicked the ball 60 odd meters - as you say Spargo knows his limitations, he has no other choice than to not take a shot there 

I know it was just a praccy, but we looked several classes above an apparent “contender” yesterday. 
 

Trent Rivers is about to have a huge season. 

 

22 minutes ago, heath55 said:

I mean he was running into goal and clearly had the leg for the distance…he kicked the ball 60 odd meters - as you say Spargo knows his limitations, he has no other choice than to not take a shot there 

At least one of them was from a mark.  He may get the distance but when the ball falls short or is a point it is low value.

From a team view he should find a better placed target or to the top of the goal square.  I honestly doubt Chandler can kick a goal from 45-50m out very often even with no wind.  As I say; a low percentage shot.  It didn't hurt us yesterday but might in a tight game.

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by Lucifers Hero

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

Gawn or Grundy will be forward 50-70% of game time. It looked fine yesterday because Gawn and Grundy dominated the air, but there will be times that we will not be so dominant and we will look too slow and lack defensive pressure. 

van Rooyen is a better ground level player may complement the Tap Brothers better. I’m just not convinced he’s got the game to be the 50 goal forward that we need in 2023. Our ball movement is going to be a lot more attacking this year because we have two true wingers, so whoever plays forward is going to get great supply. Petty is the only one I’m confident would kick 50+ goals and not be a defensive liability.

I would also add that key forwards often take a long time to become accretive players. Even some of the top liners like Hawkins and Kennedy took years to develop. Others like Neitz, TMac and Lynch, who started in defence, were much more productive early in their careers. 

I suppose where I can’t get around this is that we’ve seen very little of Petty forward to have the confidence you have that he’d be a 50 goal forward. That’s a seriously good forward (9 in the entire league last year). Yes he can take a pack mark but you’re assuming he can do that repeatedly, Naughton-esque, for an entire season having not trained there over summer. It’s a much bigger leap to make IMO.

Where I find it harder to get around is that we know he is an integral and important part of our defence and if we make the change we have to replace him with Tomlinson (questionable although I’m a fan), Turner (1 AFL game of experience), J Smith (never played more than 4 games in a row due to injury and at any rate not a lockdown defender) or JVR (who hasn’t trained as a defender). So it’s doubly risky.

Talking of the MRP (and not really for this thread) but will DeGoey's sling tackle be looked at?  Can't remember the Hawks player but his head bounced off the ground.

Edit:  jordan-de-goey-tackle-on-lloyd-meek-match-review-

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by Lucifers Hero

This threads a cracking read - can't wait to watch the game this afternoon finally!  Thanks all for your comments 

God I'm so excited for the season ❤💙

Edited March 4, 20232 yr by DeelightfulPlay

35 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

"Captain Cotch"? Say it ain't so! There's a poster of him at MRP headquarters with the words "Our Hero" under it.