3 minutes ago, BDA said:

I love spargs but i think chandler has taken his place in the team.

They both fitted in the team fine before Spargo injury.  Why can’t that continue?

Clarkson says that North did not play that bad but Melbourne are just that good. Says that Melbourne has 8 maybe even 10 All Australians in our side.

14 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

And will get the same result with BBB.

Schache will possibly/probably get another chance against GC but at their best, Brown or T-Mac would be a better bet

Schache didn't do a lot tonight but it's only one game

But if Brown and/or T-Mac turn it on tomorrow they might force the selectors hand

Mind you, JVR didn't do a lot either but we had numerous other scoring avenues against bog-average opposition so neither key forward was needed apart from creating contests or being used as decoys

The knock on Schache is that he isn't a physical player and in September, that stuff is a requirement

It's early doors, all the same.  Need a bigger sample size

2 minutes ago, BDA said:

I love spargs but i think chandler has taken his place in the team.

I was think the same thing, spargs will have to spend some time in the VFL.

I thought we were a really good team tonight 

The first quarter was one of the least intense quarters of football I’ve seen. It looked like the Roos were trying to play a zone they had no idea how to play and we did what we wanted. They seemed to man up a bit after quarter time. Hopefully we took the chance to work on some things tonight. Always good to have a relaxed night at the football. 

1 minute ago, Vipercrunch said:

They both fitted in the team fine before Spargo injury.  Why can’t that continue?

who comes out for spargs?

 

Just watched the vision of Barty giving Schache his jumper. [censored] he was a legend. Still devo he retired so young

2 minutes ago, Macca said:

Schache will possibly/probably get another chance against GC but at their best, Brown or T-Mac would be a better bet

Schache didn't do a lot tonight but it's only one game

But if Brown and/or T-Mac turn it on tomorrow they might force the selectors hand

Mind you, JVR didn't do a lot either but we had numerous other scoring avenues against bog-average opposition so neither key forward was needed apart from creating contests or being used as decoys

The knock on Schache is that he isn't a physical player and in September, that stuff is a requirement

It's early doors, all the same.  Need a bigger sample size

In saying that, neither is BBB

27 minutes ago, Dee-monic said:

I know that was little more than a good training run but one very positive point that did emerge is that in keeping Chandler and letting Bedford move on the Melbourne brains trust got it absolutely right. His accurate goal-kicking, constant pressure and excellent ball use stood out all night. And it was great to see Steven May showing his annoyance when North kicked some late goals. That's the kind of ruthless attitude that wins premierships.

Exactly right.

Got home from the game. It's a weird feeling because I really didn't get to excited not like last week. As I've said I expected to win and win well.

Or maybe we didn't have that key forward kick a bag like Curnow did for Carlton.

I have given this guy grief over the years but ANB was great tonight and that tackle on McDonald was my highlight & I hope he continues with that pressure.

3 minutes ago, BDA said:

who comes out for spargs?

 

The bookie odds for DL (silly) suggestions:

4-1 - Harmes

7-1 - No-one

11-1 - Jordon

15 - 1 - ANB

47 minutes ago, BDA said:

I love spargs but i think chandler has taken his place in the team.

I thought we missed another small pressure forward in the A50. Chandler was really on tonight, he was great and ANB was his usual hard running self, but I still don't think the mix was quite right. Particularly, with Koz playing slightly higher up the ground.

It's a tough balance though, because I thought JJ and Sparrow gave us really good outside run, as well as hard defensive running, but do you sacrifice JJ for another small forward? ie Spargo. Especially, if you want to play a territory game of locking the ball in. I reckon JJ will be the unlucky one.

Schache as the more mobile option worked quite well though, with Max and JVR, and for the most part our talls did their jobs by not being outmarked. Schache is such a beautiful field kick. If we could get him the ball at 65m out 5-6 times a game, I think someone else would get 5-6 shots on goal.

Anyway, I think these are ultimately good problems to have, because although the mix is probably a little bit off, we're comfortably the highest scoring team in the comp and don't have trouble scoring whatever our forward mix is.

Edited April 29, 20231 yr by A F

2 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

In saying that, neither is BBB

Brown takes up the front position on a constant basis (when in form) and that's a very physical thing to do at any level of footy.  Takes a lot of courage to do so consistently (the front position)

Can Schache do that? Not tonight but again, we need to see a bigger sample size.  JVR played from behind tonight as well

1 hour ago, Demon Jack said:

Chandler is a jet.

Absolutely nailed his role tonight. 20+ touches and 3* goals as a small forward is as elite as you'll see.

*EDIT: sorry 3 goals!

 

So did Sparrow. I was critical of Tom last week when I probably shouldn't have been (felt he was very fumbly), tonight his defensive stuff was A+.

5 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

In saying that, neither is BBB

Brown’s final series in 2021 was supremely underrated with his contested work. Can he get form and fitness to do it again? I still think he can but it will be a matter of timing his run. And ideally having a CHF ahead of him to limit his kms.

Gawn and Petty are the best CHF options. The rest of our talls aren’t remotely reliable in the contest at this stage. BBB can’t get to enough contests.

Schache would make a decent lead up target but we consistently ask our key forwards to get deep or long down the line. We aren’t a lead up side.

30 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Some guy on talkback SEN complaining about the last 5 minutes - we did have a 5 day break FFS.  Tracc at interview said that they were all absolutely buggered.  

Talkback radio. Says it all. 

And another thing, having Grundy is so bloody good. Sure, he's a good ruckman and elite at ground level for a big guy, but what makes his combination with Gawn so dangerous is that they're such different players and different ruckman.

Teams tend to read Max's centre tap work much better than Grundy's, but when Max hits them pure, he's a cleaner tapper than Grundy. But their different approaches always give us options 'in game'.

Brodie's follow up work has also added another dimension to our stoppage game. Not only do we have Oliver, Petracca and co at ground level, we have a 200cm+ giant in Grundy. 

If Gawndy can stay fit all the way through the year, we're going to be tough to beat.

Edited April 29, 20231 yr by A F

Finally home, time to watch the match highlights!

1 minute ago, layzie said:

Finally home, time to watch the match highlights!

Real fans watch the entire game again.

58 minutes ago, Garbo said:

Concerned that despite the big win our 2 tall fwds only get 2 goals between them and didn’t do a whole lot else. We really need Brown or Tmac in form and back as they would add so much more 

I'm sorry (I'm not), but you don't understand modern footy.

Edited April 29, 20231 yr by A F

That was a bit surreal. At times tonight at the ground it felt like a preseason game in terms of pressure and ramifications. I think about 12 of our goals the boys kicked and looked around wondering where the pressure was.

We did everything we needed to do, and I really liked the mix of midfield players at times. We got a look at a few things tonight without sacrificing anything - so that’s always good.

And for the first time this year I came home with my voice, so that tells you everything you need to know about the experience of watching the game.

12 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Brown’s final series in 2021 was supremely underrated with his contested work. Can he get form and fitness to do it again? I still think he can but it will be a matter of timing his run. And ideally having a CHF ahead of him to limit his kms.

Gawn and Petty are the best CHF options. The rest of our talls aren’t remotely reliable in the contest at this stage. BBB can’t get to enough contests.

Schache would make a decent lead up target but we consistently ask our key forwards to get deep or long down the line. We aren’t a lead up side.

And that will be the problem with today's style, it was a problem last year and remains so, if watch the replay there are numerous time the ball could have gone across the ground to players on there own with no one near them but we just kept going long, I will ask you this how do you think we will go against the pies defence and movement?

47 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

I’m sorry but BB has a hell of a lot more runs on the board and was in good form in the first three rounds. 
Schache is too timid to play key position at this level. He got out marked by Zeibel multiple times despite the massive height difference. 

I remember Schache being outmarked once by Ziebell, which I absolutely agree was too soft, but from my eye, Schache wasn't outmarked again for the rest of the night and brought the ball to ground every time.

I reckon our FD would be relatively happy with his game, but it sounds like he still makes way for Petty, unless they give JVR a break. Which probably wouldn't be the worst idea...

3 minutes ago, A F said:

And another thing, having Grundy is so bloody good. Sure, he's a good ruckman and elite at ground level for a big guy, but what makes his combination with Gawn so dangerous is that they're such different players and different ruckman.

Teams tend to read Max's centre tap work much better than Grundy's, but when Max hits them pure, he's a cleaner tapper than Grundy.

But Brodie's follow up work has added another dimension to our stoppage game. Not only do we have Oliver, Petracca and co at ground level, we have a 200cm+ giant in Grundy. 

If Gawndy can stay fit all the way through the year, we're going to be tough to beat.

Yes, an absolute nightmare for opposition coaches.  1 out they (and we) are vulnerable (see Essendon clash) but as a pair, virtually impossible to curtail

As long as they can both remain fresh and ready for the big games, we're in a great spot

But is it time to give Grundy a week off against GC?  He's shouldered a lot of work for 7 games.  And if we don't manage him next week, will we at all?

If Schache stays for another week surely he can ruck for 20% of the game against the Suns?

Bring the game we brought tonight and we will obliterate GC