Our last easy game before a tougher run of matches, including a huge Friday night in Adelaide against a fired up Power who will be going for a seventh straight win by then.

There's been a lot of talk about our poor clearance work last week, but I think people underestimate how good Rowell is around the stoppages - it took our Carey boy Viney to nullify his hard grunt work after half time and even then Anderson proved damaging and part of that is that Witts is a great tapman - although not a patch on Gawny when it comes to marking.

I reckon this is the last week for a while that we have to experiment with to our set up.

Like many here, I was keen to see how Petty would go up forward given he looked promising in that role in 2019 before injury cut him down. But what has become clear is that he doesn't have the quick-thinking peripheral vision assessment ability to quickly link up and send the ball downfield to the next option - he is not alone here, plenty of bigs struggle in this department. But I am happy for us to ditch that experiment now and send him back to the VFL to get his confidence back as a defender. He may need a week or two back there as he seems to have lost that gung-ho style and we need him for Finlayson (PA) and potentially Frampton (Coll), Cameron (Geel) and Hipwood (Bris) in the big games.

The obvious new experiment is Joel Smith as a forward - yes I know he'll probably be out injured before I finish this - but Smith and his pace and tackling ability is going to be key, if fit, against the Power (Bergman), Pies (Maynard or Murphy) and possibly Stewart (Geel). Ultimately I am still not sure if Smith, like Petty, is quick-thinking savvy, so his linkwork may not be good enough, but he has to be tried and the Hawks game is the best soft-kill game to get him going, although CJ will make him work hard. Smith is bigger and stronger now, so hopefully he can provide enough of a marking option. And the loss of a genuine third tall is no big deal because our best talls are Gawn and Grundy when they rest and we need them both on the field a little more than their current 75-80% game time. We should still have enough marking prowess anyway with JVR (BBB will replace him if he loses his appeal), Fritter and the Gawn/Grundy combo.

As to other changes, our backline is really coming along and McVee's pace is pivotal as that is our weakness, as Essendon showed us a few weeks ago. The penny seems to be dropping for Rivers, who after his late-game howler against the Suns was super committed from then on - although he still needs to up his awareness to the level of Angus and Bowser. Hibberd returns if fit to replace Turner, if not I'd give Disco another go - he started poorly against the Suns but I thought he was starting to find his way after halftime before being pulled.

The other obvious change is that Jordan comes out after a couple of solid but not sensational games. His spot probably goes back to Harmes with Spargo getting the subs vest.

In: J.Smith, Harmes (Spargo as sub), Hibberd (if fit), Ben Brown (if JVR banned)

Out: Petty, Jordan, Turner (if Hibberd fit), JVR (susp)  

20 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

Out: Petty, Jordan, Turner (if Hibberd fit), JVR (susp)  

Petty isn't getting dropped

5 hours ago, John Demonic said:

Yeah but would Clarko have dropped Gunston for Billy Hartung to add some forward pressure?

Gunston was an excellent pressure player at his best and had versatility to play on a wing or behind the ball too. 

I doubt he hardly ever had a game where he was invisible for 3/4’s 

Fritsch dropped, Petty dropped…it’s good reading.

1 hour ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Fritsch dropped, Petty dropped…it’s good reading.

Never a dull moment

Fritch and Petty dropped...

Scott Pendlebury got caught holding the ball on the weekend, maybe Collingwood should drop him for that.

Bloke has 1 bad game and you're calling for his axing, hey while where at it let just trade him.

And let's drop Petty to work on his forward craft at VFL level, yeah that's sounds like a ripper plan.

Edited May 8, 20231 yr by AzzKikA

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Gunston was an excellent pressure player at his best and had versatility to play on a wing or behind the ball too. 

I doubt he hardly ever had a game where he was invisible for 3/4’s 

Really?

Let me pick out a couple of random games for you with Jack Gunston at his prime.

2016 Round 13 against North Melbourne and Gunston registers 2 kicks, 4 handballs, 1 behind and plays 92% game time.

2015 Round 12 against Adelaide he registers 2 kick, 4 handballs and kicks 1 behind playing 88% game time.

Happy to keep going?

9 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Really?

Let me pick out a couple of random games for you with Jack Gunston at his prime.

2016 Round 13 against North Melbourne and Gunston registers 2 kicks, 4 handballs, 1 behind and plays 92% game time.

2015 Round 12 against Adelaide he registers 2 kick, 4 handballs and kicks 1 behind playing 88% game time.

Happy to keep going?

I said hardly ever, not never. Fritsch has had 2 in 3 weeks. And I suspect Gunston's 7 tackles made an impact in that 2016 game. 7 tackles is a good month for Fritsch

After 8 rounds we are currently

2nd for PF (points for)

862 Geelong currently 6th)

859 Melbourne (currently 2nd)

809 Lions (currently 4th)

766 Bombers (currently 9th)

721 Crows (currently 10th)

702 Pies (currently 1st)

In 6 games Petty has only kicked 2.1, as we know our accuracy has greatly improved as well as the emergence of Chandler 13.2 from 7 games and JVR 10.2 from 5 games. How much has Petty playing fwd has contributed to our attack? Not nearly as much as his absence in defence.

4th for PA (points against)

474 Saints (currently 3rd)

579 Pies (currently 1st)

619 Dogs (currently 7th)

621 Melbourne (currently 2nd)

Sitting 4th for PA doesn’t sound so bad at face value but when you go further down the list you have number of teams not far of the pace.

632 Carlton

634 Richmond

635 Geelong

663 Lions

667 Crows

676 Port

677 Suns

689 Freo

690 Swans

Over the last 2 seasons we’ve been the no.1 defensive team, whilst it’s only rd 9 the rest of the competition in catching us. When we play the likes of Geelong and Carlton we can’t rely on just playing May & Lever or bring in Tomlinson / Turner for a cameo. Petty needs to return to the backline to bring stability back, as an example had that been the case against the Suns the game wouldn’t of been as close as it was (yes I’m aware we were smashed at clearances)

43 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

I said hardly ever, not never. Fritsch has had 2 in 3 weeks. And I suspect Gunston's 7 tackles made an impact in that 2016 game. 7 tackles is a good month for Fritsch

As I said, I can list more if you'd like?? He's had just as poor games as Fritsch has 

And had 1 tackle in the other game I listed. 

Your hatred towards Fritta is tiresome and boring. The guy performs at a high level and without him we'd lose a lot more games.

Get new content. I know you're still having withdrawals from your weekend rant which let's be honest was embarrassing on your behalf. 

You're lot better than this DS and many of us actually enjoy your work when you're not getting so caught up in the heat of the moment.

59 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Over the last 2 seasons we’ve been the no.1 defensive team, whilst it’s only rd 9 the rest of the competition in catching us. When we play the likes of Geelong and Carlton we can’t rely on just playing May & Lever or bring in Tomlinson / Turner for a cameo. Petty needs to return to the backline to bring stability back, as an example had that been the case against the Suns the game wouldn’t of been as close as it was (yes I’m aware we were smashed at clearances)

Why does moving Petty back necessarily make us a better defensive side?

Sure, he gives us more overhead ability but we seem to be giving up more goals when the ball hits the deck. If Petty goes back suddenly Lever gets matched up on a small that other sides can use to catch him out being too intercept happy, particularly as we often have Brayshaw doing the same thing. 

The balance of our backline (whilst a touch undersized) has looked best this year with Hibberd as the 3rd tall.

The scoring differential compared to the last 2 years might well be less about Petty back and much more about moving the ball faster and taking more risks. 

We were elite defensively for most of last year and the end result was a team that played too safe and was far too focused on stopping goals and not nearly focused enough on kicking them.

Petty, Fritch and Hunter…. all stay in

16 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Why does moving Petty back necessarily make us a better defensive side?

Petty's most distinct trait is his persistence after an initial contest. He's got great initiative and is back in most almost immediately. I'm not pretending he's a sprinter or twinkle-toes nimble, but in that chaos that forms close to goal he has a level of alertness that really helps close up the little spaces that crumbers use for their snaps.

Plus, his disciplined defending provides a little incremental release for May and Lever to play their natural games and use their elite judgement to zone effectively and give support to other contests.

Also, if we're talking about Fritsch, well, first, why? And, second, what? And third, huh?

21 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Also, if we're talking about Fritsch, well, first, why? And, second, what? And third, huh?

This Saturday…

STEVEN MAY’S 200th GAME!

While it’s not our home game, it’s at our home.

It would be AWESOME to have as many Dees fans as possible.

4:35 on a Saturday arvo… a convenient time.

COME AND GIVE MAYSIE THE LOVE HE DESERVES!

❤️💙

3 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Why does moving Petty back necessarily make us a better defensive side?

Sure, he gives us more overhead ability but we seem to be giving up more goals when the ball hits the deck. If Petty goes back suddenly Lever gets matched up on a small that other sides can use to catch him out being too intercept happy, particularly as we often have Brayshaw doing the same thing. 

The balance of our backline (whilst a touch undersized) has looked best this year with Hibberd as the 3rd tall.

The scoring differential compared to the last 2 years might well be less about Petty back and much more about moving the ball faster and taking more risks. 

We were elite defensively for most of last year and the end result was a team that played too safe and was far too focused on stopping goals and not nearly focused enough on kicking them.

In some ways we’ve had the luxury of experimenting with our line up but I think we’re a better side defensively with Petty down back. The synergy between our defenders makes us difficult to score against. Lever has developed his game to become a better one on one defender but when on, his intercept game is massive for us. We are still yet to play Geelong, both Cameron (33 goals) and Hawkins (23 goals) are in good form so far this season, we will most likely need to beat them in the finals if we are to win it. I think we will struggle to contain them with Petty fwd.

I agree with your comments regarding scoring differential. We were slow to come to the party of quick ball movement and lacked avenues to goal.   Moving Kosi into the midfield for stints on ball and Chandler up fwd not only mixes things up it makes us less predictable.

 

2 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

This Saturday…

STEVEN MAY’S 200th GAME!

While it’s not our home game, it’s at our home.

It would be AWESOME to have as many Dees fans as possible.

4:35 on a Saturday arvo… a convenient time.

COME AND GIVE MAYSIE THE LOVE HE DESERVES!

❤️💙

Give him a run up forward as a birthday treat

 

7 hours ago, drysdale demon said:

Petty isn't getting dropped

I doubt he will get dropped either, but on form he should be. He’s been below average in 2023 as both a forward and a defender. He’s probably the biggest disappointment from a playing perspective this season considering he was really pushing towards being an elite key defender last season. 

It's sort of fitting that May's 200th game is against the Mayblooms.

3 hours ago, Demonstone said:

Pulp Fritschion

Edited May 8, 20231 yr by John Demonic

2 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

This Saturday…

STEVEN MAY’S 200th GAME!

While it’s not our home game, it’s at our home.

It would be AWESOME to have as many Dees fans as possible.

4:35 on a Saturday arvo… a convenient time.

COME AND GIVE MAYSIE THE LOVE HE DESERVES!

❤️💙

It's a replacement home game so no reason not to turn up.

Edited May 8, 20231 yr by YearOfTheDees

3 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

Petty's most distinct trait is his persistence after an initial contest. He's got great initiative and is back in most almost immediately. I'm not pretending he's a sprinter or twinkle-toes nimble, but in that chaos that forms close to goal he has a level of alertness that really helps close up the little spaces that crumbers use for their snaps.

Plus, his disciplined defending provides a little incremental release for May and Lever to play their natural games and use their elite judgement to zone effectively and give support to other contests.

Also, if we're talking about Fritsch, well, first, why? And, second, what? And third, huh?

In addition to that he has a cool head, he is a pretty good kick and more often than not he makes the correct decision when he has the ball in hand.

14 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Give him a run up forward as a birthday treat

Wont be hard as the opposition try and drag him as far away from the goals as possible.

19 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

It's sort of fitting that May's 200th game is against the Mayblooms.

Mayblooms v Fuchsias !!

I would say our slight drop off is in part due to opposition teams having planned more for us, moving the ball more aggressively in general and we've dramatically improved offensively. i think a fully fit Hibberd and an inform Tmac will allow Petty to also drop back and stiffen the backline up nicely. Salem will also help a lot. 

We look like a dramatically better team when Kozzie is in the middle and our forward line looks downright scary with Petracca down there. you wish you could clone blokes but i do think these guys need to split that time a bit more evenly. give Kozzie more of a look at the midfield.