In regards to team changes I think we need to look at the following:

- Bowey to come back in to improve foot skills out of the backline

- Salem & Kozzy to spend a bit more time through the middle to improve our kicking inside forward (why did we stop using Kozzy there?)

- Oliver hopefully back and chomping at the bit

- Gawn to play 70% forward/back and Grundy to ruck the majority of the game (Gawn is a much better mark around the ground and forward and Grundy is better in centre bounces with his mobility and ground work)

- I would say Petty forward and Tommo back but hard to drop Smith after last week.... though not sure why we dropped Tommo either so who f'ing knows

B:     Bowey         May         Lever

HB:   Salem         Petty        McVee

C:     Langdon     Oliver       Hunter

HF:   ANB            van Rooyen    Pickett

F:      Fritsch        Gawn         Chandler

R:      Grundy      Petracca       Viney

Int:    Rivers       Sparrow       Smith     Brayshaw

Sub:   Jordon

6 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

In regards to team changes I think we need to look at the following:

- Bowey to come back in to improve foot skills out of the backline

- Salem & Kozzy to spend a bit more time through the middle to improve our kicking inside forward (why did we stop using Kozzy there?)

- Oliver hopefully back and chomping at the bit

- Gawn to play 70% forward/back and Grundy to ruck the majority of the game (Gawn is a much better mark around the ground and forward and Grundy is better in centre bounces with his mobility and ground work)

- I would say Petty forward and Tommo back but hard to drop Smith after last week.... though not sure why we dropped Tommo either so who f'ing knows

B:     Bowey         May         Lever

HB:   Salem         Petty        McVee

C:     Langdon     Oliver       Hunter

HF:   ANB            van Rooyen    Pickett

F:      Fritsch        Gawn         Chandler

R:      Grundy      Petracca       Viney

Int:    Rivers       Sparrow       Smith     Brayshaw

Sub:   Jordon

If Smith drops off then I'd move Petty forward and play Tommo back.

But I like what he brings when the ball hits the deck, so happy to give him another 2 weeks to show this.

Although our ground level pressure is really good at the moment (the last two games we've laid 17-4 vs Pies and 19-8 vs Geelong for +24 tackles inside 50), we're not converting our snap or burst chances inside 50.

Therefore, I wonder if resting Chandler (some VFL and additional kms on the training track instead) and trying Bowser forward isn't such a bad move. He's quick, he's decent 1v1, he's clean and he's a beautiful kick, and played half forward as a junior. Just to try something a little different through this middle part of the season. The thing is, does he have the endurance?

1 hour ago, A F said:

Although our ground level pressure is really good at the moment (the last two games we've laid 17-4 vs Pies and 19-8 vs Geelong for +24 tackles inside 50), we're not converting our snap or burst chances inside 50.

Therefore, I wonder if resting Chandler (some VFL and additional kms on the training track instead) and trying Bowser forward isn't such a bad move. He's quick, he's decent 1v1, he's clean and he's a beautiful kick, and played half forward as a junior. Just to try something a little different through this middle part of the season. The thing is, does he have the endurance?

Do you need more endurance playing HF vs HB? I wouldn't have thought so. 

43 minutes ago, Sydee said:

Do you need more endurance playing HF vs HB? I wouldn't have thought so. 

Half forwards push all the way inside defensive 50, whereas half backs mostly have the ball in front of them and don't go higher than half back.

Would hope it's a possibility though as a positional swap.

4 hours ago, Redleg said:

How do hamstrings perform in snow or mud?

Rip of the Bone stuff!😱

2 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

In regards to team changes I think we need to look at the following:

- Bowey to come back in to improve foot skills out of the backline

- Salem & Kozzy to spend a bit more time through the middle to improve our kicking inside forward (why did we stop using Kozzy there?)

- Oliver hopefully back and chomping at the bit

- Gawn to play 70% forward/back and Grundy to ruck the majority of the game (Gawn is a much better mark around the ground and forward and Grundy is better in centre bounces with his mobility and ground work)

- I would say Petty forward and Tommo back but hard to drop Smith after last week.... though not sure why we dropped Tommo either so who f'ing knows

B:     Bowey         May         Lever

HB:   Salem         Petty        McVee

C:     Langdon     Oliver       Hunter

HF:   ANB            van Rooyen    Pickett

F:      Fritsch        Gawn         Chandler

R:      Grundy      Petracca       Viney

Int:    Rivers       Sparrow       Smith     Brayshaw

Sub:   Jordon

BBB SURELY MUST COME IN!!

Surely this game will be a dry one? surely

Having to sit in the rain on Thursday night, it's a bit of a furphy to suggest we struggled because it rained.

It didn't rain in the last quarter and that's when we lost it.

Sure, we didn't ice the game prior to 3/4 time, but I put that down more to fatigue and inability to execute. 

We need to do better. Simple as that.

Edited June 26, 20231 yr by A F

4 minutes ago, A F said:

Having to sit in the rain on Thursday night, it's a bit of a furphy to suggest we struggled because it rained.

It didn't rain in the last quarter and that's when we lost it.

Sure, we didn't ice the game prior to 3/4 time, but I put that down more to fatigue and inability to execute. 

We need to do better. Simple as that.

Agree. We played our best late in the first through to 3 quarter time, when it was raining.

59 minutes ago, A F said:

Half forwards push all the way inside defensive 50, whereas half backs mostly have the ball in front of them and don't go higher than half back.

Would hope it's a possibility though as a positional swap.

By deduction that would suggest half backs don't follow opposition half forwards when they push into D50

Sorry not trying to be a smart Alec just seems to me they would cover much the same ground and therefore have similar endurance. 

3 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

Agree. We played our best late in the first through to 3 quarter time, when it was raining.

And we kicked 7.2 to 3.1 in the wet 3rd quarter against Port.

I walked away from the game again thinking our game is vulnerable to wet weather (handball chaining in the wet for example), but that's a gameday anxiety thing (because handballs bring more pressure rather than mere territory) and probably not backed up by results.

We have looked vulnerable when the ball is on the ground in D50 in dry or wet conditions, and maybe the wet conditions make it even tougher to defend those situations? 

But I'd say it's less about the elements, and more about simply not executing properly. If we kick as straight as we did earlier in the season, we beat Port, Freo and probably Geelong, and we'd sit equal top. But again, that's fatigue and our inability to execute under these conditions.

I'd concur with the view that we overhandballed against Geelong, but I don't think that was a weather thing either.

I'm not of the belief that we should be dump kicking into their interceptors laps, which I got annoyed each time we did it during the game. I was much happier with the alternative, and I suspect the coaches would be too, of chaining out instead. We simply made the wrong choices when we handballed too much though.

The other thing I'd say is that we've only been playing this newer style of chaining out of stoppage and trying to move the ball quickly on slingshot for 14 or so weeks. For the most part we've been excellent at it, but the last 4 weeks has seen a significant drop off in our ability to slice teams up on the counter.

Compare this with Collingwood who have been playing this style since the start of 2022, and it took them until the middle of the year for it to start to click last year. Now it's instinctive for them. We need to get to that level and then we can match their strength (without taking as many risks as them) and suppress their scores with our superior defensive set up. 

9 minutes ago, Sydee said:

By deduction that would suggest half backs don't follow opposition half forwards when they push into D50

Sorry not trying to be a smart Alec just seems to me they would cover much the same ground and therefore have similar endurance. 

No, that's correct. There's usually a hand off. And we often sit our half back across A50 as an interceptor and allow them the +1 at stoppage inside our A50.

57 minutes ago, picket fence said:

BBB SURELY MUST COME IN!!

I'm really not sold on him coming into our side, given he is a liability when the ball hits the deck.

We always have a 200cm bloke down there already so not sure we need two.

No Oliver and Hibberd for this weekend.

Confirmed by the club.

 

Oliver has gone from "He is well ahead of schedule and ready to return" to "Oops actually no he has a blister" to "His hamstring is still cooked."

This has the makings of "He's having surgery and will miss the rest of the season" all over it.

38 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

I'm really not sold on him coming into our side, given he is a liability when the ball hits the deck.

We always have a 200cm bloke down there already so not sure we need two.

But unfortunately Gawn and Grundy give us very little from a goal kicking perspective.

Grundy 9 and Gawn 7.  Brown has 9 goals from 10 less games than Grundy

If Brown's body is right, bring him in

16 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

 

For gods sake. Trust our most important player to miss 2 months with a low grade hamstring 😭
 

Edit: and no Hibbo to take on Green. Very good 🙄

Edited June 26, 20231 yr by Jaded No More

So much for sunny and 25 degrees in Alice on Sunday.

Sunday 2 July

Summary

http://www.bom.gov.au/images/symbols/large/showers.png

Min 1

Max 12

Morning shower or two.

Possible rainfall: 0 to 2 mm

Chance of any rain: 60% http://www.bom.gov.au/images/ui/weather/rain_60.gif

Cloudy. Medium chance of showers during the morning. Light winds becoming south to southeasterly 15 to 25 km/h during the morning.

5 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

You're assuming, of course, that the extra home game would be played at the MCG. It could be scheduled at Marvel. 

Still in Melbourne and my post stands.

29 minutes ago, Dane said:

So much for sunny and 25 degrees in Alice on Sunday.

Sunday 2 July

Summary

http://www.bom.gov.au/images/symbols/large/showers.png

Min 1

Max 12

Morning shower or two.

Possible rainfall: 0 to 2 mm

Chance of any rain: 60% http://www.bom.gov.au/images/ui/weather/rain_60.gif

Cloudy. Medium chance of showers during the morning. Light winds becoming south to southeasterly 15 to 25 km/h during the morning.

Crossed fingers and toes.

Simply shouldn't be there.

Oliver out for the dreaded 4-6 it would seem

1 hour ago, praha said:

Oliver has gone from "He is well ahead of schedule and ready to return" to "Oops actually no he has a blister" to "His hamstring is still cooked."

This has the makings of "He's having surgery and will miss the rest of the season" all over it.

hopefully not that bad   but a couple weeks off is likely

51 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Still in Melbourne and my post stands.

How many people do you seriously think would turn up to this game if it was at Marvel?

If we knew it would be at the G I’d be more inclined to move it. Hopefully we don’t need the revenue as much these days but with the soft cap crunch, any extra revenue to get any leg up on our opponents is worth consideration, and we’ve won, what, our last 3 at Alice Springs?