Good win.

The good :

Max Gawn is GOAT, no question, gets his 7th AA jacket to eclipse Cox, continues to get more Brownlow votes and coaches votes than any other ruck in the modern era and hopefully, if we improve a lot is in the running for 2x Premiership captain.

TMac exceptional game. 

Langdon in a different role works and rotating Windsor, Hunter, Sparrow and Woey on a Wing looked better. Viney and Trac rotating forward was also great and the midfield mix is diversifying, which will help in the long term. 
 

Our defense was also far better at stopping them getting out the back than last week although this is still a work in progress. 
 

The bad:

Our goal kicking in the first half. This should’ve been over at quarter time or at least ten minutes into the second, instead we kicked 9 behinds in a half and left them in the game. 
 

A few players are down Caleb Windsor looked tired for the first time this year, to be expected and there’s no way we should drop him, but he’s been so amazing it’s a shame to find out he’s human. 
 

McAdam just couldn’t hold his marks doesn’t look fit. He was absolutely cooked in the last quarter, hopefully it’s an adjustment and find AFL tempo and confidence again, there’s no way I’m dropping him, I think he’s clearly in our best forwardline but he still looks a little underdone. 

Junk time goals to them lowering our percentage. 

Many would have Petty as a negative also but I think he’s playing a selfless defensive role to get our other forwards free and this week it worked. If we can kick to your Petts the few times he actually gets the chance to get off his man he’ll be fine. I hope he towels up Pearce next week. 
 

Go Dees, enjoyable win! I wish we’d brought it against WC but beat Freo next week and we’re on track.
 

8 hours ago, greenwaves said:

He struggles against the better forwards.  

He will be taking the 3rd tall which for most clubs isn’t a great player 

9 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

First half was as boring as I’ve seen in a while, second half when we played on from the marks was really good to watch.

We kicked 4-7 in the first. Our best qtr of football for the year. What exactly about this was boring. Maybe football isn’t for you 

5 hours ago, DEE fence said:

Not sure if your as old as me but Madden had way more space that Gawn had. Watch 4:15 through to 6:00. While Madden had to deal with much rougher play, Gawn got huge defensive pressure with blocks and holds, no coach is ignorant of what Max can do. While Gawn/Grundy didn't have the immediate result we wanted, I seem to remember Gawn kicking 5 in a prelim.

 

 

Madden was a top class ruckman, but will add the ruck rules were a lot different then so bit hard to compare,  Max has lost his leap in ruck contest and prefers to grapple which annoys me to no end should be banned.

Remember Grundy was bought in to let Max rest in the forward line but that never worked out as his impact dropped.

 

 

2 hours ago, Oxdee said:

We kicked 4-7 in the first. Our best qtr of football for the year. What exactly about this was boring. Maybe football isn’t for you 

Against a side that was woeful for most of the game, we won the 4 points a percentage boost and that was what was needed.

Thank you someone in the Dees coaching box for identifying how to stop the Saints run.  The Saints love the ball in Brad Hill’s hands but he was under pressure and his effectiveness was reduced.  

I've chewed through so many hats this season re. TMac. I've playfully ribbed him for most of his career, mixed in with moments of celebration and genuinely harsher criticism.

I would have never predicted his current guise as a reborn footballer though. Thought he was shot. More than a decade into his career and he's learned to play within his limitations, but also to pull the trigger at the right time.

Hats off to Tomald: I will eat them all. 

But there is a dilemma brewing. Tomlinson also looked good, and had the third spot nailed down prior to his knee injury in our premiership year, replaced by Petty, who slotted in perfectly.

What happens when Lever comes back? 

 

13 hours ago, Billy said:

People need to really lighten up a bit & enjoy a40 point win.

We’re not head & shoulders above anyone in the competition, we’re in 4th position & will be fighting it out when the whips are cracking with about 12 other teams

Well now, with 3 more goals in the first quarter , no junk time goals from rabble in the last,a gimme win last week and they'd have a lock on  2nd in a season where there are "about 12 other teams" vying for the eight and where % will be at a premium as the season rounds up.

To say nothing of the two next weeks  depending on  the Pies injury toll and Jackson  playing like it's the 4th quarter 2021.

They just beat St Kilda ,that's all.

TMac ,Tomlinson ,Salem and a few passes that hit a leading JVR on the chest are the only real  high spot takeaways imo

Maybe Viney kicking one from nearly 50 shows that improvement is possible

A few of them should take notice.

 

Edited May 26, 2024May 26 by IRW

8 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

I watched him from the Punt rd end. 
 

Calling what he does inside the F50 as a lead is lip service. The guy runs 5ms and gives up. 
 

He should be leaving up at the kicker trying to create space behind him instead of contesting it up, he has 0 craft.

I watched him closely all day and agree 100% , in a lot of cases at half forward he didn't even do that , just stuck one arm in the air half heartedly. No wonder he was ignored. Never once demanded the ball on a strong lead. Jogging around like he is injured with a bung arm and leg.

7 hours ago, deejammin' said:

Good win.

The good :

Max Gawn is GOAT, no question, gets his 7th AA jacket to eclipse Cox, continues to get more Brownlow votes and coaches votes than any other ruck in the modern era and hopefully, if we improve a lot is in the running for 2x Premiership captain.

TMac exceptional game. 

Langdon in a different role works and rotating Windsor, Hunter, Sparrow and Woey on a Wing looked better. Viney and Trac rotating forward was also great and the midfield mix is diversifying, which will help in the long term. 
 

Our defense was also far better at stopping them getting out the back than last week although this is still a work in progress. 
 

The bad:

Our goal kicking in the first half. This should’ve been over at quarter time or at least ten minutes into the second, instead we kicked 9 behinds in a half and left them in the game. 
 

A few players are down Caleb Windsor looked tired for the first time this year, to be expected and there’s no way we should drop him, but he’s been so amazing it’s a shame to find out he’s human. 
 

McAdam just couldn’t hold his marks doesn’t look fit. He was absolutely cooked in the last quarter, hopefully it’s an adjustment and find AFL tempo and confidence again, there’s no way I’m dropping him, I think he’s clearly in our best forwardline but he still looks a little underdone. 

Junk time goals to them lowering our percentage. 

Many would have Petty as a negative also but I think he’s playing a selfless defensive role to get our other forwards free and this week it worked. If we can kick to your Petts the few times he actually gets the chance to get off his man he’ll be fine. I hope he towels up Pearce next week. 
 

Go Dees, enjoyable win! I wish we’d brought it against WC but beat Freo next week and we’re on track.
 

You’ve mentioned the goalkicking as a negative. Whilst we had a couple of bad misses (Sparrow in the third the worst), this wasn’t IMO an issue of bad goalkicking, but rather us taking low percentage shots - too many from 40m+ out and/or wide on the boundary. 

We actually outscored our xScore.

9 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

I watched him from the Punt rd end. 
 

Calling what he does inside the F50 as a lead is lip service. The guy runs 5ms and gives up. 
 

He should be leaving up at the kicker trying to create space behind him instead of contesting it up, he has 0 craft.

Something weird is happening in that post quote because I didn't say that. Could be an interweb glitch. 

And further to that I'm more along the lines of your thinking. I'm getting tired of hearing that Petty's leads are being unrewarded, welcome to the life of being a key forward, sometimes you make 7 or 8 leads a game that don't amount to anything.

It might have washed for one game but we've been hearing this about his game for weeks now. The guy is hardly a decoy forward, he was running hot late last year and for people to constantly call out out our midfield for ignoring his leads isn't right. 

9 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

I watched him from the Punt rd end. 
 

Calling what he does inside the F50 as a lead is lip service. The guy runs 5ms and gives up. 
 

He should be leaving up at the kicker trying to create space behind him instead of contesting it up, he has 0 craft.

Petty out, Magician Jeffo in??

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Thank you someone in the Dees coaching box for identifying how to stop the Saints run.  The Saints love the ball in Brad Hill’s hands but he was under pressure and his effectiveness was reduced.  

Great call, hardly ever had a straight line to run with ball in hand. Always had pressure on him or blocked his running lanes.

Our defensive setup was so much better than last week. 

13 hours ago, Pennant St Dee said:

Are you kidding didn’t you see them on the game day thread, when Saints flooded the back half and just nullified the game in the second quarter. They went quiet for most of the second half but were back posting late with us giving up late goals when the game was done.  Ffs you just can’t help some of these posters

Pennant for your own health please don’t read the game day thread, you’re too valuable a poster to lose. 

 

9 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

All good RBMB. Knew it was completely out of character and was worried we’d lost you to the dark side. 😁 Glad that wasn’t the case.

 

Haha thanks WCW.

Nah still on the light side and it seems to have been rewarded by the universe, just bumped into Maxy at a cafe. Geez I’m short. He was kind enough to say hi and not mention the height. 

The best thing about the St Kilda game was the connection between Max and the midfield. When we get this right, we play the game in our forward half and the only thing that stops us winning is goal kicking.

I thought we pressed a touch higher up the ground yesterday. This worked well but they got out the back of our zone more often than we would have liked.

McVee is incredibly dynamic and needs to be fed the ball more.

Hunter is an asset on the left wing. He holds his position well and we get much better spread because he can move the ball more quickly around the left boundary.

Great to see Viney back in top form.

Kossie was excellent.

That was a very good 160% win on a nice day. We kicked 100pts which has only happened one other time against them this year and we held them to well below their average score. They've got zero injuries. I'm really not sure what people expect.

9 hours ago, binman said:

He's starting to mount an argument as the best ruck in the modern era.

Def the best ruck at Melbourne, and that's no disrespect to White, Jimmy and Baker.

And Graham Wise

I'm surprised no-one has highlighted TMac's precision kicking. It's been sensational this year. Low, fast and creative.

1 hour ago, layzie said:

Something weird is happening in that post quote because I didn't say that. Could be an interweb glitch. 

And further to that I'm more along the lines of your thinking. I'm getting tired of hearing that Petty's leads are being unrewarded, welcome to the life of being a key forward, sometimes you make 7 or 8 leads a game that don't amount to anything.

It might have washed for one game but we've been hearing this about his game for weeks now. The guy is hardly a decoy forward, he was running hot late last year and for people to constantly call out out our midfield for ignoring his leads isn't right. 

I couldn’t agree more. If he gets a run and jump at it he can take a mark. But he has no idea how to play as a fwd. 

Great to see the mids back in form even if it was against the Saints.  Kozzie awesome too.

Shout out to Hunter, he looked great and just made us look so much more solid I thought, he adds great experience and he looks like he means business.  I'm all for keeping him in at the moment thought he shored us up nicely.

McAdam hopefully better with more time, same with Petty I'm sure he does plenty and is great but hope his foot isn't a bad injury, I'm sure we need him even if not as obvious to some.

Loved Tomlinson, hope we can keep him in somehow even with Lever, he looked bloody awesome, love to see him have a good game and get the interview after the game too.  Tmac just fantastic too, in great form, loving seeing him play well and his kicking has been great (someone else pointed out too).  This team looked much better!

Max is amazing, we are very lucky.

Having JVR and Langdon back made us soooooo much better too.

We need to absolutely demoralize the Eagles when we play them next!

Edited May 26, 2024May 26 by Young Angus

10 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

Careful, you’re stating to sound like Chris Scott in his post match prelim presser in 2021

Except I'm not the coach in the presser. ;)

Goody is classy. 

No doubt the Wegels were great last week, their tails up at home and we were terrible.

But COVID would at least partly explain our worse loss since the middle of 2020.

15 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Credit to Lachie Hunter. Thought he was pretty good today.

He's excellent at getting to the outside like Lingers is, to provide that extra overlap option.

I actually think Billings has been pretty good for the most part, but his goal kicking has really let him down.

Hunter and Billings also play slightly differently. Hunter is a natural winger and wily. Billings is more a half forward / forward pocket, so they probably have slightly different assets, which change the complexion of our forward half game depending who is in.

Hunter is also a more aggressive tackler, which enables him to slot into our team more seamlessly than Billings.

At his best, I think Billings could be a much greater scoring threat than Hunter. He just hasn't shown it at Melbourne yet.

It's good. It means we have depth here. And given how we're utilising our wingers and half forwards, we need some depth in this position.

2 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

Except I'm not the coach in the presser. ;)

Goody is classy. 

No doubt the Wegels were great last week, their tails up at home and we were terrible.

But COVID would at least partly explain our worse loss since the middle of 2020.

It would at the least explain a few things!

What are you thoughts on ANB & Salems games this week? ANB looks to be evening up our centre bounces and Salem’s physicality and hands around the ball beefed up our midfield IMO. (I still think Salem should have come back through the VFL)