The sum of all of our fears is here.

 

O Great

And we have such wonderful back up

You could tell at the game that he wasn’t right during the 3Q - he couldn’t follow up any contest and couldn’t run generally.

Gary Pert: Hello, is that the Sydney Swans Football Club?

Receptionist: Yes, it is. Who's calling?

Gary Pert: It's the Melbourne Football Club calling. We were just kidding about clearing Brodie Grundy to you. Please make sure he's on tonight's flight back home. We'll pick him up at Tullamarine.

"Click" 

As soon as I read that Max was substituted out of yesterday's game "as a precaution" I knew there was trouble brewing. I just hope it's not 4 to 6.

We haven't had a reason to play Fullarton yet but this is it. He had a full game in the ruck a few weeks ago and played well, then missed VFL this weekend being the carryover emergency. It's time.

He cannot replace Max but it might just give us a different look. 

Tom Fullerton, Come on down!

As big of a loss Max would be, it might make us a bit less predictable. 

Edited July 8, 20241 yr by Demon Jack

I think we all knew this would happen at some point this season…surely the club had a plan when our 32 year old skipper who plays 90% ruck isn’t available for a couple of weeks?

Didnt we get smashed last year because of their two talls? I recall it was gather round and they pumped us when we were Ok and they were bad.

Oh and they have added Goldstein since then.

 

 

4 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Didnt we get smashed last year because of their two talls? I recall it was gather round and they pumped us when we were Ok and they were bad.

Oh and they have added Goldstein since then.

 

 

Yeah, Phillips and Draper gave Grundy the run around big time that day. They were running into 50 and marking at will. They kicked 5 between them. We had no Lever that day either.

Edited July 8, 20241 yr by Dee Zephyr

You can effectively nullify in stoppage in the way you setup. What you cannot do is let their tall run unaccounted for in Defence (intercepting) or forward (contesting marking). I think with Max out they'll only plan for 1 ruckman and have the 2nd spot to increase rotations elsewhere. 

We should name Gawn as starting with Fullarton as emergency and do the old warm-up fitness test so that they are stuck with an extra tall in their rotations. 

Let the mind games begin.

10 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Didnt we get smashed last year because of their two talls? I recall it was gather round and they pumped us when we were Ok and they were bad.

Oh and they have added Goldstein since then.

 

 

Yeah, Phillips and Draper kicked 5 between them and dominated Grundy.

Be interesting to see if they bring back Goldstein to further dominate our rucks at the expense of a runner. Or whether they leave Goldstein out because Draper will dominate on his own and keep that extra runner.

And will we bring Fullarton in or have a committee of ruckman in JVR, Petty and Turner.

One thing we should not do is make our best forward play 70% or more in the ruck.

Why its almost impossible to replace Max I would not be surprised if both Fullarton and Jefferson (if Petty is N/A) both play this week. 

Lucky we have a dominant midfield that is so experienced at sharking the ball from the opposition ruck.

BTW Fullarton is no ruck and round the ground he's no star.

Time to officially panic

5 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Yeah, Phillips and Draper kicked 5 between them and dominated Grundy.

Be interesting to see if they bring back Goldstein to further dominate our rucks at the expense of a runner. Or whether they leave Goldstein out because Draper will dominate on his own and keep that extra runner.

And will we bring Fullarton in or have a committee of ruckman in JVR, Petty and Turner.

One thing we should not do is make our best forward play 70% or more in the ruck.

Gawn was out as well from memory...

Concerning.

Cameron Pederson available? 😁

pity Chalie Spargo is unavailable

Realistically, Max has been banged up for a while and has been miles off his best. He was particularly bad in Brisbane.

It mightn't be the worst thing for him to have a week off and let his body recover for a big last 6 weeks.

Fullarton will either confirm that he isn't any good or hopefully just nullify Draper. Would also not put it past Simon to bring in Tomlinson and not play a genuine ruck, with Disco/Tomlinson/JVR playing through the ruck.

It's all about the pressure we bring elsewhere, Max will be missed around the ground, but most weeks we have been beaten in clearances, so ruckwork is not the most important part

I know it's early in the week but the forecast is for some showers on Saturday night, which might lessen the blow just a tad. 

52 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Gawn was out as well from memory...

Concerning.

We were deadset hopeless that day. As bad as we were against Freo this year.

1 hour ago, Demon Jack said:

Tom Fullerton, Come on down!

As big of a loss Max would be, it might make us a bit less predictable. 

with Max out, who knows where Maysie might kick it.