12 hours ago, picket fence said:

Sparrow the obvious tagger type!

100% correct

Why would anyone in their right mind use your best clearance player to try and shut down another team's clearance player when you have another option who does not get anywhere near as many clearances to do the job a la Viney or in this week's case, Spazz.

So we don't get data on first use but i'm betting Clazz would be right up there in this area alongside Vines and Max.

So you lose one of your go to extractors in Vines. Fine, if you play him as a tagger then you will lose a fair chunk of this side of his game anyway.

But why on hell's earth would you then go and allocate 1 of your remaining 2 'go to' extractors and the equal best clearance player (alongside Max) in the team to play in a shut down role when you have another option in Spazz?

The brains trust at the MFC is far from a brains trust at this point i'm afraid.

So we fail to bring in an obvious backman (Adams) to cover Petty off and allow Turner to remain forward. Presently our highest rated tall forward. Instead you send your best rated forward (this season) down back and have two massively out-of-form players and an un proven one as your three talls (one medium - tall) who between all three could not produce one bloody goal!

Turner could have also played a solid defensive role on both Weddle & Sicily. But no....lets go with a un-proven Jeffo AND a horribly out-of-form Fritta instead. Weddle had a field day while he was on Fritta and Sicily one of his best in weeks.

Massive win to the Hawks.

Then you pull the above with Clazz, killing off one of your best clearance players and reducing our spread / effective ball use capacity, while Sparrow runs around doing not much!

Another massive win for the Hawks.

What a mega fail all round.

Imagine the Bombres, the Filth, The Cats etc using their main clearance mid (eg Merrett, Nick or Danger) in a run with shut down role! You can't because they aren't that stupid!

Edited May 11May 11 by Demon Dynasty

10 hours ago, GS_1905 said:

I don’t think it would be actually well not the whole year.

IF he is not fit. I’d give 2-3 extra training blocks to improve his fitness for next year.

If he is FIT then we are in strife.

Why isnt he fit??? GO away get fit play football Cant believe the ongoing excuses trotted out for this guy

22 minutes into the 1st quarter until Clarry got his first touch....his only touch for the 1st!

Meanwhile Newcombe has 6 disposals.

What an absolute waste of our talent.

We won the clearances by 38-27, Newcombe had a quiet day and Oliver had 85% disposal efficiency. Isn’t that what really matters?

2 hours ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

Press conferences are a requirement of the AFL & media partners, the idea for coaches is to get through them without actually giving any info out.

I didn't know there was a veto on plain speech. But that's beside the point. Boasting about the number of taggers available to the team seems to me a depressing way of thinking. Especially afer a six goal loss...and when you've only managed a pitiful 7 goals yourself.

5 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

100% correct

Why would anyone in their right mind use your best clearance player to try and shut down another team's clearance player when you have another option who does not get anywhere near as many clearances to do the job a la Viney or in this week's case, Spazz.

So we don't get data on first use but i'm betting Clazz would be right up there in this area alongside Vines and Max.

So you lose one of your go to extractors in Vines. Fine, if you play him as a tagger then you will lose a fair chunk of this side of his game anyway.

But why on hell's earth would you then go and allocate 1 of your remaining 2 'go to' extractors and the equal best clearance player (alongside Max) in the team to play in a shut down role when you have another option in Spazz?

The brains trust at the MFC is far from a brains trust at this point i'm afraid.

So we fail to bring in an obvious backman (Adams) to cover Petty off and allow Turner to remain forward. Presently our highest rated tall forward. Instead you send your best rated forward (this season) down back and have two massively out-of-form players and an un proven one as your three talls (one medium - tall) who between all three could not produce one bloody goal!

Turner could have also played a solid defensive role on both Weddle & Sicily. But no....lets go with a un-proven Jeffo AND a horribly out-of-form Fritta instead. Weddle had a field day while he was on Fritta and Sicily one of his best in weeks.

Massive win to the Hawks.

Then you pull the above with Clazz, killing off one of your best clearance players and reducing our spread / effective ball use capacity, while Sparrow runs around doing not much!

Another massive win for the Hawks.

What a mega fail all round.

Imagine the Bombres, the Filth, The Cats etc using their main clearance mid (eg Merrett, Nick or Danger) in a run with shut down role! You can't because they aren't that stupid!

1 million percent agree with this!

Because you have to find another role for Oliver, the game has changed for teams. It is now a different game than in 2021, and if it is not played in a contested way, all Oliver does is chase his opponents' boots. Look at how the Hawks run for a lead at kick-ins. For example, in the first quarter, down the ground vision at a Dees' kick-in, Kossie could have peeled off to the right into open space, but the kick-in went to the left to a contest. When we transfer the ball, it's a stop-start motion; there's a lack of players who can kick low passes. The list goes on, and for God's sake, can someone adjust JVR's hand position when marking? He's not trying to catch a cricket ball.

33 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Because you have to find another role for Oliver, the game has changed for teams. It is now a different game than in 2021, and if it is not played in a contested way, all Oliver does is chase his opponents' boots. Look at how the Hawks run for a lead at kick-ins. For example, in the first quarter, down the ground vision at a Dees' kick-in, Kossie could have peeled off to the right into open space, but the kick-in went to the left to a contest. When we transfer the ball, it's a stop-start motion; there's a lack of players who can kick low passes. The list goes on, and for God's sake, can someone adjust JVR's hand position when marking? He's not trying to catch a cricket ball.

You either have or you don't. JVR is a NQR. Will never be a go to player at senior level.

19 hours ago, Pates said:

Beat me to it, we have tried Sparrow as a tagger and it's never worked. Clarry knows running patterns better than anybody and I think with him returning from his week off he wanted a role he could dive right into rather than "be the man".

Clarry isn’t fit enough, if you watched him at the game yesterday you would see he is constantly out of position because he is walking or slowly jogging allowing hawks to find an extra player when chaining the ball down the ground

20 hours ago, picket fence said:

Sparrow the obvious tagger type!

I've said it in so many posts previously I can't work out what Sparrows role is.

He is a deceivingly good over head mark, big bodied and a reasonable kick but doesn't get much of the footy. He is no ANB or now Sharp than run all day and block opposition attacks. He is not damaging and involved in score involvements.

He is an automatic selection every week but I often wonder why. He is obviously doing whatever he is instructed to do but what is it?

I lost faith in Clarry for the first time ever on the weekend for somebody I consider the top 3 demons I've seen in my lifetime and I'm old. Until...

It became apparent he played a tagging role in Viney's absence (wtf did we trade Harme's who plays that role much better than both of them)

I have faith in one of the greatest Demons I have ever seen. A tagging role doesn't suit him but according to Goody he requested it.

He is not unfit.

Somebody needs to just tell him 2 things that made him the best player in the league for years

• See ball get ball

• If it's going to be it's up to me

Oliver plays on instinct and competiveness we just need to ingrain that back into him

38 minutes ago, Wrecker45 said:

I've said it in so many posts previously I can't work out what Sparrows role is.

He is a deceivingly good over head mark, big bodied and a reasonable kick but doesn't get much of the footy. He is no ANB or now Sharp than run all day and block opposition attacks. He is not damaging and involved in score involvements.

He is an automatic selection every week but I often wonder why. He is obviously doing whatever he is instructed to do but what is it?

Nobody knows.... not even Spazz

25 minutes ago, Wrecker45 said:

I lost faith in Clarry for the first time ever on the weekend for somebody I consider the top 3 demons I've seen in my lifetime and I'm old. Until...

It became apparent he played a tagging role in Viney's absence (wtf did we trade Harme's who plays that role much better than both of them)

I have faith in one of the greatest Demons I have ever seen. A tagging role doesn't suit him but according to Goody he requested it.

He is not unfit.

Somebody needs to just tell him 2 things that made him the best player in the league for years

• See ball get ball

• If it's going to be it's up to me

Oliver plays on instinct and competiveness we just need to ingrain that back into him

And get him insanely fit from a running perspective. Clarry's at his best when driving out of stoppage and sharing the ball as well as offering the old one two follow ups in the chain.

Without that he is a handy inside to outside mid. With it he becomes a multiple B&F / Flag champion

10 hours ago, jackaub said:

Why isnt he fit??? GO away get fit play football Cant believe the ongoing excuses trotted out for this guy

Who knows what is up with him other than the public MH struggles.

On 10/05/2025 at 21:29, KozzyCan said:

If this is how we plan to use him then he simply must be traded. Its a monumental waste of cap space.

Probably a one off experiment IMO.

Wouldn’t expect him to tag very often.

Goodwin often criticised for being too inflexible - he flexed this week and is pilloried.

On 10/05/2025 at 20:39, picket fence said:

No, you are reducing one of our major extractors of the ball to a mere tagger! Nup not a snowflakes chance in hell. Shocking player utilisation IMV

Or, it's about playing your role for the team every week. And that role might change depending on the opposition or our own available personnel.

Had Viney been available, Clarry could have played a more attacking game.

I like the defensive mid role we've added to the mix the last few weeks though.

Many have been crying out for this sort of thing for years, and now we do it, the coaches are lambasted. Can't win.

Clarry doesn't look anywhere near fit enough, so playing him as a defensive mid keeps it simple, and hopefully reduces the opposition's ability to exploit his transition game.

I think it was @Lucifers Hero that argued strongly that we needed to send someone to Rowell in that Gold Coast game. Had we done that, that game may have looked a little different.

Identifying a mid that keeps team's in games and sending someone to them with the ability to shut them down, is paramount in the modern game.

Exhibit A, Lachie Neale. With no Viney next week either, get ready for another defensive role for Clarry.

If he gets the job done and our forwards can hit the side of a barn, it'll go a long way towards making it a close game.

Brisbane bat deep, but with little influence from Neale, you get out of the box results like the North draw.

Edited May 11May 11 by Adam The God

21 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Why would anyone in their right mind use your best clearance player to try and shut down another team's clearance player when you have another option who does not get anywhere near as many clearances to do the job a la Viney or in this week's case, Spazz.

I suspect this is as much about Clarry as it is about the tagging role.

He's been struggling on & off field.

Playing as a tagger takes away the pressures of being a prime mover, your job is simplified.

I'm happy for him to do this if it can help us get back the old Clarry.

Think the longer term game here.

44 minutes ago, rjay said:

I suspect this is as much about Clarry as it is about the tagging role.

He's been struggling on & off field.

Playing as a tagger takes away the pressures of being a prime mover, your job is simplified.

I'm happy for him to do this if it can help us get back the old Clarry.

Think the longer term game here.

The media don't see it that way and if anything, it adds further pressure and scrutiny on Oliver because his influence is limited due to negating the opposition best mid.

Having a tagger with that price tag over his head will bring that pressure on by the media which it already has.

Oliver tags Newcombe who's ineffective, Dee's smash Hawks at clearance, fans call for coach to be sacked. Right, got it.

On 11/05/2025 at 09:03, Billy said:

He’s still a hell of a lot better than tagging spuds like Newcombe

Not sure I'd be calling someone that's recently averaged 21 brownlow votes a year a spud.

On 10/05/2025 at 22:53, Sir Why You Little said:

He’s definitely not fit for 4 Quarters in the guts.

Yes i agree extra training blocks, but i doubt it will happen

It’s certainly a big problem

none of us are apparently. just look at our last quarters

51 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

Oliver tags Newcombe who's ineffective, Dee's smash Hawks at clearance, fans call for coach to be sacked. Right, got it.

But we LOST the game!

Just now, picket fence said:

But we LOST the game!

But MAYBE that’s not Oliver’s fault?

55 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

The media don't see it that way and if anything, it adds further pressure and scrutiny on Oliver because his influence is limited due to negating the opposition best mid.

Having a tagger with that price tag over his head will bring that pressure on by the media which it already has.

The media have the memory of a fish 'dazz', they react on what is in front of them at the time and don't think past it.

The club have to look at the longer game.

Lets see how this pans out over the season.

It just might be a master stroke.

Agree, but he still does his best work as offence not as a tagger, thats the role for his predecessor Jordy Mc Kensie, not 4 Time B&F AND all Australian midfielder!