Lil_red_fire_engine

Well we are certainly fit. Trac up a few levels and Lever back to the player we traded for.TMac and Brown complement each other well. It will be interesting to see what we do with the second ruck role. Kossie should play round 1 purely for the worry he puts into the opposition at throw ins and stoppages. Our kicking out of D50 not great and our defensive transition between was lazy at times but could not ask for much more in a first up hit out.

Jones much cleaner that quarter until injured. Better connection and run but we still appear lazy transitioning defensively between the arcs.

No true ruck is making a massive difference. Jones, Hibberd, ANB are still liabilities. The kids need to push them out of the side. Trac and Lever delivering to expectations of the preseason and some bright spots from Kossie and Lockhart in that quarter.

Leadership is all about connecting with a variety of people with different triggers to motivate them for their individual and collective best. Some people would be motivated by Viney’s bull at a gate and I suspect blunt ”do it like me” attitude. Most would be motivated by the attitude of Gawn on track, his inspiration on field and his every man persona. Whilst it should not matter, the value of “brand Max” to officially head us in media and sponsorship is a no brainer from a commercial view.

Whilst everyone likes a positive result I will be calling it a win if there are no injuries however other key themes I am looking for. Signs of return to form/fitness of the 2018 clan. Bright spots from our second and first years that show they will push claim. A more balanced game style that is strong at the contest but more so improved on the outside and defensively.

I would not be so certain over Collingwood, Geelong or Brisbane.

Double figure wins has Goodwin retain his job. Pass mark is finals. Expectation is finals +1, winning it all is not out of the realms of possibility. Where we land will be based on a combo of fitness, continuity of play with our best 16, level of pressure from our depth players in 17-27 range, an improved game style that defends the faster sides.

Frosts’ role is there for the taking is it not? If we want Lever to play the intercept then its Omac or Smith for the second tall defender. Smith offers more defensive flexibility I suggest.

MFC photos 21 and 22 from yesterdays training show Kossie training in the yellow vest.

I too attended yesterday, The only benefit of the lack of some of the senior boys being at Melksham’s wedding weekend was that it made it easier to focus on some of the lesser lights. As far as standouts, Jetta has his step and bounce back and is far from spent. Smith and Lever both looked great until they had to kick to a target (heart in mouth stuff). Dunkley did not appear about (unsure if I missed or anything in it) but of those pressing Sparrow was just fast and clean in everything he did and has a nice mix of inside and outside carry. ANB has the pressure forward spot sewn up unless we play two (not unlikely) and Petty would be my first choice to partner TMac (not that Weid or Brown were bad). Other than the above Salem and Viney were in everything and Fritsch and Petracca did things on a different level than the rest on show.

Reports of Martin on $900k in year one versus Bennell on a base rookie wage. Even if we had the salary space and he was open to coming I would not take him for that or anything close to it.

Pre-season its we choose him, he chooses us he can train in preparation and if both parties agree we pick him up directly. Mid season draft we would need to hope any team lower than us with a selection did you choose him. Unclear whether he would be allowed to train with us if we dont take him in March.

This was never going to a straight line to playing. You could keep him training and have a punt at him mid year if he gets going but then anyone else would get a shot at him first. It’s a base payment spend with our last spot on list for a player who pre injuries was on track to be a top 10 player in the league. If it is minor and would still see potential for him playing back half of the year then as long as his application and attitude has been top notch I would take the punt on him over an untried kid with a low likelihood of success and definitely unlikely to get any shot in 2020.

Same one I had the last two years who keeps denying it with injury. Joel Smith. Outside of my standard above, Dunkley to play most of the year.

All the writer had to do was check whose training where to take Harmes out of the equation.

A fit list throughout the year that can show where we truly sit in our development.

Early if we play a crumbing pressure type Bedford. Possibly Pickett by end of year.

Very similar to Rob for me. Top 4 a success with finals (rather than top 6 ) a pass. Anything less would want to come with significant impacts to our list. I am surprised that so many are concerned about us kicking a winning score. I think the big concern is at the other end. People do forget we were the highest scoring team in 2018 and a lot of that came without Hogan. Even last year we got the ball in there plenty but rarely had TMac, Fritsch or Melksham at the end of it or we kicked ourselves out of it. This year we should have all three plus at least one of an improved Weid or Petty. Our backline will be held together by two injury prone talls in May and Lever and two players of ageing quality in Jetta and Hibberd. Our ability to defend will be heavily weighted on 20+ games each out of the first two and a significant improvement in our midfields defensive attributes. Hopefully this comes with a strong preseason.

I too spent a nice morning perched on the Goschs fence trying to follow a lot of players and a lot of coaches in a lot of activity across the ground. Based on prior reports I was disappointed in the sessions intensity until I found out that they did the 3km time trial prior. Not much to add without repetition. I will say the three players who stood well above my expectations based on output and execution were Bedford, Dunkley and Weid. Special mention to Vanders who was in everything and moving at a fair tick, if he stays fit he will break some bodies in 2020.

In my opinion Richo inherited a bog ordinary list and culture and then was handed some ordinary draft and list management decisions throughout his tenure. I suspect he is a lot better coach than his record suggests.

From 90’s onwards as memory not the best prior I would take Johnstone, Yze, Davey from a general field kick view. Davey’s skill by foot was heavily undersold.

Lets face it they are all click bait puff pieces to keep us engaged over the break. I just look for the little bits that spark my thought. In this case it was “ They’ve embraced the changes we are going to make to the way we play.” I have not been down to training yet but plan to on Friday and will have this in mind when watching. For those that have though does anything stand out as significantly different in the likely style of play or structure? This feels like more than just a slight adjustment to the 2018 model.

Even in the worst year some one has to finish in the top 5 spots of a B&F, I would suggest the votes they polled in the B&F is a better indication as to their season performance. Oliver polled 464 votes in 2019 compared to 595 in 2018. Harmes similarly 319 (2019) and 468 (2018). Even allowing for additional votes for finals this is a significant reduction in the impact of their season according to those coaches who vote. Time to let it go and concede that as reported everywhere and as shown by our performances our players were significantly impacted by reduced preseasons.

Started his career that way but he has mainly played the defensive side wing for the recent 2.5 seasons up until the second half of 2019 when he played all over the shop.

KK is unproven as a winger. Played his best footy for Suns at half back.