Deespicable

How about the universe where we need a potential key forward more than anything else. Having watched his highlights, we will take Caddy at No.6 because we can't risk him being taken at 7, 8, 9 or 10. The only reason we won't is that he may yet go to North at pick 3 - his agility makes him impossible to overlook.

Unlike other posters, I actually think Billings would be a good get, provided his manager is realistic with his asking pric e and St Kilda don't want anything more than a future third rounder or this year's pick 42. Being a left-footer he holds some value and he is back-up wingman should Hunter get injured or is forced to take a few weeks away. He also could be given a chance in our rejigged midfield - something he has always craved and never been given an opportunity to play at St Kilda. And with Oliver potentially out, we may need another clever body in there. Billings has great endurance and is hardly slow and we all know he's clever. The question is whether his body can cope with the buffeting that come with AFL. As I said, if we could get him on a two-year deal at around $400K a season, at worst he's a very handy depth replacement for Jordon and Harmes and at best, he's still got the smarts to be a topliner. One last thing on him, I think his character is fine - he ain't a [censored] and he will help redress the balance of good, healthy and smart guys on our list.

Did I just dream this or was this in the rumour file? Dees given up on trying to snare No.1 pick and Harley Reid. Now all into luring Nick Larkey from Kangas. With cap space created by Grundy/Harmes/Brown, will sign him on mega four-year deal worth $4M. North to receive picks 5 and 13 plus Paul Spargo. Dees to solve forward issues for next few years with van Rooyen and Petty further up field and Larkey and Fritter near goals.

I think we will look back on this year as the one flag we should have won - a bit like 1990 when there was no clear standout and we were arguably a better side than the Pies and got knocked out after having to wait an extra week because the Pies drew with the Eagles - back then the draw meant a replay. But there were certainly some major positives. 1) Rivers, who had an ordinary finals series, stepped up to become a genuinely good player who now needs a spot in the midfield. My season highlight was his two accurate inboard passes in our freakish come from behind win over the Lions. 2) Sparrow showed he is now physically capable of matching it with anyone and is a wonderful tagger in the Harmes 2018 mould. 3) Smith showed he can play at AFL level ... and can play pretty much anywhere. With McAdam coming in, he is the obvious replacement for Rivers down back because of his versatility. 4) JVR got plenty of experience, as did young McVee. And for those trying to blame him for that final goal, remember this - Tom Stewart was badly beaten by Dustin Martin in a crucial late play on the wing in 2017 QF. The Tigers went on to win that game and the flag, but Stewart has ended up a pretty damn good player. 5) Our trade value as a club has gone up. Jayden Hunt was fourth in the B&F at Eagles, Toby Bedford could end up playing in a GF, Oskar Baker got games at the Bulldogs (unlike at Melbourne) and Sam Weideman showed in his three VFL games at Essendon as a backman that he could be a regular after all. Not to mention his five-goal AFL game against the Cats. 6) And after picking the smallest forward side in the history of AFL finals, we showed that such a strange selection could still end up producing scoring shots and was one way to force players to look at the short option. So our loss to the Blues may end up shaping our game style for 2024 and could also force Goody to drop his attack up the wings mentality. Sadly we say goodbye to Hibberd and it sounds like Grundy, Harmes, JJ and Tommo will join them. And in my opinion, the rise of Moniz-Wakefield and McAdam's signing means that at least one or possibly two of our small forwards has to go to get gametime - and yes I know they are all contracted. But so is Grundy.

6 May - Had Curnow's measure on all but one play. It was almost like watching him blitz Buddy last year. This time he almost got us over the line. 5 Kozzie - A couple of moments of madness but just a spark all night. 4 Hunter - From the word go realised his role was to negate Acres and just was so smart. Voss had to switch Acres wing late. 3 Viney - Always working his butt off, although not quite as damaging as previous weeks. 2 Petracca - A couple of errant shots at goal, but gave our forward line some real spunk and won a few clearances in the second half when moved back into the middle after halftime to try and curb Carlton's centre square dominance. 1 Salem - Hard to believe after his insipid form of late, but Sallo was back to being clever with his chip kicks and went back to providing us with run out of defence.

Simon Goodwin has always made a clear distinction between the roles of big and smalls. Bigs fly for marks and are responsible for bringing the ball to ground. Smalls are there to crumb and tackle and link and never fly for marks (yes, Kossie does break the rules) unless they are the only option. Even down back the distinction is clear - May, Lever and Tomlinson (when playing) are to deny opponents in the air, while Bowey, Salem, McVee are to protect the ground and provide the smarts when coming out of the backline. Rivers, being a swingman height, is allowed to fly on occasions. In 2021 when everything fell into place. the Dees played three bigs down back (May, Lever and Petty) and went with three bigs up forward (Brown, T-Mac and Jackson). In 2021, Fritsch was the dangerous swingman and Sparrow’s tackling ability pipped Melky for the last spot in the 22, and it was balanced with three small forwards - ANB, Spargo and Kossie. Since 2021, Goody has altered his preferred forward model, partly because both Ben Brown and T-Mac have often been injured and are now the wrong side of 30. The result was that last year we often toyed with four genuine smalls. For example in our Rd 11 first loss of 2022 to Fremantle, Goody decided to try Toby Bedford with our three premiership smalls. His desire to reward Bedford, one of the fittest blokes at the club, with game time meant that Toby often played as the medical sub and occasionally played from the outset. But this year Goody took his 'small world’ to another level. Kade Chandler, after four years of VFL learnings, was finally given a go and there’s no doubt that he’s a clever finisher and hard worker. Bailey Lawrie, another who had done his time in VFL, was given a go and he definitely has AFL level smarts. Injuries to Petty, our most clever small tall Melksham, and suspension to our most mobile tall JVR has caused him to rejig even more. The result? Tonight Melbourne is fielding the smallest finals side possibly since pre-war days. But what about the Tigers of 2017 I hear you say when Riewoldt played as a lone hand and Grigg had to ruck when Nankervis had a rest. The difference is that most of the Tigers small forwards had a degree of height. Rioli is 179cm, Castagna 181cm, Lambert 178cm, Butler 182cm, Martin 187cm, Townsend 187cm, Caddy 186cm with Edwards 182cm sometimes up forward. Compare that to: Chandler 175cm, Pickett 171cm, Spargo 172cm, ANB 182cm, Petracca 187cm, Fritsch 188cm and Smith 191cm with Lawrie 179cm still a chance to be sub. Or what about the Pies of 2010. Blair 174cm, Davis 177cm, Didak 184cm, Beams 187cm backed by bigs Dawes, Cloke and Brown - hardly small by our standards. Let’s go back further - Carlton's mosquito fleet of 1981 is generally regarded as the smallest of the modern era and yet was still slightly taller than our combination and that is 42 years ago? They had Marcou 178cm, Sheldon 178cm and Wayne Johnston 180cm but they also had David McKay (191cm), Maclure (188cm), McConville (185cm) and Bosustow (185cm). Rover Buckley 175cm had the occasional rest forward as well. What we are seeing by Goodwin is revolutionary by any standards. All our smalls are hard workers who don’t mind tackling even though their size makes it harder to stick them and individually they are all players who any side would want on their list, yet the question that every Demon fan should be asking is whether this is the right balance. Some will try and argue that what option does Goodwin have given who’s out. But that view is tempered by the fact that a two-time All- Australian is sitting watching in the stands and is wanted by a host of clubs with Sydney apparently winning the battle. And it leads to two bigger questions: If Melbourne wins tonight, is Goodwin tactically more savvy with the game trends than any other coach, placing a higher priority on ground-level wins than aerial strength? Or if Melbourne loses tonight, is Goody in danger of becoming the new Bevo - the coach with the best list, yet the worst return. Genius or insane? What’s your view?

A couple of amendments to my earlier team, which was based on Harmes playing and he's now out. There are two big changes required this week. The first is to drop the red mist - a term Garry Lyon dubbed on our dump long kicks three years ago before we turned it all around in 2021 and used the short low pass to pry open defences. Moore et al had a field day with the long bombs on Thursday night and Weitering, who loves to sag back, will be salivating at the prospect of such an assault. Unfortunately our best lateral thinker - Brayshaw - will be out and our best lead-up player Melky is out. Our best two clever chip kicks from 2021 weren't around either on Thursday - Spargo (overlooked) and the Christian Salem we used to know. So the first thing to do is for Goody to have a long confidence-building chat with Salem and ask him to take the game on and take risks like the old Sallo did. And the other thing is to bring Spargo in and that means Chandler has to go - we can't have four vertically challenged guys in our forward line - it's the wrong balance. A chat with our biggest distributor Olly about looking inboard or for the lead-up option wouldn't hurt either. The second change is to the forward make-up. Three players kicked 14 goals against Richmond six weeks ago, but none of them will be playing on Friday, so it's a tricky reconfigure. But here's my fifty cents worth. We are all hoping that Grundy plays like a forward for once, but why are we doing that when we know it won't work because he's not quick enough to lead-up and he's not a great leaping aerialist. But he is a genuinely good ruckman - we saw that first hand when Gawny was injured. So, it's time to go back and playing him there and putting the pressure on the skipper to take a hit for the team. Gawn has to play a forward for almost the entire game. For once Goody has to make Grundy the main man and Gawn the key man. We all know Gawny will mark it if not held down, so Carlton will have to deploy Gov and Weitering close to him to stop him. The second change to our forward mix has already been alluded to by Goody who made it clear that Angus going down, forced him to play Trac in the middle. It didn't actually because Rivers was an option but we chose to go small with the sub, when we knew the Pies were much taller than us. The advantage with Trac is that he demands the ball and means that players will be more willing to try the chip kick when he's around up there. Ultimately the rest of the magnets don't matter so much as once you have your best two players down there, along with your two other livewire goalkickers - Pickett and Fritsch - you have a combo that will kick a winning total. But for arguments sake - Jordon has to play and in the guts. And Rivers has to be given a run in there early as well. Sparrow plays hard on Walsh, Rivers tags Cripps and follows him when he goes forward. A decision on whether to play Turner in our back mix is needed as well, although that depends on whether Durdin comes in for McKay. Carlton has bunch of quick tackling forwards who aren't much chop but because they all work their butts off, they are dangerous - Cunningham, Fogarty, Motlop, Owies and Cottrell. May takes Curnow, Hibberd takes Motlop and McVee takes the quickest who I think is Owies and if Durdin plays then Lever has a good match-up. With McKay out, TDK will play more as a forward so either Turner or Smith are required top counter his height a bit. And the choice of the sub has to be debated long and hard at the selection table. There are a few choices - we can make Chandler the sub and hope that we don't lose a big to injury early. Or if we drop T-Mac as I suspect we will, then both he or Schache may be required as sub, because that means we gone mega small and having another small on the bench is as stupid as it was the other night. The thing with T-Mac is that he's still smart, he's just way too slow. But coming on late his lack of pace is negated a bit because everyone is tired. Out: Brayshaw, van Rooyen, T-Mac, Chandler. In: Jordon, Grundy, Turner, Spargo B: McVee May Hibberd HB: Bowey Turner Lever C: Langdon Rivers Hunter HF: Smith Gawn Spargo F: Pickett Petracca Fritsch Ru: Grundy Oliver Viney Int: Sparrow (mid), Jordon (mid), ANB (fwd), Salem (def) Sub: Chandler or T-Mac/Schache - decision based on whether Carlton goes big or small - Durdin or Hollands for McKay.

The whole week will now be spent talking about our dysfunctional forward line and it's up to the boss to figure out how to reconfigure. and with van Rooyen a monte to be out, we have to do so. But to me, Grundy has to play - yes we all know he's not a forward but he allows us to use Gawny up there for a little bit and he is a big body to try and spoil. With Brown unfit, he's just got to play. He's also a tackler and we will need that with Brayshaw out. The other change is that we have to go back to playing Trac up there for more minutes - yes I know he is a clearance beast, but we have cover in that department with Sparrow and Viney and Rivers if we want, but we don't have an option now - we need someone to kick goals and Trac and Fritter and Kozzy are our three most likely. To me our seven forwards are: Fritsch, Kozzy, Trac, Grundy, ANB and then a decision on whether we play Spargo or go radical with the pace of Moniz-Wakefield instead of Chandler. And as much as people will hate it - Harmes has to play as well - unfortunately at finals time you need a mix of grunt and Chandler is classy, but just not physical enough for night games. Harmes is. The sub can be T-Mac - yes he's too slow, but at least with the pace off the game, he may be able to make an impact after half time and he at least can also play defence if we get an injury. I also left out Smith, but we just have to add him to our defence - we need his pace to help counter the over the back play that Papley (if Swans win) or Motlop (if Blues win) that the Pies exploited and the good thing is we can still send him forward if things aren't working - just as he should have been sent back in the first term against the Pies. You are allowed to swap players mid-game Goody! And by sending Rivers into the midfield rotation, we make room for Smith who can play on bigs or smalls. The only other player in doubt is Salem - he really has just not been able to get back to his 2021 form, but it's now probably too late to make the hard call on him. Out: Brayshaw, Van Rooyen (susp), Chandler, T-Mac, Lawrie (sub) In: Jordon, Grundy, Spargo, Harmes Sub: T-Mac B: McVee May Smith HB: Bowey Lever Hibberd C: Langon Sparrow Hunter HF: ANB Grundy Harmes F: Kozzie Fritsch Petracca Ru: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Spargo (fwd), Rivers (mid), Jordon (mid) Salem (def) Sub: T-Mac

6 Gawn - Beaten in the first few plays by Cox but once Brayshaw went down just lifted and showed just amazing leadership. 5 Sparrow - with Trac and Viney quiet in the first half, Sparrow was just so hard at it and showed what a bull he is. This game showed that he is now an elite midfielder. He's not as clean as others, but he's just so tough. 4 May - just a general down back and held firm all night with one or two exceptions. 3 Petracca - quiet first half but lifted and was just amazing in the final term - albeit with a couple of generous frees. 2 McVee - Just so smooth and our only defender with the pace to go on Hill after his early onslaught. Such was the quality of his work, it makes you wonder how come Salem is getting a game. 1 Oliver - prolific so he gets a vote, but there was a lot of 2017 Olly back in his game. he didn't seemed to sense when to go forward and when not to and I am still trying to remember when he hit a forward on the lead. As for his shot on goal it just lacked confidence from the outset with a couple of stutter steps. He just has to go to bed and realise that when he's positive he's the best player in the game and he's allowed to make mistakes if he's trying to make the matchwinning pass.

Flynn would be a perfect replacement for Grundy if he was willing and didn't require too much coin. But he might want to go to a club where he's more likely to play the No.1 ruck role as he's not really shown that he can be a danger when resting forward - aka Grundy.

Jetstar or Virgin?

Love the concept and yes it's hard for most Demonlander youngsters to pass comments on some of the club greats and I only feel comfortable going back to 1972 as my series nearly two years ago outlined - The snub of Brett Lovett is extraordinary, although I suspect he will be listed among the midfielders. He shouldn't be because he made a name for himself as a defender and had been at the club for four years before he was switched into more midfield roles, usually as a classy negater. Angus Brayshaw by contrast began as a mid, played as a wingman in our flag-winning season, and has only now had two years as a defender, albeit with more than a handful of games back in the middle recently and a handful last year as well. The snub of Danny Hughes is also a bit farcicial - he was fullback in our second most successful era since 1964. He was tough, a thumping kick - a real meat and potatoes player that as has been mentioned, spanked Brian Taylor at Collingwood several times. But a few have forgotten that he was a tad slow, you may recall that John Northey was so worried about him playing on Jason Dunstall in the 1988 grand final that he reconfigured our entire line-up - sending wingman Stephen Stretch to play on him initially. But Danny is still right up there in our best 10 defenders of all-time I reckon - although I think now Steven May has played enough games for us to say that he qualifies as our greatest ever full back. Another amazing snub is Don Williams, who my father always told me was the best defender he'd seen and the real key in our Norm Smith era with his pace, marking and kicking. Maybe whoever came up with this list is so old and grumpy that they still didn't like the fact that he headed to Perth in 1960. Tony Sullivan would be a bit miffed too I reckon - he was dour, but ever reliable as were Barry Bourke and Frank Davis, not to mention Laurie Fowler who had treechunk legs but was tough as they come and won best-and-fairests in an era when Robbie was overlooked most times because he was injured for part of the season. Alan Johnson spent his first five injury-riddled season as a wingman, but once he moved to back pocket he changed the prototype because of his dash and skill so I am comfortable with that classification and he is a walk-up start for our back six. By contrast Graeme Yeats really only became a star in 1987 when he was moved to the wing. Jake Lever might go past Gary Hardeman in the next two years, but so far his superb 2021 has only been interspersed with the occasional amazing intercept marking games. Gary was a wonky kick, but he was a fast, marking back in the 70s, just behind Peter Knights in the overall scheme of best CHB in the league in his era. So Hardeman still gets the nod, but I am happy to review this in two years time. No-one here would have seen Don Cordner play, but all reports from back then have him playing primarily in the ruck and his quality clearly was supreme - he won a Brownlow Medal after all. But as with our centenary team, it's hard to get him a spot as a ruckman because that's possible our strongest position - Gawn, Stynes, White, Strawb to name but a few. So clearly the panellists who chose these names wanted to get him in somewhere, as they did in the Centenary team. The record of Noel McMahon (captain in flag years of 55 and 56) and Tassie Johnson also are impressive and both are worth of consideration on that fact alone. But for me, I'd be happy with the following back six: B: Johnson, May, Wight HB: B.Lovett, Hardeman, Williams But I reckon Tassie and Noel McMahon probably deserve gigs more based on records and as a result I'd leave out Wight and make Brett Lovett one of my interchange choices.

He was exceptional in the clearances and blessed with an amazing leap - better than Brandon Starc. We were going to take him with our No.1 pick all year in 2008, but when Jack Watts took an exceptional mark and kicked the winning goal in the U18 Aust Champs, we switched plans. And it was because we did that we ended up with big Maxy the following year. Sliding doors moment!

Ultimately it's nice for Blues given Kozzie and co cost them a finals spot last year, not to mention a few years ago when Jordy killed off their chances by taking out Cripps. So it was a bit of karma, but clearly that goal umpire should not ever be allowed to adjudicate a Blues game again - his dad probably wore No.25 on his back as a kid. In our reviews, hopefully we take note of their Port-style feral attack on the ball that Voss has instilled - from word go they were hold, pushing, scragging - and even though we were way classier, we didn't win enough clean ball because of it and a night game after quite a bit of rain is greasy and tricky. The reason why is that most likely our first three weeks of finals will be night games and unless we get lucky with a mild dry night, it's going to be similar scragging conditions. Overall our lack of size - we are smallest in league aside from maybe Richmond - hurt us. Listen to commentary and you will hear it Chandler unable to stick tackle - he's a classy player and deserves his spot in dry nights because he's a finisher but he's just not suited to that sort of encounter. Similarly Bowey's size in air down back can be exposed, and it's made more obvious because we already have Salem and McVee back there to cover smaller forwards. So basically we have to be better balanced with stronger, taller bodies - their used to be a concerns that sides were top heavy - we are a side that is 'small heavy' and there are consequences and we saw it against the Blues and if we are unlucky and have to play Port in Adelaide on a greasy night in the first week of finals, it will be a similar scenario. Please note, Chandler's skill level means he is perfect as a sub for the finals because he only needs two or three touches to have an impact. And with Smith now in and showing his value in that he can play on ruckman (TDK) as well as smalls, it may mean that Bowey has to be used elsewhere or not at all.

Just watched the replay. 6 Rivers - Good in air in greasy conditions and provided great disposal and dash and tight on opponents. Most improved player by miles. 5 Petracca - the classiest player on ground and hardest for Blues to contain scored the winning goal (which wasn't). Worked hard on defence as well. 4 Lachie Hunter - clever positioning all night. Not dangerous but always presenting and made a hue goalsquare marking contest save early. 3 Angus Brayshaw - like Trac seemed to realise Carlton's intensity was more than ours and stepped up and put his body on the line time and time again. But played on influential Cripps for a lot of night so loses points. 2 Steven May - really strong and provided offensive support with his lovely left foot. Held Coleman winner to two goals and about five kicks. 1 Jack Viney - gave it his all, but not as clean as the past three weeks, so just the one.

Great to see the two best teams at the minute going head-to-head. Since McKay's been out, Blues have gone shorter and on Sunday just had Curnow and resting ruck - TDK or Pittonet resting as they use a version of Pagan's Paddock for Charlie. May will take Charlie, but trick is deciding if Lever, Hibberd (or Smith) can cope with the ruckman. But it would be a ballsy call to bring back Tomlinson. Can't see it as Blues have so many smallish runners up there. The good thing is that with Smith back as the sub, we have options of bringing him on - even to Curnow - if we have to. Bowey (injury) is the only defender in doubt with Hibberd back in 22 and Smith the sub. Grundy has to play for Petty as we looked lost when going down line in last quarter minus Petty and it's too much to expect JVR and Melky to cope - Weitering, Kemp and Marchbank would have a field day. Then it's a case of who is out for Oliver. Sparrow, Jordon and Harmes all made howlers at times but also kept persisting against a Roos side that was majorly committed, but I suspect Harmes is the most likely to go of that three. But if Bowey's out, then it would be easier just to send Angus back to cover.

As with several others, this is the week to rest players as other tops sides have done when playing against West Coast or North. The game against Hawthorn (Rd 22) is too close to our finals bye, so this is our chance to rest old or sore legs - yes we finally have an ageing list - certainly we are not passed our window, but we do have 3-4 30yos or close to that number. To me the two who need a break more than anyone are Viney and May. Viney keeps having a pinched shoulder in collisions and a week of hard running should get him cherry ripe for finals. May has carried our defence and he's now well past 30 - he needs a breather before finals. Gawn can be rested, but surely it's better to just rest his workload during the game by bringing back Grundy to work in tandem with him for a week. We will need two rucks this week as North plays Goldy and Xerri. Woey unfortunately slips out as well, but the good thing is that he now has four games at AFL under his belt for him to work on for next year. Hibberd just has to play after his effort last week in VFL. So for me it's Out: Viney, May and Woewodin. In: Grundy, Sparrow and Hibberd. Tomlinson also should be out after last week, but with May rested, he has to remain in side this week.

The Petty as a forward experiment is back on - apparently he is a way quicker learner than Grundy in the patterns forwards need to run. Even though he's been injured much of the year, he continues to be rushed back in like he's the messiah - last time it was to show Cameron up down at Geelong, this time it is to show Vlastuin or Grimes or Balta how clever we are with our match-ups. As someone who spent most of last year wanting to see Petty tried as a forward, I saw enough in his early games this season to confirm to me that he actually is a defender - he does not have the peripheral vision, nor the quickness in transition to make it up forward. I am happy to have egg on my face on this one. But please everyone, watch and see what clever plays he makes when he marks or gathers the ball outside the 50m arc and decide for yourself whether he is suited to such link-up work. Unfortunately he is a defender. Love to have seen him get back into form via Casey.

The good thing is that Richmond is a small side like us, so we don't have to alter our small structure. Still I'd be a little disappointed if Hibberd didn't come back in for his traditional Dusty match-up and given Chandler's impressive game on return, then the most likely omission is Woey with Rivers getting a little more time on the ball. As to Petty coming back in, I hope if he passes a fitness test, he gets to find 2021 form against Williamstown. Smith should still be the sub with Grundy recalled for BBB.

We already have the smallest starting 22 in the comp and it was patently obvious against the Crows, who without Laird, Rachele and McHenry and only had Murray under 6 foot. That's why the efforts of Lever and May and Tomlinson to get the ball to ground was impressive because we were undersized everywhere except in the ruck. Watson may very well be a livewire and have a great career, but it better not be at Melbourne or Lamb is hellbent on destroying our list.

Adelaide will be dangerous given they must pick off one of their next three - us, Power or Lions at Gabba - to stay in the race. Assuming they go with their three-pronged attack of Walker, Fogarty and Thilthorpe, then we need a tall defender - so welcome back Tommo. As an aside, selectors decided for the Cats game that Petty's past form on Cameron was more important than Tomlinson's previous win on Hawkins two years earlier before his knee injury - that ultimately forced Tommo out. But Petty's form and injuries mean that this time he not only needs a couple of weeks off to rest his ribs/shoulders, he also needs to find form and confidence in the reserves before coming back just before the finals. Smith is another good option for Fogarty, but I reckon he's more important as the sub because he can now play either end. It's been great to see Jordon get a good run the past two games and he deserves to stay until Olly returns and even then he might stay if we can restructure by sending Sparrow or Bowey forward and Angus back. Ben Brown was handy early last week but looked sore as he ran around in final term. If he's injured, then we can't rush Grundy back in without some form up forward for Casey, but we do have Schache. JVR is a kid, so we have to play him again and again and then send him back for a week or two in VFL. He's our future. It would be a big call to bring in Moniz-Wakefield on the back of that win, but agree we need to trial him in weeks ahead as he now seems to be playing high-level at VFL. But I can't see it happening this week at the expense of Spargo. As for Chandler fans, just be grateful he got a three-year contract and 14 consecutive games. Woey deserves another go to see if he can bed down a spot and end our days for four small forwards in our line up. Trac has already shown the value of having big-bodied small forwards crumbing and flying for marks as opposed to the classy but ineffectual smalls. So for me, it's OUT: Petty (inj) and possibly Brown (inj). IN: Tomlinson and possibly Schache.

As someone who advocated throwing Petty forward for much of last season and early this season, I get why you think Petty would work as a forward. But I ask you to go back to the games this year that he played up front and hit the video replay. While he is more mobile than BBB and T-Mac, he unfortunately doesn't have the quick-thinking ability to be the forward link player. It is an experiment that needed to be tried, and after months (years) waiting for it, it was. But there's only one place for the Harrison to play - and that's down back, where he can stick to the simple aerial things that he's good at and distribute sideways to safer disposal players or down the line.

Thought Melky and BBB both did well, but that doesn't mean JVR shouldn't play. Our premiership side had three talls (Jackson, T-Mac and BBB) plus Fritter. Playing JVR as a mobile CHF with BBB and Trac nearer the goalsquare will stretch most sides in the air and may even give us confidence to attack a little more down the spine. And the advantage that Trac has over our three (and for much of the year four) mega smalls is that he can rove packs and also be dangerous in the air. So it would be nice if Goody gave it a go and made Spargo the sub to bring in JVR. But he won't. He's too conservative when we win. Lions have a tall forward line, so if Petty is out injured, then Tomlinson should get the nod.

Loved the new feel about our side. 6 May - phenomenal game, inadvertently involved in two of their injuries. 5 Trac - when's the last time someone other than Fritta kicked four goals. Adjusted to new role well. May cost him the Brownlow but our forward line looked so much more dangerous and way better balanced. 4 JJ - Great to see him finally plonked in the guts and the number of times he weaved his way out of trouble was impressive. His dominance as a matchwinner at VFL level gave him the confidence to be way more than the handbrake (Clint Bizkit's definition) he has been in his wing and high half-forward previously. Amazing what can happen when you try something different, hey Goody. 3 - Viney - usual courage and run. Our little Everready. 2 - Salem - Great run dow tackle at ket moment. Just wondered why Lever was allowed to take his free kick. 1 - Angus - Enjoyed more minutes in middle as well and seems to like variety, although he's best-suited for us as a reliable defender.

I think all of us are hoping that the indoor stadium means we are cleaner in our ball movement and able to spot up targets when going forward. But against that we have lost our best leading forward in Fritter and that in itself should force a restructure of sorts from the match committee. The issue as I see it is that we don't have any explosive leading players, apart from Kossie, and as we tend to go into forward 50s via the wings on most occasions, so it's easier for defences to pick us off and push our forwards under the ball, hence why Stewart and then Haynes have had field days the past two weeks. The other issue is that we tend to use only one player as a cut back option through the middle before launching forward and that player is Nibbler. He played that role perfectly in 2021 and early in 2022, but after being hammered by Maynard in the QB game last year, he has since struggled for consistency in the role. Nibbler is still the hardest-running player in the side, it's just that he's been unable to make the key plays when we go inboard to him. Part of that is because he lacks penetration with his kicking and other sides are often smothering his short, low offerings. And as we've seen in recent weeks, his confidence in making the crucial play has been a tad low, he's even fumbled the odd handball etc. Axing Nibbler is tricky because he is still our hardest worker, but ultimately Goody has to have the courage to replace him in his role as the mid-forward conduit. We can't keep serving up the same squad. And he has to decide who is our best option to play that crucial role. To me there are only two players on our list who can do that presently - Petracca and Bowey. The choice of Trac would be similar to the Pies choice of De Goey in the role but it would rob us of some of our clearance dominance. The choice of Bowey would enable us all to gauge how quick and clever he is (and he certainly is swift with the hands) and also he is a thumping kick so capable of scoring goals as well. Nibbler's goalscoring has dried up almost completely this year. The downside of Bowey is that he is smaller in the air, so passes inboard to him have to be on the money, but there's absolutely no doubt he has the courage and fitness for the role. The only other player on our list who has the physique, skill and pace to do this role is Oliver Sestan, but he is still a long way off based on his VFL efforts to date. If we go Trac, it frees up a midfield spot for Jordan, who is absolutely dominating at VFL level, but failing to measure up at AFL level where he jumps from half-forward to occasional midfield bursts. But if we are to fix our forward structure, then we have to give him a sustained run as the main man in the middle with Viney and Sparrow with Rivers/Angus/Trac and Harmes all going through in bursts. Two other quick suggestions: 1) How about we actually start Grundy on the ground - he's a physical player and games are almost always at their most physical in the first 10 minutes. Why we start him on the bench and not as a forward waiting to replace Max on the ball is beyond belief, given that all of us rate him highly and in our best 10 players. 2) The four incredibly small forwards option worked well early this season when it was dry and games were fast, but more recently we have gone back to three smalls and that still hasn't worked. Nibbler and Chandler have combined for two goals in our past six games. Maybe we have to look at just two small, small forwards as other sides do - Kozzie plus one other - Bowey is my preference (sight unseen). It's also time we went back to the three big forward structure that won us the flag in 2022. Yes it makes us less mobile but hopefully with better ball movement we can isolate the right tall with the wrong match up. Finally one other thing, and it's just an observation, not fact. but we may need more of a "taking a hit for the team' attitude. There's a reason why Harmes and Nibbler and Ed and Salem and others all played so well in our flag year and that's because they were role players first. Maybe a few have starting thinking there's an 'i' in team.