Red and Blue realist

Thanks GOTO appreciate it!

G'day all, just a quick question, I've changed my membership to being digital (not sure if they send out the cards anymore anyway??) but through the app when I try and access the Mobile Membership area it allows me to see last years fixture (not that's any good), but not that actual membership card. I'm only asking because I'm heading along to the Sporting Globe tonight and as members we get a discount, but they have the scan the membership card. Anyone know how to do that with these digital memberships?

Not sure why people keep saying that Weid and BBB shouldn't be in the same team together, they played the 3 games at Casey before Brown came up, and the team trained the majority of the pre-season (outside of the last few weeks) for them to be in the team together. I'd be putting TMac into the Fritta role (keep moving, chase and try to get that mismatch - although he'd doing it much more on height) and still have BBB and Weid take their biggest backs. Petty then in for Tomo, with all the smalls continuing to do what they do, just got to make sure that Weid, BBB & TMac don't crowd the forward 50, so let them roam and then move back when they have the right match up to exploit. I know Sydney might have Rampe coming back, but otherwise they've only got the 2 tall backs - McCartin and Melican, neither are very experienced. This is the game to try out this set up, and then make the decision on what happens when Fritta is right (I'd be moving Melk out).

Sparrow for Baker - Brayshaw back to the wing, he might not be as quick but his decision making into 50 is so much better than Bakers. I'd actually run with TMac back this week against the Swans, I think long term Petty should come in, but we need to bring Weid in and this offers us the flexibility to do that. Melksham wasn't great, but I don't see him being dropped after that game, plus if Rampe is back he should be an option to disrupt him. If not I'd be happy to see Chandler get a run. So in: Sparrow & Weid Out: Baker & Tomo (with Jones back to med sub)

He's probably just trying to keep a lid on it, if he was seen jumping for joy then the critics would be on top of him saying we've got ahead of ourselves thinking it's easy. To me it just looks like he's taking a much more measured approach to everything at the moment, even his answers in press conferences seem a lot more thoughtful this year. People forget the Harwick, Clarkson, Thompson etc. were the same, until they win a premiership, then they start to joke around or have huge opinions (which are taken as gospel by the media!)

I think Raak is available to any club in the mid season draft, if he elects to go into it, otherwise he remains tied to the doggies academy for the next national draft if he waits. Then he'll fall under the same NGA rules as all other players (top 20 bid and he goes anywhere, outside they can match). Freeman is interesting, he's also doing some player management, so I'd assume he'd be pretty close with some in club land already. he might not want to have another crack at AFL level though, it'd be tough with the injuries he's had. I think we're a chance to maybe bring in one or 2 overage NAB League players, rather than a mature ager, see how they perform in the back half of the season and then we'd get first dibs if they are any good.

Great news, the other beauty of the 5 year deal (without knowing all the $ involved) is the assumption that he might have taken a little less for a longer contract, which then helps retain Oliver, Trac etc. I know Lever extended his contract earlier this year with a similar thing in mind, shows a great mindset from the guys that they want to not only play here, but have their mates stick around as well because we can then afford them!

Because he applied for last years draft and didn't get taken, I think he could nominate for the mid season draft and would then be eligible for any club. If he waits then I think he can still be linked with the Dogs in the national draft at the end of the year. I suspect a lot of clubs will be using the mid season draft to get kids who've developed a bit more this year, those normal late bloomers who couldn't play last year, so there might be a bit of a drain on talent in the national draft. Might also be less mature age, ready made players brought in than the previous msd.

The Adelaide game won't be, the 4:40pm time slot never is.

It was interesting to see what the Hawks did early last week, whenever they got the ball in the defensive 50, they seemed to just bang it long out. However, unlike other teams who look to have a set game plan, or try to do this with precision, they just went to wherever Max wasn't, and tried to then either force it forward through a chaos ball approach or force a stoppage. This seemed to put our guys off a little, because the ball was never kicked far enough to bring Lever/Tomo into the equation, but also just over those defending around 60-75 meters out, so our guys either had to run onto the ball, or run back to get it, rather than getting the chance to intercept mark. Of course the longer the game went the less effective this was going to be, and that we adjusted to stand back/forward a little, but I saw it being interesting.

I see on the website the pics of the guys in the weights room, Fritta still has a lot of strapping and tapping on his hand, I know he's still got a few days, but I wouldn't risk him unless they are 100% sure he's right. No point having someone out there trying to protect an injury, especially one who has to run back with the flight and has marking as a big weapon.

He wasn't used much as a back up ruck, only once in his career has he had more than 10 hitouts, while the last game LJ had 22 (along with 17 touches and 5 inside 50s - both things than BBB has rarely done at all in his career). LJ gives Max much more than just backup, he gives him the freedom to move forward or back when required. BBB as backup ruck does nothing more than give Max a short rest. BBB is of course the better forward, but any ruck work he does should be confined to the fwd 50, so Max can sit 60-75 meters out and go the intercept mark.

Yeah, I agree, but it shows the willingness of both TMac (he has 10 Fwd50 tackles) and LJ (5 - which would put him at the top of the list at the Tigers) to stay in the game. Something I hope both Weid and BBB are shown when they come in. Don't let the great work the small pressure guys are doing go to waste, letting the opposition get the easy kick out through their big defenders dropping back, make them always earn it. That then hopefully either locks it in or creates a contested ball/turnover situation so the ball comes straight back in even if it does get out. I've put it in the changes thread, for inside 50 tackles we've got Tmax & Kozzie (both with 10), Spargo (8), ANB & Jordon (7), Viney (6) and LJ & Fritta (5), while Richmond who've been the standout pressure team over the last 4 years only have 5 guys who have 5 inside 50 tackles, but that's it. M Brown also laid 3 on the weekend, so the talls have been willing to help out.

On this point LH, he might be 4th at the club, but he's equal 12th across the whole league, it's amazing that one club can have so many guys at the top end of fwd 50 tackles (Jordon also has the same amount as ANB, and Viney is only 1 less). He had a shocker of a first quarter against the Hawks but was good after that, however, the whole team didn't play well in the first quarter, and I think this due to the way Hawthorn played. As soon as they got the ball in the defensive 50, they bombed it as long as they could out of there, and away from Maxy, which is unlike the way other teams have been trying to play (more precise). This seemed to disrupt our usual pressure game, at least for a while, but was clearly unsustainable all game. Once the game returned to normal, so did ANB and the other small pressure forwards.

Thanks Skuit, overlooked that. I love that we've ran out games so well, the Burgess method he put in place last year has clearly continued on. We were hurt much worse than other teams last year with the shorten quarters IMO. I'm wondering if we have a much larger percentage of goals against us close to goal, say within 15 meters, compared to the competition. Just thinking that our defense is doing so well that teams might be bombing long and hoping for the chaos ball to get over the line, so the goal/behind percentage might even out over time. Anyone know where those stats can be found?

We've actually kicked 65 goals and 72 behinds for the season, only Freo and North have worse conversion than us. Against us we've had 47 goals and 31 points kicked, so teams are very accurate, GWS kicked 11.2! Only Collingwood have a higher goals/points against ratio. If we had the average goal/point ration for and against, our percentage would be sitting up at 177% (we'd still be sitting 2nd!) We also have yet to lose a last quarter, and the only other team to also do this we play this weekend coming.

I'm not sure about this, I can see TMac moving up to a high half forward/offensive wing position, while LJ is critial in Max playing so well, it's about finding LJ a role when he's not rucking, but resting in the forward line isn't the worst thing. Weid and BBB are the only true stay at home forwards, and we're at all time going to have 1 on the bench, so only 3 will be on the ground at any time. On the point about our smalls being a big part of why we've started so well, TMac is the equal leader of inside 50 tackles (with Kossie) for the whole league (Spargo, ANB, Jordon and Viney are all high up in that stat as well), to highlight that point, so as long as Weid and BBB come in with TMac's mindset to tackle and chase, the balance shouldn't be thrown out too much.

Jonesy plays his 300th, Dusty his 250th and Brayshaw and Rioli both will play their 100th, don't know if there's ever been a game with more than 750 games in combined milestones before? All happening on Anzac Eve, which could be the biggest crowd for years. Huge occasion for the club and all involved, very fitting for Jones!

What a dilemma to have! I can't remember ever having a selection headache like this in the past, we've truly got a squad of 31/32 now, and I hope we get games into everyone before the end of the season to keep them all fresh and engaged. For this week I'd be only changing May for Petty (as long as there's no further chance of damage) and Weid for M Brown. If Fritta proves he's not just fit but can handle taking marks in all sorts of situations/pressure/contact, then I'd think about giving Jordon a rest this week.

Not sure you're correct on your assessment of Brayshaw's game, but I'd play both of them (TMac and Gus) on the opposite wing to Langdon. Obviously only one can start their but the other either starts in the Fwd50 (TMac) or back50 (Gus) and they run up and down, hopefully passing the ball to each other. Gus has played well as a defensive wing, while I can see TMac continuing to do the hard yards and providing an outlet kick as well, he's taken a few good grabs around 75m out from the defensive goal. So i don't think the answer is one or the other, the answer hopefully is both!

I think Petty for May is the easy change, but I could also see us resting Jetta to get Lockhart in the team. Jetta has been playing well but will need a rest during the year, along with Jones. So it might be better for him to rest now and be right for the tigers small forwards, plus I think we'll be need to be getting games into most of our best 28-30 players during the season so there's no fade out later on

Petty only played a half because he was the emergency in case any of our talks got a late injury yesterday. From all reports he's been in great form in the practice games and I see him as being much more like for like with May than what Daw is. He's much more aggressive and will hold his position down neck more than Daw will, Daw's best back games for North came when he played more of the Lever role.

Every chance he's an emergency tomorrow, he has been in the other rounds. They would want them still to be getting some game time

This is a massive overreaction, the last practice game the coach reported Melk was clear best on ground, and they also had an inter club last weekend, so the coaches will have seen him in action. I'm all for no changes, but also understand the need for a squad to take us deep this year, so expect to see lost of players get games this year.

I think we'll go in unchanged, but could certainly understand if they bring in Melksham, for 2 reasons. The first is that Geelong have been troubled all year and that's without facing teams that have the manic small forward pressure we have - ANB, Kossie, Sparrow, Spargo and Jones - so there would be a thought around needing as many smalls in this game, which leads into the second. Potentially we might like to go slightly taller - Melksham - to see how the forward line will operate when BBB and Weid come in (I know he's not huge, but plays more like a tall than a small). I think we'll pay all of BBB, Weid and LJ in the same team, along with Fritta and 4 of those smalls listed above, so they might be tempted to see if it works? I'd be tempted to throw Melksham on Steward all game, as he's there most creative backman, who gives them the most drive.