Red and Blue realist

Smith kept McGovern really quite for the first 3 quarters but he dominated the last when he could roam free. Think goody actually made the right call, can't help Smith going down.

Omac very good all game, a lot on here will call for him to be dropped but he was very strong tonight. Tmac had a great first half then looked like he thought he was on and forgot he had to try, should have kicked 5

Hunt was awesome, playing a role that really suits him. Frost really horrible, his 1 or 2 good things doesn't take away from all the goals he cost us.

I heard that one of Gold Coasts tactics were to ensure there are repeat stoppages at the center bounce, with Witts looking to tap the ball down to a contest as opposed to away to a team mate. Not sure if the stats back this up by I've noticed the ball takes a lot longer to get out of the middle now, so have coaches tried too hard to negate 6-6-6 that it's tying up the game?

He came into his draft year with hip issues didn't he?? Or am I remembering wrong, I know he didn't play a huge amount in his draft year due to injury, which we knew and were happy to give him a lot of time to get right.

Just hope that when Lever comes back he can step in Hibberds role and move the ball a bit further up the field. Hore plays in a similar manner to Lever so hopefully he won't go into his shell when Lever comes back, but maybe the silver lining to Hibbo's injury is that we might see a more expansive Hore. I reckon he'll be right moving (regularly) beyond the back half.

Think we need to tag McGovern or at least ensure he can't go at any contests without a man. If Melksham doesn't come up I reckon we bring in tsmith just for that role. Collins killed us and he's a quarter of the player McGovern is. Was Spargo injured or was he taken as an emergency as well, well need some run over there, both with the wider ground and off a 6 day break. Out: hibbo, Lewis, garlett and melk In: tsmith, ANB, Preuss and Spargo

I was there as well, and Roughy spent most of his time on the flanks and when he did go deeper forward, there was no one in particular who was assigned to him. OMac/Hore/Hibberd/Wagner would have played on him just as much, so I didn't make it up at all. Only after he started to get press about having only 8 touches have some here praised Frost for doing that but really doing it to just have another shot at OMac.

Seems even stranger when we have a 6 day break coming up, on top of the longest trip in footy (Qld to Perth), I would have thought ANB is one of the fittest at the club so would be better suited to back it up. I can see whoever the travelling emergencies coming in next week regardless of result, and maybe a number of guys at Casey having restricted minutes.

We've got a 6 day break, in which we're also making the longest trip in football (Qld to Perth), so maybe aren;t worried about having a couple guys not playing this week. Still not sure why you'd bring back Viney with that in front of us, and drop ANB who is super fit. Be interesting to see if any of the Casey guys are on restricted minutes with that in mind as well.

GC have lots their main ball winner in Fiorini, but brought in more flankers. If we can smash them in the middle then we'll be ok and the Viney selection is justified, if we don't then I hope we can stop their quick entries, ANB would at least help us lock the ball in.

Na, Roughy was played more out on the flanks and then as the second ruck (he was just plan horrible, not beaten by anyone). None of our backs had a true easy to read match up, they went back to a zone type game plan. Saying Frost played on him is to just add to the narrative to have a pot shot at OMac.

Weid was very good with his attack against the Swans, but poor the last 2 weeks, I think he's best 22 and they'll want him back in as soon as he finds any form, so if he look good at Casey there's every chance he'll come in for Keilty.

Oliver played the least amount of game time, and seemed to be on and off all game. Not sure if that is a fitness issue or a game plan to have him on for bursts more than long stints, but the danger with that is you can get caught on the bench at the wrong time. Maybe it's a way to try and shake any tagging, as they would disrupt their own game plan bringing players on and off for no reason.

So Max is now officially rated the number 1 player in the game by AFL stats - https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-05-06/danger-tumbles-so-whos-the-new-no1-in-player-ratings He is the first non-midfielder to be ranked no.1. I'm sure there's lots of debate about what this means (if anything) or how worthwhile the ranking system is, but well done Max!

This is spot on, all good teams need at least 30 good AFL standard players, of course excluding young players as they are unknown, we had it last year and played really well, but we're missing 10 (I'm including JHK but he'd be player 30/31) on the list, so we're already dipping into guys who should only get injury based games. Hopefully this will be good for the future as we get an extended look at some developing guys

Only make changes if we have a best 22 player come back in. Preuss for keilty, although he probably should get a second look. Can't believe the calls for omac to go out on the back of 2 plays, O'Brien and Lewis kicked 1 goal between them and that was the direct result of Frost getting lost again, if he plays like that omac will only go out when may and lever are back

We finally got most of the 50/50 ones in the last quarter but for the rest of the game it was clear the Hawks got the umpires favour, even the Hawks supporters behind me were saying that. There were 2 blatant 50s which would have iced the game we didn't get. Clarkson's comments were terrible, why take a pot shot at the other team when you've lost, bloody sook

The rest of his game was very good, so it was harsh to say 2 acts could have cost us the game. Plus I was frustrated that Lewis kicked the ball to him anyway, he had about 4 better and clearer options, I'm sure omac was not expecting it at all.

I said Frost had a great last 15 mins but he was pretty ordinary up until then. When may and lever are back, on form this year neither omac or Frost will get a game

Fair overreaction, 1 player would not have cost us the game. By half time I was ready to rule a line through Frost forever, his game sense was just terrible, then he pulled out the last quarter and he started to look like a footballer.

Omac was easily our best defender for the first 3 quarters, Frost was fumbly and got lost early but played a great last 15 mins, while hore was ordinary early but came back well in the second half. Why Lewis tried to kick it to him in amongst 4 Hawks when there were free men in the same kicking range is beyond me. One thing we need to start doing is kicking the ball quicker, some passes we're so slow and easy to pick off

Real funny game, I'd say most of our players were good without being great. No one was fantastic for all 4 quarters but most had some really good moments. Good spread of goal kickers as well, seemed much more like last year

A real curse of the first rounders: 2010 - Lucus Cook - injured early but could never put on weight and was to be frank very ordinary 2011 - traded for Mitch Clark, had some good games then had 'issues' 2012 - Toumpas - nothing to say 2013 - Tyson and Salem - Tyson was very good in his first 2 years then faded and traded, Salem had Thyroid issues but has come good but it looked a little iffy for a while. 2014 - Tracca and Brayshaw - 1 ACL and the other with serious concussion issues, has now passed for both and they are establishing good careers. 2015 - Oliver and Weid - Oliver is the only one who hasn't had any issues (touch wood!!!), Weid had known hip issues then has been slow to develop 2016 - no first due to having 2 in 2015 (although our first pick that year Hannan is out with on-going knee issues) 2017 - Trade for Lever - Lever the does his ACL 2018 - Trade for May & KK - limited so far. So of the 11 first rounders we've had or traded for since 2010, only 1 (Oliver) has got a pass mark from the beginning of their time with us, Salem, Brayshaw and Trac have come good, while Lever and May/KK still have time.

Schache is probably the better comparison, both in the same draft, with Schache at 2. He's only played the 44 games, but seems to escape the same outside scrutiny as Weid (like how Weid was compared in a Slobbo article this week to Jack Silvani but no mention of Schache, Francis, Parish etc. from the same draft).