KingDingAling

Training run for Geelong.

GWS are useless. What a friendly game of football.

GWS are poorly coached. Must be a Sydney thing. Players happy to get a kick, just hack it on the boot. Pretty pathetic to continue seeing this. GWS are terrible. Sydney not much better. Geelong just barely going here and winning as they like. One of the easier wins you’ll see.

Perfect fit. We need two things - a wing and another A-grade mid. Both of which would be luxuries. But to have two attacking wings in Langdon and Amon, provide a lot of drive forward. We have two exceptional kicks down back in Salem and Bowie, who can help utilize both wingers. Speeds us up, and that makes us harder to stop up forward. Amon is massive for us. We get him, and good luck to the opposition. We pretty much control all areas of the ground if we can land Amon.

In great form but doesn’t fare well against tall, mobile athletic types like King brothers and Norton. So I do hope we don’t man him on King this week. Petty is practically made to man King. May is as good as advertised, and one of the best full backs I’ve seen. Just none of the full backs in the past had to man the prototype forwards going around today. Possible exception of Rance.

We would have to offer Essendon our first round pick for them to take up a large portion of Shiels contract. Maybe even first and second. Shiel is on 800k a year. I don’t see Essendon taking up half of his contact for just a first rounder. I can’t see a real workable deal. Maybe throw in Tom McDonald if he finishes the year well, as Essendon do need a veteran forward to decoy for Wright. Even then, the only way I see Shiel to Dees is if Essendon are desperate to get rid of him, and no other clubs are interested in him. But, the interest in Shiel is practical, as he is what we need, and most definitely appears on the outer at Essendon.

We are that good. Eagles are also terrible. Richmond are still Richmond. Still well drilled and still play to a plan, well structured. Essendon have looked decent since we played them and they put a show till late.

Richmond are still a top 8 side. We belt sides, and it doesn’t make them ordinary. We are that good.

Easy. Liam Patrick

Jackson makes more sense for them. Their rebuild will be long and times hard. English ain’t their man, they should chase Jackson. No doubt they’ll need to throw everything and the kitchen sink at him to get there, but they should try. Good for them and us, either way for us - we are win/win. That’s just the nature of the beast. Jackson may have 2 flags under his belt by seasons end, and decide he’s content, let’s move home, completely cash out, and be part of a rebuild. Or he decides to be part of probably one of the most successful teams ever to play the game, and be well paid, whilst still playing with close mates, in a state the breathes footy. It’s probably 70/30 our way I’d think.

I don’t really see the point

Gawn can be the most dominant ruck the game has seen and still lose club b&fs to Oliver. Oliver is the best midfielder in the whole history of Australian Rules football. It’s been around for over a century now. He is already that guy.

Gawn - effective Oliver - GOAT Langdon - continued his dominance Sparrow - amazing. Just amazing Bowey - no surprise, experienced 200 gamer Brayshaw - one of his best games this year, proper player. Rivers - on the up. Neal Bullen - Sh*t when mattered. Really really poor game. May - no words really, heading into his own category as a back man. Heading into GOAT territory. Petracca - Shocking effort. Harmes -typical Harmes. Loves the heat and fades out once the jobs done. Pressure and checks out once games over. Barometer Dunstan - Got better. I’d persist with him because he failed to handle the pressure that comes with being a Dee, but adapted, pretty rare to see that within the space of 2 quarters. This guy will improve us. But needs to be better than tonight. Needs to be shown tapes of Toby Bedford and bring that to every contest. Petty - Most promising back in league. Underrated. Good early when mattered. Jordan - OK. Fritsch - always good. Spargo - Good. Hunt - below average when it mattered. Jackson - See Petracca Brown - see Jackson Weideman - perfect. Love the intent. Stats smatts. Great game. Keep doing what you’re doing. So confident in this kid. My type of guy. Pickett - see above. Cannot speak any higher. Really had a crack early when blokes were 100 at contests. Smith - needs to clean up things a bit but obvious an improving player. See why Gawn likes him, Smith clunks marks under pressure and drops them when not, I can live with that.

Our mids are getting beaten it ain’t the forwards fault

When it comes to games like this, pressure games, proper pressure. We learn a lot about our players. Good that you mentioned Kozzie. Anyone who bags Kozzie for whatever reasons needs to watch this first half. I loved Kozzie before tonight and I’m sure we all do, but wow, really impressed by him tonight. Has he had limited opportunities? Absolutely, so that’s why the casual observer, and probably limited knowledge of football supporter, would deem Kozzie to be having a quiet game. But the kid has been willing, and mostly important, has shown great intent. I will give you some beyond sh*t players for tonight. Petracca, Neal Bullen, Luke Jackson. Probably more, I assume McDonald ain’t out there.

Tomlinson looking clean. Above this level. Bailey would be above this level if he could handball properly - put some strength into it. Otherwise he looks to have all the tools to make the next step. Woewodin got caught not dishing off the hands in time. Lucky not to result in an opposition goal.

May. Petracca Viney Fritsch Spargo Gawn

We aren’t playing very well, and should still be 6-7 goals up if not for poor umpiring. GWS really are hopeless. Without umpire assistance they’d probably be about 10 points.

Yep and it’s bullsh*t too. I’ve about had it.

Pressure around the ground outside of clearance work - is better than usual today. We have definitely done our homework. I watched GWS last week against Freo. Seems I wasn’t the only one. We dissected that and went to work implementing a strategy. We are forcing them to bomb it in.

That’s expected when you have a dip at taking the game on. They will get better with this. Jack Steele demands his players implement the coaches game plan. Hell of a captain

Footballers like Heeney and McInerny must pull this hair out playing in that side. Majority of Sydney players just play for themselves. Very poorly coached side to be fair. If they make finals hopefully it’s the fourth spot and we meet them in the first final.

Getting a flag this year would be nice. If we want Jackson then let’s play for him. Winning two flags in a row, and being a part of a young dynasty list, it’s hard to pass up.

Important to get some game time into him. I suspect he is a depth player, but it’s vital he has more experience to be ready if we need him to be (at any stage). Smith is still relatively inexperienced. We need to see what he’s got, is he improving? These are questions we need to answer, and we do so because we have had injuries. Hunt is in the same boat. We are going to need to play these guys throughout the year, whether it’s when we test players or whether they step in for someone injured. To my eye, Smith made a lot of sense while Lever was out, but equally, I also didn’t like what I seen on game day, where Smith opted to mark instead of punch, and wasn’t great by foot. Maybe he’ll be better with Lever in, or maybe we as a side will be better off without Smith. This is something worth persisting with till we know the answer. Clearly Smith is rated within the playing group.

If Gawn was rested we’d probably go with 3 tall forwards instead, and have Weideman play a similar ruck role than he does in the VFL.