deanox

This focus on interpretation change was suggested by Clarko in the article though! I think this will help both congestion and scoring though, with players starting further outside of a contest (3rd man in is now less valuable), and Moore scotty to knock the ball clear.

Bumping this, in case anyone wants to comment: I think it's a really different take that just reducing numbers and worth discussing.

Absolutely. But he was recognized as one of the best in the league, plus these two werent available at the time. It may be that we had been having conversations with both and thought we were a chance of landing both, thus focused our recruitment on May instead (who we thought would go to Collingwood at the end of 2019). I was only commenting on why many of us wanted us to look closely at him.

The way we've seen Langdon and Tomlinson play is exactly the reason some of us were so keen on Gaff. He fills the same role, and after 2018 it was very clear we needed someone in that role. We don't need him anymore.

He is on the money in that article, but not for the reasons quoted in the headline. “We probably need to look at the way the games officiated and say to ourselves: ‘How can we reduce the congestion? Do we reward holding the ball more regularly, so that we don’t have three, four or five stoppages in a row where as many as 20 players, 25 players get to that area of the ground and it gets really congested?’” Clarkson asked. Nothing needs to change, just play the rules as written: -Pay holding the ball when players are caught. -Pay holding the man against the 3rd player in who locks a contest up by "tackling a tackler". -Pay shepparding in the mark, every time someone prevents an opponent marking by bodying them out of the way, instead of trying to contest the ball in the air. Terrible interpretations are the problem, not numbers of players.

Read back to my posts in this thread, and I described exactly that: he played on the defensive wing, forcing opposition wing to match him up because of his height, offering a long switch option when they won the ball, and dropping back quickly to prevent/inhibit the opposition switch, when they lost the contest. It will be interesting to see if we leave Tomlinson/Langdon on one side of the ground each, playing the same role mirrored, or if they switch sides depending on game position.

I think the description of ANB as "coaches favorite" shows personal bias unfortunately (this isn't just you either!). The coach likes him because he runs better than almost anyone and generates lots of chances at goal. The coach picks him because no one else has been able to offer those qualities in that position. When other players go past him, he'll get dropped.

If Hogan played, we wouldn't have had May tie down Patton. And regardless we won by 5 goals. Why would we need another forward?

I didn't realize Bedford nailed the time trial. Is he capable of covering the distance ANB does? If so that really places some pressure on him and his role. I think the reason Kossie is favored is because he seems to be that natural opportunist rather than general "hard running small forward" which the others are. He is the only true goal sneak on that list, I think.

It's early interesting because they are all so different. ANBs strength is his endurance running. Does have Langdon and Tomlinson negate the need for this? He also generates a lot of shots/ chances on goal. Doesn't always take them but it's involved a lot. Spargo doesn't necessarily have the gut nor the knack of creating chances close to goal, but he seems to create a lot of scoring chains from up the field. His touches add lots of value, but there aren't heaps of turn. Bedford seemed to have good spark and pace, and apparently had good endurance. If he keeps developing it will be interesting to see where he goes. Kossie has power, explosion and opportunism. In limited exposure he seems to find the goals, and hunt opposition. He is more of a goal sneak at this stage. What roles do we want them to play? Creator? Finisher / goal sneak / opportunist? Chance generator? Edit: I probably fence sat so he are my thoughts: I'd probably start the year with ANB and Kossie based on exposed form. I think primarily, ANB is under pressure from Spargo, and Kossie from Bedford, and it wouldn't surprise me to see three of them in the side at times this year. It's a great problem to have given we've struggled in this role.

Oscar is playing round 1 because that's how our back line structure works. May takes the biggest and strongest, and will tend to stay at home. Lever is floating, reading the play, intercepting. He'll roam around but if his opponent is trying to drag him out of the backline, he'll switch opponents so he can be closer to goal. Omac is the inbetween, with the ability to play either role but not excel at either. He can step up if we need a second large defender but also isn't limited to only playing on the big guys. But his main skills are excellent zoning, and playing to team rules/structure. He allows Lever the flexibility to come and go where and when he needs. He provides the close to home support that May need to execute his role. I know most will call Lever the 3rd tall, because he will float and intercept, but I think that Oscar is the real third tall because his role requires the flexibility.

I'm glad someone else is noticing Spargos creativeness. I've always felt he "adds value" meaning the person he gives the ball to is usually in a much better position to use it than he was. He doesn't get heaps of it, but his touches are often high value. It's something really good to work with.

Let's say that's our best available right now. Salem gets back in, with Brayshaw and Vanders on the bench, there is only one spot for: -Hannan -Smith -Kosi -Jackson -Spargo -Hore -Lockhart -Brown -Bedford -Jordan -Sparrow -Hunt -Wagner -Rivers -Dunkley -Petty -Baker There is a lot of pressure on the ANBs and Weids, Hibbards and OMacs to play well to keep their spots. We have at least one depth in every position except ruck (waiting on Preuss to return) and probably the wings, and we perhaps dont have the spread of "star" quality or "match winners" across the 22. As long as a large number of key/top players don't get injured, we seem to have decent depth.

Weid got 20+ touches playing in the ruck and is smashed on here. Frost is spotted in Hawthorn colors and Omac gets whipped on here. It's not great.

Langdon was a name recruit. Langdon has finished top 5 in freos bnf the last two years. Tomlison was 7th inthe GWS bnf in 2018 before falling out of favor this year. I don't think he is as big a name as Tomlinson but he was a regular player in a finalist for a number of years.

The ball was well gone but at pace the contact was inevitable given Over tried to shepherd and Crouch wanted to go the man: blocking is legal and at full pace he only has a fraction of a second. He absolutley propelled upwards, which was the reason the elbow came up too, so I have no problem with getting a week. But I really don't think there is much in it. It's sloppy, and a bit worse than May's was, which I think was think was made worse by the fact that Berry didn't look where he was going.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but Crouch was largely stationary and the bulk of the force of the contract came from Clarry, who definitely turned towards Crouch to block (the correct thing to do after giving a handball). However Crouch's elbow came up, and to me that's what makes him culpable. So I think 1 week because that rule was careless, but otherwise it should have been nothing. For context, I also think May's should have been nothing, because I don't think made an action towards the head of Berry.

Im not so sure about this. May was standing still, the Berry ran straight towards him, and May took 1-2 small steps and braced. Berry didn't look where he was running or prepare for contact, which was ridiculous because he handballed because he knew May was there and then kept running to potentially recieve the 1-2 handball. Did he expect May to let him walk past? He has to be responsible for being aware of players within his immediate area. If May didn't bump, the Brisbane player would have ran into him. His only other option was to step out of the way, which is ridiculous. Here are multiple angles: https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/may-matera-banned-by-afl-match-review/86301d85-8072-4571-8b03-2a86dcf4c755

I really like that the home base is on there. The is much we can't control - particularly the premierships - and i feel the club would know they will be judged very harshly on this, so will want to go easy on things that can't be achieved. So this indicates to me that they think this is very realistic.

I would personally agree with that assessment, but I'm also aware that those who are pro Frost would read that as a loaded/bias assessment, so instead chose adjectives that describe him at his best to illustrate the two styles as contrasting, rather than good/bad. I wish he was able to rein in the so his flair could be emphasized, but he never got there at Melbourne. His ability to close on a lead was second to none however he next mistake was always too costly in the style of defense we are trying to play.

It's a pretty good description. He is dour, positional, and plays to team structure and rules. His main attribute is endurance running. Frost was exciting, free form and creative. His main attribute was electric speed. Both have their place, but I think Tomlinson fits our needs and our game plan better.

If he plays the role I expect him to, those watching at the ground will think Goodwin's a genius and those watching on tv will have no idea why he is getting picked every week because he hardly gets near the ball, especially compared to the excitement Frost brought! If he plays a different role than I expect (eg as a KPD), I think he'll struggle to add a whole lot of value.

You mean about how Tomlinson doesn't get much of it? Honestly, this section of the article fell down when the author suggested Tomlinson was moved to the during finals, when he has played the four the last 3 years at least. The contrast between Langdon sneered Tomlinson exists for a reason. One will be attacking, streaming forward. The other will be defensive, blocking holes and forcing the opposition to mean up so they don't have a loose player. Tomlinson might not get that many touches but he will be playing a defensive role for our structure. Watch for that.

In 2019, 11 games for 11 goals, with at least 1 goal in 9 of them. Around 10 disposals per game. Average stats are very similar to his 2018. He has actually been quite consistent. He did struggle for form but he really struggled for a run at it. Played the first 6, then dropped to Casey where he kicked 2.3 and took 7 marks but got injured, came back through Casey where he kicked 3.1 and he was named in the best, promoted for 5 more games in the MFC before injury ended his season. Not great form but I think he deserves a solid run at it. If he plays 22 games and has a 3 goal match once a month he'll finish with 30-35 goals. It's those 3 goal games he's been missing. Edit: tl;dr: he was poor this year in his interrupted year but still named to consistently kick a goal per week. It only takes an injury free season and 4 good games to turn a 25 goal a year forward into 35 goal a year forward, which is probably what we'd be content with right now.

I think Tomlinsons value to us will be what he adds in defensive (and offensive) structure through running hard, covering ground and providing options. He may not dominate stats or attacking wise, but as a club who constantly gets exposed "out the back" or on the wings, his presence should improve us.