fr_ap

Thanks for responding on my behalf - said it better than I could have!

You don't get many opportunities to add a potentially game breaking, goal kicking, inside-outside mid with power and explosiveness. The game is built around them - Danger, Dusty, Trac etc. - and this type of player is a pretty consistent factor in getting teams a flag. Certainly has been over the last 10 years. Yes - of course you need a team around them - but Richmond would not have won at least 2 of their 3 flags without Dusty. Potentially all 3. We (probably) don't win 21 without Trac. Happy to go on record that Harley would be worth it. He looks as good a prospect as I've seen in the last 5 years of watching draftees. It's the right time to add a player like him into our midfield. Viney approaching 30 and will be banged up as soon as he hits father time. Trac at his peak, Oliver a year behind. If Reid takes 3 years to get going, it will keep us at the top echelon, and that should be the aim with the current draft hand we have. In terms of alternatives, I have some significant doubts on Duursma at AFL level. I have far more confidence in Watson making the grade, even at his diminutive height. He + Koz could be a small forward combination for the ages. Also like McKercher and think he could end up the best or 2nd best player from this draft. What is clear to me is that this draft falls away below the top 5 or 6, so if we need to use our picks in the teens and/or our F1 to get Reid, or Watson and McKercher together (doubtful), I'll have no issue with it.

I'm on record in another thread saying expected score can be a flawed metric, but worth pointing out we won expected score 95-85 yesterday, implying if anyone missed more shots than expected, it was us. They kicked poorly to start, we kicked poorly to finish. They also took a number of shots from very far out which to some degree our defence was responsible for.

Is there? Why did I think round 24 replaced the week off?

That's fair, but port smashed them in expected score last night as well. It's a good metric I agree, but they appear to be so skilful that measuring them against a competition average conversion rate unfairly downplays how good they are. Maybe they're just more skilled than average, and expected score is less relevant? Also agree that our defensive system gives us a shout. I just think with those 3 players I mentioned back in, they'll have too much firepower and we won't be able to go with them. Stranger things have happened though! Oliver is as good as Sidebottom, De Goey and Elliott combined? We all love Clarry but this is just a silly thing to say and it discredits the rest of your post. We beat Collingwood because we played a very good game, put a lot of work into their system and they were missing several gamebreakers from their lineup. They also may have been sick. Who knows. We agree that I would love us to rip them apart in a final. Don't mistake my respect for them as anything more than arms-length admiration for what they're doing. Every other side's supporters were saying in 21 that the Dees were May premiers. Then July premiers. Then August premiers. It doesn't always carry through, but it can. We also had doubters as we didn't have the credit of a prelim season the year before. This Collingwood team have been very good for a long time now. Yes, they win a lot of close games. It's too consistent to be a fluke. It's a trait. Definitely no Daicos badge, but again you have to respect what he's doing. He might be the single best decision maker I've seen since.... Pendlebury. In his 2nd year. He's winning the brownlow and Treloar on a recent podcast basically said he's the best footy player he's ever played against. I hope you're right and they falter badly, but right now you just need to sit back and applaud.

As much as I enjoyed the KB win, it won't have collingwood worried at all. Missing de goey, sidebottom and Elliott, half the team sick and If it went 2 mins longer they win. Those 3 are absolute matchwinners all in their own right, and had they played they would have beaten us. No doubt. Yes, we were missing Oliver, but right now that looks to be the status quo so it's an irrelevant point. They've also since inserted McStay who looked terrific last night and gives them another dimension moving forward as well. There is a sense of destiny and inevitability about them, regardless of what the demon apologists and nay sayers think about their position on the expected score ladder. They're a phenomenal team and right now, they deserve the flag more than anyone else. I'm pretty sure they'll get what they deserve.

Absolutely mate, well said. Couldn't believe it when I logged on and read negativity There's nothing like the fun that comes after a win like that in person. The urinal is fun, the donut stand is fun, the walk to the pub is fun and of course the pub was great. KFC on Bourke St was fun (and delicious, even though I willingly donated 2 of my wings to the happy strangers that asked). Even the Uber home was fun. Those Tesla's are pretty cool. Fun fun fun Sports Im still drunk evidently

Well that turned into quite a night. Home at 330 and like others in this thread now nursing a very sore head. Just a fantastic, rollercoaster game from two very good teams. To Deespencer and a small number of others finding something to complain about - honestly probably reconsider if following footy is good for you. Outside of finals and the ultimate day, last night is pretty much as good as it gets for any supporter. Just enjoy it and worry about our corridor defense in 3 days time!!

Think Judd is probably a reasonably good matchup for Charlie.

I'd probably say no change. Howes was good, but he'll get eaten alive in the contest at AFL level. Needs a bit more development - next year is his year. Thought Spargo did ok and whilst kozzie looked awful round the ball, he had the 3rd most pressure acts and we would desperately miss his speed and tank if he was dropped. Chandler continued his nothing form in the VFL. To be honest, AMW isn't that far behind any of our small forwards. Not sure how his tank is or whether he could play the structure as well as the others, but he's quicker than Chandler and Spargo, can jump higher, combative and seems to get involved in scoring chains. Quite mercurial. He isn't that far away. Harmes was awful I thought. Our midfield depth is a concern - our first bounce against the Lions will be Viney, Sparrow and Jordon in all likelihood. A top end midfield draft pick or two is in need before the era of track and Clarry begins to pass. It's a shame Mitch White never moved into the midfield during his AFL days. He is an absolute warrior and a terrific player, good ball user. He and Munro are critical to Casey's success.

Agreed, I thought he was really good. Have seen him play a few times and a bit ho-hum, but gee whiz today he was near impassable and impeccable with the ball hitting 50m darts Doesn't necessarily look a footballer but seems a good one

Nice to see Jed Adams starting to find his feet. You can start to see the attributes the FD saw.

JVR showing why he's in the VFL. Highmore has had the better of him. Needs to work on a lot - leading patterns, field kicking, general nous. The best way I can describe him is a super competitive, combative forward. But he's not a smart forward - not half as smart as schache for example (who conversely lacks all competitiveness) Chandler equally ineffective at this level. On this showing AMW is almost in front of him...

Expected score tonight was Stk 69 Melb 60 Happy to win but tells a bit of a tale

Look I agree with all that and truthfully we all know it doesn't look too likely....but you've got to enjoy the wins when they come. It's too long a year and too much is down to luck... Very tough to follow if all you can enjoy is a flag

You do realise that the best place for a player like that - who rarely makes mistakes - is defence right? It's a turnover sport and over 75% of them are committed by defenders. He does more for our ability to win in defense than he would up the ground

Last week we won all of that. Oh, but we lost the game. If you're only ever happy with complete dominance and victories, you're not going to be happy very often. Why follow sport at all?

Still think so? Right now he does not want to be out there.

I'm not sure how true this is, but someone once told me the place was built in the wrong direction. i.e. all the plans and permits had the stadium travelling west-east, which would have been preferable from a sunlight (grass growing) POV, but the building contractor mistakenly planned the site & laid the foundations south-north. I remember this being blamed for the significant issues they had early days getting the grass to grow (the G is also laid on concrete, that shouldn't be a factor). You got to Marvel on any given weekday and they have a million hydroponic lights fixing the turf. They've figured it out, but it must cost them a fair bit.

Why do people think Howes is ahead of him? Blake plays a less contested game in an easier position (HB), and gets less of the footy with less impact. Woey brings attributes we lack into the side - he is a good short passer of the ball and has good composure/decision making. He's also no slouch in the contest and quicker (slightly taller too) than the likes of Laurie Pleased with the debut & wondering who it is at the expense of - Harmes or Chandler I would guess.

Might just be me but I thought the clips Lyon showed barely made his point at all. Most involved risky 15-20m hit up kicks to players 45 out in the corridor. The Petracca kick to the 3 on 1 in the pocket in particular - neither of the short Sparrow or Brayshaw kicks were on & would likely have resulted in a corridor turnover leading to a score against. It's very easy to watch from afar & make a judgement on kick difficulty without any real sense of depth/difficulty/conditions. Trac assessed the options - and decided it wasnt worth the risk. This is also why neither brayshaw or Sparrow asked for the ball. I'm not saying we should never take those kicks - but there is a time and a place. Hitting them into an already flooded d50 from a slow play off the HFF/Wing is not the time. Collingwood hit them - but they hit them when they are streaming down the ground and have defenders scrambling (or off turnover). Ironically, Rivers actually took the kick Lyon was asking for to a leading Brown on the fat side in the other example, even though Lyon in that case said he should have handballed to Chandler (which I agree with). The result was Rivers missed the kick, Taylor marked and the Giants took it down the other end for a goal. Let's not pretend he is some savant footy analyst. Our gamestyle has proven effective at turning us into a top team over a long period of time. It's not perfect, and at the moment its a little broken, but we've fixed it before. Throwing all caution to the wind and trying to hit risky corridor kicks that our skill profile doesn't allow is not the way.

This might be unpopular, but I actually didn't mind how we looked with Grundy as solo ruck. We missed Gawn's marking around the ground (which could be offset if we had any decent tall forwards...), but I didnt feel an overt loss through the middle or at stoppages. Grundy was very poor defensively though in the early part of the year and he was a big reason for our Essendon loss when both Draper and Phillips (!) had career days... Nevertheless, the Grundy play overall makes much more sense to me in the solo ruck context. I'm not convinced that playing them both is doing us any favours at the moment.

That's fine. I take your point, we could try any number of different things. Personally I don't think Judd is well suited to the midfield at all. Yes he's elusive, but when he's caught and under pressure he's actually as poor a kick as everyone else. He's not going to get away in the heat of the midfield. I like the suggestion of him to the wing though - I've said a number of times Hunter is good structurally but a huge turnover merchant. Ironic given we brought him in for his apparent ability to hit targets i50. But in general, rolling a 15 game half back through the midfield for 2 rotations is not the solution to our problems

It's really not that simple, so tiring people say this as soon as someone can kick...'put them in the midfield'. In the midfield you generally do not have time to dispose of the ball properly. That's why most midfielders other than the very elite (Merrett, Bont) are considered poor kicks. Plus, all of a sudden you have responsibility for winning contested ball in outnumber situations. That's not Judd's go (yet). It's the same reason Salem doesn't play midfield. He ain't a midfielder

He's gone to absolute water since 1) the bailey smith suspension 2) signing his contract Looks like he cannot be bothered and his lack of focus is self evident. Can't hit a target, can barely possess the footy without fumbling, and just can't seem to make the right decision. All of those things used to be absolute standout features of his game. It's been an extremely sad demise. It's weird and counterintuitive, but sometimes when you 'make it' and start getting paid really well to do something you love, it kills your love of it. That's what it looks like to me. He's not having any fun and he's going through the motions entirely. Very sad.