dazzledavey36

This is unreal mate! Awesome stuff. I'm going to be picky also.. the big clunk and set shot was close to my favourite. Any chance of that one?

Isn't Ralph a Carlton supporter? Or am I thinking of another journo?

Why on earth would Rivers play on a wing? Not only has he never played on a wing this year, the last thing you want to do is make outlandish changes in a grand final. Rivers can easily do the job on Weightman.

Probably have accepted that he goes to Carlton. We simply have no draft capital for Freo.

This aged well..

Not sure how height is an issue when Bowey is just as small at 175cm and making an impact at senior level... If you want to dwell further then how is height an issue when we have a 173cm Spargo and 171cm Pickett already playing huge part in our push to a grand final?

Think health wise needs to be taken into serious consideration. Unfortunately I think it's a bit too difficult for all this to occur.

Simple logistics will say Garry Lyon.

We can probably thank Covid for that. Had there been no covid, he would have been top age for Sandy Dragons (and dominating) and also representing Vic Metro. I have no doubt this was a blessing in disguise for us. Can also add Bailey Laurie to that also who was highly rated as well in his underage year. I have no doubt that based purely on his football ability and form, Bowey would have easily been a top 10-15 selection.

How good is it hearing this.

Been also thinking where is Melksham out of all this but I think is the ideal option. His speed could really become important if needed when he's fresh compared to others in the game.

Who are our other potential options?

Looks bloody fit enough to be playing AFL.

You've missed the point of the post. This is a suggestion only if for some unfortunate reason May doesn't get up with his Hammy. If May does his hammy say 2nd quarter of the AFL grand final then you'd be kidding yourself if the coaches don't seriously consider moving McDonald back. It would leave us a tall short, especially coming up against English, Schache and Naughton who are all good in the air and can all take good contested marks. They did it against North Melbourne when Tomlinson went down and again over the weekend. So yeah they'll potentially consider it if May does go down.

We'd potentially have to move McDonald down back. He was moved there when they subbed May off so it's definitely in the back of the coaches mind.

[censored] yes!

Spargo has improved significantly since the start of the year. You must have missed our win against against doggies where he and ANB limited Bailey Dale and Caleb Daniels influence?

Cheers @DavidNeitz9

The recruitment of Bowey gives you insight exactly the kind of DNA of what is our key criteria in recruiting players. I'll put Charlie Spargo in this same bracket as Bowey. It doesn't matter what size you are, skinny, small or age, if you've got the competitive streak in you to be able to compete at senior level with a touch of mental strength then you'll simply play in the Simon Goodwin team. I have voiced my concern over having an inexperienced Bowey down back in the past 2 finals but what he showed on the weekend was one of the more impressive displays I've seen from such a scrawny looking 18 year old. Actually scrap that, he looks like a nerdy year 10 student who thrives off being more invested in gaming minecraft at home then playing in front of 60k in a prelim and actually contributing immensely. I'm really sorry I doubted him the role in the team the past 2 weeks. He looked liked a 200 game veteran on the weekend and he stuck it right up me. Kid must be on cloud 9 thinking how good is AFL footy? First year of footy and works into a minor premiership team and is about to play in his first AFL grand final. I honestly feel for his parent who won't be able to be there on the day but he's bloody living every kids dream right now. Happy Birthday Jake.

Fun fact. Jack Viney plays his 150th game on grand final day. Is there not a better stage for him to completely rise to the occasion in your 150th game!

Naughtons body strength will be too much for Smith. I think Smith will be seriously considered, and personally I'd like him to match up on Schache to release Lever. But I don't think we can fit him in on teams form.

Can you paste full article please.

I think I'm mindful being too defensive as a unit. We've got to back our system in as well and think we'll potentially see Harmes and Viney put attention into Bont. I would like to see GWS style attack on Bont like they did on the 2019 elimination final.

Really think we need to change tactic with this. William Drew put s hard tag on Libbs last night and limited his influence. This allowed Bont to get off the leash and impact and kick 2 goals. Same exact scenario when they beat us. Bont was given far too many opportunities and we didn't put much pressure on him. I'd easily put the hard tag on Bontempelli.

This will be one of the great grand finals we'll see. Star factor on show from both clubs. Here's my analysis on the dogs from watching game from start to finish. I thought it was one of the most softest performances I've seen from an AFL club in a long time. Seeing the likes of Rozer, Motlop, Fantasia, Amon and Dursmma shirk or pull out of contests was unbelievable first hand. They just failed to apply any pressure throughout the game and dogs was just able to waltz through traffic with such ease. [censored] poor effort by Port, and it gives me great confidence that Melbourne won't allow this to happen. Midfield Doggies won the game last night through sheer midfield dominance. Like completely slaughtered them. They were +30 in contested possession, +7 in stoppage clearance and +6 in general clearances. Port rely so much on Boak and Wines that it became too overwhelming for them when you're coming up against Bontempelli, Libratore, McRea, Smith, Treloar, Hunter etc. After Bosk and Wines, there's a considerable drop in midfield depth for Port. Again, Doggies are coming up against Gawn, Jackson, Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Harmes, Langdon, Brayshaw and Sparrow. To me this is where I think the game will be won. Last time the doggies beat us, they didn't have Treloar or Dunkley. So they definitely bat a bit deeper then us, but we're better defensively. Defence Their defence is interesting. They've got some good honest defenders in Wood, Cordy and Gardiner as key talls with Keath to come back in as well. They're not stars, but they get the job done and are good honest players. They don't worry me. What worries me is Bailey Dale and Caleb Daniel. Their run and carry along with their elite kicking is exactly what sets them up off half back and create scoring opportunities. They put themselves in a position where they're able to receive and execute length and metres gain. The stark contrast with both games this year was we were able to negate their influence first time around and put enormous amount of forward pressure on both players. They weren't able to provide the metres gain like usually would and this played an important part in us winning. Second time around Daniel and Dale were just given too much freedom to do what they did. Daniel especially was dominant, and Dale was able to piece through our defensive wall as well. Last night Daniel had 7 rebound 50s and Dale had 8. That's far too much space and freedom that Port gave them and it worked in the doggies favour. The difference again? Both Daniel and Dale combined for a total of 5 rebound 50s when we beat them earlier. Stop these two and it'll go a long way to us winning. Forward Ports defence is a shambles. To give you a reason why, they had a guy by the name of Trent McKenzie playing on Naughton. Same guy that was picked up as a delisted free agent. Naughton got completely hold of McKenzie last night. Naugjton had a total of 9 marks in which 6 were contested. He simply does get that luxury against Steven May. They had Schache play a defensive role on Alir Alir and played it really well. He was able to not only curtail his influence, but also engage in the one on one contests. Look for them to do the exact same on Lever. Rivers takes Weightman which is a given. Hibberd could take Hannan who has been inconsistent this year except his past 4 games where he's played a good role up forward. With Martin back in, expect English to play more minutes up forward. Petty will obviously get the job and needs to watch him in the air because he can be quite dangerous when he gets a good run and job at it. If May can negate Naughton, and we stop the likes of Weightman and Bailey Smith who is good up forward, then I think it'll play another element to us winning this game. In summary, expect this game to go down to the wire. They do scare me to some degree, but I also back our system against theirs. The only concern for me is the fitness of Steven May. If there was a guy that you want putting all his heart and body on the line for the biggest game of the year it's Steven May. If by unfortunate circumstances he doesn't get up, does Tmac go down back? Does Smith come back in? All intriguing questions.