At the break of Gawn

I’ve got no doubt I’ll be admonished for this, but is the Gawn/Grundy combo really working? Is there an opportunity to look at a different mix?

For example, what if we brought someone like Schache in who is a more natural forward and can ruck. We up Gawn’s game time and let him spend more time around the ball and down the line.

It’s not the rucking that is the problem, it’s the lack of any return on the scoreboard from these two. Gawn hasn’t kicked a goal in weeks and Grundy at best will get you one.

Is it too tall if we go with a forward line of:

JvR, Schache (when not rucking) BBB, Smith, Fritsch and Pickett? Maybe no BBB but I just think we really need to reshape our forward mix and I just can’t see Gawn and Grundy contributing 2-3 goals a game.

6 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

You take it, we’ll smash them.

You know they beat Geelong in Geelong a couple of weeks ago? This won’t be a walk in the park at all.

57 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Contrary to the long term averages showing very little chance of rain it seems that Alice will be getting an unseasonal downpour and cold snap this week.

Friday is a Maximum of 12 and 25mm of rain

Will be interesting to see the weekend forecast

http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/forecasts/alice-springs.shtml

FFS the one thing I was counting on was that it was going to be a dry game. 

In: Oliver, Tomlinson, Brown

Out: Jordan, Petty, Chandler

I thought we were ok the first 3 qtrs, but that last qtr was just horrible. We had absolutely no room in our forward 50 and the repeat entries are just really inefficient entries if you can’t hit a lead up target.

But the worst part was just defending their ball movement in that last qtr. We were so highly pressed up that they just got easy goals and so much space.

1 minute ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Let’s not totally blame ANB for the loss, we can also blame Fritsch for that idiotic dangerous tackle.

What about Lever’s double fist to the corridor straight to a Geelong player and then his opponent (Henry) then took the mark to let them kick the first goal?

Has anyone noticed we haven’t had one out the back opportunity tonight? They just have had a defender back there the whole night.

Tom Stewart has absolutely killed us. He’s shown no respect to his opponent.

Same thing happened last year. Got within a few points and then they blew us away with a flurry of goals.

Disgusting defence of rebound

We either run away with this or Scott pulls something out of his [censored] and we lose.

Grundy comfortably playing much better than Gawn. You’d almost consider subbing him off if he does nothing in the 3rd and put Spargo on.

27 minutes ago, praha said:

We're now outsiders with Sportsbet. Price rising.

When was the last time we went into two games in a row as underdogs?

We were $2.20 last weekend and the Cats were $1.80 then around the middle of the weekend it flipped and we were the favourites. Now it’s flipped again as the game got closer (potentially a lot of people saw value in Geelong). I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen our odds fluctuate that much.

Wouldn’t matter if Geelong was bottom 4, GMHBA is a fortress for them. Probably an unfair advantage on the comp as I think they’re the only team that train and play at their home ground?

Anyway, with the weather forecasted I think it’ll be really close and could go either way. My biggest concern is that if Geelong get on top of clearances and trap it in their forward half, it’ll be very difficult to transition the ball out of their D50. They are also the best in the comp for lowest inside 50s against. If we don’t win the territory battle I feel it might be a bit like the Port game but unfortunately, Hawkins, Rohan, Cameron will nail their set shots.

Just now, Jaded No More said:

Who cares about his AA chances if getting him right increase his chances of getting another premiership medal tho right?

Of course. It’s just a shame as he’s a walk up AA midfielder every day of the week but he might miss out now because of games missed.

Just now, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A bit too cute at selections IMO.

Tomlinson flat out did not deserve to be dropped on any measure. Integrity of selection queries right there. If anything he should’ve been dropped when McKay beat him the week before.

Will be even more curious if Petty goes forward and we’re back to our previous issue of 1 key defender short which doesn’t allows May and Lever to flourish.

There’s no way Petty will play forward. I think it’s as simple as they like the Smith forward setup, and Petty is in our best back 6 (while Tomlinson isn’t) and now that he’s back, he’ll play there.

8 minutes ago, DemonWorshipper said:

From the website: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1362539/round-15-team-two-inclusions-for-cats-clash

Clayton Oliver, who has spent time on the sidelines in recent weeks, will not make a return for the Thursday match, with Richardson providing an update on the midfielder.  

“Unfortunately, Clayton will miss tomorrow’s night match as he continues to rehab his hamstring,” Richardson said.  

“Clayton was close to being available for selection, but we have decided to instead take a conservative approach. It’s very likely he will be fit and ready to go for our match next week.” 

 

So based on Richo's comments, likely the time off legs has meant missed rehab time for the hammy.

 

 

Probably fair enough given we have another 10 day break after this. It’ll absolutely ensure he’s right to go.

Probably harms his AA chances though missing 4 games.

25 minutes ago, DubDee said:

We desperately need a mature big body up fwd.  Zero chance of Petty playing back

Stewart will mop up all high entries unless we body him

Going to be a wet night it seems so I think a smaller forward line will be ok.

I just finished watching the presser, and I could be wildly inaccurate here, but I think Goody has deliberately stayed quiet on the Oliver and Petty situation as a way to get a tactical edge on Scott. We all know Goody has lost tactical battles against him so I think he wants to keep him guessing as close to the game as possible.

Secondly, I think it’s a brilliant idea to train at GMHBA, no other Victorian teams do it and often the Cats will get a fast start when the opposition is still adjusting to the ground. We’ve been a good travelling side in the past so I think to treat this as an interstate game is really smart. Let’s hope it pays off!

Is it just me or do the Saints supporters sound bloody loud on the TV? Thought they’d only have about 15-20k there.

When Max was interviewed by Whateley last week before the Pies game, the topic of the short bye and 3 x 10 day breaks was brought up. Max actually said that the strength and conditioning team saw it as an advantage to the rest of the competition due to the training blocks we could get in to help with the backend of the season.

6 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

pear has to be favourites to make the grand final now

they will finish 1st or 2nd which means two home finals and direct route through to the last saturday in september at the g

Do you remember what happened in 2021? Port are Prelim choking specialists.

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

Here comes the excuses from the media

Johnson has been anti-Melbourne since we embarrassed the Dogs in the ‘21 GF.

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned yet as I haven’t read the entire thread, but did you notice how happy and relaxed Goody was in the post match? I can’t recall too many times seeing him like that. It was just great to see him so happy, and even cracking jokes, after completing outcoaching the opposition.

Also, just in regards to Brayshaw, his first few mins of the game were awful but to his credit he bounced back and had a solid game. My only other dig at him would be in the last centre bounce. Mitchell completely got off the chain and almost won that centre clearance. I dare say that if Oliver was there instead, there’s no way Mitchell would have got that sort of separation on someone as quick as Oliver.

Like a few on here, I thought last weeks performance spoke volumes about our clearance and contest game. We brought it again today and dismantled the Pies.

Hats off to Tomlinson as well. Played his best game and could be pivotal in our defence if Petty is to remain forward.