At the break of Gawn

Just watched Goody’s presser. Thank god we don’t have to play in Adelaide again this season, but also I hope to god we don’t have to play a Prelim there this year. Also, I reckon Goody will look back at this game and regret the “experimenting” (his words) in the middle with putting Gus in the middle for so long which sacrificed Petracca’s centre bounce attendance. We looked much better when Trac was in the guts and not forward

6. May 5. Rivers 4. Oliver 3. Petracca 2. Hunter 1. Fritsch

You’re kidding right? We didn’t lose to a top 8 side in 2021. We were the best that year by far, but this competition moves so fast that you need to continuously innovate.

Huge moment. We were on the way to get some territory and that just killed us.

What also [censored] me off was AnB’s last kick into the forward 50. Why would he do a flat kick looking for a mark in those conditions? Why not kick a high ball deep to put the pressure on Port’s defence and try and potentially get a stoppage. Was just dumb.

Bit of 2022 about us again this year. Beat up the poor sides and with our 2021 premiership we maintain a healthy reputation but we just can’t beat the better sides. Out-coached tonight just like Scott did to us in round 5. If you go in with a plan against Melbourne, you usually win.

Softest free and I just knew he’d kick it. FMD

May has actually been pretty good. Centre clearances are the most important thing in the game these days with the 6-6-6 and forward half game. Our coaches have spent no time on it this year because we’ve been [censored] all year and we haven’t looked to improve it.

Can’t see that being beaten this year, but can you believe the record is 10 by Stevie J? Although it might have been against us in the 186 game…

Obviously, like everyone on here I think we’ll win, however I don’t think it’ll be as big as the North win. I’m expecting an 8-10 goal win.

The club will definitely appeal based on the reasoning given. We'll be back talking about this Thursday night.

I thought Trac would have got votes for sure. Very interesting that he didn’t. No one can dispute Anderson though.

In: BB Out: Turner Spargo to be the sub.

Almost lost it at selection. As soon as Dew named Casboult it was clear we would have to make a late change to bring in another tall. The most obvious choice was probably bringing back Schache or BBB and send Petty back, but instead Goody has the bright idea of bringing in a second gamer who was overwhelmed. Petty ain’t a forward. He has no forward craft and when he does mark up the ground, he’s not a good enough kick inside fifty. At least Schache has a good leg on him in that regard. I actually didn’t think May was that bad. He kept King basically statless but he did let Chol take a couple of grabs when he was on him. My biggest take out from the game is that Petty needs to go back. The experiment is over. It should just be Schache, BBB and Tmac competing for that one spot. Also, the Suns are a good side. Wouldn’t be surprised if they make finals. For those saying we were lucky with the umps in the last qtr, maybe so, but geez we blew some chances. Fritsch missed two regulation shots and Trac completely burnt Grundy in the last few mins.

I’m not as optimistic as others on here. We’re short in defence and Dew has gone very tall which is a worry. If we beat them at the source we’ll be ok, but I worry that if they get on top with clearance it’s going to be a challenge for our defence. They haven’t beaten us since 2014. I hope that run continues but it’s going to end one day…

Because Gold Coast will stretch our defence. Bringing Casboult in is a ploy by Dew to stretch us. There's no way our tall forwards are going to be just JVR and Gawn. We've gone 3 talls up forward all year so I can't see Goody then throwing Petty down back to cover Chol or Lukosius. Also, Hibberd has a sore achilles

Where’s Spargo? Also, surely Hibberd is a late out and someone like Schache comes back in so Petty can go down back? Suns have got 3x 195cm+ forwards and they’ve brought in Casboult. Weather forecast also says it’ll be a dry game.

Wonderful interview. He spoke so openly and honest and didn't give us the usual media trained answers that we normally get from players.

With Collingwood looming as our greatest threat this year for another flag, how does he think our defensive system can nullify their fast ball movement and use of the corridor?

It’s happening!

I was at the game last night and I found the atmosphere very flat and almost eerily quiet for most of the match. I suppose that’s what happens when you nail 5 goals in the first few minutes against a team who is massive underdogs and everyone in the crowd thinks “ok this is going exactly to script”. I’m genuinely surprised any North fans stayed after halftime. After being really poor the last two weeks, they were horrible in the opening qtr.

Scintillating start to the game but you could tell Clarko wanted to limit the damage after qtr time with a possession heavy kick mark game. Yeah the last 3 goals were disappointing but the thing with footy is that it rarely ever goes your entire way. We were already 6 to zip that qtr before they got 3 quick ones. Regarding Schache, I feel like he gets another week. Some of his inside 50 kicks (especially the one to Fritsch in the first qtr) were very good. I know he’s still lacking mongrel, but I’m not sure BB or Tmac is the 2023 answer. 2023 is all about ground ball and Schache is much better than BB or Tmac in that area.

The leg rope given to Riewoldt makes sense if he’s marking it 60-70m out as May can then fold back and play as an interceptor, but there were also a few times when he gave Riewoldt significant meters ahead of him which allowed Riewoldt to take some pretty easy marks 30-40m mark. It was obvious that Richmond was using a tactic of lowering their eyes and not kicking in long but it seemed May was still hoping to take an intercept for a long kick and not paying any respect to Riewoldt. He should have been playing back shoulder on him when Richmond were going into their forward 50.

Yeah but he takes the kick outs most time so I’m not putting any weight to that stat.

I feel this needs its own thread. What the hell is going on with May? It’s not just this year I feel, the back half of 2022 he wasn’t the same either. For those who saw the replay of the game on Monday on Fox, there was a segment right near the end on Brayshaw mic’d up against Essendon right near the end. There were a couple of interactions between him and May, and it just seemed May is really lacking confidence. I’m not sure if it’s a niggle, old age, or a mental thing, but he’s just not the same player as he was in 2021 and the first half of 2022. it’s also getting a bit of media attention now.