At the break of Gawn

I feel like we rarely win games like that so it was such a nice change to be the one who stole it as opposed to being stolen against. When I woke up this morning had to check again that it wasn’t a dream and we really did come back and win it. The Rnd 23 2021 win will always be my favourite come from behind win but last night is right up there. Reminiscent of the 2000 QF victory.

How did Gawn not give the handball?

Best thing Fagan ever did was get rid of Rich. All of a sudden Lions aren’t exposed in the back half for lack of leg speed.

Losing way too many one on one contests at the moment.

The Lions were terrible defensively last year. They’ve tightened up a fair bit since then. I’m not sure if this was covered in the podcast as I haven’t listened to it this week, but what was the main reason of us going more of a controlled style of play last week? Lots of uncontested marks, lots of switching etc. I wonder if that was because Goody realised the high forward press was causing too many poor repeat entries. I wonder if Goody is trialling more scores from defensive half chains so we can get better looks inside 50. We absolutely need to nail clearances and contested possession this week which we were poor at last week. Our forward 50 contested possession rate is still abysmal so I hope we can also improve that.

So clearly not a fatigue issue based on Richo’s comments. Just wondering why isn’t Schache getting a look in? He’s probably in better form and is a better ruck option than JVR.

The Saints threw everything at us in the first qtr and we took it well. I expect us to run away with this in the second half.

Next Friday’s weather isn’t looking great which makes this game even more important.

We’ve won 8 of our past 11 and 4 of our last 5 at Marvel. With the injuries the Saints have, and all the pressure on us during the week, I’m expecting a 5 goal win. Marvel is actually pretty convenient for me as I live on the west side so I’m making the trip tonight to the soulless stadium.

What is going on with Oliver? This seems totally mismanaged.

No way Petty forward. Let’s leave our back 6 settled. I’d give Schache a go, at least he can nail a set shot.

I just don’t think the forward half intercept game is working anymore. We’re too pressed up leading to repeat entries that are just so poor quality. There’s no quality entries at all. What makes matters worse is that if the opposition wins it back they have loads of space and have easier opportunities. Goodwin and co need to bring the defenders back more. The press is just too high and it’s killing our forward entries.

I’d be happy if Goody even just did one of these. I think Dees in a close one (around 10pts). GWS are playing good footy and I don’t think it’ll be a walk in the park at all with the difficult conditions.

We did drop Spargo though. I think the balance is right now as usually one of those 3 are on the bench.

I think it’s a real danger game for us. If this game was at the MCG on Sunday (forecasted to be dry) I’d be very confident. But in Alice where it’s going to be wet, I feel like this a game where GWS could pull a rabbit out of the hat and Green kick 5 goals to sink us.

I like the changes but I wouldn’t be surprised if our final tall forward set up in 6 weeks time is Brown, JvR, Fritsch and the resting ruck.

Wouldn’t be far fetched at all to lose to a GWS team on the rise in the wet. A bit of Cairns 2.0 about it.

I’d love to know if part of our inaccuracies are due to where are shots are from? I concede that in the Collingwood game we missed some howlers, but I wonder if overall we’re having more shots from difficult angles, the pockets etc. I recall that in the first few rounds of the season we had a lot of good looks from the corridor where as the last 5-6 weeks we’ve definitely gone wider and have had more poorer entries due to repeat entries.

I’d actually argue that in those wet games it was when it turned dry our game fell away. For example we got up to a 3 goal lead against Port and I think it would have stayed that way if the rain had continued. When it dried up in the last, Port got on top. On Thursday night, when it dried up in the last, Geelong got on top. Even against Essendon, most of the damage was done in the first half when it wasn’t raining.

I think the ruck and clearance work is the best in the comp with these two and it was a real difference against Cox and Cameron. The problem is though, our other forwards aren’t kicking enough and it’s too difficult to carry both Max and Grundy when they’re barely hitting the scoreboard. Unless JvR, Smith, Kozzy and Chandler up their goal average we’ll need to make a change with these two.

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.

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

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