At the break of Gawn

I haven’t read much of the VFL write up, but I think: In: Lever, Hunt Out: Tomlinson, Rivers. We need someone seriously quick for Frederick and Hunt is the obvious choice. Hibberd will take Walters.

Surely you are the most optimistic supporter on here @binman - I need to see us win the next three before I’m thinking about b2b.

I was at the game last night and it was clear from the second half that they were going to win. They started to dominate clearance and started to win the territory battle. We have been poor most of the year from transitioning out of our d50 which is why clearances are our most important stat because it allows us to generate high inside 50s and repeat entries. We only stayed afloat in the 2nd half from a few plucky centre clearance goals and that’s it. This game was so similar to the Collingwood game it isn’t funny. Once they started to dominate territory it was only a matter of time before the damn wall broke and they started converting. Exactly like the Pies did on QB. A few other key take outs from me: - The Dogs play Marvel really well and they move the ball very quickly there which allows them to play a shoot out sort of game. Their defence isn’t good enough to hold good teams back so a shoot out is there strength. We as a team are poor against teams that move the ball so quickly because we don’t get enough time to structure up properly. That’s why clearances and territory is so important for us. - The Dogs are the best clearance side in the AFL. It’s not a surprise to me that we lost clearances. - The dogs are a good side. They’ve turned the corner a bit and have pretty much a full strength side. Bont going back into the middle and pushing Treloar to half back has been pivotal for them. I expect them to finish in the top 8, and we know they can win it from anywhere. -No Lever really stuffed up some of our structure behind the ball. - A little bit like the Geelong game, that result is a bit of an anomaly for us. We don’t let teams score like that. I’m sure we’ll fix that up next week. - I’m actually thrilled our forward line is humming a bit. Yes we only scored 30 points in the second half, but we had pretty limited opportunities due to the dogs locking it in. - Oliver and Petracca lowered the colours a bit. I expect a huge response next week across the board. - We will beat Freo next week. They are poor at moving the ball, they’re a slow ball moving side and our smallish forward line will trouble them. Lobb likely out, Fyfe is out and we’re playing at arguably one of our favourite venues. - I wouldn’t bring Ben Brown back next week. I think Weid is a better match up for Pierce/Ryan. - And finally… we can still miss the 8. If we lose all our remaining games, Dogs win all of their games and Richmond win all of their games then we finish 9th. (I’ll probably be barracking for Geelong next week to knock off the dogs)

Can’t believe Gawn getting so many votes. I felt English beat him around the ground and kicked 2 on him.

Sensible changes and predicted by many on here.

Yes it’s possible that Daisy was initially appointed her boundary rider gig a few years ago primarily on a quota thing, but since then she has done such a tremendous job it was impossible not to promote her into the box for special comments as she provided so much more insight than likes of Ling/Richo etc. Just for fun, here is my special comments ranking from first to last (Tv only) Bucks Dunstall Lewis Bartel Jones Daisy Riewoldt King Hodge Lyon Brown Carey Richo Healey Watson Dermott Matthews

You have no idea what Goodwin values if you think that. Had 5 forward half tackles including some great run downs.

Laughable that people are suggesting Fritsch to be dropped. You don’t drop your leading goal kicker and a guy who has a good record against the Dogs. Melksham won’t get dropped. He’s going to be a permanent fixture I think in this 2 tall set up. His tackling was great and he usually has good vision. In: Oliver, Petty Out: Bedford, Tomlinson (unless Lever is injured)

Thank god for Kozzy Pickett. He literally dragged us over the line in one of the best individual performances all year We’re still not firing on all cylinders and got beaten in pretty much all the key stats. Got smashed around the ball again and in clearances. Had a low inside 50 count, it was really just the class of Kozzy, a bit of BB and Fritsch that got us over the line. Also, watching first crack earlier and Montagna is convinced that we’ve decided on the 2 tall set up. 2 talls (Brown and Gawn/Jacko), 2 medium sized (Fritsch and Melksham (had 7 tackles)), and 2 smalls (Kozzy and Spargo/AnB). We had the most amount of marks inside 50 in ages and our forward pressure was good for once.

Never rated us all last year until 4th qtr of the grand final. Reigning premier this year and still doesn’t rate us.

Haven’t won a clearance with Jackson in the ruck. Has been horrible with his connection.

We’re cooked. Would have rather this game at Adelaide Oval.

Just have to win today. If we lose we’re pretty much back to the rest of the pack and top 4 is in real danger. Genuinely nervous someone like Rozee or Boak will run riot.

Those who blame the jumper are just being ridiculous and superstitious. Wouldn’t have mattered what jumper we wore last week, we still would have lost.

If you look at last year, Geelong were absolutely flying at this point in time too. They had won 10 of their past 11 but it was around early August things started to turn awry for them. They struggled to get over North Melbourne, then they lost to the GWS at home, almost lost to a really lowly Saints side and then got overrun by us at home. By the time finals had started they were cooked and Port destroyed them and they never really recovered. With them going so well at the minute it wouldn’t surprise me that they’ve mistimed their training loads again and stumble in September.

I think if our game is in good shape as Goodwin has said, we’ll bounce back against Port and also account for the Dogs the week after. Freo onwards and we’re pretty much playing a finals series before the finals series and we’ll really get to know if we’re any chance of going b2b. FWIW I having a sneaky feeling we’ll beat Freo. They’ve struggled to move the ball at times and score. I can’t see them doing what they did to us again earlier in the season.

Listening to Jordan Lewis on this last night and I have doubts Jacko will ever fulfill his potential. He’s a very laidback sort of person and not someone who’s a competitive beast like Max or Oliver. Similar to how we turned the Hogan trade into securing the missing piece of our premiership backline, we need to use this Jackson trade as an angle to secure an elite key contested marking forward.

Just like we did last year with BB, we need to commit to Weid. Why sign him up if we’re not going to play him? Give him the rest of the season to show us what he’s capable of.

Settle down. Hawkins didn’t kick a goal on him (his one goal was on Gawn). May’s intercept game relies on our territory game and we got smashed in that. If you want to point the finger, point it at Gawn/Jackson and the mids.

Game was won and lost in the clearances. Cats went to homework on our clearance game and smashed us. Also, we just over-possessed the ball at the stoppage and ended up inviting the pressure. Players like Atkins loves a tackle more than anything.

Interesting Selwood said they feel like they were running on top of the ground. Sounds like they’ve timed their loading well. Better than us, anyway…

Doing pretty well to be only 4pts behind. We haven’t had momentum all night. Get some control and I reckon we can power away.

This anonymous Twitter account which I think is run by a former AFL umpire rates every game from an umpiring perspective and also comments on controversial decisions. This was his take on Saturday’s game.

Oliver likely to win b2b coaches awards is rare air. I think Ablett Jnr was the last player to do so.

I just can’t see them matching Oliver, Petracca and Viney. Our dynamic and more powerful midfield was the reason in the PF and it’ll be the difference once again. Thank god, all 3 of them are in ripping form. Biggest threat is Jeremy Cameron. If Petty can tighten up on him we’ll be golden.