John Demonic

TMAC streaming out of the centre square from the ruck contest and giving the handball to GREENY for the open goal and one fingered salute in the 3rd quarter of last years grand final. What a funny image.

Not sure how much credibility he has now that he is pursuing the hot take media route after flopping as a coach.

19-3 or 18-4?

I think in the long-run, we can be better for the period without him if we learn some alternative strategies that stand us in good stead. As you said, marking inside 50, looking for the more precise option, rather than the safer - When he returns, the habits we form, if we use this period wisely, will fit Max back into the forward line as 1 of 3-4 options in space, rather than be the centre of gravity again for a dump kick. Also centre clearances, we may not be as proactive and thus can work on reading the other ruckman, being more defensive and corralling opposition, When Gawn returns, we perhap can combine the two approaches and be far more resilient to opposition momentum swings - switching our approach to contain. The players that step up over this next month will be getting some invaluable experience that could Also stand them in good stead. Weideman and Jackson most notably. This could actually be a catalyst for Weid as a ruck/fwd, if we go with him, and boy does he need something like this for him to step up - and Jackson of course, gets to hone his craft further. I'm sure the next month will be very difficult, and we will be debilitated, but i think we match up well enough with Bris/Geel to come out even or win both, and we should be professional enough to just get it done over in Adelaide. What might help us is that I'm sure Bris/Geel have been doing 9 months of homework on how to beat us with Max lol, and that gets thrown out the window and introduces an element of randomness to our encounters, which could benefit us, in a weird kind of way. It's not going to be something sustainable, but it could be the kind of chaos that gets us a much needed win to keep us in the top 2 calculations. There was a segment on Wednesdays 360 with Montangna talking about how our mids have reverted to the 2019 style of bombing it long from 1 or 2 steps, instead of doing what we were doing earlier in the season and last, and running extra yards up to the 50-60 range and pin-pointing passes into the 50. Apparently Trac/Oliver for every inside 50, have only hit 2 marks out of 50 or so entries. I know the loading topic is floating around so far, but this seems like one aspect of our game we can tweak pretty easily that will radically help with the marks i50 if we are fit enough to improve there. Just trying to be positive about it though, this could all get thrown out the window if we don't respond positive/creatively to the opportunities there for the taking in the next month.

Even though we hate to admit it, the domino effect Steven May's omission has had on us defensively and collective-defensively is an issue we will only be able to assess over the next few months. And tbh I look forward to it. Rance went down and Grimes stepped in. May goes down, and no one steps up, we lose 3 games. But If May comes back in, and we instantly click back into gear and win the premiership over the next few months, then it won't be a slight on us, but a recognition that we are truly living in the time of a great CHB, the likes of which a player can be compared to a Wayne Carey on the defensive end. If you told a North supporter in the 90's, No Carey no North, they'd answer with "No [censored] Sherlock" - I really don't mind if this was us, for May. Long way to go yet. Obviously.

I'm not too worried about Lever. He is absolutely at the mercy of what happens up the ground. Sure he makes a few glaring mistakes that stand out, but so would all players that aren't at the AA level of a Steven May type - Perhaps we need to re-adjust our expectations. Lever is only 15 months older than Weideman, when you consider how Lever has basically kept his spot in the team on merit for the past 5 years, that's a pretty extraordinary effort. The real story here is not Lever, but how fantastic Petty has been over the past season and continues to grow, overshadowing Lever. If we can get May & Petty back into the team as our foundations down back, then we can worry about whether Lever or Smith take that 3rd tall role, and how much/if any of their mistakes are mitigated by all of our other key pillars.

That was infuriating until he actually saved it. I honestly thought the dancing on the line would prevent him from being nimble enough to jump left or right. Whatever works!

Perhaps it could be clearer: time and dedication to the 2nd tall KPF role in place of Mitch Brown or Weid, with minor stints in the ruck. He would have the next 3 months to hone his marking craft and leading patterns alongside Ben Brown. At the very least he's contesting and bringing it to ground more often that not. I believe he's had close to zero time in that role, save for a few matches earlier last year when I think BBB and Weid were both injured.

So you're both saying he halves every contest and brings the ball to ground... A big improvement currently on everyone bar Max. A problem far lower in the pecking order of current ones needing fixing. With time and dedication to the one forward role, he might even fix it in front of our eyes in the next 3 months.

Not one to make excuses, but I think unless Collingwood are going through a rebuild like North, the QB match (and the follow up) - will always be one of our toughest games of the year, no matter where we are on the ladder. It's the only solace I'll take looking ahead, after that final quarter. Along with May returning. If you looked at the fixture at the start of the year, you'd think we'd be more likely to beat Brisbane and Geelong, than we were to beat Collingwood & Sydney. Traditionally far better matchups for us, fresh after the bye. Let's hope the team comes out hungry and fit.

He looks like he has the body and aerial capabilities to at least give a forward role a go, like Petty. If Turner and Petty have great games, Mitch Brown has a stinker, May returns, and Weid doesn't get picked then; We could move one of Disco or Petty into the forward line and have the ability to swing them back if needed.

Why the nickname Disco?

Ok Mick Warner

Also remember this classic:

We'll murder them inaccurately 14-18-102 5-10-40

Edit: I guess it suggests Petty will go down to the line re fitness.

The team with the bye each week can live stream a dinner party with 5 selected players (1 leader and 4 fringe) - with pre-selectrd topics to discuss/confront each other over. At the end of the dinner, one player will be voted off the seniors list.

I wonder how long until the story involves a dwarf being set on fire.

May is finished. It's June

If Pig Hibberd and Harmes were there too, it must've been some dinner 'party'

The development of JVRs game in the seniors for a few weeks/months might outweigh the marginally better output we get by adding in players without a future. We can carry an underperforming Forward like Ben Brown because he has the highest ceiling, but there's no use carrying two. We may as well develop somebody instead.

Loading as in we're building up our stores, until we shoot our load in the latter half of the year?

This could be the go. We only need a contest. Jackson has been marking well at half forward, but the next stage of his evolution, could be doing it against their 2nd tall closer to goal. Then we can have Bedford and Pickett together zipping around menacingly at their feet, and providing intense defensive pressure on the rebound.

Blind Freddy can see that we need a pack busting KPF with TMAC out of the team. If not Daw, then we perhaps need to re-visit Gawn/Jackson being the 2nd tall KPF/ruck relief, resting in the forward line while the other one rucks, and bringing in another small forward like Bedford or Chandler that can give us more defensive pressure and also come up into the midfield to help out.. So it's the 4/2 system. Although really its 3/3 as Fritsch plays that 3rd tall marking forward.

Sam Reid surely gets the gong for the Kent Kingsley Award for Spuds who perform well against us. Might've been one of the all time great KKA performances. A performance worthy of a starting gig in our forward line. If only we had the mid season trade period...