leave it to deever

Thanks for this but I really think our forward line has also been hampered by factors other than our own making. Bbb's back injury. Frittas injury that kept him out for the first 2 games I think, may still be problematic. Tmac's ankle/ foot and Kozzie getting himself suspended ( well I guess that was our own making). Also Max and Grundy were planned to go fwd and this was shot down by Max's knee injury. I dare say if we were injury free or Bbb and or Tmac were playing like they did in 21 ( well the first half for Tmac and the second for Bbb), we would be sitting in top spot. Seeing Petty play on Saturday really showed what a difference a dynamic forward makes to our results . In one half he had 6 mark and 2 goals. Extrapolate this to a forward with 12 marks and four goals is something that has really been missing for us this year barring Bbb who kicked 8 in his first two. I'm excited about the progress of Jvr but he's still developing. Schache didn't really show anything imho to feel the same about. Smith has been around for a while now and the club doesn't seem to have shown much faith in him. I know he's bee plagued by injuries. Without Petty being a successful option our season will be influenced significantly by what goes on with Bbb/ Tmac. I guess I'm just venting that we really do miss an established tall fwd who can crash packs and significantly increase our contested marking. The Gcs game marking differential really stood out. This was something Tmac was really good at playing chf. I remember how excited were all were when Bbb was recruitied and we were ruminating on the delightful dilemma of Weid, Tmac and Bbb. I just hope Bbb comes in and takes his chances. Have always been a huge fan of Tmac but it seems as if his body is really letting him down.

Oh. Well thanks for the ....

Thanks Mr or Mrs gentle refreshing light breee. I definitely want Rivers in the middle more often but Salo there could be interesting. One of the things I do like about CS in defence is how often he finds a teamate so accurately by foot .

I think you should change your name to Scoop.

Ideally Salo comes back in and allows Gus to play in the middle.

Sorry FT, where do they each play? Is Bbb or whoever comes in, at Ff and Jvr at Chf? I see Jvr as someone with a lot of pace and stamina and see him playing at Chf better.

Good observations. Both our backlines and forward lines have never been settled. Alas though, the problem continues. On paper our injuries don't look that huge but every week from the start we have had our best players hit with something.

Thank the other Bbb. Would love to Salo back in but I'm not sure he will come back without any game time at Casey. Maybe you were thinking in the coming weeks. The 5 by Milkshake was pretty good. Maybe he should be the sub again.

Agreed re Bbb being in good form. From memory he started his 2 games very well with 4 goals a piece and one in the tough lions game b4 taken off. Effectively up the around top of the Coleman despite the small sample. He would be my first choice but maybe still being managed. I still have hope Petty can play forward again but the reality is our season now desperately needs one of your 4 mentioned to take their chances and play to their best. How wonderful if one " gets up"and we even have the luxury of sending Mr Petty down back again. Our talls up fwd our in a real state of flux now, given that Jvr while good is still an unknown quantity so to speak at 8 games. Adds another dimension to an already very interesting game.

Telling stat. Really surprised. And we have had some talented forwards in these years. With our fwd line depleted by injuries, form and experiments, it's remarkable the 100 plus ones this year. As much as I would love a ff kicking 4 a week, it's good we have such a spread of players hitting the board.

Nice post. Yea Petty played a ripper. His marking and ground coverage was as good as it gets . And agreed the Hawks fired up with him absent. I don't think Schache is the best option. Regardless of who we pick they are going to struggle and our expectations shouldn't be high. It's a big game too. I think Max really has to spend as much time as possible up fwd and Reg there when he's not. Maybe Harmes in for Sparrow who may be able to pinch hit up forward at times and Tmac or Bbb as our best choices for Petty. Given Tmac was named an emergency last week, I suspect he will get the gig. Some have argued that the positive is this will give them a good block of games to run into some form. Ideally though with our toughest games coming up its probably bad timing. I was really excited by Petty's form against the Hawks but alas I need to let it go. (Footy barracking is a cruel mistress). But obviously worse for the players. I would also like to see Rivers spend more time in the guts. He's been rotated through before and was very good. His post high goal kicked on the 50 off two steps was remarkable. Maybe Gus some time there as well. We really need to step up and dominate the centre clearances. Its been an issue and Port will always capitalise on our failings. These 2 rotations could give Viney or Trac a few spells up fwd to maybe sneak in a couple of sge rolls. It's set for greaay conditions apparently, so we really just need to get the ball to ground and hope our smalls and Fritta can do the bulk of scoring. Fritta seems on the ascendancy again and I keep thinking Kozzie and Chandler are due to kick quite a few. Jvr is ticking along nicely and I imagine we would be in a deeper pickle ( sorry for the mixed metaphor but the neighbour's dog was barking all 6loddy night) if we didn't challenge his penalty. Well played again Mfc. Either Jj, Dunstan ( is he injured) or Milk as the sub, the latter being a better option to help our depleted forward line. Not to take away anything from all our wins but this is a huge challenge against a top four side at their home full of crazy umpire swaying maniacs. A good litmus test for us. It's always so sweet winning over there. Please footy God's we beseech thee once again .May our feet kick true, the ball always bounce right, the reviews go our way and we take our 4 points and get the hell back home again.

Helped get JFK across the line too. https://youtu.be/C21r3qfRk4Y

The sad Irony is how good he was playing on Saturday with 6 marks and 2 goals for half a game.

With Petty out can we change this thread title to... Dees are doing it tough again.

A brave person who owns to dachshunds.

On paper yes but we have been hit by injuries from the get go and our structures have never really had a chance to settle.Notwithstanding our current ones we can include: Fritta, May, Tmac, Bbb, Max, Spargo , Hibbo and Petty ( earlier).

Our flag hopes have been challenged by the loss of 2 key fwds in Tmac and bbb. So we use Petty as a successful alternative. Now he's gone. Make that 3 key fwd options down. It makes it harder. But maybe depending on Tmac and Bbb was the mistake in the first place or at least a big risk.

So much sheer luck involved in winning a flag. This isn't necessarily going to stop us but it's a significant dent to our chances if we're honest He's a forward we robbed our backline for and played his best game last Sat. Now this. Jvr is still developing and we have been exposed up forward big time. Not great to say the least. Really it's up to Tmac and Bbb now. Maybe Smith. Hmmmm. Ps it's a good thing we fought for Jvr.

Um if I recall, it was your soft indecision bw two similar chocolate treats that have caused 10 pages of "test"

It's a 50 50 for me. I agree his arms were not pinned but he was still slung. There was no injury from what we know so he probably gets off. But we all know it's a different time now with pending litigation and optics. Not saying we shouldn't appeal it ( I don't think the club will) but that we will probably have to get used to seeing more of these being looked at.

It's a good sign we haven't seen this thread for a while.

From what Mcvee has shown thus far, I think we cam all be confident he will continue improving.And thank goodness Hibbo is back. He is not showing his age at all. I'm not sure if it's our biggest hole though. I worry about missing another tall up fwd but with Petty's form on the weekend, feel a little less concerned. I hope he's OK.

Sorry I can't help but I just wanted to say that I love your optimism. Wouldn't a Dees v Pies gf be fantastic with a flag finally won at the G.

I'm sure we could but most of us are still recovering from JVRgate.

Yep good call except I guess JJ in now with Sparrow suspended. From the footage it did look dangerous. Maybe Bbb or J. Smith the sub. Spargo is an interesting one. He always seems to grab a goal for us at such critical times and his disposal is elite. The issue is his clear lack of possessions. He stays in for his goal power but would love to see him more involved.