Forest Demon

The Doggies gave us a lesson in what a dynamic balanced midfield looks like on Saturday. Yes, we need another winger, but I was just as impressed by the way their 3 mids quickly got the ball out of congestion with one or two quick handballs. They have Libba dishing it out to the likes of Bontempelli and Macrae who killed us. Hopefully Saturday was just a blip, as we saw improvement from our mids in the previous few weeks, but it needs to become the norm quick.

Defence is packed this year, which makes it tough. He is getting better and better though. If he stays on the park consistently over the next 3 or 4 years, he will be massive for us.

I’ve got a feeling they are preparing us for a Josh Wagner call up

Is Neal-Bullen available yet? I know he’s no world beater, but a runner playing forward who can clog up outlets seems pretty obvious given how easy the doggies moved the ball yesterday. I assume he has one more game left to serve?

Broken record, but I'd be after some more leg speed and class, especially around half forward and on the opposite wing to Langdon. Out: Preuss, Sparrow, Vandenberg, Hannan In: Gawn, Hunt, Rivers, either Bennell or Baker Harmes to take Sparrow's role and Rivers to play half back.

I was at the game yesterday and we were pretty comprehensively outclassed, some notes below. - Pressure from the forwards was terrible, they had so many options bringing it out, it was just a procession - They applied pressure in the middle to the likes of Petracca - every disposal was under duress and we didn’t cope - Their mids had great inside/outside balance, they just flicked a couple of handballs and they generated the cleanest of clearances with acres of space - May was fantastic, his body work always working his forward slightly under the ball before spoiling with real purpose - Harmes is being wasted, his current position plays to none of his strengths - Our goalkicking was terrible and we never looked confident, we could have been still in the hunt late if we had kicked straight - 3rd quarter was abysmal, no more to add - One point on the umpiring, not sure if it was raised by the commentators, but twice we got pinged for pushing in the back as they were kicking, and that’s fine, but how the hell can they both be down field when they were clealry in the kicking action? Both kicks were shanked due to the push. Summary: pressure our mids, be prepared to run, and you are a very very good chance of beating Melbourne.

100% need better balance still. I felt like we were starting to get it a bit better, but Goodwin went slowly back to preferring inside mids like Sparrow playing outside, and I made this exact point during team selection last week. Id rather see Baker get a crack, or if we don’t have the player on the list, we desperately need to bring more in (Tomlinson obviously isn’t the answer).

No answers to an opposition that runs and spreads...again. The amount of times they waltzed out of defence with limited pressure was incredibly frustrating.

When other teams get clearances against us, they waltz it out. And the defence from our forwards has been disgusting.

May has been massive so far

Huh? Probably 99% of posters on this site would be interested in how the opposition line up. Im not suggesting they are unbeatable, in fact, I think we will win, but looking at their ins, it’s worth nothing they are full strength now.

Doggies close to full strength, looking pretty solid across all lines.

I like Sparrow, but this would be my only change as well. And I want Hannan getting further up the ground like he did early against North.

Out of the 3 options of Gawn vs Preuss vs neither, I'll happily settle for this result.

Disagree with the order of the top 4 personally. Oliver ahead of Viney the most obvious change I would make.

Agree with most of the above. Trac is in. Oliver not in yet, but if his current form continues, he is in. Gawn in the squad, but unless they go a second ruck on the bench, I think he misses (at the moment). FWIW, I have Gawn ahead of Goldstein, he has dropped off pretty sharply imo.

That is actually crazy! Wonder how many after the siren shots to win we have missed over the years? It was only last year Weid missed against Adelaide for one.

Liked him more as a forward originally, but I think they have it right grooming him as the long term small defender. The 2 games I’ve been to live have shown me how quick he closes space, and he was running around like a mad man last night, in a good way.

Don’t think anybody is facing the axe, so it’s just a case of anyone who needs a rest, and whether Gawn is good to go. So who knows.

6 - Oliver - his last 3 weeks have been off the chart good 5 - Langdon 4 - Petracca 3 - Viney 2 - Lockhart 1 - Spargo

Feel like I’m the only Dees supporter in our section, surrounded by Pies. If I don’t post within an hour after the game....call the police.

Weather will be fine I think. Forecast had been showers all day with a storm later in the arvo. But we only had a bit of rain this morning, and it looks like we might get that little storm now. And then it should be dry the rest of the day.

Genuinely pumped for today’s game, and get to head along as an added bonus. Preussy’s big chance today. As far as his career goes, a performance against Grundy could put him in the shop window.

Collingwood still have plenty of quality out. Their side on paper doesn’t strike fear into me at all. Hopefully Pendlebury is underdone, he is absolutely top shelf. Moore and Maynard are both having very good years and our forwards will have to keep a very close eye on them.

Not a massive fan if I’m being honest. Lockhart for Rivers and keeping VDB instead of Hannan are both downgrades in class and ball use imo. And we don’t have much of it to start off with, particularly with Bennell still not selected. Not that I don’t rate those guys in the side, I just feel the balance is too much to the inside/contested side of things, but we all know that is Goodwin’s go.