SFebes

Well....its starting to get interesting at the top. Dees win a must then tick off NM next week. Port has Cats at Kardinia Park next week While Lions have Fremantle in WA who may be up and about after todays win. 2nd spot? We shall see.....

4 games and you'd say 4 upsets so far. Lets hope Crows get up.

One more would be sweet and that is the Crows beating Port.

I wonder how Grundy will go learning “forward craft” when we will have Grundy, BBB, Schache and Jefferson all playing in the same team. A nightmare for all involved

There's been a big swing towards this stuff from people.

The wrong one unfortunately

I don't think North is as bad as what they are playing. They have some pretty handy kids to build a team around in Larkey, Xerri, Sheezel, Davies-Uniacke, Harvey, Simpkin, Zurhaar and Wardlaw. Plus arguably the greatest coach ever, they'll come good soon enough.

@Redleg, @beelzebub What ever happened to the bananas?

Apparently its Hinkley himself who wants Grundy, unsure where Port as a club sits on those wants and needs though.

I'm aware of that. There are also loads of examples where this doesn't happen as well.

Interesting changes and non-changes again. I'm also in the Brown camp that I was hoping he'd come good but obviously a liability. I do think he adds us structure though and you can see that by his leading patterns, a lot of his work is underrated. He may not kick goals but he does draw defenders to vulnerable positions which opens things up for Petracca, Melksham and Pickett and his leads are mostly in that high percentage area in front, not on the boundary. Petty forward doesn't excite me and I don't see the hype here, he's a key part of our defence. Desperation stakes trying to turn a key back into a forward when they're so valuable to our defence. I thought I'd seen the last of Harmes tbh and Spargo, who is another who is overrated by some. He used to make good decisions but is a rabbit in the headlights this year. Dunstan deserved his chance, he's there to cover a Sparrow or Viney. I guess the writing is on the wall for him. Grundy can't have learned "forward craft" in one VFL game. Goodwin just playing the media with naming him each week. Anyway, the team selection continue to puzzle weekly. I would not think Hibberd is an automatic selection either.

Well, you just can't learn forward craft in one VFL game. I think he'll play a part in finals, but you can't deny we have played better without him. Bit of a goal posts have changed scenario and no fault of Brodie's really. He's a number one ruckman, not a part timer or forward.

That is correct Grr-owl. However it should only be used when there are no options available, not a continuous go-to each time. If we can slow it down, calculate at times of "perceived pressure" it would be unstoppable. However that's on the players.

Apparently the lads call him the "magician", must have something to do with his skills perhaps? Any info on that?

Commentators made a note of May putting the ball on the ground before kicking long up the centre, has anyone gone back and taken a look into this? I feel (have for a while now) that kick-ins are definitely an area we can improve a lot in. Imagine if Grundy had Gawns capabilities in overhead marking, that's where this duo could really be an advantage with kick-ins.

Thanks TU, great explanation there. I guess it's also impossible to gauge confidence and momentum anyway, hence your bolded part. I'll take a look into that account this evening and look more into it. I think I'll just look at it from a goalkicking perspective rather than an overall performance/win-loss scenario. Cheers for the info.

Gday Frap - Just out of curiosity, is the "expected score" a constant in-game changing evidence based data set? ie; also, how can it predict what could have happened had Adelaide not kicked 1.8 to start the game, is it just a best guess? Does it factor confidence/momentum? They also missed some easy shots in close as well. All I was saying was in reference to people who say if we kicked straight in the last, if Crows kicked straight it's a totally different ball game. ps: "expected score" is not something I have used but I have noticed quite a few discrepancies with how its portrayed so would like to learn more about it.

Can't disagree with any of that really. Credit where its due re Goodwin/changes, however still plenty to improve to be a real chance at the pointy end. Exactly how I see where we are at.

They also started the game with 1.8, so it would have been a different game anyway.

Nobody is saying Adelaide are a bad side. What some of us are saying is that we played poorly at times, even when not under pressure. Poor decision making, bombing into 50 again, passing into the pockets earlier in the game, 1m handballs and lack of tackling pressure. We are still a work in progress which was evident for half a game last week as well as other recent games. It's always the same issues. Anyway, hopefully things gel for longer periods very soon. Great last quarter by Viney and you cant doubt the spirit of the players not to give in, its just skill errors and execution.

Got to say, it was a pretty disappointing performance. Need to be a lot better than that. Will take the win and forget about it. Very strange game.

Leading wide into the pockets as usual. Especially when there is space free

Terrible ball use

You mean Collingwood with Cox who has always been a forward? Or Port with Dixon who's always been a forward? Or Brisbane with Daniher who has always been a KPF? Ahhhh 2021..... What did Geelong do last year? Oh thats right, they had Hawkins....who also plays as a full time forward. See the trend here? We need a KPF (who already knows the forward craft, unlike Grundy) who can then chop out in the ruck. We don't need two "A" grade ruckmen, who struggle forward. Anyway enough from me, I'm off overseas. Cheerio

Goodwin can say what he likes but playing 2 x A Grade ruckmen is just silly. One takes away from the other. I still believe we should be looking down the path of a KPF (one who actually knows how to play forward) to chop out in the ruck (a mostly overrated position IMO). Our problem is forward connection, Grundy does not improve that, nor do I think he will. It seems like Grundys main role is to bring the ball to ground and compete (probably sticking with the bombing it in). A half decent KPF will lead and knows their craft, which is most of the issue with our forward line. One only has to see all the flat footed players at times. I also have no faith in Stafford of all people, to teach a 29yo, forward craft in a week or two at VFL level - especially with a 14v14 practice match. Those who have played forward will know what I mean. At the end of the day, the unspoken thing about all of this is that Grundy has actually done nothing wrong, his ruck work has been pretty good this year I reckon. It has been the FD's oversight and Max's own form in the forward 50 that has let him down. I'm pretty sure the original pitch was that Max would play predominantly forward. With spring approaching and dry September days, I hope the combination works wonders. At some point Max has to let go, I think he is struggling to do that, but we saw last Friday night that his value as sole ruck is priceless. Give me that approaching finals over trying to extend his career. Also, some of the hysteria from supporters re the media is quite shocking. When you realise, everyone has an opinion and the media is there to generate conversation and traffic through websites it's like water off a ducks back. Everyone has an opinion, sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, who really cares. Also, ex players, even champions of the game, have a lot more knowledge of things than any of us. With the potential for BBB, TMAC not getting back to their best and the likelihood of Max and Brodie not working forward of centre, I do hope we are looking at a KPF to bring into our system to grow with JVR.