SFebes

I'm leading the tipping and have 2 so far. Which is GWS and Adelaide. I almost pulled the trigger on Gold Coast (Brisbane looked tired last week) and wish I'd picked the Blues (that one annoys me as I should have picked them). re GWS, they are on a roll and have top end talent, sometimes momentum and confidence does bloody wonders hey! I must also say that I'm happy to get Geelong wrong as I cannot stand them.

Today we just need to get the win and move on. Things I'm particularly interested in and on watch today are: 1. Forward connection with JVR and Petty, a close watch for me. We need some continuity now at round 20. 2. I'd like us to take the game on and switch more, play more exciting footy so we can "flick the switch" when needed. Tempo. 3. Forward 50 entries from our mids & half forwards, lowering the eyes. The backs and mids will take care of themselves more often than not so the above I will be playing close attention to.

It was pretty easy to read BA, look at their form line and who they've beaten in the last 7 odd weeks.

When you look at the video from the AFL website in this link, it looks pretty clear that Aliirs head was hit? https://www.afl.com.au/news/988640/-very-very-comfortable-ken-backs-doc-s-call-after-sickening-head-clash

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.