titan_uranus

Have to look at Jones, Hannan, vandenBerg, Pickett, Spargo and OMac (depending on Sydney's structure). With so many mid/small forwards on the chopping block, surely now is the chance to get Harmes back into that half of the ground? Fritsch also gets one of those spots. TMac doesn't get back for Brown (or anyone else). Wagner holds his spot, I think. Lockhart replaces Hibberd if Hibberd's injured. If he gets up, not sure what we do with Lockhart. He probably misses again.

Would have only been two if it wasn't for Jones. It's harsh, but regrettably true.

6 - May 5 - Petracca 4 - Langdon 3 - Lever 2 - Salem 1 - Oliver

The backline was incredible. We got shown up by the Dogs last week in terms of defending the width of the ground but we clearly lifted today. May should get 3 Brownlow votes. Lever and Hibberd weren't far behind. Rivers played well too.

We just beat a top 4 contender with about 8 passengers. That could define our season.

May's kicking is fine, Lever's is improving, so is Langdon's. But yes, they (along with Hibberd) are standing out when so many others are struggling. 19-20 clearance count.

May, Lever, Hibberd and Langdon, along with Petracca's 3 goals, have been immense. So many passengers. vandenBerg 4 touches 0 tackles. Pickett 4 touches 0 tackles. Viney 5 touches. Spargo 6 touches 1 tackle. Hannan 6 touches 0 tackles.

I can't believe we won that quarter. The turnovers are through the roof. But reality is, we won the quarter and we're still in front. Big test here. No Hibberd hurts twice - in our top 3 tonight, and we're a rotation down. Season on the line sort of stuff. Let's see if we can hold on.

Sorry Wise, he's been poor. Harmes, surely, can do better in that spot on the ground.

Rubbish, we had a 14 point lead on a side no one expects us to beat with 47 seconds left. This isn't coaching, this is player errors.

No it wasn't. We built our lead through clearance and CP winning. When we stopped doing that, they got the momentum back. We are capable of controlling the game, but it's not going to happen if Viney, Brayshaw and Oliver exert no influence on the game.

This is true tonight, and has been for a while now. May, Salem and Hibberd are our three leading possession getters. Their goals are coming from free kicks (not against the defenders) and turnovers up the ground. The last one was a rush of blood and a lot of luck, but the door was opened by Jones. We should have been slowly moving the ball down the wing.

We dominated the first half of the second quarter for one goal. Then we lapsed and let them back in. But even then, 47 seconds to go and we had a 14 point lead. And Jones had a free kick. His decision to kick across goal was abysmal. Coach-killing, abysmal football. We opened the door and then Jones welcomed them straight through it. Too many good players down, again: Viney 4, Brayshaw 4, Oliver 7, Petracca 8.

We were down 0-3 and then 3-6 in clearances but finished the quarter 8-8. The midfield battle is crucial. We had Jones on a wing at one stage, which isn't my ideal wing line up.

That quarter turned when we got on top in the middle. We clearly have the ability to move the ball and find scoring options against their defence. Need to stay on top in the middle.

I have no confidence at all. In theory, we can win this. That theory is that our midfield gets on top, our forwards make the most of St Kilda's relatively poor backline, and our zone returns to what it was prior to last week. If we can get the game played in our forward half and we ramp up the brutality around the contest, we can win. But reality suggests we'll either lose in the middle, or turn it over in our forward line, and watch them burst away from our turnovers with pace that we cannot match, with an open forward line (because we'll be pushing up the ground) and goals out the back left right and centre. I think that's what gets me the most. Not necessarily the sinking feeling that we'll lose, but the feeling that I can predict precisely how this game is going to play out. PS: our season doesn't end with a loss (unless we shed too much percentage). A final four of Sydney, Fremantle, GWS and Essendon presents us with a solid chance to go 3-1 and get us to 9 wins at worst. IMO, our season is set up beautifully with a win, but we're not done with a loss.

Two of their last three are away. They'll finish the season with 7 games at the Adelaide Oval and 10 somewhere else. Hardly complaint material.

There have been plenty of comments that the players love Goodwin and they trust him, though. I mean, for all of Goodwin's flaws as a coach, he's generally been able to connect with the players. I don't think he's got it right with Harmes but you can imagine Harmes saying to a mate "Goody's not listening to me" and the rumour spreads from there. Harmes' 2020 is a fail from Goodwin either way.

I suspect this is from a source connected with Harmes? If so, whilst this could all be true, it could also be the way Harmes is perceiving the situation, and the reality may not be as severe. If it is true, I think it's an awful call from Goodwin. It's bad enough that we can't find room for him in the midfield (Sparrow's been getting minutes there this year - so it can't simply be a lack of opportunities), but IMO Harmes is far better suited to a forward role than defence.

I think St Kilda leave King deep and push Membrey up the ground more. So presumably we've brought OMac back to stay with King as the deeper defender and let May follow Membrey up the ground. Lever then peels off the resting ruckman. Tomlinson pushes up to the wing and has to make Hill/Jones accountable on transition by opening up as much space as he can. I'm still not convinced by any of the arguments I've read here about why Lockhart was dropped. I don't even think he's been average/poor, I think he's been solid, and against a side with small forwards, and having had a seven day break, I just don't see the logic here. Can we say all three? Predominantly I say he shouldn't be in the backline. Goodwin's got form for getting this wrong (Fritsch last year). But Harmes is talented enough to be able to influence games more than he has been.

Dogs were two down on the bench for the second half, which I'm sure hurt. However it happened, that result helps us. Dogs have to win out to get to 10. They have West Coast, Hawthorn and Fremantle. If they lose once more this year, they can't do better than 9 wins and we currently have 11% on them. The fact that we're only a game behind them but we have two extra games to play really helps us. If we can somehow win tomorrow, we'll be so much closer to ensuring we finish the season above the Dogs. Will then only need to make sure we outpace Essendon and Carlton from there. If the Dogs had won tonight, our path would have been significantly harder.

Rivers is an upgrade on Harmes. Not necessarily Lockhart.

I just cannot fathom why Lockhart has been dropped. Is there something more to that? Absolutely flabbergasted, and that’s got nothing to do with my views on OMac and Wagner either.

On the face of it... I don’t like it. Lockhart dropped?! Horrendously harsh IMO, the more so given he was surely a good match up for Butler.

Add Fritsch and that's five changes (unless we keep Preuss - but I don't like our chances if we do that).