titan_uranus

Starting with Sparrow in the middle and Fritsch on a wing. Brayshaw on the bench.

Weideman 1 (no marks), Hannan 1 (1 mark), Jackson 3 (no marks), Pickett 4, Melksham 4 (1 mark), TMac 4 (3 marks), Fritsch 6 (2 marks). 18 inside 50s for 1 mark inside 50.

Selection not looking great at the moment. We drop Jetta for Sparrow, send Harmes into the backline where he has been a proven failure, and then put Sparrow into the middle who is nowhere near it, whilst leaving Brayshaw on a wing where he is no good. Surely if we were going to free up centre bounce rotations for Sparrow, we could have made room for Brayshaw instead? And then we bring TMac in for Bennell and TMac is somewhere stuck between trying to be a half-forward, a marking forward and a midfielder, and is none of them.

Abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. It's the Richmond game, and everything that is wrong with our club, on repeat. The turnovers are just soul destroying. Sparrow, Harmes, Salem, almost every single one of their touches is missing its target. We cannot compete with anyone, let alone Port, if we keep turning it over. The forward line pressure is non-existent. The midfield got belted on the outside in the first quarter and then got beaten on the inside in the second quarter (-4 CPs that quarter). The backline is trying to hold them out but they are getting so many looks at inside 50s under no pressure that it's impossible to defend. We will lose this by at least 10 goals if we don't seriously lift in the middle and start hitting some [censored] targets.

It's mainly our backline standing up relatively well. Most of their inside 50s have been delivered with zero pressure because of our turnovers. To have only conceded 3 goals, it could have been so much worse.

This is the Richmond game all over again. Turnovers left, right and centre. Cannot compete with anyone, let alone the side on top of the ladder, if we keep turning it over.

It might be the only way to get the message through.

This could well be right. Jackson will at times get thrown into the ruck as well, so it may make sense to let TMac and Weid stay in the forward line working together no matter whether Jackson is forward or ruck.

I'm also worried about TMac in our forward line, but not for the pressure reason: Bennell wasn't putting much pressure on so we're not losing that much in that regard. I'm more worried about variety.

That would be the simplest way, but has Sparrow played defence at all this year? And whilst TMac can slot into Bennell's spot in theory, in practice he's a totally different player who won't be sitting off the side of packs waiting to distribute the ball the same way Bennell does.

Richmond started tonight out of the eight. They're currently sitting 3rd and are a draw behind Port and Brisbane. Obviously a number of teams can pass them this round, but still, the ladder is so even through the middle, with teams jumping 6 spots after one game.

Not sure if this has been posted on here, but Champion Data posted this yesterday: If I'm reading it right, it suggests we've had the hardest fixture so far in terms of our ability to beat our opponents, but have the easiest draw left (prior to tonight's game). According to their formula, we have an "expected wins" so far of just over 3, so we're about right. It says we have "expected wins" coming home of more than 6, which would get us to 9 and could have us in the finals race. It's mainly silly number crunching but it does suggest the opportunities are there down the home stretch to pick up some wins if we're good enough.

Wowee. If that's what they're saying when they're top of the ladder, imagine what they'd be saying if they were in the bottom 6 like us.

It's an interesting team. Neither player has been replaced with a similar player. Who takes Jetta's role in the backline? What role will Sparrow play as it won't be Bennell's? What role with TMac play and how will we line up forward of centre with him, Weideman and Jackson?

I'm not talking about over their careers, I'm talking about right now. Right now, Petracca's kicking is superior to Oliver's. I'm quite happy to disagree with you on that.

Odd that it's now our home game rather than theirs, and odder still that it's not in Queensland, but ultimately probably a good result for us. We stay in Adelaide for 4 days, limiting travel, and playing on a ground we actually play relatively well on (4-4, with a 3-1 record over the last four games). This will mean that by the end of Round 12, we'll have played 7 home games and only 4 away games. That means that over our final 6 games, we can only have either 1 or 2 home games, and therefore must have either 4 or 5 away games. We know we won't be hubbing in Adelaide, and it's unlikely we'll go to Perth given that we've already played West Coast and both WC and Fremantle still need to play some more away games. It's possible that by then NSW will be an option, but that seems unlikely given the latest developments. Having played North means a possible Tasmania hub will be out for us as well. So we could either find ourselves hubbing in the NT, as the away team (but possibly meaning we know the ground better than our opponents), or just in Queensland, which wouldn't be the worst result. Your conspiracy theory is that North has more leverage than us? North might be the only club in the comp with less leverage than us. High level MFCSS on show with this one.

Surely if Sparrow is in, he's replacing Jetta. I would be mildly disappointed if both Jetta and Brayshaw held their spots. Whilst I'm all for pumping up Oliver's strengths, I can't accept this statement. IMO, Petracca's kicking this year (both at goal and in the field) have improved significantly whereas Oliver's have not. Oliver is still turning it over from relatively simple short kicks which he should, at his stage of his career, be more consistently making.

Sydney's played West Coast which lessens the effectiveness of sending them with GWS to Perth, but yes, I think this is what will have to happen.

Great news IMO. He hasn't had the easiest run over his first two years: dropped for the prelim after playing most of 2018, then asked to play defence in 2019 when he never should have, then asked to be the second tall forward in the start of 2020 when, again, he never should have. Hopefully if we can let him settle into his best role for us he can flourish.

Where's @Jumping Jack Clennett? His favourite topic! The reality is going to Gawn on the flank is a safe option provided we set up properly. We occasionally get funky, and we have the short kick to the pocket option which we use a bit too. I'm comfortable enough with it.

It was clearly 50 against Fritsch. No doubt about it. He stuffed up considerably. It was also 50 against Bailey in the Petracca one. No doubt about that one either. If there's anything to be upset about it's the lack of consistency, but the decision against Fritsch was 100% correct.

The AFL's "Access All Areas" video has the behind-the-goals camera shot of the Lever score review: The highlighted players are ours. Food for thought on what we could have done with that. I also took another look at Hannan's kick to Fritsch: It's blurry, but smack bang in the middle there is Viney, all on his own. Hannan committed the 2020 MFC cardinal sin number 1: playing on and rushing his kick inside 50 without thinking. To give Fritsch some benefit of the doubt, Bennell was behind him in the goalsquare. Maybe he was leading up into the pocket to draw a player away from the hotspot and give us a bit more space.

Was it? The MRO statement refers to a tackle in the second quarter. The sling we're all talking about was in the fourth.

Agree. West Coast climbed 6 spots on the ladder with one win. That only happens when teams are all relatively close to one another on points/percentage. If we can go 3-1 over the next month and come out at 6-5, the season is very much alive. It will probably also still be alive at 5-6, depending on how we play and other results.

Great post @DeeSpencer. I felt this was happening as I watched live so it's nice to see it validated through your hard work of taking the screenshots. Good teams have always been able to push the envelope better than others. Geelong's been doing it for years. Collingwood blocked players off the ball and standing the mark. The Dogs in 2016 were great at falling to their knees for high contact. Carlton's made a point of the holding of Cripps at stoppages. If the focus this week of the umpires is to look for holds at stoppages, maybe Port won't be able to get away with it. In the meantime, we have to improve our cleanliness with our first touch (Neale was sublime when he got first touch at stoppages) and maybe there is some way we can demonstrate being held more without becoming sooky/reactive.