titan_uranus

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.

Brayshaw is clearly in poor form right now. He had absolutely no influence on last night's game. We may as well have had 21 players rather than 22, to be brutally honest. I suspect part of the problem is that his skillset is heavily geared towards being a centre mid but with Oliver, Viney and Petracca all in front of him, and shortened quarters, there are just not enough opportunities for him to get in there. So we're asking him to be on a wing, or on a flank, or sitting off the back of a stoppage as a sweeper. IMO, quite frankly, he's just not good at any of those roles. The TOG stat is interesting. He's playing less time in games than Bennell. That could be fitness-related. Or it could be a symptom of the coaches just not feeling confident in putting him anywhere else on the ground so rotating him off the bench instead. Or both. Who knows. I am not against dropping him and trying something different in that wing spot. Tomlinson this week is an option. vandenBerg long run another option. Long term for Brayshaw to fit with our development we need him in the middle more. A return to 20 minute quarters might assist. Otherwise, it will mean a lift from him coupled with Oliver and Petracca rotating through the forward line a bit more, I suspect.

Yep, it refers to the one in the second quarter where Pickett goes straight into the front of a Lion player. Disgrace from the MRO. Would love the club to challenge it but it's not worth the money.

Assuming 10 wins will be needed to make finals (9 might be enough), why not? Which of Adelaide, North, Sydney, Fremantle, Essendon, GWS, the Dogs, St Kilda and Collinwood are impossible for us to win? I'm not saying we will go 7-2, and it will obviously be easier if we do beat Port and get confidence that we can beat top 8 sides, but I don't look at our fixture post-Port and think we're automatically done.

27 shots on goal? 7.11 is 18 scores, so what were the other 9? OOB/fell short?

Replaceable with whom? TMac? Fritsch is our leading goalkicker this year with 10, averaging 1.43 per game. I don't agree he is easily replaceable. Instead, I want to know why he keeps leading to the pockets. Is that what he's been instructed to do? Or is it because he finds he can't get space unless he goes there? The key reason why calling it a trade is misleading is that we didn't give anything up for him (other than salary, but we do that for any player we take, whether from the draft, trade or FA). I too had high hopes, and I would like to see him come back into the side (maybe even this week) and improve on his failings from earlier this year. But there remains enough time this season, let alone into the future, for Tomlinson to cement a spot in our 22 (particularly when the non-Langdon wing is being manned by Jones/Brayshaw). Should be weeks. Healy's comment that Jetta "leads with his head" is classic old school footy player rubbish. In that instance Jetta was just going for the ball. McStay doesn't, should have tackled, but chose to bump. In choosing to bump the onus was on McStay to avoid Jetta's head. He failed. On the guidelines, it was careless/high/high which is 2 weeks. If a medical report suggests Jetta was more seriously injured, and high becomes severe, it's a third week I believe.

Honestly A F? May was one of our best last night. No idea what your problem is with him based on that performance. Not sure we should be blaming him solely for that first kick out - looked like a set play gone wrong. Why? You don't like facts? And why is your number one gripe with Goodwin Jetta to Cameron? He only had 9 touches. Yes he kicked 2 goals, but so did Fritsch and no one's suggesting Fritsch had a good game. I'd be far more concerned with what how our midfielders were reacting to stoppages when Brisbane were all over us in the second quarter. Tomlinson? He was a free agent. And you're writing him off after, what, five games?

Today was Brisbane's second-lowest score for the year, just 1.1 off their lowest (which was when they lost to Geelong). They scored 7 goals from 42 inside 50s. They only took 7 marks inside 50 (their season average is 10.5). And Brisbane is possibly the best side in the comp right now. So if we're doing all that against them (on effectively away territory, given the crowd), then I think our defence is absolutely at the standard we need to challenge for finals.