titan_uranus

It's a bit ridiculous, IMO. "We need to get back to winning CPs to stop teams spreading" but also "we need to spread more because we're not winning CPs". We're a side built around winning clearances and CPs. We showed last year that when we do that successfully, we score heavily and win games. I find it silly that after one bad loss, the gameplan needs to be thrown out the window. The issue isn't our focus on CPs, it's our inability to execute that plan.

I reckon we should all take a sample size of more than one match before we draw conclusions on certain clubs, us included. If you'd done that after Round 1 last year you might have argued that Carlton were in for a good year (they'd won both JLT games and pushed Richmond, scoring 95 points against the reigning premier who scarcely conceded 100), or that Collingwood was in for another wasted season (after their terrible showing against Hawthorn), or that West Coast was what everyone thought they'd be, just a middle of the road side (after losing their first game to Sydney).

It's not about having a month less pre-season because of finals. It's about players requiring surgery either at the start of pre-season or during it, and/or being injured and not being able to do a full pre-season.

He didn't, really: Brilliant ruckman Max Gawn played one of his poorest games in recent memory, being worked over by Port's duo of Paddy Ryder and Scott Lycett, while also copping plenty of physical attention. Goodwin indicated he would look at bringing recruit Braydon Preuss into the side. "It's something that we're used to. ‘Gawny’ gets targeted most weeks. Max will continue to get better," Goodwin said. "He probably didn't play his best game today. We'll look to how we potentially support him better. We'll continually look at that as a match committee. "Ultimately though, it's not something new. It's happened for a long time now. We'll just get better at it."

Oscar had surgery right after the season, IIRC. Per this article, as at 7 December our rehab group included Oliver, Hunt, Petracca, Viney, Jetta, Melksham and Oscar (as well as others).

One of OMac and Frost goes for May. I vote Frost, but I don't care too much because they're both awful. If Lewis is fit he comes back in for Hore, but I don't know if Lewis will be fit. I'd probably drop Hore anyway. Would love KK to be fit. If Viney's genuinely not fit then he should stand up as a captain and declare it, and make way for someone else. Who? I'm not sure. There's not a lot to get excited about at Casey tbh. Spargo deseves to be dropped but who replaces him? We need to try out Preuss. Stanley beat Gawn once last year and did well against Grundy last night. I'm worried he and Ratugolea will get physical with Gawn again and he'll struggle.

6 - Salem 5 - Harmes 4 - Melksham 3 - Brayshaw 2 - Hibberd 1 - Hunt

The Collingwood-Geelong game and the Adelaide-Hawthorn game give the same questions. Is Hawthorn better than people expected? Is Adelaide worse than people expected? Again, I suspect the latter. I'm not particularly surprised at seeing three of the five most hyped sides going into this year (Adelaide, Collingwood and us, with the other two being Essendon and Brisbane) dropping games almost everyone thought they'd win. Regardless, I get nothing but disgust at seeing Geelong and Hawthorn win unexpectedly.

However, whilst Port did have a bunch of debutants, they also had this: Westhoff (249 games), Boak (244), Ebert (236), Ryder (227), Gray (200), Rockliff (173), Watts (173), Motlop (157), Jonas (122). What did we have? Jones (265), Melksham (157), TMac (147), Jetta (142), Hibberd (124), Gawn (100). That's five 200+ game players to one, eight 150+ game players to two, and nine 100+ game players to six. Other than Motlop, their 100+ game players were their best. Other than Melksham and, to an extent, Hibberd, our 100+ game players were poor. It's only worth a little bit in the overall melting pot of issues, but we have to keep in mind that the core of our side, the players we demand lift us each week, are at a completely different level - Viney (99), Salem (71), Harmes (70), Lever (67), Petracca (64), Oliver (61), ANB (60), Brayshaw (59), Fritsch (24), Weideman (21).

Boy oh boy. We were smashed in uncontested possessions and clearly beaten for workrate and pace. There are a few ways that can occur but the most obvious one is that we had a poor pre-season. This is nothing to do with making finals and starting a month later, this is the players who had surgeries or missed periods or started later than the main group. Copping 30+ degrees and humidity when you're not 100% is a recipe for disaster. But that's not where it ends. Gawn was belted in the ruck and around the ground. Without him dominating in the ruck, we were beaten in contested possessions (which only happened twice last year) and didn't dominate clearances. If I were an opposition coach I'd be planning to play two ruckmen and/or to just instruct them to get physical - Lycett's done this twice in a row, we saw Naismith do it well in our game vs Sydney last year, Rhys Stanley did it last year too. Gawn needs support, so I expect to see Presuss play as soon as he's fit. We need to try it. If we're not on top in CPs and clearances, we're not a good football side - our losses last year showed this, and today showed this. That might make us a one-dimensional side overall, but our best last year shows we can afford to be one-dimensional if we work hard and our key players perform. Our forward line is slow and pathetic defensively. If Garlett can't get back into this side then that says more about Garlett than it does about our forward line. Spargo is too slow to play his low-impact role. Sparrow looked OK but doesn't strike me as anything special. We clearly lacked a third marking option and TMac/Weideman were wholly out of sync. Petracca looks too big (both too much muscle and, dare I say it, not perfectly conditioned). He's too slow by foot and isn't affecting the game enough. The time is going to come, soon I think, where we will see him at Casey. Viney isn't fit and if he's a true captain he'll admit it and get fit before playing again. Jones' fitness might have been an issue but the dropped mark in the fourth was just poor football (he turned his head to see if there was someone in the goalsquare before he'd marked it). That drop led to a Westhoff goal and killed the game. But, of all the things to be disappointed by, somehow I'm most disappointed in Frost and Oscar. When we brought in May, they knew that they'd be fighting for one spot (possibly no spots once Lever comes back, but anyway). They should have been motivated to work super hard on their weaknesses to ensure they were the one who got selected in Round 1. Instead, Frost's weaknesses remain the exact same (his push in the back on Ryder in the second quarter when the ball was clearly out on the full was bad, his decision to run into a wall of Port players then kick it after being blatantly caught holding the ball was worse), and so do Oscar's (he was being out-muscled by midfielders FFS). Can't decide which one I want to drop more for next week. A shout out to Salem, who was incredible all day, as well as Harmes, Melksham and Hibberd. Hopefully Hunt gets some confidence, too.

How many times will TMac and Weidemam get caught jumping at the same ball? Infuriating. Viney calling for it from Salem, then turning it over to give them a goal, was appalling leadership IMO.

Viney looks well underdone. Gawn looks cooked halfway into the first game. Petracca, Spargo and Hunt are struggling to get involved. We’re missing too many kicks, including inside 50, and when we turn it over they have too much space and too much marking power (anyone who didn’t already appreciate how badly we need May should know by now). And we’re too slow (by foot but mainly with decision making) when trying to get it out of the backline. The first 15 minutes looked excellent so if we get back to that faster, more direct football then we should be able to improve and regain the lead, but if we stay doing what we did that quarter then we will lose and lose poorly.

Not sure what to read into this. Is Geelong better than people thought? Is Collingwood worse than people thought? If I had to pick one, I'd pick the latter.

Collingwood got 46,286 to their Saturday 1.45pm game against Port in mid-August last year. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'd be happy if we pass 40,000 but expect 35,000 is more likely. Less if it rains.

In some respects this is precisely what we want from the AFL. Both May and Jones have been dealt with based on the action, not the consequence. May's bump made head-high contact. Jones' didn't. It doesn't matter that both had similar levels of impact. May's offence was a worse offence than Jones' and was dealt with accordingly.

It's a one-game sample (last night's game wasn't overcrowded or over congested), it's humid (players have said this during breaks and they're clearly struggling to grip and mark the ball) and both sides are sending strong pressure. The game is opening up as we move into the third, too.

Surely a pass mark is finals but we're all aiming a bit higher than simply a "pass mark"?

The AFL website lists each team's "notable absentees". It's hardly an accurate guide of anything but, still, Collingwood has 10 players named, then we have 9. Some teams have 3 (e.g. Port).

So, from the 22 who ran out for the Prelim, it's: In: Fritsch, Hore, C Wagner, Hunt Out: vandenBerg, Hannan, J Smith, Tyson Not terrible, but Hore/Wagner/Hunt is not 100% ideal.

Sounds like both of us will be fielding underdone sides and/or will be missing key players. It might only be Round 1 but this is a game we just cannot afford to lose.

Some of the players I'd like to see make a major leap forward this year are Hunt, Garlett (notwithstanding his age), Frost and OMac. But I have a suspicion that the player who is going to surprise me most is Stretch. I don't know why, I just have a feeling. I reckon that's a rubbish take on Fritsch. He was underdeveloped physically but he rarely did anything other than give 100% at every contest all season.

I find myself agreeing. If we back ourselves in to do well at centre clearances (and with Gawn and our midfield, we damn well should be) then like last year we should see a number of direct entries inside 50 from the centre bounce. Unlike last year though, we won't be continually down 6-7 or 5-6 in our forward line. I'm interested in seeing what teams (including us) try to do to slow the game down when they want it to be slowed. Will they try to get repeat bounces in the middle to give their wings/forwards time to push back?

This really is an excellent thread, thanks @Lucifer's Hero

Surprisingly (or maybe not, for Demonland) negative thread about a practice match. None of us know what we may or may not have been trialling, changing, experimenting with etc.. I'll save my (inevitable) worry for the season proper.

Is it just me or has Hannan being out for half a season just come out of nowhere? Fingers crossed they get this round of rehab right and he comes back fit. As with others above, I feel he has been consistently hampered with knee problems.