Rodney (Balls) Grinter

31 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

It didn't look great initially, i haven't seen a super slow mo though.

It's the super slow mo that you need to watch out for. The MRO think that it's like a real time replay of the time the players have got to react to situations sometimes.

Although he did a few semi stupid things missing goals he should have snuffled (that handball he took of Mihocek then missed was trying to be a bit too Hollywood for the stage the game was at), I thought one thing that has really impressed me about Bailey Fritsch's game in the past few weeks has been his sublime passing inside 50.

Another shout out to Mihoceck as well for last night's game - thought he looked a class above the defenders he was playing on and put in a really solid game for us. Hope that continues, as my only knock is that I feel he's also gone missing a bit in some of our games. Could also be somewhat a case that having the extra talls down in our forward line is benefiting him.

Found it quite a hard game to watch and get enthusiastic about for most of last night, but still happy to come away with a 50 point win in the end. Still some positives from a team and individual player perspective. Also some real contradictions.

Felt that if we had kicked straight and not made so many stupid skill errors, we could have come away 100 point winners. Equally if we made so many basic skill and decision making errors against a half decent side last night, I think we would have lost.

But it's clear to me that Richmond came for the fight, even if they didn't really have it sufficiently together to properly challenge. Something that was a little strange, was that the play it fast, direct, chaos game almost seemed to be suiting them better in periods and they'd actually draw closer to us on the scoreboard and I'd get that slightly sick feeling in my stomach of the Essendon game. I thought we actually had a very mature and intentional response to that by slowing the game down and getting it back on our terms. Those periods seemed almost bore the crowd and lacked intensity, but during which we'd grind away and just regularly, almost mechanically pile on a few goals, give ourselves breathing space again and shut down their enthusiasm.

Thought it was interesting that the Waren G sign 10mins into the last quarter, but also really smart to just settle things down, not let them get any sort of early/mid last quarter run-on that would have given them a sniff and had them up and about again. After we had kicked a couple more by around the 20min mark, pushing our lead beyond that 30 point region and put the game pretty much beyond doubt with only 10mins to go, the shackles came off and we piled on some more in junk time, for some fun and our %.

Anyways, that's my take on how we played out this one.

11 hours ago, Jjrogan said:

Kozzie was always going to win 5 to 6 games off his own boot playing midfield and he's already done it twice at least. Also, I cant remember the last time he was tackled.

I can't believe how much space Richmond gave him last night. So many times he was just running around the back of packs with a paddock around him. I'd have thought that Richmond would have put a hard tag on him after half time, even just made one of their mids a bit more accountable.

12 hours ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

how about Jeffo?? Looked good to me. I expect him to miss every single shot and he proved me wrong two times out of three!

Not sure how you expected him to miss. Set shot kicking is one of his strengths. I was almost a bit more surprised that he missed the last shot, but thought he played a pretty good game over all.

12 hours ago, DubDee said:

Who’s in the top 4????

We’re in the top 4!!

Where we belong.

Can't believe all it took was a couple of bad seasons for some people to accept that were a bottom four side. Yeah we lost a few good players, but still have a solid core and have bought in some rippers over the past 2 - 3 years as well. Something I liked about King when they gave him the job was that he wasn't prepared to accept that well spend years in development mode and thought we could give things a fair crack.

Time to believe in our selves again.

Jefferson - Mr. Fence's love child

Kozzie Pickett - Koz he can

In top four

29 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

You'd need to go back to 1970 for the answer. We finished in the top ten that year, which is a clear omen for 2026.

Hope I'm not offending someone's taste in music here, but good God that's an ordinary song.

1 hour ago, Chook said:

Good. Probably shouldn't have dropped him for the prelim vs the Eagles in 2018. Guess I better move on about that though...

I think he'd look back on the club as doing him a favour saving him from the misery of that day.

13 hours ago, binman said:

Really?

Alternatively, Goody deserves much credit for gifting Kolt games he didnt deserve to fast track Kolt's development and getting critical AFL experience into him, and by doing so putting the club and Kolt's interst ahead of his own.

Of course, giving him the taste and exposure that we did to AFL that we did last year wouldn't have hurt him and I'm not against that aspect.

It's more the sort of expectations that I felt club were building up in the eyes of supporters, starting from draft night that this kid was a ready to roll player that I think somewhat exposed him to criticism when he didn't seem to set the world on fire in the games he was given.

All I'm saying is that a slightly more measured approach might have been more desirable. That said he seems a pretty robust character, who has a tone of belief and confidence in himself and resilience to external noise and so maybe that was also part of the calculation.

I recall there was a bit of a mantra when Roos first came in that even top draft picks would have to earn their spots and might need to wait a year or two to develop properly and earn a spot at AFL level, but that seems to have gone somewhat out the window. I'm not actually sure Roos even lived it that literally in retrospect, but maybe freaks like Clarry was in his early days don't come around all that often.

6 hours ago, Waverley said:

Don't be so sensitive, our players get potted worse on here

It wasn't so much about being sensitive or against one of ours being potted, was more that it seemed like a disproportionately big evaluation being made from a small sample size and that was way off the mark.

Look, in all fairness, perhaps the one being a bit disproportionate about things here is also me, because maybe it wasn't something that deserved it's own thread, but there was just something about that assessment that he'd made and that he kept banging on about it, that got under my skin.

Won't happen I know, but I'd be open to us playing a game in Darwin if they did all of Gather Round up there.

I think that would actually be a fair result, as all teams would carry over a similar level of fatigue. Would also be great for footy in the NT and NT tourism.

I don't think the AFL would go for it due to the lack of funding and/or lack of facilities, but just think how good it could be if the took an altruistic approach to it such as this.

12 hours ago, durango1946 said:

The way that Kolt's playing reminds me of Miichael Hibberd not quick but does not panic when under pressure this season.

His disposal has improved with each game along with confidence he belongs in the team.

Not quite sure the comparison you're trying to make there. Hibbo was quick and his boot was a bloody weapon. Hibbo was also hard as nails. Absolute beast of a player in hindsight.

I think Tholstrup might get up there in the hardness and athletic stakes, but I think we'll have to wait and see on that and also if he can develop the calmness and control over his kicking as he establishes himself, but maybe the potential is there for him to become that kind of backman. Would love it if he did.

10 hours ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

As much as we'd like all first round picks to be superstars, the reality is that most don't turn out that way, particularly later first round picks. Therefore - I'd say we're getting good bang for buck for this investment.

Agree with this. Not even sure he was quite a first rounder, but I think Tommy Sparrow is probably in a similar category.

Some weeks you get more Bang out of these guys though and they can play a superstar game or show traits you think could make them one and that's the tantalising and equally frustrating part of it.

11 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Tholstrup is a reminder that not all players are ready made as soon as they are drafted.

Not everyone can be Clayton Oliver, Sam Walsh, or more recently, Murphy Reid and dominate matches from day one.

In year three, Kolt is starting to look like he belongs in the team and justifying that high draft selection.

Agree. Don't think it helped his cause that the club were pumping up expectations that he was one of the players likely to get games early, from the moment we drafted him. Maybe there's a lesson in that.

6 hours ago, joeboy said:

First line could have read ‘barging through the ranks’💪

I loved his grandfather’s energy and aggression!

He's a good lad.

Taught him everything everything there is worth knowing about football, including tooth extraction - a skill to be employed on the likes of Maynard

23 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Have a look at our first goal. Langford almost hit the post from 6m out!

I'm taking that as being more situational awareness of gathering the ball and then almost ending up on top of the goals.

To be honest, I've never noticed the helicopters that people are mentioning, because I've always found Harvey's field kicking to have good trajectory through the air, well directed hitting their mark and to players in good positions. His set shots for goal are generally pretty reliable this season too.

If I had any chip on him this season, I'd say that he looked a bit off and hadn't been winning enough of the ball, but was tempering that with him only being a second year player and that perhaps he was also attracting more opposition attention. I honestly don't think we should be putting the pressure on our talented youngsters to be delivering A Grade performances and carrying the team on their shoulders every week. I am hoping they mature and develop so they deliver for the team in future seasons and anything they do deliver in the now is a bonus.

There are players we have that I feel do need to fix up their kicking, but Langford isn't one of them, so I found it a very odd series of comment from Healy, which seemed overly critical, at the same time as being ill informed and off the mark.

33 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

I've always been a Chandler fan but he's munged both his goals through late, in his own words. He had the footy gods on his side

Honestly, think he's being modest and not wanting to big note himself here. Chandler is pretty much the most reliable set shot for goal we have. Also nailed a clutch goal in the Carlton win.

18 minutes ago, BDA said:

On the replay I heard Healy say at the final siren that Langford had a few things to iron out but had the potential to be a serious player

His kicking was the thing he needed to iron out apparently.

4 hours ago, Jjrogan said:

Ha thanks. Broken clock.

I think we are 3-3 in this next block. We're playing good football but leak a bit too much on turnovers. If we beat Sydney in Sydney all bets off.

Sydney are overrated. Totally winnable game.

Couldn't make it to the ground on Saturday, so have watched the game on Kayo a few times now. One thing that stood out for me was Gerard Healy bagging out Harvey Langford's kicking, not once, but multiple times throughout the game.

Like has he actually really watched the guy play more than once? To say it once was maybe a first impression or off the cuff comment, but he was so persistent, that I really feel as if he had formed a strong oppinion and holds this against Harvey. Personally, while I don't think Langford has really fully hit his straps this season and/or has progressed massively in his 2nd year as we might have ideally have loved, I think the kid is doing OK and his kicking is one of the last things I'd hold against him.

On the flip side, both Gerard and Brad Johnson, seemed to be onto the fact that Kade Chandler is fast becoming one of the quality players in the competition for what he does and I do wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.

Anyways, back to the point, I know Gerard was a player that Mark Jackson couldn't stand and I've got to say, I think I understand why. Smug and arrogant. At least his brother blead red and blue.

1 hour ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

It worked for us yesterday in a big way, thought we controlled it extremely well under pressure and iced the clock very well.

It really was smart coaching from Kingy to make this a focus, given how many close ones we lost last year and even just in general it's pretty low hanging fruit to be good at winning the close ones. All that effort to play well for ~110mins means nothing if you loose it in the last 10mins.

I'm not saying Goodwin was all that bad at this aspect either though. Back in 2021, we made something of a habit of winning by smallish margins and controlling the game in the second half to do so. I think it's something that perhaps got a bit lost the past couple of years as we transitioned to a more attacking game overall, that we lost that ability to change the tempo and control the dying stages of games.

Controlling the tempo of games like this in-game is something of a measure of the maturity of teams and I do think King has inherited a list with a good spread of mature leaders to implement this kind of measure.

2 hours ago, In Harmes Way said:

Out of the next 6 weeks, I just hope we beat Hawthorn. Fairly convincingly would also be nice.

Agree. Hate those bastards