Watson11

The Giants almost came to a standstill last week with a few injuries and only 1 on the bench. So I checked the AFL tracker stats to see if they struggled and the workrate for the Saints was insane. They had the 5th highest amount of high intensity running ever (49km). And the Saints have a 5 day turnaround this week so it will be very interesting how they come up against the dogs on Thursday night.

Then us, Port, Gold Coast (away), and GWS. Would love to see them go 0-6 or 1-5 over this stretch.

Interested to get thoughts on the new attacking gameplan. Binman has mentioned in earlier pods that he thinks goody will have an early season game plan and then another for later. Last year we also started the season taking a lot of risks from the defensive half. In fact, at the end of round 9 in 2023 we were #1 for scoring and #1 for scoring from defensive half (40 points a game compared to 30 points a game this year). Last year, following consecutive losses to Port and Freo, we changed it up in round 10 resulting in slow safe ball movement and inside 50 bombing to pockets to setup repeat entries. It had immediate effect when we restricted Carlton to 44 points. Can binman elaborate on what he things the other game plan will be and when it will happen? I personally would like to see us persevere with the attacking brand all season and wear the setbacks.

Thought I would bump this thread to talk about stoppages which are hurting us this year. It always amazes me that teams (ie us) can have a dominant ruckman and still get smashed in stoppages. Last night there were 85 stoppages. Lions won 44 clearances (more than half) despite only winning 27 hit outs. We win 35 clearances. My question/frustration is that there must be a better way than what currently seems to be a random outcome from our ruck dominance. We adopt a lot of innovations from other sports in AFL. Should teams with dominant ruckman like us at the moment, adopt a quarterback approach with Max using numbers and colours before a bounce/throwin so everyone in our team knows exactly where the ball is going if Max wins the tap. Or are gridiron players just smarter than afl players and so they can retain a complex set of number/colour sequences to denote all the different plays?

Love the idea of you contributing to the forum, but you have to improve your grammar. Too many apostrophe errors, missed full stops, and wrong capitalisation. Sorry I had to move onto the next post half way through. I’ll try again with your next post and see if you’ve fixed it. Cheers

Agree Fogarty should have got 3 or 4. Full speed hit. Eyes off ball etc etc But for Kozzie we have zero chance of getting him off. The rules changed this year and any front on contact (or contact forward of side on), which is high, is graded as a minimum of medium impact this year. The only way he gets off is grading it low, which it was but because of the change it’s medium impact as a minimum. Of course the afl can direct the tribunal to do whatever they want though and make an exception, but that only applies for Collingwood and Carlton.

I couldn’t tell if your question was a joke. But it was 2014 when they had their feud. Not related, but I just watched Jack Billing’s first afl goal which happened to be against the bombers in 2014. He ran from about half back. The bombers looked big and slow, almost like they were taking something to bulk up.

I think this is a good point. If you look at the afl tracker, we consistently outwork (outrun) every team we play because we have to with our defensive system. Interestingly, the crows actually shaded us for work rate last week (both sides did a lot of high speed running - 39km v 40km which is way above average). For all the dismissive comments about the game, I thought it was our best performance this season because of how hard the crows worked. They got a lot of numbers to contests, won more ground balls, but we shut them down anyway with great system and pressure, and absolutely burnt them when we had it. Shots at goal from 58% of our forward 50 entries has to be our best effort for a long time.

Love this comment in the guardian in the crows game review. “Harley Reid’s had more column inches devoted to him than Bruce Lehrmann but Windsor may end up being the steal of that draft at pick seven”

You are joking aren’t you.

This post is mostly to get the panels thoughts on our game strategy against Port, especially around stoppages. The between the arcs stoppages is where the greatest score from stoppages comes from, and which also determines who will be playing a forward half game. I think it is a very important and generally an ignored part of tactics. So far this season, as far as scores from between the arcs stoppages goes, we are -20 points versus Sydney, +14 versus the dogs, and +15 versus the Hawks. Our structures and our opponents strategies in our first 3 games was also interesting. We tend to do the same each week. Sydney tended to push +1 to stoppages, the dogs decided to settle for even numbers at stoppages, and the Hawks pushed +1 or +2 to the stoppage (and still got smashed). Interested in what you think will happen this week against Port. Both midfields are very good, and both defences will be suspect (Port because they always are, and us because we will be down May and Lever). Last year Port pushed a +1 to the stoppage in the wet and smashed us. Butters had 41 possessions and 10 clearances. How do you think it will be played this week. I suspect we will do the same and push a spare behind the ball. Do you think Port will push a +1 to the stoppage again? Or will they push a spare behind the ball to help their suspect defence. The good news is the forecast is 31C and fine. The bad news is there is a small chance of a shower late in the day (we play at 7pm).

Great podcast. You almost have them long enough so they occupy a full week of my daily commute. @binman I know you like to point out how loading impacts performance. A minor problem in this case re Brisbane. Michael Voss was Brisbanes coach 11 years ago, and it was he who spoke about it at his presser, not Fagan. Despite this Carlton came back from 46 points down against the lions. So loading is not always directly the cause of poor form. Or maybe Fagan didn’t mention it and they are loading even more than Carlton 😃

Well said. Max was drafted a year after Jack and came into the same environment. Both Jack and Max had talent and like a party. Max had a rocky start but Max made wise decisions, knuckled down and worked hard, is a champion of the game, and still playing at the highest level. Maybe Jack should consider referencing Max when he does interviews rather than Howes.

I hope Tracc hasn’t become the new demonland whipping boy for disposal. The comparisons with Nibbler are like comparing apples and oranges. Tracc can shank kicks but the facts are in the last 4 years, as far as number of score involvements go he has ranked #3, #1, #1, #1 in the afl. I’m quite happy that when he gets the ball, a score results more often than any other player in the afl. Nibble ranked #167 in the league for score assists in his best year (2021). That is why Tracc doesn’t get flak. Because most supporters understand that when he gets the ball good stuff often happens and everyone sees and notices it. My view is the Nibbler criticism is also unfair, but for different reasons. The stat I’d really like to see is some sort of net score involvement. Score involvements minus turnovers that result in opposition scores. That would allow a better assessment of players in similar roles.

Have I missed something. "He has been recruited by the Dockers. Good on him." doesn't seem dismissive. What do you expect? A binman style 3 part 20 page narrative on why OMac got picked up.

Yes they will need a lot more than him and no guarantees. They will need to draft the new Kerr (pick 18), Embley (pick 57), Dean Cox (rookie pick) types. I just think WC will back themselves to use the pick and rebuild around him. Nesbit has been at WC forever and the two times they have had a really high pick they used it with good results. I expect them to use it this year. We will see.

Yes the 2nd out of Josh Kennedy courtesy of Judd going home.

They got 2 premierships out of taking Judd at pick 2. They will draft Reid and back themselves in to bouncing back pretty quickly. They have never been this bad but they lack nothing in money, facilities, rabid supporters, and home umpiring advantage. And Reid could not have been clearer that he is happy to go there.

I’m with you. Mays comments seem to reflect an attitude that we were unlucky, but the reality is we were not better than Collingwood. Half our game was bottom 4 level (the attacking part). The Pies defence was about equal with us. Goals per inside 50, Pies ranked #2, MFC ranked #14 Shots per i50, Pies ranked #7, MFC ranked #14 Goals conceded from oppo i50s. Pies ranked #3, MFC ranked #5 Shots conceded per i50. Pies ranked #6, MFC ranked #2 And this isn’t even looking at why the Pies deliver when it matters in close games and we don’t. “When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done”.

He did an outstanding job on Zac Bailey in the final game in 2022 as well.

I’ve been on holiday. Are we getting rid of any of the experience in the locker room?

You clearly don’t follow Liverpool and didn’t watch Liverpool v Tottenham. Human error even in premier league VAR resulting in clear wrong call resulting in disallowed goal. https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os63898/liverpool-tottenham-var-error-disallowed-goal-offside

Unpopular but well said. Macrae has shown he is an elite coach already and a cut above. Very astute strategically and has them playing with freedom. On abc radio today there was a segment on their psychologist Jacqui Louder and the impact she has had. And she sits on the bench all game every game to talk to the players. It’s the 1%ers like this that no-one sees, but maybe that’s why they perform when the game is on the line.

I’m actually worried that Andrew’s goes to Mihocek, and Cox has a field day on Gardner. It would be my worst nightmare. But Macrae is astute and will be working out how to exploit Brisbanes lack of a second fit tall defender.

He shouldn’t even be top 35% let alone top 5%. He had averaged over 10 disposals one season out of his 7, in a team where the ball spends most of the game in his area. By comparison Stephen May has never averaged under 10 disposals, and has been over 15 disposals for his last 8 seasons.