Watson11

I’d love Hawthorn to lose to Sydney. Then we’d need to beat Geelong, Sydney, WC to make GF if all other games go with favourites. But first things first. GWS. Win that at the G and I’ll be optimistic we can cause some damage.

For all the flak our forward system gets its the first time the eagles have conceded 90 points since round 1. Go dees!

Don’t think so. Cyril retired and the articles were all about how much salary cap freed up.

Other clubs have been through this issue re game plan with younger coaches. Port and Williams in 2003. Geelong and bomber Thompson in 2006. Richmond and Hardwick in 2016. Collingwood and Buckley in 2017. All bright but stubborn younger coaches. I see some similarities.

Maybe make some tough decisions. Jones and Lewis to coaching roles. Frees up salary cap. Offer $1.2m a season if that is needed.

Our best players are 21 to 26, but it is more than just experience and I rate our list as good as any. The players try their guys out and have nowhere to hide if they don’t as every kick, disposal, step and heartbeat is measured. So it is not lack of effort. If we don’t make finals we need a full review as per Geelong in 2006, Richmond 2016, Collingwood last year to work out why the club under-delivered and learn from it. What we don’t need is to sack the coach (note none of the three reviews above sacked the coach). If we do win 1 of the last 2 though but lose the first final should the club still do the review, because I think we still would have underdelivered if we don’t win a final or two.

Everyone we play knows the stats and they put a spare back. We don’t want 7 on 7 in our forward line so end up with 6 on 7 with our defence basically 6 on 5. Result is crowded Melbourne forward line and open backline. Harder for us to score and harder to defend.

He's a talent but don't think he can impact now. Needs another 6 or 7kg over summer, and a bigger tank but he is a good grab, has a bit of mongrel, good kick. If he can do that over the next year or two then he'll be the same weight and height as Josh Kennedy and Tom Hawkins who really only started impacting when they were around 23.

Viney is that player for us but we need him on the park and fit. It can develop with the younger players. Cotchin used to absolutely go missing in big games when he was younger but is unbelievable now.

Tim Smith in and to McGovern?

We have to stop TMac being the ruck chop-out. He's our best forward by a long way. I'd go for Weid. What I wouldn't do is rely on Weid taking a contested pack mark inside 50! McGovern will slaughter him. This week of all weeks our mids needs to be hitting up leads going inside 50. If we can do that we'll win easily, but a big if.

I don't buy the luck side. Shouldn't be left to a bad bounce etc. Our problem with our close losses is our own making that we need to fix. Gary Player summed it up pretty well. Reportedly the following quote originally came about after a “good old boy with a big hat” stumbled across Gary practicing in a greenside bunker. After seeing Player hole out at his first attempt, the golfer offered him “50 bucks” to do it again. In went the next attempt. “Boy I have never seen anyone so lucky in my life.” “The harder I practice, the luckier I get.”

It makes sense we would have been interested at the start of this year. But with Brayshaw and Harmes developing so well I'm glad that we would take it off the table. I hope they are still going hard for Gaff. Maybe a new kicking coach (is that Hawthorn biomechanics guy available!)

Our 2017 and 2018 record is 10 wins and 13 losses at the G. Away from the G we are 14 wins and 5 losses in the last 2 seasons. Our 2016 record at the G was 7 wins and 5 losses.

Unless Port only win 1 out of West Coast, Collingwood, and Essendon! Then we would be 8th!

Likely but not for sure. If Geelong and North win their last 3 games and Hawthorn 2 of the last 3 then all of those teams would leapfrog us.

It’s unfair that Adelaide had to play us twice! They could be sitting in 3rd if that hadn’t happened!

Optus is the same size as Etihad (Marvel) as well. These days I prefer that comparison considering we’ve won 7 out of 8 in the last 2 years at Marvel (versus 10 out of 22 at the G). Just shows there is no reason for our poor record at the G

Buggs was graded intentional conduct with high impact to the head. Hard to see this being different but let’s wait and see

As bad as Buggs hit last year. But my guess is tribunal will reduce to 2-3 weeks.

Anyone watching. Apparently Gaff threw a round house and has knocked out Andrew Brayshaws teeth. Sounds like not too different to Bugg last year!

We can win the next 2 (today and Sydney) and still miss the 8 though. If the 3 games today go as expected, then 3rd is 0.5 games clear of 4th to 8th (we'll be 4th). Geelong and North are a game behind. Geelong and North are a chance to win their last 3. Geelong's big game is against the Hawks. Norths big game is against Adelaide in Adelaide. If those two get it done, then I fear 1 out of the last 3 for us will see us miss and end up 9th. We could win 2 out of out last 3 and end up 3rd. It is that close. Either way I think we are really close and just need to fix a few things to be able to beat anyone. I'd rather see us playing good footy and addressing some of our issues than scraping into the 8 with 1 win in the last 3 weeks. I'm glass half full that we can win 3 of our last 4, and maybe all of them.

Port play west coast in Adelaide next week with a few showers forecast. I don’t rate Port that highly but hopefully they’ll make it a slog next week.

First 2 years were below the threshold for shots at goal that I consider significant (40 shots on goal or less :-)) The stats you quote are not correct. He turned 25 in 2012. 2012 and before he kicked 520.384 at 57.5%. 2013 and after 384.60 at 59.6%. He was not at 60.95% under 25. Hint : If a player kicks 0.1 in year 1 (0%) and 150.0 in year 2 (100%), their conversion rate over both years is 99.3%, not 50%. That maths would work well on a Collingwood forum ?

Not sure where I stated Bugg is as good a player as Swan and Franklin. Statistically that group all improved their kicking after the age of 25 which was the point being made. It would be a bonus if Bugg could improve his goalkicking. The players ranked 16 to 30 on a list are important and I'd take any player in that group who averages 16 disposals at 73% efficiency with 3.4 tackles.