Swooper1987

20 of last years Grand Final 23 are playing. Missing Rivers, TMac and May. That's a very strong side.

Was referencing our backline minus May. But agree, finding a tall forward who can mark and kick straight with a degree of regularity would be handy.

Not surprised Melksham dropped him if the news report is correct.

Hibberd will have to play this week. He can play medium or tall and if Petty ends up getting injured during the game we'll need the extra tall. Tomlinson is a must as well. Probably looking at a back 7 of Hibberd, Lever, Petty, Tomlinson, Salem, Brayshaw, Bowey I reckon. That's still 6 premiership players out of the 7.

I think you're right to expect more from him. He got coaches votes against Richmond when nearly everyone else thought he was just average. He is a wonderful player but he has been very up and down this season. His defensive efforts (never a strength but much improved in the last two seasons) have largely disappeared. His lack of impact in the past two games has contributed to our overall result.

For the first 6 or 7 games last year we did this and it worked well. However we had Tom Mac playing like a big man, marking or bringing the ball to ground and the Jackson/Gawn combo changing forward. Fritsch was the hybrid and then the smalls. Who takes the McDonald role? At this stage I don't think Brown can do what Tom was doing back then. Having said that I reckon it's worth a go. Pickett, Spargo, ANB and Harmes/Viney as the smalls. Why not?

Sunday Footy Show gave him a perfect 10.

I'd look at this. If Tom is out for a lengthy spell then we need another avenue to goal. Petty is the man. B: Lever, May, Hunt HB: Brayshaw, Tomlinson, Salem C: Langdon, Petracca, Jordon HF: Neal-Bullen, Petty, Pickett F: Fritsch, B.Brown, Spargo FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney IC: Bowey, Harmes, Sparrow, Jackson SUB: Rivers/Bedford

He's the best ruckman I've seen since Simon Madden. His influence last night was extraordinary. Longmire was in awe of him in his presser. He can dominate a game like no other ruck. I was listening to that dingbat King talking up Witts as AA ruck earlier in the day. I reckon Max shut that nonsense down last night. He's probably on a dozen Brownlow votes too. (3 against Port, Hawthorn and Sydney and probably 2 or 3 against GWS).

The sky isn't falling. But we have proven to be over reliant on a few players - May missing, McDonald missing, Oliver missing for the first half, Petracca's numbers belie his complete lack of influence, Lever completely out of sorts. Gawn plays one of the all time great games which makes the game closer than it should've been. Lot's to work on but we are 10-2. 16 will get us top 4, 17 probably top 2. We are still in a great position.

6. Gawn 5. Jordon 4. Viney 3. Brayshaw 2. Fritsch 1. Oliver - for his second half

Tonight I watched Max Gawn play the Sydney Football Club, and he only fell two goals short!

Biggest surprise was Tom Stewart. Can't recall him being anywhere in the top 20. Our 4 were the right 4, maybe Langdon a bit stiff.

He isn't a full time AFL forward. He doesn't have enough tricks. However, he could be a reasonable defender and I think he'd be ok at the role that Jackson fills. He seems to enjoy the ruck role and it does get him into the play. I actually thought his game against Hawthorn when he took Jackson's spot wasn't bad, but he got dropped for Jackson. Unfortunately we don't really need another tall defender and the second ruck role is taken care of.

The Darcy votes are really interesting. He had no influence in the first half and he and Gawn ended up statistically similar by games end - Darcy winning more hitouts and kicking a goal. I think Longmuir gave him the 5 - nullifying Gawn would have been a major objective, whereas Goody would have seen them breaking even. Lobb was the biggest influence when the game was on the line.

Our first half, in particular the second quarter was outstanding but as has been mentioned we wasted opportunities and what should've been a 6 or 7 goal lead was only 4 and the door was ajar. Our backline wasn't exposed in the first half due to the dominance of Gawn, Oliver and Viney at clearance. Gawn spent a substantial amount of time out of the ruck and off the ground in the third and that was the turning point. Jackson played nothing like a big man yesterday. He was uncompetitive in the air and in the ruck. A paltry 7 hitouts from 36 ruck contests (Gawn 20 from 44, Darcy 32 from 59, Lobb 7 from 25). Our midfield dominance is predicated on either winning hit out or negating the oppo ruck. We never get beaten in the ruck. We may not always win it but we never lose it - until yesterday. Gawn played a fine game - not outstanding but he more than held up his end and neither Lobb nor Darcy had any real influence when opposed to Gawn. Jackson's ability to hit the scoreboard has also stagnated this season. If he is to be a third tall forward he needs to do more in that part of the ground. Our tall forwards were terrible in the air also. Freo's contested marks were mostly intercept in defence and that is an indictment on Brown and Weidemann. The good news is, it's all fixable. Mitch Brown will probably come in if he plays ok today. He's a very smart footballer and he knows how to lead. Tomlinson is a very good defender who'd be playing regular senior footy nearly anywhere else. Harmes will be close to playing this week. TMac should be back. All of a sudden we look a much better team. We won games in May's absence last year and I'm sure we can do it again.

I thought the Ryder interview was great. He is a real statesman. A class act! I disagree that Jackson is in the top three ruckman. He has a hitout win rate of 35.6% and 2.2% hitout to advantage and 2.4 clearances per game. Ryder goes at 53.5% hitout win rate and 7.2% to advantage. Paddy has similar clearance stats to Jackson. Gawn has a hitout win rate of 52.5% and goes at 8.2% hitouts to advantage and get an average 5 clearances per game. Toby Nankervis goes at 51.3% hitout win rate, 7.6% hit out to advantage and 3.5 clearances. Sean Darcy goes at 49.9% hitout win rate, 9.9% to advantage and 4.9 clearances. I'd go 1.Gawn, 2.Darcy, 3. Ryder right now if you are looking at the complete package (marking, disposals, impact on the game). Nankervis is a warrior and is a great leader for the Tigers. He'd be next.

I wonder if they'd consider playing Tomlinson on the wing as an interim measure? That's what he was originally recruited for. Obviously doesn't have Langdon's pace, but he does have a big tank. Provides a marking option down the line. Hasn't played there since 2020 but has done it reasonably well previously, especially at GWS.

That's how I saw it. Gawn won 26 hitouts with 10 to advantage, kicked 1 and might have kicked 3 spending around 50% of game time forward. He played well enough. He certainly defended very well too. By comparison Goldstein won 33 hitouts (most against Jackson) with 7 to advantage. Although Xerri did nothing at all around the ground (2 disposals), he was very competitive in the ruck.

Yeah, nah. Brayshaw started terribly but worked his way into the game. Gawn was asked to play a different role - He and Jackson had a near 50/50 split of centre square attendance. We actually won clearance well and Gawn was two straight kicks of having a great game (1.2 v 3.0). Brown didn't play well but it'd be the first time in a while.

Goodwin absolutely loves Viney. Simpson's votes are usually a bit left field. I reckon Goody went Viney, Petracca, Pickett, Gawn and McDonald. Kozzy was great. On first viewing I wasn't overly impressed with Maxie, but having watched it back he was pretty dominant - as he should've been against the WCE no name rucks, and probably amongst the best half dozen on the ground in a pretty even effort.

Joeboy - very accurate summation

Well done to the Suns. That was a great performance. Witts is a wholehearted player who sets a great example. Miller is an absolute jet. He's as good as most mids going around at the moment. Their young players are really coming on as well. Good on them.

Terribly sad. A brilliant cricketer. Loved watching him take the game on. And just amazing in the field.

That game against the Bears is perhaps most famous for the "mark of the century" taken by Shaun Smith.