Swooper1987

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.

I really enjoyed watching that game. It was a decent contest but it also gave me real confidence about where we are at. Ryder and Marshall are a great pair but were largely irrelevant against us. Geelong's age caught up with them in the second half and the Saints zip and dare paid off this week. We have both covered but they are decent footy sides.

I thought the twilight deal was sealed with the success of last years GF. Everyone I know, nearly all of whom don't support Melbourne, thought it was a spectacular success. At the G, in school holidays it'll be fantastic.

One of the coaches agreed with us!

https://www.zerohanger.com/demons-ruckman-under-injury-cloud-119973/ Obvious to anyone at the ground that he was troubled by injury yesterday.

I reckon Gawn played hurt in the second half. Hardly anytime on ball and a lot of the last quarter on the pine. Was riding the bike a bit too. Might be a good time to let him sit one out. He's got a big few weeks coming up.

Our draw wasn't easy at the start of the year when it was first announced. From last year 2nd, 16th, 8th, 3rd, 6th, 12th and 14th in the first 7 games. When you finish first you aren't going to play anyone above you. 4 out of last years top 8 in the first 5 rounds was about as difficult as anyone preseason. Degree of difficulty of draws ebbs and flows throughout the season - form, availability, incentive at different times all come into it. Just take them as they come and the ladder looks after itself. There are a standout top 3 and we are in that group, and as was stated earlier in this thread we all play each other twice. It couldn't be fairer than that.

Dew was a long time assistant at Sydney. Probably proves that Longmire hasn't changed much over the years since Dew left.

1. Swooper - he was quite remarkable. Finals for 5 consecutive years, winning at least one final every year between 1987 and 1991. Broke a 23 year finals drought and had more success against Hawthorn in their golden era than any other side. 2. Goodwin - he's a premiership coach 3. Danners - he did well considering the third world conditions he operated with compared to most other clubs. 4. RDB - 5 years of toil which introduced a group of players who were constantly competitive under Northey. 5. Balme - he was very unlucky with injury from 1995. 1993 we were stiff not to make finals, 1994 we made the prelim. The planets just never aligned for him. Roos did his job and was clearly a great club and culture builder.

I coached him junior cricket at Frankston YCW. He played in back to back premierships in under 14's. Was a decent medium pacer and a gun slips fielder. Footy was always his go though. A very clever small forward. He's doing great at Casey this year. Pleased to see him doing so well.

He is impressive isn't he? As much as I respected Clarkson, it's hard to argue they made the wrong decision.