Swooper1987

The player ratings say that Gawn has had a big improvement from last year from 13.90 to 17.02. Tracc is roughly the same as last season but obviously nothing after round 13 and Oliver has had a massive drop off - 16.15 to 10.85. Brayshaw was our 5th highest rated player last season at 11.21. That loss, coupled with Oliver's decline and Petracca's absence is basically the reason for our season. Viney is rating similarly to last season. Rivers and Neal-Bullen have both improved by about 1.5 from last season. McVee has gone from 8.81 to 9.68. May and Lever have both also dropped from last season by around .6. So other than Gawn, none of our big guns have improved from last season. The decline in Oliver, May and Lever and the absence of Brayshaw cannot be covered by the improvement of players like Rivers, Neal-Bullen and McVee. Our best chance of a rebound in 2025 is to have Oliver back near his best and to find someone who can fill the role Brayshaw played for us.

Stoked for Hogan. Has finally become the player he was destined to be. Good on him.

Grundy has really struggled the last few weeks. Interesting they brought Ladhams in. He was hopeless too but might indicate the workload has got the better of Grundy. He looks the bog average player he did with us last year.

The Xerri v Nankervis ruck battle was decent. Nank definitely the Tigers best and Xerri continued his good form. Xerri took the chocolates in AFL fantasy but Nank won supercoach. Was a good old fashioned 80's style ruck battle. Some of Nank's touch in the last quarter was exceptional. Xerri is the heir apparent to Max. He can take a decent grab.

I don't usually comment on these threads but in my view he is 100% not getting sacked and nor should he be. We have had a lot of obstacles to overcome this season, starting with the Smith and Oliver dramas in the off season; long, medium and short term injuries to Lever, May, Petracca and Gawn in season as well the career ending injury to Brayshaw only weeks before the season started. The worst season Viney has played in his career and for much of the season playing a large number of players under 50 games every game. The season has been disappointing and our list management has been questionable in recent times but I think (and more importantly people who can actually influence the decision believe) that Goodwin is the person best placed to guide us over the next chapter. There is a lot of natural improvement in our younger players. We have seen that with Rivers and McVee this year. I have confidence we'll see similar with some of our youngsters next year. Gawn once again proved last night that he has no peer as a ruckman and will play for another couple of years. He needs some support. We need to reinvigorate the midfield which is why we need to go to this years draft. We'll have a pick between 5 and 10 most likely and there is plenty of good talent from a midfield perspective. My footy watching experience tells me these things can flip around quite quickly. Maintain the faith.

Just back and watched Gawny go pretty much one out against the Doggies and only lose by 51. 6. Captain Max. Outstanding game, massive hit out to advantage numbers, 9 marks, 12 contested, a goal and did it everywhere. Schooled last years AA ruck. 5. Langdon put in something resembling an acceptable effort and never stopped running. 4. Rivers had pretty good numbers but was largely irrelevant as the dogs mids did as they pleased. Still, at least he tried. 3. Sparrow appeared a bit interested until the last quarter but was still substantially better than most. 2. McVee was unobtrusive but didn't make many mistakes. 1. Fritsch kicked a couple, took a nice mark. As for pretty much everyone else, hope you enjoyed watching the game. The Dogs are a genuinely good team. Well done to them on the way they have recovered their season.

Because he only touched the ball 6 times, including 0 in the second and 0 in the last.

He came back a week earlier than was initially projected. My counter view is what if he hadn't played? He wasn't right, back a week early but still had 12 contested possessions, kicked a goal, handed Nibbler the one at the end and competed manfully. And probably didn't do any further damage. Briggs is a good player, but statistically, other than hit outs, Max did as much as him.

That was a part of it. The other worrying thing was they weren't exactly Jarman to Dunstall passes from those clearances. The inability to spoil some of those entries is a real worry. It was like Lever, May and McDonald were observers at that stage.

GWS are a pretty decent footy team. They lost a prelim by a point last year. We are pretty much as good as them. Gawn played a week earlier than he should have, but imagine if he hadn't played? What might Briggs have done then? Oliver played a really good first half and was probably our best player tonight. His second half was disappointing and he let himself down with the square work in the last, but there were positives in his performance. It's disappointing to lose but that's footy. No team wins every week, and we've lost three close ones this year, but also won a couple as well - North, Geelong were both tight and went our way. I'll leave it to all the analysts to break down every stat and every play and extract recriminations, but I enjoy the fact that we have won a flag, been a really competitive footy team for a number of years now and that we are still a chance to play finals this year.

6. Oliver - great first half but kept to 9 in the second half and only 3 in the last. 5. Viney - 15 contested, again a better first half than second but played a good game. 4. Rivers - 10 contested and 7 clearances. 3. Langdon - ran hard all night and presented an option. 2. Gawn - nowhere near his best and beaten by Briggs in a couple of important centre bounces but played an important role, with 12 contested possessions, 4 clearances, his own goal and the goal he created for ANB. 1. Lever - outstanding first quarter and a decent last.

His marking today was excellent. But he can't ruck and he's a pinch hit forward at best. Back to defence and it'll be a very worthwhile investment.

Very hard because we really didn't have a player who won their position. We had some triers so here goes - 6. Van Rooyen - 8 marks, a couple of goals, looked like he put in a decent effort. 5. May - some rubbish stat padding but wasn't disgraced and managed to get the Freo fans riled up so points for that. 4. Petty - was decent around the ground but as long as his backside points to the ground he no ruckman. Liked his contested marking. 3. McVee - he played another solid game. He's composed under pressure and uses it well. 2. Billings - did more in less than a half than most did in a full game. 1. Langdon - ran a lot, got to position well and was a useful link Absolutely shocking effort by our midfield - Viney, Oliver, Sparrow, ANB, Rivers, Pickett. As poor a display as you could see. Lever - just about a career worst game.

An absolute superstar. On his day - and there were a few of them - he was unbeatable. His 1991 season was remarkable. 14 games - played round 1, then round 10, then round 14 through to the semi final. 0 goals in round 1, 1 in round 10, the proceeded to kick 70 goals in 12 games for the remainder of the season. Finished the season with 71.57. It was simply brilliant.

Agree except we didn't need Lynch last year. We just needed a fit Melksham. He'd have made the difference in likely both finals, but certainly the Carlton game. And from there, who knows?

He's a premiership coach - the only Melbourne premiership coach in my lifetime and he deserves to be respected as such. I think his footy acumen is desperately underrated. Last night was an interesting one. I watched from mu usual spot on the second tier right on the members wing. Petty was uncompetitive in the ruck as I expected and Draper did as he liked. 9 disposals, three clearances, 3 marks and 9 hitouts v Petty 1 handball and 3 hitouts. It looked an Essendon game. But JVR stood up in the second and absolutely turned it around. 5 disposals, 3 marks and 4 hitouts v Draper 4 disposals, no marks and 7 hitouts effectively neutralised what was the biggest advantage Essendon had. Our gut runners went to work - Langdon, Windsor and ANB. Oliver, after a horrid first quarter showed glimpses of the 3 time AA, 4 time B&F Clayton and Melksham led the front half magnificently. So overall, Simon had a good night. Petty is not a centre bounce ruck and he has proven that a few times. But as Draper tired her became more competitive in short bursts later in the game. Goody's faith in Petty was misplaced but as a good coach does, he righted the ship. Kudos to him.

It was a great night to be at the footy. A lot of vote worthy players but from my vantage point here were the 6 most influential 6. Ed Langdon - as Scott pointed out post game it was our peripheral players rather than the inside mids who did most of the damage and Ed was chief among them. 5. Windsor - another example of what Scott was talking about. This boy is a seriously good player. Proves that wet weather actually accentuates a skilful player. 4.McVee - another balanced and poised game from the new Corey Enright. 3. Melksham - his forward half leadership makes such a difference. In fact his injury at the end of last season cost us at least one final win and potentially a premiership. 2. Rivers - another very good game from a very good footballer. 1. Oliver - not his usual style, more of a linkman last night but used the ball well mostly, considering the conditions. It was great to see his improved ball handling. Honourable mentions to JVR who is a competitor of the highest order and to ANB who did a great job containing an absolute champion of the game. Merrett was still effective but nowhere near what he has been.

Grundy isn't in great form. He has been beaten (quite badly) in his last two games against Darcy/Jackson and then on the weekend by Marshall, who completely took him apart. And in case you've forgotten, he got flogged last year by Draper and Phillips. It was embarrassing watching his lack of ability to defend as the Bomber rucks kicked 5 on him. I get the angst about the Schache selection as sub in last years finals, but don't make Grundy out to be something he wasn't.

Over his career Heeney has shown himself to be a very fair player. That in all probability it costs him a Brownlow seems an incredibly high price to pay for what is really incidental contact. If Webster's nose didn't bleed there was absolutely nothing to see there. I'd be surprised is this was the intended outcome of the rule change. I hope they challenge this and bring in the Carlton lawyers.

He is a quick healer. His knee was supposed to keep him out for 5 or 6 last season and he only missed three. First game back was a good one against the Tigers, 8 marks, 17 disposals and a goal. I'll back him in to miss only one or two.

Yep, all clear for Melk. Only Yeo got a fine for umpire contact in our game.

Looking on the bright side, we did cover Oliver's absence well last year and we have found a great sub for Trac with Rivers so maybe we can pull another bunny out of the hat. It'll be a different experience for the midfield. And also for our defence not having the champ giving them a chop out. But just maybe it'll throw Essendon out a bit too.

The ruck position is important in so far as you don't want to be dominated in that spot. An ability to at least negate is important. However, I agree with Binmans PA that Petty could be an adequate replacement around the ground with his marking ability. He's absolutely useless at centre bounce, as demonstrated by his efforts in the Alice against Freo, but he can take a mark and he moves reasonably well. He's no Gawn, but he's probably the best option we have. Also, re Draper specifically - he loves to get forward - remember how he torched Grundy last year. At least Petty could defend him when he runs inside 50. He might also be able to hurt him the other way.

Only the last three games. He was in the coaches votes against Collingwood and very clearly our best player. That was the game immediately before the bye. So since the bye the three games we've played he's been below his best but not lowered his colours to a couple of very good ruckmen. I agree that a more even team performance has seen us improve, but the reality is Gawn not at his best is still pretty much unbeatable in the sense that the opposition ruck is at least negated. That all goes out the window with him not there. Draper, Darcy/Jackson and Briggs in the next three weeks. That could get very messy if the champ isn't out there.

Exactly. For those who think Gawn has been a down a little since the bye, he's played against Xerri and McInerney before this week and beaten or at least broken even with them both. They are two of the inform rucks in the competition. And that's max not in his best form. The opposition will have a field day in his absence.