Demon Dude

yeah ANB is pushing up to the contest as usual, but is having little impact, which is costly as it usually leaves us outnumbered inside F50. it might be time to change his role slightly and leave him deeper in the F50 as a crumber/pressure fwd, or send him back to Casey to regain some touch.

I tend to agree, its too big a job for 1 small fwd to create enough pressure. if there's only 1 small fwd the oppo aren't too worried about him, but throw another 1 or 2 into the mix and defenders become a lot more jumpy with ball in hand as its harder to keep an eye on where 2 or 3 small fwds are at, that can chase you down. get Jeffy in and tell him to chase, tackle and create pressure, to stop teams walking it out of our F50, because once they do they usually go all the way to goal up the other end.

criticism of this bloke, and TMac for that matter, is a bit rich imo. it wouldn't matter who we had down forward atm, the quality of our forward entries are amongst the worst in the AFL. I doubt Reiwoldt or Kennedy would kick 2 goals in our forward line the way we just ridiculously bomb it in the majority of the time. its the perfect set up for oppo defenders, its completely predictable and that's the way they want it coming in.

I think we need to have our wingmen hold space at centre bounces and general play, then look to have our mids kick sideways/short to them to open up our fwd 50 more. We need to get it to the outside so weid and tmac can find the space to get on the lead inside f50. Atm we are too predictable in our ball movement. Enough of just bombing down the middle from clearances. It just forms a pack inside 50 with all our blokes getting in each others way and then creates a lot of space for the oppo to run it out easily. With our lack of leg speed it plays into opposition hands and they can move it easily down field to score. We need to spread, take more uncontested marks and move it more deliberately. So I'd be dropping the butcher's and bringing in the better kicks. Out- ANB, Hunt, Sparrow, May inj. In- Spargo, Baker, CWagner, hore B- Jetta Oscar hibberd HB- Salem frost hore C- Fritsch harmes brayshaw HF- Trac weid spargo FF- Wagner tmac melk R- Gawn Oliver viney Int- lockhart kk Jones baker

I cant believe we just signed up Goodwin for 4 more years of this crap game plan.

I reckon he's right and wrong. its been an embarrassing week for the club all round. Goody did get outcoached. the only thing Cornes is wrong about is saying that Port did nothing illegal, which is not right, as you cant drop blokes off the ball like Jonas did, that's why he got fined 2k.

yeah we do that a lot. a symptom of too many inside types, like Jones, AVB and the like, playing wing etc. like I say there is a balance to be found, and we don't have it atm. the sooner we can get a KK or Baker in the side the better I reckon.

you cant chase down and pressure opponents with foot skills though. I agree moving the ball quickly will always beat running it, but its only half of the game. there is a balance to be found, and pace is certainly a handy thing to have when you don't have the ball. our midfield was very slow on Saturday, quite often when they won possession Port were off and running in waves and we were powerless to stop them, our blokes plodding along 20m behind them.

out -O.Mac, Frost, Viney in- May, Petty, Preuss OMac and Frost were pretty woeful at times. both don't deserve to play next week. May for Oscar and we may as well bring in Petty while we're at it. surely Petty has more upside than either of those two, who continue to make the most basic errors every week. I just cant see the point of playing them if we don't have to. I also think this could be one of those games where we can play Preuss to help out and protect Max a bit. we should be able to get away with playing 2 ruckmen on the skinny Geelong ground, where it will be more congested and contested game style you'd think. Vineys obviously not fit enough. leave him out until he is, otherwise he's a liability. would like to see other changes to the midfield but the reality is we already have our best guys in there, they just need to lift and work a lot harder defensively.

they should be right. I reckon they might cover Lewis's absence by having Jones spend a bit of time off half back and Sparrow then gets some time in the midfield rotations.

I'm pretty happy with the team that's been chosen. Hore was a no brainer imo, we've needed someone like him in the backline for a while now. And C.Wagner comes in which adds to our fwd pressure and gives a bit of run. Hopefully it also means more time for Spargo up the ground this season.

i don't think so. the new rules probably favour strong 1 v 1 players, something Hogan wasn't good at anyway.

yep its remarkable how little info we've received about our pre season from the footy club media department this year full stop. its really gone backwards from previous years and not very good promotion of the club imo. most stories we do get are just lifted from the AFL site anyway.

I disagree, he's already better than Hogan in his intended role. that's why we traded him. Hogan plays more like an oversized half fwd flanker than a key fwd and he's frightened of the big stage. that's why he always gave a poor showing in big games against top teams, and is probably the same reason why he wanted to go to lowly Freo. unlike Weid who plays like key forward, taking contested marks and bringing the ball to ground for the crumbers, and he tore it up on the big stage against good teams when he got his chance.

hope not, we got rid of Hogan for being a Hogan type.

so after watching a couple of pre season games, when it comes to 666, I think teams with the dominant midfield should be able score more easily when on a roll. I mean if a team is dominating from centre bounces, wont coaches just send all their forwards deep inside the F50, then if the opposition defenders man them all up, it will leave a paddock for the mids to run into for an open shot at goal or to even hit up a fast lead. on the other hand if the opposition decide to put some loose guys up on the 50 to pressure the midfielders and stop them running into scoring distance, the midfielders can then just kick long to the top of the square where they have the outnumber. looks a win, win situation for the dominant midfield to me.

we still did better than the Bombers. no one showed up to represent them!

that's a bummer, he's a good little player from what ive seen of him. no doubt he'll be missed.

I think small forwards like Spargo and ANB will benefit when the real stuff starts and team pressure lifts to another level. I doubt either will be dropped for r1 for their supposed lack of pre season form.

it wasn't off the ball at all. the ball was in the immediate area. Berry handpasses a split second before the bump/block.

i doubt we'll refine it before the season starts. our forwards have been getting in each others way for years now and we've continued to do stuff all about it.

I think the neck is considered high though isn't it? Mays shoulder goes right in under his chin into his neck. but if there's no injury to the neck could you say it was medium impact? also we could possibly argue that what else was he supposed to do besides brace for contact, as you cant tackle a bloke without the ball.

For me it has to be Hore. Those other 2 are hopeless in the air.

B-Jetta May Hibberd HB-Hore Frost Salem C-VDB Harmes Fritsch HF-Melk Weid Spargo F-J.Smith TMac Hunt R-Gawn Gus Oliver int- Jones Lewis Petracca ANB I'm a fan of the 2 tall defenders and a mid sized who can play a bit taller, like Hore can. I also prefer Frost for his pace over Oscar. I'd be willing to live with his deficiencies more than Oscars, but I also concede that they will likely stick with Oscar. same for the forward line. 2 talls in Weid and TMac, plus the mid sized Smith who adds a bit of a mismatch with his pace and leap. didn't mind the look of Hunt up forward yesterday. leads straight and fast, which draws the eye for the ball carrier, and that should only help our inside 50 delivery. also his pace would make defenders nervous and we need him as another defensive forward option as teams have been strolling out of our F50 far too easily. i'd play Spargo up the ground a bit further where he can use his smarts and skills more, and Hunt closer to goal, where he doesn't have to. Stretch is no good. turns it over, can only run in straight lines and is slow to take the game on. not what you need from your winger. he is depth only. I don't think Viney will be there for R1. sounds like an injury setback for him when he was cutting it tight as it was. hopefully i'm wrong, but I also don't want them to take any unnecessary risks with him either. he's too important.

gimme JKH over Maynard any day. now that bloke is what you call a list clogger.