Demon Dude

we start the year unsure of what our best defensive set up looks like and we end up going with playing the 3 talls in May, Frost and Oscar. which makes our defence too big and slow, plus they all proceed to get in each others way and we leak goals, before Goody realises by about R3 or 4 that that's pretty much what happened to us last year. and so he then drops Oscar and brings in the smaller, more mobile Marty Hore instead, who then manages to keep his spot in the team for the rest of the year, even when Lever returns, because by then its also become apparent that Lewis is struggling more than ever to keep up with the pace of the game and needs to be permanently replaced in the backline.

who is complaining? have a look around the site. seems there is someone almost daily saying the same thing over and over about how they're worried about our pre season. I just cant see what the point is of continually banging on about it as there's not much that can be done about it. and how am I not dealing in reality? ive acknowledged and discussed in my previous post that there has been injuries and delays, and I said i am not that concerned about it. all teams have these issues to some degree.

yeah im not too worried, I have faith that the rehab team know what they're doing. look at how TMac came back from injury last year. look at how Viney and Vanders returned to action late in the year. they ran out games, were strong and were amongst our better players. getting them cherry ripe to play is the rehab teams goal, whether it be for R1, 2 or 3, or as long as it takes. sure it would be nice to have no players having operations and no injuries in the off season, but the reality is that's not the case, so i dunno what people expect the club to do about it. complaining about it is definitely not gonna help the situation. they just gotta get on with it the best they can.

spying on oppo training now are we?....I like it.

look forward to receiving 40% off the RRP of a new Jaguar when we have a win in 2019 ?

I reckon the Maroochydore training camp coverage on the MFC site has gone backwards this year compared to the last couple of years. we used to get good write ups about the whole squad of players and training reports. but we don't seem to get much of that now, besides some gallery photos and short videos.

i think the rule where you don't have to kick it to yourself from points and playing on will make a bigger difference to the game than 666. I can see situations where fast players charge from the back of the goal square and find it much easier to baulk the opponent manning the mark at speed to get past him, where as before you had to kick to yourself from pretty much a standing start and run 5m before getting the kick away as your opponent could get a better read on which way you were going. I can now see the huddle coming back into favour again to allow plenty of space to run into, in this situation. therefore you'd think faster defensive players like Hunt and Frost will come into greater consideration now, because they can cover ground better when playing on from 'kick outs', or make position from these fast play on situations, or in Hunts case dropping back into D50 from the starting wing position as well. plus both have booming kicks. I think they'll become more versatile, while I think guys like O.Mac and Lewis might find it harder to get a game due to being slow. same goes in the fwd line. i'd expect we bring in a genuine speedster like Garlett or Bedford, to stand the 10m mark at the top of the goal square and try and chase down the oppo player when he plays on.

reckon you're right Baghdad Bob. I think Spargo will be an important player for us. he's got good footy smarts and is a creative ball user. he should only improve with the added fitness and strength the preseason should bring. and lets not forget he had a limited pre season last year, yet still managed to hold a spot in the team for most of the year. at the moment he is more of a defensive fwd than say Jeffy is, as he can do a bit of a shut down job on a oppo defender, which is why I think he gets a game over Jeffy, as its better for the team but it obviously doesn't win you as many plaudits as easy goals over the back does. I also think that up around the ball as a distributor/play maker is his go in the future. hopefully he can turn into our very own little Sammy Mitchell type.

yeah i'm not that keen on playing 2 ruckmen either really. but I'm coming around to the idea on certain occasions where the oppo will likely try and double team Max with 2 decent ruckmen of their own, like WC did in the final. I see possible games for this likelihood are against Port, Pies and West Coast. don't think too many more teams could trouble us with it, off of the top of my head. I also don't think J.Smith is best 22. think you summed him up pretty well. reserve fwd who could provide a contest if needed. think that's about all he really offers.

I don't think that's slightly left field at all. looks pretty good to me, structure and personal wise. only changes I would consider making is maybe Preuss coming in for Hunt, considering Port may play 2 rucks like others have mentioned, and maybe Frost for Oscar but there's not much in that either way.

yeah of course. I see May as Oscars replacement. I was merely pointing out that if we had a player like Hore we wouldn't of had to drop Fritsch for Smith in that last game.

yeah match ups on the WC 3 talls. you don't want to be chopping and changing the back 6 though to suit teams imo. that's why I think Hore can come in to give us a better match up on different players. he could of taken darling, frost on kennedy, Oscar on vardy. I wouldn't feel safe playing Fritsch on darling for example and obviously the coaches didn't either, and Hore has to be a better option than Smith. yeah you're right, we'll roll different guys through the wing/sweeper role no doubt. Fritsch and KK look best suited to me but I like salem as a permanent back 6 though. reckon he really made that spot his own after vince got dropped, but yeah he can do it too.

I reckon Marty Hore can come into the backline, which means Fritsch wont have to go back there this year. only when he drops back to help mop up when playing on the wing, which is a more suitable role for him. reckon wing/fwd flank are his best positions. thought Fritsch was a bit flaky as a defender, and them dropping him for the last game and playing J.Smith instead, probably shows they were/are looking for someone stronger than Fritsch to play back there on a more permanent basis.

i'd be more concerned about his knee than his weight. he seems to be having a bit of trouble with it this preseason. not sure what the issue is, maybe just needs a clean out done on it hopefully.

behind stretch. and that's nev out the back. can't see Keilty anywhere though.

so because he's not in the market for the coleman it means he has no presence out on the field. ok then...

well he was probably best on ground that game, so I don't think he was flying under any ones radar that night. and also I would say it is very important for your key forwards to have a presence in games, otherwise they're just another Jack Watts. at 195cms and about a 100kgs, he's not exactly small, and when going hard at the ball and delivering crunching tackles, then I think they're gonna notice he's out there.

yeah I loved that moment too. plus he has shown its not a one off in the short amount of games he's played so far, he loves to nail a bloke with a tackle, which is great. it does show a real intent, like you say. Hogans tackling pressure was Watts like most of the time, useless. I thought it was also funny that the cats players didn't really remonstrate with Weid after he buried Danger in that tackle. you'd think they would try to put the youngster off his game by coming back at him and getting in his face, but they didn't. Weid must have a bit of presence about him out there on the field.

yeah I see him as a bit of a pinch hitter too. back flank/wing/fwd flank rotation. I reckon he would mainly be working with the backline guys because right now its the defensive area of his game that probably needs the most work. get him more used to bodying up on opponents, building his strength under the ball etcetera.

love the way he jumps at the ball and his aggressive tackling. good below his knees, and excellent by hand and foot for a big guy. does everything Hogan wouldn't, or couldn't, do as a forward. Hogan does have him covered for running power though, but he will get better the older he gets.

that's good to know. he'd want to pull his finger out, he's out of contract at years end and since Goody has taken over, he has shown he's not afraid to make guys 'walk the plank' for giving suspect effort at times. Watts, Hogan and Tyson all gone. I reckon Jeffy has the first half of the season to win and then hold a spot in the team, otherwise he'll go on the scrap heap for good and we move on to some of the young kids we drafted instead.

some of the loses we had last year were sort of the loses we had to have really. Goody was still working out what our best team looked like and suitable game plans. I think loses like the ones to the Hawks, Port, Saints and Cats were mostly down to bad team balance/ player selection and/or an unsuitable gameplan. sometimes we got beat by the better team and sometimes I think we pushed it too far, but I can understand why it was done, as the coaches have to learn more about the group and themselves. its all part of the learning curve, and I think we learnt a lot from last year.

I reckon Nev Jetta has future coach written all over him. seems a great communicator and likes helping people get the best out of themselves, as witnessed by his contribution to many causes in the community. he's also got the grit. after some early challenges in his career, he's had to to pick himself up, dust himself off, work hard and rise up above the rest. he knows what it takes. he's a pretty impressive package is our Nev.

D - Oscar MacDonald G - Jayden Hunt

and jumper. and probably a pair of socks too.