Gawndy the Great

Yes he is all shirk and no shiner (just made that up) But he can do it on average 35-40 times where no one is pressuring him. He does a lot of damage with the pill too. close to 900m gained on the weekend. You can go at him all you like, but the kid is getting it done. As for Kane - he is a one-eyed supporter, same as Bucks, Dwayno, Gerard and many other nufties in the press. He just goes more than usual. Dont mind him to be honest. As for JHF, im not for the booing, but if he didnt see this coming, then sheesh. The AFL need to tighten this up. If you are dropping top 10 picks on a player then you have to get some security on your investment. Its a professional sport and if you are not prepared to leave your home state, then dont put your hand up to play football and go work at the local library.

Ruthless is a strong word to describe teams. We were ruthless in 2021 partly by way of our system and team buy-in to the plan and desire to lift the cup. But mostly, the effort was also unquestionable, it was there every game, 100%. I think everyone put * on the Lions game due to Gawn and prevailing conditions. After what we dished up against Essendon, im thinking this is now the emergence of a new trend and i think its not all just about effort / attitude but more or less executing the new game plan. We are not yet comfortable playing the kamikaze , outside , uncontested, through the corridor game plan. its bit like trying to work in a change of golf-swing, the rehearsals look and feel great but when you feel the heat, you fall back on what you know and is in your comfort zone. My hope is that (similar to the Cats last year) it will take some time to click and we will have ups and downs but ultimately hit our straps when it matters most. Getting back close to our best 22 is always a bonus too.

Let’s hope so. We need to bank a 5+ win streak something chronic.

Gawns presence probably saves 3-4 goals from these two. Lever probably kills another 3-4 goals and there we have a scrappy win. Don’t forget that they were short a 2m Peter, that changes our defensive setup. Also Grundy needs more time to rebuild his tank. I’d expect him to hit his prime post bye but even then it’ll take this season and another to get back to his full capability. Our best footy wins that game by 10 goals. Pies were off today as well and managed to scrape together a win without similar key payers against a severely undermanned by desperate St Kilda outfit.

You couldn’t have missed the point anymore than you just have.

Simple, we don’t complain in the presser like Scotty the sook

Make the local teams play in the other venues.

The umpires had nothing to do with our loss today, yes they missed a few obvious ones but I’m sure the Bombers would have said the same. We were outplayed and out worked all day. Credit to their coach for exploiting a vulnerability of ours in the ruck but even that alone was not the factor.

Collingwoods pressure is fantastic. Hope the boys are watching.

They epitomise what work rate and effort can do. Talent doesnt make as much difference as it used to. If they keep winning and get back their stars they’ll go deep. We forget that they used to be a reasonable team before they fell off the face of the earth with no apparent reason.

There is an article on HS supposedly talking about Gawn return date. As it’s behind paywall cannot see it - has anyone else read the article and care to summarise ?

Was thinking exactly the same thing. He won’t have the luxury of breaking tackles with that frame in the AFL.

If he is ready , he plays. Don’t forget that Gawn and Grundy still need to refine their chemistry. Lever <> Tommo Tmac <> BBB Hibbo <> Melk Spargo <> JJ Gawn <> ???

I think this is just players trying too hard to impact the game and not trusting other team mates to get it done. It’s worrying that we can lose the trust so fast.

I’m in 2 minds - if it was travel based fatigue, I’d expect us to fade out in Q4, but our pressure was off all game. I’d love to see the pressure ratings for each quarter.

We are 10 pages in the post game thread. I’m sure it’s not too difficult to read through to get the specifics yourself.

Yes almost identical.

I think we learnt that last year isn’t a sustainable model. Not giving our 2nd tier and junior mids more time in CBA last year has stagnated their development - perhaps they are now playing catch-up. I think they will definitely be the better for it as the season progresses and the teams that roll lesser numbers through will likely tire as we have done previously. Well that is the hope anyway.

Which is why i think the 6 day break isn’t the excuse as we were off from Q1. It’s 100% attitude. We got it right in 21 largely by a game plan that didn’t require us to be 100% all the time and system worked. Our system has been forced to change into a higher risk and higher pressure game plan where we cant afford to be complacent. Be prepared to have a few more games where we will concede 100+ points this year until it clicks with the team that every week requires us to turn up.

I’d disagree but there is no point arguing.

Why don’t you offer us your take then? He is a champion player, but didn’t even have a hard tag and yet got pantsed in Q1. I hate it, he hates it but the fact still remains he has two touches (12 in the first half) and wasn’t able to impact the game.

He does seem quite hesitant to commit- I agree. Not sure whether he has full confidence back yet.

Different roles and agree it’s harder to win the ball than to receive it. But he’s a kid in his 2nd year that continues to find a way. Oliver is arguably one of the best in the comp and yet gets the ball twice in a quarter when it matters most. You usually see this once maybe twice a year. He wasn’t alone today and our the whole teams defensive pressure was missing. Maybe there is something in that and the travel involved , but I want the Dees to make a statement every time we play and when the Bombers kicked the first 2 before kicking away again, I knew which Melbourne turned up.

One thing the Pies do so well is continue to take the corridor on with carry.. we seem to hack kick out of 50 instead of run it out today. The Bombers haD a high press which would have buckled if we managed to clear through it and kick a couple of goals. But their high press and pressure is our kryptonite - has been for a while.

Why don’t they do that in Q1 where the game is in the balance? It really irks me. Clarry had 2 touches in Q1 and Trac wasn’t in the game. They have both come somewhat back to the field this year. Thankfully it’s early days but a kid at Pies in his 2nd season is still running rampant no matter what teams throw at him.