Gawndy the Great

It is first and foremost unrelenting pressure particularly in our forward half. They have unusually tall and skilful defenders. Do not let their intercept game going. Which means no bombing into f50, or to the wings from kick ins. Get those right and we may just win the game. Freo have looked very vulnerable to fast ball movement in the corridor. Yes we expose ourselves if we do this, but the Melbourne way will not work without BBB and TMac.

Because we would get absolutely nothing in return which will hurt us even more.

I found it interesting that there wasn’t one last week.

I always thought his movement out of the midfield group was a mutually agreed move to prolong his career.

I don’t like the way he ultimately gives the club an ultimatum. The selflessness that they talk about is an illusion. I think it has sucked the air out of the club and is evident on the field with lack of effort.

I don’t understand why it is not even been spoken of. His reason is to return to WA. Like Cerra tried to get to us he was more than happy to go to Carlton when it was obvious we couldn’t trade with Freo. If we cannot reach a suitable agreement with Freo, then we pick up the phone to Eagles and ask for pick 2/3 and call it a day. I think the fact that LJ wants to leave and that staying in Melbourne is not an option has lessened what we will get for him.

It’s too simplistic to think this is just about effort. Part of the problem is player positioning and inside 50 delivery. I think Goody mentioned this a while back. This is potentially where opposition coaches have been breaching our first and most important wall of defence. Think about how many dump kicks into Lever, May, Petty you have seen in the last 8 weeks. Goody went on record saying he’s not worried about the back half chip kicks and switches.Well, I think that’s part of the problem. No pressure in the front half and you get cut up as they transition and spread. What is a related and a more telling stat is scores from turnover. This has been well down all year and is directly linked to forward half pressure. So we fix this, we get our mojo back in.

I think that’s it. I can’t remember any other major incidents. I would have guessed big Maxy due to the knee in the head but it’s not a tall.

Both rucks had big impacts on the game, so you could argue they were exposed defensively and hence why that didnt feature much.

If you take out the players on 1 year deals approaching end of career , then I’d say very few

Kids are made of different stuff these days. I think its all LJ.

I'm in the same camp. Until i see sustained output week-in-week-out at a high level, then i wont change that opinion. Playing 1.5 quarters in the GF still only counts for 1.5 quarters of great football. Folks on here talk like that quadruples his talent. I'm afraid it doesn't. He still has plenty of upside, but im not convinced its 'generational talent' just yet. There is only a lot of hype.

So one thing was evident on Saturday night. A problem that we have talked about all too often is the slow, predictable ball movement. Yes it was still there, however there were times where we had real speed on the ball and we took the game on through the middle. This is why our forward 50 connection and efficiency was so good (some of it was from centre bounce clearances as well). Its clear we have a gear that is all out attack and it works really effectively like other teams in the comp. It brings in the likes of Weid and Fritta who have otherwise struggled under the slower ball movement. This - against all intuition - is something we need to maintain going forward as scoring and forward connection has been a real problem for us. The catch, however is that this really exposed us on the turnover and our defensive structures were often caught out - perhaps exacerbated by the absence of Lever. The area we will need to fix is forward and midfield pressure and some adjustments to defensive setup as well so that when we do get caught out, we are not as vulnerable. You have to remember, that the Doggies carve up teams with their ball movement. Our intent and effort was again off - not by much - but it wasnt manic. Loading? maybe, but we have been saying its been off all year. Freo, dont have as potent a forward line as the Doggies, so i think we need to take the same gameplan on Friday night plus some amped up pressure. If we do that, it will be a statement game, the response (drug hit - reference Jaded's post) we all needed and will steady the ship. IF we take Game Plan A, it will be a slog and tbh, Freo are probably better at it than we are right now.

Freo's defence stack up well. I think we play BBB and/or Weid and keep Petty down back for the remainder of the season. Im not against the idea, but it takes time for players to slot into a position - you cannot expect Petty to flick a switch and expect some results immediately. Explore it in pre-season and commit to it if it works. We have the stock in Turner and Tomlinson to cover.

That maybe true. But my response was to the talk about him being a midfielder - I just don’t see it. As for ruck, it’ll be years before we know how good he really becomes.

We need to develop a different d50 exit strategy. We have one of the best runners and serviceable utility in Hunt sitting in the 2s. Id say move Brayshaw to the wing, JJ rest Hunt in.

I’m not sure I see the upside here. Yes he is tall, but other than that, what does he offer? He is avg mark, slow gallop, and lacks fitness. He’d be awfully expensive and you’d find plenty of similarly capable mids in the draft every year. Right now he has upside, but he lacks a footy identity. Is he a ruck, forward, mid? Nobody really knows. Freo are taking a massive risk.

Yep. It’s not easy going back-to-back. The fact that we have had the Lions, Hawks and Tigers all have 3 or more premiership dynasties is an akin to having Federer Nadal and the Joker all in the one era. I don’t think the AFL likes this as they’d much prefer to spread them around the comp. Nevertheless we are in finals and giving ourselves a tilt. Our game plan matches most closely the best system I have seen in finals, (Tigers) which puts the outcome squarely at the players feet in bringing in effort and pressure for 4 quarters. Destiny is in the players hands.

Our form line is eerily similar to the dogs of last year who if you recall fell off the cliff in the last couple of rounds. We all know how that story goes. There has to be a bit of souls searching done now, not end of the season when it’s all too late. Not saying an Akermanis style interrogation, but some good honest constructive feedback. This nonsense of not panicking and staying calm works to an extent but we have been asleep at the wheel for most of the season and need a reality check. No passengers, no one way running. Need a solid 4q intensity. Lose this week and may as well shut up shop and get ready for an early preseason. Big call, I know and I’ll get the odd facepalm, but you need to build form and confidence and that needs to be in the form of wins against good sides. Apart from the Lions who have we really beaten this year? Many on here compare us to last year, we ares till 2nd and yada yada yada, but our record against top 8 sides was impeccable. This year it’s embarrassing.

Maybe once he signs the contract. I don’t think he likes playing the wing tbh.

Yeah they are human, it must be getting to them by now.

By what logic is it a 5 day break? If your logic is based on days between games, then we have another one against Freo this week.

I haven’t bought into the talk that the umpiring is driving fans away but after last night and some of the games today, I can at least understand how some ppl feel that way.

What bs he ran off line.

Where’s the 50?