Gawndy the Great

I think Rivers takes D6/7 with Brayshaw in the defence. Bowey lacks physical presence for now plus is only a 2nd year player so his body isn’t up to sustained footy at this intensity.

Good. He needs to hear it and get it out of his game. It effects the whole team. Trac today was the opposite, could have had a ping 40-50m on a couple of occasions but instead lowered the eyes and hit a target closer to goal.

It’s probably some match fitness as he wouldn’t have done any aerobic work for 2-3 weeks. It should improve over the next month. You can lose it in a heart beat but takes ages to build up.

The only certainty is Bedford out and Oliver in. The forward line had some reasonable function today so let’s see if it can do some damage against the Dogs. Midfield is where we are most vulnerable despite our talent. We are too often caught out in stoppages allowing for really easy exits from the opposition. Whereas we have to do some quick handballing, dodging traffic etc for the same result. Not sure why that is , but our setups need some tweaking. Cats hurt us in a similar way last week.

Got almost 10 marks, which is saying something. Hopefully can expose the Doggies backline next week.

Geez - I never said to have an Oliver impact. Someone who can break even and not get walked over. didn’t think I needed to spell that out. But as Goodwin says , learnings.

Still very fumbly and making some bad decisions with the ball. Have we got nobody that can step into Oliver’s role? We got smashed in the middle and are coming up against the best clearance team in the comp. You bank the 4 pts and applaud Kozzie but there was nothing in that performance that says we are exiting the form rut.

I’m seriously holding back a barrage of negativity on here. Big time.

Hard to tell much from this camera angle. But looks like the pace of the game is a bit too quick for us.

The only thing would be whether they have peaked a bit too early..

You have to applaud the Cats. As much as i hate to say it, they are the real deal and will be a difficult proposition in Sept. Pressure has been through the roof and the Bkues look gassed.

Neither could we. They look like we did last week.

Senior benefits.

This game simply has to have immense pressure through the game. We can see all the other contenders well on top of their game - doesn’t matter who wins out of the Cats and Blues, they’ll both be in the PF with this type of football. If we rock up with the intensity of the last month and half, it will be a wasted season as we won’t get past the first week of finals.

How many years was he injured for? He still has huge upside as well. And to think we took Weid ahead of him.

Geelong look dog hungry this year. But will be interesting to see how they perform under pressure. Blues so far can’t touch the ball.

We need a top 5 pick for LJ and and given his potential another late first round or early 2nd. The points worth is not an appropriate conparison as we would most likely use the first pick to chase the best KPF available and they go early. The 2nd pick would probably look at a ruck or KPD. As much as I’d hate to lose Brayshaw, and I don’t think he’d leave, he is in fact excess to our needs. We can cover for him at HB and on the defensive wing and in the midfield. He would also demand a 1st round pick (mid to late). Having 2-3 1st round picks would be phenomenally good for us and allow us to restock our lists with quality players and be relevant and playing finals for the next decade.

A lot can change in 2 years. I would think the club would be confident to extend even further at that point.

Im ok with that. I’d give ‘em everything we get for LJ and Weid.

Need to target Max King when out of contract. His talent being wasted there.

Just pathetic umpiring

Just as the sun rises from the east , Doggies get the benefit of umpiring.

yep i think you are right. i did recall that little trend was broken.... i can tell the witch doctor that they are no longer required.

is that unbeaten run of assistant coaches stepping in (due to COVID) still a thing?

Had an interesting chat with a former AFL great / media figure last night and he doesn't buy into the training load theory much. His view was that it was more hunger and it wasn't easy to go back-to-back without that. Thinks the cats have it, but he's not sure they will last in the finals. Still thinks if we can find our best, that we are lock.