Gawndy the Great

Hard to say who goes. The forward half pressure was suspect all night. Pressure on the ball carrier wasn’t great either. i felt the weight fell on too few shoulders and a few old habits crept back into our game. If BBB kicks 3+ goals, I think he comes in otherwise Salem in for Jetta if fit.

The Crows played a very high risk game style that they cannot possibly sustain for long periods - almost our 2018 brand. We should have been ready for it but they were a bit flukey all night. Watch them get thumped next week because they really got up for tonight’s game. As for the umps that is the 3rd or 4th game there have ruined the end result by a bad last 30 seconds. In the scheme of things it’s not a huge thing but imagine that happening in a GF. Montagna mentioned a captains challenge on fox footy a few weeks ago, which was shunned at the time but would have been very handy tonight to challenge either calls. That free kick against Lever and Petty were they kicked easy goals were also very soft. I hope that burns and we turn up with our A game for the next 2 weeks.

Every team regardless of ladder position will turn up to our game as they want to hunt the top team. No easy games - doesn’t help when your in 1st gear until the 3rd quarter.

That is the blueprint of how to beat us - through the corridor - short kicks and passes. Need to respond to this in game and correct.

I haven't though too much about the actual implementation, but i would say if the associated pick is say 2000 points, then the matching mid from a team in the top 8 needs to have a multiplier against i.e. 1st Pos = 1.5x (3000), 2 Pos - 1.4, 3rd - 1.3 etc etc. This way the top 8 team needs to think long and hard if they want to put all of their eggs in one basket to get the NGA / Father Son - in some cases the top 8 team may have traded out of the draft using future picks etc so many never get the points required without trading out existing players for picks. I get that the actual points system takes this into consideration to some extent, however using the Doggies and Sydney as recent examples proves that it is compromising the fairness of the draft.

Just read this on SEN and boy do i get annoyed at these pointless and unbalanced rules. If all plays out as anticipated, then the Doggies will have had access to Pick 1 and Pick 2-5 in subsequent years in the draft whilst playing in finals in previous years. I get the romance of Father-Son and having a contrary view is unpopular, but how would you feel as a Norf supporter who would be crying out for someone like Darcy as a succession strategy to replace Goldstein? Collingwood for Daicos wont be as controversial because they will be finishing close enough to the bottom. It is similar garbage to the whole NGA program where interstate clubs can bypass the draft framework to recruit players in effect jumping the queue. Im not against having these recruiting options remain, but there has to be some common sense and fairness to the whole thing. For example, clubs should be taxed additional points commensurate with their position on the ladder and not just the points value corresponding to the draft order. It should be setup such that a team finishing top 4 or 8 should not be in a position to easily draft a player through Father-Son or NGA when that player is going to go 1-10. I'm not saying it should be impossible, but they should have to 'give-up' something more than just draft points as they do today.

Not the worst idea. Not sure we match up well there though. If Walker comes in with Thilthorpe we will be short in defence. Something to think about for the selectors.

Love his work. I think we have 3 of the top 10 players in the comp at the moment in Oliver, Trac and Gawn and probably another 2-3 in the top 20 (Lever, Salo and May). Such a balanced side playing great team footy. Love Oliver's 2-way running this year and his improved kicking. He is still a young boy and still has some upside. Could he win a brownlow?

100% with you on that. Need him to go head to head with Libba in 2 weeks time. He has to negate his influence in the contest. We stop the Doggies with clearances and we will take them to the sword.

We have been a bit off since the Richmond game. I’m not sure whether this is on purpose but it may explain the slow starts. Our game appears to respond to the oppositions intensity and we eventually break them down. I think we will look similar against the Crows (slow start then overcome them by 5-6 goals) but hope that we are switched on from the first bounce against the Dogs and Lions.

Chandler and Weid need another week or two at least if they are going to learn the system. Stafford needs to work with the forwards to work out leading patterns and general cohesion. It is a potent forward line, however i am not convinced that our inside 50 delivery is suitable for this setup (ala West Coast Eagles who successfully have the 3 headed dragon). Here is a left field idea - why dont we trial Weideman as a key post in the backline? Not saying we do this right now, but in terms of list longevity we have to find a solution to the LG, TMac, BBB conundrum and May isn't getting any younger. TMac is proving too dangerous to be moved to the wing/backline. Could be a Darcy Moore type revelation?

Yep centre clearance work was fine should have said general play stoppages.

Was at the game. Mate saw Trac spew his guts out before the game started. Not sure if nerves or something else. midfield definitely need to lift - too predictable at stoppages and we never seem to get a clean clearance. The midfield is great defensively but cannot hurt teams enough with poor kicking inside 50 - today field kicking was supposedly pretty efficient. We also don’t use the corridor enough - kicking it wide is boring and predictable.

38K

Couldn’t afford Bont but doubt he would even consider leaving the doggies. I’d say from the list above that Merrett is the obvious target. Whitfield j Kelly whilst would be great don’t strike me as someone willing to take a pay cut to come to us for some success. our list balance is reasonably good. I’d like to see some recruitment of a young KP backman to succeed May in a few years. Maybe target Weitering, Maynard or Sicily.

David Teague just walked past me during school pickup this afternoon. Snuck in a sneaky "Go Dees" and the smirk on his face changed into a look of worry and sorrow. He knows what's coming this weekend. Dees by 6 goals.

I think this was a strategic leak to the press to prepare the fans for his omission from the squad.

Bring in the Weid - give him a solid run of games to prove his worth. If he fails .... how many more chances do you give him ?

This is such a great explanation of the MFCSS - hit the nail on the head!

Why wasn’t LJ on last week?

Trac appears to be available as he overcomes his corky.

When you are 8-0 and have 2 rising star nominations in the first 8 weeks. #lifeisgood

Maxy is due for an absolute blinder.

Given Weitering's form - he will likely negate which ever forward he takes. Need to make him accountable or at least have a 2nd and 3rd tall option to counterpunch. Could this be reason enough to have our own '3 headed monster' in the forward line (TMac - BBB - Weid) ?

Reported Harry McKay out of contract at the Blues. What would he command $ wise? Could we let Weid go and bring in McKay? Wouldn't that be marvelous?