Gawndy the Great

Win this and the media will say Port aren't that much of a threat/scalp and they are unsure about MFC's credential. Lose it and Port are the real deal whilst we are the pretenders. Don't you just love the media bias. I really don't know what to expect tonight, but agree with others that we will know within the first 5 minutes whether we take the threat seriously and whether we are a shot of winning the game.... i have this recurring thought of Round 1 2019....

Problem with this is that neither Weid or Brown are renowned for their body work and contested marking. In fact i would go as far and say that is a major flaw in their game. If we do play them deep and stretch the oppositions defensive structure we inevitably create space in the forward line for our forwards to run and lead into - this a strength of both Brown & Weid. If we chip kick and move the ball slow, the defense floods back and we are often bombing into an outnumbered contest. We are also turnover kings when we try to put speed on the ball. It ultimately boils down to knowing when to go full pelt vs slow and deliberate and having the forward connection in the sense that the forwards are on the same page as the midfield so that they can adjust positioning and leading patterns. When we get it right, it looks beautiful and we have that seamless transition.

Yze could only leave if it was a senior coaching position - that is usually the gentleman's agreement with club and coaching staff. WHy would Choco go to the same position at another club? A left field scenario could be to reunite Clarko, Yze and Williams and let Goodwin goto the Pies in exchange for Maynard. *sarcasm*

Is this so Geelong's ageing list can keep up with the competition? Hate to say but Geelong between the start of the season and now have gone from missing the 8 to a top 4 contender. I love a good conspiracy!

I agree. To me centre clearance work is all about tactics. They are set plays similar to those found in basketball and American Football. We need to have a toolkit that can be trained and drilled into the extended centre clearance team. We have possibly the best trio combination in Gawn, Oliver and Trac in the comp and we are not exploiting this advantage nowhere near enough. Watching a number of games yesterday - in particular North vs Doggies and the centre clearance dominance that North had against the Doggies was astounding. They had very clean exits with Cunnington and Goldstein and others - at one stage they had 4 goals to 1 from centre clerances. It seems that when we win the centre clearance its mostly under pressure resulting in a bomb kick into the fwd 50. In the odd chance we win with a clean exit it very rarely results in a kick into space onto a leading forward. This is not about skills and talent - you cold draft and trade all the talent in the world and it would not matter. Its about coaching, discipline and strategy - something i thought Yze would be on top of. Maybe he needs more time to adjust to our gameplan and implementing centre clearance tactics mid-season may not be easy given all of the other instructions that the players are getting regarding defensive structure, ball use etc. Our foundations in defensive structure is set. We need to sort out and exploit our centre clearance potential and forward 50 connection. Until then, i think it will be difficult to contend in the finals. Im still half glass full and have to remind myself 12-3 is nowhere near where i had us during pre-season.

Our losses certainly have anomalous factors associated with it as you have outlined. But the counter to it is that there should be some maturity in the group to sustain that positional dominance. I don't think we have that just yet. We talk the talk about embracing the predatorial aspects of becoming 'the hunted' but we do not transfer that desired 'dominance' and maturity into gameday. Our starts to games is an example of this. We look complacent and passive (a useful analogy is Rocky in Rocky IV against the infamous Ivan Drago) as we seem to setup for the counter rather than being proactive. Our run home is Port, Hawks, Suns, Dogs, Eagles, Crows, Cats. There are no easy games here. The teams in the top 8 will all be playing for ladder position. Eagles in particular will be fighting for a position in the top 8. Hawks and Suns will be looking to take a scalp and build for next year - the only upside here is that they are a young sides and will probably have tired somewhat as we play them. Crows will be trying to repeat their success earlier in the year. Games against Port (this week), Cats and Dogs are all Top 4 clashes - it is the hardest run home of any team. With our form line, 0-3 is likely, 1-2 would be a fair outcome, 2-1 and 3-0 seem unachievable. Now that we have relinquished top position, the media will have proved their assumptions right and the narrative around 'imposters' will start to grow. Lose this week and that will grow exponentially. Its funny how quickly the landscape changes - this will be a true test of grit and resolve of this playing group.

We definitely need the form and a 4 quarter solid effort. Chase hard and set up for a win.

I just looked it up and it does say 10 I always thought it was from one side to the other but it appears to 10m radius. if that’s the case then that is absolutely diabolical because it was nowhere near 10m. Away from the kicker.

A well drilled and coached outfit. Individually though they are not any better so I have some hope that we can build to that but agree they are the best in the comp.

No not yet. Will be after Thursday night though.

Seriously the Doggies are a good outfit. Their forward connection and ball use is just something to marvel at. And they have forwards that can actually kick straight.

Certainly looks like we are. Yes we are 12-3 but boy how many of those games were you truly happy with rather than just saying I’ll definitely take that one because we were playing well. The only games we were truly convincing in we’re against Doggies and Richmond and 1 half against the Lions. Yes all quality opposition - does it say some thing about the mental state of our team when we play top oppositions vs when we are just expected to win?

What irked me most about yesterday was the attitude in Q4 vs Q1-3. I’ve said previously that the team seems to be playing in 2nd gear whether it’s by design I don’t know. At some stage that aggression and confidence needs to be there from the first bounce and blow teams out of the water but I wonder if we are saving this for the finals? The upside is that we can definitely see that it’s in our toolkit.

I noticed this as well but it’s a 5m radius protected zone. They were still within 5 metres though but not by much. the running through the mark protected zone is so inconsistently adjudicated but I’d rather it not be paid unless absolutely obvious.

That for sure but more for a tiring Hibbo. Wouldn’t have let Greene near it today. Still need to think about a good ball user.

Had some time for reflection and recall there was a stat in q2 or 3 where the pressure index of the giants was about 238 - that is hard to play against no matter how good you are. This what we face week in week out at the top. Teams that play us turn up and it shows even if we are slightly off. maybe it’s a good thing if the doggies take top spot so we can have a bit of time off from being hunted.

I’m hitting the slopes and I don’t even ski.

Apparently we have great defensive structure. I’m sure you need to also know how to play when you have the ball as well.

[censored] pathetic this mob.

Going to get a good old belting today. Just not top 2 or top 4 material for that matter. Yes defence is great but we are really poor in attacking. remember the Giants have many starting 22 injuries while we are just about full squad.

I said last week that this game style is not conducive to sustainable winning .

If said many times before the F/S rule is an absolute blight on the draft system. I get the romanticism of it but when it favours teams finishing in the top 4-8 it needs to balanced out - similar to the academies. Not saying to completely eliminate it but there needs to be measures put in place if the FS prospect is in the top 10. It’s ridiculous to think Norf won’t get access to the best player going around. If the Darcy kid turns out to go Pick 1.

Part of me agrees with you - is it the cynical, pessimistic MFC supporter in me or is it the football analyst that can see cracks in our game style and the way we play the game... I really don't know which part of me :). The Doggies, Lions and Cats really can blow teams away and they look magnificent when they are on. We haven't had one of those really convincing wins this year (bar Richmond and probably Lions 2nd half). We just get over the line week after week despite beating all of those teams (bar PA and WC). That is probably why the media aren't really buying into our hype is that we havent really looked convincing. I wonder if we genuinely have another gear to goto, because it feels like we are just waiting for something to click. What i have seen is that our pressure index is probably average to slightly above average week after week. But there have been games / quarters when that goes to elite levels and when we do, it does look quite marvelous. I think this is something that the players and coaching group can control and maybe what we are seeing is actually by design.

Yep exactly - i just dont know how they'd be able to keep all of those players on their list. We will definitely be going [censored]-for-tat with this mob for the next few years. JUH is unproven so i doubt it would command anything more than a top 10 pick (in terms of trade value). I think they'd be after a mature age player (key back) plus a 2nd rounder. I cant see how Petty factors into that mix unless he really has some top ranking performances between now and end of year. I really liked the mix of May, Tomo and Lever so would be unwilling to let go of Tomo for an unproven forward. I reckon the Doggies are in the drivers seat here and could take JUH to any club for a key backman... Imagine what a Darcy Moore would do for that team!

We know the Doggies are spoilt for choice in the midfield department and it seems they will also face similar list challenges in their forward line. With Bruce, Naughton and English already settled and JUH knocking on the door, they have a conundrum in what to do with their tall forward stocks. Is a forward line of English, Naughton, Bruce and JUH with a rotating Bont too tall? I think someone, somewhere will be squeezed out. Bruce/English are probably a lock for FF with English rotating in the ruck and Naughton is an absolute lock as your spearhead CHF. I wonder if JUH is gettable. We should definitely pick up the phone to his management and make a play.