Gawndy the Great

Do we want the blues to win or lose this week? Putting hatred aside I feel a loss would keep their fans away next week as the season is done. A win gives them belief ..

It does too! Multi tasking is not my forte. just 3-4 picks in total - R1, R2 ( from Freo for LJ )) and next years future 1st first offer. If close, but not enough a 3rd rounder.

Id be willing to give this years R1 and R2 picks and next years R1 for Reid and nothing more - it is roughly equal on points but unlikely to get it done. Maybe throw in a R3 for good measure. What we have going for us is that WC don't have the luxury to target 1 player. They are in dire straights and need to turnover a large amount of their list. if they could target 4-5 players in the the top 30 this year and next year, their rebuild lasts 4-5 years max. keeping that as 2-3 players each year, probably adds another 2-3 drafts into the mix extending their rebuild time. If they are prepared to take that gamble, well at least the trips out west will be favorable for us.

And yet at the time were 2-0 and still playing with a full squad AND many pundits had top 4.. They mention we may have got the Dogs at a good time, but fail to mention we go the Swans at a bad time (for us) and ran the game out 50 pts winners... didnt fit the narrative = doesnt get mentioned.

Listening Steven May on LJ yesterday, he said that Dogga rocked up to a off-season planning meeting after he had been traded was told blunty that he wasnt supposed be attending that meeting. The guy is genuinely from another planet. i dont think booing will phase him one bit.

Tom is clearly going to Sydney - really surprised if that doesnt happen now. It would take a momentous shift and pay-packet to divert his future. We don't have a lot of salary cap either so cannot see us doing much on the trade (forward) front this year.

He wasnt our worst. Problem is the ball hardly made it back there and it was wet. Our problem is the small / pressure forwards. They need to plant themselves around the feet of our talls, but with the current game style, they are pressing up deep into Defence and perhaps not fit enough to get back to support.

I cant make it to the game and maybe thats a good thing with no support from you lot and all i can say to that is BOOOOO 😀

Doing my head in this stat. Lowest rank in % of defensive 1 on 1s lost is a good thing right? So with 2nd highest number of defensive 1 on 1's faced, we have lost the least (by %). That is freaken awesome. Aside from D50 stoppages our defence has actually held up in D50 quite well. If we were to tidy up our defensive groundball, we'd be back to '21 standards. However, from memory we generate a lot of our scores from turnovers - particularly from defensive half. So naturally, oppositions will not allow us to outnumber and get our intercept game going as this is our 1 wood and our main scoring source. This explains the 2nd highest 1 on 1s ranking. it is not coincidental. The fact that we are winning them tells us that our D50 is strong - this is good news when everything else is equal. To me this highlights the problem is further up the ground. Midfield and F50. If we match the opposition in the midfield - we win games easily. We also have to find other scoring sources. Forward half turnovers in particular as teams will push up Half Forwards to the contest, which conveniently leaves our defense unmarked and hence get our intercept game going in the forward half. Im sure someone can explain what we are doing wrong in the F50 and why we cannot create turnover's there because you get this right, i think everything else can fall back into its rightful place. ANB, Kozzy have been down but i think its more team pressure rather than individuals...it lacks coordinated desperation to pressure the ball user.

We haven’t played enough top teams to believe those stats wholeheartedly just yet I think. Also, scores from stoppages are tough September and it’s the turnover game - generated through gruelling pressure from front half and back half - that’ll get you the flag. I don’t have it but thought we were doing ok there.

Yep - I’m not sure what more evidence we need. As I said above the next 4 will make it crystal clear as the Doggies and Swans games were noteworthy performances but are difficult to gauge in the overall scheme of things and cloud our true form line, but lose either Freo or Carlton games and we are just about done.

The stats don’t lie, but you can certainly pick and choose them in a particular way to tell a story that suits your narrative. End of the day we are 7-3 and not performing against the top teams. We can complain about travel and short breaks and this and that, but the quality of our footy tells the real story. It is all there for us to see. If you take out the bottom 3 of the comp we are 4-3, middle of the road which is about right. I harp on about the next 4 games as they are critical in setting us up for a tilt at the flag - don’t have to peaking, it our game, our brand should start to come through. Right now there are worrying signs there. Anything less than or equal to 2-2 , we will finish outside of the 4 and won’t challenge. 3-1 well make top 4 and will give it a shake. 4-0 is top 2 territory and will reinstate a lot of belief and we’ll be right in it. The games are tough, very tough. But Geelong are gettable given their form and injuries. Put in a 4 quarter effort against the Pies and who knows.

Honestly, i'd rather the 4 pts.

Need to move on. We all know this situation will come up again soon. I hope its from one of the bigger clubs (Pies, Cats or Blues - who seem to escape the MRO the most). If / when they are found not guilty, then it is free for all. The $10K that we could have spent on the MRO appeal can be better put to use (fine) by coming out and publicly condemning the AFL for inconsistency in the tribunal . I'd say that would send a pretty strong message to the AFL but more the media that will keep the topic in the news cycle, putting more pressure on the AFL.

How many home members will miss out to Pies fans? It’s great for them that they have a huge fan base and are in ripping form. But it means that most of their away games are actual home games as any other team outside of Bombers and Blues. Couple the above with a lower interstate fixture and then talk about efforts to create equilibrium. The continued inequity in this game is driving me mad. Especially as Collingwood get to continually benefit.

Probably a bit of conspiracy about this IMV. Assuming the convo went something like , ‘appeal and win this one, we’ll come after your boys harder and harder. Roll over, know your place and we’ll resume normal duties’.

Was this, this year?

This is the start of the end.

We have been off the boil for more than last week. I’d argue that we never really turned up after the premiership. Think about every game since then and how many where we have showcased a game where you are just in awe of the awesomeness. Don’t include the teams we beat up, but I think of Brissy Round 14 last year, Doggies and Sydney this year and that’s about it. I’m sure there are 1-2 more but you get the point. We have not been playing great consistent footy for a while time. We Bob up every now and then but quickly fall away. 4-0 next 4 weeks - no excuses. Get it done and we become relevant again in the premiership conversation.

I think we need to stop the theatre of the appeal process. There has to be a more transparent, productive and not litigating way to deal with this nonsense. I say we put it to an online vote - that’ll make things interesting .. it’ll at least be more consistent.

And Jayden Short. We are already short one Jayden….

Well we have been getting beaten at CBA of late so don’t see why cannot try a few new things out.

Injury sustained on May 19. 3 weeks takes us to June 9. KB is on June 12. So if it is a grade 1 surely he only misses 2 games and returns in time for the Pies game ?

It’s a minor strain - standard 3-4 weeks. I suspect all the smoke and mirrors is that there maybe a slight chance of a return for the pies game, which is 3.5 weeks from the date of injury.

Is he a flight risk to the Cats?