Lord Nev

OUT: Jackson, Harmes, Hibberd IN: Weid, Jones, Bowey

I'm sure the forwards can practice that while the mids and rucks work on our clearances.

Hitouts Dees 40 Dogs 8 Clearances Dees 21 Dogs 27 When is this stuff gonna be addressed?

In a weird way, not the worst time to be looking for a new coach, there's some (seemingly) good options around. Personally think Brad Scott would be a good fit for the Blues, but media saying he's the front runner for the Pies job.

Just a matter of when rather than if. Can't totally blame him in a way, that panel he has looks like a very very weak one, but he's the boss so he pays the cost.

Bye bye Teague...

It could very much impact our chances of finishing top 4, which in the current climate could make life very difficult. Need to absolutely maximise the games we play in Melbourne, could get quite challenging afterwards travel wise. Plus, we desperately need to turn around and solidify our form IMO. It's been shaky at best over the last 5 weeks and I'd much rather us head towards finals with a full head of steam (and a settled forward line) than continuing our up and down performances. Can't just expect things will get better later on, have to make it happen, starting tonight.

Sadly, there were quite large crowds for these protests.

It's an interesting psychological study to see some supporters almost hoping we lose purely to buck the trend of us beating good teams and losing to poor ones...

I don't think he's necessarily playing behind the ball a lot, just that he's not really forward very often. That was my gut feel watching him since the bye which is why I went and sussed out the heat maps. He's a unique player Jacko. I'm a Weid fan, think long term he'll be a decent player, but I wouldn't be replacing Dogga with him unless he was badly out of form for a month as I think Dogga's better below his knees and has better vision when up the ground, although Weid has him covered as a forward. Personally I think Brown should come out before Jackson does if he can't find some form.

Last year, and even at the start of this year, it was really noticeable how much he was thinking about his delivery forward. He was looking for players rather than bombing, going short to the pocket or just inside 50, even looking sideways instead of just straight ahead, it seemed like he had really put work into that part of his game. Fast forward to him coming back in this year and it seems like his habits have gone back to the ones he had with this same inside mid role he formerly had. For mine, I think when he plays mid/forward he has more time to focus before delivering and that means he delivers better because he's not just going off his instincts which say 'kick it, kick it!'. Now that he's playing in the middle again those instincts control how he plays.

Yeah definitely agree Jackson and Rivers have dropped off a little bit, probably understandable given all the context around their age, amount of preseasons, COVID etc etc. I'm the same as you in that I would have liked to have seen Melksham in this week, seemed an obvious choice given our inside 50 delivery lately. The main thing I've found strange is the role changes going on with guys that were performing well in a top of the ladder team. Gus was finally doing really well on the wing and they change his role, not seeing Pickett in centre bounces, Viney as a pure mid as opposed to his mid/forward role that worked so well at the start of the year... Just hope we're not getting too cute.

Thing is though - Is Jackson even spending that much time forward? He seems to be playing more midfield, maybe a little wing, drifting forward only very occasionally. For reference, here's his last 3 heat maps:

For sure. I wonder if that's where the Hibberd 'hold up' is coming from.

I'm a big fan of both Delcase and Turner. Neither I would class as a half back though. Turner is a bit like Lever IMO, good insurance for him and potentially as he develops could become more of a 'key back' type like May potentially. Declase I could see developing into a wing option, but from what I've seen he's a real utility type with a bit of dash. Bowey looks great too. Only a matter of time there. My thinking was more that it seemed we had a few similar types out of contract and was wondering if there was something in that or just individual circumstances that happen to group together. Watch this space I guess.

If you hear the whole thing properly in context it doesn't say that at all. Worth listening to before panicking. Goody Presser 21/7

Hibberd, Jetta, Lockhart, and to a lesser extent Hore, all out of contract; so I wonder if there's a half back in the pipeline somewhere? Clearly Bowey is starting to edge close to a game, but that seems a lot of one type to lose in one go. Actually pretty surprised Hibberd hasn't been re-signed yet.

This is why we beat the top teams and lose to the bottom ones. The top teams just go head to head with us, strength v strength, but the bottom teams get a plan together actively take away our strengths and we haven't found a way to counter that as yet. I don't believe it's 'effort' or 'fatigue' or anything of the sort, we're just not used to being in this kind of position so don't have the on field leadership experience to change it as it's happening.

That's for 2020 mate. (Unless that was on purpose?)

Harmes is doubtful.

Bit going on...

Guess that's the 'beauty' of stats hey? So much can still be left up for interpretation and creating context. FWIW, I wasn't having a go at Gawn at all, more just looking at the disconnect in the middle that we seem to have this year. Cheers!