Lord Nev

Yep, agree with all of that. I think the problem at the moment is the role where he plays his best footy is being done by two better players (Jackson, TMac) at AFL level at the moment.

Top-five most distance covered per game in 2020 Ed Langdon, 12.3km Christian Salem, 11.9km Adam Tomlinson, 11.5km Clayton Oliver, 11.3km Sam Weideman, 11.3km Marathon men: Telstra Tracker reveals your club's endurance kings

18 disposals, 7 marks, 3 tackles, 3 clearances, 4 hitouts, 3 goals straight. He's playing well, just unfortunately it's in a role where he likely won't get a shot in the seniors at the moment.

Unfortunately I don't have those stats at the moment, but 2 of his goals were from set shots (from memory) so obviously took a few inside 50, and given he also played in the ruck and higher up the ground (had 18 disposals) it's a pretty fair return. I don't think he's coming in the team soon (barring injury) because it seems clear now his best role is a bit of a mix of what TMac and Jackson currently do and neither of them are coming out.

That's just simply not true.

Took 7 marks and kicked 3 goals today.

Ok, probably no change, but wouldn't fall off my chair if Melksham came in for Harmes

Sure can.

Great point mate. I was starting to get worried JJ would be run down by finals after the last few weeks, but he had more impact and seemed more 'fresh' last night back in that role.

Judging by the tracker, it was a bit of both for Gus. JJ definitely on the wing a fair bit though.

He also had 5 clangers and 2 turnovers. Pretty high given he only had 3 kicks. I would consider Sparrow (pending the Casey game) because he has a better burst than Harmes, isn't as indecisive and because Goody may possibly consider Viney for that tagging role now. I'm not writing off Harmes at all, but it was noticeable last night again that our play seems more clunky when he's involved. No point being a 'defensive midfielder' if you're costing us as much (or more) the other way.

Think it was the start of the 3rd quarter when Gawn had a few vintage hitouts out of the centre straight to Oliver and Trac, which we haven't seen for a while, and I thought 'we're on here...' Interesting post-game hearing Gawn pretty much saying they'd done some heavy training around the bye, but more importantly hearing him talk about Kozzy and how he hasn't been able to see his family at a time where it would be really important was a really telling moment of his care for the group and maybe something not many supporters have thought about when looking at his form onfield.

Will wait til after the Casey game, but could be tempted to drop Harmes for Sparrow.

He was against GWS. Not the Bombers or Pies games though.

Burgess is a big fan of 'tapering' and Port had similar struggles this time of year when he was there. Wouldn't be a surprise if he's kept the same philosophy with us. We've also seen players do 'mini preseasons' during the year under him too. Doesn't take away the worried about a couple of structural things, but does give a bit of hope that they were more about ability to properly implement them rather than willingness.

Ruck work will be important too. Gawn currently ranks 16th out of ruckmen for hitout to advantage %.

Not that hard... Tomlinson. ;)

Missed two weeks at the start of Feb, did everything else.

Not saying this justifies it, but my guess would be: - He had a full season last year and a full preseason. - We've been getting beaten badly for clearances. - Burgess often rolls like that. He's not very conservative.

I had a fairly quick look through the heat maps earlier today as I was thinking the same thing, and it definitely did appear he was forward more often at the start of the year. The GWS game he was very much midfield. Part of that potentially could be to do with our different game style now to then, but 100% agree we were better when he was forward a bit more. IMO he's massively improved in his forward delivery, it's still not amazing, but 100x better than what it was a couple of years ago, so having him forward, particularly as vice captain, seems a good move in that regard.

Kicking has been off for sure, and totally agree on the ball movement (see above post). TMac's heat map from the GWS game is an absolute nightmare compared to our earlier games.

Mmmmm not sold on that mate. Wouldn't make sense to do that when Brown isn't even in the team. My theory is that because we've been getting smashed at centre clearances we've been launching even more from the backline meaning we're having to go long around the boundary which then means TMac (and Fritsch if you look at heat maps) are having to come way up the ground.

He's been playing well, but he's been high up the ground, has only kicked 1 goal in the last 3 games.

Maybe, although it went backwards in rounds 5-6 so I don't know how much of a pattern it is. Either way, not sure 3% more game time from Viney is going to make much difference, for mine it's more about the role.