BW511

This brings me back to my point about Jordon and Sparrow being involved earlier in the year. The midfield worked better with different guys rolling through, they had to collectively think about it a little more. At this point I am not sure that Gawn, Trac and Oliver know which play to employ or when. Trac and Clayton are definitely tight and it is probably part of what makes them so good, however they need to be given a proper kick up the [censored] regarding the selfless mantra the club supposedly values. The media always has them as in the upper echelon, but never without a caveat . Trac could take over Dusty's mantle if he could do it each week, Oliver could be the best player in the comp if he runs and kicks more. They have to want to be the best and to do that, it needs to be unconditional that the effort is there every contest, every week.

It's interesting to watch, our midfield trio of Gawn, Trac and Oliver seem to be the ones that we rely on to drag us over the line, but if they actively try and win us the game themselves it is often to our detriment. You can very rarely win modern football games without a positive contribution from at least 1/2 your side. We either have 18 players involved or 3-4 trying to go solo. Easiest way to get players going is to bring them into the game, share the footy around and stop getting ahead of yourselves.

So the question then arises, when all the talk pre-season was about the group buy in and being selfless, how can the last 6 weeks have happened? Have we used all our petrol tickets too early in the year? Were we too reliant on the young guys (Riv, Jacko, Kossie) to provide spark? Are they all a bit fatigued and trying to feather their own nests? Has the Weideman/Brown drama caused some instability, likewise Viney being rushed back in? In my opinion, Jordon being shifted out of the permanent mid role has reduced our efficiency. He is very balanced and smart around the ball, his tackles stick and he genuinely plays a team-first style. He also covers the ground well. Same could be said for Sparrow, he didn't win the ball as much as Viney and was prone to the odd brain fade, but he was definitely working to the team first mantra. We had a more dynamic mix early in the year.

Appreciate the ground he covers and that pressure acts are highly regarded, but I’d much rather a Zac Bailey type HFF who can be damaging from 15 disposals. I said last week that I think Bedford should be given a chance in ANB’s spot. He might not win much of the footy, but he’d create more opportunity than ANB with skill or evasiveness and he’s just as fit.

I’d be giving Jacko a few weeks off to freshen up. He could win us a final off his own back if he’s on song, so give him a breather and reset for the last 4 weeks. Would have a look at the mix in the middle too, I’m not sure if I imagine it, but Viney changes the dynamic in such a negative way when he is in the side. He seems to block any avenues Trac and a Oliver have out of a stoppage and when he gets the ball himself, it’s diabolical. He is so one-dimensional that you can see the body language change very quickly, not in a positive way. He upsets the balance immensely. I think we are being exposed for a lack of depth still, Kossie, Riv and Jacko should not all be playing every week just yet. there’s just no one to replace them with

Pretty happy I switched off at half time, I’d seen enough Whatever spark they brought to last week’s game was well and truly left behind. Just a really ugly performance

Great episode guys. I think a lot of people dislike Cornes for the sake of it or perhaps because he was so good as a negating player. He's not your typical commentator who is there to feather his own nest, he's working on becoming better and he's very astute with the modern game. I'd recommend everyone have a listen

I have no skin in this game either, but ANB is the obvious one

He deserves more opportunity and I am sure it will come over the coming years. I think he could be the missing piece of the puzzle for our midfield if he can string a run of form together

How much more development does Joel Smith need? If he’s in our side, we are done. Not really because of Joel himself, but he has multiple players in front of him in every role his fanboys think he could play

Seems like the training load thing might have had some truth to it. Much sharper tonight and against a contender, it’s bloody good to see.

His tackling is incredible, very rarely misses and should get rewarded more than he does.

Salem is so good at getting boot to ball and hitting a safe target.

Must be a lot of romance involved if people think Joel Smith should be in the side

Agree completely. If Ben Brown stands in the goalsquare, it would take a very, very confident defender to be anywhere else other than within 20m of him. The modern game can allow the ball to transition from end to end in under 15 seconds, that doesn't give someone a lot of time to react to get back to the opponent, as well as keeping an eye on where the ball will be coming from. Leaves some space in the opposition zone too.

That's a hell of a lot of pressure for an untried coach who hasn't been part of the club (Yze or Mitchell) I can't see it happening either, particularly with the turmoil behind the scenes at present. I would not be surprised if there was more to play out with the Mitchell/Clarkson handover, 2023 is a long way off

I also like the idea of giving Jacko a spell and bringing in both of Weid and Brown. Weid plays as second ruck, gives away a little there but is a genuine forward threat when not following the ball. Exact opposite to LJ. Brown stays at home from the square. I mentioned during the week that I think we are taking away one of our great strengths (Max) by playing Jacko in the ruck so much. He’s agile and is involved, but he’s not a proper midfielder (yet). Give Gawn a big rucking game, maybe 80% and build some cohesion with the mids again, at least we know Gawn will win lots of taps. I’d then like to see how a team contains all of Brown, Weid and T-Mac? The extra big bodies create uncertainty with contests and the ball starts spilling to different spots, which allows our opportunistic smalls to get a better look in. At present they are starved because the opposition defenders are doing a Lever/May to us and marking everything.

Saad was surely all $$$ based. His reputation has been trashed at Carlton, the media loved reminding everyone he didn’t want to defend and couldn’t

I guess this is another thing we need to counter with opposition sides taking away the ability of those guys to create offense.

Justin Leppitsch has noted via SEN that we are lacking line breaking/penetrating Half Backs who can open games up. It ties in with the notably more defensive style in which we are playing at the moment. Hibbo is being used for shut down roles, Rivers is staying a lot closer to his man, Lever, May and Petty are not run and gun players either and Salem is a short kick type. Hunt was having a go and Rivers has a decent leg on him, but we are now a very stagnant back half. This also ties in with why T-Mac is getting the ball so high up, we are moving the ball slowly and he is the release from inside defensive 50, rather than getting on the end of the next kick

I agree, the reason our small guys were effective earlier in the year is we had contests inside 50. Fritsch doesn't provide that when he is standing under a high ball and T-mac seems to be operating much further up the ground. In the last few weeks I feel as though we are giving up a lot of uncontested marks inside our 50. Don't recall this happening nearly as much earlier in the year.

I think the issue with our list is consistency of performance. Richmond have won all their flags with only 4-5 top liners, the rest have been above average role players that seem to be able to perform in 80% of their games. Our role players have a bad game every 3-4 weeks or worse and those bad ones are not just a little bit ordinary. I'd definitely have the Dogs, Cats and Lions ahead of us in terms of being placed to win finals. Regarding Viney, from the outside it looks as though he'd be a prickly character and I don't know if that is because he's so driven or he just doesn't fit in

I think this is the key, if we are sitting top it gives us the best possible chance of being Top 4. Any slide down the ladder then makes it harder to stay inside the Top 4. Particularly when we would be the worst performed side in the Top 8 (maybe more) over the past 2-3 weeks. Due to our ability to win from behind early in the year, we have become complacent and it seems like we just expect it to happen. We need a spark and to get some enjoyment back in our game, the life has been sucked out of our guys.

Think Jordon has dropped off because he’s been replaced by Viney, get him back around the footy and he will be fine. He offers a good point of difference to our other mids because he is accountable and tackles

If you were Ben Brown and you’d been tapped on the shoulder for Thursday’s game, the last place you’d want to be is Casey at night. If this is the case, it’s a truly bizarre decision to plonk him on the bench on a freezing cold Saturday night to manage his load. Footballers want to play and the narrative around him was he needed game time to get touch and fitness. I wonder if he’s carrying an injury? If not, this weekend will not help his performance one bit.