BW511

Freo have really [censored] the bed with this Jackson trade. They are losing multiple good players who are best 22, that's unforgivable

This ties in with the selection committee just as much as the fitness team, maybe more. I reckon the combined stubbornness has cost us this year. We’ve tried to do the exact same thing twice and struggled, if we go with the same approach in 2023 it will not end well.

This 'Blicavs' comment is underselling how good he (Blicavs) is. He's been AA in 3 different positions. It also confirms that the industry doesn't think Jacko is a ruckman long term nor a forward

Agree 100%. He's not a number 1 ruck, he's not a permanent forward and floating inbetween is offering very little to us. Wouldn't be too concerned with replacing him as he hasn't performed his role of last year for at least half the season, likely more. I'd prefer we go for someone like Meek, we have a genuine ruck replacement and Gawn spends his rest time on the bench. Then we can play an actual forward in that role and get a bit more in return for our forward entries.

Two blokes that we let go in the team of the Year as well.

It would be bloody hard to front up every week and play in this fashion. It's taxing mentally & physically, as our walking wounded shows. Hopefully there is a refresh in game style for the players sake, as much as ours

Absolutely.

We are the best example of why we need to adopt change. Our defensive half is considered the best in the business (or very close to). The thing that upsets us is speed of ball movement and dare. If the opposition is forced into our areas, we look great, anything outside that and we are as susceptible to scoring as anyone

I think this will be an interesting watch over the preseason and into 2023. No doubt the majority of our supporter base has had enough of the one dimensional, defensively minded game plan. I am not convinced our coaching staff have though. I've said a few times that I think we play the game plan we do based on the players we have. There's not a lot of leg speed or elite kicking skills to allow us to play the Collingwood/Sydney style and win consistently. I fear we will go the Geelong route and keep topping up around the edges while we have Max, May, Clarry & Trac around I know he's been a known commodity for a lot longer than this year but Collingwood are entrusting Nick Daicos with a lot of what they do and he's a first year. I would say Sydney and Freo are also being driven by their young blokes around the footy.

I think this year has shown how tight things are at the top. We've had a handful of players who have been NQR and that 5-10% difference in agility, speed, power can make all the difference. Salem looks nothing like his former self this year and if the game keeps speeding up, his lack of pace might become a worry.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on our depth. Are our 15th - 25th players good enough? We have had a lot of strong reasons to bring guys in through the back half of the year - So Goody must not think so

I have been critical of Kossie at times and am hesitant on Jacko becoming a star, however, we were to lose both in one off season, the club would be in serious turmoil

It’s interesting that we have 2-3 players who are solely in the forward half for defensive reasons, yet we still can’t seem to lock the ball in. We need some more leg speed across the ground but particularly across the centre and half forward line. Kossie can’t do the defensive work alone

To put a positive on this, we get 6 months off from the suffering

I’m not sure we have the cattle to right this ship. Our bottom 6 players are ordinary and our middle 6 have done their best to be worse than them all year If we are fair dinkum, there needs to be some pretty significant changes to game plan, personnel and attitude

Doing the same thing every single week for 2 1/2 years will eventually fail. This has been a pretty pathetic second half of the year, regardless of whatever niggles come out during the week

[censored] me, Petty has put an exclamation mark on just how ordinary Brown and Jackson are.

Just don’t have the hunger for the contest in the back half of this year. Seem a long way off Geelong, Sydney & Collingwood even if we do win this

It’s not good at all. Very bland and far from the usual intensity of a final

I agree, the example names posted all confirmed the point. @Old55 clearly doesn’t rate any of them and yet they are putting up better numbers than what we have. I think we need some HFF’s with better skillsets. Spargo is a good player but is limited by his size and pace, plus a lack of goal scoring and marking power. If he was lightning quick & getting 25 touches a week, he’d be an absolute gun. Likewise if he was 6’-6’2” instead. He is definitely upgradable. ANB is a great runner and team man, after that he’s got nothing. He’s an over zealous tackler, very slow to get rid of the ball and seems to use soap instead of grippo on his hands. Again, definitely upgradable. Both of those two are part of the structure and play roles, however we could tip the defensive weight a little more in the positive and it would help considerably.

I’m no ANB fan, but the same situation applies. He’s just covering 2 HBF’s instead of one and a mid

Not sure this is rocket science and Brisbane are not a defensive team. If he was to debut in finals, this is exactly the game for it. Not a game for Fritta, not a game for Gawn and definitely not a game for BBB. So where does our score come from? A bit of youthful energy could create a special kind of chaos. I guarantee he won't be the reason we lose - if we do, give the kid a run!

I would argue that our depth isn't great at an AFL level. We don't have guys capable of coming in and performing to a level where they could be relied upon to effectively contribute. An example from the weekend is Trac, if he's running round at 70% from early in the game and still considered better than the replacement option (Smith), our depth isn't good enough. He was a liability and everyone could see it. Joel Smith should have been furious Our depth is also largely untried because of our success over the last few years, catch 22

Maybe the infamous war chest will finally get some use! I can’t see any way Clarko is interested in a rebuild, he’ll finish his contract and North will only be marginally better off. He’s too proud/arrogant for that

Did you read what I wrote? Tracc is someone that needs to be constantly involved in the game, he's not opportunistic and therefor provides little value as a stay at home forward