BW511

I think this is about right. Gawn and Oliver, whilst decent enough, were not a shadow of their former selves this year. From the B- list down, there is no guarantee our blokes would win their position, let alone break even (Hibbo & Tomlinson, when back, would be the only ones I'd potentially argue) Langdon has been a revelation for us, but I doubt he'd be in the top 10 wingers in the league.

I think you’ve answered your own question. He’s an upgrade on what we currently have and that helps us improve. Melksham played all year and delivered absolutely zip, Higgins can slot straight into his spot and if he contributes every second game we are miles ahead.

Higgins over Tippa for me

Would do this without a second thought. Brayshaw is a good enough player, but he doesn't have anything we don't already have. Billings is a bit more zippy and can kick well, consistently.

Agree. I am not the biggest Fritsch fan, because I think he gets selected too easily as the best of a bad bunch. I doubt Geelong would have him in their starting forward 6. Definitely does not get a gig at Richmond.

Think Bolton thrives with the system around him, don’t think we could provide that. We also would have just played him regardless, unlike Richmond who have made him earn it

There is a lot of people in this thread that severely overrate our playing group and underrate Brown. Richmond won the game last night because Riewoldt and Lynch got involved after half time. Yes, the game plan tweaks enabled that but if you don’t have anyone for the small blokes to kick to or rove from, it was game over. As @binmanmentioned, Stewart didn’t just decide to stop taking uncontested marks - He was well on his way to a Norm Smith medal at half time

Lynch and Riewoldt both got involved after half time, they were barely sighted in the first half. I’d say they were the two that got involved and provided the structure to steady the ship. Geelong will rue that opportunity for a long time, they were very close to having that game sewn up in the second quarter, just squandered their shots on goal

Lynch creates opportunities due to his size, he’s just a big strong body to contain for a full 4 quarters. Same will happen with Brown, he’s a big bloke with very long arms. You could argue on last night’s game that neither of Lynch or Riewoldt had a great game themselves, but they were there, so opportunities arose. Geelong on the other hand were using Danger as a more permanent forward and he was doing everything he could to create opportunities, but he’s just not quite big enough to cause any real headaches for a Grimes type defender. Geelong’s weekness has long been their forward half and their ‘keepings off’ game style has been created to try and reduce the impact of this. They know this and Jeremy Cameron will go a long way to fixing this

He’s been pretty immense, creates huge contests exactly when needed.

Richmond were rattled, Geelong kept them alive by letting Dusty get a sniff

And in typical fashion the tough guys, like Archer, only get tougher as the years roll by. It takes all types to create a winning list, we are the ultimate example of that with our insistence on medium height, inside types.

The last 2 years our leading goal kickers have barely slotted 20 for the year. If Brown plays at 50% capacity he still kicks 30. How people don't get that, I will never know. Regarding the injury, if he was in dispute with North about how he was being treated, there is no way he would be rushing back from surgery. I think it's likely just two parties coming to the end of a relationship midway through the year and both acting accordingly

People are prepared to accept Jones going round again, but won't cop someone that actually improves our side. The wing has become a very important position in modern footy and I'd rather a crippled Smith, who has excelled in this position, than every other gap filler we have tried

If he comes Langdon will leave. Big no

Roaming HFF

Agree wholeheartedly. GWS made a lot of good decisions building their list, but in the time it took for their superstar youngsters to develop the game changed and they were left scratching their heads. In terms of solving it, I think their could be a case made for many of the solutions that have been thrown up in the past few years. Personally, I would like the the ball to be thrown up at stoppages immediately, no more nominating and letting teams set up their defence. I'd also like to trial the free kick being awarded for last hands on ball before it goes over the boundary, that would stop teams playing safe along the boundary (And possibly force us to stop kicking down the line all the time!) The ridiculous scragging and blocking 50m off the ball should be penalised also, although that won't change the game, it's just weak and I want it gone

I was watching Access All Areas this morning and left it running once finished, next minute 2005 Grand Final highlights start playing and I was glued to it. There used to be so much time and space for players and they were all heavier set blokes built for contested footy. The immense fitness and speed of the players covering the ground has allowed coaches to use zones and close down space very quickly. I think our inconsistency of effort would have been very draining and detrimental to our game plan, however I don't believe we have the footy IQ on the park to execute it. You need to coach to your strengths and we seem to play around our strength now.

Cats, Danger, Stewart

This is the truth, Richmond would have so many ordinary triple premiership players

Sounds like I am in the minority here, but I’d love Ablett to finish with a flag. He has been an unbelievable player for so long now, still having an impact in big finals after 350+ games. Grew up around the time him and his group started in the cats VFL side, have always followed them from afar since. Plus, I absolutely do not like Richmond. They are a real smug bunch and their two big forwards would be in my top 5 most disliked players in the comp. Go the Catters

Understand this view, but he’s kicked about 40 goals over the past 2 seasons - it’s great that he’s done it, but I’m happy to squeeze him out in the hope that Trac/Jacko can kick his goals and Brown and Weid can pile them on as well. It’s not so much about Fritsch himself, more about how he doesn’t fit in the lineup I would prefer - which was outlined in my post

Surprising that so many people want to persist with Melksham & Fritsch. They are both very vanilla and whilst they can have good days, they don’t provide genuine excitement or pressure - if we really want to get better, they should be pushed out by better options. If Brown comes in, I would set up like this: HFF - Jacko/Trac Weid Spargo FF - Kozzie Brown (Someone new & zippy) Trac/Jacko rotating can easily cover the goals Fritsch & Hannan would provide (25ish), both tackle with intent too. Brown brings 30-40 more goals comfortably Weid continues improvement for 30+

Nev has been an absolute warrior for us, can’t have done much more. He is running on empty though, what on earth do Collingwood want him for?

I would be miffed as well if blokes like Melksham kept getting games all year because there was no better option. The frustrations would be in line with the supporters - we played finals 2 years ago then fell off a cliff. The club came out and publicly said it was finals or a fail this year and we failed again. There doesn't seem to be anyone with answers within the club, so why not chat to other clubs and see if they have a clear directive and future goals in place