JimmyGadson

I have no affiliation with either as I didn't go to any of these schools, (I did play at Old Scotch in the Amo's however). But from the footy I've watched, which is a decent amount, the APS bats deepest and have the strongest top end teams *generally. Obviously there'll be years where a host of highly talented players will come from other school competitions, as you've just mentioned. But over the journey, the APS system has been the strongest. Xavier college alone has consistently churned out players who make the level. 25% of players drafted in 2017 were from APS schools. And 24% in 2018. That's phenomenal really. But back to the point. Nick Watson is an out and out gun and to understate his 6 goal performance against Xavier because it was *schoolboy footy is a silly thing to do. This is especially so given his size. The guy is a genuine A grade talent and I hope we're in with a shot to draft him.

It's only the strongest school football competition in the country. And against Xavier, a footballing factory who are consistently competitive at APS level. Not sure what your expectations are of a 170 cm player rolling through the midfield and forwardline at that level. 6 goals not impressive enough for you?

I think it's almost certain to say we'll be trading up to get as many picks inside the top 20 as we can. And there'll be plenty of clubs will to trade. GWS and Gold Coast straight up. We don't need Harley Reid and we will not waste the sheer amount of picks required for one player when our list needs attention all over. If we could land two top 10 picks and something in the ranger off 15-20 then that would be a great launching pad. I'd be willing to get aggressive and trade out some NQR'sif it gave us further picks to work with. We need a mini reset. Max and May are in the twighlight, Brown and McDonald are cooked. We need a key forward, couple of quality mids with attributes that compliment our mid group and another developing key back over the next two drafts. Perhaps some of those will come from trades or FA. I'd love to target a key forward and some quality midfielders from this draft.

Fresh eyes in and around Goodwin. His press conferences are so boring he may as well not do them. Unfortunately for our players, we have a game style that just doesn't excite and at the moment, so many of our good players are just underperforming every game. Our skills and ball handling this season have been so poor, it's unbelievable. And teams really do just know how to disarm us. It's alarming given the quality on our list. Something needs to change, not sure it's Goody getting the flick. But list, game plan, assistant coaches all need to be addressed over the offseason.

Pressure Melbourne and watch them fall apart.

Nothing is guaranteed, but it puts you in a far better position for success. And they continue to compete with short turn-arounds from list resets. The facility debate is a ridiculous one. The better your facilities, the better your chances of success at the top level. The list of reasons is obvious.

Agree regarding Kozzie. I can't understand it. The other bug bear of mine is our lack of cohesion and role through the midfield at the moment. To me, we look like we're reverting back to the same old 'see ball get ball' style of play within our midfield group which means our midfield shape just falls to pieces and if we're not clean with that first possession in tight, we're cooked on the outside and the oppo gain a clearance and not only a clearance, but clean clearance without much pressure. Big worry. I don't know what our mids are told atm but to me it just doesn't look like there's a whole lot of cohesion. I'd love to see plan put in place on the weekend so that one of Serong and Brayshaw are marked. We have a defensive marking mid who holds space if their opponent is out of the action, a head to head play ball player and an offensive mid in the Petracca mould. Gawn and Grundy need to get more physical and bring a serious presence. I'd give Sparrow a defensive role on Serong and tell him to get physical. I'd have Viney go head to head with Brayshaw and tell him to play ball and hard and I'd give Petracca a licence to get on the move at a stoppage. Pickett can play Tracs role when he comes in, Brayshaw to play Sparrow's role and Riv can go head to head with Andy Brayshaw. Challenge them to beat their opponents.

He's a fringe 22 player. And would be at almost every other top 8 team's midfield. It's not that I don't rate him, I just don't think it matters whether or not he plays. He is fringe, which is why he's always in and out. He is serviceable, doesn't have any outstanding attributes and certainly no point of difference as a player. And in a midfield full of contested players who display the same weaknesses, I think he is surplus to needs, (as I do with Sparrow). Some may say he's unlucky and maybe he is. But who is he playing ahead of in our side? And why? Sparrow is more powerful, explosive quicker and can take a contested grab. Hunter is a specialist wingman we deliberately brought in because Jordan was playing wing and doesn't have the attributes. And he's obviously not playing ahead of Trac, Clarry or Viney who are all contested ball winners. It's a recruiting prob also. I think we need to start bringing in some other types of midfielders. And it's clear the FD are finally realising we need this with the addition of Rivers and Pickett more through that part of the ground. I hope for Jordan's sake he goes, but if he goes to a top 8 side, I'd be surprised if he was a consistent starting mid season upon season.

Christ, supporters overrate Jordon the way they bang on about him.

How do these Muppets make it so confusing for supporters and why is the information so limited? It should be as streamlined as what the MCC used to be. Post covid has seen the ticketing system become completely shambolic.

I will endeavour to read this post after every loss. Unfortunately, I'm one of those supporters who doesn't take a loss well, especially if we've been patchy within a game. My proclivity to seeing the negative gets the better of me. And perhaps some of that impatience has been influenced by seeing the club go through such dark times. Like it has with others. And that I'm hyper aware of the finite window that exists for clubs to be in with a shot of a flag when everything is in order.. And because we're firmly in this window, I'm hyper critical of the team at times. I admire your perspective. And you're right in that I now hope that even if we do dip over the next few years, it won't be long until we are competing again, ala Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney.. Due to the strong position the club is in across all facets. One flag at the G this decade is all I ask. Please.

It's beyond a joke now. Hunter contests a ground ball by keeping his feet and turning to brace for contact (in the manner the AFL has tried to encourage since the sliding rule came in). I'll repeat. Rozee dives at the ball head first, Hunter turns his body to brace. Both contest a ball in dispute. How is it so complicated. These are the unfortunate outcomes of these type of situations, both are lawful. Both can result in an outcome like this. And Rozee's choice to dive head first should be just as questionable given the ball was in dispute!!!! The AFL and the Tribunal are an utter clown house.

I can't understand why Pickett wasn't given more midfield time over the weekend and especially after half time. He simply must be given more time through the midfield against Freo. He is the only point of difference we have to our inside heavy midfield who is consistently damaging with his disposals. I just want to see some consistent four quarter football for a few games.. Why does that seem so hard for this team atm? We're just middling atm and it's no different to last year in regards to our consistency within games.

Also, supporters should go and have a look at first crack. They show some of what he lacks or doesn't provide if he's not having great impact with his possessions. This is not a knock, so the sensitive types don't need to come to his defence. Nobody doubts his strengths. He's unmatched. But again, the gap between his strength and weakness is too great too often.

You're a doomsdayer. You've basically said our season is on the line over the next three weeks if Oliver is out. Firstly, we're 7-3. So it's simply a gross exaggeration given we'd still be well in touch with the top four even if we lost all three (which won't happen). Secondly, you're talking up Freo and Carlton for silly reasons. One because they're in form and the other because they're under the pump? Haha. What about us? And nobody underrates Oliver. But people sure do overrate him. Luckily for us, his strength as an individual is something we can cover. And his absence will also unsettle sides as we won't be so predictable. One thing he does that supporters do miss is that he turns the ball over a lot both in congestion and on the run. So for all of those amazing hard balls he wins, he gives up his fair share by hand-balling to nobody/ flicking it out aimlessly. Or blindly kicking when he has more time than he thinks. Let me he clear. When he has space and time, he still bangs it on the boat as though he's in congestion. Not only that. We've been smashed from pillar to post from clearance this year around centre bounce during games in certain quarters. We have been unbelievably inconsistent in our midfield method this year which is why our form is so patchy and Oliver has been apart of that. Has he not? Every good side covers for their good players. If Oliver misses, we should be able to cover for him. If we can't, we'll we're not nearly as good a side as people think and it won't be because 'we didn't have clarry'. We have an abundance of inside mids. Clarry can be covered and I genuinely think it will be more unpredictable for sides to match up on us. Bring Gus back in for a bit, Rivers and Sparrow to share more load. Everyone needs to relax. I'd you think Clarry being out is going to make or break us, then you're at the same time saying our team is not good enough to win it this year. We're more than one player, especially a mid. Regardless of how good his ball wining ability is. We are specialists in that area as a mid group.

You completely misread my post. So I can't be bothered responding to this.

What a ridiculous overreaction hahaha. I've got to say, with comments like these, our supporters majorly over- rate Oliver. Season hanging by a thread lol.

These posts are weird. We're an unbelievable side at our best. But where was it for two and a half quarters? And that's the question I have for us against the better sides of the comp. We're too inconsistent throughout games. The midfield, clearance and coal face was a disgrace tonight for half the game or more.

I've been saying it for years. Attribute diversity and diversity of player type. We lack it and have for too long. Sparrow, Jordan, Viney. Same weaknesses. Oliver and Petracca? Same weaknesses. Pies and Bris have a much better and more balanced spread. So do other midfields. Our inside depth is fine. But we are a one trick pony.

What you saw was a result of coughing up the ball way too many times at the coal face. Skill error after skill error. Not only that, direct turnovers from flicky handballs when they're not needed. Port handled the footy like it was dry all night and so of course our mids look like they're chasing tail. Our players moved offensively like they always do when we have our hands on the ball. But we just found ways to give it back when we had hands on it at the coal face.

JHF alone tonight showed how important composure is. Same with Butters. Unbelievable. Petracca and Oliver don't have that level of composure and if people argue that they do, they simply don't bring it consistently. We need to bring in some mids in the next draft that possess high level class and composure through that part of the ground.

This is why I continue to stress the need for class and composure through that midfield unit. Tonight, we just consistently gave away the ball at the coal face by either fumbling, mis-handballing, hand-balling to nobody and coughing the ball up. It was atrocious to watch. Petracca and Oliver are the best in the comp when it's on their terms. Tonight, they were both far too innefective when we needed them most which was at the start of the game. I don't care for the last half. We woke up finally. We just consistently gave the ball up in tight and we seem to do this when oppi teams bring pressure. No different to when we played Brisbane. Pressure Melbourne at the coal face and they crumble. Consistent theme.

Edited, meant T Mac.

I like the changes. T mac will be desperate to keep his spot and I think his leading patterns help Fritsch and create great space for our forward group. He just needs to compete hard when it's not on a silver platter for him and not allow his opponent to out-body him for a mark. That's all I care about. We've got enough pressure at ground level. Salem in will give us a spirit boost, even if he doesn't rip it up. Jordon of course unlucky but also who does he play ahead of? I really don't like him on a wing and clearly neither to the coaches given they acquired Hunter. Jordon is pretty one-dimensional and whilst he competes hard and does the defensive stuff well, he's not going to carry us forward so I think he'll leave and understand the position he's in. Every competing club has similar situations with players. He'll also know we have a serious draft haul coming which means better talent and they'll be fast tracked whilst our stars are still in their prime. Can't wait for tomorrow, feeling confident about this one.

Yeh, I think we've learnt. He's been in full training for so long now though, I think with reduced minutes, he'll be fine.