JimmyGadson

Godwin's selection had me perplexed during the week. And nothing changed after today's game. How Bedford was given another opportunity after the last few weeks was bizarre and Melksham's inclusion was similarly left field. Neither did a thing to prove Goodwin made the right call. Forwardline is a mess. Weid simply needs to be given the opportunity to shine for the last few weeks. If you don't play an extra tall like Weed, you think a team would enter inside 50 in a different way. But we don't. And haven't the entire time so just play another tall. So many good players are down on form. We need to hit some form otherwise we'll slide out of the four and bomb out before someone blinks.

In the forwardline before Pickett goaled off the ground.

Gawn more interested in free kicks.

Don't fret, we loading..

Cue loading talk @binman

Would love to ask Goody on what basis he picks a player like Melksham over players who have actually pressed their cases in the VFL. Like Chandler? WTF. I cannot understand.

Chandler deserves a gig ahead of Bedford and Hunt in for Bowey. Sometimes I don't understand our selectors either. Chandler has been ultra consistent and got a suspension. He needs to come in for Bedford who is been poor for two weeks now. The Oliver replacement is interesting. Dunstan seems next in line but I fear we'll lack run through the middle if he comes in along with Viney, Jordan, Harmes post clearance. I don't think there's a player that frustrates me more than Harmes.

All good. Why do you think that? If he's keen on getting back to Perth you'd think he'd still go to West Coast even if Freo are his pref. Home is the pull. Not Freo. Going to Freo would be the cherry for him.

Nobody here knows where he's going. I simply said you'd take pick 2 for him. West Coast are in the frame and it's highly improbable that Jackson would decline to go there if Freo didn't come to the party with the right pick/picks.

If we got pick 2 for Jackson you would take it and run.

Great teams can cover the loss of a star player. And if we can't cover for Oliver as a premiership TEAM, then clearly we're not the team many think we are. Sides like Carlton and Collingwood have been able to cover the loss of their best players. If we can't beat Port up there, I can't see us finishing top 4. Melbourne supporters still have a soft underbelly.

People need to relax. Seriously. Whatever we get back for Jackson will be overs. We'll name what we want and either Freo get it done or he goes to West Coast. Given the flexibility clubs now have with being able to trade draft picks etc, I don't understand why posters think Freo couldn't facilitate a trade. If they want him, they'll make it happen. If we were to land Lobb and a draft pick like 7, I'd do it in a heart beat. Then from there, if we had our eyes on a player in the top 5, we'd have the ability to trade up. The possibilities are many. Everyone relax. Jackson is a super player but the composition of our list and spread of talent over a number of years is more important than holding onto a player like Jackson at all costs.

Time to crawl back into that hole you live in and hopefully not ever come out.

Lol. This thread is truly hilarious.

The double target strategy? Generally Gawn is on his own for those kick outs and I'd say we rarely kick to two talls unless it happens to be an inside 50 kick. You're wrong about the first 10 rounds. Our kickouts are a poor part of our game and to the better sides as others have stated, we struggle to make anything of the long kick to Gawn from May. I don't know why we don't at least chip our way to the D50 and then from there go long to a Gawn down the line. At least we're two kicks from the oppo goal and reduces opposition repeat entries. Sometimes there are players free that May doesn't even look at and still decides to bomb long to a disadvantage in the air. Goodwin trusts our ability to win ground ball too much on that kick out strategy imo. We need some more variety that still compliments the way we want to move the ball though..

And if Harmes is going to go back to thinking he's Petracca he can be dropped thanks. Angus needs to talk to him about what perfecting his role means.

Max rucking works against us against the better midfields of the comp. Obviously he's a champion around the ground but we're always beaten at clearance against good sides when Max is in there. His tapping is super inconsistent due to being too offensively minded. I noticed that without genuine ruckmen last week our mids were far more balanced in the way the positioned and then attacked that first ruck contest. Got to be less offensively minded when coming up against the stronger midfields of the comp. Aside from that, the loss doesn't really bother me. They'd built this game up for the past year, was a mini grand final for them so they can have it. A final at the G will be a different story. The only other worry is the forward line entries and our consistent missed opportunity to put scoreboard pressure on when we've got momentum. That's the thing that could possibly cost us a top 4 spot or a loss in a big final. We can't just expect that we'll turn it on come September. Fritsch and Brown have been underwhelming and I'd be rewarding Chandler ahead of Bedford after last night. We need to find a working and cohesive forward line before September. Kosi down but can't be dropped unless he has another couple of weeks of poor form. Over the off season, we need to target a serious contested marking goal kick forward to straighten us up. Ben Brown and Fritsch require space and perfect kicking most of the time which they can't rely on because of the types of ball users we have through the midfield. Mostly blazers. But of work to do and next week we simply must win if we want to stay top four. I can see dogs, pies and Carlton all beating us. No game will be easy from here, gotta sort this out pronto.

Agree.

Would rather Walker.

Christian is an awful set-shot. High ball drop and tries to kick it way too hard which leads to consistent miskicking.

If Fritsch displays a single selfish act again against Adelaide I'd drop him. He had three against Brissy and the handball he didn't give to Trac in the square is one of the most bewildering acts I've ever seen in team sport at this level.

Energy level go up and down for a variety of reasons and the loading talk has for whatever reason become the main talking point. You post too many times a day for me to trawl back through posts. And it's not even "a lot more" airtime. It's "any". Aside from Chris Scott talking about it, I haven't heard it talked about once from any relevant ex player and now commentator. Lewis, Reiwoldt, Montagna, Hodge, Watson etc etc. Why?

It's because it clearly doesn't have that much of an impact! It's not as if this is some undercover secretive experiment. It's just that people on here give way too much attention to it. Reminds me of that bloke Neil Waters who keeps releasing images of animals claiming that it's a Tasmania tiger. He will find everything in a photo in his mind that makes it not the animal that it is. A bit like people looking into why Brisbane look fatigued. They don't look at the fact that they've had a month of solid travel. Or that they played the saints on a 6 day turnaround from Perth and looked cooked.

Oh Binman. I admire your obsession with theories. We can see loading occurs. But any number of things can also contribute to a sides lack of energy which for whatever reason you keep leaving out whenever you analyse a game. You keep failing to mention that Brisbane have also had a big month of travel. And for our first quarter last night, where was our energy? Or did the 'loading theory' kick in after quarter time? Maybe it does help marginally to some degree at some point in the season. But if it was as important as you make out, you'd think the experts (many of whom have coached and played at the highest level), would be giving it a lot more air time through the media. It interests me why that isn't the case..

Christ, posters talking of Hunt playing forward is bewildering. We lack connection, we lack finesse and we're lacking in conversion. Hunt won't help any of those things. Melksham potentially can. That's his skill set. The problem is we haven't seen it for years now.