Clayton spirit

Melksham's out there with the group, as well as the emergencies

I was thinking that too..then you consider that they just kicked 5 against us

I don't think he needs a rest and don't think Goody has that philosophy as a coach. He's 18, will have quiet games.

We dominated them for 2.5 quarters and held up ok during the other stages, was about as good as I would have expected we'd play today. Can't dwell that much on a few individual down games

Only guy who Harley Reid didn't get through last week

To be fair, 2 goals in 8 games as a forward is pretty shocking

Don't think his fitness is quite where it needs to be yet, but definitely a role to persist with a little longer

Howes being out freed him to be permanently in the back 6

I wanna know why he came on for that goal assist, only to be subbed out after the scoreboard already said he'd been subbed out.

Agree, containing Gawn is a whole team effort. Just on another level to his peers. Didn't think he'd be doing this 3 years after the flag

This win gives me confidence we're still a contender. Liked having Salem back in his old role given he'd been pushed into the middle with an extra defender in the side. Defensive unit had the right balance, Tommo is a great Lever insurance but probably just that. Hunter had a strong return showing. Gawn is still scarily dominant even with an injury niggle. On the other hand, don't know how the Saints have managed to go downhill this much in such a short time. Would love to have gotten a bit more out of Petty and McAdam, but ok to persist with this forward set up until Melksham comes into the fold. Langdon's got a bit of unutilised forward craft.

Why is our starting winger from 2023 not in our best 26 with Langdon out?

Tmac actually rucked alright in the forward line I thought. How he fares in centre bounces is more questionable

I'd be fine with JJ in the 22 just to free up Trac to go forward more

I think Jordon is a lock until Clarry returns. I want Hibberd in for Harmes, but I don't think we've ever played that many defenders together.

Surely that would be enough reason to scrap the pre-finals bye

I felt bad that he wasn't given a go in the ruck this week, did a decent job for us a couple of weeks last year with no Gawn. Just completely lost his way when Wright came in the team

Our kicking for goal improved, and our forward structure as a whole improved. I don't get how expected score is relevant here to how we rate the performance. Saints were a lot better than the Giants were

Agreed. We play marvel well and wouldn't mind going to 3-4 there a year.

Great to see Jordon have a good run at it in his natural position as an onballer. Ball use was great. Hope we have faith in him until Clarry returns

6. Trac 5. Salem 4. May 3. Viney 2. Jordon 1. Rivers

Didn't we do this pre-186?

I don't mind us playing at Geelong, I would just like more equity in home fixtures and away fixtures across seasons. Biggest fixturing howler this year, I thought, was one fixture v Essendon in Adelaide. Could have had a blockbuster game at the G and instead we were a curtain raiser for Port Adelaide

We get 10 3 day breaks in a row, with R16 being a Sunday. That's plenty of rest time for players

The stand was originally meant to be ready during this season and was pushed back due to steel defects, so the i believe the fixture was done with 40k in mind