Clayton spirit

3 minutes ago, P-man said:

Enjoyed the awe in Dangerfield’s voice when talking about Gawn. Marshall is meant to be one of the elite rucks going around and Max treated him with disdain.

It shouldn’t get lost that we are watching an all time great every week.

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 

17 minutes ago, Diamond Tim said:

It's thinking outside the box time for the coaching and match committee.....we know there are likely to be two forced changes in Gus n Roo. We know the blitzkrieg carpet bombing into the fwd 50 was an epic fail and would be ludicrous to play on repeat...we know Tmac really struggled to be on task with the pace of AFL finals but will likely go again due to Roos likely absence and BBB, Petty and Melko's unavailability. In the wings wait Grundy, Shack and Tommo. On form Tommo is a shoe in - either as the third defensive wheel or a out of left field CHF - we can't call him on pace deficit and play others with a similar profile but way less form in other aspects of the game.

Out - Gus, Roo (fingers and  toes crossed not)

In - Tommo, Grundy

Sub - JJ for Laurie

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. 

3 hours ago, Demonland said:

I wonder who they will give the Bye in Round 24? A suspected bottom team or one who is likely to be in finals contention which would mean two weeks off before finals.

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

7 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

I don't get the backlash against the backlash.   If you are going to be pumping up our performance last week based on a lopsided expected score and saying we are playing ok footy (my own hand up), we lost the expected score this week with 2 extra players and 5 of their best 15 out.     Our kicking for goal and steven may won us that game.  We were beaten in many areas and first time in a month, felt we really missed Oliver around the stoppages.  All relatively moot. I suspect with where the ladder is now it's 3rd or 4th for us regardless what happens from here.  

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

8 minutes ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

Went to the game tonight, I actually don’t mind Marvel like everyone else seems to. It’s definitely not as good as the G but it’s always pretty easy to get to on the train and a solid spot to watch a game of footy. 30k was a pretty good turn out, even if we were outnumbered.

Was just a “so-so” win at best, but also no worse than our win over them in 2021. And the 4 points were as crucial as they’ll be all season. Puts us in a very good position now. 

May was masterful, it looked like maybe age was finally catching up to him, but now… perhaps not? We will be in every game of footy as long as May is fit and in form. Beast.

Goody will probably be pleased with how the midget forward line worked in tandem. I thought Melksham was very good, Trac was clinical and BB tried hard and did enough. I still feel like we were lacking one tall player down there. Forget Grundy playing forward, he has his strengths but marking and forward craft aren’t it. Gawn too. On that note…

I think Gawndy is actually going the way a lot of us  predicted it would last October. Just doesn’t seem to work and it’s made Gawn a shell of the player he once was. It’s not really Grundy’s fault either but surely Goody gives thought to replacing him with JVR (or Schache) just to see how it looks. 

 

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

2 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

interesting - treating it like an interstate game; we're heading down there on wednesday, training on the ground that day, then staying in a hotel in geelong that evening

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 

5 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

I’m not arguing about playing in Geelong.

Im arguing that this year, when the crowd capacity is halved, it makes absolutely no sense. 30,000 Geelong members are locked out too. It’s not just about us.

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

1 hour ago, 1964nowMORE said:

Yes. I bought 4 tickets today in the tiny away members section. On Ticketmaster via AFL site; password is “awaymember23”. Club gave it to me when I called. Might be all gone now.

Doesn't work for me, so probably 

We need to play to Kossie's strengths more. We don't kick into space enough when he's one out inside 50 where he can showcase his speed. Also, I'd love to see him given bursts at stoppages to get him some touches. Definitely too important a player to drop, nor Chandler who is a valuable weapon in the forward line 

2 minutes ago, speed demon said:

Love Smith’s athleticism and intensity. Plays like someone who’s spent a decade trying to make it but been sabotaged by injury and, suddenly, has a chance to be a premiership player…

Better suited to the forward line. Highlights his strengths and hides his deficincies. 

In- Clarry 

Out- Spargo

Jordon stays sub as he couldn't have done more in it today

Assuming Petty isn't right, but Smith did enough to stay in. 

Bowey is very stiff but there's only so many spots in defence which looked very good today

Important win to bank given the important 4-5 games we have either side of the bye. Suns came to play. We fought till the end, was disappointing how many marks we gave up and our efficiency in front of goal taking a dip

I'm a bit disappointed with Schache Thought he'd assert himself a little more after we gave him a lifeline. Just looked like the same player the Dogs tried to make work over a few years 

No change, Spargo sub.

Everyone redeemed themselves in the last quarter. Of course with the 5-day break a change or two wouldn't be surpirising. Good luck holding Gawn back though

B Whelan May S.Febey

HB Yze Lever J.McDonald

C Langdon Jones Bruce

HF Schwarz Neitz Green

F Farmer Fritsch Davey

Fol Gawn Petracca Oliver

Int: White K.Pickett J.Viney Jurrah 

Sub: Melksham 

Emg: Watts Salem Magner

Very stiff luck, and I'd argue Melksham fits the sub bill better and retains it over Jordon