1964_2

22 minutes ago, IRW said:

Clearly I suggested tweaking  , not completely changing  according to opposition weaknesses.

And moving Kossi to the contested kick in is hardly surrendering the kick in 

Can you read? 

Do you think Kossi is causing pressure at the kick ins?

You must be in the 10 week loading mob.

Geez try something intelligent for a change..I asked for alternatives because you guys are so smart...and misquoting is all you've got!.

 

Wine, beers, both or other? 

1 minute ago, DemonWA said:

Yeah, Nah. 

Footy departments would consider the remaining fixture in the decision-making. No way it's based on W/L at a stage only. 

Some of the teams on lower W/L at 10 rounds would have gone just as hard if they believe their run home allowed them to do so

Ok, no point continuing this discussion then. 
 

11 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

I believe we were 10-0 because of form/confidence/trust. Injuries, infighting, and some form issues are costing us. I don't think teams that are loading would vary their approaches to such a great extent, as you seem to suggest. 

Of course they do. The loading/training program of a 10-0 team be very different to the 7-3 team. That is not speculation, but fact. 

12 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

All top 4-6 sides would be loading. So in these matches I assume both teams are impacted to a similar extent. Therefore our losses are telling in terms of our form at that time imo.  

This is an aggressive assumption. 

No other team was 10-0, so why would you expect them to load to the same level we have? 
 

16 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

Is it though? I think it's quite factual to say the team that wins the game is the better team on the day. 

Best team on the day, sure. But unless that particular day is GF day, it’s not the main focus.

1 hour ago, DemonWA said:

Never said I know anything more than the coaches. My point is that people are assuming we 'didn't show our cards' as if it was some sort of tactical master stroke. Ie. Assuming it was a coaching tactic. Perhaps it was, but perhaps the coaches just wanted to stick with the method - we got quite close to hitting the lead in Q4.  

Making the assumption it was a deliberate tactic makes the loss easier to take, because the alternative is that were sticking to our proven method but unable to match it with the cats (due to form, fitness, ground size or whatever). 

The argument around “assumptions” goes both ways. 

Over a two year period now, our best has been the best in the comp by a fair margin. With this in mind, it’s also a very aggressive assumption, to say we were simply beaten because we are not good enough etc. 

Anyway, at the end of the day we are all guessing, with the benefit in time of being able to look back over old posts and see who’s assumptions were correct. 
 

6 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic, but Chandler is clearly one of our top performers at VFL level. Laurie is a year behind Chandler in the system and last year he had a bad injury. He is having a great year at VFL level and still improving. He is probably equal with Chandler now and they are just below Bedford who is coming off a poor showing against Geelong. Spargo as a 50 gamer and Premiership player is well ahead of these 3 but at times goes missing. I would love one of Bedford, Chandler or Laurie to put their hand up to take Spargos spot or alternatively go with a taller classy player like a Salem, Hunt or Rivers even. It's all still a work in progress. Spargo has the runs on the board. It's his spot.

Just for the record I think Moniz-Wakefield has the best chance of owning that spot in time.

 

No sarcasm, was a genuine question. 

I haven't watched enough of the VFL, for a read on Laurie being fast or slow. But, can obviously get away with a lack of pace easier at VFL level. 

Have seen enough of Chandler to know that he is not far away, but Laurie more of an un-known for me. 

3 hours ago, deespicable me said:

Just a couple of cautionary tales about Laurie and Van Rooyen.

Laurie probably shouldn't debut this week. He reminds me of Brock McLean who was also slow but had very good games on wet decks. The only proviso to this is if the game in the heat slows down. But early on the game will be too quick for him. Just a note on this . The medi-sub becomes very important up in Alice and should be chosen and used wisely.

Van Rooyen who I'm a huge fan of was possibly earmarked for an earlier debut but played in the early game at the 'G' against the Swans and fair dinkum hardly touched it. Was hugely dissapointing. Given that he is just a kid, that is entirely excusable, but I think he was pumped up for a big game, seemed to be played as the key forward and the coaches looked at that and thought he needed a fair bit more time in the VFL, maybe even the rest of the year. 

Happy for either to debut but they are both players that need and should be given circumstances as much in their favor as possible. Someone suggested that Port and Dogs have weakish back line talls so this may be a good week for Van Rooyen but I'd rather see us in winning form and they force their way in as opposed to when we have come off a loss and just want to see something different.

If Laurie is as slow as you suggest, we should be prioritising Chandler for AFL selection?

3 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I hope you are right but that was one match. Are we not going to show our hand in the run home now because we could be playing any one of those teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle and Brisbane) in the finals?

Did we not show our hand to Geelong in the first half of Round 23, 2021 and then decided to flick the switch and show our hand in the second half?

I have faith in our coaches, they certainly have the runs on the board and I will forever be grateful to them but I am a little bit worried about not only our losses this season but who we lost to.

Many players and coaches said last year, that they strongly value winning form heading into finals. 

So not showing our cards in a R17 game, only makes sense, if we have confidence that we will be running on top of the ground around R20 and finish the year strongly. 

14 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

This is it for me too. At the moment the people with steadfast belief that season '21 and '22 are panning out in the same way are creating a narrative that explains our losses in the context of last year - pick between Loading and not showing our hand until finals etc. As you stated on the podcast, a key difference between our seasons is our W/L record against top 8 and top 4 sides. That's such a key stat that I think the majority of the other parallels are potentially coincidental. 

Our draw is much tougher this year. The fear is that unless we show up at our best in the remaining matches we run a huge risk of trying to defend the flag form outside the 4. You'd think a top 4 finish has to be the short term priority. 

Our performance against the Lions gives me hope that we're not far away from capturing some good form again consistently. Hoping that we start the run into finals sooner rather than later, because in addition to getting the sports science piece right last year, I think the players were riding high on confidence. I'd like to see a few wins against contenders in the run home to ensure the players have the same level of belief again too. 

This coaching group has runs on the board. What makes you think you know more than them? 

It’s not speculation, but actual fact that we didn’t show our cards R19 last year when we lost to the dogs by 20 points. Who knows, maybe if we did we wouldn’t have beaten them in the granny. 

The cats this year are a similar threat to what the dogs were this time last year :- So sure, I get it’s a new year and things change, but this is a very relevant comparison. 
 

13 hours ago, bing181 said:

Interesting stat on On The Couch. For the last 5 weeks:

Petracca:

Kicks I50:   28

Marks from kicks I50: 2

Oliver:

Kicks I50:   18

Marks from kicks I50: 0

So 46 kicks into the forward line but only two of them were marked?

Given all that, not sure if changing forward personnel is going to do much if the way the ball is coming in continues to be so hit and miss (mainly miss).

(Also not sure that other main I50's, e.g. Harmes and ANB, are any better in terms of delivery/accuracy.)

 

Incredible stat. Would think it be hard to do that if you tried. Surely out of 46 kicks, a few even fortunately hit a target they weren’t aiming for. 

Equal top of ladder, and our 2 best players are hitting an inside 50 target 2% of the time :- The upside is enormous! 
 

8 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

A lot of what ifs here. What some of you are tending to overlook is that at the moment we have a dysfunctional forward line which probably won't improve until we get TMac back. Come on, admit it, wouldn't you love to have a Hawkins/Cameron, Lobb/Taberner or McKay/Curnow set up right now?

Is that you Lloydy? 

7 minutes ago, sue said:

Correct. But was Chandler trying to knock out the player he concussed?

Great call. The difference between “careless” and “intentional” is a grey area 

1 hour ago, bobby1554 said:

The Freo game is in Perth

Yeah, where we won a flag. Our second home ground 

37 minutes ago, rjay said:

 

The only thing I hope is that our competition aren't also here, otherwise we are in trouble.

Serious question but surely they are following a similar strategy?

The winning record in the first half of the season I guess gives us an advantage but...

Firstly, it’s guess work for other teams. We have the template from last year that worked perfectly :- with the context of a similarly strong start to the year, banking wins, and allowing us to press the button on the maximum loading program.

Even if we were say 7-3, we wouldn’t have had the luxury to risk losing games because of training load. 

The other factor is that our game style arguably relies on high km’s and work rate, to a greater extent than the other contenders. 
 

35 minutes ago, binman said:

I was just saying to a friend that I'd be thrilled if we win the next two, but surprised, not surprised if we won just the one and not shocked if we lose both.

But I think we will win the next four after the dogs game and go on to remain undefeated and win the flag.

If we follow last year's pattern, we will be running on top of the ground and back to our rampaging best in our round 20 game against freo in Perth.

 

Yep, am more confident of our chances to win the last 4, than I am the next 2. 

Be an absolute bonus, if we did happen to win the next 2 though! 

Anyone suffering from Thurs night PTSD, needs to watch the lions replay a short 2 weeks ago - If loading has worked, and we are fresh (without injury), I agree that 7-0 and back to back is very likely. 
 

31 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

With the Lions getting done today I have us still making top 4 even if we lose to Freo, one of Carlton/Collingwood and Brisbane. Lose all 4 of those and it drops us to Elimination Finals though.

So by my calculations we have to win at least one of those four while getting the job done against Port and Footscray to secure the double chance.

If we win 2 of the three Pies/Blues/Lions games we should avoid playing Freo in Perth week 1 and play the Cats at the G.

I think we will drop 1 of the next 2, then really start to hit our straps from round 20, winning 3 of the last 4 (despite tough opposition)

Top 4 will happen. 

47 minutes ago, von said:

We could have taken the lead 2/3rds of the way through the Geelong game despite looking sluggish and fumbly. We were under more physical duress than they were. Geelong said they are running on top of the ground now and felt good. They built their season around this game it seems. It will be interesting to see how the two programs play out come season end. They look good now. 

Geel might have only done the first phase of the  graph from vipercrunch above! 

Was very encouraged to hear Duckwood say how they had set themselves for this game (exact opposite to his comments after the WCE game, when he said they had been loading) 

We will know to what extend our loading program has worked by how we play R20-R23 - if it has been done successfully, I would be surprised if we lose more than 1 of these last 4 games (despite the tough opposition).

I think we will drop 1 of the next 2. Then 1 of the last 4. Leaving us at 16-6 and a top 4 spot. 
 

3 hours ago, deebunked said:

Disappointed with Lloyd. Been one of the few media believers all season.Whats he talking about? Premiership teams are never decided in July FFS.He knows that. The media is just a corrupt joke. They were talking about Pies possibly winning the flag last week. They barely got over the line against North.

 

Exactly as Nathan Brown said. I remember Lloyd saying the same thing this time last year. 

11 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Our run finished after 10 straight wins CYB.  We've only beaten 1 top four team  out of 4 matches since we beat the Saints during that run in Rnd 8.  That 25% hit rate against top eight teams from here would only see us winning 3 out of the next 6.

If the alarm bells isn"t warming up and starting to ting a ling a little right now inside Goody's & the FD's heads it should be.

We have a chance to right the ship but some serious changes/work needed on eveything forward of center before the match against Port if we're to make the top four.  As i've said since we lost Macca, you just can't/won't win many matches at this level defending 8 or 9 goals.

We have 9 days to fix it IMV or we'll probably end up outside the top four and/or at best playing an 'away' Qualifying final in Sydney, Brisbane or the 

7 hours ago, Call Me What You Will said:

Just a thought - Gus into the middle to replace Clarry. Rivers in to back fill half back. Some merit in the “mass changes” mooted in the thread. However, do not think selection carnage is the way to go - one or two would be good to make a statement - and yes JVR or Laurie or both might make the point. 

 

Guaranteed that Hunt will be picked before Rivers 

21 hours ago, DemonOX said:

[censored] I HATE the pussie cats as it seems nearly every time will play those [censored] wits we end up with an injured player such as Mayx2, Viney, Oliver etc and of course it’s always ACCIDENTALL which is bull [censored]  

I HATE THE [censored]  wits AND HOPE WE BEAT THEM IN THE FINALS. If we meet them again. 
 

GOD I HATE THEM. 

Yep, they always just happen to accidentally injure our best players. 

On 7/9/2022 at 10:20 AM, willmoy said:

Your reasoning seems a tad contradictory but when I played footy there was very little kicking but a bit of fighting . I think in hindsight  I have seen said player do similar things before.

A coincidence that Duckwood just happened to break a bone of the best player in the league? Of course it’s not.

Cats are the experts at making malicious acts look like accidents. 

4 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Personally, I wouldn’t trust a word Kevin Bacon says. 

Thanks. I use to find Kev reliable, but that was a while ago 

1 hour ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Good question, I forgot to ask. 

My neighbour’s uncle’s friend’s Dad sat next to him at a cafe this morning. He overheard LJ saying he is staying at $650k for 2 years 

1 hour ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

OUT:
Oliver: Take the week, get it right.
Bowey: No shame in a young player taking a week.  Refresh, get the confidence back up.
Bedford: Was exposed by a well drilled, mature team.

IN:
Dunstan: For Oliver if required.  Allows Petracca to play more minutes up forward.
Rivers: For Bowey.  Too good to be out for too long.
Laurie: For Bedford.  Let’s see what he’s got.

Sub: Hunt.

On last nights vfl game, no chance Rivers gets picked before the dominant Hunt