Stiff Arm

On 9/6/2023 at 7:48 PM, DEE fence said:

Trust the club, but personally want Melksham to come back from his ACL, couldn't see McAdam being a 3year proposition, and he would have to buy into the defensive aspect of the role. Like others if he didn't get on with Burgess I'm wondering?

Fwiw, I was told after our '21 GF from someone experienced in AFL fitness circles that Goody and Burgo had some differences of opinion in terms of responsibilities, that is, keeping out of club politics. Goody was OK with him returning to SA. Just repeating what I was told.

Might explain the recruitment of Griffiths at the end of 2020 as his understudy. 

I wouldn't discount McAdam based upon his relationship with Burgo

On 9/8/2023 at 1:02 PM, gs77 said:

As you know,  they grow on trees - get Jason Taylor to shake the orchard a little and 47 Curnows will fall out.

We had the low fruit of Curnow or McKay available for us to pick in their draft year when we were building a list, the perfect time to grab one for ripening in the fruit bowl

But alas...

I would've thought our most important strength should be the ability to kick goals. Maybe my priorities are askew 

Just now, Demonsterative said:

How do you know it not to be true? Relax Stiffy, too much blood going into your head. Time to go flaccid mate!! 

Huh? 

You missed the point completely 

Mind out of the gutter, too

4 hours ago, Redleg said:

H. McKay and Ben King have never been gettable previously.

How would any of us know this to be true?

The question is, have we gone hard enough for a big, young key forward?

I can't see it

The $600k we are paying Grundy, plus a bit more would've been tempting to any forward. We've had some 1st and 2nd round picks available

Edit. Actually, both McKay and Curnow were available to us in their draft when we were rebuilding. We chose Weid

Whoever is the best kick available. Watson, McKircher, either. We need an elite kick who can make good decisions. Don't think we have anyone like this forward of centre

25 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

McKay is definitely out with concussion 

Was it concussion? Didnt seem to get hit in the head on the replay. I wondered if he was badly winded, heavy body contact. Not sure

Edit. just saw Voss confirmed concussion 

5 hours ago, drysdale demon said:

Hello Stiffie, how the hell are ya.

Good thanks. You?

3 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Right, because Collingwood kicked a massive score with us having only two talls down back.

Because Carlton's tall forwards are comparable to Collingwoods?

McKay might still play

Just now, WERRIDEE said:

Sorry Jordon for Gus and Spargo for Laurie. Grundy for Roo

No third tall down back? 

Definitely need that third tall down back. 100% no brainer. Regardless of McKay playing or not

2 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

Blues just won their premiership. 

And we lost ours last night

McKay concussion, Acres done a shoulder, Cripps with dodgey ribs that need a solid bump

10 minutes ago, Deebauched said:

Latest Media headline......

CLASSY MAYNARD

"I love that guy ( Brayshaw) to bits". 

It just popped up when i was reading something in USA.

He'll get off.   Insane

Cant do this anymore. No more AFL and corporate media till further notice. Im done.

 

#freebruz

Maynard's the victim, didn't you know?!

On 9/7/2023 at 10:34 AM, drysdale demon said:

There a quite a few on here who can't help canning the players, must be the ones who played hundreds of AFL games and naturally starred in them.

Gee, never heard that line on Land before...

On a par with 'if you don't like it, don't read it'

1 minute ago, BW511 said:

This is by design though, I doubt Stafford says to Goody, what we really want is 26 blokes in here to limit our space and opportunity.

Our forward structure and method is the way it is because we don’t have good/reliable field kicks and we want to lock the ball as far from the opposition goal as we can.

Our forward setup is all about defence. Stafford nor anyone else will change that

Sure, but how do we kick goals when we are defence focussed in our F50?

The connection i50 has been an issue for years. But that goes two ways, it's hard to connect when there's no space, resting rucks, poor leading patterns and small guys flying for speckies instead of crumbing. Spargo is a very good kick i50, but he cannot get the ball often enough

I know it's more nuanced than that, and I'm just a punter in the stand. But clearly our forward line is not working and has been our biggest issue for years

17 minutes ago, rjay said:

It's really not...it's a player issue.

The strategy is about making the most of what we have.

Only 2 class forwards.

You can't put the blame on Stafford for that.

To be in the position we are in with a pop gun attack is a credit to the coaching staff.

I disagree, but see your point.

The credit for where we are is due to our defence and contest. Goody has talked about this as being our core many times

We've probably not valued the forward line enough in the last 4-5 years to make the most of the defence and contest. We recruited BBB, a crippled lead up forward, then banged it in on his head, and Grundy, who isn't a forward. I fear JVR will not develop as he should due to the pressure to perform

We don't have enough quality forward players, but more importantly, nor do we have strategies to kick enough goals. The former doesn't work without the latter, regardless of personnel 

Our forward line last night was as crowded and disorganised as the train I took home. Maybe PTV are our forward line strategy consultants 🤔

22 minutes ago, Travy14 said:

If this was the other way around we would be carrying on.  Nothing to answer for he actually missed the footy by a couple of cms.  Footy is in a bad spot if these incidents become suspendable.

Next it will be a knee to the head in a marking contest

Like it or not, footy will become less and less of a contact sport due to concussion liabilities. Knee to head in marking contest will go at some point. Not if, but when

It is possible to train out these habits. We've trained out the deliberate hip and shoulder, we've trained players to turn their bodies to avoid head-on contact.

In 15 years time, what is acceptable now will look like a 1980's biffs, bumps and brawl VHS video

I know plenty of parents who are nervous about their kids playing footy due to concussions. The AFL will change the game to respond accordingly 

4 minutes ago, rjay said:

So, it's Stanford's fault that we don't have a good key forward.

...and the only promising one we had (Petty) got injured.

Go figure.

That's a strawman response, rjay

At the end of the day it is Stafford and Goody who create our forward line and the strategies we employ to kick goals. We've had injuries, Petty has had many, but so have other teams. The Grundy experiment has been a terrible failure, neither he nor Max can play forward successfully 

We've experimented with our forward line for years, had huge i50 numbers, but haven’t consistently made the most of this in big games since 2021

Collingwood's forward line looked far more open and effective than ours.

That's a strategy issue, that's the forward coach and senior coach

1 hour ago, Gorgoroth said:

I agree but Goodwins game plan for years has been dump it long, can you really see him changing it anytime soon? I can’t. 

And the opposition know it.

It's much easier to defend against this 

Crowd our forward line, no space to lead into, hold up the i50 kicker. Three of our guys will fly for the mark, incl Kossie, or it will be kicked to a 1 on 3 contest.  Rinse and repeat

Very predictable 

1 minute ago, Stinger said:

Is anyone bringing up the cox twist and hold on tracs leg? It’s the equivalent of a chicken wing but the leg - completely unnecessary and intentional. 

Was it the drumstick or the maryland?

2 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

There’s an angle on The Age website from behind the goals…

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-finals-2023-collingwood-magpies-into-preliminary-final-brayden-maynard-faces-days-of-nerves-over-clash-20230907-p5e2xz.html

Maynard bunches up after the smoother. He just needed to put his hands out and push into a Brayshaw and both would have been fine. You can see he has the time, because Mitchell runs by in the same footage at speed and puts his hands up as the contact happens.

Can actually see Maynard's right shoulder begin to turn before he's reached the highest peak of his jump. Definitely knew if the smother didn’t work he was going to inflict some damage

Am I right in thinking if we were to win on Fri night we play Bris in Qld or PA in Adelaide the following week?

His comments about playing harder during week should be brought up at the hearing. Was always gonna do something to back it up during the game

6 minutes ago, bandicoot said:

How can you see him avoiding the ban when you just said he had another option?

Because it's the AFL.

Duhh!