Stiff Arm

In one way, Pickett is too good a player to drop, so giving him time in the middle gets him involved more, builds his confidence and adds an X factor which differs from Tracc, Viney and the other mids

I like two things in particular: - Max is named at chf - Kossie is named in the midfield Not that the magnet on the board means they will play there, but it gives me hope they might

Management bluff. He won't leave the Swans. AFL won't let it happen. They'll cough up the difference if need be - 'ongoing marketing allowance'

Not hard to fix If first contact in tackle is legal, its HTB or play on If player rises or leads with head, its play on Can someone tell me why contact with top of shoulder is deemed high contact if they don't contact the players head? Or if the contact to side of head is so minimal that its difficult to detect by the naked eye? I see this in ruck and marking contests where there's an arm over the shoulder (eg spoil attempt) but making no real head contact. Surely the rule is head high contact

I thought I saw footage of Bowey getting into his car and driving himself there. Would make sense so as to minimise spread of covid, flu, fan gossip, etc

Yeah, those bus drivers love to wind us up...

Don't think Brown should be dropped, not without Tmac in the side. Brown needs more support and better kicks coming into 50, not long bombs on top of his head If JVR comes in, I'd have Max playing majority as a forward so JVR takes the 3rd best defender, otherwise he'll get slaughtered. Dogga rucks 70-80% Happy for JVR to be given a game over Weid if they think he's ready Also give Kossie spells in the middle, get him involved more

Interesting. I was told similar by a fitness person from another club where Williams has been Doesn't explain May's disposal issues, but our disposal on the whole has been poorer this year

Yep, Andrew B is happy at Freo and he's their no 1 untouchable and best player. Besides, he'd be worth far more than Dogga in any trade Remember Carlton fans saying Oliver to Blues was a lock? Lol!

Dogga ruck majority Gawn KPF majority and to be barking at the mids to lower their eyes Laurie in, form at VFL should be rewarded Flip a coin as to Pickett, Bedford or Spargo to be out. Prob Bedford as he's most junior. But Spargo and Kossie will need a kick up the clacker very soon Assuming he plays, I'd give Kossie time in the middle, get him more involved. He's also creative with i50 delivery

And where are these 'rumours' coming from? If it's socials, then meh

Not quite. He has the right to nominate for the ND or PSD, for which WCE currently have pick #2 That would get us zero in return I highly doubt Dogga would want that, but his manager would be stupid not to use that as a bargaining tool The plot thickens!

Coming from you SWYL, that bit made me chuckle

He does have the right to nominate a club, and it usually gets done. But there are no guarantees, of course. If he wants to go and he's OOC, we don't hold many cards. It'd be different if he had a year or years left and wanted to move, eg Lachie Neale or Tom Papley

Ha! Agreed, however they are a badly run club. But would you pay $1mill or more to a guy who doesn't want to be in that state, let alone play for your 18th placed club?

To be fair, Tim Kelly had a very young family, including kid/s with special needs. He needed to be home in WA Usually a player nominating a club gets to that club. Usually. There are always some exceptions In terms of being a first ruck, I can't understand why Dogga would nominate Freo. He'd be behind Darcy, who is still young.

WCE currently have preseason draft pick #2. At $1mill pa Norf might pass on him Can't see Dogga doing that though

That generally does not happen. For example, we used AFL compo pick 2 on Hogan, but got 6 in return from Freo If a trade came to be, I'd prefer us to retain Gus and trade Dogga + our 2nd rounder (about 36) for Andrew Brayshaw, but can't see Freo doing that in a million years. That would make Peter Bell look more ridiculous than Boris Johnson

However DZ, and as others have noted, May's stats included kick out play ons

I'd put Max in the forward line for most of the game and let Dogga ruck the majority. Whilst Max gets a lot of taps, the oppo mids are used to working off them. We were less predictable when Dogga and even Weid were leading the ruck. And for God sake can we please lower the eyes going i50. Geelong showed that either scrubbed, chaos entries or low, precision kicks prevent damaging intercepts. If we only have BBB as a tall target (usually with 2 or 3 opponents), what's the point of long bombs to their kpds? Out: Bedford, Bowey In: Hunt and Chandler (or if they want a taller forward line, Weid)

Yet May's direct opponent Hawkins kick only one late goal and was largely ineffective. Yes May was very clumsy and his disposal was poor, but he nullified one of the best kpf in the competition

Yes, but our run home last year was considerably easier. On current form we are in danger 5 of the remaining 6 That the finals are 6 weeks away is no comfort from the fact that we look very ordinary now and anything but a top 4 side. To think otherwise is head in the sand stuff How specifically do you suggest we turn things around? What tactical or personnel changes are required?

Yes, who looks old now???

Name a small forward that's not?