rpfc

Brave match committee to drop Fritsch. I don’t see it happening but I get the frustration with him - getting back to bad habits.

They’re the fundamentals of how we play, so that shouldn’t surprise.

Petty can turn into a swing man but you’re setting him up for failure with the way we are haphazardly moving the footy. He would just be there for another long target on dump kicks at this point.

Thanks Binman. We disagree and that’s ok. Gaslight was not the right word and we agree on most things with emphasis on different things. Look forward to the podcast, and my worries remain about our pressure and ball movement with a really crucial game coming up for a home QF chance. My biggest worry is the players mindset in contests is not instinctive and immediate and the same for their positioning and run. We just don’t turn it over where we do when we are at our best. It can come back to us but the players that drove us to a flag were not the stars - they got us in the conversation - the players that made us dominant were the role players that are really struggling right now (Spargo, Fritsch, Sparrow, Harmes, et al).

Good win. We weren’t great but the slingshot goals were promising. We are still really tight with our ball movement so I wonder how we will go against the slick Dogs. But we needed that and thanks to the backline, Kozzi, Viney, Track and Langdon. And Brown was better and so was Tommo.

You mean ‘opposition supporters’ as he watches from the stands?

Demonland:

He is RFA so we better be happy with ND16 or we just agree to pay him what he may agree with Freo. Then we can trade him he he really wants to go.

I didn’t ridicule, I implied he was not as good as Gawn and didn’t do as much. Gawn may have been smoking darts but what he does around the ground with his marking and instincts is superior to many ruckmen and most definitely Braydon Preuss.

My gut feel is that he is your Preuss type dumb ruckman with no other strings to the bow. So no, I don’t think he will replace Jackson. More likely long term replacement to Gawn but even then we like ruckmen to do more; Stynes, O’Dwyer, White, Jamar, Gawn - we have been spoilt.

I think people should relax because he ain’t left yet… We can hand wring about that package being disappointing when appropriate, @JimmyGadson

Sorry to burst bubbles but our answer to our search for a forward is either in house or in a trade. With our window open now, the next 4 years are crucial while Gawn is still playing and healthy. This may be a salve but not until 2026…

Not as good as the 72 Swans with Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe…

And it is a fine argument, diluted by the constant refrain for two months of the season. You know me, I love the grey; nothing is wholly right or wrong. It is in the debate that we achieve illumination. I just feel that this loading argument can be noted and argued amongst the other critiques of how we are playing and want to be playing. I will leave it there, at some point constructive criticism turns in on itself and I don’t mean to pick on Binman or anyone else. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to listen. rp

I used the word ‘pivot’ deliberately. It’s not that it is used as a significant factor - for a few weeks it is. My issue is that whatever critique is made on something else, the pivot to loading as the reason/answer to that critique is dismissing and quite frustrating. I will put it another way; loading is like sport in general. Sport doesn’t create character - it reveals it, in the same way that loading doesn’t create functional issues, they reveal them. Loading has impacted our fortunes, of course it has, but it has also revealed underlying issues that were there before around connection and pressure. And to have those concerns ameliorated with the mention of loading is getting harder to listen to.

Can’t take an overhead mark. Would take McDonald or Amartey tho

Trying to be constructive here for the guys on the pod; but a few thoughts. I simply have trouble listening to this curse/loading stuff for over a third of the year as the pivot of all our ills. And the way it is delivered is almost gaslighting which I think is what Andy is reacting to - it simply isn’t the solution to all our issues. Every team of note does it and it may play a part in form issues across the league amongst OTHER things that can be discussed without the constant retort being about loading being the reason for whatever issue is seen. I enjoy listening to the thoughts on the pod to challenge my own and I find the pod more enjoyable than the Deebrief where you can go 20 mins with only hyena-like laughter, in jokes, nicknames of players, and pure nonsense. So well done, but … pls…pls

I will leave you two to it…

Worn for the Sir Doug Nichols round, NAIDOC week, and our trip to the heart of the nation. Don’t see an issue. They are playing poorly, the jumper is seeing the ire as we search for easy excuses and even easier fixes.

Yeah, that’ll do it…

Hunt is such a spark off HB. Salem, May, Brayshaw and Bowey dominate touches and want to open up the game with their boot rather than their feet. Hunt runs lines and can make mistakes but he gets us going when we are inert. And we are inert. ANB, Harmes, Spargo, and Sparrow need to lift as the lower rung of players responsible for bringing the ball up the ground and into the forward line. Don’t know if any of those will get dropped however. So poor Bedford I guess but I can feel a debut coming in my bones…

Probably very little. And would rely on Jackson leaving of course and Larkey wanting out.