rpfc

Really can’t take too much yet out of where we sit in the league but there are insights that Goodwin and the new bloke McQ have altered our play, and there are some seeming positional wins that we desperately needed. How we play We seem to be trying to quickly pivot and switch (sometimes corridor) when we get a turnover which isn’t new, what is new is that there some hands and then a rule/desire to kick to someone forward side of wing. This means a few things; less kicks ‘over the head to space’ as we do less chain handball over 40m, it also allows Fritsch, BB and JVR to lead at the footy on quick movements as that player that has it forward wide of wing stops props and lets the forward execute in space. We also preferred to avoid the long bomb if we could, which coupled with the above meant shorter kicks and the most marks we have had in years. The focus on movement from the backline is a Neil Balme for me because we know we can win stoppages, we know we can up the pressure up forward, what we haven’t done well really ever in Goodys reign is transition the ball from end to end, preferring to limit how often it gets down there. FINALLY, we are taking this backline out for a test drive and seeing what it can withstand so that we can move it quickly, deliberately into the space of some smart forwards. Positionally, Hore looks fine and so does Howes, so we MUST KEEP SALEM IN THE GUTS!

Most landers wouldn’t know what the salary cap is without googling so we can just ignore that. Aside from me of course…

One segment on Binman naming names. Off the long run up. And the kicker - the last name… … gets banned!

Well said, QD. Sarah was fine and there is no ‘good after match interview’ so that was as good as it gets as the club tries to get our best player to avoid becoming Dusty Martin (we literally can’t afford it), and as foxtel tries to get a little scoop that doesn’t make the club shut up shop for a few months. Its awkward because it’s awkward; a public life seen and judged, with questions of that person because he ‘played footy game real well.’ Well done to all.

Yes, and also, if you have concussion a certain amount of times - are clubs then expected to request CT scans before contracts are ratified? A biopsy of the blood-brain barrier? And then do they get 50% of the contract due to the increased risk? Knees can be tested and gambled on - heads are a couple of Brayden Maynard ‘smothers’ away from retirement…

Because language is dead and every time I try to correct anyone I am called a pedant. The words they are trying to say is that the length of contract makes this a potentially difficult long term issue for our cap if we don’t get settlement outside our cap. One year for McCartin is a balm, a salve, for a club trying to help a damaged person. 5 years of full relief is the Demons trying to undo a ‘disastrous’ list management decision. Everyone loves charity until it’s so large that they internalise it; ‘we will never get that charity so no one deserves it.’

Prove her wrong people, prove her wrong.

You may think that anyone at Sydney can do whatever is needed but that is a fallacy; teams like that are structured so well at stoppages and contests that the players that they want to get the ball on the outside or front of the play are the players that get the ball. We have been good with this mostly due to our defensive wingers being on the outside although I don’t really rate Langdon’s kicking. We should be structuring up to get Rivers, Salem, McVee, Windsor, Bowey the ball and pushing CO, CP and JV to the next contest but we don’t. Because they are our best players and they must kick, sorry, dump the ball forward. Sorry bad mood this morning.

It can’t be. There are no excuses like in 2022 when we were protecting our mids and kicking to flanks and pockets. We may have learned bad habits that are hard to unlearn but to think that the coaches want to see inertia and stagnancy is just wrong.

The other downside to not having that big lump up there is that this is prime ‘development’ years for JVR and I fear he is learning all the wrong lessons. For example last year, even when he wasn’t the ‘out’ kick up the ground (when Gawn or Grundy was), he didn’t then move to exploit space that he could utilise in the F50, he just mirrored the actions of the lump that calls for it on his head to get territory (‘out’ kick). I hope Petty and JVR allow each other to have more freedom but it’s a combination of how we move the footy, our desired structures AND individual capability and talent that will get us a functioning forward line for Petty and, especially, JVR to adequately develop in. But it’s all hope. Need to see it.

It’s not irrelevant but sure whatever. We should get better as forwards return to the forward line and push out the runners that don’t know how to utilise space or have effective leading patterns. Cant tell if we have connection issues yet until Fritsch has some friends down there. Petty, McAdam, Pickett - get those four for a few months and we will see what our ball movement is like. JVR gets a pass as a young tall but I watched him closely at games last year and he didn’t impress me with his movement and craft.

Really glad to see us push him into the 22. We lucked out with McVee - not everyone progresses like that. So he needs time and what a backline to develop in?!

If he doesn’t play this week, he will be hard pressed to get a look in with Pickett and McAdam coming back in the next few weeks.

Hilarious

I am new born baby, never watch a football game before, and am unfamiliar about customs to do with this sport which I have followed since yesterday. So when are the… …teams announced?

It’s hard to argue with that. His only intention was the upper body and he jumped off the ground. These things happen quickly but they are an eternity to these guys. Simpkin was distressed with concussion symptoms immediately from the vision. What are we doing here? The week after a bloke is medically retired due to hits to the head. What is the game about?

As the original Freo Death Rider I can’t condone nor authorise this supposed sequel. Sorry.

It was a practice match, all you can take out is process (and not outcome); and we looked like we took time with the footy and preferred to enter the forward line to the advantage side of a specific player or contest. We have a big midfield and they should take their time - we should have more holding the footy decisions against us than we do - it’s our great strength and we should be pushing the limits of how long to hang on to it to make a good decision, and asking teams to bring us down. The best thing said on the day was when Goodwin talked to Fox before the game about ‘not worrying too heavily about what we are not, and embracing what we do well’ and that is music. We are never going to be a precision footy team, we are never going to avoid mistakes, but we are a team with a midfield of bulls and we should that should lean into that and make the most of it.

From the sounds of it - we are not rushing him back. We have had such an interrupted and maligned pre-season that I would prefer we build toward the season and not think that the season is won and lost in the first month. Losses are not the end of the story, but mishandled individual chapters will be.

We seem to have really pushed them tonight. Really pushed them

Obviously just here to confirm Oliver got through and was as good as he should be at this level. i do have one question… How does a team ‘push’ another team by being three goals ahead of them?! You were pushed past, you fell over, you were pulled apart, whatever. But you weren’t ‘pushed’… Yes I care about things that are irrelevant

‘But the horses will have better facilities!! Wah wah wah’