rpfc

More inside 50s than score. It’s a bit of a shame - due to Covid - that we had to play a 2019/20 era repeat instead of actually playing the game. … I assume that this team that is 12 and 2 wouldn’t regress and devolve back to that… (Cough)

Jackson is pushing the best ruckman in the game out of the ruck at times. That is unprecedented for a 19 year old. He is utterly ridiculous and will be a top 10 player in the league soon on this trajectory.

More to do with the fact that we have to find 400% across the team to be on the bench. Jordan plays in a group that wishes to play above 85% so something and someone has to give. I would prefer Oliver and Petracca hit their minutes than giving them more bench time so Jordan can get out there more.

Too good to go out like that. Would be a shame.

And we can get them good deals…

They are still experimenting with the smaller line up. I would make it work with Brown from now but I get it. Nathan is unlucky. We should take care of this mob. Our home deck too. Time to be ruthless.

Yes, he is leader in the team and his pressure is usually in the top 5. He’s also in career best form. Needs to lower his eyes tho…

Ok, so Spargo is sticking to structures well and has had some good games delivering into the forward line but he doesn’t apply much pressure at all. I applied the eye test and it is backed up in the stats. He is great at guarding and defending space but not players and that’s not a bad thing - that may even be his role, but this talk of locks is so strange to me. Do we have selection integrity? If the answer is yes, then we don’t have locks outside of stars, leaders and important structural players.

It’s not though. We are literally where we are because we ask our forwards, and specifically our small or ‘speed’ forwards as Stafford puts it (FWDS coach), to pressure and chase and tackle and our tall forwards to cause a contest and link up play. Fritsch is a point of difference but he is as defensively minded and impactful as TMac which is not the trade off we want for someone who can’t contest 1-1 on a regular basis and is outmatched against the 2nd tall defender of most teams. I can also see Spargo making way for Brown if they want to keep Sparrow as he isn’t setting the world alight with his pressure, but as a forward and a former forwards coach and head coach - Fritschs’ 2 goals a game doesn’t impress me enough to consider him a core member of this forward line. I think we are not tall enough with TMac and Jackson/Gawn but I also think our pressure will suffer if we go with TMac, Jackson/Gawn, Brown and Fritsch. I would put the acid on Bayley to step up and play smaller and get out of the 50 on slow play and work hard forward on quick play and he can get his dinky goals over the top.

Yes, it was, apparently, quite a gulf between our expectations and that of GC. Bit more surprising with NM but maybe that makes sense.

Well I was being somewhat facetious to skewer those that suffer from the most negative of thoughts based on one bad loss to Collingwood… might be familiar… However, we have been a badly run club for so long that there is a rich history of failure to draw on. And it did all fall apart spectacularly 10 years ago. Has little bearing on how we go now tho, and I think that is one of the main points I was trying to make when I coined the term MFCSS; history doesn’t have to repeat or rhyme. We don’t have to be prisoners of our own worst thoughts. The other point that comes to mind is what President Roffey brings up - we are so worried about what could go wrong from our lofty heights that we don’t cheer with abandon as we are reaching those lofty heights until the last few minutes or until we are assured it can’t be taken from us (even spectacularly).

I get what you are saying about ANB, Jackson, and Pickett. Two of them are the foundation of our defensive system and the other is now rucking 44% of games now. Spargo and Fritsch do not have the level of Pressure acts and tackles that the other two have. Around the edges of the cornerstone Fritsch has seen an uptick in PAs but is still below 12 on average on the season (13.4 the last 5 weeks). Spargo is averaging 12 this year too, but only 9.2 in the last 5. Spargo has also dipped in tackles the last 5. Down to 2 a game. Fritsch is at 1.4 tackles a game. ANB and Pickett are above 20 PAs and 3.4 tackles a game. They are the cornerstone for the system. Fritsch plays tall and needs to be smaller Fritsch has TMac levels of pressure which is not the trade off we want from a medium forward like Fritsch. His 2 goals a game is welcome but will it stand up in a pressure final? I worry that he relies on excellent delivery when he is the 2nd tall and he won’t have that in September. Spargo must deliver Spargo is handy for his delivery into the forward line but only gets 2.4 I50s a game. Spargo needs to get more of the football or he needs to ramp up his pressure. He sticks to the system and his place in the press but anyone can do that; what is he going to bring to the team in September? Selection integrity and ‘selection locks’ don’t jive So I hope the last two months see us find our best balance in that forward line. And that is not going to mean that there are too many ‘locks’ - selection integrity is important to ensuring teams are harmonious and that effort and actions are rewarded. We are based around that defence and pressure in the forward half and Fritsch and Spargo don’t bring enough of it to feel comfort.

Ummm, so… Were the people ok? It was CGI, yeah, that makes feel better, I’m good now. It was CGI.

5. And they were good. And terrible. But they were gifted to him. He marked well, but didn’t dominate as he marked them. Hope that’s clear.

So the team went well? Thats what I gathered from this thread. I gathered some other things from this thread that are best left here. But the team played well. Ta Rp

Yes, DD - that forward line is schizophrenic mess. And, yes, even with our haphazard use into the forward line - what do people think will happen in finals? It gets cleaner? Fritsch has to be delivering into the 50 in our best side. TMac is not simply a ‘head to kick it on’ in our best side. Gawn/Jackson cause matchup issues as 3rd talls in our best side. That’s why I think Brown/Weideman is in our best side.

God help us if that’s true. He gets picked behind TMac, Kozzie, Jackson, and ANB. The fact that he kicks goals is down to the system is plays within; he doesn’t create his footy, he relies on others to put it on a platter. And that is ok, you need a front runner or two, but spare me the ‘unstoppable’ bs.

One specific name on the injury list more like

I think you’d be disappointed.

Hard to argue. Great to see Jack back.

Love bites on the neck sorry, what are we doing here? Oh yeah, good deal. Good deal.

That goes without saying, but it definitely should be said. Some fans don’t realise that they are people that have the same frailties the rest of us do. It is impossible to have all your players inspired and comfortable and confident. We are in a great place at the moment and it shows, but there will always be players that are better off in another environment or who need adjust their own expectations of themselves to be content.

He def should avoid social media. But he is OOC and that means that for us to keep him as he is currently constructed - we would want him at league average ($400k) and I don’t know if that is where he and his agent thinks he should be.

Jeez, that’s not great if that is the case… I think he is more likely to be impacted by his actual play in the seniors. He needed to draw his confidence from what his role was and not worry so much about clunking marks and kicking goals. Case in point would be the Dogs game that saw him impact the game with contests and he did kick a couple but still had him sheepish after the game. The whole performance anxiety of “you should be kicking 5 a game playing for the Dees at the moment, mate” is more where I think he is at. I haven’t written him off, even for 2021, but I would play Brown ahead of him. Getting dropped is not the end of the world and while it may affect his confidence - I think he needs to reassess his KPIs. Marks and goals will come later.