Stu

JVR looking superb with this fast ball movement and his improved fitness and leading patterns.

Out of the centre has been... [Antonio Banderas GIF]

Kentfield's game was very strong on the weekend, and being able to pinch hit in the ruck, I'd say that if he has another strong game against Richmond this week, he'd be in front of Jefferson for Round 1.

I watched the second half on replay and Jefferson was responsible for ensuring the ball came to ground in 3-4 contents where there was several North defenders. He hit the contest hard and two of those resulted in shots at goal. He also laid some good tackles, and made some long, continued chases as North defenders ran the ball out of our forward half. He looked to be playing with more intensity. It wasn't consistent across the game, but for those complaining that he isn't hard enough at the content, I saw steps in the right direction from him in that regard.

I was offered $1 for a month of Kayo, so I did that to watch this game and next week's game against Richmond. Have set a reminder to cancel well before they slug me $45 for the next month.

In the NT for promotional/community work

Some desperation and hunger from Jeffo at 2:50. Good see to Tom Matthews taking part in the sim - must be mostly recovered from his PCL.

Allen Jakovich also comes to mind

Their draw will be much tougher next year than it was this year, so there's a good chance they struggle more than they did this year.

MFC is the media's punching bag at the moment, so if no deal gets done it doesn't really hurt our reputation much. But it will impact their's a great deal. In a game of brinkmanship, GC stand to lose a lot more than us, not just next year, but in future years when stars may consider moving there.

I think that now they've made finals, look to be in the premiership window, they are trying to show a more hardened, tough facade. They've had enough young talented players leave. Now that they have genuine interest from a superstar (Trac) to move there, they're trying to show maturity. If they do let BH leave, they can spin it that it was in the best interests of the club and player to leave, and can come across as understanding and respectful (if personal reasons are part of BH's reasons for wanting to leave).

Lamb chose his words carefully when he said the Dees 'respect' what Gold Coast have said 'publicly'. I think there may be an agreement to manage this as privately as possible. It then allows both clubs to spin the narrative to shine positively on them, as the negotiations progress.

I believe the floor and cap amounts are calculated over 3 years, so as long as you average above the floor and below the cap over those three years, it's not a breach. A club could be 20% over the cap in one year, as long as it's at least 10% under it in the two other years used in the rolling calculation.

What is satisfying is that since his demotion back to VFL he hasn’t dropped his head, but rather got better at halving contests and presenting an option. It shows he has something meaningful to offer the senior side.

And Verrell looks to have come on in leaps and bounds when given primary ruck duty. Great ruck craft at times tonight.

Jeffo played a very mature, contested game as the key focal point forward. His last few VFL matches have shown he can learn and grow. Is my vision bad or did Kalani tap one over his head to a team mate that didn’t break stride? He looked to really grow with confidence in the last quarter. For a skinny 17 year old ruck/forward, he looks likely.

One thing to consider is the dimensions of Traeger Park make it difficult to flood/congest. It is 9 metres longer and 3 metres wider than Marvel. If Ross wants to try to congest the contest, he risks us getting on the outside and leaving lots of space for our forwards to work in. 7 out of the 10 games played there have had at least one team that scored over 90 points.

Daniel Hoyne mentioned that Disco Turner's performance for the last 6 rounds has him in the Top 50 players in the competition 💪

That's a reasonable assessment. I particularly like your insight about imposter syndrome. While AJ will never be silky skilled, if he ever has a game where he takes a few marks and kicks a few goals, that confidence will likely result in his skills improving. Just feeling like you belong (in any situation) helps you to be calm and make better decisions. Right now, it looks like he's trying to do everything too quickly (in what he sees as an attempt) to keep up with the speed of the game.

Rounds 1-5 Average Score For: 61 Average Score Against: 101 Rounds 6-11 Average Score For: 97 Average Score Against: 82 A whopping 55 point turnaround in average scores!

It's easy to look at AJ and Petty's games from a stats perspective and think they contributed very little. However, Petty was able to bring the ball to ground a lot and stop McCartin from intercepting. On several occasions AJ literally bulldozed several Swans players to clear a path, got a hand in to disrupt a handball chain, or knocked the ball to the advantage of others. I think he directly assisted in 2-3 goals that wouldn't have registered a disposal. Do you each feel one goal between them is sustainable, if they routinely bring that type of forward pressure and create that number of opportunities for our small and medium players?

We brought in Jai Culley and Jack Henderson as replacements for McAdams and AMW, so Goodwin was correct in saying we don't have any list spots available.