Stu

“Cos I’m Binman!”

I tried to take the quiz on my phone… so I got “incomplete” and my phone got AIDS.

My inclination was if they decide they want to rest May, who looks like he’s carried lower back pain all season. Just a guess though.

Adding to this, that’s exactly what we did in the 2021 finals. Had huge scores and winning margins in the prelim and grand final. After 22 games in 2021 our average points for was 86, compared to 91 this year. Points against was 66 in 2021 versus 73 this year. Net difference is 2021 was 2 points better off per game. Not much.

Goodwin seemed to do a great job of finding solutions to Mitchell’s tactics. The short kick game was nullified by going one-on-one, and when the Hawks tried to run and carry we went back to our standard defensive formations. When they went back to short kicks in the third and fourth, we went man on man again. It showed great flexibility to change up the game plan and something we didn’t see last year. Particularly pleasing was how well the team ran out the game in the last quarter. Lots of smothers and tackles in the F50 even after the result was sealed.

Thanks for going to the effort to put this all down in writing. Made a few abstract thoughts I had bouncing around upstairs a little clearer!

I think the AFL realises that the antagonistic way they’ve treated other codes has been an inefficient use of time and effort. People can enjoy more than one code, but when they make these hard line stances it makes people choose sides and even turns non-hard core fans away. The image of Barassi punching a a deflated soccer ball on the front page of the Herald Sun during the World Cup bud period didn’t win them any new fans. This generates good publicity, keeps fans happy, and brings in extra paying customers. It’s a sound business decision.

At least the Cats are making the Pies play the full 120 minutes. Love it.

I believed, like others here, that Brodie’s absence from the AFL team was as much to do with fitness as it was to do with ‘forward craft’. He looked like he was running in concrete against GWS and St Kilda. Coupled with the observations in pre-season about his fitness levels compared to Max and others (likely due to his long term injury in 2022) it’s not surprising he struggled during our loading period. My theory is that they’ve been using this four/five week period to build his endurance and/or power to get him primed for Finals. I’ll put my money on Brodie having a really strong six weeks 😊

As sad as the Petty news is, I’m more worried about how much we will all pump him up over the pre-season and get upset when he doesn’t kick 6 in round one. He’s been a revelation and we’re worse off without him, but being injured he won’t play any bad games this year. So we’re left remembering 8 goals across 1.5 games.

While that was horribly frustrating and saddening, what it shows is that we can still find a foothold in games even when the game isn’t on our terms. Its a contrast to the Pies who only have one way back in to games.

I hope this is like the Round 20 2021 game versus Gold Coast. We put the foot down in that game, after a tough opening 10 minutes.

Cheering after Miers scores....

If that is the case they may end up peaking too late. You’ve got to time the tampering just right to be at optimum fitness while also training the least on prelim weekend. If you time it right you’re both the fittest and least sore and tired you’ve been all season. But it’s quite common athletes time their run too late and peak after their event finishes. I feel it’s too late in the year to get much benefit for the risk of heavy legs in September.

😂 the sacrificial lamb selection strategy. “Ok JJ, you’re in this week, but next week you’re back to the scoobies for Clarry”.

I loved this summary from The Mongrel Punt (the bolded section made me laugh): ---------------- Now, what do we have here? A maring forward that genuinely looks like he wants the footy and leaps at it like he owns it! That’s what we have, and he has come from the forwards’ graveyard to do it. The Dees have a bit of a history with turning defenders into gun forwards, with the Coleman Medal-winning efforts of David Neitz, after playing in defence for several years, the standout. However, with six goals from Harrison Petty, the Dees may have found the best way to solve their key forward issues in 2023. Petty returned six goals in a dominant display, playing against a Richmond defence that, on paper, should have been able to make life very tough for him. He took four contested grabs and made every post a winner, not missing as he powered the Melbourne forward line home with two of the Dees’ six last quarter goals. He was aided by the continued development of Jacob van Rooyen, who genuinely looks like a power forward these days. I mentioned Petty’s contested marking, and whilst JvR had only the one contested grab, one of his biggest assets is that he has no fear when attacking the footy. He hits packs like they shot his dog or something, determined to either mark the footy, or make sure there is carnage left in his wake. When you add in the resurgent Jake Melksham, suddenly, this forward setup that was perceived as a problem started to look very menacing. If they can maintain the rage as they head toward September, regaining Bayley Fritsch on the even of finals might just make this group a nightmare to match up on.

He also mentioned how over the past three seasons, Tomlinson is (I think) 3rd for negating defensive one-on-one's (e.g., his opponent didn't win it), and 5th for winning defensive one-on-one's. It shows that when he can keep up with his opponent, he is a great defender.

This is awesome! Is it just me or have the lions gotten some favourable games tonight that have kept them in it?

When we consider that it’s small percentages that make the difference in AFL, playing high stakes, tough games in the final rounds can drain teams. How the Pies play, and how McRae seems to have them playing to the final minute, means they’re likely to be stretched even further to “get it done”. I think McRae will learn a valuable lesson in squad management and season planning come the end of September.

We had one game plan last year, and teams figured us out. We will see if the Pies game plan is good enough. They really don’t have anything else if plan A doesn’t work. While it might frustrate some fans, I love that Goodwin has tried many different line ups and strategies. Opposition coaches can’t know how we will approach the game.

Watching the Pies players continue with manic football in the last minute only confirms for me that they risk burning out before the end of September. I don’t care how fit they are, how they play and the number of games they’ve needed to play to the death, means they’ve spent a lot of energy to this point in the season.

It was a great result in the end. Pies win which keeps our top 2 chances alive, and two contenders just batter into each other for 120 minutes. I felt this way about Sydney last year, and I feel much the same about Collingwood this year - you've got to reserve some of the teams emotional energy for September. If you have to dig into the emotional reserves to get you over the line too many times in the regular season, you'll be burnt out by the last Saturday in September. I can't help but feel the more neutral crowd and long season will come back to haunt the Pies on that day, if they make it.

I've said it a few times - Collingwood will be spent by the time the Grand Final is played. It's really 'brave' that they keep coming back, but they've spent so much energy this year playing games where they have to strain every muscle and sinew to win!