old55

They absolutely can be in the same side and having all 4 is probably our greatest asset. But with this year's shorter matches they can't all do full match minutes in the midfield because there's not enough minutes to go around. So the best possible solution needs to be found and I firmly believe that involves playing Jack forward for significant periods.

Rankine only human after al ...

And I'm his mum.

Hope the Zamboni doesn't break down.

Cairns Cazaly vs Sydney and Freo https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/geelongs-gmhba-stadium-playing-surface-to-shrink-as-boundaries-brought-in-for-player-safety/news-story/03d334db55d584cd66e545a4bd7beff4 Boundary dimensions: Cazaly’s Stadium - 165m - 135m

And here I thought we have been "historically guilty of gifting young players games when they don't deserve them" - it's very hard to keep up with all the things we're doing wrong.

Convincing convenient argument right here ...

OK party time is over! We've played the 2 worst sides at a ground that suits our game style - our zone was clearly working very well against Adelaide and North, you could see their frustration with the ball in their back half. AO is narrow at 123m and relatively easy to zone. We played some of our other good football against the Suns and Hawthorn at The Giants' Spotless Stadium which is similarly narrow at 127.5. This is not a new trend - we've been clearly better at Etihad in recent times at 128.8 and relative to other teams have been generally competitive at Geelong's Simmonds at 115m. Now we're playing teams in our quality range at wider grounds Gabba 138m, Metricon 134 and TIO Traeger at 132. So the challenge is right there in front of us. It's not all wine and roses for me with our game style - one of my biggest concerns is that it's not well adapted to the MCG our home ground and where the GF is usually played. And this year's finals are likely to be at Queensland's wider grounds so we better get used to. Quite frankly I'd prefer to see us play Port at AO than the Gabba. It's going to be very interesting to see if we can take a step forward on the bigger dimension grounds.

The knocks on his kicking action here ahead of the draft last year were way off line. He's a very nice kick for a man his size.

Maybe 50-50 forward-mid is the right compromise. On the weekend we had Oliver 85% game-time, Petracca 83% (and some of that can be forward) and Brayshaw 80% - that still leaves 50% midfield game-time to be filled.

You seem to have ignored my points that: "He is incredible in the contest and has the rare ability to beat a couple of opponents that is required when outnumbered down there. I laugh when I hear opposition supporters say he is slow - he is lightning over the first 3 metres (and) his tackling is legendary"

As much as I hate to say it, there's a lot to like about the Cats. I see they're 3rd but $11 for the flag, this week against Port Adelaide will be a great match up.

I'm officially starting the #PlayJackVineyforward campaign. @A F and I have been banging on this drum for 2 years and I think now is the time to pull the trigger. As everyone here knows, I'm a big Simon Goodwin fan and a big Jack Viney fan. Jack has been having a very good year in the midfield but the honest facts are that he's behind Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in the pecking order and he's very similar to Oliver in focus on first possession. As has been widely discussed, the shorter quarters and season is providing less scope for midfield rotations and 3 starting mids instead of 4 is the current core requirement. I think that Angus Brayshaw provides more of a point of difference in there and that Petracca, Oliver and Brayshaw is the go-to combination - another factor in this is that Angus has shown his breakaway from the stoppages delivers tremendous metres gained and he struggles to be effective elsewhere. The facts are we're a developing team that's currently middle of the road and we need to make a quantum step to mix it with the best teams - the key problem has been our connection with the forward line but that has been improving with Weed's establishment. Viney has all the attributes to make a real difference to converting our chances, locking it in and causing defender chaos balls if it does come back out. He is incredible in the contest and has the rare ability to beat a couple of opponents that is required when outnumbered down there. I laugh when I hear opposition supporters say he is slow - he is lightning over the first 3 metres, his tackling is legendary and opposition defenders will be crying themselves to sleep the night before playing us because if Jack doesn't get you, Kossie will and if you happen to escape the back 50 you'll run into Vanders. Jack might see his move from the midfield as a demotion and might play angry - look out! But the small forward role is glamour - I know he's a different type of player but think Robbie Gray. Toby Green and Cyril. He can be a legend down there. Come on Simon, you know it makes sense.

You've made some very good points in favour of Spargo. I think he struggles in the deep forward role where he has played because that relies on winning the contest but as you say the link role up the field that he appeared to play against the Crows has less focus on the contest. And if he genuinely is elite in agility then that will help keep him out of trouble out there. I'm revising sell to watch.

Freo are improving too, they've beaten Collingwood and Hawthorn recently so that's not an easy one. Hopefully we don't play them in Perth.

I haven't particularly seen it but if he does that would make a big difference.

Now 5-2 minimum required. Must win: Freo, Sydney 3/5: Collingwood, Dogs, Essendon, GWS, St.Kilda.

Like @58er says Spargo has got good football nous - he's 4th generation top level player after all. It's a fine line - Caleb Daniel has made it but I think Charlie may just fall short because despite his all-round ability he doesn't have a stand-out feature. It's possible that he was overpowered because he was a 19 year-old, but is he going to get 3 years to really build up enough strength to compete? Like I said - Nev has great core strength and he's just that important bit bigger than Charlie. Nev also has great agility which Charlie doesn't have either. Charlie is a better version of JKH but I fear than may still not be enough. Despite @titan_uranus protestations, if he was 180/82 he'd make it for sure.

Old mate @Elegt has started drop Oliver and sack Taylor threads in consecutive weeks - he's having a worse trot than Adelaide.

Agreed. It's impossible to see on the TV but our zone must be really good at present because you could see the frustration on the North players faces when they had the ball at half back. When they tried going very short to work into space we were able to win it back consistently. It will be interesting to see how we go against a much better side who can play this way like the Eagles if we are fortunate enough to get another crack at them.

Quoted for truth.

Well there's few greater insults than that! The problem for Spargo is that he is and always will be outbodied in the contest, he just doesn't have innate core strength like Nev and he doesn't have pace or agility to avoid the contest. If he was 180/82 he would not be so vulnerable in this area. Pickett has electric pace, Caleb Daniel is very clean and is a beautiful kick - Spargo doesn't have any outstanding attribute to compensate for his shortcoming.

Smith, OMac, Tomlinson - for various reasons none of them are the solution as the defensive tall back. I'm not against trying Tmac back there again in that role. There were problems when he was the main man back there but now with May and Lever he could be an effective role player. It would give us some flexibility in case of in game injury too. Long term I think Petty is the answer.

@Elegt started that thread. How about you and him head off to the PMs and go 15 rounds there and do us all a favour?

Can you post the Think Ladder for me? Just keen to see where people think we are.