old55

I'm cautious of canning Jones. Goodwin said Jones is playing a very specific role - we don't know what that is. It might be: try to get inboard, 20m defensive side of every stoppage, opposition mark and free kick and prevent the corridor outlet and so force them either to go down the line or kick over your head to a waiting Lever. In that case, if he does his job properly, he won't be getting much of it and he may not even be laying tackles if they don't take him on. I'm making that role up but in modern football structures it could easily be something like that and we have no insight. We're winning and maybe we're preventing the opposition from taking advantage of the new rule with our positioning. I think we'll find out a lot this week. I'm too much of a ball watcher at matches to see this type of strategy and I suspect 99% of fans are too. It take great discipline to consistently watch players off the ball, sometimes I try to but I find find my eyes magnet back to the contest eventually, and you can't see structures like that on the zoomed in replay. I'll give you the hot tip - the more you think you know what's going on out there the less you actually do ...

Agree. I definitely this we can win, particularly if May plays - I think he's one of the very few players who could possibly go with Dusty forward and I hope he takes this match-up a la vs Toby Green. Dusty is a very smart player - he goes the "don't argue" on ANB - I'd love to see him try it on May, Viney or Oliver - but he won't, he'll dish it off beautifully when he sees them coming. For me, he's in the frame for GOAT. I think Prestia and Vlastuin out hurts them. Even a close loss is not a bad outcome psychologically - they'll think they have us covered and we'll recognise that we need to continue to work hard to improve to get them..

I'd go with the combo that got us here - Fritsch for M.Brown and May for Petty. If Fritsch doesn't get up I'd go for B.Brown over Weid, it's career achievement vs last week and I'm a big Weid fan. Prestia and Vlastuin out does hurt the Tigers in both areas. It will be great if May can play, he is important for Dusty when he's forward - no-one else could really go with him. I really think this could be the difference between winning and losing. I'm firmly in the No Dusty = No Flags camp.

I have complete confidence he will win one-on-one

Q3 22:20 onwards "Hibberd - diving, saving, lunging smother was superb"

The MFC Football Department know but Demonland punters don't. I don't think you understand how complex modern football structures are. The best analysts here like @Axis of Bob are smart enough to realise that they are only scratching the surface. I'm will to bet you've called out "just kick the bloody thing!"

The coach said he has a very specific role and he's performing it - none of us here know what that is - but our 5-0 results speak for themselves. You may be one of those people who believes they understand how AFL football works under the hood. I realised that I don't really know anything about that quite a few years ago.

Jones must play and it's great that Goodwin has confirmed he will. The coach said he has a very specific role and he's performing it - none of us here know what that is - but our 5-0 results speak for themselves. I'd be fine with "no change" but I'd also be OK if one of Fritsch, BB or Weid came in for Mitch Brown. I'd love to see May take on Dusty in the forward line but maybe we can save that for the PF.

Clarko-myths Hawthorn's "young side": Average Attributes Hawthorn Attribute Melbourne 186.9cm Height 187.4cm 85.3kg Weight 86.3kg 26yr 2mth Age 25yr 6mth 108.5 Games 100.1 Total Players By Games Hawthorn Games Melbourne 7 Less than 50 6 5 50 to 99 6 5 100 to 149 5 5 150 or more 5 Notwithstanding Burgoyne distorting their averages - but Clarko selected him in the side ... We broke even in the first quarter, were well on top in Q2 and Q3 5.5 to 2.3 and totally smashed them in the last. My rational mind said we had them covered at 3qtr time but my emotional mind had seen those horrible colours punish us before so - so yeah ... We we're ahead on every important measure except clearances and in reality McEvoy, Mitchell, O'Meara, Wingard, Breust, Worpel and Shiels is a solid midfield. Another very good win.

Thanks Jack. Looks like Sparrow AFL sub. No Laurie?

Is Brett Ratten the right guy?

Maybe we can get a "Clarrie, Clarrie ..." chant going on Sunday and give Petracca and Salem some encouragement.

Agree, I dislike C.Scott and Selwood intensely but if I was a Geelong supporter I'd love them. Scott's press conference after last weekend's match was very good.

YEAH BABY!!!

Good coaching has recognized his potential with the man on the mark rule change. He's playing a lot better than I expected and it's very exciting when he gets the ball but as others have noted he's great in the contest now too.

Christian Petracca 36 + Christian Salem 23 = 59 last weekend.

This is going to come back to bite you on the derriere just like your Kossie criticisms and that Goodwin will be gone by Round 8.

Is there a bigger 'cat going round than Jordan Clark?

5 premiership players will cover them both put together :)

Hawks like to handball.

I hate both clubs. Seriously hope they just hurt each other.

I've never seen acceleration like Pickett's, he truly is a blur at times. The clean pick-up at top speed, the agility, the snap off either foot. Incredible!

Did you listen to Simon Goodwin' press conference - there is no way we're drinking the bathwater and he acknowledged we need to improve. It was obvious the Giants would come hard with their season and coach's future on the line and they did. But we were already back on even terms before Cogs went down. Sure they had injuries but we had 3x the scoring shots and double their score after quarter time. I agree with Goodwin we have a lot of room and scope for improvement but enjoy the win and the journey. PS: we brought in some outrageous talent last year - Langdon, Jackson, Pickett and Rivers. Great list management.

50pt turnaround after qtr time.

Time for the players to walk the talk. GWS will come hard. It's a great opportunity to make a statement.