demoncat

I would love to see it but it relies on us having a good enough replacement for him in the backline. I rate Tomlinson and would love for him to have a permanent spot in our best 22, but I don't know if we've seen enough from him this year to have him fill that role in the last four weeks and in a finals series. I am also excited to see what Turner can do over the next couple of years but I doubt we'll see him again until next year and he will benefit from another preseason under his belt. The other consideration is how many goals we are saving + scoring from rebound with Petty in the backline as opposed to the amount we would gain from moving him forward. If our defence and contest are working and we are getting a lot of inside 50s then Petty up forward could be a huge advantage and a difference maker. But if we're under the pump and are conceding a lot of inside 50s, then his absence could be the difference between conceding multiple goals or absorbing the opposition's pressure and keeping them to a low score. If the past is any indicator, we'll keep Petty in defence and persevere with our increasingly makeshift forward line. We know that Goody values defence and contest above everything, and if those two aspects of our game are in check, we're still able to score heavily. But jeez there is still a part of me that would love to role the dice and see what happens 😅

For an article titled “How Freo can land unicorn”, the author spent very little time explaining how Freo can in fact land the unicorn.

And just a week ago he was “sticking fat” with us as his number one seed because he believed our best could beat anyone 😅 God he’s a joke - but hey, at least he always has his laptop with him so he can get his facts straight, right?

Thanks for another great pod and for taking the time to discuss our questions!

Following on from @Deeoldfart’s question - do we think that our experiment with a smaller forward line has run its course? As much as I love having Bedford in the team, I think there were still times yesterday when we were crying out for another tall forward 50 target (even though our entries got better throughout the game). Personally I think that we should bring back the two talls structure for the rest of the season and give one of Weid or JVR a run at the last four or five games. That way, they either have had preparation for a finals campaign or - if fit - TMac can slot right back into his usual role without reintroducing a structure that hasn’t been utilised for two months. As always, looking forward to the pod and curious to hear you thoughts. Go Dees!

Ideal scenario. But this is far more likely 😅

Fair point. Perhaps I was being a bit simplistic about it. Obviously if they are the best players for a particular role, they should be in regardless of their playing futures (as you point out). I guess my thinking came more down to these two players in particular - in that I think for the roles that they would be bought in to play, that there are players that would bring just as much but have a longer term future at the club and would benefit from a good run at it. Having said that it is easy for me to sit here and presume that other players would deliver more. Clearly if Goody and co choose to play one or both of them, they believe that they are the best players to come in.

Oh god I can see it already 😅 I think we really need to commit to using players who at the very least are going to be on our list next year. Whether that is Weid and Dunstan or LVR and Laurie. Far be it from me to criticise Goody and co's selections, but I think I speak for most people when I say the time for selecting M. Brown and Melksham over players with longer term futures at the club is just about over. No disrespect to those two however - they've been great servants of the club and in their own ways have contributed to the success we are seeing now.

I understand your point @DemonWA, but I think you can still explain the W/L record against top 8 sides while applying the theory than @binman and others have argued for. First, it is a fact that we have versed more top 8 sides during this period than we did during this time last year. It may well be the case that had we versed Fremantle, Sydney, Collingwood or Geelong earlier in the year that we would have beaten them. Obviously this is hypothetical, but I don't think it is a factor that can be dismissed if you believe that we are/have been loading through the middle part of the season. Second, one key difference between this year and last year that can explain why we have lost to more top 8 sides is injuries. And not just injuries in general, but injuries to key position players within games. This was a significant factor in both the Fremantle and Collingwood games. It is very difficult for any team to adjust to injuries in game, particularly if they all come from one part of the ground - as was the case with our defence in those games. I think that had injuries not been a factor, we would have been in good stead to win both the Sydney and Collingwood games - despite our obvious flaws re: pressure and inside 50 entries. And then all of a sudden you're looking at a 4-2 record rather than 2-4. As a fan, I 100% agree and would love to see us claim some scalps on the run home. And, given our draw, we'll have to to guarantee a top four position. But there are specific reasons that can be pointed to that explain why we have performed worse against the top sides than we did last year.

100% agree on this part. JVR looks like an exciting long term prospect but people shouldn't underestimate the jump between AFL and VFL, and I'd be more inclined to give him as long as he needs to develop before bringing him in. At the very least Weid has the size and strength to attract the second defender and compete (although I'm sure some will disagree with that last part).

Apologies mate, it's been a slow start to the morning 😅 You're right to point out his poor performance in one-on-one situations.

I understand this @Lord Nev but to me this is a result of what I said earlier. It is as much about Brown not receiving support from another tall as it is us bombing it long inside 50 to a pack. How many times this year have you seen us genuinely hit Brown on a lead rather than dumping it on his head? Sure he still needs to improve his individual performance, but don't underestimate the impact that these other factors are having on those statistics ^

All that said, I really like Weid and hope for both his and our sake that he can come in and finally grab his opportunity. And to be fair to him, I think he needs to come in for the rest of the HA season to really show what he can produce, especially if we start kicking into gear and sharpening up our forward 50 entries like we did towards the end of last season.

It is still beyond me why people are calling for Brown to be dropped. Yes he has underperformed over the past month or so - but this is largely due to the fact that he has been missing the vital blocking and support that TMac provides. This is especially the case when our strategy of bombing it down the line results in our talls getting double and triple teamed by opposition defenders. Brown played his best footy in weeks in the first half against Geelong and he is too important to our structure to drop. Regarding Weid or JVR, for me it really comes down to how Goody and co. are viewing Weid and his position at the club. If they have faith that he can still become a best 22 forward - whether it is this year or next - they play him. However, if he still hasn't shown enough to warrant selection - especially when we were so exposed for height last week - we go JVR and I think that all but spells the end for Weid's time at the club, at least as anything more than a depth VFL player.

Couldn't have said it better myself @Vipercrunch. No one is saying that the players or coaches should be immune to criticism, but after what we saw last year they have 100% earned my trust. After 57 years without a flag, surely we ought to show Goody and co. some faith.

Good point and the rest of this year will be a real test of our 'system at all costs' strategy. We've all seen what our system can accomplish when all players are fit and firing - and I'm still firmly of the belief that should we play that way come finals that there is no team that can stop us. Having said that, we have to make the top four first, and the risk of this strategy is that we cost ourselves too many games during the home and away season. I'm still backing us in, but we're going to have to show our class and hopefully time our run in the last three or four games like we did last year. If we crash and burn, we'll have to reconsider how we approach both individual games and the entire season in 2023. But until that happens, we do what we did so well in the first place.

My thoughts too. So much of our gameplan is based around the playing percentages. We clearly value kicking to the pack and backing our mids and smalls to win any groundballs rather than risk kicking to one-on-ones and having it marked by an opposition player who can then begin to counter attack through the corridor. Same when we kick to the pocket - we would rather have it spill out of bounds than risk allowing the opposition an easy mark in the centre of the ground. This works when we are fit and firing, but when we can't lock the ball in our forward 50 and aren't applying pressure around the ground, it can be frustrating to watch.

I love how JVR is progressing and I'm pumped to see how he develops long term. My gut instinct says that he won't be playing this year and that we'll persevere with Weid if we bring back another tall - but you never know, we bought Bowey into the team as late as Round 20 and he slotted in perfectly. Having said that, Bowey had the luxury of playing in the best backline in the league with a lot of direction from players like May. I have a feeling that JVR would be asked to fill bigger shoes in a struggling forward line!

I have to agree here. If we had have brought our pressure game and got the ball inside 50 faster our smalls would have been better able to mop up the spills and kick some goals (like in the Brisbane game). But when we reverted to slower and more predictable ball movement, we desperately needed another tall to kick to and to create a contest. Geelong really made us look undersized down back! Having said that, another tall wouldn't have changed the outcome of that game because, as I said, we didn't bring our run and swarm that creates so many scoring opportunities for us.

Great reminder Vipercrunch. The fact is where we sit at this point of the season is tracking with where we were at the same point last season. Now, that is not to say that we should excuse or ignore poor performances and ongoing issues. There are clearly things that we need to work on and the club admits as much - just like they did last year when we went through our down patch. But I think that people need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture before declaring that our season is over. People were making the same calls last year and look where we ended up. If we are indeed still loading - and I am on the side that we are given that we once again looked fatigued and therefore slow and fumbly - it is a necessary step we have to take to be at out best come finals. Anyway, all of this is to say that I will be more worried if we play like this in the last few rounds of the year, not when we're in this loading phase and certainly not when we're playing on that ant mound that Geelong calls a stadium.

Nah mate no split loyalties for me. Not all cats are Geelong supporters!

And I also think this is true. It will come down to whether Goody wants to retain structure at the expense of keeping an underperforming Weid in, or would rather go for the smaller forward line. Time will tell!

I don’t disagree that in terms of scoreboard impact that M Brown could have as much impact as Weid, but I don’t think M Brown can offer the same physical presence in marking contents either down the line or in the forward 50. Kicking to contests is clearly a strategy that we are committed to, and I think Weid is better able to impact this area than M Brown. All that said I do like M Brown and you could argue that he is a “better” footballer than Weid, but I think their roles in the team are different.

I didn’t say whether or not keeping Weid was a good idea, rather that if Goody wants to keep that forward structure then we don’t have any other options. Like any Dees fan I have been frustrated by his lack of development, but rehashing this debate doesn’t change the fact that he is the only choice we currently have to fill this role.

Retaining our structure of two talls rather than continuing with the smaller forward line that we have used in recent weeks. I get the sense that Goody and co still believe that this is our best forward structure, and, until TMac is fit and firing, our only option is Weid M. Brown does not have the strength or size to play the role we want him to effectively, and like it or not we need to develop Weid so that if we pursue with this structure in finals, he has had enough game time to be match-ready if TMac can't get up.