CHF

But we are The Redlegs, not the Red Ankles.

Be still my thundering heart. 2 Rounds done… 2 wins and 8 premiership points in the bank. So very strange. There were even some good coaching moves made during the game. I was not far off in my prediction last week. I predicted a 4 goal win – close, except that it could have been anywhere between a 3 and 10 goal margin. Big difference between Round 1 and Round 2 was that the midfield looked well organised and ran hard all day. So with Round 2 done and dusted we turn our attention to Round 3 and our game in Canberra on Sunday against the Great Waste of Space (GWS), The AFL’s version of the creature that was created by Victor Frankenstein. With this, the Waste of Space’s 10th year as a ‘club’, it should be settled and well structured. However, I do not think that is the case. It has been the poor cousin living next door to the Swans based in a wasteland of AFL fans. I can see constant messages being sent by the Captain of the good ship, Waste of Space, Reading “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money, the natives are restless”. I am sure from that paragraph you have picked up that I do not hold this ‘team’ in high regard. I do not even hate them, more that I am miffed at their existence. To hate them I would need to have some respect for them. Still, I have to put that aside and look at the actual footy. There are 4 premiership points to be won and lost….. this is serious. I want us to grab those points. The facts: We are playing them with an extra day’s rest. Advantage us. They are travelling back from a loss in Perth. Advantage us We play in Canberra. ? (well it is a fact) Our third string forward line still misses a lot. Advantage them. Problem areas of the game for us: After the performance last week, it is difficult to identify the major problems except for one. More on the later. Defence was again very good, and they were well organised to cover the main threats that the Saints presented. Himmelberg and Ninja Green look to be the main threats for the defence to look out for. Their kicking for gaol against Freo was just about as bad as ours was against the Saints. They had 9 players from the midfield that between them kicked 0.10. While May and Lever did not have an easy time of it last week as they had in Round 1, the rest of the defenders stepped up and worked as a unit. We need them to keep it up and look to improve against the Waste of Space. The midfield does not have too many problems given that level of performance across the board. The hard part will be maintaining that quality. This week we need to come out hard and fast in the middle, give the opposition no space and produce the repeat efforts in close that were a feature of last week’s performance. We need the midfield to dominate so they give us as many chances as possible to have scoring shots. (This bit is a cut and paste of my comments last week with a couple of minor adjustments – I know I am being lazy) Now let us turn our attention to our forwards. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. The bad; it was not that many goals (as it should have been). The ugly; the bad kicking for goal. Almost twice as many behinds as goals. In the forwards I like the structure and the players. It is functioning well. Kossie and Spargo together are a great double act and the talls are getting to the places they need to. When the goal kicking accuracy sorts itself out it will be a sight to behold. Freo kicked 11.21 against GWS’s defence with pretty much the same forward setup as played against us with a couple of changes. Perryman looks to be the best of that lot with Cumming getting a lot of possessions from half back and being their main carrier out of defence. Will be interesting to see who plays on him/who he plays on. The selection meeting this week will be simple. Shut the door, have a couple of beers, eat the cheese board, catch up on the news and announce ‘no changes’. The MFC ‘glass half empties’ are having a hard time of it at the moment and a few of them seem to have gone to ground. I am sure they will surface again the near future. If we keep winning, I await the first post criticising the players for wearing short socks and how it is a sign that Goodwin has lost them. The big question is; will Dr.Frank’s Creature run rampant and create fear and havoc or will the Demon hoards contain, restrict and then overrun the self-entitled love child of the AFL? (A thought; does this make Sheedy Frankenstein’s assistant, Igor?) I am going with the Demon hoard to bring home a good win making it a 3-0 start. 6 goal margin to the Dees.

Selection pretty much as expected. It would have been interesting to see who would have been dropped if Harmes was not injured. Good luck to May on his 150th milestone, Hope he has 150 more high class games for the Dees.

I am based in Europe and last round started at 3.45 am for me. I woke at 4 and watched it from the start and ended up skipping the breaks and caught the last quarter live then had breakfast. This week the game starts at a more manageable 9.25am. Means that with a win I can crack wine or two to celebrate. Like you, I love the footy and love to see the Dees play. It is just that sometimes I really hate the result.

It is called optimism. A heady brew.

I am a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy. I find that it has helped me a lot over the years being a Demon supporter. I have seen so much ‘potential’ in our younger players turn into false dawns; I have seen so many potential champions had their time at the Dees ruined by injury that I even ask myself how I can maintain my rose-coloured outlook. The answer is simple….. The alternative offers despair, depression and madness. Which brings me firstly to the reactions of some supporters to the win last week against Freo. We win a Round 1 encounter for the first time in years and it is almost as if the ‘Half Empties’ are offended that we won. Amazing! We have 4 premiership points in the bank, a win on the board and are better placed that half of the competition. It makes me dizzy to think of what the future holds. And so, to the Round 2 encounter with St. Kilda Saturday night at Marvel Stadium. Is it just me or do others look at the fixtures when they come out and think the Saints fixture is pencilled in as a win? For some reason I just do not take them seriously. Yeah, they have had some excellent players and some reasonable teams, but St. Kilda????? Nah. The facts: We are coming off a rusty win with an extra day of recovery while the Saints had a close slog in the wet interstate. Advantage us. We were not very good. Advantage them. The Saints last week were on the wrong side of every team stat but kicked accurately. Advantage them Problem areas of the game for us: Defence…. I know, I know … our defence last week were great. May, Lever and to a lesser extent Tomlinson and Rivers marked everything that was kicked into their space and Jetta won his game as a small defender. For me those strengths last week may be our weakness this week. The Saints forwards are a big step up from what they faced last week and if they compete in the air against our tall defenders and bring the ball to ground, we may find a fleet of small Saints forwards ready to make hay. Jetta, Rivers, Hunt and Salem do not inspire confidence to be able to defend in close and personal against an experienced small forward crew. Saints had 4 multi pule goal scorers last week with Membury kicking three. This is my biggest concern in the game. The midfield will need to sort out the problems of last week with their cohesion with Max and each other. I am not asking for perfect, just an improvement. If they can exert proper pressure in the midfield and get some ascendancy, then that will greatly help defence. I also want to see them shut down any run through the corridor. Time and time again last week Freo ran down the corridor seemingly unopposed. We need to ensure that out transition from attack to defence in the midfield is much sharper. I think our midfield man for man are better than the Saints but we need them to work together and for each other more. Now let us turn our attention to our forwards. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. The bad; it was not that many goals. The ugly; the bad kicking for goal. 1-6 in the last quarter. We have to forget about who is not there and look at what we do have available. TMac looks to have better form that he has shown in the last couple of years. Fristch is doing his thing which is presenting and kicking a couple. Max, Jackson and Petracca rotate through there at different times with varying effect. Spargo and Kossie are performing, running, tackling and snagging the odd goal. All you can ask really. I think for this game we need one more really good defensive forward to help lock it in. Not sure that Jones or Melksham are the answer to that question. Jones is a half a pace too slow, and I cannot remember the last time Melksham made a tackle that stuck. So, after all this insightful analysis and deep thought, who is going to win and why? My rose coloured glass is half full at least so the Dees will win a hard fought encounter by our mids stepping up from last week, our forward expressing their confidence built up from last week and by outrunning the Saints in the last. Dees by 4 goals, 2-0 and 8 premiership points in the bank come late Saturday night and a pleasant Sunday.

I have a question.... Why is it that with all the WhizBang technology that is available these days we cannot properly hear the questions at the after match presser?

Not too many changes for me. I would bring in Viney as long a he has the run in his legs. One thing that came out of the games was that the longer quarters, th rule changes and less interchanges have put a premium on fitness and the ability to run out games. Only players that are 100% ready should be considered for selection. Out goes Jones. He had a reasonable game, But I think we need more mid rotations and better (younger?) legs. Might consider Hibberd for either Rivers or Hunt but it is line ball for me. Rivers took some good marks to intercept in the first half in particular and loosing Hunt would take a lot of pace and some flexibility out of the side. Other than that the only other change I would consider would be to look at making Bowey the Sub. Chandler will need a game somewhere next week.

I will take 4 points and 'learnings' from any win rather than 0 points and lessons from any game. It was a good win as far as i am concerned. Played well in the first quarter and later in the 4th quarter and came awy with a lot to work on. I liked Jordon's first game. He looks composed and confident and I am looking to to see how he builds on that. I liked Sparrow's game aas well and I think he will add to the depth of the Mids. tackles well and has a bit of toe about him. Spargo was great in the game and if he can produce that game on a consistent basis he will play a lot of game for the Dees. There are a couple of broken links to work on such as the link between Ruck and Mids and the kick into the forward 50 needs work still. I counted no less than 5 times in the last quarter where the last kick into the 50 was to an opponent for mark or badly directed into open space with defenders closest to the drop. Defence was excellent but they will come up against better forwards in the future, starting next week. May, Lever, Tomlinson and to a lesser extent Rivers were all great and cutting off attacks with intercept marks. Jetta had a good game against a smaller less experienced player. he will come up against better players as from next week nd that will be a better indication of where he is at. Mids, As my teachers used to say about me, 'Can do better'. Looks to me as if Oliver ha been asked to take on opponents a bit more than he has in the past. He will be better for this game where he was caught a lot. Freo were not good enough to fully punish us. Petracc had a quiet game by his standards I thought. having said that, his followup efforts at the contest are just great. He hates to be beaten. I like to look of Kossie in the middle every now and then. A little different for the opposition to work out. It was good to see TMac up and about and I think there is a bit to work with with the players we have available. At one stage in the first at a center bounce there was Fritsch in the square, Max 30 out and Spargo on the 50m arc with Jackson in the ruck. Later in the 4th TMac was in the square, Fritsch 10m in front of him, Jackson 40 m out and Pickett on the 50m arc. It will be interesting to watch the form and development of this group. Saints next week and I will be looking for the team to look a little less rusty and a bit more 'on'.

Given the injuries and the lack of match fitness of some players I think this is pretty much the best we can run out tomorrow. There are a few selections that could have gone one way or the other. In defence, I would look at Jetta and Hunt selections. Jetta seems to have lost a pace or two and will need to really step up. If he does not perform this game he might find himself at Casey. Hunt may be used on a wing at times during the game and they may use him as a deeper defensive wing and look to move forward through Langdon's wing. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds during the game. Harmes role in midfield is another that will be interesting to watch. I can see him being used in a tagging role on Fyfe when Fyfe is in the middle but not when he is moved forward. And for Pickett, Spargo and Jones all to have minor roles in the midfield at times. Depending on the state of the game I would change things up a bit and put Rivers in at a couple of center bounces to see what that brings. The forward line we did not have a lot of choice about. Chandler? Spargo? for me it is a toss up. I like the way that they are both developing. Spargo gets first crack at it but he will know the pressure is on. Jones? Well he ha the experience and he played a reasonable game or two in pre-season. As with Jetta, I get the feeling that one bad game and he will be at Casey while others get a chance. I don't think that Goodwin or the rest of the coaching panel can afford to nurse him to 300 if he is not performing. With the early key injuries we have the only blessing is the fixtures we have for the first 7 rounds. 4 games at the G, 1 at Marvel, 1 in the ACT and one in Tassie. We play the Saints when they return from Sydney, GWS when they return from WA, Hawthorn when they return from WA and NM in Tassie the week after they return from WA. Dees by 3 or 4 goals

I had a bit of a look at this and realised a few interesting things. All in all, we have a pretty easy ride that way things are. ROUND 1 - We play Freo here at the MCG so they have to travel. Our round 2 and 3 opponents clash in the first round With GWS Hosting the Saints. ( this will be a good scouting game for us to watch) ROUND 2 - Saints at Marvel with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from GWS. GWS, our R3 opponent play Freo in WA. ROUND 3 - GWS in the ACT with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from WA. Cats, our R4 opponent, play Hawks the following day at the MCG ROUND 4 - Cats at the MCG with them having 1 less day recovery. Hawks, our R5 opponent, play Freo in WA on the same day. ROUND 5 - Hawthorn At the MCG with them coming back from WA. Tigers, our R6 opponent, Play the Saints on the Thursday night before our Sunday game. ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day. ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie. So in the first 7 rounds we have a WA team at the G, pay Saints after their trip to Sydney for GWS, GWS, Hawks and North the week after their trips to Freo, the Cats at the MCG after we have traveled to the ACT and the Tigers at the MG with them having a few extra days rest. 4 games at the MCG, 1 at Marvel and one each In the ACT and Tassie. Not a bad run I would have thought. Would like to see us 5-2 at the worst looking at R8. It is doable given the travelling our opposition are doing in the round before they play us.

Yep. I can see what you are saying. I see that Pickett is playing bursts through the middle against Box Hill this evening and would not be surprised to see Spargo spend a little time on ball as well. Would like to see a 22 with at least 10 midfield rotations possible and at a pinch 12 possible players to rotate there.

It may be just my perception that the goalkicker comes from the ground a majority of times after kicking a goal. I will keep an eye on it. I am sure that they have access to a load of ingame data on players but it will be interesting to see how the use it given the new circumstances. I know in the pat I have seen that key defenders in particular seem to spend 90%+ time on ground. Forwards not so much.

This season we go back to the full long quarters and also have a reduction from a maximum 90 interchanges to 75. I will be interested to see if there is any innovative thinking in the way that the interchanges are structured to make sure that the midfielders in particular can run out the games. I have had a look for some stats regarding the number of interchanges that take place during a game in the different areas of the ground, Defence, Midfield and Forward. I cannot find anything that is available. I hope that we have a properly structured approach to this in the season. Just as we have individual training structures for the players I hope we have a very clear idea of how the players endurance and performance changes during a game so that we can prepare game programs in response. The midfield will need to have a most rotations I would think with rotations on and off the ground being balanced with moving of players to different areas of the ground “off the ball” for a rest. I can see the practice of a gaol kicker coming off the ground after kicking a goal dropping off, which, to my mind is a good thing. I have never understood it. I can also see a lot more in game statistics/monitoring relating to endurance of players and ground covered etc. Anyhow, I put it out there for comment and consideration as I believe it will be an advantage to the team of fitness/coaches that use it best. I will watch with interest to see if there are any changes/innovations to this aspect of the game.

Agree with that but I do not see them as critical longer term players.

Will be a tough game given the injuries we have but I still think we cn win it if the players heads are in the right place and they play to their strengths. The game on Monday against the Bulldogs should be a real wakeup call for the players. They needs to bring their game each and every week for 1005 of each quarter. My line up: FB : Bowey, May, Lever HB: Rivers, Tomlinson, Salem C: Langdon, Oliver, Baker HF: Jones, TMac, Brayshaw F: Fristch, Jackson, Spargo/Chandler Foll: Gawn, Petracca, Harmes IC: ANB, Pickett, Jordan/Sparrow, Petty Emg: Jetta, Chandler/Spargo, Jordan/Sparrow, AVB Bowey to take Jetta's spot first up. Baker to get first crack at the vacant wing and Jones to play. Toss up between Chandler and Spargo and between Jordan and Sparrow for mine. Petty and ANB on the IC gives us plenty of flexibility to move players through defence, wing and forward. I think we will need a few different plans for the forward line to make sure we can kick the score needed to win. As always, the game will be won in the midfield. Want to see them get first use of the ball at stoppages and to really bring the pressure to the opposition ball carriers. Oh yeah...and stick the tackles. Please stick the tackles. Will need big games from Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, May and Lever. Dees by 4 goals. Fritsch, Petracca and Tmac as main goal scorers.

Not a good situation Re injuries with 10 days to go to Round 1. There are some critical players that are uncertain. From the list above I think that the following players will definately line up: Oliver - rested on Monday Salem - Hammy twinge a lot of time to get it right from the time of injury May - 12 day protocol, good to go if reports are correct and he ha no adverse reactions. The following players need to play the VFL practicce match coming up to have a chance of being there Round 1: Brayshaw - Played on Monday. will benefit from the run Hibberd - Needs the run may not have the fitness for R1 Melksham - see Hibberd Smith - see Hibberd Viney to miss R1 should be good to go after that. Brown/Wiedeman - 426 weeks Posted when? May be ready for round 3 to 5? The other three out for season or indefinately. My take? Hibberd, Melksham and Smith will not be ready for R1. the rest should be ok.

I am not overly discouraged by the game today but I would have loved to see a bit more from the coaches. from the middle of the first quarter I would have liked to see Goodwin get Bowey on into the forward line and tell him to run with Daniel until halftime. Run hard, tackle hard and when you win the ball, use your skills to deliver. Same with Rivers. At one stage we lined up at a center bounce with ANB, Sparrow and Jordan. Give Rivers a run there to see what he can do. it is not as if there are 4 points on the line and we may just learn something.

2 goals, 3 score assists, 6 disposals at 83% efficiency. 4 Marks, 2 tackles all during just 66% time on ground til half time. Not too bad at all I would have thought.

Ok. which one will kick the most goals this season? TMac or OMac?

A new season just around the corner and I wonder who people thought might be the biggest surprise on our list this season. A draftee? someone who has been in the system a season or two? For me it could be one of three. Spargo, Chandler or Sparrow. Spargo ha put in a couple of good solid pre-seasons and looks to have built his body well as does Chandler. Will not be surprised to see either of them step up But the biggest improver I think will be Sparrow. We will, of course, need a replacement for Omac as whipping boy. Last season Melky put his hand up and will be in the running for sure. My favorite for the position is Tomlinson.

I am not advocating that we adopt this system 100% and go back to square one and start re-building the list. I found this article interesting in the context of the injuries that MC have had this season and the way that they have adjusted to life without their two main strikers. As you say, the key is constant movement and one touch pass and go football. Watching Petracca he is the profile of this type of footballer.

I agree that Simon is no Pep but then again, there are not many sports coaches that would match him. I was interested in the article more for the approach to the problem that it outlined. The coaching staff managed to get the players to adjust their structures to fit the changed conditions and to understand what was needed to be done to compensate for the different conditions up forward. More flexibility and more running seems to be their answer with awareness that there will be numbers in the box presenting multiple options. I know that is a very simplistic outline but I think it is worthwhile noting. One of the things I enjoyed about the way we played in 2018 was that there was plenty of movement in the forwards when the ball broke for us downfield. Instead of a single option in motion in the forward 50 we seemed to have a number of options moving and presenting with players at their feet. I am hopeful that with the added depth to the coaching setup we will see some proactive team structures that will ask questions of the opposition in the coming season.

I came across this article yesterday and thought that, while it was not to do with AFL, it could be very pertinent to the situation we find ourselves in with the injuries to Brown and Wiedeman. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/feb/12/post-striker-manchester-city-may-be-guardiola-latest-masterpiece It discusses Gaurdiloa's reaction to losing his two best/main strikers for long periods of this season and how they have made the adjustment. Manchester City are at the top of the league, 5 points and a game clear. A quote from the first paragraph.... “If we dream that the striker is going to solve our problems,” Guardiola replied, “we are not going to win the games. What will help us to still be there is the way we play.” There is also reference in the article to multi-faceted players with a lot of flexibility in where and how they play. Here is a quote from Foden.... “When we don’t play with a typical centre-forward, the people have to move a little bit more,” Guardiola has said. “But we have to arrive in the box.” He is quoting what has been told to them by the manager...... onus is on the players to move and make the play/space. Last week they thrashed Liverpool 4-1 and it is referenced in this quote. "But Jesus's contribution without the ball remains peerless, and it is telling that last Sunday Guardiola responded to Liverpool’s withdrawal of Thiago Alcântara and Curtis Jones by introducing Jesus just four minutes later, sensing that Liverpool were now more vulnerable to losing the ball in dangerous areas. A great bit of coaching where he is supporting the tactical structure with positive moves. I found the last two paragraphs particularly interesting. The reference to goals being scored by systems more than by players and titles the same way. And lastly, this..... "Perhaps this is the trend that will distinguish the title-winners of the near future: teams with multiple threats, multiple focal points, midfielders upon midfielders upon midfielders, attacks replicating and mutating at mesmerising speed." Is that what we were doing with CHAOS BALL in 2018?

Bad luck for the Wied. I am one that believes he will become a very good forward. to me he showed a bit last year and I was looking forward to seeing progress again this season. With both B Brown and Wied out for, at least, the early rounds I will be interested to see how we look at working around this problem. I think it could tell us a lot about the progress the coaching set up has made over the off season. There is 6-7 weeks to go to round 1 so they have plenty of time to think it through and set up a number of options. The form of Tmac, M Brown and Jackson at training and in the pre-season games will be critical to how the forward structure is set up. If they are not performing then we could look at Petty, Tomlinson or Petracca as a focal point. Jackson I would not be putting too much pressure on to perform as yet. I think that sort of thing has lead to development problems with players in the past.