Vipercrunch

Hey guys. Looking forward to a cheerful podcast this week. I would love some thoughts on the overall pressure of this game, especailly Sydney's pressure. It felt live that they really bought the heat, but I haven't looked at any of the numbers. Also, it was very hard picking our best players this game, which is a trend this year. Who did you guys have as our best and how did that compare to the DL votes, coaches votes (if released) and some of the media votes (if possible)? Cheers

May and Lever went to town on Gus for that. It was very heated. Gus intitially resisted but quickly acknowledged his mistake. I haven't been able to decide if doing it so publically was a good thing or not.

Another very tough selection week, for all the right reasons though. The changes leading into the Swans game had us going in with one less KP tall than the week before. So the big question is with Pickett coming in, will we go even smaller and have BBB go out (Rested/back), or maintian the balance and omitt an extemely unlucky small? I think we can go smaller against WCE without McGovern, but past that I'm not sure. And at some stage Gawn is coming back....

The several 50's they gave away were very poor discipline, which is Richmond like, not Sydney like.

Super enjoyable day at the G yesterday. I agree with so much that has already been mentioned and I've got a sore finger liking all the posts in this thread. My main thought is Sydney were actually very good yesterday, which makes the 50 point win even more satifying. They harassed with a very effective swarming pressure that had us going backwards several times yesterday and they read our possesions very well, heading straight to where handpasses were going and getting there to put the receiving player under immediate pressure. They also moved the ball very well and had the uncanny ability to continually find a mark at true CHF, which had me very worried in the 3rd quarter. Easily the best oppisition performance I've seen live in the last few years and are a lock for top 4 in my opinion. So we were playing at a very high level yesterday to get away with a 50 point win. I loved the significance of the contributions of our emerging players. McVee, Rivers, Bowey, Chandler, Jordon, and JVR as well as more established youngsters like Petty, Spargo and Sparrow show that if all goes well, we are in for many more years at the top end.

Umpiring has been poor both ways. And apart from a few good snaps for goals, the player skills have been pretty poor too.

I'm looking forward to seeing this kid in the seniors, and I trust the coaches have prepared him very well for long term success. His attack on the ball and player is great, very reminiscent of David Schwarz, my favourite player growing up.

4 Teams already have 2 1st Round Picks. Is it inconceivable they could trade for players and/or future picks to land a 3rd? https://www.afl.com.au/news/891585/three-first-rounders-for-one-u18-star-hunt-for-harley-heats-up

Doesn't say much really.

Am I the only one that scrolls straight past any post that puts up their entire proposed team line up but doesn't actually specifiy who is in and who is out?

100%. If Hawthorn end up with pick 1 and another team offer them a pick 2-5, another 6-10 and another 11-18, they would be mad not to take it.

It's a very nuanced discussion, but for mine it's only tanking if it's wanting to lose in order to secure early draft picks (ie draft picks are the primary motivator for the decisions a club makes that weaken it short term). If it's being ok with losing short term becuase you've made a decision to purge a list right back to attempt to fast track the development of young players while also getting some value for offloading older players (picks in the 40's are still better than the nothing they'll get later on) then it's not tanking. It may or may not work in the long run, but it seems Hawthorn have decided the culture they want can still be driven by the older players that remain and the off field staff. Unless a team gets lucky with father/sons, acadamy or go home factor players coming to their club, I don't know if there is an alternative to a savage list purge.

The mistake Freo has made was that in the process of getting Jackson, they had 5 players leave, most of whom left because Freo either low-balled them or [censored] them off so bad they wanted out. Lobb, Acres and Logue all played 20+ games in 2022 so they were clearly best 22 calibre. Tucker played 14 and Meek 6 (no idea if injuries played a prat in those numbers). That's far too much talent going out for a team supposedly on the rise with only Jackson, O'Meara and Josh Corbert coming in.

Another tricky selection week coming up. I don't think we'll see wholesale changes like some are hoping for. JVR for Gawn - With Schache going down, I don't see any other option and I think it's time to unleash him for a minimum 2 weeks. After that it will depend on his form and the form of TMac and Schache at Casey. But it's Roo time!! May for either Tomlinson or Petty - Two weeks there's no way I would consider that, but Thommo has exceeded my expectations and Petty seems to be out of form, especially one on one. Add to that his jarred knee, perhaps he will be the one who makes way for May. Melksham to be replaced by JJ or Laurie - I lean towards JJ I think McVee will get at least one more week.

The AFL will carefully monitor the progress of Melbournes NGA's and adopt whatever policy denies us access.

That’s the way I see it too. The older guys Hawthorn traded out weren’t going to take them anywhere and I doubt would have changed their W/L outcome in 2023. So why not trade them while they have value? I don’t know their list well enough to know if they’ve kept enough experienced players to drive standards but I really don’t think they had any choice. I’d think Hawthorne is preparing better for a successful future than WCE, whose list profile is horrible for a team with no hope of short term success.

The whole footy department would have surely made the choice to cull the list right back, perhaps with the backing of the board, so they have to back him for a few season’s at least. Gonna test their resolve at times though.

The umpire mics is interesting. Siren and ball going out is simultaneous, and the umpires very, very quickly call its game over. They have no doubt.

Hmm, interesting point. Lots of controversy which will hopefully distract Freo and lead to more losses 😂

We heard it in that order. The umpires don’t appear to of heard it that way though. It’s going to get talked about plenty so we’ll see if it becomes any clearer in the next few days.

Sound is a funny thing. All comes down to when the umpires heard the siren in their position.

What a finish. Enjoy Freo supporters lol

Doggies currently 18th 😂😂😂😂

LDU very quickly becoming a Top 10 player in the league. Bring it home North ( can’t believe I’m saying that…)

Well deserved.