layzie

I think your assessment of Lever is spot on. He did work his way into the game but his last two 1st quarters have been disappointing. There have been a number of times in our system under Goodwin where we would drop a game because May, Petty, Tomlinson, Turner, * insert 1v1 defender * weren't playing and Lever had to take an opposition key forward. We gave him the pass because we knew when the system had all personel that Lever would play at his best. Well the coach got sacked like a lot of people wanted, the system was removed and the broom came through to wipe the slate clean, along with that May retired. Due to this I don't think we can look at Lever the way we did in the past. We don't play with an extra back anymore. We are rebuilding the backline and if Jake was really was so disappointed at being dropped last year and not wanting it to happen again then he would understand that he now needs to do some 1 on 1 defending occasionally. Clayton Oliver was told to evolve or move on (amongst other things yes) so it kind of surprises me that Jake is allowed to stay exactly how he is with exception? I love the guy but this is an adapt or die season.

Great format change guys. I think it will work really well.

Great post. We're trying to judge a banana while it's still mostly green. It's counter intuitive but yes last night was appropriate and we'll probably need those results along the journey. As long as we learn from them.

I've found the same thing since the new software came in. I'm sure there were benefits to changing but the user experience has had a drop off.

Yeah I didn't see Lever having a much better game this week like others did. He worked his way into it well but the damage was done in that first quarter and several goals were direct mistakes of his. There are quite a few Melb fans that defend Lever immensely stating that he's not a key defender he's an interceptor and we need 2 real key backs for his game to work etc. If he's not there to be a 1 on 1 defender then I want to see some leadership and marshalling of the back line yet our defence was at sea today. The fact that Turner going down screws that back 6 up so bad doesn't say a lot for him or Petty. The jury is out of whether he fits the new team for me and I know he hated being dropped last year but I don't expect him to play every game this year at this rate.

The commentators banged on about this a lot. It was as if a solid Max Gawn performance (that could be seen as most other ruck's best games) was some kind of hindrance on the team.

There was a great stat that showed our top 4 on average CBA players in 2025 vs so far in 2026. In 2025 it went Oliver, Kozzie, Viney, Trac to Kozzie, Steele, Windsor, Rivers so far this year. We were beaten in the midfield early on but after seeing the above it makes a lot of sense. It can take time to build that cohesion within the regular midfield unit. Going up against a big boy midfield like Freo's was always going to be a tough ask as well, so we were massively up against it. It could realistically take half the season to get this midfield in sync and then you have to factor Jack Viney's return back into it as well. As fans our muscle memory became used to a midfield that you could count on to win contested ball but with those being in the rear view mirror, do you guys think the sooner we accept the imperfections of this midfield and trust the process, the more enjoyment we will get out of winning the games? I've decided I'm not fussed about wins and losses this year but really just want to see us continue to develop a playing style that will stack up against the best sides eventually.

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?

There was a great stat that showed the top 4 average CBA in 2025 vs so far in 2026. I wish I took a photo but it said something like Oliver, Gawn, Trac Kozzie in 25 to Kozzie, Gawn, Steele, Rivers this year. With so much change to the regular midfield 4 there's going to be turbulence for a while. It could bery well take 10 - 12 weeks as you say and then we have to factor Viney back into that somehow. Focus needs to be on developing our playing style and no so much wins and losses.

It's fair to say that most teams won't be leaving that ground with 4 points this year against the Dockers.

Yes. We're going to have bumps along this journey and this one isn't really that bad compared to some we've had. We never seemed to drop the heads but the score rromt turnover Freo had showed we have plenty of work ahead of us. Won't be the last time, just need to trust the process and enjoy as much as we can along the way.

Gawn Steele Tholstrup Kozzie Pickett Rivers Langdon

It's not unfair to suggest that Langford and Lindsay may not be as ready as we thought for week in week out football so I don't accept this criticism. Of course most of us expected to lose convincingly today but it doesn't mean we can't critique where things went wrong and see what we need to learn. Freo were excellent but 80+ points from turnover suggests we have plenty of work to do and shouldn't just chalk these up as nothing to worry about.

Too soon. Or is it?

Can't help but feel that we thought Langford and Lindsay were were ready for 4 quarters every week but it isn't the case.