Lord Travis

Umpiring in 2021 is trash and is impacting the outcomes of games. Get rid of any new rules brought in over the past five years and get the rules back manageable for the umpires to officiate. The current state of the game and officiating is appalling for all.

Fix our set shots and we’ll win every week!

He’s not been as good since returning from injury/illness. Had a good game on the weekend, but his first 2.5 months were brilliant and far better quality than recent form. The main difference with Salem is his defensive work has dropped right off, not sure if by design of not. First 2.5 months he was winning one on ones and creating his own opportunities to rebound. He was using his body really well in contests, a big leap up from his defensive work in previous years. He was simply brilliant and the coaches votes reflected that as he was rated top ten player in the league across that time. Was a clear AA contender. Recently he is barely making it to contents, let alone impacting them, and is relying on being fed that ball as a loose player again. Not sure if it’s by design to keep him free or if he’s getting lazy defensively and sagging off too much. Either way, he was far more effective when he was playing more defensively and creating opportunities. He’s one we’d love to get back into AA form for finals.

Yay. Now we have a tall forward target who can stay anchored to the forward 50. Not only that, but a proven goal kicker over many years. Let’s see how our forward line functions with Brown and TMac as the two talls, Fritsch as the mid size, and Pickett, Spargo, ANB as smalls, and Trac etc rotating through. This in theory should be our ideal forward structure heading into finals. Make it work!

Incredible mark. Seriously mental when it happened. Other classic high flying marks like Shaun Smiths have been taken more out in front or on the chest. Moorcrofts mark was at full extension overhead from a great leap. It’s probably the best mark ever for that reason.

Attended three centre bounces yesterday and did not impact any of them. He’s struggling for form anywhere regardless of where he’s played. He looks fatigued and needs a rest IMO. His form the last month has dropped right off back to his 2020 levels, which means he’s having zero impact again. 3 effective touches for an entire match when you’re a playmaker is unacceptable. He’d be dropped immediately if he didn’t have love from the media. Think the club will probably keep playing him and drop others less deserving of it though unfortunately. We need to get Kozzie firing again for finals, as he was a key reason we were a great side the first 8 weeks and has attributes lacking elsewhere on our list.

6 - Salem 5 - May 4 - Fritsch 3 - Lever 2 - Petracca 1 - TMac Midfield got pantsed today. Gave Petracca votes but he didn’t have a great game by his standards.

It’s unfortunate for Hunt that he hesitated and got caught a few times in the last quarter. Can’t blame the loss on him though. He was asked to play a different position suddenly after a preseason and 15 matches into a season, and yet he still took the game on and looked more dangerous that any forward bar Fritta. Pickett has been MIA for weeks and should be judged far harder than someone who’s getting involved and looking dangerous. Spargo was poor with his defensive pressure today too. There have been some serious passengers the past few weeks. Hunt isn’t one of them. We were shocking today to be honest. Our midfield got dominated for three quarters and our forward line was utterly dysfunctional. It’s bizarre we only lost by 9 points and sit top of the ladder, yet we look in real trouble. If we can’t pinch wins against at least some of Port, Dogs, Cats or Eagles in the run home, then we’re not going to finish top four. We’ve also had a dream run with injuries this year. If we lost Lever or May for finals then we’re likely out in straights sets. A lot to work on now. Let’s see how we respond against Port. If we go in with an unchanged forward line then I’ll blow my brains out.

We have issues. We’re in poor form. Our midfield is getting belted around the ball. We can’t score. Were making up the numbers come finals time if we can’t fix our midfield and forward line issues.

Cmon Suns get it done!

Got tickets right behind the bench in the MCC. Tickets via ticketek, went on sale at 3pm. Here’s hoping we give GWS a touch up!

Every four years need to use at least one first rounder at the draft.

Across the past 6 matches we’re the 9th highest scoring and have failed to crack 100 points. Our form has dropped off and we haven’t been a top four team statistically across the past 6 weeks. Both our offense and defense have been worked out to a degree and we’re now struggling to implement both with much fluency. Across the same time period, Bombers are 6th highest scoring and pulled out a 140+ score. They’re in good offensive form. We need to be on our game to stop them. We’ve learnt from the Adelaide and Pies games that every game is loseable, doesn’t matter if they’re bottom four.

Would love Trent Dumont on the opposing wing to Langdon. Hasn’t played much this year due to injury, but his past few years he showed a lot playing as an outside midfielder in a [censored] team (North). Watched him closely as I drafted him in a work fantasy league haha. If we could get him cheap, we should definitely do it. The rest of that list is a hard pass.

Partly covid restrictions, partly posters received lots of negativity and no longer post as much as a result.

Viney in for Sparrow. Easy decision. Weid out for ??? Either B Brown if we keep the same forward structure or Melksham if we go the more mobile forward line from earlier in the season. Interesting to see what the coaches come up with here, as the three talls isn’t working for us. Will they persist? IN Viney, ?? OUT Weideman, Sparrow

We’ve lost 2 of our last 4 matches to bottom four teams. The concerning things in both those games was our structures fell apart and we didn’t handle pressure. It was all a mental thing, which has long been our issue. Even in the wins we had, as pleasing as they were, we didn’t play four quarters. We switched off for a half and ground out wins. We’re not in great form, but on the flip side we’re 11-2 and have heaps of improvement still. Earlier in the year we were playing four quarters and we were a much better team. We scored more freely and had a mobile forward line. The three talls up forward hasn’t worked, so I’d like to see the coaches drop Weid and try the mobile forward line again. Bring the speed and pressure! I hope we are switched on against the Bombers this week. They’re playing well recently and have the talent to beat us if we don’t bring our A game.

100% agree with this. Jakes a good player, but the key reason we traded hard for him was his leadership. He’s still young too at 24 years old. He’s our general on field, organizing the players and barking encouragement etc. He’s the best leader we’ve had the club since Neitz and I’d be staggered if he wasn’t our next captain. Trac’s definitely maturing now and developing some leadership qualities, but Lever is a mile ahead of anyone on our list.

Scoreboard flattered us. That was a weak weak weak effort today. Teams have worked us out now. Yes we’ve been able to grind out some great wind, but our defense has been worked out. Short kick and run to stop interceptions and we struggle. Our leaders didn’t stand up today when they needed to. There was definitely air of can’t be bothered, can turn it on for 10 minutes later and win. Nup. Sorry. In this competition, no game is done until it’s done. Put in the effort or you’ll lose. Hopefully they learnt the lesson today and had the Hollywood [censored] knocked out of them.

Bloody Port have [censored] the bed in the last quarter.

Good footballer, but not for us at this stage. He’d cost more than we’d want to spend in both trade value and his salary. Our defense is strong now, so best to focus our list build elsewhere as needed.

He’s a legend and his family are admirable in their support of him and the cause. It’s sad seeing Neale deteriorating, but [censored] he’s an inspiration.

Mondays game is more dangerous now due to the unknown. Will this fire them up more or cause them to completely fall apart? Ours boys need to stay focused so we don’t have a repeat of the Adelaide game where we lost our way and lost to an inferior team.

Great fight back tonight. Midfield was getting dominated up to half time (Petracca aside). They really switched on on the second half and won the contest. Our leaders all stood up and got us back tonight. For years we’ve had the talent but lacked the leadership. Now we’ve finally got leadership after years of searching and look at the difference!

No point blaming the umpires. We’re not up to it tonight. We look tired and like we just want to get on a plane home. Our midfield is getting smacked and needs to lift. We can’t get our hands on it! Salem has struggled since returning from his week off. 20 points is doable, but need to lift this quarter.