Dee*ceiving

If nothing else I am confident the FD have given a lot of thought to the factors that resulted in our straight sets exit last year and have plans to prevent those factors from recurring. I would agree with most posters here that having our key players as fit and free from injury as much as humanly possible come Septmber is paramount. Theoretically there are many ways to achieve that and it doesn't necessarily have to be through players missing games...that said I can't see why we'd be putting Gawn on a plane to Hobart if we didn't have to.

Hibbert... Hibberd...

Such a wonderful thing to imagine though...!

I agree. if not resting Max entirely at least lighten his workload a touch. Plus it provides a chance to experiment with Grundy in the forward line. He won't be learning much forward craft at Casey with a bye or scratch match at best

I think we all know for sure they will save it for the last round against Melbourne 🙉

I think Goody moved Petty back to defense through the period of the season when he knew we weren't running at our best and would be trying to grind out low scoring wins in wet weather. With the boys coming out of the loading phase and the skies clearing he's more comfortable with a higher scoring game and hence more talent forward of the ball. Makes sense as to why it was agains the Saints, under the roof at Marvel that we started to see Petracca forward more

It will be Taj I think with a bit of a shuffle around of the other forwards. Risk is it may take Melksham out of his most effective role, at least some of the time.

I thought that too, but watching the replay last night the commentators checked the rule and the ball has to touch the post, not just the body of the player holidng the ball

And JVR is proving a more than capable back up. Competitor and a great vertical leap

Via Albania

I need a hot shower and a glass of red

👍 They also moved balta forward not long after Tommo spot would have to be safe with petty starring forward and Smith the super sub

Oustanding 4 QTR effort. Richmond were terrific in the first half but we just stuck to the process. Hit the contests hard, repeat efforts and finished well enough to stay in touch. Best last QTR we've played this year. Max immense, Trac does whatever he likes. Viney and Brayshaw just keep their heads down and work, work, work. Forward line sorted with plenty of talent tucked away and aching for their chance

Was tommo subbed off injured or tactical? Missed it at the ground...

Agree D11... My read with Brown the only tall out and Grundy likely playing for Casey that Petty is forward again.

It's a bit of a cop out but in reality I feel it's best to think of selection in two groups. The first 16 or so 'must picks' and then a second group of 10 to 12 from which players will be picked based on form, fitness, 'like for like' replacement, matchups, weather & location. Think 'depth chart' in Baseball vernacular. Obviously lots of subjectivity has been applied in my attempt. Looking at it though it's strikes me even more that we are flushed with depth in the back half and the complete opposite in the front half First choice Defenders May Lever Salem Petty Rivers McVee Midfielders Gawn Oliver Viney Petracca Langdon Hunter Brayshaw Forwards Fritsch Pickett Neal-Bullen Squad/depth chart Defenders Bowey Hibberd Tomlinson Midfielders Grundy Sparrow Jordon Forwards Melksham JVR Brown Chandler Spargo Smith Then the rest Woewodin Harmes McDonald Schache Dunstan & the un/lesser tried bunch

Petty only missed one game if I am not mistaken?

Which is great, but in fairness Woey only got it 7 times. His time will come... Agree, interesting week for selection with Hibberd and Petty available. I wouldn't be against sticking with Brown and Smith as sub. It's a good EW bet, if Brown doens't have much influence Goody can swap him with Joel in the second half.

We are definitely building some great depth and flexibility in many ways accellerated by the Petty, Fritsch & Oliver injuries and to a lesser extent the limitations of Brown and McDonald. Melksham's opportunities in Fritsch's role has lead to good outcomes and a definite confidence boost. Viney has had a career best season. We've seen the value of Smith forward and as the sub. JVR has played ~15 games, mostly held his own and will be better placed to make an impact in September than he would be if he'd only played a handful. JJ, Sparrow & Rivers have been exposed to significant midfield minutes they otherwise wouldn't have with Oliver in the team and Tracc not needed forward. Plus we've got Hibberd to come back in, potentially Gus relocating to the half back line (his best position IMV), a top 10 ruckman in the twos & proven capable key position backups in McDonald and Tomlinson. Whilst clearly a plan off the back of last year, the 'squad' based approach was further enforced by injuy, and there is no doubt it has delivered significant benefits.

Pig's history on dusty and form last week is too good to ignore. If Petty is fit I can't see him being left out and it will be in his defensive role. My read is they prefer the Gawn/Grundy ruck/forward combo in finals with BBB and TMac as fall back options. Grundy will play another at Casey as planned, will come in to give Max a rest at some point and then we'll trial them together again just before September. Tomlinson is purely a backup for May, Lever and Petty. Based on that I'd guess Out; Brown, Tomlinson, Woey In; Petty, Hibberd, Smith Sub; Harmes

Not quite... He kicked 4 🤦🤷

I think you're onto it Jimmy. Fatigue always a factor but shouldn't be moreso for us than other clubs over the full duration of the season. We've got 8 games to see how/if that averages out. Realistically, the game plan is our biggest problem. The front half turnover game plan can and has worked. Particularly on a fast deck, thank you for Perth finals in 2021. On a wet deck repeat entries lead to a persistently clogged and sloppy forwardline resulting in multiple fumbles, lots of tackles, ratty shots on goal and defensive rebounds where opposition teams have 1 on 1s forward of centre on the rare occassion they manage to gather the quick clearing kick from their D50. Regarding personnel, comparing to 2021 the forward line stands out as having gone backwards, considerably. If you break it down it's glaring... 2021 Brown > 2023 Brown 2021 McDonald > 2023 McDonald 2021 ANB > 2023 ANB 2021 Spargo > 2023 Spargo 2021 Gawn > 2023 Gawn 2021 Melksham > 2023 Melksham Fritsch and Pickett you could argue are the same or possibly slightly better than they were in 2021. Since then we've added Chandler & JVR. Chandler is a work in progress at best and JVR has potential but isn't yet up to the class of 2021 McDonald or Brown. What's kept us in the positive is that since 2021 our backline has actually improved, this year markedly thanks to Judd McVee and improved output from Salem, Lever and more recently May. Sadly this is slipping through our fingers. Those players listed are unlikely to reach their 2021 form again (save Spargo, maybe). If that's true our best hope is some strategic tweaks whether positional or system. A fit Clarrie will be a big boost, but unfortunately there are no pots of gold at Casey.

We are top 4 from the defensive goal line to 15 metres forward of the centre circle. From there to the goals we are bottom 4...

WH-E might think twice about laying another tackle, anywhere ever again after that hit!

Re: Brayshaw maybe he'd benefit from a week off? With Bowey and Oliver due to return perhaps now is a good time for him to have an extended freshen up?