Fat Tony

Wonder if the Dogs would consider letting Aaron Naughton go for a high pick go given they can pick up another giant FS forward in Croft. Or if the Suns would consider a trade for Ben King given they are getting Jed Walter. Neither side needs key position forwards but both are likely to take them.

I know we like to play 'speed forwards' who are there to crumb and apply pressure, but the inability of Pickett, ANB and Spargo to compete in the air is a concern. Just rewatching the replay against Brisbane, the trio gave away frees or were out marked way too often in Q2 and Q3. I don't see us winning a flag on the MCG with that combination because the extra space means every player need to be able to compete in the air at times. I would like to see us trial three hybrid forwards (Petracca, Melksham and Smith) and two key forwards ( in the last 6 games who can compete in the air, crumb and apply pressure. Maybe Chandler could come back into the side, but he needs to find form and hit the scoreboard. That said, I think Petracca should start in the centre bounce most times and drift forward.

We should go for best available but with a bias towards a forward or outside midfielder. With Petracca, Oliver and Viney contracted on long deals we don't need an inside midfielder. And so any player we pick needs to be able to enhance our best 22 from outside the centre square. Our defence is stacked with high quality and depth. I like the look of Duursma.

That would be the worst result. Cats have a high percentage and a draw already and Freo's percentage is low.

McKercher looks pretty small for a midfielder and very left sided.

Goodwin needs to use his media appearances to highlight issues like this and suggest that a free kick early in the game is required to put it to bed.

Intentional, low impact and high contact = 1 week

Joel Smith has to play. Either forward or back. We need to know exactly what we have here and we need to find out before finals. Spargo is a liability in the air due to size and doesn’t offer enough in other areas IMO. I think Pig is too good to leave out but our small defenders are all very good. I still think Petty needs to go forward and that he would be our best bet.

Collingwood win with plenty of long term injuries then OD?

Viney was amazing in the corresponding game last year. Time for a repeat!

Grundy has given us what I expected this year. Last week, he dropped a few easy marks he should have gobbled up and he was not moving as well as earlier in the season. The issue with playing two ruckmen we have is that Gawn is no longer playing like an elite AFL player. We can play both if he gets his form back and starts dominating the air. I am also not convinced Gawn, Grundy and Brown works because it makes us too slow.

Big night for Max Gawn and Jack Viney. Our system will hold up well against Brisbane's firepower but we need to make sure we compete in the centre bounces and stoppages.

Good for us but very harsh suspension IMO.

Kicking style looks like Tom Liberatore.

We did not go in with the right mindset and played like we had just got off the plane from Noosa. We also got beaten by the same plans as last year. Stanley scragging Gawn and Blicavs/Atkins scragging Petracca. Our ball movement was unsuited to the narrow ground, conceding too much ground by handball. Our kick ins were ordinary and Gawn was out of position too often. We should have gone in breathing fire after last year but came out lacking aggression and purpose. Our centre stoppage work was too cute and we needed to surge the ball forward, particularly when the Cats did not even contest the ruck. Execution in front of goal was lacking, Smith and Chandler missed snaps were schoolboy errors. I can understand the decision to swap Tomlinson for Petty, but it is clear we cannot play 3 midgets (Pickett, Spargo and Chandler) in the same side. While the bye was a reason for a lot of the issues, Goodwin has to wear responsibility for not getting us up/prepared this week.

We looked unprepared and unprofessional tonight. I am sick of losing games we should win.

We left our brains in Noosa and got the kick in the backside we deserved.

Not wanting to shoot Bambi, but Gawn’s effort in the wet has been disappointing this year. We need him to fight harder.

Really pathetic performance right from the moment our captain kicked the ball backwards off the side of the boot on the first kick of the night. Unfortunately this wasn’t Max’s worst moment, not getting to the first kick in and then dropping an easy chest mark. Langdon spent the night slipping over or getting beaten to the ball. He needs a pair of screw ins. Brayshaw was terrible by foot. Petracca needs to be more aggressive when getting scragged. Spargo is too small and slow. ANB needs to stop being Hershell Gibbs. Rivers, Viney, McVee, Hunter and Pig can hold their heads up. Goodwin got destroyed with our poor preparation and tactics on the skinny ground. The umpiring was terrible. I give the performance 2/10.

Bowey not being an emergency is surprising.

I like this idea. I reckon Gus is an A+ half back but only B+ winger and midfielder.

Smith has played on Cameron before, so maybe he plays back and Petty forward.

Petty played on Cameron last year from memory. I can see why Goodwin might think May on Hawkins and Petty on Cameron is the way to go this week.

I think there is a family connection with Sydney the city for Barrass.

The problems with concussion and tackling won’t be solved by punishing the tackler. The AFL needs to consider two more radical solutions. Firstly, reduce the number of players on the field to open up the game and get the number of collisions down. Secondly, allow throwing so that there is a free arm to brace from a tackle.