Fat Tony

It depends if playing makes Oliver's injury worse. Oliver is still giving more than Woewodin and Tholstup.

I agree that the issue is in the middle. Will Oliver's injury improve over the break? If it does not, I would definitely be playing Rivers as a centre midfielder, even if it causes further instability in the back half. We need to do better at clearance and Oliver is a liability with only one hand. (I would probably still play him if we are convinced it won't make the injury worse, but as a high half forward.) And the issue with Brown and Petty is not just a last night thing. The lack of pressure from Brown, Petty, JVR and Fritsch means we can only play three IMO.

With Salem and Bowey out and Hunter hopefully fit, I would explore pushing Windsor to half back to fill the high half back role and play Hunter/Langdon on the wings. Let's see how Hunter goes tomorrow and see if he is AFL ready. Windsor has the ingredients to play this role and his pace could be even more advantage at half back. Woewodin looks better suited in the forward line and is not really quick enough or skilled enough to play the Bowey/Salem role. Would Woewodin be a better option up forward than Tholstrup at this stage. I think probably yes, but it is marginal. I don't think Clarrie can play in the centre bounce until he gets his hand right. He is just a liability at the moment. Rivers did a good job in there and we need to explore that a bit more. If Rivers is designated more midfield minutes, AMW or Turner could be options to play in the backline. Let's see how Turner goes tomorrow and see if he is AFL ready. Brown has had 7 and 2 pressure acts in the last two games. He is a witches hat unless he marks the ball and really needs to kick at least 3 goals a game to be accretive. So far this year Brown has had two very good games (WB and Port) and three very poor ones (Hawthorn, Adelaide and Brisbane). I think we need to go smaller in the forward line and rely on Petty, JVR and Fritch as forward targets because our game relies on pressure. Tholstrup got a tough introduction but, with 17 pressure acts, he was equal 5th for us in that stat last night. This is a good sign for the future. Kossie will obviously be back.

The 2021 game plan of hugging the boundary and making the ground small (which got worked out by the opposition in the back end of 2022) did not really suit Brown's game because there was not a lot of space to lead and we move the ball slowly. It really only worked consistently at the back end of 2021 when our midfield was on fire and Brown was holding his marks. The 2023/24 game plan is more dual sided and gives Brown more space. But I think Brown was injured a lot last year and also we tried to use Gawn/Grundy in the forward line, which meant less space. We could not have both Gawn/Grundy and Brown forward because it was no good from a forward pressure perspective. Having JVR as the second ruck option means that Brown's poor pressure is covered to some extent.

Is there going to be another eclipse on Saturday Picket?

Salem has lost his drive. Lacks acceleration and kicking penetration.

The deeper forward press could be deliberate or personnel. We are playing a taller forward line this year with less pressure players. Brown, Petty, Fritsch and Billings don't have the same ability to apply pressure as Smith, Melksham and Spargo. So a deeper zone could be due to who is playing and who is injured, rather than being a desired tactical decision. I still think Goodwin wants to play a similar high press to last year but we have not had the cattle this year and our midfield has been beaten more often.

I didn’t say we’ve been playing a forward half game. But that we’re trying to.

I think we have tried to play a forward half game this year. We’re winning due to the backline being so strong and our efficiency but I don’t think it’s by intention.

I contend we made that change last year. In 2022 we used a near identical plan to 2021. But in 2023 we were much bolder and used both sides of the ground, especially early on, when we had fit key forwards. This was partly due to having two genuine wingman with Hunter coming across.

Goodwin has been saying that he is not happy with the amount of territory we have been conceding. We had very good efficient wins against the Dogs, Swans and Eagles last year, which looked similar to 2024. The big change in style we made was the start of last year when we started using both sides of the ground when attacking from the backline.

I still think Goodwin wants to play a forward half game and that the game plan is very similar to 2023. We have just been beaten in the midfield more often this year and we have kicked very accurately. This means that instead of getting repeat entries, which are usually inferior entries into a more crowded forward line, so the ball has been going back to the centre more often. Plus our forward pressure has also been average due to Brown and Petty both being in the forward line (and Kossie missing against Sydney). The Swans midfield beat us in the contest in greasy conditions which did not suit Gawn (and favoured Grundy) and also worked against our unskilled bulls. Against the Dogs, the midfield was even and the Dogs transitioned the ball better than we would have liked from the back half but were poor going inside 50. We killed Hawthorn in the centre and the game was effectively over by quarter time. Port's midfield beat us but our defence held strong. The Crows midfield beat us and our defence held strong/they fluffed their chances. A lot of losing in the midfield battles comes down to being fixtured against three elite midfields (Sydney, Dogs and Port) but it also is due to Oliver being injured in the last two weeks. I think we will see a reversion to the 2023 model as the sample size increases, especially if Oliver recovers and we can get on top of some of the poorer/more average midfields.

This will be a close game. Our form is not quite as strong as it looks and our last four wins have been big overs on Expected Score and we have lost the inside 50s in the last two weeks. We won't want to lose the territory battle again this week because Daniher and Hipwood have a height advantage and Cameron is a nightmare matchup. I would start with Oliver on Neale at stoppages, especially in the centre. Oliver is struggling with his hand and Neale is key for the Lions' midfield. We really need a better performance from Clarrie in the clearances to beat Brisbane IMO. Kossie is a big out, especially given the poor forward pressure we are are getting from Brown. Petty has been average in this regard too this season off the back of limited preseason and Fritsch doesn't ever like getting his hands too dirty. These weaknesses have been covered by our superior efficiency over the last month. If we win the midfield battle, I doubt the Lions can play well enough to transition the ball through our defensive system enough times. That said, we have not been as strong defensively all over the ground this year and have relied on our back six to defend too much this year.

Definitely has the hands and decision making in tight, so he will be a centre bounce player when he gets enough muscle.

Why do we keep using Lionel Hutz (Adrian Anderson)? He is useless.

The elbow is down here. What was Kossie meant to do? Cut his arm off in the air?

Kossie's humerus bone is almost vertical at the point of collision, so his elbow is pointing down. He raised his wrist to 90 degrees, in a half brace action. A full brace would have brought the elbow down lower but also tensed the biceps and made the hit harder. The action to half brace has little or no impact on if Soligo got a concussion or not. But failing to do this action might have seen Kossie with a shoulder injury, broken ribs or losing a kidney. Did Kossie jump with any intention to bump Soligo? No, he was trying to smother. Could have he done anything to prevent a collision with Soligo's head whilst in the air? No. The trajectory of both players' prior to the incident was always going to result in contact, as Kossie was initially running a path to tackle Soligo. Did Kossie's actions make the collision with Soligo harder than it needed to be? Not really. Kossie did not fully tense his biceps. If he had have kept the right wrist down, there still would have been a similar force collision and Kossie might need a shoulder reconstruction.

I think Turner has already shown he can do well on the big VFL forwards. But there is a big gap in class between AFL and VFL.

I think Turner plays a bit like Tom Stewart from the Cats. He has good pace, marks well at the highest point and kicks well. I would like to see him play on smaller players in the VFL, because he is going to need to play alongside May and Lever in the AFL team. Turner needs a run of AFL games to get up to the speed of the game, but I think it would be a good investment.

Great news that Disco is back. Reckon he’s got a big future.

My two biggest beefs with gather round are 1) that the South Australian teams get an extra home game every year; and 2) there are too many matchups big Victorian teams against each other. Both these things could be solved through better fixturing.

He left the ground to try and get the ball which was sailing over his head.

Hopefully this is right about Hunter. He looked very proppy yesterday.

One other point on the Kossie incident. I cannot fathom those who are saying " he needs to get that out of his game" after this incident. Pickett jumped in the air to smother the ball. He did not leave the ground intending to bump as he did against Smith and Cripps. Smothering is inherently dangerous but you don't win football matches without it. Those people criticising Pickett are probably also lauding Tom Sparrow, who leapt to smother the ball before the Petracca goal.