Fat Tony

We got lucky the finals were interstate last year. The only time we have played the mcg well under Goodwin was when TMac was on fire and Brown and Weideman were injured.

I think you are cherry picking Spargo's best patch of football just looking at the end of last year. 18 goals in 25 games for the full season is not a lot in the best team. Spargo is rated 36th in the AFL for Small Forwards (the filter is General Forwards but I removed mid size forwards like Fritsch) and rated 17th on the Demons list. This seems about right to me. https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl/player-ratings All I am saying is that Spargo plays a role in our side but he is limited and we could add someone who is more dynamic and would make us better. (ANB, who ranks 15th at MFC, is definitely replaceable as well.) I also think you can find good small forwards later in the draft or by trade. There are a bunch of small forwards rated above Spargo that were acquired very cheaply, including Moore, Papley, Stengle, Willie Rioli, McCarthy, Breust, Nick Martin, Higgins, Ryan, Switkowski, Close, Butler, Schultz, Ginnevan and Lambert. My view is this should be a focus for recruiting. While we would love a gun key forward or forward/ruck this offseason, we are unlikely to be in a position to draft one with our later picks. (They probably would not fit our premiership window anyway.) Our list is fine for key defenders, general defenders and midfielders. We could also add another true wingman, but we have not been able to draft one of those in eons.

Do Demonlanders see a future premiership 22 which includes all of Gawn, Grundy and Ben Brown? I have my doubts. I am not even convinced a Gawn and Grundy combo is better than Gawn and TMac, given that one of the two ruckman will be forward for 60% of game time. Brown is contracted for 2 more years, so unless we are going to consign him to being a back up for the next two years (which would be a waste of a big chunk of salary cap space) I don't understand the club's thinking. Personally, if we are going to recruit Grundy, I would be looking to trade Brown out if we could get another club to pay him.

I will pay that! Let's see him do it again tonight!

Close has kicked 23 goals and is averaging 15 possessions and 4 tackles this season. He is a decent AFL player and would definitely get a game for us. McCreery is playing a Melksham role for the Pies. I wouldn't really compare him to the list. Miers is ordinary but is averaging more goals and possessions than Spargo. Castagna is quick and able to contest in the air. He kicked 26-27 goals every year from 2017-2019 and could have been a 5-goal grand final hero in 2019! ;-) (He was also playing in a forward line that included Riewoldt, Lynch and Dusty.) I just think we need to aim higher. The second small forward spot is one of the areas we should look to upgrade to improve our side.

I think you are very generous on our small forwards (Pickett aside). Spargo has great decision making and short kicking but is a midget who offers nothing overhead and he is slow. His lack of speed is a weakness when we get out on the counterattack. 12 possessions per game and 10 goals for the year is pretty ordinary. Bedford has a good engine and change of pace but is an ordinary kick and also offers nothing overhead. Chandler is a player with a more rounded skillset. He is quick and gets more of the ball than the others at VFL level. But he is also a midget. (Chandler is the only one I am really optimistic on at all.) Laurie has not shown he has the athleticism to be an AFL player and does not find enough of the ball at VFL level. 16 possessions per game and 22 goals in a side that has gone 19-1 when he has played. He was very lucky to get a 2 year contract IMO. Compare these players to the small forwards in all the other finals teams and they are miles off it.

Cmon Demon, put the lions to sleep tonight Wee heeheeheehee weeoh aweem away

We have clearly been more attacking the last two games. It worked beautifully the first time but it has cost us against Sydney with turnovers.

The key change we need to make is to play long and boring around the boundary. The Lions are missing their best ruckman. Minimise the number of bad turnovers and strangle them.

Mitch Brown is probably ahead of Van Rooyen on form.

Weideman could but we lose pressure. My view is we are better off with no weak links. The final series can really expose talls who are liabilities on the deck and don’t apply pressure. Go with Van Rooyen, TMac, Gunston and Fritsch with smalls.

The Cats won a final without Couch, Bairstow and Hocking.

I assume the pain could improve in a week to be ok for a preliminary final also

Sounds like you’re pretty optimistic Petracca will be able to play and be able to move better than he did against the swans.

Melksham stopped himself from converting. Not McCartin. He missed two set shots and fell over on another chance in the last. My initial post was on this topic was not to defend Melksham’s failures but to point out that Ben Brown’s inability to give us more is not because he doesn’t have another key forward up there.

Will he need a painkilling injection? Or would they be reluctant to do that?

Gunston would be a much better fit for us. We need to improve the forward line. Play Max 80% ruck with TMac 20%. Simple.

Melksham’s skill errors were fatal for us but he did a good job keeping Patty McCartin out of the game. McCartin had 4 marks and 6 intercept possessions.

Melksham did a good job keeping Patty McCartin out of the contest last night. And Brown was struggling when TMac was in the side.

McKay will get $1m a year. We are already pushing money back for Petracca and Oliver etc. Tomlinson might be traded but we might have to pay some of his contract.

No chance we can afford McKay

I think our biggest problem is that Ben Brown isn’t a good enough number 1 forward option. He doesn’t take enough contested marks and is a liability defensively and on the ground ball.

100% correct.

The decision to hold back our cards and be a bit bolder with our ball movement in finals was a big coaching error IMO. We were clearly unprepared for the new untested game plan and we gave up two goals with risky corridor kicks last night. The change also meant we were out of position defensively at times. And changes like we made need to be player specific. Gawn should not be going for risky inside kicks.

Our best footy of the last two years (except for our glorious September when our midfield was dominating) was at the start of 2021. If TMac is fit, we would be better off with neither Brown or Weideman.