Fat Tony

We clearly don’t have the foot skills to chip the ball around in the backline. May, Rivers, Lever, Petty, Oliver, Viney and Langdon can’t maintain possession and will turn it over. I know kicking down the line to Max isn’t a modern way forward but we don’t have the list profile to play any other method.

I hate to say this, the decision to extend Viney was a shocker. 3 games into the season and it’s hard to see any of our 3 gun midfielders giving value from their contracts.

I agree we are limited with options. I would have added Laurie, K Brown or retained Woewodin for better balance, but I fully understand the selection decisions given the outs. Our emergencies are Turner, Howes and Mentha.

Fritch and Melksham really play as small key position players. I don't think this line up puts enough emphasis on applying pressure.

We look too top heavy again.

I think the key reason for our form since mid-2024 is that Max has been in decline. In the first 11 games last season, Max polled coaches votes in 8 games and had a median player rating of 20.6. In his last 12 games, this he has polled coaches votes in just 3 games and had a median player rating of 14.5. He has still played fairly well, but he is no longer a top 3 player in the competition. The dip might be due to age or injury last year; or it could be a change in the game, reducing the impact of stoppages and promoting faster ball movement. Interestingly, Max’s worst rated game in the last 12 months was against the Sun’s last year, when we flogged them by 54 points!

We desperately miss Kossie and Windsor (and McVee) today. Our lack of speed was the main issue. Melksham and May will also make us much better. Petracca had a stinker. (Only Frisch, Pink and Jefferson had lower Wheelo player ratings.) Spargo is finished as a player. I know he is a good kick inside 50 but he is way too slow for a small forward at AFL level and cannot compete in the air. The high half forward role Fritsch is currently playing is taking away our best deep target and giving us nothing up the field. Play him at full forward or drop him. Petty had a very poor game and lacks pace. TMac had one horrible moment but is a much better bet when May returns. I don't have Petty in our best 23 at the moment. Obviously Max getting thrashed in the ruck was critical. Hopefully Goodwin gives up on playing Rivers in the midfield. We have taken away one of our best rebounders and coverage defenders and inserted another midfielder with poor skills and not enough pace. He is not complimentary to Petracca, Oliver and Viney in the midfield. Petty, TMac, Bowey and Woewodin had critical errors. Chandler was fantastic. Salem had a very good game. Oliver was involved but is still a liability with ball in hand. Lindsay had another solid game. Expected score was 111 to 82, so we left too many points on the table again with poor goal kicking.

I doubt it based on Goodwin's press conference. I don't think Spargo has played a full VFL game.

I can see Jefferson being the sub this week. Turner for AJ Woewodin for Windsor Petracca and Fritsch to play more at full forward. JVR to be second ruck.

When we are all fit, I think one of Petty, McDonald or May needs to play forward. TMac is way too good to leave out.

We scored a lot from stoppage vs GWS and I don't think we were that good at transitioning the ball from defence and I thought we struggled a bit when they escaped our forward half press. We really missed the pressure of Kossie and the cool head of McVee in defence when they were in the open, so I reserve judgement about the defensive method. I know we can't just kick it long to Max with Petracca at his feet all the time, but I still think it needs to be part of our gameplan. We have the best contested marker and best front and square crumber. This tactic also means, if we win the contest, we get more one on ones with slippery forwards ahead of the ball (Frisch, Kossie, Turner, Melksham). I also think it is an error not to play Lindsay on the left wing when kicking to the City end. I understand Langdon does not come off, but the transition game is much smoother when they are both having their kicking legs on the outside.

When we play at Docklands, we should play Fritsch or Petracca as our deepest forward. This means we should go with another runner.

I think he will get dropped this week.

Turner should be available and Jefferson or Johnson would have to be dropped to get him in. Howes getting tactically subbed out shows how poorly the coaches felt of his game. We would have taken off a key forward had he been doing well, so I could easily see Rivers move back this week. And surely TMac proved he is in our best side. He was excellent yesterday.

Thought TMac was definitely one of our best. The decision not to pick him initially was a shocker. I felt we were too top heavy in the forward line. The extra tall means that Fritsch plays further up the ground and takes away his strength. The main reason we lost was poor accuracy from set shots. I also felt Kossie being out cost us 4 points.

Congratulate the subs but not the emergencies.

With Jefferson and Johnson going to be named, I wonder if Daniel Turner misses out? We look top heavy.

Against the Dockers, we kicked 11 goals 18 behinds, with 5 rushed and 1 touched. Part of the reason for poor kicking was the wind, but we really missed some easy shots. I know it was a repeat of a number of our losses in recent years, but hopefully it comes good in the real stuff. I am pretty optimistic that we will win 16+ games if our midfield averages 63-45 inside 50s per week. (Conceding 109 points from 45 entries was more concerning IMO.) I think our forward line works best with Melksham in the side. He is clever in the way he blocks and makes sure that there is enough spacing between the forwards so that we get more one-on-one contests. Fritsch is much better as a deep forward. I am not convinced in Viney or Rivers as forwards. I think we would be better playing Rivers back and giving our other midfielders more time on ball. Oliver had an impact as a forward, but I think he is better as a midfielder. Langford could be a weapon with his marking and long kicking, but this might be a 2026 story.

I agree with most of this, but our ground defence was a bit shaky at times and we need to get better at protecting the middle of the ground.

Great summary. I would not have had Gawn in the best players and thought he was very rusty, but he sets a high bar of expectation. I am not convinced we have the skill to chip the ball around in defence like that, but it will be much easier in a large stadium with less wind. I thought Oliver was much better this week and looked more dynamic. Having Petracca next to him in the midfield gave us the ability to explode out of stoppages.

Pretty good effort I thought. Obviously a bit disappointed with the accuracy, but it’s not a real game. Petracca and Oliver played as well as we could have hoped for. Max was ordinary in a first hit out. We really need him dominating the air. I would like Rivers played in defence. We don’t need him in the midfield at full strength and he’s an A grade defender. Sparrow has played two excellent preseason games. Langford was just fair. It will be interesting to see how he is used. I think he’s not really athletic/strong enough to play as a forward yet and he’s isn’t in our best midfield. Lindsay looks faster and more ready to slot into our side. Windsor needs to polish up his kicking to take the next step. I think we’re over possessing the ball a bit in defence and lack the kicking skills to play that game style. I don’t really like Fritsch being so far up the ground. Goodwin is obviously trying to mix things up, but I think a lot of his previous tactics were right for our list. Does anyone know why Petty didn’t play?

Is there a full stats sheet somewhere?

Langford looks the goods but is a bit slow. Will need to get strong enough to bully them on the inside. Lindsay looks excellent. Has time and can kick it a long way. Jefferson is a mile off. Lacks football smarts and intensity. Oliver was just ok. I’m not convinced he’s going to be an A grader again. AMW played well. Hopefully it’s not an ACL. Sharp looks a magnificent replacement for ANB. Great recruiting. TMac is a better defender than Petty. Sparrow played well. Campbell played a good game and will be handy depth. Johnson was good in his cameo.

In modern AFL, a key defender might have a dozen true one-on-one contests in a season, but they will be in hundreds of contests where pace and mobility is more important. Petty is less mobile than TMac. Petty is not "a much better option". It is marginal and I would go for TMac.