Fat Tony

The media are stating that De Goey is likely to go to the Cats or Saints if he leaves Collingwood. I question whether we should look at him. Negatives are obvious. (He is a DH and hard to manage). Pros are: He is one of the better players in the competition on his day He fits our need to bolster the forward half It looks like he will not command ridiculous money He is a free agent He is the same age as our core stars (Petracca, Oliver and Lever) Obviously we won't have room in the cap if Jackson and Brayshaw end up staying and so we won't even consider recruiting De Goey until they let us know what they are doing. And any compensation if Brayshaw leaves will be eroded.

Our centre clearances have been pretty ordinary recently and I think we should experiment with Jackson as midfielder (at least for the clearance). Blicavs as a tagger has been a revelation and he is a big reason the Cats are the best side in the competition the moment. With an in form Bontempelli next week, now is the time to pull the trigger and trial it.

Good to see we tried one kick in the other way today. Unfortunately the chai. broke down due to a poor Rivers kick.

The Kelly trade was as follows: Geelong received: Pick 14, Pick 24, pick 37, 2020 first-round pick Geelong lost: Tim Kelly, Pick 57, 2020 third-round pick While there was no early pick involved, the points value for Kelly was worth more than pick 1. Freo's current picks for this year are Pick 16* and Pick 72*, so any trade would need to include 2023 picks.

Of course he is. What else do you think he does all week?

Grundy would be untradeable. The Pies won't be able to spin another contract flip after Treloar.

Yep, I think he will get found out for pace at AFL level. Needs to be strong enough to win contested possessions and should be getting 25-30 possessions a week at VFL level. The game against the Cats was in very wet conditions in the second half, which was to his advantage.

Chandler is quicker, better in the air and a long kick. He has a game that looks better suited for AFL than Laurie at this stage. Laurie needs to get an AFL body like Viney or ANB given isn't quick. Chandler hasn't really been given that many chances. 9 games but sub for most of them (unused in 4 games).

I am wrapped to see Laurie finding more of the ball, but Kade Chandler's stats are better. 25 goals in 11 games and 18 possessions a game. Opposition Year Round Kicks Handballs Disposals Marks Hitouts Tackles Scoreboard Fantasy Sandringham Zebras 2022 R1 4 1 5 1 0 0 1.0 6 25 Essendon VFL 2022 R2 13 9 22 5 0 3 2.1 13 101 Williamstown 2022 R3 6 3 9 3 0 2 2.3 15 58 Coburg Lions 2022 R4 9 4 13 6 1 2 1.2 8 65 Richmond VFL 2022 R5 9 8 17 6 0 6 1.1 7 93 Box Hill Hawks 2022 R6 11 5 16 6 0 4 3.0 18 95 Southport 2022 R7 15 11 26 7 0 3 0.2 2 98 Sydney Swans 2022 R11 10 9 19 8 0 3 1.0 6 87 Gold Coast Suns 2022 R14 10 10 20 6 0 6 2.1 13 101 Port Melbourne 2022 R15 18 11 29 6 0 1 5.1 31 133 Geelong VFL 2022 R16 11 9 20 5 0 0 1.1 7 69

Why does it have to be in the draft? The strike rate on key forwards with low picks is pretty poor and it does not suit our premiership window. GCS picked up Chol (34 goals) and Casbault (27 goals) in free agency. GWS got Hogan (24 goals in 13 games) for nothing. Rory Lobb (29 goals) was available also. We might get Taylor Walker, Lobb or Ratugolea this year.

Ben Brown was poor before TMac was injured. He needs to start clunking marks and kicking goals because he is a liability defensively and when the ball is on the deck and he picks and chooses when to put his body on the line. There is a massive gap between AFL defence and VFL, both in terms of quality of defender and the team defence aspect. I think Weideman is likely to be a better bet this year given his stronger body and experience, but you have to trust the coaches. If van Rooyen plays this year at all it will need to be soon.

DISLIKES - BEN BROWN Ben Brown has been targeted inside 50m one-on-one 45 times this season. He has taken one mark from those battles — a junk-time grab on Marcus Adams (Lions) late in the fourth quarter. He has been out-marked eight times. The Demons don’t trust Sam Weideman or Mitch Brown and so it’s a mighty concern for Melbourne as the absence of Tom McDonald — the swingman they attempted to offload in 2020 — aches. On Thursday night the Dees took six marks inside 50m, their equal fewest this season, and the disconnection is also disarming Kozzie Pickett and Charlie Spargo while Bayley Fritsch has been accused of being goal hungry. Contrast Brown’s numbers to Geelong goliath Tom Hawkins, who gobbles 38 per cent of his one-on-ones. The next best in the AFL is Darcy Cameron (Collingwood), who marks 25 per cent of his one-on-ones.

The last full (shortened) game he played forward as well.

The week off before finals means form can turnaround quickly. Why do the shock jocks make such stupid definitive statements?

Not sure Dunstan comes in for Oliver on the big ground. We need the run this week. Hunt deserves to come into the 22, albeit I’m not sure Bowey out makes us better. Laurie played well in the VFL but Spargo would get 30 disposals and a couple of goals every second week at that level. I don’t see Laurie as an AFL player yet until he is strong enough to complete because he’s not quick or an elite long distance runner. Chandler would be an option to replace either Bedford or Spargo. He is more dynamic and has a good engine. I think our team will function better with another key forward, whether it be Weideman or Van Rooyen.

Great to see Laurie get so much footy. He should be getting 25+ at that level if he wants to push for AFL. van Rooyen will be a beast at AFL level but I think he’s a 2023 story. Woewodin has a lot of composure and balance and plays like his father. I think he’s got a future. Rosman played well in the last quarter in particular.

Good composure to come back and win after going to sleep for a half.

That boundary throw in went at 45 degrees to our goal!

I would have to re-watch (which I won't because we lost) to see if there is a solution other than Gawn taking more marks. I think some options would be to kick short down the centre occasionally. Or for a long option we could put Petracca and/or Oliver one-on-one on the opposite wing, with Kossie and kick that side and try to get off to the races.

May is kicking in long and left under instruction. Goodwin needs to loosen the shackles a bit on our strategy. Petty was free at the 50m line up the middle all night.

Deakin Smith shows a bit but he has an iffy ball drop when he kicks. I could see him being an AFL player in time.

For a fast break we obviously want to kick to leading players one on one and play checkers. But, for a slow play (when the opposition zone is set) having only one up means that the opposition can block our tall out and have their third man up take the mark. A lot of our set up is long kicks to our giant talls and having Petracca, Oliver, Viney and/or ANB at the front of the pack for the gentle crumb. Going inside 50 (when they have numbers back) the coaches obviously feel there is too much risk if we target a one on one with a short kick. (The risk is conceding a counterattacking goal.)

Scott is an excellent coach. We need to mix it up a bit because while our predictability was a strength initially, it can become a bit of a weakness if Max isn't marking everything.

Having two talls up in packs is deliberate and part of the game plan.

Agree on Jordon, Brayshaw, Bowey and Sparrow. The key question the coaching staff needs to ask is if we can win the flag without another tall forward. Bedford played well against the Lions but we dominated the midfield battle and this was the key. Last night, when we failed in the middle, we could have used another tall target. I think we need to give Weideman an extended run to get him confident and marking well.