Fat Tony

We are 9-0 and our percentage is the same as Essendon finished with in 2000. We are going ok.

Do we need a season ending injury to get a selection in the mid season draft? Or do we have a vacant list spot?

Kennedy, Riewoldt and Cameron are all great players and I am not saying it isn't possible to be a forward at 193cm, particularly if you are a dead eye kick. That said, Paddy McCartin is 195cm and looks much more at home in defence than attack. Van Rooyen is the same height as Neitz and like Neitz, he can play at either end. If Neitz were to be recruited in today's AFL, I think he would have been a better key defender.

It was great to see Van Rooyen kick a bag on the weekend and get so much of the ball, even if the opposition was hopeless. He certainly looks a player of the future. But I still think the game is trending against 193cm forwards, so I think he is more likely to make it in defence. Why? The current Coleman leaders include 10 giant forwards who have kicked 223 goals (Tom Lynch, Tom Hawkins, Peter Wright, Max King, Lance Franklin, Harry McKay, Levi Casboult, Joe Daniher, Mabior Chol, Mitch Lewis), 6 tall/mid-sized forwards who have kicked 130 goals (Charlie Curnow, Jeremy Cameron, Aaron Naughton, Brody Mihocek, Bayley Fritsch, Nick Larkey) and 4 small forwards who have kicked 81 goals (Zac Bailey, Charlie Cameron, Isaac Heeney, Shai Bolton). I don’t see Van Rooyen as being as elusive as the tall/mid-sized forwards batch except for maybe Larkey and Mihocek, who are both focal points of their attack due to necessity. The other thing I would say is that our game plan for slow plays is to kick to big packs of 4+ and use our big ruckman and Brown. This isn’t a plan which suits smaller key forwards. I think he projects more as a Weitering type defender, which is pretty exciting. As for comparisons with the Ox. Pre-knee Ox was quicker and had a bigger leap and he played more like Charlie Curnow than Van Rooyen. Van Rooyen moves more like TMac but I doubt he has that level of endurance. All that said, playing forward is not a bad thing for his development this year.

I know we don’t like resting players but Viney and possibly Lever could do with a rest at some point. Two games on hard surfaces is not ideal and North are awful.

We need to manage our cap position, so players like Ben King are unrealistic. Jason Horne-Francis should be number one target for 2024. We have the lure of being a top side and, with our cap position, we won't be able to get him with money. (This would be revenge for Scully.) Next year, we should be looking at star veterans like Breust, Gunston, Issac Smith (ironically), Gray and Boak.

Let's demolish them and take JHF off them in two years!

Is a unicorn in the hand worth two in the bush?

It has us losing 3.6 games in the last 13. I don't know if I can cope with that much losing!

The squiggle predictor currently has Richmond finishing in eighth on 12.9 wins and WBD on ninth with 11.1 wins. https://squiggle.com.au/ladder/

The VFL have a bye next week and Chandler probably won’t actually miss any matches he wasn’t going to miss if he gets one week.

Weideman’s career is tracking similarly to Taberner from the Dockers. He’s a good player but won’t ever be a superstar. 6 goals and 20 disposals is a good game in the wind even if North is a rabble.

I reject the premise of this thread. The Swans lost the first 6 one year and made it. It looks like 12 wins will be needed this year.

I remember when we brought in Ted Fidge to belt Darren Millane and he got a six week ban. (I loved Ted as a 7 year old because of his name.) I don't think we need to do stuff like that anymore.

The VFL has a bye next week, so giving Bedford a game at Casey makes sense.

I favour a twilight/night grand final. The entertainment and fireworks will be spectacular.

Is it on Apple yet?

Ironically, my mental health improved dramatically when Neeld was given the boot.

If Langdon keeps getting successfully tagged we might need to shift him back for a bit and put Bowey on the wing. Tagging a half back is almost impossible in a zone defence. If that happens, Salem would be needed down back to be the kicker to find a mark and release pressure.

I like the look of Van Rooyen and I think he will be a good player. I have seen him play 10 quarters of footy at VFL level. Have you actually seen him play 58 or just highlights? In five games this season, Van Rooyen has 7 goals and is averaging 9.2 disposals and 4.4 marks per game. So, he is going ok as a forward but not dominating. My argument is that all the best key forwards in the AFL are 198cm+, except for Cameron. I don’t think he is like Fritsch, Cameron or Gunston, who are all quicker, more elusive, better on the ground and more skilful than Van Rooyen. I just don’t think he would ever get the one-on-one opportunities he would need as a forward at AFL level. Our game plan involves kicking it to massive packs until we break into open space when pace is the key. By the way, did you know that Steven May was originally recruited to play as a forward and was named full forward in the 2010 Under 18 All Australian side? Van Rooyen’s VFL Statistics Sandringham 3 goals 2 behinds 11 kicks 1 handball 12 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 98 dream team points Williamstown 2 goals 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 1 tackles 46 dream team points Coburg 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 4 hit outs 41 dream team points Richmond 1 goal 1 behinds 3 kicks 2 handballs 5 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 34 dream team points Box Hill 1 goal 1 behind 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 6 marks 2 hit outs 52 dream team points

And Woewodin should be back from concussion.

I watched the first half yesterday. Baker looks to be improving. He still makes skill/decision making errors but is looking stronger. It was good to see Laurie find more of the ball. He needs to get 25+ possessions every week at this level to even have a chance at making the AFL. Majak is back in form and looks too good for VFL. I still think Van Rooyen is a defender at AFL level. Our game style is based on kicking down the line to the giants. He could fill out like a Hurley or Weitering but isn't tall enough to be a key forward in this system and isn't nimble enough to be a mid size forward like Fritsch.

I wish we would ice games using more short kicks. I get there is risk of a turnover but I think we should back our skills a bit more. We are conceding too many late goals.

I wonder if Langdon gets a hard tag, we should shift him to half back and play a 7 man defence and push Kossie, ANB, TMac or Fristch to the wing (with just 5 on 5 in our forward line). Or we could subtly switch Bowey or Hunt onto the open wing, which will be a better option when Salem returns. Tagging a half back is more difficult in a team defence and against us it means Lever or May will be loose if they push an extra forward into the stoppages. As much as we won't Langdon to out run his opponent, we also want to have some tactics to counter him getting a hard tag.