jnrmac

Witherden, Shuey and McGovern out injured is going to really mess with their defensive set up so I am sure the coaches will plan around that. And that could be a smaller fwd line or maybe they will try to exploit the lack of defensive height in the Eagles backline? They don't really have too many talls to bring in. On last week's team: McGov 197cm Out Barass 197cm Hurn 187cm Gibney 189cm Cole 188cm Waterman 193cm Witherdan 188cm Out

You do know that Brown came off injured don't you?

Makes a big difference where the shots are taken from . Boundary, 50m line etc. Without any quantitative evidence to back it up it seems that we are attacking the goals more from the front and taking shots closer in. Clearly a focus or pre season. It seems contagious when players miss goals and the opposite appears true. Long may we have this accuracy.

I am always intrigued by whether a coach is better off having his team play 'their' way or whether they should try to nullilfy the opponents game plan. I suspect the better you get the more you set out to play your own way. But I saw a flexibility this week that I have seen before. ie Petty on McCartin, dropping TMac (and Harmes?), sticking with Bowey, McVee and blooding JVR. Also Riv in centre bounces for a time plus our mixing up of fwd entries. And our set shot kicking - a huge pre-season focus - was something to behold.

Don't they have dentists in Tassie?

I have full faith in our recruiting team that when players want to go home we get very good deals in return. Unlike Bell end and Dumbdoro that hold up trade week by trying to get 5 future 1st round draft picks for a Viv Mitchie type

I hope we go and show West Coast who's home ground it really is this week!

Kudos to the coaching staff. They cop the heat when things don't go well but they have responded this year and mixed things up. Highest scoring team after 3 rounds and playing 3 of last years finalists. Our method of scoring has demonstrably changed and we are no longer as predictable. Including Petty as a defensive fwd on McCartin was a masterstroke. The Sydney game for me was the real test based on their record against us. We passed with flying colors. Go Dees

Lever has just turned 27. Has been around forever and speaks like he's 32yo

Oh did I mention Geelong winless on the bottom of the ladder? You beauty

Kudos to the Coaches. Playing Petty fwd on Tom McCartin was a masterstroke. He smashed us last time. JVR absolutely ready. Defensively we repelled dozens of attacks. Our pressure was brilliant The star mids were blanketed for the most part. And when they got to 6 points in the 3rd we lifted again. A full team effort, Congrats to the lads. So happy

The Geelong GF game is the way to beat them :) But they pressure us relentlessly. Last year they had 14 FWD 50 tackles in the 4th quarter alone. If you aren't fit and switched on you will lose against this mob.

Gulden has stepped up big time.

Surely these lessons should have been learnt 100 x before?

This is one of those classic games where a coach has to decide whether we change the way we play to beat the opposition or where we try to play the way we want to play and trust that it's good enough to win. The latter seems to be Goodwin's style. He's shown very little tendency in the past to try and alter the way we play. However the record says they beat us regularly so it remains IMO an acid test for the coaching staff to see what we have learned from previous games. You could argue that in the H&A 2022 we were unlucky with injuries as we were leading handsomely before they struck. They also kicked goals out of their Jackson from the boundary etc Guys like hayward, Reid and LMcDonald played blinders. Mills was BOG from memory. Their pressure rating for the whole game averaged 190 which is huge. Expect a repeat. We also led in the finals game and were going well before being overun like all of our losses last year. Sydney laid 14 tackles in our fwd 50 in the last qtr! So the instruction would have been to keep pressuring us and we would wilt. Its a massive litmus test for us and we can't let them run free.

GWS played last week in a "brutal" game. Was 36 degrees and hard running. They lost two mids and always looked like this was going to be a hard road trip

He didn't want to leave but Goodwin wasn't a fan. They lowballed him and he got a 3 yr deal at WCE,

Is this the first time the Dees have been out of the top 4 for 2 years?

I'll be at the Grand Prix which starts at 3.00pm, 20m before kick off. :(

Its pretty simple This is the real test for whether Goodwin and Co have learned anything from last year. The Swans are a good side and their style of play is difficult for us. We have tried to play the same way and come unstuck repeatedly. We have to stop their overlap run and ensure their mids do not get control. Last time Buddy took May out of the contest and their other talls killed us as well as their medium fwds like Hayward. If we have learned anything it will be on show here. If not the same fate most likely awaits us.

They're tanking. But because Hawthorn its all OK.

Haha nice try That's not what you said though They have never made a difference....ever.

Such a BS statement Pretty sure they cost us the game in Adelaide a couple of years ago

Grant Thomas rightly getting poleaxed on Twitter

Brisbane last 5 games 54 point loss 71 point loss 13 point win 2 point win 58 point loss Just saying