RalphiusMaximus

Looks like Jono Patton has broken down again. He's in tears on the bench.

Petracca - One Magical Quarter.

Can we leave some of the coaches behind as well?

Part of that is the rule-change that killed Goodwin's first gameplan. In 2018 we were playing with four forwards and two extras at the back end of the square at centre bounces. That gave us extra players charging through the centre at the bounce, all heading forwards. It worked brilliantly, as we saw from our insane number of inside 50's that year. Even then though, it was clear that our efficiency in the forward 50 was a problem. While we were having massive I50 counts, we weren't blowing a lot of teams away on the scoreboard. We won on weight of numbers rather than good structure and quality forwards. When they changed the rules and we couldn't have those extra players behind the ball it hurt our ability to get the ball moving forward quickly, our I50 numbers dropped and the poor efficiency became more of an issue. That being said, there has also been a massive drop in efficiency which is hard to explain solely through that one change. In 2018 we scored from 46.2% of I50 entries. In 2019 we scored from 38.1% of I50 entries. This year we have scored from 33.6% of I50 entries. Has the quality of forward entries dropped by that much in two years? Was the loss of Hogan THAT significant? I'm more inclined to point the finger at a gameplan that encourages a crowded forward 50 and has no way to isolate a forward target and get them an uncontested mark. As teams figured out just how little danger there is in our attack, they have happily set up to spoil the long bomb and run it out of defence. West Coast in 2018 showed the world how easy it is to get around us by having their wingers break into space early on the assumption that the ball was going to come out of our forward line with relative ease (again, toothless attack gives them that freedom) and now teams are happy to set up for the rebound 50 with confidence knowing that we simply don't have the capacity to hurt them when they don't commit fully to defending.

It should be noted that we had the no. 1 player in the league for % successful i50 kicks and we traded him for peanuts. For the record, I am pretty sure that the bad delivery is a result of a team rule put in place by the coaches. It fits with what we've seen of Goodwin's philosophy and frankly it hasn't changed from the day he took over. If he didn't want the team doing it, we wold be seeing signs of it being stamped out by now.

Just a small step. And we need to get it done while our core group of mids are still in their prime...

That intercept by Spargo was the highlight of the whole clip as far as I'm concerned. He read the play well ahead and made up a huge amount of ground to get where he needed to be. Just great play.

We are. Unfortunately that step is recruiting a couple of genuine key forwards and developing them while overhauling our gameplan and bringing in a proper forward line coach so that we actually have a workable forward structure and tactics to deliver the ball to them in a useful fashion. It might take a while.

I'm really liking the look of young James Jordan. A few people last season thought he was showing a bit, and right now it looks like they were right. He's harder than you expect, a good ball-user and has that bit of poise where he manages to find time. He could turn out to be a very nice surprise packet.

I think that's more to do with how they're being used than how they are playing. They seem to be working on a structure where the tell KPFs push up the ground and drag their KPDs away from the 50, leaving the goalscoring to the medium and small forwards. That's why we kept seeing Fritsch stuck one-out against multiple opponents in round one. They are going to rotate a few of the mid/forward types through that full forward spot while TMac and whoever else we play are pushing up to the wings. I'm not a big fan of this plan, but at least it shows that they're trying something different, and maybe if there are no talls down there they'll stop trying to bomb to the square.

Jake is easy to explain. He's a great third tall. His best game is when you have two other tall backs to take on the big forwards and he can read the play and float in as third man in the contest. Trying to play him as a KPD is taking away all of his strengths and exposing his weaknesses.

Yeah, that wasn't impressive. They really took the foot off halfway through the second and it nearly cost them. Once that hard contested pressure was removed Carlton was able to get their skillful players on the outside and started to move the ball through us. They are soft as hell, but if you give them the time and space they have the ability to hurt you. Hopefully the players learn from this and keep the pressure up for an entire match next time.

6. Petracca 5. Gawn 4. Oliver 3. Rivers 2. Hunt 1. Tomlinson

Same number of syllables as well.

Isn't this thread about 2008?

His long layoff from the game may have a positive outcome too. Alastair Lynch said that his longevity in the game was a result of being forced to take time off due to his CFS early in his career. If he really does come right we could see Bennell do a Burgoyne and keep going into his mid-30s.

I still think that's too high for him.

Can I just point out that he hasn't played for three seasons. Don't get the expectations too high. IF he plays, I'll be happy to see him get through uninjured. Anything beyond that will just be a bonus.

Get a hashtag trending and have all the fans post tributes.

The Blues will have this penciled in as a winnable game. Most sides will against us, but for them it's one of the few they have, so expect them to go hard at us.

He's not wrong. The game these days is like watching Italy play soccer.

I would prefer more on the bench to shorter quarters. The AFL have been trying to make shorter games for ages and now they have an excuse. It's no different to food companies reducing the amount in each pack but keeping the prices the same.

Hey, only taking two grabs is a bloody good effort for a guy with bricks instead of hands.

Honestly, the last thing he said sounds to me like they still don't get it. He's still talking about the advantage to be gained from just getting the ball in there and how the teams with the most i50s generally win. Those numbers are only relevant if you actually use the ball well when you deliver it. The bomb is basically a free rebound 50 for the opposition. I wonder if they have considered how often the team that gets the most goals fro rebound 50s wins the match?

Oddly enough that happened to a cousin of mine. She woke him up with a knife and a frying pan.