Adam The God

Yeah, they definitely take the game on. Their midfield cattle isn't great at winning contests, but N Daicos, if allowed to run from one end to the other and connect their play, has the ability to hit targets that open up the game. He's not the only Collingwood player that is an elite kick, but their better cattle for score generation is elite kicking. Our elite players for score generation tend to be our contested players who aren't elite kicks, but win contest after contest. A good system should play to the strengths of the list. But it always comes back to defence in big finals. I'd also love an NGA prospect like Quaynor. He's an out and out star. I recall him being beaten once by Cameron yesterday that led to that goal, but otherwise he and their defenders rarely lose contests behind the ball. He certainly doesn't. I'm certainly guilty of underrating their defenders and their capability to win crucial 1v1s.

They were so offensively minded, they won a GF by kicking 12 goals. Their ability to stay in games, particularly in the finals series, hinged on their ability to defend. Not their ability to attack. They managed 9 goals, 8 goals and 12 goals. What an offensive master-class! They won the flag due to their defence...

Great post as always mate. It's one of the reasons I hope we don't have any major recorrections next year. We need better ball users in our forward half and better finishers inside 50, but games still hinge on defence, so the idea that we revert to something akin to 2018 ball movement with overly aggressive positioning that could see us done out the back is foolhardy. Particularly, with the speed in the game nowadays. Equally, it's unlikely we abandon our territory game, because that means either allowing the opposition extras at stoppages and either losing stoppages and slingshotting, or ocassionally winning clearances and scoring from most of those opportunities. It puts us at a disadvantage and doesn't play to the elite cattle we have. We're going to win our fair share of stoppages with Oliver, Viney and Trac in our midfield, so we need to look at other ways to improve our strengths. IMV, we should continue with territory, but get better players in the forward half that can execute when it does go in there. It'll be interesting to see which way we go.

With the exception of the GF, games were played in their back half, so they defended brilliantly, but that meant heaps of space in behind the opposition when they eventually won the ball in space. That space enables dangerous forward entries.

If we don't land a KPF, I'd be taking O'Sullivan. Not sure if he's considered an elite kick by recruiters, but he appears a nice kick. I think we want better finishers forward centre. Let's see... @ChaserJ, would you say Watson's kicking depth is much longer than a Charlie Spargo? Seems to struggle from over 35-40m. I was put off by his recent game. And yes, I know, no one should judge a player by one game.

Reckon the rumours and riddles will start hotting up this week.

They were the most consistent team for the year and had the least structural injuries when it mattered. The one week when they won territory, they were as inaccurate as we'd been in our two finals. My view is we left a flag on the table this year, but clearly our injuries in the same zone of the ground caught up with us, and our inability to convert our territory dominance were the biggest reasons for this. We'll make tweaks, list changes and be there again next year. Given Collingwood actually won something this year, I expect this to solidfy the sort of ball movement all teams need. But the elephant in the room to the 'we need to be more offensive' group is that ultimately defence is again what won the finals. Collingwood's explosive ball movement was not a huge factor in the finals series. It was their defensive unit that exceeded expectations IMV, and won them the flag, rather than their forwards or their offence. As is always the case. Clearly Bobby Hill was the exception to this, without him against us in the QF and no Bobby Hill yesterday, and they don't win either game, so one forward certainly had a say in their results. But for the most part, having the entire team behind the ball and then countering attacking worked. Defence will still win finals and GFs remains a truism, it's just about our coaches maximising our territory dominance and kicking a winning score when the forwardline is crowded like it was for Collingwood yesterday.

Hang on. Do you know this for a fact?

No... the WA clubs don't and won't have trade and list management concessions. The Tassie team will. You completely missed the point here. LJ is not at all an apt comparison to Tasmanian prospects.

Yep, we're already seeing the lengths the AFL will go to make North viable. We've seen the extraordinary draft, trade and list management concessions handed to the expansion clubs. That is absolutely the blueprint for the Tassie team too. We will and should be incredibly wary of Tasmanian prospects.

Naughton is excellent at ground level, but Fogarty is a beautiful kick.

Not sure he helps our groundball game and is a little undersized for a KPF.

Looking at the two videos of Viney and Petracca with their 3 vote games floating around on socials, they were both working really well with Grundy earlier in the year. It's a pity.

Imagine having him as your fund manager. There's not a more trustworthy bloke out there. 👌

Our backs have been flakey? Are you kidding me? The defensive part of our ground has been on the money since midway through 2020. As for Bassett, no, we can only go on results and one of the reasons they yo yo in and out of the 8 and true contention is their unsophisticated defensive system. Either he's not a good communicator or Ken/him aren't great with ideas. If you look at who they're targeting list wise, they haven't gone after an intercept partner for Aliir, which to me, is staggering.

I reckon picks will get it done if we want it to. We have a top 5-7 pick, another late first rounder, two seconds and a future first, that's enough capital, along with what North already have to revitalise their list. Larkey is 26, a long term deal with us gives him the chance to play finals.

Nope. Petty plays with Larkey.

Even fake accounts can strike gold sometimes. ;) What if we offered more than 6 years? We have draft capital to offer North and cap space to offer Larkey. We're in a rare position. Who knows.

Only thing is Bassett was responsible for the backs and forwards at various times at Port. Both ends of the ground have been hugely flakey over his tenure. I know we were previously interested, but I'd say it's unlikely now given his track record at Port.

The extra that would slide up to make a +1 at stoppage, usually off the back of stoppage.

Thoughts on the term "inside slider" mate? 😄

We might just have a trade play that entices more members out of the woodwork. Let's wait and see. As it stands though, no doubt some would be gunshy after how the last two years have ended.

And during that spell, Dunstan and Harmes played hardly a game between them, and JJ did very little. I'd much rather Rivers in place of JJ if there is a spot for him in the midfield mix. Meanwhile, we're freeing up cap space to attract players who will be best 22.

We have the best midfield in the game, we need a replacement for May, and more forward power/x factor and finishing forward of centre. I'm sure we'll target some mid replacements, but Harmes, JJ and Dunstan going isn't exactly a big hole given Gus is playing on. If we had three top 10 picks, that'd be different, but instead, we need to be more strategic about the most pressing needs here. We would hope Rivers and maybe even McVee and Bowey move into the midfield next year and then we have Howes coming in to replace them at half back/wing, so unless we have huge injuries which we'd never be able to cover sufficiently no matter who we add to our list, IMV, we're better going for improving areas we're not already elite in. With Petty forward, the second tall defender is no longer very good, we're relying on a questionable Tomlinson, an undersized Turner and a developing Adams. A key back that can play now is undoubtedly a key area of need and within 2 years, May will be gone, so we'll be left with Lever and that's it. Secondly, with McAdam on his way, we add him to Petty, JVR, Fritta, Kozzy. ANB will likely be in that forward mix too, so there's a spot there for another x factor forward. Chandler is okay, but he's not quick enough, nor does he have enough x factor IMO, so there's another area I'd be targeting list wise. A player to partner Kozzy and tag team out of stoppage and deep forward. If we could somehow land another top 10 pick, I'd love Watson. But the midfield as it stands is Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Sparrow, Brayshaw and likely Rivers and potentially McVee and Bowey. I'd much prefer we target a FA for our midfield in 2-3 years, and get either end of the ground sorted in the meantime. Each to their own though.

Mids are a dime a dozen. If they land in the top 2 or 3 picks I agree they're often more special than others, but KPPs are so much harder to pick outside of the first round. O'Sullivan every day of the week. If he gets picked by another club, then maybe a mid comes into the equation, but a Tassie mid is super dangerous. I agree with @old55. We're asking for trouble if we go there.