Adam The God

Sign up Choco. What a legend.

WA is the natural place for a third team. Population and wealth over there. SA too small a market, ditto NT.

I loved this. Great idea for a series. Look forward to the next eps.

I wonder when McVee gets a rest? I reckon he's struggled the last two weeks.

I really liked GNFs riddle. He got this one right too, didn't he?

What a bloody star. 👏 ❤️

I think that's why we tried adjusting our zone against Richmond, who were doing the same thing. So we play 1v1 20-30m ahead of the ball, and a zone behind it. That's definitely the way to stop it.

Their first pick is tied to GWS is it not? So I hope they tank. 😄

I would not be at all surprised if JVR has a rest next week. Petty for JVR and Spargo for JJ.

Underground handballs are fine. It's the handballs over the back of the head from anyone but Oliver who are too flashy IMO.

I'm glad we're playing the Suns next week, because you wouldn't want to be playing a top 4 opponent after playing last night. IMV we never really got out of first gear (good for us, telling for North). We were allowed to waltz off half back and move it through the corridor at will, all night. Playing a genuinely competitive team off the back of that would be tough mentally I reckon. We then have the Hawks, just before Port, so I'm hoping Hawthorn put up a better effort than North. Alternatively, it's a good percentage builder. Another way of looking at this is, Geelong had that very soft run at the back end of last year, which enabled them to manage players. These games do allow us to throw the magnets around in the middle and reward guys like Schache and JJ who are banging the door down at VFL level. The second half of our year is definitely softer too, so getting most of our interstate travel out of the way early is actually preferable I think.

And his disposal by foot has significantly improved.

It was more how we lost those games that worries me. But everyone has had an off week or two. I felt he provided really good defensive transition, he would get back hard and fill holes and leading lanes to clog up North space, and then provided an option on the outside going the other way.

I reckon they'll rest JVR and get him ready for the Hawthorn or Port game.

I'd take the Souva off their hands, but as he says he wants to repay North for selecting him when everyone else passed multiple times, I'll just settle for nicking the KPF from next week's opposition in Ben King. King, JVR and Gawn in 2024 with cameos from Jefferson would be very spicey. And the Suns don't seem to be getting any better, so I wonder what Mr King is thinking...?

That's the difference between Melbourne and Carlton. Our system creates big scores. Carlton rely on individual brilliance to create scores. I'd much rather be in our position. It must be scary for the comp looking at who was playing KPF for us (JVR, Schache and Max) and who kicked goals, and the fact that there wasn't a dominant KPF on the ground. Nevermind that it was against North, this makes us very difficult to plan against. You're not stopping one player, you're trying to stop a system.

I remember Schache being outmarked once by Ziebell, which I absolutely agree was too soft, but from my eye, Schache wasn't outmarked again for the rest of the night and brought the ball to ground every time. I reckon our FD would be relatively happy with his game, but it sounds like he still makes way for Petty, unless they give JVR a break. Which probably wouldn't be the worst idea...

I'm sorry (I'm not), but you don't understand modern footy.

And another thing, having Grundy is so bloody good. Sure, he's a good ruckman and elite at ground level for a big guy, but what makes his combination with Gawn so dangerous is that they're such different players and different ruckman. Teams tend to read Max's centre tap work much better than Grundy's, but when Max hits them pure, he's a cleaner tapper than Grundy. But their different approaches always give us options 'in game'. Brodie's follow up work has also added another dimension to our stoppage game. Not only do we have Oliver, Petracca and co at ground level, we have a 200cm+ giant in Grundy. If Gawndy can stay fit all the way through the year, we're going to be tough to beat.

So did Sparrow. I was critical of Tom last week when I probably shouldn't have been (felt he was very fumbly), tonight his defensive stuff was A+.

I thought we missed another small pressure forward in the A50. Chandler was really on tonight, he was great and ANB was his usual hard running self, but I still don't think the mix was quite right. Particularly, with Koz playing slightly higher up the ground. It's a tough balance though, because I thought JJ and Sparrow gave us really good outside run, as well as hard defensive running, but do you sacrifice JJ for another small forward? ie Spargo. Especially, if you want to play a territory game of locking the ball in. I reckon JJ will be the unlucky one. Schache as the more mobile option worked quite well though, with Max and JVR, and for the most part our talls did their jobs by not being outmarked. Schache is such a beautiful field kick. If we could get him the ball at 65m out 5-6 times a game, I think someone else would get 5-6 shots on goal. Anyway, I think these are ultimately good problems to have, because although the mix is probably a little bit off, we're comfortably the highest scoring team in the comp and don't have trouble scoring whatever our forward mix is.

And yet we managed 22 goals. Easily the most disappointing aspect of the night was the crowd, which I correctly predicted at quarter time (I'm brilliant) would be 29k. We need to be getting 30k ourselves, let alone the third lowest drawing crowd in North also bringing say 5k. Almost perfect Saturday night, at the G, 35k-40k should be the benchmark.

I'm excited by the fact we're in a no.lose situation with Josh. He either comes in ajd performs a role or he's a bust, but protects Jefferson's development and allows BB and Tmac time to gain form themselves. But there are a couple excellent posts on this thread that make me intrigued. I've always felt Schache gets pushed off contests far too easily, but Ben Brown does too. But BB and Schache are both excellent kicks and have a height advantage. The thing BB struggles with his ground level and agility, particularly at his age. Schache has him covered there. In tandem with JVR and Fritsch, with protection from Max/Grundy, Schache will hopefully be able to form a functional part of our system. And if he can, it's a stroke of genius recruiting. I also trust Mark Williams' development credentials to get the best out of him. Like @dazzledavey36, I hope they give him a bit of time / continuity.

Obviously I'd like us to kill them, but I'll be happy with any win and no injuries. Ideally, I'd like us to keep exploring this forward mix and getting some defensive cohesion at the back. May finding some form would be handy too.

And I don't want Brisbane winning any games either, so today is a tough one. I think they're definitely top 2 or certainly top 4 competitors with us.