Adam The God

He's clearly a confidence player and always has been. Playing back next to May and Lever allowed him to do his thing without being one of the main men really. He had a difficult return in his first game of 2021 (against Hawthorn was it?), but after that settled in nicely to our defence and by the end of the year was clearly confident and felt at home. Now he's being asked to lead the forwardline with a younger JVR and Disco. I've said it before, but if he stays injury free this year, he will kick a bag at some stage and get his mojo back. At the moment, a player like Petty needs to find that mojo at AFL level, in so many ways the VFL competition is useless. So I'd be strongly against him going back there, but will back the FD if that's what they think, but I doubt they will. The strategy I think will be to have very basic KPIs, getting to as many contests as possible, bringing the ball to ground where he can't mark it, making sure his opponent doesn't intercept on him and eventually the wheel will turn and he'll get his 'bite of the cherry' as they say. He does all this and stays fit and healthy and he can play a huge role for us this year. A match winning one at times.

I completely agree.

It's bizarre the amount of fake news post this game.

It'll be a really interesting game, because in many ways we've taken Geelong's blueprint more than Collingwood's, so we'll both likely be playing a similar game style. Slingshot from D50 or clean scores from stoppage. The problem is we may want to take more territory next week because their forwards are so dangerous and their backs zone off so well. If you look at the draw though, Geelong have beaten no one of significance despite being unbeaten. I think Max and Fritta may hold the key. If Max can get his marking happening around the ground and Fritta plays a defensive role on someone like Stewart, but can snag a few, it'll go a long way towards the result. We'll also need more from our three bulls in the middle.

Change Bowser for Hunter and very likely Melk for McAdam and I agree completely.

This to me is now why it will be hard to get a read on the Geelong and Carlton games. If we've got Woey, Lever and TMac trying to hit those angled kicks into the corridor versus Bowser or Salo, it is pretty likely we'll turn the ball over far more often than we would without those two injured. Huge outs.

Again, look at @binman's post. They failed to score a single goal from stoppage. You're just inventing a different game inside your own head. It's very odd behaviour. You too, dazzle. You can like old Reemer's post all day, but your viewpoint is detached from reality.

Has Jenkins ever been right about anything in his entire life? I doubt it.

Each game is different. It depends what our pressure is like on the opposition. If they're turning it over as much, then you can't read into a specific stat too much.

When did we let them waltz it out of the middle? They had maybe 1 or 2 put the front clearances the whole night and so did we...

Completely disagree on Howes mate, but each to their own.

Very good point and probably something I've overlooked.

Yeah, he made errors. It'll happen. It was also easily the biggest crowd and occasion he's played in front of. He'll be better for the experience. And when the time came to kick a crucial goal he did.

I missed this, but my sister noted that Billings often started on the wing and Langdon played significant minutes as a half forward. I think it was a great move, obviously they rotated a bit between half forward and wing, but it really enabled Lingers to get into the game. Aside from some of his ball use, I think Billings was decent too. If he's getting the footy 15-20 times a game, we'd usually be happy. They both played back of stoppage clog up space roles too and along with Windsor and ANB are vital to the stigyness of our defence.

No, I agree. I think it's really important that we don't allow the handball receive from our back half, because that quick ball movement has the potential to cut us (or any team) up. But I don't think we mind allowing the chip play off our kick out, but we do mind the run and carry out of our A50. Which is why Kozzy's pace is so important in combination with Chandler and ANB. But I also agree that if possible turning the ball over in our forward half way gives us a good chance to score too, although often these shots are pressured snap shots.

But then there are opposition players in the hole in our forward 50. Much better to let them advance up the ground and then have space to go back into. IMO anyway.

I'm sorry but this is such a nuff nuff argument. We weren't playing Geelong. We were playing an injury depleted low rung opposition and we knew that. Not to mention, you don't think Yze is a smart enough coach to bring the game down a few notches to make it an arm wrestle? Yes, play like the first half against Geelong and we won't score much and will probably concede more, but next week is a totally different game. The field umpire was right there. He saw the hit and instead of issuing a 50 to Fritta who had the ball 45m out, he just watched the players go after MP. Pathetic umpiring.

McVee was excellent on him whenever he looked dangerous. How bloody good is Judd? 😍 Love our backline.

Why? We're 5 and 2, and it has little to do with centre clearance numbers... We're trying to cause turnovers on the wing, so I don't think we care too much about defending high in the field unless we a protecting a lead.

Thanks Leslie.

Carlton beat practically the same side by 5 points and despite only losing one game by less than a kick still have a worse percentage than us.

Almost like we're targeting the next two games and not tonight's game against a cellar dweller, injury depleted opponent. Thanks for that pick up. Completely agree too. Three of their five goals came from TMac turnovers from memory, but yeah, TMac isn't coming out of this team. I want to like this and laugh at it. Excellent prediction. What do you have for us next round? The AFL ap said Windsor was injured. Can anyone confirm this?

I'm not sure I agree with this mate, but why can we not continue with Howes, Woey, WIndsor and Laurie? I thought Woey struggled for most of the night and the jury is still out in general, but his intercept late in the game shows that he is slotting nicely into the back half and where he is supposed to be. High pressure early, he struggled, but let's give him some time. More VFL footy isn't going to improve that. He needs more AFL exposure and who would you play in place of Salem and Bowser? We need that extra small. For me it's Woey for now. As for Windsor and Howes, they've been brilliant this season and did their jobs tonight. Jury is out on Laurie too, but he was very handy when he came on. Is it a lack of experience thing you're worried about?

We did what we needed to and won by 7 goals. With Lever allowed to play on a small, he was hugely influential all match with 15 intercepts and 26 touches. Crazy stats. He was best afield for mine. Disco Turner was fantastic. Not only did he hit the scoreboard, but he presented really well. Kudos @binman. Pretty sure you called this. Anyway, I hope Disco gets real confidence out of that game and takes on the Geelong and Carlton defences now. You could see his first set shot was quite tentative, but once he got the gimme in the square to open his account, his looked confident in his other two set shots, which were really excellent kicks. Especially his second goal. Kozzy's front half pressure and unpredictability is so, so important. He's becoming a top 5 most important player for what he brings to our forward half, occasional midfield bursts and the way we want to set up on slingshot. I thought the trajectory of the game was interesting too. We conceded territory and had them kicking long into our crowded D50 for much of the first quarter and looked dangerous on the slingshot, which is exactly how we want to play this year. Concede territory if we can't get a clean, cutting centre clearance and play counter like Collingwood last year and Geelong for however many seasons. The problem with the first quarter is we fumbled and failed to switch the ball when we were often set up for the switch and had some potential scoring chains break down through taking the wrong options in tight and on those angled kicks. In the second quarter, we refused to switch the ball (I think our first switch for the game incredibly came in the last quarter) and tried to play fast and took the wrong options or failed to execute the right kicks or handballs. This fast play has McQualter's fingerprints all over it, although maybe it's Goody? Many have been crying out for more offence, well, this is how you get it, but you have to execute. And yes we do have the players to do it, because look at the second half. Our aim is to slingshot straight away with angled kicks or handball releases off half back, but as we all saw, we kept picking the wrong options. I think with time (hopefully at the back end of this season), we'll get this balance right and it will become more instinctive and if we do, look out. With the second half, we started hitting targets and stopped fumbling and our 'potential' scoring chains turned into scores. It can be a relatively simple game when you hit targets and play quickly. I do really think we need to utilise the switch way more than we do. An incisive switch opens up teams in the modern game. We didn't set up for it against Brisbane because we were knackered, but in this game we often set up for it, but didn't look to switch at all. If we're going to be a serious contender this year, we need to add this move to our arsenal. Anyway, all we needed to do tonight was win comfortably and despite the first half scoreline, we did. Huge fortnight coming up. If Geelong beat Carlton and we go 2 zip over the next 2, we'll be a game and percentage ahead of Carlton, who if you listened to the media or their supporters already have the flag in the bag. I suspect Geelong will account for them and Geelong may well be the bigger threat this year. One final point, whilst he struggled, the 1 centre ruck contest Petty attended was really fascinating. He halved the tap and then his follow up work at ground level was something I didn't think he had in him. Super nimble and explosive. He almost created a score out of it too. I hope we alternate Petty and JVR in the 2nd ruck position from now on, because it means JVR isn't as knackered when he's forward, and gives us a bit of unpredictability with three different rucks. Plus, it gets Petty into the game if he's having a quiet one. Same with JVR. Onwards, go redlegs.

Ridiculous call this early.