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.