Adam The God

The question the media should be asking is will it be JVR or BB that Grundy takes the spot of. I also think a big variable not being spoken about in all of this is how the game changes in the finals series. It's not as open, it's more contested, it's a lot of long to contests etc. If Brodie and Max can bring the ball to ground forward of centre, they'll have done their job from a forward perspective. It's then ensuring they impact the game in the ruck as well. Prior to the Brisbane game, the most underrated game Max played this year was against Collingwood, where he repeatedly ensured the ball was not intercepted and brought it to ground. That's not evident in the stats, but he was essential that day. In the same game, Grundy had 2 shots on goal of his own and they basically shared the ruck that day. Max had 37 ruck contests, Brodie 42. We won clearance, CP and intercept. That's the model that can work going forward IMO. We'd like to get a more even performance from both of them though, but in particular Max.

We're only 3 wins behind Port and their percentage is very ordinary for a 2nd placed team with 14 wins to this stage. Port could very well lose their next 3 games (Pies, Crows and Cats at Geelong) and then have an improving GWS at Adelaide Oval to contend with. I admit it's unlikely they drop that GWS game, but if they do and the rest, there's a chance we could go 5-1 from here and still take a home QF. This weekend is huge.

Grundy will be in the team for finals and he'll be in the team next year and beyond. Bookmark it.

Terrible idea. Defeats the purpose of getting the job down during the H&A season.

Love it. How good is Bowser as well! And Grundy is impressive. Thanks Wheelo!

Surely, if we keep Walker quiet, it'll go a long way to winning this one.

Also, that AFL article on his rising star nod notes nothing about the sorts of opponents he's had this year. Choco and Chaplin should get great credit for their development of our young backs. How Judd's so seamlessly fitted into the system back there is so exciting.

I know Quaynor is great in these 1v1 percentage wins. Just wondering, @WheeloRatings, where does Juddster sit in league wide statistics? Please and thank you. 🙏

Clarry arrests that momentum in the 2nd and 3rd. There's no way you keep him quiet for that long.

His name is Clayton Oliver. Little Petracca time in there either and that'll happen. But we really missed Clarry in this game.

We regularly put time into Neale when we play Brisbane. We've done this every game since 2021...

The Brisbane game was a near shoot out and we were quite happy to be super aggressive with our ball movement and our zone pressing high up the ground. Given Brisbane's lack of pace, our zone could play higher and only be at risk to a Bailey or someone like Cameron out the back. Do we think with Adelaide's pace, it's more likely we'll sit our zone deeper and let them try to move the ball through it, with our aim being to force them wide and then slingshot on the counter, ala the Collingwood game? Or do we go super aggressive like last week and try and blow them away?

So we lost ground ball again. And our pressure rating is again instructive. We've still got a fortnight at least before I expect our pressure rating to start to meet the AFL average. Be an interesting watch. Thanks as always, Wheelo.

On that limited vision he looks very outside to me. But if JT rates him, I'm down.

Chandler needs to play forward of ball as a pressure forward IMO. If Kozzy is playing higher, which I think is potentially less likely in a final, we need Chandler's pressure. Probably at the expense of Spargo. I think our forwardline mix against Brisbane was off. Great offensively, but too vulnerable on counter, hence the 4 of 5 goals from defensive half chains in the 3rd quarter for the Lions.

Here's the thing though, @rpfc, Grundy will be in the 22 for finals, so I'm beginning to think it'll be at the expense of JVR.

It's interesting how we've tended to go 1v1 at stoppage over the last few weeks and how this has enabled us to often win CP and stoppage. We've deployed Rivers in the 2022 Brayshaw half back role as Gus has taken Clarry's mid minutes, but we're still able to generate the intercept. Against Brisbane both sides were sitting an interceptor 10-15m off the back of stoppages in the centre square. Ours was often Salem. Those interceptors cancelled each other out, but from long down the line plays, our KPBs go 1v1 and one of our small/mediums looks to intercept and the others mop up. Our small/mediums are quite aggressive from these situations and the backs are so in ssyncwith each other. Chaplin is a really good defensive coach. The midfield has totally surpassed my expectations over the last 6 weeks and I'd always thought that without Clarry we'd lose against good stoppage teams. Credit to Yze and mids going through there. I'm hoping it'll hold us in really good stead when Clarey returns. And our ability to play Trac forward and the occasionally inject him into the midfield will be a huge weapon. Fingers crossed Clarry gets back.

The top 4 has always been so much closer than the media narrative frames it. Port could very well lose this week and the next 3 weeks. IMV, top 2 is still on.

I've been critical of his ball use this year, but I disagree with the calls for Rivers to play midfield. He needs to play half back. He had some genuinely special moments in that game. Likewise, I've been critical of Gus this year, but he was terrific last night. I think our mids match up really well on Brisbane's mids. We're too big and strong for them, and aside from Bailey, they don't have burst from stoppages, so are quite one dimensional unless they can involve their half backs. And lots to work with from our perspective, not to mention huge belief, which could well set us on our way now, but we need to make sure our team defence is way better than last night. Our inability to stop defensive chains turning into scores (particularly in the 3rd) was worrying, but fixable. I don't expect us to be running on top of the ground until Round 20ish, so I'm hoping we revert to pushing Adelaide wide next week and then hitting them on slingshot.

It wasn't a hard tag though, because he had different opponents each time. Someone was just responsible for being the defensive mid at the stoppage to sit on Neale.

Lever repeatedly won key 1v1s. Way off here, DS.

Lever was solid. Watch the replay. Bad, bad call.

I ran down the aisle and starting fist pumping in the face of an extremely arrogant Brisbane supporter. Not proud of myself, but sooooo sweet.

That bloke Gawn goes alright too, as does Lever.

Where's Steve?