Adam The God

Different conditions and different point in the season. I expect us to be hitting our straps by Round 20 (that Richmond game), but as evidenced by our kicking last week, I don't expect us to have another result this season that is anywhere close to that GWS performance in front of the sticks. Therefore, CPs, clearances and ground ball wins mean we'd have to be inaccurate like Rounds 12-16 to lose. If we win territory off the back of CPs and clearances, Lions will have trouble scoring, because they rely on forward half intercepts for scores.

I definitely like the idea (and I can't remember who posited it on Demonland the other day) of Bowey playing a midfield role in time, ala Butters. He's tough, quick, great at ground ball and an elite kick. His size against other mids is the only thing I'd be saying is a potential weakness.

Have to win CPs, stoppages and ground balls. Do that and I can't see us losing.

Nope, no chance. He's not named as an emergency. FWIW, Grundy, Dunstan, Smith and Chandler are the emergencies.

Thanks Dazzler. I knew someone would get there. 👌

Can someone please post the Old El Paso meme please? Thanks, AF.

Brisbane have come in slightly post teams release, but @binman, you said this was relatively normal a few weeks back. So the bookies certainly have us favourites. I wonder if Dunstan will be the sub...

Hi Andy. Would you mind updating this please? Thanks, AF.

Dunno what he's drunk tonight, but he seems to be throwing up a fair bit.

Not at all, Abysmal. They're saying he needs to develop his forward craft. That takes nothing away from his clearance game as a ruck last week. And they seem to think Gawn's ruck craft is either better or they can't drop them both to work on their forward craft.

I'm wondering if we might rest McVee too. Is it okay to use the term 'rest' @rpfc?

Martin at the height of his powers was hugely sloppy with his ball use. Dangerfield too. Judd wasn't great either. When we needed someone to stand up in that Richmond game in 2021, it was Trac that did it and kicked the winning goal. When we needed someone to ice the game in the qualifying final against Brisbane in the wet at Adelaide Oval, it was Trac that did it and kicked that goal from the boundary. He wins games for us all the time, including winning a Norm Smith. There aren't many match winners out there if Trac isn't considered one. The funny thing is if he was a Collingwood player, I'm sure you'd be saying the opposite. You have these bizarrely inverted / anti-Melbourne glasses you like to wear. Do you need a hug?

I'm sure we would have liked to rest Trac had we had a fit Clarry to cover for him. So I'd say Trac will be rested forward over the coming month or so instead. But obviously, Clarry will hopefully be fresher to hit the finals with a bang. Likewise, hopefully Fritta can get over the foot problem entirely that was already plaguing him prior to his current foot injury. So come the finals, the following players will be as fresh as possible: Clarry, Fritta, JVR, BB, Bowey, Hibbo, Chandler, Grundy and Spargo. That's 9 of our best 22/23. And I'm sure we haven't seen the last of resting players this season. Will Tomlinson (and maybe even Turner) get another game so Lever or May get a rest? Will McVee have a week off? If Clarry comes back at say Round 21-22, that might enable us to rest Sparrow and/or Gus in Round 23. There's obviously a balance to strike here, because you also want continuity in your line up too, so it'll be interesting to see how we play it.

At the ground, I thought he was one of our better players in the first half or so. I reckon his game was externally underrated last week. The last quarter was slow going, but he was clearly buggered by then.

I like that new nick name for Selwyn, @DistrACTION Jackson. I also like what you say there about the liberation of not being the hunted again and underdogs. I think this will help us and potentially hinder Collingwood and Port. Something @binman has said multiple times on the podders.

7 clearances is BOG ordinary? Righto, Pulpy.

I interpreted his quote to mean him saying we hadn't had 3 10 day breaks in a row before, which is true.

Yep, I hope they select Fort too.

The point of having two recognised elite ruckman in the 22 would surely be to have them both play 40-60 and 60-40 right? Or even 30-70 or whatever break down works, but it was about utilising both of them as rucks at different points of games.

It's a squad mentality though, right, so an injury or two and suddenly he's in the 22 for finals.

I doubt that would have been proposition that would have sold Grundy though. I hope we have an ace up our sleeve in terms of making this work, but let's see. FWIW, I don't think it's been a failure either, a huge win in many respects. How would we have gone without Grundy when Max went down? But there's no doubt we'd like to get more dominance from both.

Haha, I love the word trollop. And agree with the rest of your post mate.

Haha, this won't do much good for Andy's MFCSS. 😂

Tom likes to stir the pot doesn't he? I doubt he has any sources inside the FD he hasn't burned.

Yep, Smith. Chandler was dropped, but IMO he'll be in the FDs best 22 for the finals. Likewise, Spargo.