Adam The God

So this is what I'd go with: In: Chandler, McDonald, Viney, Lever Out: Pickett, Jackson, Sparrow, Smith I think they'll go for Bedford over Chandler and Dunstan gets another game.

Carlton are also toast for this season as Pittonet is out for 3 months. Of course, they could always change their strategy for the better to compensate, like we did when Max went down in 2017 (we became less obvious from clearance), but in both games where Pittonet effectively hasn't played, the Blues have been nowhere. They struggle to win clearance without his taps to advantage.

As going fast is basically the only way to beat our zone. Which puts us in a good position to create turn overs. You could see it with Richmond the other night. They'd chip to about 50m, then another quick chip, which if they then went quickly, could actually enable them to kick over the top of the zone or to a leading forward between centre wing and half forward. I felt our transition was a little off in the first half and they were actually able to hit up three consecutive passes from the kick in to their half forward by moving it quickly. When we tightened this up in the second half, they had to look for the riskier in board option rather than kick it to our numbers down the line, and they turned it over quite a bit. Eventually that will happen over 2 hours of football, and weight of numbers gets you. It's the genius of our system. It requires occasional bursts of anaerobic defensive transition to get into position, and then anaerobic bursts when we turn it over, otherwise it's mostly standing in holes waiting for the opposition to pull the wrong trigger or literally kick it back to us.

I'd add after this that the alternative is to kick it high to a wing near the boundary, a flank or a pocket. Langdon often does a deliberately skyed kick to a contest as it gives our guys time to swarm the crumb. It's straight out of the Richmond playbook too.

Be interesting to see if Mitchell tries something different or just goes with the manic forward pressure. They really are a very small team, but they do have a bit of pace to them. Surely Brown would be far too big for Frost.

Tomlinson more realistic than Turner, but different player to Smith and Turner. Interceptors versus lockdown. But yeah, I'm being slightly facetious. Against a top 8 or top 4 team we cannot have Smith playing in that back 6.

This.

One of the strangest, if not the strangest games I've ever watched. Had we kicked straight it would have been near 100 points. We were that dominant, hey? And Richmond were lucky they took their chances, otherwise it could have still been 5-6 goal win. 30+ scoring shots is insane. And yet with 5 minutes to go there was a slight pang of nervousness amongst the MFC crowd. Bizarre. I had one concern going into the game. All I'll say is I hope Jake Lever is back next week. Alternatively, Turner might need a game.

I've watched enough Dunstan that I don't need a highlight package. He's a clearance player and a high half forward.

I raised an eyebrow when Pittonet got injured and wondered if the same thing would happen again around stoppages as against the Suns. It didn't stop Carlton winning clearances, but it was like the air was sucked out of them when he went off. He's a very good ruckman Pittonet and has a good record against Max. They seem to struggle if everything isn't going perfectly to plan. Curnow and McKay are a scary proposition though. Definitely the most exciting tall duo in the league. I hope Carlton continue to stumble.

Nope. They played together against Carlton, but McDonald also played.

Yep, the better comparison to Dunstan is if Harmes could get a game as a pure mid. Both capable clearance players, but unreliable by foot. Dunstan is probably a slightly better player at stoppages, but Harmes is the better runner.

I'd say Bowey is playing Salem's quarter back role. Gus is adding more defensive stability back there by providing extra cover to the wingers, and enabling our defenders to zone off and rebound strongly as Gus is a good 1v1 player, particularly in the air. He can take good defensive field position and plug holes when our other players attack or zone.

There are two different starting teams named. One on the MFC website and one on the AFL website. Going by both teams, it's Smith for Lever and Brown for Viney. Sparrow, JJ, Harmes and potentially even Brayshaw will pick up Viney's minutes. I'd say JJ will get more minutes as Sparrow has quite high midfield minutes anyway.

It could also be from the club's end. It's best to wait for all parties, then we know how much to pay you.

Would be quite happy to offer Clarry 7-8 years to take him to 32 or so.

I'd like to believe 4, so 4 it is. Thank you mate. 🤣

There's nothing there?

COVID and school holidays I reckon. Thought it was a poor result. St Kilda Gold Coast was even less (18k).

I can't recall a better defensive game for us than Steven May's. He was superb. Jack Viney IMO played one of his best games for the club and certainly one of his best non finals games. His intensity and defence at stoppage was vital in the second. That 3rd quarter was a joy to watch. So much so I watched the replay this week for the first time this year. I'll never tire of listening to commentators fawn all over us. Massive game coming up against Richmond.

Noah is a right footer and has just started with us at Caulfield Grammar this year. He's a really nice young fella.

How are the Eagles players smiling and joking around with each other at 3/4 time? You're down by 51 points and you're laughing it up. There's seemingly a very poor culture at West Coast. I'd be cheesed off if it were Melbourne in that situation, particularly if we'd just had a year like West Coast had.

I expect Smith to come out for Lever, but we'll see. They may decide Smith offers flexibility and it's Hunt that goes out.

Smith offers us flexibility and he has improved his positioning, but there's a question mark over his positioning and disposal/decision making for me. The coaches are a fan, we all have our own views.

Really? Directly caused three scoring shots. Two from simple dropped marks, the other from doing his usual running underneath the ball and out positioning himself. He's not a trustworthy defender. I'd go Brown and Lever in for McDonald and Smith, but they won't. They'll keep Smith in until Petty is fit again.