Adam The God

I think the train had already started to come off the track.

Not quite, he played half half forward and half middle against Adelaide (11 CBAs) and it was similar again on Sunday (15 CBAs from a possible 39).

Part of JJs problem is he has no weapon and struggles at half forward. ANB is a powerhouse runner (his weapon) and Spargo is a good runner with elite ball use (his weapon). It won't happen mate because it shouldn't.

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but this decision making is almost certainly driven by the pressure on Hinkley and his FD. It shows you how desperate and worried they are about falling over this year. You can see it coming...

Buddy has just announced his retirement. I was worried we'd be playing Sydney at the SCG in his final game. That won't be the case now. A sad way for a champion of the game to go out, but very handy for us in Round 24. This paired with the luck of competitors starting to falter around us, we look to be timing everything beautifully. Let's hope we get Clarry and Sparrow back this week.

And his marking overhead. He's got great hands. Of May, Lever and Petty, Petty is also the most reliable kick. He's very solid, with good technique over 15-20m, so if he can keep taking marks across half forward, as well as deep, his ability to hit kicks inside will be invaluable.

Potentially.

And 5 interstate trips in our first 10 games. It's a [censored] disgrace that our run home is being talked about in those terms. We had the hardest first half of the draw than anyone, which is why remaining in the top 4 all of that time, but our game not necessarily humming was always a good sign.

It's less of a forward structure thing and more of a ball movement thing. And on the Fritta for Woey call, I think you could look at alternating Fritta and Melksham from high half forward to deep forward. His second goal in the first (?) was pure forward craft. Watch the replay. He was on the move dummy leading and then made a good lead up at the ball to mark amongst 2 or 3 others. His craft is no Charlie Curnow yet, but it's early days with Petty the forward.

It felt like Petty helped JVR to lift today too. I might be imaging that, but JVR seemed a different player today too.

The biggest problem I think we'll have going forward is that we'll need Harry in the back half too. Tomlinson showed today that he really shouldn't be the A guy, he's a B guy, which is to say Petty is an A guy. I don't trust Smith to play a full game as a KPB, although he might be alright, I just can't see it being a reliable option in September, which you cannot afford in your back half. You need reliability and predictability, and Joel is super aggressive positionally, and not a great judge of when to zone off. I'd prefer Joel as a cameo man, but who the hell knows what the FD think now.

That was May's best game for quite some time (he did everything well - had a new signal for the kick up the corridor too haha), Lever was back intercepting as well and I thought it was actually Tomlinson who struggled the most this week. But Richmond's forward half is not as scary as it once was. Rivers was really good again. His ball use in the last 3-4 weeks has gone through the roof. I'd say when he shifted into that Gus intercept role, he was starting to fatigue, but was still trying to play that explosive game as he was very 50-50 on those plays by foot, now he's reliable and becoming a real offensive weapon for us - super important given the way we slingshot off turnover in the defensive half. When Clarry comes back, I'd say Gus will have to stay in the middle, because Rivers is too explosive and creative to substitute for Gus. Petty, JVR and Melksham worked really well together, with Kozzy, Trac and Chandler, that's a very potent and attacking forward mix. Woey is the least damaging and I'd look at how a resting tall (Grundy) looks alongside Petty, JVR and Melksham next week. I'm really happy for Petty though. His hands have always been good, but he's seemed to lack a bit of confidence and continuity at times this year. Today, he was excellent and could have had 2 or 3 more contested marks than the 4 he had. There's still an adjustment happening where we're tinkering with our press and our set up behind the ball and through the middle of the ground. Sending Max back behind the ball also gave us a look we've seen before, which allows us to manufacture +1/interceptors as the opposition man up or double team Max, leaving another of our defenders to intercept. It's a huge weapon, and I suspect we have plans for this with Grundy in the team as well (specifically, being able to send Max behind the ball). The trouble with this conundrum is JVR and even Petty did well at times in the ruck, and JVR has been serviceable as a number 2. That said, I still believe there's a way we can maintain dominance/give ourselves a different look when momentum is against us, by mixing and matching Max and Brodie. I felt JJ struggled, so I think the most vulnerable and likely to make way this week are JJ for Clarry and Harmes for Sparrow. I have no idea what we do with our forwardline when Fritta is back. Melksham has looked offensively dangerous the last month. If we're determined to play the 2 ruck set up, which I think we will be, it's looking like Melksham or JVR will be the unlucky one or do we go one less mid/half forward and play a forwardline of Petty, JVR, Grundy, Melksham, Fritta, Kozzy, Chandler and ANB? And finally a word on Max. I thought he was smashed in the first quarter, but his response was incredible and a real 'Max of old' performance. I wouldn't like to be apart of match committee going forward...

And was there any such commentary last year on Geelong's run home...?

Fair few Demonlanders (and media pundits) with egg on their face here. We had our usual mid season slump (circa 2021-2023), where we change our ball movement to protect the back 7 (which undermines scoring power), our DE drops during this period due to fatigue exacerbated by additional training loads, our accuracy plummets, and reactionaries call this a lack of forward connection. We've now won 4 on the trot; a game off 2nd; the double chance within reach; our accuracy has returned; our ball movement has become even more attacking than Act One of our season (credit @binman); we're doing all this without Clarry and Fritta; and we're kicking ridiculous scores like 20.10.130 against teams with everything to play for. Meanwhile, media and Demonland darlings Collingwood (the arousal specialists) have dropped a game in exactly the same way they've been beaten in other bigger games over the last 12 months (deny them space in the corridor and deny overlap run, and they're gone if you beat them in CP and clearance), 2nd place Port have fallen in a hole and Brisbane remain flakey. And speaking of gooses (sic geese), remind me what @picket fence said about Petty in the lead up to this week...?

Bringing my two year old son to his first game today as the wifey decided today was also the only time she could do a Barbieheimer day (and the rest of the family/babysisters are interstate). All dressed up in his clash guernsey, 2021 scarf on, we get to Richmond, on the verge of finding a park and he falls asleep in the car at 2.45. 🤣 Hopefully we'll get to see the second half and AF will be on his best behaviour.

I reckon the Collingwood game is the template. Max and Brodie were both very solid in that game...

And when Grundy is in the team next week against Goldstein, and here next year, who holds Barrett accountable? The way he frames his speculation in such self assuredness that he is basically saying he knows for sure... 21st century media is a joke and their lack of accountability is a disgrace.

Until the Collingwood game they had a very soft draw. So their wins have come against pretty ordinary opposition (Port were missing half their team and are very questionable away from Adelaide). I'd consider McKay, but I do wonder if he's the right type of KPF for our game style. But his contested marking would be a weapon.

Good on you, Lloydo. At least, Freo have played in a GF in the last decade. Your mob haven't even managed a finals win in almost two decades. Have some self awareness...

I said he was turning it over too often, and I reckon that was 6 weeks ago 😉 Did you see his game last week? You want to lose that drive from half back? When we score the majority of our points from turnover...

And then you lose all your defensive drive and your chief interceptor. Rivers need to stay half back, with very occasional CBAs IMO.

I'm not so sure it's curtains for BB, nor is it the worst thing to be dropped at this stage. I think they could just as easily be thinking, 'right, his body is not going to hold up for another 8 or 9 weeks, but he could be up and about for 4 or 5. Let's manage him in the lead up to finals, play him in Round 23 and 24, and then he gets the week off before finals, and he plays all the finals.' Lots of water to pass under the bridge just yet.

Agreed. His defensive work is huge. I hope he's just being rested (we're not allowed to use the word managed anymore) and he's back the following week. JJ will get more mid minutes as a defensive mid and less at half forward, where he struggled to impact last week. I wonder if that means we bring Spargo in or if we simply bring Harmes in for Sparrow. The latter is probably the go.

Don't remember that, but okay.

What do you mean 'stated word'? He's previously said we wouldn't tinker with the three defensive talls set up, not that we wouldn't play Petty forward...