Adam The God

Each to their own mate. They may well go with Smith, but I think he could cost us a final, I think his footy IQ is that low...

His name is Bowey as in Bowser, not Bowie, as in David. It wouldn't be a particularly apt nickname, hence the nickname Bowser. :P

I thought Smith found himself constantly out of position. Outside of a few aggressive intercept marks early, I thought he undermined our defensive structure repeatedly. I just think there's a chance we keep May out for the extra week.

Yep, well done, Chelty. Great result. Milne's son was at Chelt too. Not sure what happened to him. Didn't appear to be picked up by the Saints.

So much FIGJAM.

It's interesting that Goodwin specifically mentioned Viney would be back, but May and McDonald would put their hands up for selection. I reckon we might keep our powder dry and see if we can beat them with our current forward set up (so minus McDonald) and potentially keep Smith in.

He's certainly our most potent forward and he is a elite. I reckon Brown is on par with him for his position, but each to their own. And you're right. No player is perfect, but all players can work on their deficiencies and thankfully Fritsch seems to be, because his defensive game yesterday was solid.

I'm not referring to clangers, I'm referring to positioning. Watch the replay. He's all over the shop.

To the bye mark for the season, JJ was 6th in the comp for tackles. He's demonstrated he's an excellent decision maker and beautifully clean below his feet and by hand generally. Strange take, but each to their own. One has played pretty much all year in the top side in the comp and been a vital part of the engine room, and another has been on the fringes of the side. There's no doubt JJ seems to have tired though and his influence on games in the second half of the season has been minimal. But Tom has struggled this year in the 1s. Doesn't mean he won't make it, but he's significantly behind JJ for mine.

Yep, he adds chaos to our back half. We can have a bit of that in our forward half, but the rest of our game has to be rock solid.

Yep, another really solid game from Harry. Love how he knows when to go for marks and when to spoil. His judgement is excellent. He's going to be a great defender in a year or two.

I did call it pre game that I expected Fritsch to get amongst it today, because he does enjoy beating up on weaker sides. I expect @Webber's comedy is directed at me, as I suggested last week that if he wasn't going to kick goals, what else was he bringing. 😜 His accuracy this season has greatly improved in the second half of the year and there's no doubt he's a dangerous element to our forwardline. Frankly, his offensive game is elite. It's his defensive game that I've had a problem with. As others have said, what was most impressive about his game today was his defensive side, so either he finally got that side of his game right or the coaches got into him about it. I'm quite happy to admit I dislike non combative players, but there are always those offensive players that provide enough to compensate for their defensive weaknesses, even in a side whose entire system is built around defence. Dustin Martin doesn't defend either, but he influences in other ways, so Richmond compensate for that side of his game. If Bayley can bring the tackling intensity he brought for most of today to finals, he'll be a vital part of our set up in what will be a more contested environment of finals football.

This could have gone in a few of the threads, but I notice David King has finally relented and pegged us as his flag favourite on FIRST CRACK, jumping off the Dogs. He talked about us in the last 6 weeks being #1 in a list of categories vis a vis defending without the ball and a mile better than any other team (ridiculously so), so defending ball movement, forward half intercepts etc. He basically said, if it continues, you can't not back us. I think the real x factor that I've completely underestimated this season going into finals is Luke Jackson. He's not as damaging or as involved for as long as Jake Stringer (who I'd say is the best player in the comp over the last 3 or 4 weeks), but given where the rest of our game sits, I thought for the first time today, this kid could actually tear the 2021 finals series up. The fact he's started marking the ball and adding goals to his game from the contest, to add to his ability to get it on the outside, is a massive, massive development for our forward half. I worry slightly that McDonald coming back will disrupt this, but we'll have to wait and see. It worked okay against the Suns. The other tantalising aspect to LJ's game was again on display today from stoppage. He's a freak in that not only can he rove his own tapwork ala NikNat, he's an elite user by foot at 200cm. Wowee. So can we win it? We just need a bit more luck and I think barring a horror out of the box performance, it's ours to lose now. We're still vulnerable when Oliver or Petracca are slightly off, but fortunately they're rarely off and then we have Viney as a finals wild card as well.

It was clear from Petty's under 18 form that he was a natural reader of the play and would likely make a great interceptor at AFL level. Many of us were saying that earlier in the year and in previous years since he was drafted Whereas, many of us have been saying Smith is an athlete not a footballer since his first game. You can tell by the way the two read the game they're vastly different footballing talents. This is fair.

How many times did he run under the ball? He's done that whenever he's played back. Frost 2.0. Can take a good intercept mark, and explodes off half back, but if he doesn't mark it or kill the ball, he puts all his team mates out of position by his aggressive press towards where he thinks the ball is going to go. Genuinely staggered by Healy's continual pump ups. I assume he, like some others, are swayed by his athletic attributes, rather than safe, disciplined defence.

Couple of things can come from this game. 1. Take back top spot and go into next week with more confidence, with 3 on the trot. 2. More touch for our forward half connection. I expect Fritsch to get on the end of a few today. 3. Oliver's game vis a vis the Coaches Votes/Brownlow.

I'd be very surprised if there are any late withdrawals. I also think they want to find a way to get Melksham's ball use into the side, even when McDonald is fit again. I'd say Sparrow will come out for him, but in the meantime, Tom will get another game and see if he can stake a claim for JJs position.

One thing all this talk of a new franchise makes me think of is how important it is to not be in the wilderness during COVID/post COVID. There is a small chance a club that we don't expect, could fold or be merged or relocated due to the strange time we live in, and what it has meant for finances. I'd love it to be Hawthorn. 😉

That's very true.

You/we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe Weideman has already requested a trade and we'd prefer not to play him as his head could be elsewhere, or maybe we simply don't see him in our best forward set up, even in a final.

Liam Jones is a footballer. Joel is an athlete.

Tom Stewart out for the season. Wowee. I don't think Geelong or the Bulldogs can win it this year. He is key to their defensive intercept game. They have to be all out attack now. HUGE!

I wonder if Dunkley is gettable for us. I'd take him.

Again, take clearance away from the Bulldogs and they can't win. You beauty. You've also got to wonder whether injuries to Dunkley and Treloar has lulled them into a false sense of security about their midfield strength. So many of their mids can be exposed going the other way.

Where are all those muppets that said we should have kept Frost? Still an absolute liability. Bulldogs haven't looked like kicking a goal, except for the two times Frost has turned it over.