Adam The God

Can't wait to read this suddenly juicy thread.

I would too, but they won't. Historically, it can take Jack a bit of time to hit his straps. I thought he was easily our worst today.

I thought Paddy was dreadful today. I don't think my two year old would be outmuscled by Fritta, but he did it easily. Paddy also turned the ball over a number of times. The McCartins were central to Sydney's rise up the ladder last year, their intercept game was elite, ala May and Lever the previous year. Sydney looked very suspect in D50 today. Just as we did last week. Will be interesting to see how they go against Port.

Also, the first time we've kicked 21 goals since the GF. What a ripper today was. JVRs debut was so exciting. I loved the Petty move and he'll be better for the forward game this week. All of a sudden, JVR and Petty could be the power forwards, with Jefferson developing and waiting in the wings. Grundy, Clarry and Trac all excellent. I reckon Trac has at least another few gears to go to as well. While Clarry was Clarry. Loved Grundy's work around the ground, once the ball hit the deck and I thought his ruck work for the most part was very good. The mobility of Grundy and JVR at ground level in ruck contests was really noticeable and Petty's mobility compared to Brown makes us a more dangerous prospect forward of centre too. Note, I do think there is still a place for Brown as well, but today showed we can afford to give a TMac or a Brown a rest and still kick big scores. Finally, two other special mentions. I'll start with Charlie Spargo. He's really stepped up his game. I've always been a fan and defender. His ball use is elite, but now he's starting to be really dangerous at ground level and he's getting involved more. The other is Chandler. I didn’t think he'd make it, but today he won me over. A top notch performance with great tackling, neat and efficient kicking. And like Fritsch, he knows how to generate scoring shots. A week's a long time in footy and can't wait for next week.

When the northern throne is vacant, there will be a flying bird to the south west of the lakes, and anchored at the bottom, will be a Peter Bell. 👌

Always been my favourite player too. Love him. Congrats Clarry.

This is the thing. Aside from last night, which was clearly a statistical anomaly, our midfield will keep winning stoppages and being able to defend and transition defensively. So we need to be ultra aggressive going the other way. We have enough good kickers down back now to attack the corridor and change the angles more readily. I hope we take the game on more, because even when we do, we don't leak goals. Let's hope this is the go from here on out.

One thing I will say is that I much prefer us using the corridor and the central kick going inside 50. And what's interesting is that we don't seem to give up goals on slingshot, despite allowing three potential exit lanes with the central kick. Gus' kicking always worries me off half back. He's such an inconsistent user of the footy that I want him keeping it simple if he's getting the ball so much. Ideally, he's giving to a passing Salem, Bowey, McVee, May or practically anyone else in our defence. But he did get that central kick right to Brown at one stage, who took a good mark and using the corridor, we scored quickly. Perhaps it was Max going off that rattled us, but even before Max went off we were fumbly and never really in the contest, despite the score at the time. It was a truly incomprehensible display by the midfield. It's all well and good to have rotations and a midfield of Brayshaw, Viney and Harmes, but if you're going with that set up, you need to defend the front of the stoppage and that combination was dreadful, not helped by our rucking either. Our inability to defend forward fifty stoppages, where Brisbane are usually ultra dangerous, cost is severely all night really, but particularly early on. How much did Max's injury play into this psychologically and personnel wise?

Well, it's tough now for JVR, because unless he's playing second ruck, it's likely TMac will keep his spot to play second ruck to Grundy.

We were actually -26 for clearance at the break in play and then weirdly lost clearance by 2 after the restart.

If we won some clearance, we'd overpower them. We lost clearance -28! Is that some kind of world record? A truly pathetic performance by our midfield unit tonight.

Totally, that was absolutely it. As for Carlton as a threat, they rely on their two key forwards and Cripps and Walsh. Even though we rely heavily on Max, Clarry, Trac, May and Lever, it's the sophistication of our defensive system and organisation in transition that puts us ahead of Carlton. As for Collingwood, l'd be interested to see what happens if someone hard tags Daicos. I think they'd struggle to move the ball. We wouldn't tag, we'd just send an ANB or a Harmes to Daicos and try and exploit him/make him accountable the other way.

He started forward and moved back later in his first year.

Saad is like a small version of Sam Frost. Runs off half back like a hyperactive nuffy, with no idea where he's going half the time. Most times he turns the ball over and the occasional time he'll create a score by taking the game on. He's a liability for mine. But then we had posters on here complaining that we got rid of Frost, so what would I know? Also, why was Michael Voss crying? Calm down mate, you haven't won the flag.

Ideally, no, but that's how this business unfortunately. I remember we used to go to games when there were 12,000 in attendance and we'd get flogged every week. Pretty different these days, because the fair weathers are back on, and attendances are healthier as a result. The trick is to not be down for decades like we were previously. Rebuild and do it properly by all means (although that's a philosophical discussion- do you top up ala Geelong or do you go the proper rebuild?), but it shouldn't take more than a decade to be fighting for a flag if you're a well run club.

I reckon we get the kids of the kids of Melbourne supporters who became Hawthorn in the 80s. 😜 Only way to grow is through bandwagoners.

Maybe we can pinch back all the bandwagon jumpers from the 80s that were Melbourne supporters?

That's the most attacking combination. I loved it, because Kozzy can still defend and attack.

It took Collingwood about 10-15 rounds before the run and gun stuff clicked. It worked sometimes tonight, but it's still not quite instinctive to give the handball and move the ball quickly with overlap, ala Collingwood. It was a good start however and winning by 8 goals without Fritsch, Viney, May and Salem, and an incredibly fumbly first half, we showed how powerful and devastating we can be when we're clean at ground balls. Our game flows beautifully from there, and with our midfield, if we can start to roll in this quicker, more corridor orientated gear, I think we're going to be very difficult to beat. It was obvious we were trying to be more attacking, which resulted in some unusual turn over kicks in the defensive half. It's still a case of getting to know the right time to flick the switch and go, because I think ultimately Collingwood's model is all duck, no dinner, it's one style, on the whole time. If we're going to make to the GF, we need to be able to play fast when appropriate and conserve energy at other times. All in all though, a great team win.

How has no one fixed McKay's ridiculous kicking style yet?

Well, I'll be having the most vegetarian of vegetarian pies at probably a going rate of $15 in the MCC, having a soy cappuccino and hoping that May's injury doesn't set us back too much. Meanwhile, I'll be hoping that I can control my swearing and incessant commentary a little better in preparation for bringing my son along next year and not annoying my family too much. I have one year left before bozo attends and I'd rather he wasn't a nuffy like me.

He's depth. Just as Weideman had become depth. When Sam indicated to the club he wanted to move, we moved quickly for Schache. This is on the public record.

I'm pretty sure he was signed until the end of 2023, so it's a two year extension, not a renegotiated contract. But I'm sure @Lucifers Hero will be all over this.

Not sure I agree with this. He had the Bulldogs as his favourites for the entirety of 2021. He'd bang on about it every week on that stupid Fox show. He was on us in 2018, but was burnt. In place of? I'm not against it, just trying to picture who he comes in for. Because you'll also have a lot of teams playing fast from half back, so do we want pace on the forward flanks to defend that or do we want endurance to hold our structures?

I'd take 3 with this list and probably pull even with our arch enemies Collingwood on 15, 1 behind Carlton and Essendon. Love it. Let's hope so.