Adam The God

There's always that fine balance between trying to shut down half the opposition's playmakers versus playing the game a bit more head to head and backing in our guys. I think they'll have plans for all those guys you mention, but since they score such a high percentage of their scores from stoppage, I think we'll go to stopping them at the source again, which will hopefully nullify the influence of the likes of McLuggage, Rich and these types. The question remains, is the source Neale or someone else?

I reckon Neale could well get up for this game, which will pose a problem for us. Do we go Zorko or Neale? I'd be tempted to still go Harmes to Neale and if Neale doesn't get up, then play Harmes on Zorko. But as Harmes mentioned in his post match interview the other night, he'll join in on offence as well as stoppage watch, so it's not like we'd be committing a completely negative role to the midfield. Neale may have some questions over his body, so I'd make sure Harmes is ultra physical (but fair) with him to put that question in his mind. If it ends up just being Zorko that plays, he is a slightly different sort of match up to Neale or Libba in that he's quick. Harmes has the pace to go with him of course, but he might have to play him a different way. @george_on_the_outer on podcast made a really good point that Harmes played from in front of Libba. I need to rewatch the match to see how he did this, but there's a danger if he plays Zorko that way that he gets done on the outside. Zorko is also clever enough to push his opponent into stoppages, so he'd have to be very carefully if he played it the same way. I did think Neale wasn't due back for another week yet, but Fagan said last night on 360 that he trained last week and would push for selection this week. AFL Tonight this evening showed some footage of him at training that seemed quite ambiguous as to whether it was light ot medium level work for him at training, but he's no doubt training with the main group again. I just wonder if there are a few games being played by Brisbane and that in fact he won't be back this week, but they'll force us to plan for him just in case. It'll be interesting to see. I think it's clear they want Harmes to have a clearly defined defensive role most weeks, so I think you're right and that they'll plan some sort of negating role for Harmes.

This doesn't seem to discuss it. Wrong link? It mentions how we tried to exploit Ziebell with Fritsch after the North game.

Gotcha, but not exactly a fortress. We may well wake up tomorrow and find out that this can't be played there now anyway.

When you say we play well there, when are you referring to? We've never beaten GWS at the ground... https://finalsiren.com/PreviousGames.asp?Team1ID=21&Team2ID=13&Go=Go

Let's see how Weideman does against Harris Andrews if he gets him as an opponent. That'll be a good yard stick for where he's at. Even then, if he gets Andrews, all he might need to do is create a contest and snag one or two and that might be enough if it allows McDonald or Fritsch to get off the leash.

I don't rate him, but if May or Lever went down, I'd be looking at Joel Smith for back there too.

Yep, I would be very surprised if we don't have a back up plan for our zonal defence if another goes down. Given we've got every guy on the list training for two roles, I'd say we'll also have contingencies we can go to if necessary with injuries. It most likely won't be as strong as our current set up, but with the exception of the 2016 Bulldogs, to win a flag, you usually need everything going right for you.

Love that Choco has the younger players researching the MFC's past players. What an acquisition. Well spoken, Trent.

So just saw this post match interview with Harmes where he describes his role against Libba and he makes some pretty clear comments about where and how he plays his best footy. "It was good to have a tagging role again. It's where I feel like I play my best footy... I just tried to put work into him at stoppage and then after that work off him and try and use my running power." Really good insights. It's clear that's his role when he plays defensive mid. It's not a purely negating role, but it's certainly a tag. He does it very well.

As I say, we can do whatever we want (ie brand people negative).

We can do whatever we want mate.

Great analysis guys. One of the problems of a Monday night podcast at 830 is it clashes with On The Couch. All caught up now though. Didn't realise it was on tonight until 11 this evening.

And Healy agreed, like he'd heard it floated by Melbourne people...

And again, Maynard's inclusion would allow us to release Rivers to a wing or into a genuine mid role. We should be doing this every year, so that if possible, we're bringing in top end talent and giving Jason Taylor a look in the first round every year. Disagree it should be about necessarily targeting an outside mid. I think it should almost always be a case of picking best available.

I love this kid too, but reckon he's just off A grade. It's just a consistency thing, which he may have solved by the end of the year. So excited by Rivers, JJ, Kozzie, Jackson and even Sparrow's development. Interesting. He reminds me of Joel Selwood, but a better kick, less ducky and surely a better bloke. Lockhart may well be the key to Rivers playing further up the ground. Yeah, it was interesting hearing May talk about how they constantly tell Rivers/reinforce to Rivers that he doesn't have to touch the ball to be a vital role player in the team (paraphrasing there). It sounds like we're at a stage where the players are coaching each other on ground. That's so exciting because that's the hallmark of the great modern sides likes Geelong and Hawthorn.

Given his ball use, his hardness at the contest, his second and third efforts, I think he could be in contention for a genuine midfield spot. His ball use out of there would be very handy too. He's such a brilliant defender that unless we can replace him behind the ball, I wouldn't be rushing to put him in our midfield.

Wow, my family think I'm negative. Bloody hell. They should meet @old dee.

Do you mean the club or supporters? If you mean the club, I disagree. Players ponder their futures mid season. That's when deals get done. If you mean supporters, this is a supporter site after all and we nit pick game plan, the list, you name it. Pondering potential players to make us better is pretty standard, even at the top teams. Geelong supporters were talking about landing Dangerfield for months before it happened. It's not like they were at the foot of the table.

Yeah, okay, but regretting not pushing harder against playing in Cairns is not the same thing as being arrogant and about playing in Cairns. In fact, I don't think it's anything like it at all.

Yep, makes sense, but it'll be interesting to see what they do. I'm intrigued by @Nasher's comments RE each player trains two roles. What's the point in this strategy if when injuries occur, you bring in like for likes?

I agree, but it depends if he can play that offensive lockdown mid role on the wing. It's possible.

Arrogance? We didn't have a choice RE Cairns.

I've come around to the playing it at the Gabba idea. I love it. It scares me without Langdon, but let's really test ourselves. The commercial side is very appealing too. Like your idea for the QBD game too.

I watch Fox Footy, never the commercial networks and they're on about us constantly. Looking forward to 360 tomorrow night and On The Couch. The latter will involve Gaz and Healy fapping each other off over our performance. Love it. David King showed a bit more down the ground footage on First Crack tonight too involving our defensive set up. He's all over us, but isn't screaming from the rooftops just yet. You can tell he's reading the stats and analysing our performances and thinking if this was just about any other team, I'd be backing them for the flag. He's still got the Dogs as his flag favourites, but if we can knock off Brisbane this week and the Dogs stumble a bit over the next few weeks, I think he might get on us for the flag too. He's just burnt by 2019. Statistically though, our defence is in world record areas for intercepts (Lever has the most intercepts to Round 11 that have ever been tracked by Champion Data as per King tonight), we're structurally really difficult to break down and almost impossible if we bring a four quarter effort. Further, as much as I hate the betting commentary that has infiltrated the media landscape this year on Fox Footy, Daisy Thomas for Sportsbet said we're now into $4.50 flag favourites. The hype is huge on FOX.