Adam The God

Interesting. I hadn't heard that, but that will definitely stop us going up.

How impressive is Richo? Fantastic. Sounds like Brown will get another block of games post bye, which I guess most people knew. Interesting to hear Yze is responsible for stoppage and ball movement, as well as "midfield", but that does make some sense.

Yeah, it's all about what the NSW Gov says once restrictions are eased. I reckon they might allow it, because it'll add to the NSW economy, a bunch of Victorians coming up for the game.

I'd consider flying in on the morning and flying out at night, but will we be allowed back and forth? I suppose it depends on what level of restrictions the NSW Gov imposes on Victorian travellers after the end of our lockdown on Thursday night.

I thought Gawn was respectful and non committal about Weideman's form. He said that we definitely want to keep playing three talls. Jackson, McDonald and then one of Weideman or Brown. He then said there'll likely be a bit of back and forth on this particular spot for the rest of the year. I didn't feel like he threw Weideman under the bus, but he does say Sam would prefer to be kicking more goals. I reckon he has this week to keep competing and hit the scoreboard and if he doesn't snag a few goals (2 or 3), I think it'll be Brown in for Weideman after the bye. That doesn't mean that's Weideman's last look in this year, but I think Brown will then get a look in for a stretch post bye.

Don't care if we win this by one point. Just get to the bye 12 and 1. That psychological break on the rest of the top 4 will be massive. I'm hoping the Bulldogs drop a game or two in the next month too.

Well, it's more than just McKay and Weitering. It's McKay and Curnow down one end. Elite. And it's Weitering and Marchbank down the other. Two of the three starting mids are A grade in Cripps and Walsh. This Carlton ship can unfortunately turn very quickly IMV.

He's worth a look if Carlton determine he's not in their plans, but I reckon they might come around on that.

I said to my Blues mate yesterday I reckon Barker will go as he's been there for ages. And what do you know? He announces today he'll resign. I reckon they've spent so much of their cap on half forwards and half backs (Martin, Saad and Williams) and are likely to sink more of that into McKay and Cripps. Weitering is on a long term contract too. They can't sack Teague just yet given what they've done with Martin, Saad and Williams. They need to get some better assistants around him and see if that changes things. Unfortunately, I think it will. Their spine is great. They've got two star mids. They've got some zippy smalls that can play wings like Fisher and SPS, they've got two attacking half backs that can springboard attacks from back to front. I think if they get their coaching set up right and get the defensive mechanisms going, the Blues will be a top 6 team in the next 12 to 18 months.

It's reminding me very much of the way the elite football/soccer teams operate in Europe. To analyse it perhaps crudely, they have the head coach and then the manager. The manager is responsible for the way the team wants to play, personnel and tactics. The head coach is responsible for the fundamentals and getting the players to play to the system laid out by the manager. I just wonder whether we've modelled our coaching set up on this sort of approach. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the FD review last year and the plans they put in place that have (so far) reaped such incredible reward for the playing group and clearly the coaching team.

Yep, me too. I think Sparrow fumbled it 3 times and then he had so much time, he thought he'd have a ping. If I saw that from any of our leaders, I would be deeply disturbed. This has to be part of the reason why Brisbane can downhill ski it in the regular season, but choke in finals series; their leadership. Quite a few have had a go at Zorko for his lack of leadership with the McDonald free kick, but I'm surprised no one's highlighted this very stark and obvious passage.

Agreed. But there will always be those that have a whinge.

How poor was Zorko's pressure in that passage? Just shocking leadership. I don't care if you're gassed. He gave up. A terrible look.

A better kick, I reckon.

Yep, totally. It's almost that reprogramming that you (or maybe it was someone else) was talking about with regards to how McCartney would coach our mids, versus how they're coached now. Oliver's natural game and instinct is to go in and win everything, just like Viney and Harmes, but it's making Clarry's game so much more rounded as he's getting it on the inside and outside, and is able to burst away and use his explosiveness from stoppage. I could be wrong, but Harmes and Viney have tweaked the way they play too. Given our guys are such dominant contested players, the trust can be built easily and it elevates our entire midfield group. Petracca, Oliver, Harmes and Viney are all difficult to tackle. It's a bit of a nightmare for the opposition. If our guys are all switched on, this will be a dominant midfield group for the next 5 or so years.

Agreed.

Thanks mate. Bugger. It's not perfect given we've played more games, still maybe it might shut up a few RE "Baby Bombers".

I guess what I'm thinking is taking some marks deep forward, closer to goal where conversion is easier, might get his confidence up, which will then enable him to be a vital contributor up the ground.

I was fine with Melksham's game. He wasn't horrible, but if it's a choice between Langdon and Melksham, I know who I'm picking. Particularly, as Sparrow has been a better contributor in his game time this year IMO.

JJ is outright third in the league for tackles. We've managed his TOG from time to time, but he's back playing big minutes at the moment and smashing it. I'd go with Melksham out and Langdon in. Push Sparrow to half forward and another mid rotation. He's actually become a very good user of the ball, so we might not lose a lot by having Melksham out and Sparrow adding a genuine mid rotation. That also leaves our midfield with Oliver, Petracca, Harmes, JJ, Sparrow, Kozzy and ANB for rotations.

Each to their own mate. I much prefer Weideman deep. I don't trust him yet to play a roaming half forward role where he takes marks and hits targets inside 50. McDonald on the other hand, I do trust. I felt the forward set up on Friday was just about perfect. McDonald at CHF and Weideman deep FF. Kozzy at his feet.

Does anyone have the stats for experience of our team versus Essendon's? I want to send it to an Essendon muppet mate of mine.

Our Libba is clearly Oliver for mine. Jack can be the go to contested winner, but I reckon he'll play the defensive role that JJ has been playing and they'll push JJ to the half forward flank as the inside slider, so we get his tackling as stoppage, but then get Viney's as well. JJ and Sparrow's development has really deepened our midfield in a terrific way. Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Harmes and JJ would be one of the best midfields going around. A really good blend of ball winning, explosiveness and defensive intensity. The only thing it's a bit light on for is goals.

Yep, I think this is the move. Jack certainly wouldn't replace JJ, who is third in the league for tackles (an incredible effort) and I don't believe on form, Sparrow. The difficulty will be that I think Melksham may well come out for Langdon. So then who comes out? I don't think you can drop Harmes. This is a similar problem to the one we had in 2018. When Jack first went down we thought, [censored], how are we going to cover him, but then Harmes and Brayshaw stepped up. It's the same thing this year. JJ and Harmes have stepped up. It's a very tough one IMO. Maybe it has to be Sparrow, but if there are any slip ups from Harmes or others, Sparrow would be the next one up.

I'm starting to trust, although at half time on Friday night, I thought we were gone unless Brisbane stopped or we suddenly brought the work rate. I said I couldn't see it coming, but I was very wrong. Where I'm at is if we bring enough intensity and focus (and kick straight), I think our system will beat any team in the competition. I really believe that now. For example, I was worried a few weeks back about what the Geelong forwardline would do to us, but I think we can cover Hawkins, Cameron and Rohan. I also think we could cover Richmond too. Those two sides are the greatest threats IMO, so in other words, I think we can win the flag, injury permitting.