Adam The God

We had zero bounces to 8 last night and our defenders struggled in ground balls. I'd bring Bowey in for Hunt, because Jake is incredibly clean below his feet, takes the game on and is a beautiful kick. We needed more run off half back last night. The other stat that is telling is they were 10+ for tackles inside 50 (18 to 8), of which I think Elliott kicked all 4 of his goals from. I wouldn't be surprised if 6 or 7 of those tackles inside 50 came in the first quarter or so for us, which shows how easily Collingwood were allowed to exit the ball from our A50. I haven't been a fan over the journey, but it's likely they'll bring Joel Smith in at the expense of Melksham. Smith with play defensive forward and he's actually got some good attributes to play that role. He can bring the ball to ground, cover the ground quickly (apply forward 50 pressure) and can kick a goal. So it's Bowey and Smith in for Melksham and Hunt. Kozzy, Spargo and ANB need to get the job done for four quarters inside 50. We probably missed Harmes' tackling pressure too, so who goes out for Harmes?

Is Optus Stadium a narrow ground? I'm not sure it is.

I'm not sure why we'd be tweaking our system to be honest, because it's not our system that's losing us games. It's an inability to win contests and last night it was an inability to take simply chances in front of goal. I maintain that if we're on, teams can't get through us. At forward 50 stoppage, we did actually push up most of our defenders right up when we were inside 50 and left 2 or 3 deeper with one as an anchor. But the ball came out of our attacking 50 far too easily- see the lack of forward 50 tackles again. Early on in the game we crunched Daicos at half back a couple of times, but for the majority of the game, we let them get it out too easily. Another thing I've noticed against us is teams are happy to get a scrappy kick out of D50 providing it goes to ground, so it can't be intercepted. It's then about pressing the next contest or Melbourne player that is zoning off and trying to get the ground ball that results from the scrappy kick. I think @Watson11's post above about sitting the zone deeper is spot on, although that seemed to be more from kick outs. When there was a forward 50 stoppage for us, we actually pressed our zone pretty high as I said above. So maybe it's about sitting the zone a little higher to defend kick outs?

My opinion was it was a dopey thread, because you've gone the early crow. Reactionary if you like. But are you saying you're the only one allowed an opinion?

Someone with a screen name "COVID Dan" creates a dopey thread. Fancy that.

We kick straight and it's a comfortable win. I don't think this undermines the loading discussions. That said, we were very poor in the second half.

Kick straight and we win comfortably by 5 or so goals. We always threatened to lose games last year with poor goalkicking. That was my one concern heading into last year's finals series. The Bulldogs round 20 game in particular, but you could argue this year poor goalkicking has cost us against Sydney, Bulldogs and now Collingwood. The most glaringly obvious was tonight's game though. Collingwood played out of their skins. Their pressure was elite and we let them transition too easily at times. But we shouldn't be losing that game. It's fixable if it doesn't become mental. Really poor result though obviously and now we could well miss the top 4.

Given the drugs stuff though, would he have the respect? I'd hate him anywhere near our club. But agree, if Yze goes, we need the best.

No, he like everyone else, just needs to play his role.

Totally different game nowadays. Let's just get the job done.

It means you can be shut down more easily. Shut down the two keys and it goes a long way to beating you. I'd rather have more unpredictable goal sources.

And then McKay down the other end. In 2 years time their spine looks pretty good. Have they nailed their midfield picks over the last few years is the question?

Wow, so Cadman at 2. Righto. Interesting. He probably goes West then.

I'd send him to Maynard or Howe. Moore will surely go to Brown.

I don't think it's any different to most games in 2021...

I like Sparrow too, but he's still a young guy and works through really inconsistent patches. The same with JJ. I could see both losing their spots come finals if the competition for spots was tight. I think JJs wing is safe now though that they're intent on playing Gus through the midfield.

I think you're misinterpreting Goodwin's earlier remarks personally. I think he meant we didn't need to score (as much) if we gave the opposition little. Of course they want to be able to score heavily, but that comes off the back of strong defence and getting the forward mix right.

You could be right, but I'd be staggered if Gus isn't in the midfield this week. This is one of the aces up our sleeve we've been holding back. I reckon he'll play midfield. If Harmes does come in it will be at the expense of a forward or half forward/mid rotation - see Melksham or Sparrow. As for captain Jack Sparrow, I reckon his game against Freo has been bizarrely overrated. I thought he was dreadful in the first half, before working his way back into it during the second half. If they want to bring Harmes in, I'd suggest it's mostly likely Sparrow.

I don't understand why we don't have Tomlinson as a sub every game. I get the injection of pace like a Chandler or Bedford, but talls are vital to our structure and game style, so having someone that has the capacity to play tall back, forward, wing or ruck seems like the ideal sub. But you may be right, mate. Harmes could well be sub.

Watching Goodwin's press conference, he hesitated when discussing where Harmes will play. He might just not want to give up too much in a press conference, but my read on it is I think Harmes will play VFL this week.

There's a reason he's not in AA calculation this year, Andy. He doesn't have the same mobility IMV, but Lever at 90-95% could still help us win back to back. #positivebinners

Not partly due to COVID. Wholly due to COVID. Anyone that thinks people are staying away because it's cold are kidding themselves. COVID is stopping many from going.

If Darcy had nominated his club of choice as someone other than the Bulldogs, then the Bulldogs would have no reason to target him Besides, English has come on and they probably don't need two guys that can mostly only ruck. I wonder if Darcy would be open to us. 😉

I wonder if Darcy has indicated he'd be open to a move back east, hence their aggressive LJ offer?

That St Kilda game is directly before I believe we started loading, hence the little bump in performance, which you hope to get off the back of the first week of heavy loading.