Adam The God

I reckon they'll go with Smith on Cameron, Petty on Hawkins (playing off him slightly and intercepting from in front like Sam Taylor did), May on Rohan and Lever on a small. This allows May to peel off Rohan and double team Hawkins if need be, while Lever can float. Geelong may go taller and play someone like Blicavs on Lever as a defensive forward, but that leaves them short in the ruck. That match up will be interesting too. Having Smith on Cameron will also likely test out Cameron's hammy as the directive will be to rebound off him where possible. As for the May/Petty, we can always flip that match up if it's not working.

I like the area though. I completely agree we need another mid extractor and an overlooked and potentially underachieving mid at another club could be the go.

I think this is what they could go with too. Smith to Cameron, Petty to Hawkins and May to Rohan. This allows Lever to float and gives May a bit of room to either rebound off Rohan or double team Hawkins with Petty. If we need to spin the magnets because one match up gets away from us, then we can always flip them.

I love JJ, but he's been nowhere since being moved onto the wing in that Brisbans game. If you look at his tackle numbers between rounds 1-13, he was top 10 in the competition (despite registering a tackle when playing wing). He's struggled to make an impact with his tackling or spread since. Sparrow's tackle numbers last week were akin to Jordon's earlier in the year. I'd say that's why he's been kept in ahead of JJ. If Sparrow fails to match his tackle pressure of last week he'll be replaced by JJ. I think the MC like that really defensive role ages that can play off half back or half forward and add to the mid rotation.

That's the problem though IMV. Parker's kicks are shallow from centre clearance. I've been watching his clearances over the past few weeks after noting how shallow all his clearances were against us when they went 17-4 against us in clearances and still lost. I agree that Parker is a nice kick outside of stoppage.

Have you got the stats for DE from clearance?

That said, we do need more mids that can win the ball and can't rely on Oliver to be always fit... 😜

Parker's ball use is horrid. Bangs it on the boot Viney and Oliver 2019 style. Sides let him get it because he hands it back to the opposition from centre clearance. Their major offender. Bizarre that Melbourne supporters would want him when they're finally starting to see better ball use from stoppage. I'm confident we won't go near Parker.

Morris was fired by Melbourne but he still seems to have a source in there somewhere.

Yeah, I saw this on OTC. It's game plan and structures. Anyone saying we shouldn't go after Gaff, if the price is right, is kidding themselves. We went hard for Smith, thought we had him and then he chose Geelong. If we go close this year, players won't be picking an aging Geelong, they'll be picking us.

I certainly wouldn't want Clarry kicking for goal for my life, but his go is winning important clearances and ground balls. Smith's is defending and I disagree that his issues are skill. His issues IMV are reading the play. You either have that at the elite level or you don't.

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.