Adam The God

He's not the only Collingwood player in that category. You've got to wonder about their player management and fitness team. For a club that seems to have endless financial resources (or should), have the list seems to spend half the season on the injury list and then they usually use this as an excuse for their performance.

Never said he will be. And likewise, I acknowledge he's our leading scorer.

If we're on our game, our defensive mechanism is set up to prevent this play.

A fully fit Bennell on a wing would be a massive asset.

I think you're misrepresenting what some people are saying about not taking advantage of Max's taps. When I refer to not taking advantage of his taps, I'm saying our mids either don't spread or make the wrong decision by hand or foot from the stoppage. I also think his taps can be too predictable, so that our mids are sitting ducks for a stoppage press from the opposition. I think Max needs to improve and I think our mids need to improve. As a collective, they don't take advantage of either's skill enough.

I reckon we'll drop the Freo game off that shorter break and the hotter conditions.

Haha, Perth is too wide for our system. It's too MCGish. Sorry mate. SA for me.

Look, this is fair TBH. I agree with the sentiment that Gus is the guy that can get it on the outside, but Goodwin did persist with it for too long IMO, because we knew Brayshaw's best footy was "in the back off half 2018, when he was averaging 20+ centre attendances". This was Goodwin being stubborn. 10 games is way too long to make the change. Anyway, we've made the change now, hopefully we stick with it for the future.

Interesting that I had the impression that Harmes was terrible with his disposal yesterday when he went at 93% DE. I don't rate the statistic, but I'm going to have to watch closer I think.

I wouldn't be writing off Collingwood just yet though, mate. Agree, it's going to be very tough for Essendon now.

I'd definitely be nominating Adelaide Oval if it were possible. Long way to go of course, but we play AO very well.

I'm really excited by the noise around Egan as a Development coach. He seems to be a really calm, encouraging and clear voice for these younger guys. People have had a go at Weideman for his slow development in comparison to others of his draft year, but it takes time sometimes. Look at Dustin Martin and Petracca. Their development took 6+ years before they started to really impact games. And I'd argue in a KP it's even harder. You don't have the body strength or perhaps even understand how to use your body and out position bigger more seasoned opponents. Sam is finally learning how to use his body better and it's beginning to connect with his mind that enables him to take stronger one-grabs, rather than hesitant two-grabbers, or being pushed under the ball regularly. I reckon our development team is still showing what a huge impact good development has on the overall success of a team and its culture. There seems to be a real camaraderie between the list and every new guy that comes in, plays his role and then goes back to develop his game after a few shots at the big league. Kozzie, Rivers, Jackson, Lockhart, Spargo and Bedford have all shown improvement this season. Our players with a bit more experience (but are not yet seasoned vets) have also shown improvement throughout the season from Petracca, Oliver, Gus, Viney and Lever. All really good signs that the coaches are working on the deficiencies of these guys and improving them all. I'd like to see more improvement from Viney in particular around his ball use and his see-ball, get-ball approach, but he's still been a very consistent contributor and one of our better players across the season (even if it was at the expense IMV of Brayshaw). In the modern game, it's hard to kick regular big bags like the days of old. Hawkins did it the other night, but it's a rarity and we should be delighted at Weideman's improvement over the last 5 or 6 weeks. I have a feeling Richardson might have a big say in that too. 2 goals a game is very handy and I'd be happy if he kept going at this for the rest of the season and didn't kick a bag. I think consistency in his position is one of the biggest hurdles, so keeping the bar realistic (which is sounds like Richardson has encouraged) is a really good thing and will help him in the long run.

I reckon it's a tough one to gauge because we're not on the inner sanctum. To me, the way we moved the ball earlier in the season was a carbon copy of 2019. Get the ball and go long into the dangerous area 20 metres out from goal, but we didn't have the contest there, so it would break down. It was actually illogical to go there because we weren't playing two talls. Therefore, I think it's a combination of all three. I think the coaching across 2019 and early 2020 was poor, because instead of looking for lateral options, we'd just go bang and go long inside 50, usually to an outnumber or to the disadvantage of our forward in a 1v1. I think the players are able to set up defensively a whole lot better and because our fitness is much better, we're starting to trust that team mates are in a lateral position to receive the ball or will create a contest and then crumb when the ball hits the ground. I think the persist bombing long was down to the coaches trusting the system. I think Goodwin has shown a Hardwick-like stubbornness to change in game tactics and instead trust that the system will right itself. Maybe it's a case of short term pain for long term gain. If you don't play to the system I've devised, this is what happens, guys. This is where I think selection was the major blunder for Goodwin earlier in the year. Not playing two talls is inconceivable given the system is clearly, we want contests from our talls and pressure from our smalls. Well, if everyone's small, how are they go to compete in the air? It's almost as if Goodwin wasn't entirely sure what make his system work. Now we're getting contests in those important areas offensively and we're getting great defensive transition and setting up really well behind the ball. I think we were setting up well behind the ball earlier in the year, but the transition from attack to defence was still being learnt. I reckon we're close to a break out. Problem is, this season, due to the short turnarounds, is throwing up some really strange results, so I wouldn't put it past us to throw in one or two more pathetic results. I'm hoping we can maintain focus though and back our own fitness.

What was really frustrating is our zone had worked a treat and he was there in perfect time to cut off the option, but then butchered it by foot. I think they like Harmes' toughness and gut-run, which is why he's keeping the likes of Rivers out. I'd persist with him for another game or two and hope that his disposal starts to turn in game. He showed some signs of settling into his role yesterday and hopefully with this, comes increased DE. We'll see. Otherwise, I'd like him playing on the opposite wing to Langdon.

Reckon that's a really dangerous move if we do it. Our forward system is finally working and despite doing some ordinary things, McDonald is at least bringing pressure at ground level and bringing the ball to ground inside 50. Unless we try playing Max at the forward and ruck 40% and Presuss the remainder. Still, I worry about teams rebounding against us if we're playing a ruckman who is not Luke Jackson as the second tall. I'm not sure I could say the Port game and yesterday's were carbon copies. We barely mustered a jog against Port, yet Collingwood were strong around stoppage. We got them on transition and stifled their ability to move the ball. I agree that they were undermanned and had less rest time, but even though their defence was untidy at times and certainly got lost in transition because it hadn't played regularly together, I don't believe even with Roughead and Howe in that those two would have been able to stop a lot of our ball movement forward, which was excellent.

Tomlinson is playing KPB and slowly settling into the zonal set ups back there. He's been solid with the exception of one kick into the corridor yesterday and being caught out of position in transition one other time that I noted. If Hunt's going to make it, he should be looking very closely at the gut-running of Langdon and model his game on Ed's. He wouldn't be coming in for Tomlinson though. It'd be for someone like Jones.

I agree, he's much better when he pushes up onto the wing and across half forward. When it goes deep into our forward 50 he's a liability at times IMO.

You do realise Fritsch has been going at 50% accuracy this year, right? You're basically describing his season when you say guys missing set shots and spraying snaps, which he's done consistently all season. To make matters worse, when the ball hits the ground he's afraid of body contact.

I noticed this stat on Gus too. Fascinating. I'd still have him in there more, but team balance is such a difficult thing to master. I always think more Gus, the better, but as you say, it depends on what the other mids went at for midfield time.

Fritsch is definitely one of, if not our biggest down hill skiers. Not hard enough at the contest for mine either. He'll keep getting games because he kicks goals, but his defensive work is dreadful. I'd go no change, unless Kozzie needs a rest, in which case I'd bring back Hannan. I reckon it won't be long until Rivers comes back for Jones and Harmes moves forward.

I think he was playing behind the stoppages for the majority of the night. I reckon Oliver has changed his game up a bit to be able to receive or leave the ball for a team mate in better position. But otherwise completely agree with this.

Btw, noticed Sparrow manning Sidebottom at the stoppages in the last quarter. Anyone know when Sparrow first went to Sidebottom?

Thought he mopped up the ball really nicely a couple of times repeatedly at the end of the third, otherwise his disposal was very ordinary again. I like that the coaches have finally looked at fixing the Brayshaw wing versus central square problem. They definitely need to look at the Harmes is struggling problem too. I think Harmes has the attributes to be a damaging half back flanker, using his marking and power to slingshot attacks, but I just don't think it's working at the moment. Despite his disposal being ordinary against Collingwood, his positioning within the zone and his work rate could not be questioned and I wonder if it's just a case of him growing into his new role?

He has a great knack of taking up offensive positions in the corridor. He seems to receive the ball a lot in that area and we launch attacks through the corridor through him. I love him. Needs to play majority midfield with Oliver (says broken record).

Really excited by his development. Well done, Jay and Matty Egan. He did slip a bit too much for my liking tonight, but he's got courage, he's got nice agility and is neat with his disposal. These are traits of Nev. Perfect replacement.