Adam The God

Murdering us on the outside. So predictable. I reckon it's game over here. Our mids aren't defending today.

Shocking quarter. System completely broke down. Beveridge is exactly like me. Doesn't rate the ruck position at all. Completely justified. Good move to ruck a mid against Preuss. Need to adjust here. Lack of tackle pressure evident across our half forward line. I don't think Petracca or Viney hit a target in that quarter. Get Viney out of the middle. He doesn't hurt the opposition at all. Fancy going for the handball from Gus on his right foot. Need a big lift across the ground. Get Sparrow out of the midfield. Trails his opponent every time. Midfield needs to step up big time.

Viney has been terrible. His possessions go nowhere.

Would prefer Petracca getting more of those midfield minutes and take more off Sparrow. Trac is a score assist King and to my eye, Sparrow does very little in or out of the contest. Certainly not enough to warrant 55%.

Well, most of the board are accountants, so you'd expect they'd bring various financial skills to the table.

Interesting this one. With tomorrow's side, Tom can at least ruck. I'd prefer to keep Weideman forward rather than throwing him into the ruck. It's a problem we don't have to worry about at the moment. I'd probably play Tomlinson in the ruck and replace Tom with Jesse, but only with a Jesse willing to do the hard yards RE forward pressure and defensive acts.

Agreed. If the club thinks it's a good idea given what they know, I'd back them to make the right call. A switched on, powerful Jesse would add something to our team. His lack of tackling pressure always annoyed me, but get that right and he's a real talent. The last two years are irrelevant IMO if he can get his head right. He'll play good footy again once/if his head is back in the game.

Reflects really well on Pert, de Crespigny, Bartlett and the board.

There are a lot of talented money-makers on our board. I'd back them to strategically invest wisely with the cash and assets we have. I'd be very surprised if we aren't debt free by this time next year.

I'm surprised you weren't one of them, given the amount of trash you post.

Reckon they'll be keeping him, because they need to angle their list towards youth, given how aging it already is.

Phillips is another one I coached as a kid and I coach with his sister (who I also coached when she was a kid). Out and out Magpie. Would be very tough to prize.

He's a brilliant bloke. So proud to have him in our colours. Well done, Nev.

Agreed. Also like the the word [censored] is no longer censored.

Yep, I reckon we've gotta keep our forward and back structure. I reckon Preuss will play, but if he doesn't, Brown or a left field move like Smith in to attempt to halve contests.

I actually think that's a mess too. It has the scores easily accessible, okay, but it's way too busy on the right hand side of screen.

What I find interesting about this particular clip is not that Lloyd squibs, but that big tough man Wallis seems to break a nail and is pretty upset about it. A pity that football club isn't defunct.

Wow. If true, they've had some shocking trades in the recent past. Was it Ross Lyon or Peter Bell?

Is that necessary? Dunno about that. I'd have ANB and Hunt in before I'd have Dunkley or Baker. Hunt's goal kicking improved last year. I still think he can make it if he can gain the tank.

Nice article, mate. The first bit jumped out to me was this: "It’s not counterattacking as such, but Flick’s approach is very characteristic of the modern Bundesliga, a game based in transitions. It is certainly not based on control: just as Barcelona created chances by getting behind the defensive line on Friday, so too did Lyon." In other words, the German league has shifted from control to transitions. I think it's fascinating to chart international sports and how trends in one game become very much trends in others. Perhaps it's mere coincidence, but I can't help but think that AFL coaches are connected with the international environment and are viewing their own 'brand' in these sorts of broad brush strokes such as 'transition' versus 'control'. Likewise, I have no doubt that forward coaches and forwards think about space in the following way: "Müller didn’t touch the ball in the immediate buildup to any of the three goals. Statistically his contribution didn’t register. And yet his movement was integral to each goal. It was his run to the near post that dragged Marçal away from Robert Lewandowski in the heart of the box in the build-up to the second. It was he who was fouled, having regained possession, late on high up the pitch, to win the free-kick for the third." It absolutely equally applies to our game. The clever movement of forwards coming up the ground, double back, and leading away from and to certain dangerous areas in the forward 50. To the casual eye some of it may look ordinary, but the more you realise how the forwards interact and the importance of space when you have zone defences, the more you realise some stats are immeasurable. It's not a like for like, but Jack Riewoldt's rise in 2017 from selfish but high scoring FF -> to middle of the road scorer but integral target within Richmond's game style (bringing the ball to ground for surging smalls), is exactly this idea. You don't have to be kicking goals or marking it, or even going anywhere near the ball to be impacting on any one play. Jackson showed this in the Adelaide game where he stepped across in front of Talia to block him and allow Weideman to read. That's overt and clever game sense and body use. The operations of the rest of the forwardline would only be known to those within the walls of a football club. I guess what we're seeing is an evolution of the modern AFL role player and AVB fits this nicely too.

Yeah, what a [censored] [censored].

I get real blockhead vibes from Adams during games, but this has made me reconsider.

Higgins is too old now. 2-3 years ago he'd be perfect to add to our side now.

Good call. I think this is the key. He wants us to play a forward half game ideally, but is settled enough if we have to counter punch from our back half. I maintain that our press is quite markedly different from what it was in 2018 and 2019, and perhaps I'm being a pedant here, but I don't think it's that aggressive. Our defensive back 6 or 7 certainly don't press anymore, but our half forwards and mids do.

I have to say this is what I've always felt SWYL looked like. I'd be taller than Skuit, but I'd probably look just as dopey in a photo as I do here, so I'll take it.