Adam The God

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.

I'd certainly have Oliver before I'd have Treloar, but the latter is definitely a talent, and damaging if you let him run and carry. His speed definitely gives them some dynamism in stoppage situations. As does De Goey when they interject him.

Absolutely. Heard Trac say that. I said this in another thread, but I reckon the first time our team defence really clicked was against the Lions. We strangled them, but didn't take our chances at the other end. We've been able to grow in confidence the last two games playing that team defence that has strangled lower opposition. Okay, so Collingwood were missing a few players tonight, but I reckon we'll get a heap of confidence from the way we defended in transition tonight. We were all over them.

Two, I reckon. Roughead was a loss for them. It was like taking out May (with Roughead) and then Lever's intercept play (with Howe). But I don't want to take away from how beautifully and smartly we moved the ball for most of the match. I don't think they would stopped all of it.

If Smith comes back, forward is definitely his go. I know he's got a great leap, but I wonder if he's a fraction too small to play the second key tall.

I said a bit of this in another thread, but our team defence is the best it's been under Goodwin at any point. It's not the same team defence that we played in 2018 either. I thought Oliver, Langdon, May, Gus, Melksham and Petracca were our best. Honourable mentions to Lockhart, Spargo (particularly his first half), Preuss (for competing and running out the game), Weideman, Salem and Hibberd. We're really starting to move the ball beautifully and get that team connection happening. Knowing that we're going to get a contest from Weideman inside 50 is massive too and despite some very poor efforts early, McDonald turned his game around in the last three quarters and started to provide a good target inside 50. Harmes's ball use was atrocious, but if you watch the last 5 minutes of the third, he kept mopping up ground balls at half back, which was really important for ensuring we didn't get scored against and we could rebound via the likes of Hibbo. As I've said in other posts, I thought Viney's attack on the ball all night could not be questioned, but outside of that, I think they're still trying to find a way to get him into the game without sacrificing Brayshaw's game. Playing off the back of stoppage was an interesting move and one that could be worked on. I wouldn't mind trying him as a tagger, because he was still getting in the way of our cleaner, better ball users at times. The two biggest takeaways for me was our ball use entering forward 50 and our team defence on transition. So exciting. Langdon is an outstanding acquisition and I wouldn't be surprised to see the opposition start to put some time into him. He did what he liked tonight and not only does he help our defence and help us connect midfield to forward, he's so often the easy out handball for midfielders under pressure, because of his outstanding gut-running. Kozzie feels close, but I reckon he might be in trouble if Hannan is fit next week. I wonder how many corrals and pressure points he built up though?

Jeepers creepers, you reckon? I thought Viney's ball use was ordinary and he was constantly like a bee to honey at the stoppages, leaving massive gaps behind him. A better side would have made us pay. They seemed to play him off half back or off the back of stoppages when he wasn't playing midfield. He brings good pressure, but it's so often misguided. I think it's the right positional move potentially, but he just needs to be way smarter.

? How's this for grasp of the English language? "With all due respect to our opponents..." and then goes on to say we're a nothing side. Haha. Brilliant.

We have seriously fixed our defensive transition. Incredible in all phases of defensive transition. The best I've seen it. Combine that with taking our chances at the other end and using the ball cleverly when going inside, makes a huge difference. What was the stat regarding play ons? We played on less than 10% of the time and they played on more than 50%. Someone correct me on that, but a noticeable change in slowing our game down, looking across the ground for support or even backwards if the long kick inside 50 or up the ground is not on. We really worked hard at pulling the zone apart by spreading the ball by foot. Makes so much difference when our talls bring the ball to the ground and our smalls bring the ground pressure, and then convert their chances when they come. If this is sustainable, the system will beat most teams in the comp.

Hope you enjoyed that one @DemonOX and all our other QLD-based Demons who made it along tonight. ✊

hahaha Taylor, you stupid blockhead. ?

Fritsch is far far softer than Jack Watts was. He avoids body contact at all costs, but he's downhill skiing though.

This is possiblely one of the biggest quarters of the year. Not only can we increase our own percentage, but smash Collingwood's percentage. We need to finish the job. Come on, Melbourne.

[censored] hell, Lever. What a choke again. Show some leadership. First goal massive here.

Lever easily our worst. Should have killed thst contest too.

Shocking option from Charlie. Had Langdon free at 50.

Poor handball from Gus but gee Fritsch is a pathetic.

Shocking from Viney again. Meanwhile May and Lever choking.

So that first half. Loved our forward work. Outstanding almost every time we went in there. Things to tidy up. Making a few too many mistakes in our defensive 50. Lever a couple of times and Tomlinson has been sloppy too. Around sceptre stoppage we're being sucked in to the ball too.much, leaving us vulnerable on the outside. Viney a clear culprit. And on Viney, he seemed to be playing off the back of the stoppage in the second d half of the second quarter. Interesting. If be doesn't impact the contest and get it going out way, we'll get done from stoppage every time. Oliver really good in that first half. Petracca needs to tidy up things, but made one or two good decisions late. Spargo and Kozzie getting to really dangerous areas and Weid, Tom and Preuss competing well to bring the ball to the ground. It's very Richmond. We also seem to be playing one behind the ball quite a bit, which is really helping us propel Collingwood attacks. Preuss needs to jump into Grundy a little more. Grundy taking care of him at this stage.

Langdon really exploiting Phillips' lack of defensive game. Has been terrific. Langdon is just as damaging as Sidebottom, albeit with a different influence. Sidebottom is a score involvement king and Langdon is a transition king. Interesting to see how we come out in the third.

Tomlinson has really struggled with his cleanness and ball use back there.