Adam The God

Bowey and McVee practically had identical games. 13 for Bowey at 62%, 4 intercept possessions, 4 score involvements, 3 rebound 50s, 9 pressure acts and 208m gained. 14 for Judd at 64%, 6 intercept possessions, 2 score involvements, 3 rebound 50s, 6 pressure acts and 209m gained. The only difference is Bowey had 4 turnovers and Judd had 0, but still went at 64%. I thought both were handy on the night. And one of Bowey's score involvements, where he won possession in a stoppage under extreme heat and hit a target inside 50 that pretty much no one else in our team could hit is precisely why we need to find ways to push him up to stoppages or even have him off the back of stoppages ala Salem in 2021. I think they're both developing well. Bowser has had some average moments this year, but he hasn't been alone there. Sure, that intercepted handball that led to a North behind early in the game was poor, but otherwise he was solid. I love both of these two guys, they both have pace, composure and are beautiful kicks at 21 and 20.

In the meantime though, we need more senior body cover, specifically in the form of Petty and probably Melksham.

What's this nonsense about dropping Bowey? I'd like us to try Bowey or McVee in the middle and then slot AMW into half back when Lever returns.

A midfield of 2016-2023 Clarry, Trac and Butters is gorgeous. Would still need more reinforcements obviously.

I like the idea, but the only problem is there is not an A grade midfielder in that group IMO. Rivers and McVee could be it, but I reckon we'd need to completely revamp the midfield if we were building around the younger brigade at this point. A bit like the Richmond strategy of bringing in Taranto and Hopper in the one trade period. We'd need to manage that. Ideally, we could just have a draft period like Port did at the end of 2018, and bring in 2-3 young guys that immediately make us better, but you're really only going to get midfielders like that from the very top echelon of the draft (ie top 3 picks). But it'll be interesting to see what we do.

Does Tomlinson want out? I don't rate him as best 23, but I like him as a solid back up. I'd be giving him a two year deal if one doesn't cut it. But I guess it depends on how the club view the development of Turner and Adams, as well as what happens to Petty.

I'd be building around Trac, Lever, Clarry - not May and Max. We need to get an experienced body to partner with JVR. Is that Taylor Walker? Probably not, so who? And we need to rebuild our midfield. LDU, Callaghan, who else? I also think Bowey and McVee should be part of the midfield rotation next year. Which means we need to see if someone like AMW can play half back to release one of them through there. I'd be up for Moyle too, but I reckon until Max has retired, we won't be able to attract someone like this.

A very good job interview this evening. He bossed the game.

28,000 people. Outnumbered by the 18th team and a minnow of the competition. Our supporters drop their bundle very, very quickly. And yes, we played some very ordinary football, but are you a supporter or not?

Kozzy is the only natural crumbing goal sneak we have on our list. Chandler is fringe IMO, Spargo is a half forward and McAdam plays mid sized. If Stengle is available, I'd be throwing our hat in the ring strongly.

So the crop this year is much stronger than last year's (minus Reid)?

Really? His dad is fanatical Melbourne.

It's not like Melbourne would be an extremely unattractive place to come and play. He supported them growing up, we play a large chunk of games at the MCG, we're one of the traditional clubs (unlike GWS), his best mate Howes is already at the club, we have been consistently top 4 for the last few years. So I think the biggest stumbling block is probably "a".

Quite happy to change my mind when things change. But righto.

Slow entries are a fact of modern footy if you're playing a forward half game. It's being able to take a contested mark or bringing the ball to ground and then being dangerous from the ground ball.

A yes to Stengle for mine. He'd be ahead of Chandler. If we do what I think we should do and revert to a forward half territory game, we need more x factor at ground level. It means slower entries become more dangerous if we get them to ground and repeat stoppages inside 50 would also face a better chance of being converted with more x factor. Which is why I hope we also target Rachele. IMV we've had a style that suits x factor smalls, which is why Kozzy has shone in our system. Problem we've had is we don't have any other x factor smalls.

As well as two on the fulls. Absolutely butchered our scoring shots. And I don't buy it was because Collingwood had all their shots from 30m directly in front. It's factually not correct. Both their rucks kicked ridiculously acute angled goals.

We kicked 7.11 to 9.6 in the qualifying final (+3 scoring shots) and 9.17 to 11.7 in the semi final (+8 scoring shots). Our mids aren't great ball users by foot, but we had more than enough supply to win both finals. Our forwards failed to get the job done. Like KB last week, Fritta missed two gimmes he would normally nail from very gettable positions against Collingwood and that was the QF. That's not on Goody. He can't kick the goals for the players. But I assume your mind is made up.

It's very strange because Fritta is a beautiful kick, but he's a key offender.

They did kick straight though. Both their ruckmen kicked ridiculously acute shots from the boundary that pretty ordinary players shouldn't kick, but did. IMV, it's our ability to execute forward of centre that is the single biggest weakness of ours and has been for 3-4 years.

Really good post. Agree with all of this, except it is hard to know about Choco and Stafford. From the outside looking in, our forwardline is our clear weakness. That said, our midfield has been terrible defending stoppage as of late.

This is it for mine, by a country mile.

To be fair, Collingwood's system enables them to be a bit plug and play, but they were lucky our goalkicking was so abhorrent today.

That's a function of the forward half territory, repeat stoppage game. That said, Collingwood constantly kicked goals from everywhere, where Kozzy and Fritta missed very regulation shots at goal.

Rivers was terrific. Kozzy tried hard but his inaccuracy like Fritta's really costly. The younger players weren't disgraced, McVee, Howes and Windsor all serviceable. Our midfield was shocking, led by Viney who was a liability. Max was intent on grappling all game and was completely nullified by their rucks. The backline misses Lever's leadership and instruction, but I think it's time to work out whether we want to play slingshot and it probably means we need some list changes or revert back to the forward half game style of 2021-2023 that we appeared to play today. Goody isn't getting the sack, nor should he, so we need to look at other ways to improve. Season most definitely shot though.