Adam The God

I don't mind him as a journalist. I don't agree with half of it, but at least he's using some Goodwin quotes to back up some arguments. But, get Kade's name right FFS. It's not Kyle. He's not an American actor...

Sorry, this is nonsense. Kozzy has had heaps of CBAs since Round 1. * 6 against West Coast. * 3 against Essendon. * 11 against North. * 3 against Gold Coast. * 7 against Hawthorn. * 3 against Port. So up to the Port game in Round 10, Kozzy had a CBA in every game he played except Round 6 (remembering he was suspended for Rounds 2 and 3). Since then, his possession tally has gone down and his CBAs have stopped altogether. However, this has coincided with his TOG being progressively ramped up post Round 10 (see in bold below). I suspect we're not using him the bash and crash of the midfield, because he's already being asked to consistently cover more kms in transition forward than he was earlier in the year. R1 - 79% R4 - 79% R5 - 81% R6 - 72% R7 - 80% R8 - 84% R9 - 80% R10 - 66% R11 - 84% R12 - 86% R13 - 86% R14 - Bye R15 - 89% Kozzy takes a good and watchful opponent, so although it'd be great to inject him into the CBs more often, I suspect we won't see this until later in the year, if at all. If Chandler and ANB start hitting the scoreboard again, that probably allows us to throw Kozzy in at CBs.

Speaking of dedicated supporters, are you happy about the appointment of Ange? And hope the redlegs have a win for you today.

I reckon too much is being made of us being a poor wet weather team. I came away from the game last week thinking the same thing, but given I sat in it, and have had time to reflect upon it, we were ahead for 3 quarters when it rained, and lost the last quarter when it was dry... likewise against Port, we managed 7 goals in one quarter in the rain. I think it's a coincidence that it rained against Essendon when we were dreadful and it was slippery against Brisbane, but again, we were off that night. I'm sure people will disagree. It's more that our ground ball in defensive 50 needs to improve in all conditions. I'm fine with handball chaining out, because that's how we want to play in all conditions. I suspect today will see less handball chaining and more kicking to contests as an over-correction. FWIW, I'd much prefer chaining than kicking to contests. We can't really win on that front. People will complain if we kick to contests and get slingshotted on, and they'll complain when we chain out and potentially overhandball. The less risky play is actually chaining out with handball, because if we do turn it over, we have players chaining that then turn to defenders and can hopefully prevent the score the other way. Whereas, if we get through, we're likely to have good 1v1 contests or free players ahead of the ball. I'm fine with going to contests occasionally, but not every time. This was our problem last year. It's too predictable. I'd much prefer us to mostly chain out. What I'm surmising from the FD is they'd prefer the same thing.

Wasn't sure where to put this but @Bombay Airconditioning mentioned this hame from 2017 against West Coast in Perth. Highlights: West Coast v Melbourne https://www.afl.com.au/video/145001 It's really interesting to watch our ball movement and our we explode off half back and slice the Eagles' defensive set up. We ourselves are equally cut up with whole ground transition against us without touching the footy, but given where the Eagles defensive web went and their contest game that won them a flag in 2018 and then where our game evolved too in terms of defence, to now where it combines a strong structure behind the ball, along with scoring from turnover and exploding off half back. This game feels like the game has gone full circle since 2017. And I know we failed to make the 8 and West Coast took our spot that year, but ball movement wise in a high pressure game, it's a fascinating artefact.

We beat Collingwood without Oliver (the best contested player in the comp), Petty and Bowey (our premiership defenders). McStay is an ordinary footballer, but I'd give you Howe. So a week after beating Collingwood without our best player and with equal outs to Collingwood, you're saying we don't look like a top 4 prospect, so who's downplaying who here? I'm not shifting the goal posts at all. If we'd beaten a clearly fatigued and ordinary Suns sides that had thrown in the towel, I would not be going on about how good the win is. This is the difference between you and I. I would be acknowledging that we got the job done, not how good we were. That's your approach to sides that aren't Melbourne. But as soon as Melbourne are involved you become hyper critical and seemingly unable to analyse what's happening, outside of our ball movement lacks dare and we don't play with the same arousal levels, and I wish we had supporters that attended (meanwhile I'm in Europe not attending). It's like a constant chip on your shoulder about us. Nah, this is hedging in the extreme. My point has always been our ball movement (like everyone's) will improve at the back end of the season. However, unlike everyone else's, our ball movement earlier in the year was far more devastating. And it's why Collingwood mostly fell over the line against multiple opponents (St Kilda, Essendon, Adelaide and you could argue even Geelong who were down players but still managed 100 points against them), while we spanked teams. So now when things turn you can say, oh, I always said Goodwin needed to encourage the players to play with more flair. I've previously acknowledged (multiple times) that I admire what McRae has been able to achieve with his team in a short amount of time, but I've always said it's highly vulnerable and less sophisticated than our defence first system.

So do I. That's why being able to fit Harmes in the midfield over JJ, gives us good options. Leaving Clarry, Trac and Viney to play their game.

Port are very ho hum away from the MCG. Would love to get them there in a final. Butters is playing a complete outside game. 25 disposals for 4 contested possessions and 8 score involvements. If someone sits on him that's a huge part of their game nullified. And still, Essendon should have won.

I do still think Collingwood are over hyped. If we're not playing like a top 4 side and we beat them, then what does that say about Collingwood? Gold Coast on the back end of their fixture aren't great competition, but Collingwood did show really strong arousal today. No wonder they won.

That's it. I'd be quite happy to play the Suns between Round 16-24. Remember what we did to them at Marvel in 2021? They throw in the towel pretty quickly.

Hope we're talking about Hawthorn here... 👌

If we were doing this to the Suns, Demonlanders would say, well, it's only Gold Coast, this is the bare minimum. We love a good re-frame on Demonland though.

I do. It was my 30th birthday. So 6 years ago, 2017.

I reckon their game is built on outnumber and overlap run. Attack is their defence. Whereas, we're the opposite. Our defence turns into our attack. They're flag favourites for their consistency IMV, but their game style, again MO, is susceptible in finals, because of the high risk style and last year showed that.

Collingwood remind me so much of the 2021 Bulldogs.

10 days before this post we beat the arousal specialists, Collingwood, and suddenly we look a mile off top 4? You like your hyperbole, don't you, Steve? Agree with the sentiment of not relying on others around us to make the top 4, but I'd much prefer less pressure on us heading into the last month of the H&A season because teams below us have dropped games and can't catch us. Geelong won the flag last year in large part because they were able to manage players and had a very soft fixture at home leading into the finals series. Their last 4 games being the Bulldogs and St Kilda at Geelong, followed by the Suns away and then West Coast down at Geelong. A dream run. I'd prefer that into the final series personally, but all of this is irrelevant as I think we'll make top 4 and if we get going, will finish top 2.

A coaching friend and I were discussing what we believe are the most important factors in ball movement and ability to execute. We were talking about under 19s in this particular conversation, but the answer is the same: fatigue and the flow on effects to concentration, ability to set structures and to get overlap, separation from your opponent and so on. TMac from 3-4 years ago playing forward for us would be perfect right about now, because of his aerobic capacity and ability to work over his opponent up and down the ground. Nick Riewoldt would be another player that would excel under these conditions, however unlike Riewoldt in his prime, TMac rarely misses set shots and so it's this ability under a fatigued state to execute after your hard work that is the difference at this time of year. As Goody alluded to in his presser and as I've said numerous times, we need to execute these moments better and hit the scoreboard and take our chances. We have at least an extra 2 or 3 wins if we execute fundamentals under late game duress and early game opportunities. The Sydney vs Geelong game last night was another game where fatigue played a huge role in the result. Despite the evenness of the inside 50s and Geelong's CP advantage, Sydney should have won that game by at least 6 goals, missing basic shots from the goal square numerous times. Scoreboard pressure is vital in the modern game, because it's extremely rare to have 4 quarters of momentum and dominance all your way anymore. So you want to put separation between you and your opponent to ensure when momentum inevitably swings their way, they don't pass you. Our inability to get separation from our opponents, move the ball quickly to free players, get strong overlap across 4 quarters and kick accurately is now common occurrence, but prior to this 5 week block, we rarely had these issues. These are all related to fatigue. But, if we want to make top 4, we have to be better and push through this, and take our chances when we get them.

There's no need to be that personal. He holds a different view, but that's his prerogative.

I would be surprised if JVR doesn't come back in next week or the week after.

Ahuh... comedy.

You don't seem to like anything we do anymore, @adonski. Apparently someone from the club ran over your cat earlier in the year and now you're on a downward spiral of negativity. I don't remember you being so negative, but maybe you went away when we were busy winning the flag?

Yeah, righto.

Mate, you realise the orange wave is back, right? We need to ensure exits are blocked and we retain territory. Best way to do that is smalls. We've lost one small already in Spargo, so this should give us the best chance to nullify them.

Maybe, but this way we get a look at Brown and Smith together. Smith should compensate for BB's inability at ground level.

Were they though? Let's interrogate this. Minus Sidebottom, De Goey and Howe. We were minus Oliver (best player in the league), Petty and Bowey. Not a world apart really.