Adam The God

True. I did. But May has been terrible at ground balls his entire career with us though...

I'd actually shift May onto him...

I think there's grey in between here. Hibberd shouldn't an automatic selection because we have too many good players to fit into that back 7-8, but he will be an automatic selection if fit this year. Hibberd doesn't make the same mistakes Rivers does either IMO. Mostly, because Hibbo runs and carries the ball. Rivers tries to kick his way out and he's very hit and miss. There's obviously a difference between what should happen and what will happen, but Goody has indicated that we won't tinker with the three defensive talls anymore, so May, Lever and Petty are locks, injury permitting. That should be the case anyway, but that will be. And then as you say, you need Salem, Bowey and McVee. So that's 6. Rivers is playing as the 7th defender and Gus as you say will go back there. Again, what we should do versus what we will do is the question. I don't think Rivers or Gus should be automatic locks for this team, but they will be and are. And in a similar fashion, I think Hibbo should be a horses for courses selection. So if he was fit, I'd be playing him on Charlie Cameron this week. However, his injury does give us another chance to look at McVee on him. Cameron kicked two on McVee earlier in the year (with 5 score involvements), so that was probably a draw or maybe Cameron just won that one. Hibbo is the better option on him at this stage IMO. Vis a vis Rivers and Gus, I'd say with injuries, their flexibility will give us options in filling holes, but at full strength, I'd be saying it should be a horses for courses situation with them as well. I'm sure the DD see this differently.

Good call. We've changed rhe way we play this year in that we rely on chaining from half back, the wing and even half forward to score big. Stoppages are still important sources of scores, but less so than previously. So the half backs are relied on to help generate scores.

I agree, although I think if we win the next two weeks, given the draws of the sides placed 5th-9th, we will sow up the top 4 spot with wins against Brisbane and Adelaide, and it will take off some pressure at the back end of the season.

No doubt, he needs to get more involved offensively, not just defensively.

I wonder if they'll go JVR instead of Melksham or whether we try to manufacture a strange defensive match up like Melksham on Andrews.

Sometimes. He's a bit bull at a gate with disposal on slingshot.

Our two weakest ball users in the back half IMO both offer the best versatility. That's why it's likely neither will be dropped (Rivers and Gus). To be honest, I think Rivers is better as an intercepting and 1v1 half back, with a bit of licence to get high offensively, but with that licence he tends to get involved with chains and often turnovers them over. Maybe these errors will lessen in time, as our backs gel with playing this more offensive chaining?

I don't feel he gets found out 1v1 any more than any other defender. Sure, his height goes against him at times, but he usually makes a good fist out of it, even when he's at a height disadvantage.

Everything McVee does is so good. He so very rarely turns it over and he doesn't just win 1v1s or intercept well, or show extreme composure under pressure, but he also does those clever little tap ons to team mates and away from opponents. He's having the sort of impact that Bowser had at the back end of 2021, but apart from a lull in form for 3 or 4 games from approximately R8-11, he's been great all year. I thought McVee's game was near flawless last night. The one turnover he had, I'm pretty sure he cleaned up straight away by winning it back. He's a ripper.

Yeah, good call, he wasn't dropped, he had concussion. But he didn't come back for the Geelong game, which was well outside the concussion protocol period, so essentially had to bide his time. In retrospect, that was a mistake not to play him down there.

Well, he's already been dropped this season and he got his place back presumably due to Hibbo's injury. I love Bowser and he'd be in my team every week, but I have a feeling there's gonna be an unlucky defender in there somewhere at the back end of this year. And I hope it's not him.

I'd be giving certain players licence to use angles and take on kicks. Those players in the back half would be McVee, Salem and Bowey. (That's why it'd be nice to eventually get Howes in there too) Other than that, I'd be saying to the rest of the team, win your contest, or do your intercepting, or provide a handball receive outlet, or take short hittable kicks, nothing else. Gus and Rivers shouldn't be taking those kicks on and neither really should May and Lever. Petty is one defender who actually plays within his wheelhouse and understands his limitations by foot and keeps it simple. Now that we've got more kickers in the back seven, I'd hope we start to set these rules for certain players, because if I were the opposition, I'd be very happy with Gus or Rivers having the ball and trying to be creative.

So who comes out when Hibbo returns? There's May, Lever, Petty, McVee, Salem, Bowey, Hibberd, Rivers and Brayshaw.

The GWS loss was way worse. But yes, winning both games would have allowed us to rest a few in the lead up to the finals, now we're clinging onto a top 4 spot.

There's a lot of negativity here, but if you think Demonland is negative, the Facebook pages would make your brain melt. The lack of intelligence and general footy IQ on those pages is laughable.

This is the problem with the DE stat. I could go at 100% DE, but every handball I do could put a player under pressure.

I really hope they don't drop Bowser from that back 7 to fit in Hibbo. Bowser is solid 1v1, a beautiful kick and a great decision maker. Hibbo is our best lockdown player and McVee should be playing every week (kid is a star), so with our three talls, there's no room left. The two guys that turn it over most in our defensive set up are usually Rivers and Gus. Both are good interceptors and understand good positioning though. Smith does not. If it's not forward for Smith, it's not in the team otherwise we're in trouble. That said, I wonder if they're thinking Smith on old mate Cameron next week...? As for the rest of our back 7, we need to ensure Petty has continuity back there, because at times this year he's been all at sea. But Petty is still a young player in KPP terms and the move and forward and back has likely played with his continuity. We need him going for intercept marks like 2021 and 2022. That's him at his best. He did get a few last night, but in 1v1 situations he's struggled this year IMV. If we could bring in Howes though, maybe that releases Salem into the midfield mix?

The big question for me going into the Brisbane game is will our midfield hold up without Trac to allow him to play forward? JJ had the most CBAs last night and we ended up losing centre clearance by -2. It's not all down to JJ, but he's not Clarry or Trac. St Kilda's midfield is nowhere near the level of Brisbane. The thing about the Lions midfield is that it can go missing and be exposed on the outside for pace. Trac has kicked goals against Brisbane in the past from the midfield, so I wonder if it's a 50-50 split for him? I think the other factor that often sees our midfield overawe Brisbane's in the size of our mids and the hardness. Without Clarry, we need Trac's size to exploit this. Be fascinating to see how we balance up our midfield against them. We have to win territory and therefore, likely have to win clearance well to win. The positive sign last night is we started to chain and transition the ball better than we have for quite a few weeks.

Wow, this is telling. Collingwood's accuracy from general play is deadly. Very interesting.

Sure, that's fine. I'm more concerned with the combined output of the two, because they're both having to sacrifice their game's for the other.

May didn't have an opponent. Yeah, it's all mindset when your dangerous opponent goes down in the first minute of the game. FMD. I'd like more offence out of Kozzy, no doubt, but his defensive game is strong. And I didn't pot Abysmal. He asked me why an earlier post from someone was terrible. I told him. As for Gawn and Grundy, where did I say they need to equal the output of another ruckman? The claim I was disputing was Marshall dominated Gawn and Grundy. Factually incorrect..

Grundy was not poor. 7 clearances and his follow up work at ground level for a ruckman is elite. But I'll leave it there. Your mind is made up.

There we go. The eye test is not great. We had a screen right in front of us at the game and at one stage late in the first half, the top 6 ground ball get players were St Kilda players, so maybe we levelled that up or we weren't as bad in that area as I felt. Anyway, thanks Wheelo.