Akum

Definitely taking the game on more each week. Our best #10 since ...?

Let's face it OD, early 2013 is best forgotten anyway!

Then if they pick Sinclair, we'll pick Spencer - end of story. Our only chance of winning this is to smash them in clearances & CPs, otherwise we'll lose & lose badly. This game will be won and lost at stoppages. And in Darwin, all the rucks will change mostly off the bench and won't be in the forward line for long periods of time. So Dawes, Hogan & resting ruck in the forward line at the same time shouldn't ever happen. If Spencer's in the forward line, it will be to give Dawes or Hogan a break for a few minutes. Another question: have WCE ever played in Darwin?

Something that was said about him on the commentary (and please God, let it not be Der-wayne!) against Geelong is that "he seems to know where the ball is going to go". He just seems to get into the right place at the right time to get an intercept mark, or to pick someone's pocket and intercept a handpass, or to turn in the right direction to find space and get a breakaway clearance. It's that level of footy IQ that he brings, as well as his pressure acts & skilled disposal & all the rest. Something like a sixth sense that only the very best seem to have.

Surely a lot depends on whether WCE will play Sinclair. We create the same selection dilemma for them as they do for us, so it's a bit cat-and-mouse. Gawn is a good counter for NicNat (if he breaks even, it will be a win for us), and neither of them have a huge tank, so they could well go on & off the ball together. Sinclair's competent not great, but if WC do play Sinclair and we use a part-timer, it's going to be very very difficult for our midfield at stoppages when Gawn & NicNat are resting. Spencer should smash Sinclair as second ruck, and even Fitzy would at least match him. Another question is: if they don't play Sinclair, who do they use as back-up? They probably have even less options than us in this scenario. Will they risk Kennedy, or Darling? Or go with their one remaining key defender? I think they have more to lose by not picking Sinclair than we do by not picking Spencer or Fitz. Have WCE gone into a game this year without a back-up for NicNat? Their mids are great offensively, especially when they get great service from their rucks, but are they any good defensively? If we pick both Gawn & Spencer, we have a great chance of putting real pressure on their front-running midfield, probably for the first time this year. Don't get me wrong, I'm very very anxious about ever going in too tall, even if the rucks do change off the bench (because it's Darwin) so that there's only one of them on the ground at any one time. But in this game, against this team, it may be the one chance we really have to give our mids an advantage at stoppages if we pick Spencer (who'd have thunk?).

In Darwin???

Great post. Liked the highlighted part the best.

"Let's face it", it's wildly over-the-top statements like this that prove that Watts-bashing is alive & well

Absolutely right. I think on the whole Dunn kicks out very well indeed. There's bound to be the occasional mistake, nobody gets it 100% right. And he's completely at the mercy of whether his teammates make position or not. Maybe he doesn't feel as comfortable kicking to the left. Would have thought that kicking it to our right flank & their left flank makes it easier for them to bring it back in.

The same signal also means "turnover coming up".

The risk can be reduced and the reward increased if the kicker has the smarts to know when the time is right & when it isn't. And if there's a target rather than just gaining yardage.

This is why this win is different to the others. They had to win this as a team, couldn't leave it to a few individuals, or to half the team. They all had to contribute, and to trust each other & make position etc.

Dawes was amazingly clean on the ground on a few occasions. He had "great hands" everywhere except for marking. And IMO not enough has been made of the captain's goal at the start of the last. Again, Dawes great hands with a ground ball, Jones right place right time never looked like missing. Perfect execution, perfect timing.

Looks more like Ro Bail. Viney would've hit him hard & low & not got suckered by the inevitable duck of the head.

Max King 16

Any visuals could set new benchmarks in aversion therapy. Could be an appropriate tribute to Der-Wayne Russell tho.

Well, considering the size of the mountain to climb ... The injuries ... Our best weapon having to drop out a day before the match ... Three first year draftees ... Ordinary games from 3 who have carried a huge share of the burden in the past year or so - T.Mac, Jetta & Tyson (tho' he was better today) ... Could this be a threshold game, going into the bye? Do we continue with the cohesion and team emphasis we showed today? Will we kick on from now and be a real threat? Or is it just a one-off?

This is the point - they're beginning to trust each other & play to each other's strengths. And Gawn has made a massive difference in giving us first use of the ball at clearances. Has a huge upside when he can run out a full game. Going to have a big clash with NicNat.

Could we add "beat a team coached by a Whinge Twin"?

So the Dees have selected just Gawn as ruck (possibly with Spencer on the bench), while Scorps have named Spencer, Jamar, Fitz & King in the same team! Go figure.

This is definitely a worry mono. No way Gawn can ruck the whole match, and I'm really concerned about rushing Dawes in with his suspect calf that a week ago couldn't last a half at Casey. Sure, Geelong have injuries to their big men, but unless we pick Spencer, whoever else rucks for what would have to be 1/4 to 1/3 of the game will get smashed. The problem is, if we do pick Spencer, we risk being top-heavy & slow and getting run off our feet. On the other hand, we're quite short in defence, and if TMac or Dunn can't control Hawkins, we're stuffed.

Going from Viney's tackle on Weller when he tried the fend last week, I'd say Viney's been doing a lot of work on his tackling. A fend is hard to counter, but Viney seemed to know exactly what he needed to do and executed it brilliantly. The original Hulk Hogan couldn't have done better. I'd say he's also been doing work on the Selwood family buckle-at-the-knees-and-throw-the-arms-up manoeuvre.

He's good at getting the ball out of congestion to someone in space, and at finding space himself. Exactly where we need to improve as a team.

This sounds like a reasonable explanation. But it involves a player sprinting 100m flat out in order to get a rest for a minute or two, and then sprinting 100m again to go back to his position. When he could surely have rested equally effectively without the sprints either side. To be fair, I think they were working on his hammies while he was off. Tho' that might have been because he'd just sprinted 100m flat out to get off the ground. Another one I noticed was when Grimes & his opponent were about 20m away from the bench, and Grimes got called to the interchange. While he sprinted 20m & interchanged with Lumumba, St Kilda had the ball and Grimes' opponent sprinted away to make position and now had a 50m break on Lumumba. I hope I live long enough to find out that all these frequent interchanges actually detracted from individual & team performance.

Absolutely right. At full pace too. A "don't argue" stops the tackler grabbing your body, but if they have the presence of mind to grab your arm, you're totally stuffed. Love the way Weller realised he was in deep trouble the moment Viney grabbed his arm and used it to pull him in closer. Then he really found out how much trouble he was in. And I can't wait for Dustin Martin to try the "don't argue" again on Viney.