JJJ

Agreed. The issue will be money. We have an unbalanced amount of our cap portioned out to May, Petracca, Viney, Lever, Brayshaw, Gawn, Oliver and Kozzy. That would be ok if we were top 4 with premiership credentials. It’s not ok when we are slowly drifting off the back of the peloton. The rubber band has snapped!! May is a general down back but athletically challenged. Trac is a very good player but no longer elite. Viney the same. Lever has trouble staying on the park. Brayshaw isn’t even on the list. Gawn is a club great and is still a top 10 player in the league. Oliver is a role player at the moment. Kozzy is in career best form. So out of the top 8, two and playing to their contact. We are a mess.

I don’t rate Jefferson at all but I do agree with Picket, in that as a manager/coach you need to put players in the best position to succeed. Selection is one way to do that. I look at players get game after game for no apparent reason or get rushed back with no competitive play in the bank in Fritsch, Spargo, Turner, Salem, Tholstrup, Petty, McAdam and in this case, Jefferson. It doesn’t help the teams continuity and in the younger players case, it doesn’t help their development. It also sends a strange message to the rest of the playing list. Especially when the senior team is not winning and the players and coaches are doing the same thing expecting a different result.

This was a list management decision. The end of season review indicated that we required another young KPFpushing through. We went super hard to acquire a pick to get Cadman as a result. Failing that, the club tried to move into the top 10. I don’t think JT was Jeffo’s biggest cheerleader internally but after the top 8-9 picks it was a lottery so they went with who they thought was the best chance to be an AFL KPF. I’ve always been of the thought that he should’ve stayed on the skinnier side and developed a bigger tank to be a young Cam Bruce style. Sigh. It was a pretty bad draft. Tsatas went 5 after all. Makes my kicking as a mid forties bloke look elite.

Vale. I’ve been to a few panels where he would talk about his time coaching the Roys and the Bears. Wallsy had some of the hardest conditions both political and financial to deal with as a senior coach. He was clearly never afraid of a challenge.

We may get close to squaring the ledger at 9-9 etc but our last 4 weeks are brutal. IE No chance. Let’s see what we have. Play some of the kids. Of course a coach who is coaching for their life, may choose a different policy.

I think Peter Ryan is pretty useful at getting info out of us. Plus whatever junk the players agent throws at him.

Same. He looked awesome prior to hurting himself earlier this year.

The 4th quarter this week might be a scoreless draw. That’s ugly reading though.

He’s got a lot of talent. If he could stick his marks he’d be more highly rated. If you look at his overall package, he could be anything. Elite athlete, good user of the ball, high character, reads the play well and has been exposed to elite pathways for years. On the downside, he is super skinny and doesn’t accumulate a lot of footy. He also seems to lack positional versatility. I’d be super happy to have him. Regardless of his form this season and I think JT and his team would be too.

It was definitely hyperbole on my behalf. That all happened right in front of me and saw the other boys go straight up to Chin. At the time I was wondering why it took so long for Trac to get over to him but its quicker in the clip. Classy goal all round. PS I love a good smother. Better than a bump or tackle. And when the lads shepherd, well I go weak at the knees.

As Chin’s ultimate fanboy, the lack of recognition for that effort annoyed me.

Meh. He is fine. Better than that, he is an elite talent playing AFL for us. I am reliably informed that the club is on him about other tendencies which need tweaking. Courage or hardness isn’t one of them. He is extremely confident in his abilities, sometimes to a fault. Tidying up his disposal in close is another area they want him to take a bit more time. Consider his youth and inexperience and how effective he is in a range of roles, just be happy that he plays for us. Wait until he leans up, gets fitter and gets another 20 games under his belt and he’ll be a great player. If only Kolt and Jefferson had shown as much in their 1st season at the club.

I’d like to see Windsor, Lindsay and Langford get off the chain tonight as they’ll be playing against a lot of their peers. We should win. If our midfield plays at 80% of their best that should be enough. As long as they execute something resembling our game plan.

Even with the skillset he currently has at his disposal, he is a very handy player. Once he gets stronger and fitter plus a bit of experience, he’ll be a gun. The only question is, where he will be best used to aid his development as an elite mid but also contributing to a finals side. I love him floating forward…

Happy with the application and changes made at the selection table. Crucially, the forward pressure was where it needs to be. It is still only 1 game. I thought Freo’s pressure was a bit low in the 1st half but we capitalised which is a good sign. Credit where it is due, Goody allowed the team to attack the game and made some wrinkles to our setup. We rolled the dice. Selection integrity and putting players in positions to succeed works. Dropping out of form players in JVR, Fritsch and Henderson. Selecting players based on form in Fullarton. Putting players in positions where they are better suited in Disco and Viney. This isn’t rocket science nor is it an exhaustive list. Hopefully we continue to keep this type of team culture moving forward. Lastly I think it’s a complete nonsense that the players hadn’t completely bought into the game plan. Our effort on the most part was ok for the first 5 games. We played differently as we were given the freedom to do so. By Freo and our setup.

Yawn… Is it summer yet?

Are there links to see Gazza talking? I can’t watch most of the footy shows anymore. It doesn’t make me happier.

In his first couple of years I would’ve said his ability to draw the footy and compete were his two main strengths. I’m not as high on him as others but we are definitely stifling his development by not supporting him with other talls up forward and terrible delivery.

Well, I can tell you there are plenty of players who we’ve approached in recent times only to be rebuffed due to our style of play amongst other reasons. Kozzy himself was unhappy with our style of play. His end of season review in 22 or 23, made that very clear. Another is a Coleman Medalist who was worried about how we move the ball forward. Sacking the coach might have the opposite effect to what you suggest. Now not having a CEO is a different story, we don’t look appealing to agents, hence they advise their clients accordingly.

To be fair, our club has collectively sabotaged JVR’s development. I think he is innocent in this case.

Pretty sure it’s Easter Saturday. Meaning you can watch us kick 2 goals and still get enough sleep to wake up Sunday morning and gorge yourself on chocolate! I won’t be there on Saturday though. I’ve watched this train wreck 4 times live this season. I need a break. Life is too short.

Maybe it meant, “if you’ve read the letter to here, thanks!”

Yep. At this stage anyway.

We will have at least 2 first rounders in the 25 draft. Access to young talent won’t be our problem.

Over here for the game. Went for a walk mid morning. It’s going to be hot. The Bombers supporters I am surrounded by are less optimistic than I am about the result. Which is saying something.