Dr. Gonzo

He has been crucial in getting our slingshot game going and was fantastic again today. Really growing into the role after his injury interrupted season last year.

When they build his statue at the G it has to be of him taking an overhead mark

Absolutely fantastic win, an outstanding whole team effort. Clean up some of those costly skill errors and it really would have looked like a more dominant win. Fritsch was great when coming on, that's the required level. Lindsay was outstanding in 2nd half and our midfield just bullied theirs. Max, what else can you say 👏👏👏

I think they have tried this but maybe not frequently enough. I'm pretty sure I saw him in the middle last week (or the week before?) but not taking a ruck contest. Not sure how many times it happened though definitely happened once. I agree, I think he could play as a part time mid though how that fits in with Brayshaw, Serong, Bolton et al I don't know.

If thats your argument (which I don't agree with) then our forward coach is not very good because our forward line has been abominable for years. Even in our premiership year our forward line wasn't great, it was our midfield and defence which won us the flag. Even late in the season there were still question marks about our forward line, whether we would play Brown and McDonald etc We demolished the Cats and Dogs in the finals but again mostly off the back of midfield efficiency (and Fritsch going off in the GF). JVR needs someone to do one on one coaching with him to teach him the technical aspects of playing key forward. He has raw talent but it isn't being developed (he's not alone either).

You're saying he's not doing what he should as a forward. I agree. You're saying he doesn't have the attributes to do so. I disagree. This is where coaching comes in.

Tigers would be a good fit or Bombers and both have the picks

It's been mentioned on here elsewhere that the forwards have been coached to push back and compete with the defenders rather than leading up to the kicker. If the coaches are telling them to that it's stupid. If the coaches are not telling them to do that and thats how we are playing they are incompetent. We don't have a proper forwards coach and haven't for I don't know how long. We need an ex-key forward to come down and teach Roo how to play that role. We need to pair him with another key forward so he gains continuity. We need to stop pushing him into 2nd ruck because while it may be the best option for the team right now it is not the best option for his development and the team overall longer term. He is out of form I'm not denying that but I don't think we've helped him much either. We have lots of players that come in with natural talent and never improve beyond that. That's poor development.

Nah don't buy that, he's already shown he has the tools. It's on the coaches to coach him to use those attributes to get the best out of himself and perform for the team.

Which is where development comes in.

Oh and we're also playing him as the lone (undersized) key forward and throwing him in as second ruck then blaming him for loss of form and dropping him to the VFL. He needs to play next to Petty and Melksham/Fritsch for the rest of the season to build some continuity.

He needs a key forward coach to teach him leading patterns, body positioning etc We are coaching him to stand still and wrestle his opponent so the midfielders can bomb it on his head, it is moronic.

We are ruining his development.

4 first rounders if you include the pick we originally used on Jackson in 2019.

So Jackson saying he wants to stay in Freo is a non-core promise?

I reckon he's upped his pressure game the last few weeks too, I've noticed him doing repeat efforts/tackles/pressure acts which as a mid-30s ruckman is phenomenal (and shows up some of his younger/more athletically gifted teammates).

Is Jefferson contracted beyond this year? All signs point to bust so far, just too timid to play key forward.

Some would see that as an opportunity to dig in and support the club. Thousands of Melbourne supporters took that as an opportunity to take their ball and bat and go home. Culture.

How does Fritsch get a game lol

And then about 30 seconds later Weddle got a free kick for holding the man when he had dropped the footy, the umpiring was infuriating in this game.

We had our chances against the Hawks. The coach can only set the pieces up, it is up to the players to execute. Fritsch, Spargo, Windsor missing absolute sitters, JVR dropping a sitter of a mark, Koz getting legged in the goal square. I do agree some of his moves/selections are bewildering, I would've preferred to see another defender brought in for Jefferson and Turner up forward or even try JVR in defence for a period. Hawks forward line isn't overly tall either so could've got away with an undersized defender.

I don't know the full situation but if his family/mates have all been leeching off him then I can understand why he might be cutting them off.

Turner should have been shifted forward in the 2nd quarter when it was obvious we we were winning around the ground but struggling to convert up forward. Despite having a number of set shots we also had a number of inside 50s repelled with Hawks taking easy intercepts which we would have been able to mitigate by moving Turner up forward. It was blindingly obvious at the ground, had Turner been moved forward earlier we may have been able to convert more opportunities. Conflating Turner's move forward when the game was lost with the Hawks piling on goals in the last quarter is a great example of "correlation ≠ causation".

Hahaha no, good old public school education for me bd!

No hindsight from me, I thought at the time both were the exact type of player we need. Big bodied forwards who can play 2nd ruck. Even if it were hindsight from supporters it is irrelevant because recruiters are paid to get it right. Guys like Chol and Wright should have been pursued ahead of guys like Schache and Fullarton.