DeeSpencer

Hardwick’s nervy as hell before he speaks to the media or players. Clearly he gets moody. He loses it in the box and I bet he’s burnt through some staff. But then he starts everything off positively. Always backs the system and their strengths and when he does roast the players he does it in a team way. The Tigers have just been so far ahead of the curve drafting speed, skill and hardness and then just drill aggressive footy (from a defensively sound base) it surely makes it easier. We’re trying to retrofit our team in 2020 to play like they have since 2017. But it’s certainly worth thinking about criticism of Goody like him not having a plan B. Richmond haven’t had a plan B since 2017 either and they’ve won 3 flags. Plan B is just double down on plan A because they know how good it is.

He shouldn’t have finished top 30 in the Brownlow. He got Oliver and Gawn’s votes because they back chat the umps. It was also one dimensional, one paced, one way running midfield that bombed the ball forward non stop. That style does not work. Everyone knows that style doesn’t work. We need a guy like Kozzie in the midfield. And we need to set some standards on fitness and work rare and pick Jordon

Jones and ANB are really just filling in little patches to cope with less restrictions. But Kozzie and Jordon yes. We need pace and skill, and we need run. Oliver, Petracca and Harmes are in the side to rip in to win the ball. Someone has to get that handball. Or sweep the pack and tackle.

Looked good against Richmond, struggled against the Dogs. I'd suggest he often starts at half forward and swaps with Petracca a fair bit or even Clarry to go do the midfield running whilst they rest deep forward. If we move the ball it brings his tank in to play more and whilst his disposal has been hit and miss I'd suggest there's a chance of some good kicking in there. Freo are super hard working and disciplined so his tank should suit, particularly at the G.

My centre bounce rotations would roughly be: Oliver 75% Harmes, Petracca 60% (Petracca attending more centre bounces then swapping forward with Jordon/Jones/ANB). Jordon 50% Kozzie 40% Jones/ANB 15% We know Brayshaw isn't good anywhere but in the middle and there's already 4 guys ahead of him and Koz makes 5. I know Koz on a wing was reported but I don't see that suiting him, if he's in the midfield get him around the ball IMO. I'd have Brayshaw on ball for Harmes' minutes but stopping Fyfe has to be a priority. I also wouldn't worry about getting Viney and Gus back in next week or the week after that, they can make a double change if it's needed. Jordon's locked in. Which leaves Chandler, Jones and Vanders (or possibly Baker) vulnerable but I think each of those 3 can do the job asked of them.

Almost certain 65 is big Josh Smith, he's a young key forward from Gippsland and kicked a goal in the 3rd. This tweet - whilst not entirely clear - suggests he kicked 2 in the last

FB: Hibberd May Rivers HB: Lever Tomlinson Salem C; Langdon Petracca Vanders HF: ANB McDonald Spargo FF: Chandler Jackson Fritsch Foll: Gawn Oliver Harmes Int: Hunt - back Pickett - mid/forward Jones - wing/mid/forward Jordon - mid/forward Sub: Bedford E: Bowey, Petty, Brayshaw Backline: I'd like to have taken chances on Petty and Bowey down back but overall I think they'll stick with Tomlinson and Hunt for a bit more experience and size. I'd take my chances with an underdone Hibberd. Fitness isn't ever his strength anyway but he can win a contest and he takes the game on and makes position to move the ball. He can play slightly limited minutes and as the deepest small. Forward: It's really hard to go away from the Fritsch/Jacko/McDonald trio as about all we've got right now. And I think we need the skill and pressure of 3 hard running smalls. They're all super fit and can do the work. Mids: 4 locks in Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Langdon. After that it's hard to know. I think we'll need Harmes on ball for Fyfe when he's there, we can't be beaten up by Fyfe. Vanders then becomes the best of a not great group of options for the wing. He knows how to bring the pressure and work rate required. After that it's looking more and more like Kozzie will get good midfield minutes which is exciting. Then there's 2 remaining spots and they trust Jones to fill in forward and on the wing, and they clearly want to reward Jordon for his summer. That means Brayshaw misses out which sets the standard for the year that you've got to be really fit to earn a game through the midfield.

No chance on the wing, and I reckon there's every chance Freo slide a key defender forward if needed, and if not will play Fyfe forward. I expect we'll keep the 3 talls. Tomlinson has the endurance and straight line speed for smaller opponents (if not the agility). May has to be a chance to take Fyfe and slide Tomlinson on to Tabs as well.

That's never happened.

He looks and sounds fine to me. Good spark in his eyes and energy in his voice. He struggles to pronounce longer words and can't pronounce 'r' sounds. It's his post match press conferences where he refuses to tell it like it is that bother me, not the light and easy ones like today.

Isn't that true of every player until the 90's when the bench started to become something that was used frequently?

There's no way I'd have Jones as the sub for his 300th when on 299, that's the same situation as a debutant. No milestone should be achieved as the sub - used or unused. What I'm saying is if Jones struggles early we shouldn't be afraid to use him as the sub for games 296-298. Or even plays a full game for 298, has a light week as the sub for 299, plays a full game for 300.

One thing we should never do is have a kid who could be on debut as the sub. That's a terrible way to debut. In contrast the sub is actually the best for us to nurse Jones through to 300. Not for 6 games straight but if he plays 3 of the 6 as the sub that works for me.

12 day lay over for the subbed out player unless CMO allows him. I'm thinking of Harmes breaking a finger and not missing a game as the kind of scenario where you'd be allowed to sub a player out then play them the next match. Concussion is clearly a no. Guys come back the next week from tightness/corks/rolled ankles all the time. Should they not be subbed and then be allowed back? Also we don't want the system manipulated but why should 1 team benefit from injury? That makes no sense that one team actually gets an advantage if they have the misfortune of a fringe player going down late in the third.

For an insurance scheme guys should get looked after no matter what happens. For a claim of negligence the league is now doing the best practice of the times and can now point to that. Players sign their rights away when they agree to play, and hopefully are covered by a good insurance policy going forward. But the league (and the insurers) will be protected by adopting these measures. They players will be able to access what they agreed to and not additional.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/03/16/pickett-likely-for-demons-opener-forward-line-plans-in-place/ On Brown: 'Back playing some form of footy between round 5 and round 7'

There is some information at this link that might be useful. It could be a printer issue or you might need to open the tickets with a different program before printing them https://premier.ticketek.com.au/contentpopup.aspx?headingcontentid=ezyTicket.InformationHeading&bodycontentid=ezyTicket.Information You might want to try a friend printing them. Or at a library etc

Did you put both barcodes in at once when prompted? 1 per line. Once barcodes are entered the tickets are automatically placed together

That was Josh Smith

Yet we beat more finals teams with that combination than we did in the rest of the season with flat track Jesse moping around. Weideman showed last year he can absolutely still be one of the main targets and adequately replace Hogan. Unfortunately Tom McDonald turned from a fringe AA player to a cactus overnight. Now he gets his chance to make a stirring return to form.

Theory...Tommy Mac’s marking is all wrong. His fingers are pointing up too much and he needs to wrap them around the ball more and let the ball come deeper towards his thumbs. Compare and contrast with Nick Riewoldt

Can I use that for a pet peeve. The umps throw the ball in too flat trying to get it in deep. That makes a tall ruck like Max struggle to be useful because it’s hard to tap the ball over his head to the corridor. The best forward ruck is Hawkins because he just pushes his opponent (often illegally) under the ball and the snaps goals or dishes handballs in to the corridor. I thought Weid could do the same as he gets stronger. Benny Brown might be the same but he’s light in the legs. Max could make an impact occasionally but I don’t think he’s as good as people think. All the time dropping him out of forward 50 stoppages doesn’t hurt us all that much.

Kozzie is 19 and skinny, I'm not convinced photos alone provide any real evidence of how much training he did or didn't do. I also don't really care, he's back, he looks happy enough and his hair looks great.\ Good to see so many under the injury cloud out there. Bowey's gone with the game day haircut. No idea yet if he can play but Deakyn Smith looks like he'll be a very strong boy when he matures. Is there something wrong with Bedford's handball technique?

Good one. Hardwick would be sacked in the corporate world (then hired with a promotion elsewhere). But yes he's always been a strong character and leader. The Sheedy era Essendon bravado, but it wasn't all there going in to 2017. I'd argue the real Simon Goodwin is a lot more passionate than the one who does press conferences and even appears in the club media. The Paul Roos 'say nothing' press conferenced just don't work for Goody, he doesn't have the charisma. Roos can talk in circles and get the benefit of the doubt, Goody just gets tied in knots. I've said since 2019 that we'll know if Goodwin has any chance of saving his job when he's relaxed and truly honest in press conferences. Personally I think the club has set him up to fail with list management, assistant coaches and footy administration but he's still some chance to save his job and go on to success. For that to happen he has get all the players and assistants following him. Apart from early season wins the big thing he needs is conviction. When he took over the job he believed in his plan and rode it to finals.

I don’t know the context for this but it’s just exceptionally lazy if it’s not part of a larger discussion of who/where/why some of our players are playing individual football. Jake Niall addressed this with some of our mids in a detailed article. We could also do with an outside mid or forward who’s selfish if they are really dangerous. I sure wouldn’t say no to Tom Papley for instance. Petracca doesn’t always do the team thing but he’s earnt some license. Gawn, Viney, Oliver, May, Lever could all play the percentages better at times but for every time they bite off too much they also do really great team acts. They are overwhelmingly team players but need coaching and collective leadership.