DeeSpencer

Play Petracca, Oliver, Gus and Viney all forward! Brayshaw does give a more outside mix to the on ballers but it comes at a cost with his lazy defending around a stoppage and lack of speed. His game against North was very good in attack but Aaron Hall was torching him the other way at times. Viney’s movement around the packs is still vital. And he’s not a primary forward, any talk of comparing him to someone like Toby Greene is bonkers. Best case scenario would be a shorter less skilled Mitch Wallis. That would be a waste of a gun midfielder. A rotation that sees all our prime mids get their share on ball and forward is the best balance.

2016: gets a taste at the end of the year for 3 games after a decent enough VFL year. 2017: Plays the first 4 and has another couple of chances at the end of the year. Clearly isn’t ready. 2018: Stuck behind an excellent pairing of Hogan and McDonald. Still gets 4 games early and then gets his chance at the end of the year to breakout in finals. ——————————————————————— Surely no one has major complaints with how much Sam was played in his first 3 years? Last year he played 11 of the first 16 and probably would’ve come back in to play a few more. That’s despite injuries and confidence issues. I understand the argument that he should’ve just played every game he was fit for in 2019 but I don’t really believe it. Getting him back to Casey for a bit of confidence probably helped him more than grinding through 22 games of misery.

Good point. Fritsch kicks across the ball with a rounded arc, it’s like a soccer kick or golf swing in that it’s the best way to get penetration. Keeping everything straight is actually quiet inefficient in terms of biometrics. So when Fritsch takes a set shot in a straight line he risks slicing the ball and drops the ball higher up to keep things straight. Hannan is the same. Its very well worth asking the question if he’s best off trying to keep everything straight or if he should allow himself some arc to match his field kicking style.

Petracca certainly get more momentum and get his head over the ball. Fritsch get that ball drop lower and swing straighter. He carves across the ball and it’s high risk/high reward. Weid is such a confidence set shot. If he nails his first he’s usually ok. Hit the post but his first set shot was good and then he got one from the square. I think it’s all about monument with Sam. When he gets nervous he loses that rhythm.

Certainly more a list management error than on Taylor but any senior player bought in who gives nothing is a mistake. That said, we’ve mostly tried either expensive trade ins who have delivered to some extent or cheap bargain buys. Lumumba cost little at the trade table but likely got a contract too large to write off as just a swing and miss unlike a Mitchie or Balic or similar. The same probably goes for KK.

The form of Sparrow and Jackson over the last couple of weeks has changed the out look a bit! If Spargo can find some consistent form as well things will be looking very good. It’s interesting to review our history and see that we’ve pretty much given Taylor either early and late picks or a bunch of middle picks. Last year was the first year he got 3 in the top 30 ish and we didn’t give him any later picks to look at. We’re only a few good flankers away from having a very strong list and that’s without the benefits of multiple father sons, free agency, or priority picks.

Gets the vast majority of his kicks in uncontested situations - that’s not a knock. So his DE should be high. He just isn’t a good kick. Limited length and penetration. Kicks little flops. A good kicking wingmen would’ve had a goal a game given his opportunities. There’s an opportunity cost to his short kicking too, where a longer kick could get over a zone or hit a long switch. Not recruit of the year but he’s been as advertised - the good and the bad.

Jones came in to the side as the second winger when Vanders was out, then the last two weeks has played a bit wing and a bit half forward. Kind of a mix of Gus’ wing minutes and Harley’s half forward role. I think it’s about the best use of Jones’ tank and ability to get to good spots. They’ve been reluctant to entrust Bennell with any wing time (fitness and defensive efforts) but it’s nearing time to free him up from the pure forward flank and in to that kind of role. Otherwise Harmes and Sparrow should be used in this kind of role. Or If you want to keep Harmes back in the hope he settles down we could try Rivers. His tank would be the main issue, otherwise he has a lot of the attributes we’re desperately searching for on the wing.

1. Without the confidence of good practice match footy and the midfield using it better we might’ve killed Weid if we played him earlier. He earnt his spot, and played like he did. 2. Oscar was the answer 2 weeks ago, now he’s the problem again? 3. Oliver, Petracca and Viney are just better. So was Harmes last year. Until that changes the put Gus on ball fans are missing the obvious. Beating up on a weak North side doesn’t mean Gus is a great mid again. 4. Why? Wasn’t going to change that we were getting thumped. Leave things mostly the same and work on fighting back. He did move Fritsch to a wing and try to mix the forward line up. May was keeping Dixon quiet, which is more than most defenders have done this year. 5. Is that true? We were effective in 2018 and we’ve been effective in probably 7 of 10 games this year. Apart from Harmes, Brayshaw (due to oversupply of mids) and Tom McDonald who is Goodwin not getting the most out of?

Doesn’t tackle, can’t evade tackles, naturally isn’t strong in the air but he’s hardly winning it at ground level all that well either. Doesn’t break lines or burst out in space. He used it well enough and it’s always hard to value the importance of a guy who still knows pretty well where to run. But he’s an aging midfield playing wing/forward. If we’re a decent side we’ll have better options

McDonald’s always been a terrible forward pressure player and he has 3 tackles and is suddenly the answer? I don’t think so. One of those tackles was when McKay landed on the ball after a marking contest and Tom landed on top of him. Not sure what the other 2 were. It was nice to see Tom give defensive effort his best shot. But the effective forward pressure was mainly from 2 things: 1. Fresh Pickett, Spargo and Hannan in 2. North’s defenders being headless chooks

I’m not saying Tom is ahead of them just if either of those two medium guys came out we could think about 3 talls. Tom would play lead up CHF/cover Weid if he needs a rest and Jackson would play smaller in a flank role and ruck more than he has been with Gawn in. Tom has to clunk a lot of marks and do a power of running to really be useful as a forward given his limited mobility but credit where it’s due for his effort tonight. Gave it his best.

Fritsch and Melk are the other forwards that Tom can cover. Can’t play 3 talls and 2 mediums that don’t defend well. If one of those medium guys went out we could try the 3 talls again, especially if we lowered all their minutes and Gawn’s so only 2 were forward at any time.

Smith’s biggest mistakes were flying for contests he didn’t need to, defensively he gave McKay and Rohan a bath and kept Riewoldt relatively quiet given the chances Richmond had Hannan fumbles or turns it over on about 50% of touches, he’s far from clean. I want him in the side but chasing and tackling at full fitness. Vanders stays until we look at Harmes, Rivers (Or Bennell, Baker, Sparrow, JJ etc) on a wing and find a proper solution (non Jones, non Gus). His importance to the defensive structure overcomes most of his mistakes - outside of gifting goals from free kicks but that shouldn’t be a consistent thing.

May will stick in his deep spot, probably on Reid. Unless we go Oscar in on the talls and May on a Stephenson or Ruscoe. Hibberd’s got the job on Stephenson before if he’s deep, Joel wasn’t smart enough. I think with Rivers in providing skill and Lockhart hopefully run and skill the mix of the backline is favouring more another defensive player like Smith or Oscar. Tomlinson was a nice change to look at more composure and skill but I just can’t see it working against legitimate teams.

Out: T Mc.. In: Gawn (if fit). Sorry Tom but that’s no debate. Out: Jones. In: Lockhart. (Harmes goes to the 3rd wing/forward). Harmes is too good to leave out, just got to find the right role. If everything else fails we have a utility to move around. Out: Hannan. In: Viney. I like Mitch in the side but we can rotate the 5 mids through the half forward line. Vanders, Sparrow and Spargo stay for now. Out: Tomlinson. In: Joel Smith. Tomlinson is not a key defender, let’s stop with that right now. Smith might not be popular but we need someone to play on Mihocek who plays as a traditional lead up and back key forward. He’s too strong for Lever, too quick for Oscar or Tomlinson.

Also Derm said many times throughout the call that a player pinning one arm and driving a player in to the turf was ‘the perfect tackle’. Commentators need to be educated about the dangers of the Cyril arm grab tackle and how it is not perfect, it’s very dangerous.

People will see this as victim blaming but Nibbler had Hamill by the wrist and by a stretched piece of jumper. Hamill had an arm, both legs and his core free. It was Hamill’s decision to spin with the tackle and get a kick off and his slight build that saw him go flying. Not to say Nibbler isn’t responsible for part of it but the idea that he’s all of a sudden some kind of destroyer is really misrepresentation of what occurred

May has been penalised harshly for his poor unforced turnovers in the first quarter and probably for not taking enough intercept marks. Take marks, don't turn the ball over and you get high scores as he did in a lot of the rest of the game. I think we set Oscar up to fail playing him on a short break and without a suitable opponent, not to mention the way the team played. They'll likely stick with Tomlinson so I hope I'm wrong. He does have a better tank and more experience to deal with the quick turnaround, but I could also see someone like big Majak getting hold of him and next week we're sitting back saying why didn't we just play a fresh and trained up Oscar who suits the match up.

Cox was probably equal to Gawn as a tap ruckman (Max is good but he's not Nic Nat), 80% as good as a marking option around the ground (better forward) and twice as good as a midfielder with the ball in motion. As good as Max is and as strong as his influence on games is he won't have the career Cox had.

I see what you're saying about him being contradictory but I think you can play 2 different styles without being overly reliant on one or the other. The Saints are the outside team, the Suns are the contest team. But the Saints still have Steele, Jones and others hunting the contest, just as the Suns have Weller, Lukosius and Ellis with some skilled outside game. To compare to super teams the Hawks loved to get it on the outside and use their skills, whilst the Cats sure didn't lack for skills but their game plan was to run through sides and hit up Mooney at CHF and bring the contest in to the game. The Suns best footy still uses lots of skill and spread but they make sure they have numbers at the ball and play directly so it stays in the contest. The Saints prefer to get it out to guys like Billings, Hill and Butler and get running.

He hasn't been getting those chances and he has been playing confused because he was so hopeless last year he had to make changes. 2018 isn't coming back, see ball get ball with 2 guys covering and a high pressed backline won't cut it, it's a new game now and he has to adjust in other areas first. Petracca's got fitter, Viney's started to adjust his ball use, Clarry has started to use his legs to run. Gus hasn't had as much opportunity but if he adapts he'll get more of a go. Tagging that gives him a simple defensive task to build his game around is a very good idea to make the game easier for him and let him find some rhythm.

I liked seeing Goody speak his mind freely and defend his captain. Stuff like this is just not on.

I thought Gus played on M Crouch for most of the game and it just took him a half to find his balance between tackling and hunting the ball at the contest and more than anything finding his balance between sticking to Crouch and his recent style of transition defending which is just sprinting back to the backline and hoping that's useful. It's his defensive work around the contest and around the ground that's been the big detractor of his midfield play. Teams are too quick and skill through the middle now and we can't just plug 2 extras off the back of centre bounces to cover. So Gus has to adapt. A promising second half, hopefully he can keep going with it.

Was he good? He didn’t win the ball back, he mostly just existed against Adelaide’s crappy forwards and got a few uncontested touches. AFL player ratings had him worst on ground for us. I don’t have any faith in Tomlinson as a key defender, it’s just not his go. Where as Oscar has done the job on Day and Mitch Lewis. When Oscar has the right match up and is running on top of the ground he looks and plays like a proper tall defender. I’d be proactive and put him back in rather than waiting for Tomlinson to fail.