Demon17

Last proved to me that they can both compliment each other and stay out of the way fro each other. Tall forwards now the solution - see cats for another example.

4 Tackles, score involvements and enabled small forwards opportunities. Plus Tmac has someone near goal to target from up the ground. Last night is pretty close now to best 22 and finals lineup.

Kane Cornes view correctly IMO this morning is that Port have a habit of making other teams look good. There's something in that, but last night's win was first class and would have stood up against any side. Just need to temper expectations till we see the next round performanace againsts a lower hawks side to confirm the mojo is back. 4 . 10 after 1/2 time the only concern. The 22 last night will be the finals mix into the finals and I have full faith in coaching staff.

Just another AFL boys club type with a huge ego and a second rate breakfast TV show where the cash cow is the most interesting and informative part of the show - so Iv'e been told.

Fully agree with all your comments about the Dees. IF we lose by a small margin it will say something about some improvement that we can recover from. Esp if BBB kicks a few and it looks like we have a forward solution. and the record against top 8 side (tiges, cats, esp Lions and Dogs) retains some credibility. If we cop a thumping its a huge deal. But Power can't win here. They should win, and if they lose they are officially making up the numbers big time and Kochie won't be happy.

It is - but in my opinion for Port Power. If they lose they will be fully discounted as contenders , more like pretenders. Dees have some significant runs on the board and know how to get the job done. Brown will help.

Your last sentence. obvious all game.

I like your thinking. Gawn is not a natural forward and should either ruck all day, defend down back if needed or rest. LJ still has a some way to go to be effective as a resting forward also, maybe playing up the ground a bit. Tmac plays closer to goals but has different leading patterns to Ben Brown and should work. In regard to Tmac geeting further away from goals lately, Kevein Sheedy once said that when the bombers played St Kilda, he didn't mind Robert harvey getting 35 possessions as most were upfield and not necessarily damaging. This was said by an oppo player this week of Tmac. The fix is hard here IMO. There are other issues than I am sure YZE is working on mid-field -wise.

Thanks for this background LN. If they were trying to play him into form etc he does 100% or close to it. I suspect he's passed his 6 weeks mini preseason and is ready to go and a lock for this Thursday. May turn out to be smart strategy by match cttee and Burgess.?

Great post TU. . I would be mortified to move Hunt from defence. he's a key and helps with Langdon's running patterns. I forgive the brain fades this last game. Its just not his forte to dodge and weave. He has been a big improver IMO

Timely post H I. I really rate the GWS and they are back in the 8 where they belong with a top class midfield and the best mid sized forward in the League. Phil Davis still has it too. We lost to them by 9 points and all of our own doing. Thursday will nedd to be top notch competitive or else the dogs will be barking a slide is on.

Hunt should never have been moved from defence. Its revitalised his career. Dealt with Tipenwutti last week, and others. It was a desperate roll of the dice yesterday and he's never been a quality forward at any stage - doesn't have the evasive tricks as shown in last 1/4. back to defence if theres amatch up

Agree with all your points except the last. We move Salem and tinker with defence at our peril. its the maon/now only reason we are still competitive.

Sensible summary jaded. They are certainly worthy finalists and were grand finalists only 20 months ago. Upside is the reality check for match cttee. And weaknesses that need addressing.

Your first sentence nails it. Last week papered over cracks but were there for all to see today. Disconnect into forward line. Defence brilliant again but couldn't do any more. Small forwards ineffective with spargo the only one with football I Q Oliver going backwards in effectiveness Viney couldn't play out game. Poor conversion rate costs games. Single most important kpi. No more domination of the corridor

Gawn is not a natural forward. Experiment over. Let's bring in a real forward. Say ....ben brown . Mitch brown....?

Good call. Game over now. Last week bombers weren't good enough. Gws are class and we're a 5 to 8th team. Selection forward strategy non existent.

3 highest possession winners for the quarter were defendets. Oliver ineffective. Poorest forward connection for a top team ever. Gws system and connection far superior.

I love Thursday night footy, mainly because it means the Front Bar is on a day earlier. But the ratings have slid for Friday nights with some dud games and the later 7.50 start too late a timeslot. Thursday night at 7.25 start will please our sponsors. Everyone's home and watching hopefully.

And is Rutten as good as they say? i.e. Tom Stewart - 13 uncontested marks. No planning or just no-one to counter him? I think he will be good culture-wise for them however.

Not unreasonable . So far theres only been 1 wwek without the extra tall, if you assume Weids was contributing when he played? Last week w/out BBB I reckon.

Kudos for this post. The original post was 22 hours ago. Normally the other team's insigths correspond to a meltdown of hilarity and comment on here. No such luck and says just how different it must be to follow a new team as opposed to the traditonal ones with rusted on emotion. Sad really for them. Suns commentary must be worse.

On the contraty it tells us the teams thst genarally did well in last half of last season carried that good form across summer and into first half of this year. Whilsy last years also rans are still in that position.

At our peril.

Well said here. It reminds me of the selction mistake (IMO) prior to the 1987 prelim, when the great John Northey, dropped a forward David Williams, for a defender, Rod Grinter. Williams was a proven goalkicker and was in tears in the race at the end of that disatsorous game. He was back in the the 1988 GF team but little consolation at the time.. Willaims had a poor game in the lead up semi against the Swans, but in the prelim our best goalkicker was Ricky Jackson with 3. Wilson 2. The other forwards didn't fire a shot and we lost by only 2 points. Brown will free up Fristsch to do what he does best - dominate in the air in one on ones.