Demon17

I cannot believe the posts here discussing dropping Tomlinson. The defence is now solid and it includes him, plus he has versatility to play wing if needed. As he said post match last Sunday - The hawks kicked 27 points in the first 1/4 , then 27 points for the rmeining 3 1/4's. Tomlinson is a key to those sorts of results and we now have a premiership-standard back 6 or 7.

Leave Clayton alone. His hair is a work of art and perfectly frames his angry face (see Frost exchange last match)

Your post is absolutelty spot on and was my ongoing view until I saw AFL 360 and Goodwins thoughts and Garry Lyons views on On the Couch last night. Just once we should cut Nathan some slack and have him enjoy the milestone game on the big stage, irrespective of my earlier views on professiosnal team selection. I fear another lousy Junior moment if we don't so its the right thing to do. We can't lose second spot and will be 8 wins for 1 loss after round 9. My apologies to Nathan Jones and I wish him a great game. The team definitely doesnt need him to be fired up for the occasion - theyr'e clearly more mature than that now.

Good call P2J. I thought that writing the post that they seemed to generally be loitering around half back, and at one stage 35 players were forward of center and Lever in our defensive zone maybe 50 m from any other player. Just enjoying the view I guess.

We tamper with our forward pressure capability at our peril. It will open the door for the Tiges approach big time as you say.

Jordan 20 possesions, and 11 in the final 1/4 when the game needed to be won. And 4 tackles. He stays unless exhausted. Who'd be a selector this week?

He played fewer minutes on Sunday (by his standards) at 90%. I wondered if he was being rested to some degeree for the Tiges game once the game was over. He looked spent on the boundary near the end. Only Lever and Tomlinson played 100% - mainly saving the game for us, but most others seemed to be rested a bit more than their normal TOG%'s. - forward planning

Without jake levers first half heroics we would have been well behind at half time. Big improvement needed next we to even be competitive.

Nailed it. Esp your reading the ball comment to strengthen levers support

8 point game last week for sure, given the cats will beat a lot of other sides/contenders during the season and help us out in that regard.

Great post Chook. The Saints are fair dinkum pretenders regarding pressure when compared to MFC, tiges, Port Adelaide and Dogs. The stats for last night are deplorable saints-wise as if the white flag was raised at 1/4 time. Dusty with 10 disposlas in final 1/4 supports this view.

This reflects Dermies comment the prvious game against GWS about Oliver's tag. Dermie sees tags as a compliment and just another player to beat, which is the mindset he suggested Oliver could take on. He said Olivers eilite enough to just play through the problem. Seems for certain Petracca is. Olivers performamnce on Satuarday, still with Cats hanging off him at clearances suggest he might have takne this approach.

This is a good point. The problem for oppo teams is that a traditional tagger can't run with Langdon, and so would need a couple of them to lock him down in bursts. Not achievable.

Possibly the most articulate and cliche-free interview from a player I have heard. He nailed the selflessness issue wonderfully in his response to why he runs 100% game time - He can run all day so it allows power-based players (Oliver, Petracca etc) to have their rests needed under the lower i/c rules. What an inclusion into the team and its culture.

Sorry Bigred but I disagree. No Melb fan would ever under appreciate YZE. One of the smartest payers of the Daniher era, a Clarkson strategist for nearly 10 years and was wanting to come home 2 years ago. Rightfully Clarkson made him stay. Williams is brilliant in other aspects and a great coaching addition. But underestimate YZe's imact on the way the team is playing? - Never. Clarry's signature sosays so too.

Correct p2j. There's some fascinating trade stories behind this current team. Kossie pickett is the most intriguing given Taylor's single mindedness to get him to the club.

As usual a lovely piece of prose CHF and a classy nod to Alexander Dumas. You missed a commentary on pressure acts although alluded to it in the forward line and after the brilliant analysis on On the Couch last night, (those stats are covered on another post) I like Gerard Healy am convinced the team is now onto something and will just get better . I'd pay to see Fritsch vs Frost clash as a bonus this week.

We have what was called the Robbie Flower wing in the MCC side. Now IMO we have the Ed Langdon wing on the outer. He's permanently placed there, as said previously, because he never comes off so why have him near the bench. And to top off he wears the mighty Stan Alves No. 15.

My teplay highlight came at end of second quarter after trac had goaled on the siren. Kossie moved to join in the dees huddle celebration and Selwood in sniper fashion pushed him in the chest. He was wide open and understanably not expecting contact. Clayton Oliver instantly retaliated doing the same back to selwood. As if to say Don't touch kossie. Well done clarry. Failed tagger O'connor joined in weakly as well. Maybe saw a chance to finally get close to Oliver

I hope your right. But AA defenders don't grow on trees. A team positive about yesterday was the way the defence transitioned withour May, no panicking with Tomlinson straight back to Hawkins and the courageous filling in the hole role Brayshaw played with such maturity. Never mind Lever's superb intercepts and leadership. Another good sign from the coaching team and players to cover the threat.

This is the key for me KM. 4th game in a row where the team has been challenged (often more than once) and responded. Would have been 4 losses in past times. That's not a random outcome, Its now a trend. Esp last 1/4 accelerations

93% game time 23 Possessions- 8 in the last 1/4, 10 contested 6 interceptions, 4 I50's and 4 tackles. 41 hitouts to 10 (direct opponent Stanley - who had 78% game time) 1 goal - when it counted most, on the run and evading a tackler As a PS: Midfield last 1/4 poss (Gawn, Oliver, Petracca) 28 (Honourable mention to Jack Viney who had 4, but was swung onto Selwood to shut him down - he had 3, having had 11 in previos 1/4) IMO he was a towering presence throught the game and that's not meant to be a pun.

Absolutely a brainy player. Sets up opportunities and tackles like a trojan. I expect him to play all year. Beautiful foil for kossie.

4th highest pressure acts though. On what possible formline and fitness level was this decision made.?

I hear you, but the Team of the Year concept is in no way an AA team when 18 of the players are Victorians and are playing in Victoria comp, sprinkled with several interstate recruits like kernahan. By that logic there are no other players in the Wafl Sanfl Tfl etc worthy of a guernsey which would most likely be implausible. So its a VFL Team of the Year. Still a great honour though.