binman

And prove some of us right

I'm feelin ya. No covid for me coz I've kept my inverticim regime going. But my son has just tested positive so 7 day iso for me and the rest of the family. Can't believe it.

This one?

Maybe the anti vaxxers think Novavax has been approved for use by the most respected anti vax expert - Novak Jokovic

I respect his right to sell his values down the river.....

Looks like our estimate of 50-60k is way unders. I think they are expecting mon 80k based on current sales

I felt the same in the third, i was much more worried in the second. Agree on the second point, except i reckon realistically they need to be 4 plus goals up at three quarter time. They were gassed. They simply had to kick more than the two goals in the third - they need to get the lead out to 5 goals. That's where they lost it - and conversely that's where we won it - bang, bang, bang notwithstanding.

Great point. I'd add that the team had multiple examples of the direct experience of fighting their way back to draw on. Without that words of motivation from Goody and max are just that - words. But they knew Max and Goody were right becuase they could draw on their individual and collective experience. Which is why home and away wins like our Brisbane win and of course the round 23 wins, and even the must win games in round 22 and 23 in 2020 that Goody referenced in the fox doco, are so important in terms of winning the ultimate prize.

That's a really good point. You're right, any 'demotion' became a story. And an unhelpful distraction Melksham must be pleased too, given if there was a 7 man LG he should have been in it. And wouldn't have been.

I have to say I love the old school 'leadership group' comprising just the skipper and VC.

Yep. And I'd add tbat goals are not his KPI - pressure is. Goals are a bonus. He had 8 tackles against Carlton, a stand out in a low intensity performance from us. And his pressure was outstanding in the practice match against the roos.

While she's at it she can give him a few lessons in second efforts and intensity

Exactly. And that pace is one of the reason i think he has an edge on tomo.

And his larrikin shtick hid a brilliant tactical mind. It was a great shame h was never made an Australian skipper. Shocking. Two years younger than me.

Check the freezer

Yep, i was thinking about that (7 defenders). On that logic, totes agree with your likely selections.

Yep fair points. I think there is a chance Smith may take rivers' role I said in my post it is hard to asses the performances of any of the defenders. That said hard to get enthused about baker or Hunt, both of whom had average games. But i thought Hunt was terrific last season and i like him in the team, so i hope he gets his chance to prove himself at some point. He mightget the nod ahead of Smth, but i doubt it. Barring injury, i'm guessing the back six will be May, Lever, Salem, Hibberd, Bowey and Smith. With no Bruce we only need the one key defender really and may can take Naughton. Bowey and Hibber can probably cover River's run. That leaves English and maybe Ugle-Hagan. Smith and Lever can share duties on them. And Smith can also play the half back rivers role so provides some flexibility. Alternatively, thomo comes in and takes English and Smith is not selected. But he can't play HB, so offer less flexibility.

Nothing of substance to take from last night as it was clearly little more than a glorified training session. Some random reflections - The foundation of our 'system' is pressure and intensity. The system does not work if our pressure and intensity does not meet the minimum threshold If there was a scale for pressure and intensity, lets call it the binman scale, our grand final (bar the second quarter) would be a 10 and our round one game against Freo maybe 6 On that hypothetical scale, lets say 6 is the minimum threshold for our system to work On the binman scale we were a 2 last night, except for a brief period in the third and the start of the last quarter, when maybe it got to a 4 By contrast were 6 plus on that scale all game against the Roos When we lifted our pressure and intensity the system rumbled into gear and we got on top I think the biggest challenge of the dees this year, and in particular for coaches is calibrating our pressure and intensity. We will lose games if our pressure and intensity drops below 6, but by the same token can't be at 10 all year as it is not sustainable and we will burn out. This calibration is something we did brilliantly last year, but as they say on the ads for super past success provides no guarantees for future performance Speaking of intensity, and at the risk of being too negative about Weed, his first involvement in the game perfectly summed up what he needs to address if he wants to be a regular in the ones. Weed dropped a mark he should have clunked, but that was not the real issue (after all, he had come on late in the game after playing earlier in the day ). It was his next effort - or lack thereof to be more exact. When the ball hit the deck he simply was not urgent enough, which i find baffling given he he is bloke trying to force his way back into the team On the selection front, the only thing to come from last night is i think it cemented Smith in for Petty. I thought he was good, without being great, but had a better game than tomo, who i think lacks a bit of pace and lateral movement ATM Tomo is better suited playing against the biggest opposition forward but that role is now Mays. So my tip is Smith will get the nod as he has the closing speed and leap to impact more aerial contests and can better run of opponents On a related note, it is hard to asses the performances of any of the defenders. For one thing this was a group that probably had never lined up together, so confusion, for example covering ground balls, was inevitable. But more significantly, the pressure up the field was non existent and our defensive model relies on that pressure to function It was no surprise that Lever had no impact in terms of intercept marks until the third when we noticeably upped the pressure and intensity The biggest win for the night was no injury

We had our serious hit out last week. Yes, we played the wooden spooners but our intentisity was full on, something that was super apparent at the ground. Our intensity tonight was lucky to be half that of last week. Chalk and cheese. A mirror image of last year's preparation.

Jeez, you are pretty hard on your match report skills given you took stats!

Quite possibly. But riv's injury also gives them option of playing both Tomlinson and Smith with Smith taking riv's running hb role and tomo Petty’s role.

Really? The evidence seems pretty conclusive to me that my prediction on team selection was correct, but we'll have to agree to disagree given you don't find that evidence persuasive. And i'm pretty confident my prediction about the round one team will also prove correct. We certainly won't be seeing any of the following players in round one - Weideman, Turner, Baker, Bedford or Chandler and likely not Hunt either. We've had our serious hit out. And it was at Casey last week in the practice match. Just as it was last year

Agree. My feeling is the best way to break our system is playing on at every opportunity, playing fast and using the corridor. - the way the Crows played the first time we played them. With our scoring power, to beat us teams have to score at least 85 - 95 points and the only way they are gong to do that is being super attacking. It's Catch 22 though because playing fast is high risk and we are so good at blocking the corridor, shifting our zone to stay ahead of the ball and punishing teams on turnovers with slingshot rebounds. And teams that play fast struggle to set up their defensive structure when the ball is turned over. But slowing the game down like the Cats tried to do in the last quarter in round 23 just plays into our hands

As i suspected, a repeat of last years strategy in terms of selections for the practice match and community series. Barring injury i expect the round one team will mirror the lineup against the roos. With one exception - Lever in and one of Tomlinson or Smith out (i think Smith will ply round one)