binman

Weightman not playing is arguably a bigger out for them than may is for us, particularly given their other small forward crumbing option, Arthur Jones, is also out (though given he is yet to debut he is not a huge out). Even with may out, their tall forwards are not going to clunk many marks inside 50. The keys for them, if they can't mark it inside 50, will be ensuring oppo defenders don't intercept mark and winning inside 50 ground balls. Weightman is critical for them in terms of winning inside 50 ground balls. It will be super important we win most of those inside 50 ground balls - one to prevent them from scoring and two to bounce from defence and set up offensive transitions and scoring chains. If we win most of these contests, we will win. McVee, Bowser, Rivers and Gus (and players like Nibbler and Spargo pushing back) will all have key roles in terms of winning contested ball inside 50 and being the first links in the chain out of our back half.

Spot on. I wish the media would get off the stupid topic of crowd size. They are just a shill for the AFL on that front. The world has changed since COVID - there will still be some mega crowds for specific matches, but as a generalization the numbers will never go back to what they were pre covid. One, people have got used to watching footy at home. And some people have perhaps come to the conclusion that, all things considered, it is a better experience. No hassles with bar codes, no ridiculously packed trains on the way home (with zero masks and plenty of yahoos), no 'game day' experience (eg blaring music and ads at EVERY SINGLE break in play) to suffer through. No insufferable oppo fans. And no shelling out $10 for flat mid strength beer in a plastic cup. But above all, as you note jnr it, it is expensive for a family to go to the footy. With inflation and high interest rates, going to the footy is a discretionary spend. And many simply can't afford it.

Turner to Darcy or hugle Hagen. Neither are super strong

Expensive switch

Great interview Andy. Pretty cool dude. He said fellas a few time - was he referring to you AND your posting name (aka Demonland)

I agree. Healy is great mates with Jonesy by all accounts (they surf together), so perhaps that is a factor.

Thats coz before the game each dees player did 100 200s as a warm up on the athletic track next door (jokes)

Agree. The other positive is fans could see firsthand the more aggressive ball movement, in particular heaps more kicks to the corridor (and to the top of the goal square) that had been flagged by the club. Creates excitement and energy ahead of the season - as does things like Kozzie playing in the middle and Mcvees' selection. And we all got to see how impactful Hunter, and to a lesser extent Grundy, will be. On Hunter i'm struggling to think of trade that so seamlessly fits into our system and will improve us so much from the get-go. I mean May was obviously a good in, as was Lever, but the defensive system was still in the process of being developed (and built around them) And with Langdon, who is one of the all-time great recruits, how well he fit into our system and much he would improve us only became clear as his first season progressed.

pinching that

Does he agree top of the Ponsford is the best spot to watch footy at the g?

I was thinking about that in terms of our approach to last season. I wonder if last season the plan was to not be too intense in the preseason and early part of the season for fear of burning out later in the season after the emotion of the flag (and all the related palaver) and the shorter preseason (even shorter than normal for flag contender given th season went into October), The approach of the opposition in the first half season would have fed into that given so many teams elected to basically try and deny us the ball and not attack. We were happy to let them do that and focus on our hard-nosed defense - but that led to a lot of low energy games. And as some posters, such rpfc noted, our forward half pressure was way down in the first half of the season - which was perhaps partly a function of consciously dialing things back a bit to avoid burn out and get through a long season. I'm glad we start the season with some serious opponents because we will have to play with intensity to win. I suspect in the games against less strong opposition we will be more likely to be proactive and not let them just chip it around their back half (though I'm sure plenty of such teams will still rely on flooding our forward line, which makes for stodgy footy). I really like the approached they are taking, but as you say it's long season and i hope they don't allow the intensity pendulum to swing too hard the other way.

Demonland IS social media. Well, it is for me. My only social media. i don't have accounts for Twitter, FB, Insta, Tik Tok etc etc. I have a FB account, but only because i created one when i first heard about it, way back. But have never used it.

Given that, it makes the fact we won the stoppage clearances by 6 even more impressive. Winning around the ground stoppages are key for us because they allow us to control territory, which of course so do center clearances. However, unlike at centre bounces, we often have one less player at stoppages because some other teams (eg blues and swans - but not the tigers) bring an extra to the stoppages. When we are confident of winning stoppage clearances, we can afford to risk having players like Hunter take up up aggressive positions, for example forward of the contest, which creates good scoring opportunities when we win the clearance. And when we don't win the clearance, our spare is back, and we often win back the ball. As we saw against the tigers, this scenario can also become an offensive threat when we transition forward - particularly if we are as aggressive and sharp with our kicking as we were against the tigers (i thought i was in alternate reality when the stat came up late in the first q that our DE was 80%. Theirs was actually pretty good too - 72%) The stat i'd really like to see from this game is scores from clearances because it gives a better sense of the effectiveness of clearances than the raw clearance number. The other key clearance related stat is post clearance contested ball wins. Hardwick has said it is the most important stat for them, and Goody has also noted its importance to our game plan. I suspect we smashed them on that stat in this game.

They seemed to have put work into how they deliver to the talls, particularly maxy. There were a few kicks that were put in front and relatively flat, but not a pass as such. Like a hybrid kick to a pack and pass. Nibbler, who was simply outstanding, did a few. If the umpires do indeed start paying frees for chopping arms and pushes, as intimated by healy, that is going to be a big advantage to us given our forward set up.

Implying he had a sub par 2022? In my opinion, he had a a better 2022 than 2021. At given the coaches award the votes for the bluey, it appear they agree.

All excellent points dazzler - agree with all. You might have noted it elsewhere, but i'm surprised you didn't highlight the how direct we were and how many kicks there were to the corridor (and to to top of the goal square too) I don't mean that as knock in any way, only that being more aggressive was something you were hoping to see this season IIRC. Adding quality kicks like Hunter and Mcvee, and Bowey in top form, makes the corridor kick a much better percentage play. And against saints it was mainly the better kicks taking it on. But in this game it seemed to me more players were taking that kick on. With some mixed results it must be said - there were some clangers which resulted in turnovers in the centre square, eg Gus, but the tigers didn't make us pay It's interesting that you say we looked levels above the tigers - i thought the same in both practice matches, particularly in terms of fitness and condition. Neither tram could go with us late in quarters. By god they look incredibly fit.

Nice tune up. Some sublime kicking. I was surprised how strong our lineup was - Laurie and Woe were probably the only players that have little chance of playing round one. Fox would be happy as the would want at least one round of pre season games to tune up themselves - and have some decent footy as content. They banged on about the first game being a sim, and had interns as commentators and very basic camera set ups. But the second round, for all games looked a full dress rehearsal for fox, with more cameras, stats and their normal roster of callers. They also referred to it as a practice match not a sim

Spot on. Ir seems to me that his importance to the team is underated by some fans and media people.

Played best available. Goody's game plan involves two rucks. Jackson was the only alternative. And the chance to won a flag trumps any concerns about his trade value collapsing in the event of a injury @In Harmes Way

Love this line “While he will miss this weekend’s practice match against Richmond, we don’t anticipate him to be further impacted ahead of the season.”

Agree. And he has had his first uninterrupted preseason ever i think (he got though most, but i don't think all of the sessions last year). So looks in ripping shape. His kicking improved heaps last year - but looked to have gone to another level against the saints, with more penetration and depth, which is probably a function of having an uninterrupted preseason. It makes him much more dangerous and impactful. At least he has completed the big Jan-Feb training block and so has his fitness base down.

Fair points. But he ain't AA elite. Look at the seven grand final winners since 2016. Every premier, with the exception of West Coast, had AA big bodied mids. The dogs had bont. The tigers had dusty in his pomp. And cotchin for good measure. The Eagles didn't have an AA big mid, but Shuey, who won the Norm Smith, made the squad twice. And Sheed - also six foot plus, was a pretty handy back up. We had tracc and clarry. And the cats had Selwood and Dangerfield. So recent history suggests to win a flag team need at least one, preferably two elite big mids (ie heavy, strong and at least six foot). Brodie might get there - though personally I don't think so. But he's not there yet.

That augurs well for their future, assuming of course one of those players becomes an elite mid. But it won't help them much this season. But perhaps they are prepared to plautue for a year - which would not be unreasonable given their investment in Jackson and the fact they have a young list.

I agree. When I say I think they might struggle, I didn't mean to say they would be hopeless. I would be very surprised if they don't make the 8 - they are well coached, were super fit last year and have quality players. What I meant to say is they will struggle to make top 4 and I don't think they're a premiership contender. And not just because they lack a cripps or tracc. Their forward line also lacks punch. By the by, I predicted preseason last year that freo would be the bolter. I thought they would finish top 4. So I've got no bias against them as such. I just think they didn't address their biggest needs in the trade period. And i agree with Lampers analysis of their trade period - a net loss. Most concerning for them, given their forward line was already a worry, is they didn't replace lobb with an equivalent player. Lobb is inconsitent, but when on he kicks goals. But even when not kicking goals, like tmac is for us, he was super important structurally for freo. Took the best key defender, ran up and down the wing to provide a marking option and if he couldn't mark brought the ball to ground - which meant their small forwards (which is a strength of theirs) could go to work. Jackson will provide some of that, but as dees fans know he is not a natural forward. I have little doubt he will improve his forward craft. But he won't be at lobb's level this season.

Lack an ELITE big bodied midfielder. We have two.