binman

Right at the top? It must be in tbe mcc part of it. Def closed on this side of the great divide.

Fake news. Top of the Ponsford closed unfortunately.

That's a yes?

A question for anyone at the g, is the top of the Ponsford open?

The Corner Hotel if you are coming from the Richmond side

I'm convinced they will. Mitchell will want to test his game style against the best. And why not? I expect them to come out attacking, look to move the the ball fast, switch a lot and take on the corridor. Which I actually think is their best chance of winning - the reference point is the crows game we lost last year. I hope they do play their game as it will make for a much better game to watch than if they take the approach gws, the bombers and tigers took ie flooding, creating congestion and minimum 2 extras up to stoppages.

West Coast are a rabble who will want to finish bottom of the ladder to finally get a number one draft pick (have they ever had one?). And the tigers have been better than their win loss tally suggests, were really good against us in terms of intensity and pressure, and are still playing for a finals spot. Grimes in is huge as their defence has been super wobbly and they lack height down back. Lambert is also a great in and smart to bring Soldo in to exploit the fact that Nic Nat is out. The tigers will smash them in clearances and post clearance contested possessions. And after trying to suffocate us last week (which meant they couldn't transition the ball from their back half because all their numbers were flooded up around the ball, and therefore struggled to score), they will relish the space and time the Eagles will give them and look to get it forward and attack. All of which means that i think the tigers will win, and win well (i'm predicting a 5 goals plus margin) So to Richmond to make their line of 14.5 is rolled solid gold bet.

I've got no issue with the rubbish scheduling. You need to win lots of games to earn the Friday night slot. Wait a minute.......

I've heard Fauci created covid in a lab when on a secondment in China. Source: too many to mention, but they include Marjorie Taylor Greene Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk and the New York Post

@dazzledavey36 get ready for a Milkshake attack!

Me too. Deserves a shot.

Did he review the 2018 prelim?

By the proverbial county mile too. In fact he seemed to have improved his ball handling and an ability to gather off the ground. Some of his work in that regard against the tigers was super impressive. A key role for Weed is to block and screen for BB because opposition teams look to double and triple team him all the time. Which, by the by, is further evidence of how far ahead is of Weed and Tmac, as with all due respect to both, neither get doubled teamed.

Totally agree. The super high kick is a really noticeable strategy isn't it. Langdon is the master at it, perhaps because he gets so many of possession hard up up the boundary and ahead of the play (ie he is often on the end of the outlet kick and has to wait for teammates to get set ahead of him), meaning if we don't mark it, which is often the case, if not crumbed by us it smashed over the boundary line. Which means we don't turnover the ball often, if we do it is not in a dangerous spot and if it goes over the line we can reset. But other players do that kick too. A variation on the same theme is deliberately scrappy long mongrel kicks forward when we don't have a clear target that are all but impossible to mark - deliberately so. Some go t packs, others just not space. Tracc is the mater of these kicks I feel like this latter kick is more the tigers go to - we have added the high kick (though they do them too, just not as often)

That is a really good point. In addition to the benefits you note of looking to go forward, another benefit is we can control the tempo of the game AND take territory. Other teams try and control the tempo, for example when wanting to slow opposition momentum, by kicking it side to side in their back half. Under pressure, Geelong reverted to type and did exactly that in the last quarter in their loss to the hawks. And got marooned in their back half. You can't score when the ball is in your opponents 50 metre arc. And if you turn it over there you get scored against in quick time.

Agree. There has definitely been a change to the option we take when we get a mark or free - and even when a player is running with ball in hand. The rule appears to be go quick and take the first option, but only if tbat option is the best one. But if there is not a good option, then hold onto it and wait until either a good option appears (eg a player leads up for a short hit up) or until the players ahead of the ball, and behind, can get into their structure (eg tall marking targets an crumbers to a specific spot). It works well for a number of reasons. It supports our tactic of controlling the tempo of the game. It helps us keep our shape offensively, but more importantly defensively as players who have pushed forward or back can reset. It means we are not always going flat chat, so when we need to go we have the energy to do so. It supports the option of giving a handball to a player running from behind. It reduces the opportunity for opposition teams to bounce it off half back and slingshot because we are not kicking it to a one on one or outnumber. Which is important because some teams rely on doing so to generate scoring, for example the hawks and dogs. And it reduces turnovers. A lot of the turnovers we win are on the back of opposition teams going fast and taking the first option. Freo have implemented a lot of our key tactics and that includes not taking the first option all the time.

And that is bound to happen when we load up around the bye period, as occurred last season.

He is a star. Easy to forget he's super young for a key position defende. Agree he's gone up a level. He's stronger and even though he was always hard at, is even more so now. He hits to hurt.

I can assure you I wasn't comparing weed and robbie skill wise. My point was that to perform well, to get into a flow state, players have to work out what mindset and energy works best for them to get in that state. And then make sure they can get into that state every game. For some, like may it will be all hype and controlled energy. Others might need to go internal or relaxed, because otherwise they get too worked up. Know thyself.

Robbie Flower played chilled. Seemed to work for him ok. Same goes for Fritter and Langdon. Different strokes for different folks.

The talls under a clear instruction to go up as one in aerial contests up forward - it an important element of our system. It makes perfect sense. Multiple bigs going for the same mark is the key reason why we concede the fewest intercept marks inside our 50 of any team in the AFL. When we don't mark it it comes to ground in a predictable spot and fashion and we either crumb it and score or create a stoppage. And the congestion makes it very hard for opposition teams to move it out of our 50 - if we spread more, as say the dogs do, and is the traditional model, there is more space at around the contest and it is easier for the opposition defenders to win ground balls and get it out of their back half - as the dogs have discovered when we play them. But we also clunk more contested marks inside 50 than any team over the last season and a bit, so the system works in this regard too. So be prepared to get frustrated.

Goody, in my opinion, has always been an underrated coach - even by dees fans. That of course changed with a premiership, but I still think he has skills that get overlooked. We all know the players love him, but I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for his emotional intelligence and how this informs how he helps individual players to improve. Some players would respond to being fired up, and no doubt Goody would pull that rein when needed. But Weed seems to be the sort of person who puts heaps of pressure on himself, so doesn't need more. He plays his best footy when he is relaxed. And I suspect his least best when he is on edge. Goody will be telling weed the exact opposite of fire up or else, because it won't get the best out of him. He'll be saying just do what you did last week - compete, second efforts and gut run. Don't worry about anything else. The goals and marks will take care of themselves.

Line ball with Williams. Great recruiting blues.

And Darcy calls one wing the commentator side and the other wing the far side. Really painting a picture. For those who know where he is sitting.

I don't think that is an issue they will need to grapple with tonight.