binman

I 100% agree.

Did you know Jackson represented Australia in basketball.....

You think Viney makes that call? In 2019 and 2020 they made a call on Brayshaw. And that call was his days as an inside mid at the dees were done. And his days at the dees were done, if he could not adapt and play the position Goody asked to play. Last year, in response to people calling for him to be played in the midfield and the rumors about him wanting out, I remember writing that he is a professional footballer who needs to suck it up and play where the coach tells him he has to play. And calling out how ridiculous it is for a supposedly elite player to only want to play in his preferred position or not be adaptable enough to play in other positions. I have a lot of respect for the way Gus has got his act together, do the work required on his game (eg fitness, defensive mind set) and realization that he needs to play the role his coach wants him to play, and his teams needs him to play.

I'm totally guessing to be honest But my best guess (based on our performances, the numbers, my impression they have looked fatigued and the scheduling timing of games) is that we have been loading since before the Pies game. And perhaps continued right up to the Hawks game. All guess work on my part, but surely they would be looking to start tapering now. Certainly you'd think they would want to be as fresh as possible for the dogs game, which would mean a lighter week on the track and in the weights room. For the port game, given the 5 day break and travel , we likely did very little aerobic or weights in the lead up which may explain why we were pretty fresh. Its worth noting though that we basically dropped down a gear in the last quarter of that game. Hypothetically, if Burgess wanted to do one last blast of high intensity training (eg extra weights sessions, extra running etc) after the Port game, the ten day break before the Hawks game provided the perfect opportunity to do so. By that I mean he could [censored] them for 5 or 6 days and still give them a four day spell leading up to the game. If we did do some heavy loads in the lead up to the hawks game then fatigue would continue to be a factor. I heard Leigh Matthews say, that watching the hawks dees game it look liked we had led in our boots. That's how it looked to me too. Extra loads would go along way to explain our performance. It was factor in the Pies and Bombers game - why not now? Increased training loads would also jibe with the significant reduction in game time for players such as Jackson, Max and Spargo in the hawks game (ie managing their overall loads across training and games). With almost every player on the list fit, Burgess has the luxury of being able to plan loads to an exact degree. Our ladder position and the wins we have banked give us another advantage in terms of loads. Other teams are not so fortunate. For example, Port are no doubt desperate to finish top 4 have to priorities winning games now. They also have quite a few injury concerns. If they did big loads now they might lose game they might otherwise win. But not loading might mean they are are not as fit come finals as us. The finals start in September. That's when we need to be at optimal fitness, not now. I suspect they have been still loading and will begin tapering from now and in the lead up to the finals do do limited aerobic or strength work.

Agree. Its funny how ideas of how ideas form about some teams that don't reflect reality. The dogs are an attacking side who love to move the ball quickly side. And in the early part of the season banged on some big scores, notable thrashing the roos, suns and the saints (the week before being held to 50 odd points against us). But they have only scored 173 points more than us. And their points for is bolstered by the the three games noted above - 167, 118 and 144 points respectively. Against the teams around them on the ladder they have found scoring much, much harder. Against the Swans they could only manage 60 points, 59 points against us, 78 points against Geelong and 73 points against the Lions, the only game they won of these games. They did manage 96 points against Port, which they also won. And as you suggest people seem to think they their weakness is their defence. Yet have only conceded 18 points less than us - though it is worth noting that in the roos, suns and the saints games i noted above those teams only managed to score 39, 56 and 33 points respectively, which skews things quite a bit.

My bollocks comment related to your comment that Gus has had his 'career ruined' Which IS bollocks. In fact you could argue that playing him on the wing had been a major boost to his career. Why? Because if he wasn't able to adapt to the role he likely would have been traded. And if he had been traded, it may well have been to a mid table club like freo, or cellar dweller club like the roos or suns. So no finals. Why traded? And why to a mid table club? Because whilst he famously came third in the Brownlow he was a defensive liability. Did not run both ways. And no top club wants an inside mid who only runs forward. That sort of player is history. Viney, on the other hand is a fantastic defensive mid. Which is why, much to the confusion of some fans, he polls so highly in the bluey every year. On the wing Gus has turned his career around. His two way running, defensive work and selflessness is now fantastic. He will have earned heaps of respect in out club- and at others. And I reckon he will do well in the bluey this year.

Good points. As you say, he is really young to be playing as much ruck time as he is. Nick nat is the only ruck that I can think of who was doing those sort of minutes at the same age. I thought they might have used the bye period to give him, kozzie, rivers and kozzie a chop out and a game or two off. And as you say they could have used weed to play Jackson's role and would have done a good job I reckon (I like weed in the ruck - pretty good technique and gets him into the game). I reckon it might be too late now. Surely from now they will want to play their finals team.

Must be a morning for being argumentative. Maybe lock down is getting to me. Jackson was poor last week. And is yet another ayer who has been down for a few weeks. Again I reckon extra training loads is likely to be a big factor. Particularly for a young fella in only his second year of afl. And he plays a pretty tough role. Like Gus, super important to our structure and tactical flexibility in terms of how we utilise Max and create match up problems for opposition coaches. Luke ain't going out of this team.

What bollocks. Gus is having his best season since 2018. Has not missed a game in a team sitting in top of the ladder. And he has done a fantastic job on the wing. Hugely important to our structure Not sure why people think he is not playing the wing atm. He still is. Jordan is supporting him there, but Gus is still playing wing. He has been a bit flat the last few games, but so has the whole team. As I suspected we have been doing extra training loads which would impact all players. In his position has to do a lot of, often unrewarded, running. And unlike say Langdon, Gus is far from a natural athlete. So tge extra loading would have a pretty big impact on his output.

Yes he had his fair share of poor disposals, which unfortunately is part of his game, but his pressure was fantastic. And in a game where our pressure was down, and the hawks out tackled us, Jack had 11 of the team's 70 tackles , by far our most and I think topped the pressure acts. Jack got 2 coaches votes last week. So, it appears one or both coaches rated his game pretty highly

More fool them. Lever prefers summer rolls

And our weakness down back is covering mid size and small forwards

Interesting call given it is likely to be a wet night

Very true. However, a flag would go a long way towards ameliorating the financial impact. In that context it is amazing we have achieved a record number of memberships

Nah, you'll be kicking still. But you might have to change your posting name to really old dee And maybe splash out on an avatar picture

Noted

Breaking your own rule their Kent. Not understanding why it is so critical we are in lock down now is not a football related comment. But to answer your question in a football context, if we were not in lock down 'till at least next week or this current lock down does not work, then you and i will not be attending nay games of football in Victoria this year, including the grand final.

The secret ingredient for every premiership winner is luck. And (touch wood) we have our fair share of it thus far. As you say we have had a great run with injuries. Good management plays a big part in that obviously, but you still need some luck. Other than the financial hit from no crowds, thus far we have avoided any real major impact from covid related fixturing reshuffles. Losing the Alice game actually helped from an on field perspective as we played that game in Sydney instead, so less time flying etc. And having to play the Pies in Sydney was not too disruptive. Haven't had to hub or do any disruptive quarantining palaver like the Cats and Dogs had to in Perth, or Pies and cats to play in Adelaide. For our Port and Crows games it was normally procedures, which really helped for the Port game (eg flying in the previous day, getting to stay overnight in a hotel, having all day to prepare etc ). And whilst flipping the dogs and gc game might impacts our preparation for the dogs game, they will alos have been impacted. And it means that the players didn't have to travel this week, giving them a couple of weeks at home. And crucially it is almost certain we will avoid having to play GC in Darwin. A game at Metricon will be much less physically taxing given the humidity in Darwin, involve much less air time and be less logistically complex. And we play well at Metricon, and have fans in Qld who can hopefully go, so that helps too. And then if they fly direct to Perth they can hunker down there and prepare for the Eagles game. In Pert, they will quarantine in a resort complex in Perth, but continue to train. Might be very helpful to be away from Victoria, be all together in one spot for a week and be able to focus on things like going through, try some new tactical ploys, work on structures etc etc. If we fly in for the GC game, say on the Saturday and then fly to Perth on the Saturday night, we can do the 7 day quarantine, play Eagles on the Sunday and then fly out again that night. So back home late Sunday night. Meaning all up they are away for only 8 days. Manageable and possibly really good timing in terms of bonding and getting reset and focused for the final push to the summit.

Luckily it has. They were last years stats. Helps explain missing the finals last year.

Really good points. Like the tigers, we are exposed when we are not pressuring maniacally. All sorts of weaknesses are compounded, including not taking advantage of Gawns dominance. On the weekend an issue that that jumped out was our drop in pressure meant we could not win enough of the outnumbered stoppage contests or post clearance possessions/contests. Despite us winning the clearances they beat us in both, such was their intensity and our lack of it. When we di when clearances we forced into scrubby kicks forward. I agree that a really big issue that is exposed when our pressure is not where it needs to be is our midfield, which as you say does not run deep and is not a patch on the dog's midfield. I am hoping vanders can go up level and address that issue a bit.

Fair points. My feeling is that it is really common for the top teams to drop down a gear or two against the bottom teams. For example the dogs versus the suns last week But usually the best teams have the skill to make sure they take their chances and don't turn the ball over too much. With better kicking skills we ay poorly in our three losses - but win because we kick regulation shots at goal. And we don't give it back as often. And that issue is one that is a concern in any game we play.

You can't trust the Tigers. Coz they are so mentally weak. I know that to be true coz good teams don't get beaten by lower ranked teams as much as we do. Doesn't happen

Is Brisbane a good team? Currently 5th on the ladder and three weeks ago were premiership favorites. So by most measures the answer would be yes. They have just lost two games in a row against lower ranked teams. One more and they will also have 3 losses against lower ranked teams. Just. Like. Us. How about the Swans. Are they a good team? Currently 6th on the ladder, but only a game and percentage outside the top 4. So by most measures the answer would be yes. A very similar age profile to the dees. But hold on a minute. This year they have also lost 3 games against lower ranked teams, including a 38 point touch up on their own deck by the hawks. I'm getting confused. I may not like it, but the evidence does not support the proposition good teams don't lose as much as we do to lower ranked teams.

2017. The tigers win their first of three flags. By any measure a really good team. They lost seven games for the season. Three were against lower ranked teams - Dogs (finished 10th), Freo (14th) and the Saints (11th). The saints flogged the tigers in round 16, 138 to 71. 2019. Flag number two. They lost six games for the season. Three were against lower ranked teams - Dogs (8th), Crows (11th) and Roos (12th) 2020. Flag number 3. In a season they only played 17 home and away games, won 12 and lost 4. Half of those losses were against lower ranked teams - the hawks (15th) and GWS (10th)