binman

Fear not. He will be back. I will bet London to a brick he's back for the must win gws game and stays in the team from that point on.

Agree. Brilliant insight from a poster with a great feel for the game and a rare ability to use symbols to highlight key elements of his assessment of particular player's skill set. Sure some might say using potatoe emojis is a a child like and peurile method to rate a player, but they probably are the types who don't get modern art or impro jazz. Really I find it amazing a senior AFL coach could diverge so far from sons opinions.

I reckon he'll play on papley

Simple i reckon. They didn't work hard enough to spread, cover and set their zone. This was particular the case in the third Goody said as much after the game. And players were dropped as result. Our game plan will always be exposed if that work rate is not there. A team like the dogs is super well placed to take advantage of the work rate even being off a few percent (perhaps such a minimal drop off that individual players don't realise they are not working hard enough) because they have the kicking skills and leg speed to take full advantage of any gas or holes in the zone. It is worth noting they torched the cats the next week in the first quarter, jumping to a 6 goal lead, because the cast were not working hard enough. Like us the Cats fixed that work rate problem. The difference was the Cats had 3 quarters to reel the deficit in. We worked harder in the last quarter than we had in the first three quarters but simply didn't have enough time (or composure) to peg them back. The tigers have a similar but not identical game plan. The key similarity is that they too rely on all team effort and work rate. The difference between us though is they have more skill across the team, more experienced players and have been developing their system over a much longer period so no it inside out. This means if their work rate is little off, like it has been tonight against Freo they are not as vulnerable to us and will win more games where they are not plating at their peak. As goody has said a number of times our game plan is built for finals, when every player is usually totally switched on and ready to work. Maintaining that work rate week in, week out during the home and away rounds is no doubt a challenge, particularly for a young team

Smith is not a tall and will take Papley

Smith might get papley after all titan

I don't think our defenders did anything wrong, or at least not our bigs. As you say both Omac and may had to go to the contest. It was 2 on 2. If there was an issue it was that a Hibberd (who might have been off the ground?) or Wagner was not there to crumb, though that it is a bit tough given the speed it came out of the square. Ironically i think our biggest defensive issue is stopping the medium and small forwards, who score by far most of the opposition's goals not their bigs. I say ironic because it was Marshall (or maybe Ryder?) who crumbed that not a small, but it a typical small or medium forwards goal.

Good points. On the first point, as you say if Dougal had done his job not only would he have saved what might have been the match winning goal he could have launched an attack that MAY have resulted in a goal (so potentially a two goal turn around, a possibly they win the game). Yet Eade was the only persons anywhere i read or heard criticize Dougal. Which highlights how little people understand about the importance of structure and role (which is in large part down to the boneheaded coverage of the game - but that's another topic!.) The second point relates to this lack of understanding = you are spot on , mots fans and paid football commemorators and journalist simply don't get the importance of playing the assigned role, structure, discipline to not break teams rules (eg 3 players to the tracc contest) etc etc. And part of the problem is related the points you have made in a number of post about the how rubbish most of the stats are and that most people assess performance though the lens of those rubbish stats. A problem exacerbated by Supercoach and Fantasy football. As an example of discipline and playing a role in the structure Oscar took a mark on the last line in i think the last quarter. He was all by himself, so dead easy mark. He then kicked short to a free dees player and we cleared their 50. Most would not give him any credit for that play, given how easy it was to mark and hit a free target. But most would not credit him for doing the job Dougal failed to do. If he did not keep his assigned shape (a role he plays really well as there are times where has to go to the contest, like the one AF highlighted with Sinclair, or push forward) that goes though for point, they set up defensive wall and try and get a repeat inside 50. And maybe in doing score goal. A goal that would have been Omacs fault. Though ironically few would blame him for it. The third point is particular relevant for Omac. His deficiencies are pretty evident, and really seem to drive some people nuts hence the dear in the highlights comments that are at odds with the composure he showed in that critical last quarter. But he plays his role. A role Tomlinson clearly couldn't, which is no knock on Thomo i'll hasted to add. The ability to know when to move forward or go to contest or push back an play the goal keeper role takes skill and judgement. And no small measure of courage because mistakes are exposed and costly.

Flashbacks?

Interestingly I just listened to the Max gawn interview on rsn yesterday and asked about rhe swans game he said they play a similar style to the digs and saints - look to go through the corridor and switch and run (which is half consistent wirh my comments above) I also listended to Rodney eade on rsn, also yesterday, and he said that goal to trac was the fault of Dougal who failed to maintain the defensive structure. Dougal should have been on the last line as the goal keeper, the role omac plays, which is where he started when the ball came in but got sucked to the trac contest (which is why there was 3 saints at that contest - like bees to a honeymoon he said - a familiar refrain for dees fans in the past). If he had stayed where should have, he would have stopped the goal (and my additional comment would have gathered under no pressure and cleared the area). Instead he got caught in no man's land and couldn't touch the ball. I hadn't picked that up. It highlights how important roles and structure are. Telling that Eade as a coach zeroed in on that aspect of the goal. Didn't even mention the video controversy. Can't seem to put the links up from my phone. Will try later from a pc. But they can be found on the rsn website under the program pages (the breakfast club).

I did not realise that was a free kick at the time. Assumed it was on tbe full. What was it for?

And further to my post i reckon ANB is big chance to come in (i hadn't even consider him)

It has been pretty close most weeks. And sometimes it is pretty unequivocal about some selections For example i have no doubt at all Fritter will play based n these comments: 'Bayley Fritsch was omitted from last week’s team after arriving late to training, but he should slot straight back into the forward line. The crafty left footer was dominant in Melbourne’s practice match against the Pies on Friday and has a lot to offer at AFL level.' Not every player mentioned comes in of course but i reckon every player who has come in is has been mentioned in it. As an example Omac was not mentioned at all until last weeks article. Enough of a correlation for me to assume Smith is no chance this week. Maybe not Bennell either, but he is in the photo for the article......

In all seriousness please take your ill informed, dangerous nonsense to some fringe facebook site. And keep it there.

Small forwards re our achilles heel. And he is the best in the game i reckon. I liked the idea of Smith coming in for him but that doesn't sound likely. It does sound likely however that Lockhart will come back in and would have the mongrel to harass and niggle Papley. it would be a fun match up to watch actually. You probably have to accept he will kick a couple of goals but if we can keep him to two that's a win as really he is their only regular goal kicking threat.

Agree. Which is why we are not yet a top 4 team.

Agree. Which is the weakness in the game plans of the dogs and saints - if the opposition counter them with a super effective all team defensive zone (of whatever variation - one line, two lines, swarming etc), with all players plying their role and working super hard it breaks down.

Omac can indeed kick 50 off a step, but his role is step one in the automated process. Step one: Omac or one his defensive brethren kick long to a contest from the wing to just inside 50 near the boundary Step two: Kozzie, Spargo or a mid crumb the pack and win a ground ball get from the marking contest and fire it off to the designated spot on the 50 metre arc. Step three: one of Melk, Brayshaw and Trac take an easy mark. Step four: one of Melk, Brayshaw and Trac go back and slot a 50 metre goal. Step five: repeat steps one to four

We were god awful that day. Couldn't kick straight from memory. Was that hogans'last game for us?

Agree jnr. Usually very reliable by foot, in large part because he a sound technique. Though his kicking it was pretty poor against the saints

To some extent our tactics will be influenced by the way Longmuire decides to approach this game. In a couple of recent games (eg the GWS and Port games) the Swans seem to have been trying to go through the corridor a bit more and be a bit more offensive. And in others they have used an ultra defensive, hold the ball, flood the oppositions front half model (eg the dire match against a similarly defensive freo and the pies game, which they almost pinched with a third of the inside 50s or something crazy). Lets hope they look to attack but i fear the desire to stem a big loss might be the way they decide to go. And if so it will be game played n our front half. So ground ball gets, forward half pressure and taking the half chances will be important. And in that scenario we will set out zone really high, with Lever may and Omac up around the wings. We will need to be smart with our inside 50s. And patient. An interesting thing i've noted a few teams doing lately in a crowded front half is really long handballs away from the goals to a free player on our even outside 50. And that player then reloads and goes back in or looks to cross and reset. We did that couple of times against the saints (one by Jones) and also have been doing something similar with kicks from just inside 50 (which i i think are automated), where instead of going to the goal square they square it to a spot just on or outside 50 ones (eg Spargo to Brayshaw in the Pies game) - the vacuum of space riewodt described it as, created by defenders pushing forward to crowd the inside 50 space, and in particular the hot spot 20 out from goal. On my theory we do well against teams with similar game plans but struggle with those with different game plans this game sets up really well as Longmuire is a type one, defence first, systems coach. For that very reason he might looked to adopt a more aggressive approach that involves risky kicks wide or to the corridor, but unlike the Dogs they don't have the cattle (to mix animals metaphors) to pull that off and will lead to a shellacking if we are swtiched on as we will smash them on the counter. Lets hope the try it.

Maybe. But one of the posters is correct. And the other totally incorrect.

You want him to watch the game a third time to confirm your confirmation bias?

A change. I heard May being interviewed on the ABC on Sunday (a show i really like, starts at 12 noon). Asked about fritter, said he slept in and missed the bus. Drove to the ground himself getting there 10 mins late or os. Said he was dead unlucky as the coaches had given them a rev up about the need to get even the smallest things spot on. And the next day he sleeps in. Laughed about it. I had assumed something more serious. Said he would come straight back in. And i believe him. Sorry Hunt, you're out. Fritter comes in for Hannan. Please tackle Fritter. Not you Hunt.

Me too. Times 1000. There have been at least 4 paid against this year that are no different. If in an alternative universe i was a mad saints fans and regularly posted on a footy forum under the name namnib and a Paul Callery avatar i'd be banging on that fellow posters should be worried about the clear 50 we weren't paid not the goal/point by the player who if we we had any clue about recruiting should be in our team.