binman

No dangerfield and no rohan. One more day for recovery. Some things in our favour. I am hoping they just beat the hawks (so they are not on the rebound) in a super physical game.

Nothing possessions though

Agree. A star. So athletic - and as good below his knees as any big I've ever seen. Really glad he slotted his goal too. And loved his move to grab the ball at centre square bounces. Important that he rucknin the last as it allowed Max to go forward. Good move by goody

First time we win our first three since 2005 and people want to winger. Should have won by 100 blah, blah, blah

Bloody hell the afl app sucks. Cant listen to radio post game and stations still blocked because all calls are via afl live

Not sure if serious

One more goal please dees

What language is brereton speaking?

We'll win this game by 6 plus goals. Putting this here for future reference.

Both. The app is worse, but that is more because searching around on app is harder.

Hello gil.

Could not agree more. Absolutely hopeless in terms of conveying information, which is kinda an important kpi for a website. As an example I also thought this hame was 7:10 start. Another is i tried to find info about next weeks prelim against the crows eg start time, venue etc. Gave up. Ridiculous given how much money must get poured into it.

They are very similar to the pies I reckon. Like the pies they are super focused on defence first football and contested ball. But struggle to score enough to take advantage of any dominance they have. The pies should have never been at risk of being beaten by the lions. I know it was wet, but similarly the giants had the saints on toast. Neither team can put teams away. I think it is a function of a game plan that involves too much slow transition, midfield that are past their best and average forwards, that are over reliant on individuals (degoey and to a lesser extent cox for the pies and greene for the giants).

The most MFC post ever. I love it.

I'm actually really pleased we are playing the crows at Adelaide oval rather than Casey. One, its fitting tbey play on a proper AFL ground. And two, unless it is wet conditions should be perfect in terms of wind. One reason I thought yesterday's win was so impressive was it a grind. Our skills still shone through and were a big factor. But the wind made it hard to score and therefore get out to a comfortable lead. Our game is built on precision ball movement, by hand and foot. And we are quite aggressive in terms of preparedness to use the corridor. Good conditions support these elements And perhaps our most damaging player (not best), zanker will thrive at Adelaide oval in good condition as will Pearce and Cunningham, two players that give us a big edge. If we are on, the crows will have a hell of a time stopping us from transitioning the ball quickly and scoring. As was the case when we played them in perfect conditions at Casey a few weeks back

I'm annoyed. I won't get the chance to yell, after Perryman is paid a rubbish free kick: DON'T PAY THE PERRYMAN!!!

Great win. Paxman was awesome. As was Gay. Cunningham was also terrific. Super important in rbe first quarter. Worked hard all game. Has been down last 4-5 games. Great time to play well.

Which describes Grundy i reckon who is not particularly tall anyway. Height is a big advantage late in quarters and games, particularly if combined with the fitness and athleticism of a gawn.

The other thing about an effective tap ruck is that sure other teams can set up to shark their taps, but the ruck can control where they do so. Which means that the team with the dominant ruck can set up their defensive structure in response. And for us, as aob noted earlier in this thread, we can set up to maximise our intercepts off half back. We control the structure because we control which part of the ground the roved ball is collected and kicked or handballed from (eg defensive side boundary side etc etc). we change that spot it is hit to which makes it very hard for the oppositionto set up a structure forward of the ball with any certainty.

Exactly. That's pretty much what bucks said. Riddle me this AF. If the ruck position is of no value why do every team have one?

Its interesting actually. Bucks was basically whinging that he is always asked the same things and people just don't get it. For example hits our being a useless stat. Said every other coach would say the same and are asked bonehead questions. My words. I get he says, super frustrated. But those questions are a function of how puerile the coverage of the game is in terms of tactics and tbe meaning of stats. How about the coaches try and educate the fans.

It depends how you define it. If you define the ruck position as the person who takes ball ups, bounces and throw in then maybe. But as bucks said that's actually a small part of the role. Athletic talls ie ruck man can play a critical role structurally. Just as Max does. For example maxy running hard defensively and blocking the corridor inside 50 severely disrupts the quality and effectiveness of the opposition's entries. When they're not kicking it to him, they're trying to avoid him, which forces them to kick to the pockets. The saints game was the perfect example of this. 13 less scoring shots from 2 less inside 50s was in part down to the Max factor. Similarly he disrupts opposition kick outs and defensive clearing kicks. And then there is his impact pushing forward. Someone has to man him up, and there is often a mismatch. He creates goals. I can think of four of tbe tip of my head in tbe first two games. And whilst opposition teams can set up to rove to Max he can still create 2 or 3 goals from stoppages agamr, like the viney goal. In games of small margins that is critical. Bucks point was tap outs is a nothing stat. But not stoppage work, clearnces, goals from them, marks around the ground etc etc. I reckon the dees are now really maximising Max. And I also reckon he is in our top 3 most important players. So def nor trash.

Great question. I am to High Performance Management what the demons are to premiership success, but i reckon Burgess seems to have the ability of convincing the players they are fitter than other teams and that they can, and will run out quarters and games. Now, i'm sure all HPMs try and convince their charges of the same thing but you only have to listed to the dees players post the 2020 preseason and this year to understand they have drunk the Burgess kool-aid. They believe they have the edge. Maybe the best HPMs are the ones that combine knowledge, communication skills, interpersonal skills AND high level sport psychology skills.

From a tactical perspective the dogs are really interesting I reckon. Of all the clubs their model is the most different from the tigers territory, forward half, high pressure template. The dogs like a fast game that is based on speed of ball movement, aggressive transition from the back half and above all (fast) precise transition that involves lots of super quick, high risk handballs/throws and kicks (as opposed to the dees and tigers who of course will link up when there is a clear option to do so, but otherwise will kick for territory - which makes players like Kozzie and Spargo critical in terms of winning the ground ball). Super exciting to watch with lots of complex scoring chains, high risk kicks, incredible amount of in close handballs/throws and bullet passes to leading forwards. Clearly they have recruited to support this model and as result the ace in the pack for the dogs is how many excellent kicks they have. And leaving aside how often they throw the ball they are brilliant at in close handballs and moving the ball by hand When they have the game on their terms they are going to very hard to beat. The challenge for them I reckon is when the game is not on their terms. The tigers are obviously the benchmark - and we have adopted many elements of their game plan. One example is going into tempo mode at different points in games, as we did so effectively against bot the dockers and Saints when they were pressing to stop their momentum and/or suck time out of the clock. Tempo footy really disrupts the dogs, in large part because it stops the game being played on their terms. The dogs eagles game was fascinating from this perspective as both teams wrestled to get their game on their terms. Great game. Th other query about the dogs game is how well their model holds up under finals pressure. The other team with a different tactical model is the Saints, who like the dog's rely on fast ball movement and transition, but are much more reliant on switching across the ground to get around zones (the dogs likes to switch too but are more than happy to go straight through a zone, or down the corridor). The Saints model is weaker I reckon. As the dees showed if you can stop their switch the Saints really struggle on transition. We did that brilliantly last Saturday night and it all but took their medium forwards and runners out of the game as they had no space ahead of them or to lead into.

Jeez, after the shock I recalibrated pretty quiick when I realised how much more time in my day I would have to achieve my life goals and long shelved dreams. Did a quick meditation and watched the sun rise. Then checked dl one last time to wish you all well and realised I had been fooled. Now I feel foolish and my dreams have drifted back to the horizon. Oh well. Banana skin game for us this week.....