binman

Their defence IS that bad. And has been their Achilles heel during Beveridge's tenure. We won a flag because they couldn't ahut our offence down No team wins a flag conceding the 8th most points (which by the way given they finished 9th is hardly anything to write home about). Given their forward line riches, the fact they have the best player in the AFL in bont, one of the very best mids in libba, one if the best rucks, plenty of players with the skillset today's football demand (ie pace and good kicking skills) and a game style thst eas in some ways ahead of its time (ie qyick hands, get it go the outside and transition quickly from the back half) it's amazing they have not got more scrutiny for their lack of success. And the key reason for that lack of success is their rubbish defence. And its also a key reason why their record against top 8 teams is so poor - the best teams open them up and expose their rubbish defence. To be honest, the same was true of us this season.

That is an excellent sign.

100% agree. But that makes my point. Why can't they defend? Partly it's because of their system. But the biggest factor is they don't have elite defenders. And why don't they have elite defenders? Because they have spent their draft capital on forwards. And that has meant forwards take up too much of their salary cap, impacting their ability to trade in elite defenders. Ironically their best defender this season has been Lobb who.was traded in as a forward. Compare and contrast to the dees decision to trade out Watts (yes that was for cultural reasons but nonetheless he was a forward, andcl was replaced by a much cheaper option in Fritter) and Hogan (yes he wanted out but we also didn't put up a fight) and prioritise trading in elite defenders in Lever and May, a strategy that won us a flag

One of the interesting thing about the Dog's list is it highlights key forwards are no longer anywhere near as important in terms of driving success as they used to be. They just aren't that influential. And similarly it highlights the risk of loading up on key forwards in the draft.

Oh. I have have barely watched or listened to any footy media this season, probably the least ever.

Huh?

Well, Bevo would certainly be a 'different' voice.

One factor that drags down Maxy's ratings a little bit this season is his horrible goal kicking. Every involvement in a player has in a game is rated in terms of whether it has a positive or negative impact (-6 to +6 I think). Maxy kicked something like 3 goals 13 or some such, and many of his misses were complete sodas. Each of those misses are of course involvements, and for each Maxy would have lost ratings points. And he only kicked 3 goals so no points there. Those misses are negligible in the scheme of things in terms of maxy rating. But in terms of a comparison to Xerri's rating, if Xerri had way fewer misses and/or kicked more goals than Maxy that's a swing right there. The other swing factor might be pressure. I think im right in saying players get points for applying pressure and I supect xerri has a higher pressure rating, for example by tackling more.

You making it is age appropriate. Me making it is further proof most men never really grow up.

A master debater? Sorry, I forgot you are the teenager.

You might even say posting on here is putting him in harm's way

If even he knows what Tik Tok and an EDM is then he is hired.

The gig is yours.

Are you any good at comms?

Yep, fair calls. On being hard at it, i hadn't really noticed that but i see your point. Perhaps more time as pure mid might help, though if it's not instinctive he'll never be a bull like Viney. Agree on Lindsay - i watched a few hours of junior vision after we drafted him and his intensity and preparedness to go hard is 100% instinctive. Fearless. And played a bit as a pure in and under mid it seems (which would be ironic if he becomes an inside mid and Langford outside runner) Linsday barely had a preseason - once he has a couple more preseasons under his belt he will be one tough bugger.

And Langford isn't, and irs that upside that makes me so bullish on him. Or should I day bisonish.

I add that in additional to heart and soul that void includes leadership too. And it's a void that was exacerbated by nibbla going. On field, and i suspecy off field, too much has been left to Maxy and Viney in terms of heart, soul and leadership this season. Langford seems a natural leader, and has a come with me boys energy. I think we saw that enegy against the pies - best on ground, his highest rated game of the season in front of 60k fans against the old enemy.

I wouldn't say disappointed, but I agree he's got some areas to work on. There's no doubt he lacks a little speed off the mark, which has become so critical in the last 3 years. Yes, his footy iq helps, and yes he can improve his speed with training, but he'll never be super quick. His overhead marking hasn't been as impressive as I expected from the vision I saw from his junior footy, though I suspect that's partly a function of not being able to monster opponents in the same way. That might change as he gets stronger. My other knock on him is, seemingly like most lefties, he can't kick on his right. Melksham, koz and even fritter regularly demonstrate the value of bring able to kick well with both feet. Langford seems a driven young man and I suspect he is type of player who can improve areaa weaknesses thri work and effort. @Gator what do you see as his areas for improvement?

63rd rated player in his first year of AFL footy - wow. The scary thing is how much more upside he has compared to other ready made midfield guns like Rowell, Wines, Daicos and Harley Reid. By that I mean those players of course got stronger and fitter after their first season. But not a hell of a lot bigger. Langford almost has the build of a key position player, and will fill out quite a bit over the next 2-3 years and like most bigs take a while to get to optimal fitness. As a comparison, Bont, who I've read Harvey based his game on as a junior, is 2 or 3 cms taller but was the same height when drafted as Harvey was drafted. Give Harvey two more full AFL preseasons and he will be taller and significantly stronger and fitter than he is now. And we shouldn't sleep on Lindsay as I suspect he'll be every bit as good the bison. If, as seems to the case, Buckley is really keen on the coaching job, I can only imagine a big part of the attraction is the opportunity to build a team around two generational talents.

Did his head in.

It's weird though - perhaps I'm misremerbering but it feels like his field kicking has gone backwards this season, in large because of those strangle little dinky kicks that look too cute by half that he does at least one or twice a game now. Perhaps it's just that he's playing way more time on the ball but those kicks seem like a new thing. There's no reason why he shouldn't be an excellent field kick - he has a good technique and evidenced by his goal kicking accuracy.

Indeed. For example, Tmac staying provides key defensive coverage if we trade out May. And if we do trade May out having Melksham as forward option means we are better placed to move Petty back to replace May

No Bowser in the squad - that's ridiculous.

Yep, that's where it can be of some use, particularly KE. That said, even then it has limitations - eg statistically what's the meaningful difference between say an 80% or 81% fie say a half back flanker. Bur like most stats they are often not that useful in isolation, which is how they are often used. For example comparing a half back flanker whose role is to initiate transition triangulating say KE, score involvements and clangers would give a good sense of their skill set and a foundation for comparison to other like players.

Of course they do. And we all instinctively know it as in out day to day lives few of us make better decisions when tired and/or fatigued. We make more mistakes at work, we lose concentration when driving, we make sub optimal decisions, we take longer to work out stuff etc etc etc.