Pates

Encouraging selfless footy is great, and I'm all for it. But when you're ticking on to the final kicks of the game, the young bloke has taken a ripping mark, and Petracca wasn't actually in a much better position (he actually got called play on from his kick!), I would really have liked someone to give him a pat on the head and say, "well done mate, now kick the goal".

He had no legal option full stop, he was getting to the play late and so whatever action he was doing it was going to cause a free-kick. I don't think there was malic in it but it wasn't a slow-down bracing contact, it was a bump which he chose to enact. The AFL made a ruling years ago that choosing to bump and causing head high contact regardless of it being intentional or malicious was going to earn you weeks on the sidelines, and they have a long history (with us) of punishing the result not the intent. If they are to be consistent then he should be gone to 2-3 weeks. Perhaps his good record gives him the benefit of a week, but to make it clear to the competition that they're taking concussions seriously I think 3 weeks is right.

I really like the look of Jackson, but right now he is only giving us tantilising "flashes". I really want to see him put in a performance that has him involved in the game for the full 4 quarters. He also needed someone to come after he took that big grab and say, "mate, back yourself". I would've preferred to see him take the shot on and miss it, instead of passing to Petracca.

Where was Nibbler's "bad luck"? A tackle, a legal execution of a skill of the game ended with bad luck where the victim hit his head on the ground. No instead the Adelaide medical staff threw Nibbler under the bus. That's disgraceful from Ricciuto and a clear star player bias.

I think Viney will come in, if he played 4 quarters then they probably wanted to get some minutes into him before he came back. Hibberd would be the only other player I'd consider bringing in but the question would be for who? If Viney comes back in then Sparrow would probably be my pick to come out. Hibberd's a bit trickier, I thought Rivers had a poor game but I'd hesitate to drop him so quickly as I really think he is a gem, he just needs a little time. Hunt was disappointing but similarly I'd like to see him given another chance. With the backline functioning well on the weekend, force Hibberd to demand a spot with a dominant performance. IN Viney OUT Sparrow

That's laughable, much in the same way you don't get a premier league game against your name unless you play it, there's no way a sub should get a game against them unless activated. This league really is a farce at times.

I would've thought this is the simplest way to combat any potential flaunting of the rule. The sub is ONLY there for injuries so if a player is taken off "injured" then they sit out the next 12 days. Means there will be no "oh he's got a bad cramp, let's take him off" situation, it also forces the coaches to really consider the ramifications of pulling someone.

KPP players mostly struggle at the Brownlow, he got a perfect 10 from the coaches but I can see the umpires giving the 3 votes to Oliver, Petracca, Cerra, and (Freo's) Brayshaw. Interestingly something that May himself highlighted when speaking about AA defenders is that they have to do more than spoil the ball away, the modern defender has to take marks and be able to rebound. It's something he worked on over the summer, round one in and he's succeeding. If there was a rolling AA he would have to be starting FB.

I'm no Goodwin basher but with Gus I really feel that Simon is not utilising this talent and potential. At another club I could see him being in their top 2-3 midfielders. EDIT Also, well deserved for May. No way anyone could deny him BOG (though I'm sure the umpires will).

Watch Dangerfield get 2 weeks for this and then May next week will get 4 weeks for the same if not lesser bump. The tribunal have been put on the spot with this; Danger chose to bump, the player is badly concussed, but he's a star of the game and is seen as a "good guy". 3 weeks is right, 4 weeks sends a message, I can really see the tribunal rolling over for 2 weeks.

My parents were set to go, had the tickets and all (not without their issues though), unfortunately my dad got crook in the morning so they opted not to go. I’m definitely not saying that they wussed out but the memories of 2019 are still fresh. That was a seriously deflating season for the fans, after so much positivity from 2018 to dish up such garbage I think it really did a number on even the most passionate of fans. The fans have trust issues, ideally we’d turn up rain, hail, shine, and win/loss, but have a winning product and the excuses will fade away.

I actually think that playing Jackson in the ruck contests might be a good way to go, make the percentage closer to 40% Jackson 60% Max. Jackson is looking a lot better at ball ups and he’s less predictable. I think you’re right that Max needs to mix things up a little bit, which was what he did a couple of times by thumping it forward. With good communication between himself and the mids that could actually be a weapon.

If there are any other leagues being created for SuperCoach I’ll gladly join. I should be fairly easy beat to be honest, so always good to have them topping up numbers!

That’s a very big an interesting point particularly as we were clearly beaten in there, why not use Gus there more particularly with Viney out? I’ve just finished watching the replay myself so here are my thoughts. POSITIVES - we beat them through our ability to slow their advances forward though great interception marking. May, Lever, Gawn, with a little bit of Rivers, Hunt, and Salem being in the right spaces was massive. Yes they were undermanned in the forward area but our defenders did their job - our pressure was back to a standard I’d expect to be the minimum standard. It could still be better but that has to be the standard week in week out - TMac was back to close to his best, goal kicking (another point to come) needs to be better as he could’ve had 3.1 or better. Ironically he nailed the hardest while missing the easy ones. This could be huge for his confidence and was so important for the win. If he continues this then headaches could come when both Brown and Weid are available - Jackson was fairly quiet but good in moments for the first three quarters, but jeez his 4th term had me salivating. Someone teach the bloke to kick for goal though - Kozzie was up for a fight, his pressure was immense and gave the team a lift. He was also all over the ground which shows he isn’t just a one trick pony. Boy he got high for his mark attempt! - I also thought that there were many role players today, I couldn’t see a hell of a lot of passengers. I think we beat them by having a team performance NEGATIVES - it’s been said by many including myself but sort the effing clearances out. To be so thoroughly beat all day in an area where we should have an advantage is so frustrating. If Brayshaw wasn’t being played there you have to ask the question of why? - the two old warriors had different days, Jetta looked solid and back to his best, while Jones seemed to be genuinely plodding along. He did some good moments but he just doesn’t seem to have the pace of the game. Is he being nursed to 300? Is that what a professional club does? He’d be one of the first question marks at team selection for me - goal kicking and general composure when in that position was atrocious at times. Almost everyone was a culprit, it didn’t cost us today but it might later in the year. We should’ve won by 35+ points with the late chances we had, percentage has cost before - still a little bit of bees to the honeypot and getting caught on the outside - I also think on this form we will not beat the Saints so while the effort was good, we need to go to another level if we’re to go two in a row Ultimately we got the win, the quality wasn’t worthy of third 3rd place we currently occupy but who cares.

Early thoughts from the early stages of the last quarter, we really need to become more clinical (which was Freo’s issue as well). While Freo have had better clear shots on goal we’ve had several chances where we’ve stuffed up the inside 50s (which sounds way too familiar). I was really hoping that Yze and Williams would improve that but jeez it’s the same issue every bloody year. I haven’t said it much because it’s been said a lot, but May and Lever were absolutely sensational and exactly the reason we’ve paid such a high price for them. We paid star prices for them and we got match winning performances.

Midway through the 3rd quarter something I'm surprised to say, Jetta has played a good game and looks back to his older self. Still not quite what he was at the best, but rarely beaten all day. The other thing I’ve felt about the game is that Freo had plenty of periods where they were better but they didn’t make the most of it, overall though we’ve been the more polished team throughout the day. Both teams missed kicks/opportunities that really should’ve been goals, we got the scoreboard pressure early which got us out to the advantage we ended up having all day.

Early thoughts second quarter, I’ll echo the sentiments of Spargo and I think he could be an unexpected cog in the machine. Despite the differences in height he could actually be what Melksham was in 2018. Not high possession but making every possie count. Another positive thought is that I feel the tackling effort is there, they’re keeping the pressure on and making it hard for Freo to get easy kicks. A negative was there was a very clear tap win from Max in a centre bounce I just watched and it went nowhere near any of our midfielders. That’s bad communication and them clearly being on different pages. We’ve got enough smart people at the club, work it out!!!

Finally sitting down to watch the replay, early thoughts are Tommy Mac, Lever, and May were important early. May in particular was so important, he saved at least a couple of goals by choosing to mark instead of spoiling. Second thing was it’s incredibly frustrating watching us have very clear ruck dominance but it takes until 10min in before we win our first clearance. We have Clarry, Brayshaw, and Petracca who are all very good in the clinches, we can’t keep losing the clearances like that. If we’re not going to use Max’s ruck dominance then perhaps we need to rethink how we use him. Ultimately we should be finding a way to win or break even on the clearance count.

I haven’t watched the game so this comes with no idea of what happened today. We got the 4 points and sometimes it’s not about looking like the classiest outfit, it’s just about hearing the teams song after the final siren. I said as I went to bed last night I couldn’t care less about the quality of the game as long as we come away with the win. We’ve done that, round one ✔️. Meanwhile last years Grand Final runners up have lost to the wooden spooners. Take the 4 points.

Across the other side of the world I’d give anything to go to the footy again so if is a little mystifying that we only got 21000 after so long without seeing the team play in front of crowds at the G. Even with the poor/average performances of the last two years you would’ve thought people would be rushing to get out there for a taste of footy and normal life. That said I definitely understand the fear factor with COVID, plus it did sound like organising tickets wasn’t a smooth ride. It’s a far cry from just having your membership to scan and walking in. Dissapointing though, I would’ve expected minimum 25k.

About to go the sleep here in the UK, it’s a bloody shocking time slot for me (2:45am) so I wake up nervously to check my phone tomorrow morning ?.

Our midfield can match/beat theirs, our backline can definitely beat their forward line, it’s down to two things for me: Firstly will our midfield and forward line actually work together to put the ball inside 50 in the way the both lines are expecting it? What will our attitude be? This is our first game in front of home fans for 18 months, if that isn’t enough motivation for our players to want to play, tackle, run etc then I don’t know what could possibly be. My concerns are that for one we have gone in with two old warriors (Jones and Jetta) that won’t be able to keep up with their respective opponents and provide enough. I also am just so worried that our players are going to come out sluggish and not ready for a fight (we have seen it before).

I feel like people get obsessed with the “oh he’s great now we should have kept him”. Dunn is a great example of a player who had run his race with us but a change of location gave his career new life. Delisting Oscar was the right decision, it didn’t mean he was useless or unworthy of being an AFL player it just meant for us he wasn’t going to fill our needs and make us better. We all should chill and forget about trying to compare him with Daw, they’re different players.

I believe the regular comment by a few of the Oscar haters was “not AFL standard”. Sometimes it takes a change of club to reinvigorate players. Good luck to him (though I hope he barely gets a kick against us!).

One part of that statement is telling, we’re the 6th oldest and 6th most experienced. It’s time those we considered “kids” not long ago stepped up to being men and put their talent to use.