Pates

I worry that we’re going too tall in defence, I would’ve brought in either Lockhart or Nev for Oscar. Comfortable with the outs though. AvB has been playing poorly for a while now and Hannan was the obvious one to make way for Fritta. Managing Pickett this a good move, hopefully a rest will have him right for Freo. Nibbler back after his suspension, it’s an interesting thing to think that if they hadn’t allowed suspended players to play in the scratch matches then he wouldn’t have got this chance. Hope he does his role and tackles well, this time perhaps in a way that won’t give him a suspension. Harmes named in the forward line, we’ve been calling for this change for a while. Hopefully it gives him confidence.

I think it’s too late to happen for this year but if I were I would start looking at a return to the defence next year. Problem is does that put him back in the same issue of being behind others? Hearing Clarkson get upset about the draft being compromised this year is absolutely music to my ears. As many have said our recruiting and subsequent development did us no favours but the compromise GC/GWS drafts set teams like us back. So I hope the Hawks have years down the bottom for their arrogance at nabbing players that had broken bodies and past it in the hopes of maintaining their top 8 status. I hate the cats but they at least have the intelligence to invest in some good draftees. (They can be next on the drop off though!)

I’m with you on no excuses. That should be printed on the wall of our changing rooms wherever we play. But barring us losing the rest of our games badly Goodwin will be coaching us next year so you should probably just get used to that thought. Every game is winnable, and yeah other teams have had it softer for travel but we have had a close to full strength list to choose from every week. Missing finals from this position would be embarrassing.

Pretty much spot on for my changes, no match up for Oscar so he goes out. Jetta instead of Lockhart is a chance, he was given a positive mention after the scratch match. After a stirring win like that I think they’ll try not to ring in too many changes.

DAndrews really doesn’t seem to be hitting the mark this year. I mean in a year where the economy has been beaten from pillar to post and there being no parade or anything what good does that public holiday so except push up costs and losses for small businesses? Chances are there’ll still be restrictions in place on seeing each other. I’ve been pretty happy with his time as premier but this year has been off the mark. Can’t see him surviving the next election.

I know this is focused on the father/son side of things but any daughters who carry famous names who might pull on the red and blue?

Enjoy Scully and Frawley! ?

I feel like the Crows v Hawks game is a win/win situation to watch. Either Hawks become the only team to lose to a truly awful (Neeld level) team, or the Crows botch this lead and end up going the season without a win.

Wouldn't bet on it just yet, Crouch missed that set shot and then the Hawks squeezed that late goal (it was almost scripted). I haven't watched the entire match but the crows have very clearly been the better team from what I have seen, they've had some pretty stock standard opportunities that they've missed. Crouch's ball drop was absolutely awful, never looked like it.

Jesse Hogan back against Richmond, I wouldn’t be expecting much from him but it’ll be interesting to see how he goes.

Al Clarkson said this: “our focus isn’t on the urgency of a win or loss....at the moment, winning is valuable for us but it’s not absolutely critical.” So winning isn’t their priority This is less about Clarkson but more about how in the past the AFL created a system that rewarded “experimenting” with players in different position and other clubs exploited it but we were the only ones to be punished. Tell me if we see Frost playing forward this week will that be scrutinised or will the media just say “oh Clarko is a genius coach and was trying something different”.

I dunno, I feel like the Saints game was a big chance for Hannan and he really didn’t do enough for me. Hannan is kind of a mixture of mid/pressure forward so I think he would make the most sense to be dropped for balance of the forward line. How long has AvB been on thin ice and continued to survive? To not lay a tackle at all and be relatively unsighted for the game is really poor. I really would like to see Goodwin bring Harmes in to take his spot and rotate himself, Jones, and Viney through the middle/half forward line.

Personally I’d be resting Hibberd, bring in either Lockhart or Jetta to cover the small forward role and move Rivers into Hibberd’s position.

The MRO have painted themselves into a corner by continuously excusing Lynch’s off the ball acts, they had to give Greene a pass or it would’ve exposed their blatant favouritism. The system needs an overhaul and a new MRO.

I’d be watching the last 5min again then if I were you, he laid some of the most important tackles of the team. Far more than AvB and Hannan did who are also there to pressure the opposition.

Yeah all good and I am definitely in the category of shrugging my shoulder about it, I wanted him to stay but I wasn’t desperate and Frost was always behind the current crop. Is he an upgrade on Oscar? Yes. But his unpredictability made life complicated at times. I say good on him and good luck to him.

This really is where beating the Saints puts us in a good position to make finals. The GWS game is the one to be feared the most but we have to take the momentum of the the on Sunday into the Sydney game. I can’t see us winning all four of our remaining games, mainly because it’s just isn’t what we do! But I can see us winning 3 of the 4. 10 wins gets us in I’d say, 9 and we’re probably finishing 9th.

I don’t like people saying Paddy was a spud from the get go, he was a highly rated junior that most clubs would’ve been very keen to have. He got some bad luck with injury thrown in with a bit of bad management from the Saints, much like Watts/NikNat it’s a sliding doors moment. No way to know how he would’ve done elsewhere (though I’d put money on Melbourne stuffing him up as well).

Frost appears to be doing decent (better than I expected) at the Hawks but we haven’t actually let go of too many players recently who have bit us in the bum. Howe is the only one that stands out, Kent would struggle to get a game with us (hence why he left), Dunn would as well but has done well to carve out a second career at the Pies and wish him all the best (though his mullet is just disgusting). As for Watts and Tyson, Dom filled a role at his time at the Dees and we needed a short term burst of decent quality. Watts you can’t help but feel a little sorry for, left the club and we make finals, he gets injured at Port and they look like they’ll be in the frame for the the premiership but I doubt he’ll get into the team. I gotta say that will be an interesting Open Mike after he’s retired.

In last weeks match I’d take Spargo’s second to the ball but tackling over either of Hannan and AvB’s nothing to the ball and no tackles. One of his main roles is to pressure, if he’s doing that then he’s ticking a box. Either of those two should be getting the chop over Spargo (who I’m no fan of).

The Saints haven’t had much luck when it comes to “Sherrin-dipity”! ?

What we have with Trac is so different and explosive compared to Viney, Oliver, and Gus. We need to keep playing Trac in the middle. I would really like to see them try Viney in the AvB role.

If we’re talking about next match, Spargo did way more to earn a game before AvB. As for next year, not too sure. I’d have Jones in front of Spargo for the most part but Spargo is bringing more pressure than Jones. Spargo has age on his side.

That tells you all you need to know about how broken the system is, a clearly worse tackle gets a lesser sentence than Spargo’s just because his head touches the ground. And for that matter the Saints player was fine. Ludicrously bad system.

I think the mix is two big forwards (Weid & Jacko/Brown/TMac) , two mid sized (Fritta & Melksham), two small/pressure forwards (Pickett, Spargo, ANB, Bedford, AvB). Melksham was really good in the first quarter but when missing pretty badly after that sort of came back with a couple of important touches in the last quarter.