Jaded No More

Strong no. A soft downhill skier.

Carlton got some absolute rubbish frees yesterday. That deliberate out of bounds call... oh boy.

You underestimate Jackson's ruck work. Twice he turned our fortunes around in the middle when he was rucking. He brings a lot more to the table than Weid right now, and is someone we absolutely must get back into the team going into finals. If we run into say the Dogs in a final, who have two very good ruckmen, Jackson becomes pivotal. Weideman needs to hold his marks consistently if he is to stay in the team. He is competing only with Ben Brown on current form. McDonald is our best tall forward, followed by Fritsch who plays tall-ish, and then Jackson is the third tall you bring in for the ruck rotation. That for me leaves one more spot for a tall. Brown has runs on the board, so Weideman has to get going with his contested marking and his goal kicking. It's a hard position to be in, because he is competing with experienced players for one spot, but that is where we are at. He has to get on his bike ASAP if he wants to stay in the side.

We have some very tough games coming up, and we have a short break off a trip interstate against the Dogs. I would keep the team the same against Adelaide and then make some changes ahead of the Dogs game. Viney, Jackson and maybe Sparrow or Melksham can come in to give us some fresh legs. To have a fresh Viney and Jackson come into the midfield rotation against the Dogs will be fantastic. And if we have the luxury of doing that, then we should.

It is the only way I will avoid a heart attack.

I love how he tackles. So much intent. And he’s not slow either. Also we can never drop him or we might never win a game again.

Smart. I like it. Oliver May and Lever need to go too. This level of excellent is disorienting and may cause you to not get any better. Off to Casey.

I love him, but his set shot at goal is utter trash. Don’t tell me this kid can curl a ball 189 degrees from 87 meters out in torrential rain over his right shoulder but he can’t kick a regulation goal. Choco has to sort that out quick smart.

They’re racist against gingers that’s why. 6- Clarry (red heads stick together!) 5- Lever 4- Salem 3- McDonald 2- May 1- My boy #positivelingers

1. We can’t afford him 2. If he leaves he’s going back home 3. He is a gun but not someone who fulfills a desperate need 4. See my post above about getting #positivelingers to my side of the G

I would like to target another quick wingman. Firstly so we can push Gus back inside the centre, but mostly so Ed can come play down the members wing more and I can fawn over him like a groupie. Cheers.

It’s a small sample size but I don’t like Weid, BB and Tmac in the same side. However we owe it to ourselves to stick to it for at least another week and give it a crack. Because Jesus if we can make that work, and get Jackson in and Viney and win some clearances... boy oh boy. However Weid and BB are both looking decidedly average on the lead and in the air. This concerns me greatly as they are defensive liabilities when ball hits deck. Something Jackson and Tmac are not (yes Tmac is athletic now, who saw that coming?!). I’ll cut them some slack as the weather was not ideal today and our inside 50 entries were 58% trash and the other 28% came from Brayshaw and went out the full. Another week to see if we can make it work, and if not, one of BB or Weid make way for Jackson. Because that’s right folks, we are in a position to drop one of these guys for a 19 year old. Life is whack.

Hibbo is having a great season. Hunt is also playing very well. I’m not that concerned. May can also play small.

I love Ed Langdon. It needed to be said.

I still don’t understand how we struggle so much. It used to be our biggest strength and our players have not changed. In fact you could argue Trac and Oliver have gotten better. Is it Viney being injured and down on output? Is it the loss of Brayshaw to the wing? Is it opposition teams learning to play to Gawn’s taps?

I don’t disagree. But there’s a big difference losing clearances to Carlton and losing them to Bulldogs, Geelong or Port who have very potent midfielders and very potent forwards.

This is the one area where we must get better before finals.

It must also be hard to get yourself up for every game to the same level. When you play quality teams you are naturally more likely to play better. It’s human nature. I am sure we will lift a gear against the Dogs because we know they are our competition. Just as we did against Richmond.

I go to games specifically so I don’t have to listen to [censored] BT. Or any other commentator. They are embarrassingly bad.

No change. You can’t drop a player after one week. Viney needs to be 100% against the Dogs.

38,000 odd. Good attendance. A regulation win. We played at maybe 5% of our full capacity. Backline again won us the game. They are a bunch of absolute weapons. Kick 7.1 and not 1.7 in the last and it’s a 10 goal win. There is no point being at our best in May. We have multiple gears to lift and the time to do that is in August and September. You bank the win and look ahead to 10-0. Then the really hard road begins.

Clearance stats still a major worry

The umpires are awful across the ground and on both sides. We are barely in first gear. If we take it up like 6% we will win by 10 goals.

Trac is filthy at himself. I sit near the bench and he was fuming when he came off in the first. Needs to do better.

Steven May