Demon Dynasty

While one match doesn't make a summer .... did you happen to warch the U18 Nats between Country & SA at Ikon Park a few weeks ago? He was a stand out and imho bested Reid on the day with both coming back from issues (Reid from the head knock & Moir injury interrupted for much of thr season). While he didn't get alot of it i felt it was quality over quantity. All class, off both sides and finished with 2 goals. Some nice chained scoring involvements also. Reid played a fair chunk early as a forward with three early. Then i think was moved into the middle after a while. The other notable performers on the day for mine... De Mattia, Shipp, Rudd and to a somewhat lessor degree Wilson for Country and... Delean & Draper for SA There were other VG performances but father-and-son or Academy so haven't listed like Welsh. Kid's gonna be a monster size when he stops growing lol.

Any chance we can land Ashton Moir?? Would be a great compliment on the outside and can go forward and damage as well. Proficient on either side and quality finish. Silk!

Unlikely...if not there's always Uncle's stash! That's assuming they don't crack in the boot of the Bentleigh on the road trip up.

Hope Choco's loaded up a stack of linament for the boys!

CHOCO on SEN Now

Kev..... "BBB was training well within the group, did everything. He previously had his own program"

He'll be heading to the NT for his first game since Rnd 3 Will Welcome back BB

McVee didn't play last season

I think his problem is for longer kicks he needs the arc run up to acquire the extra distance. Shorter set shots say 40 and under ....the arc isn't really needed and he is probably being instructed and/or just naturally looking to run straight at a target he wants to kick too. The arc is needed for distance, but it then brings in an unnecessary degree of uncertainty to the direction (via a natural hook from that arc). I believe Buddy had similar issues at one point here as he was using the same style with longer vs shorter set shots? IMV Max's conundrum certainly 'partly' lies with the decision as to when/whether to arc or just run straight. Along with the exhaustion factor that all kicker's face of course. However his other problem lies with his last step, which when running in he appeared to solve at times this season and late last season. However, he STILL hasn't eradicated this fault. If you watch his last planting foot that he kicks off he sometimes plants it out to the left like a duck's foot. Other times he manages to keep it straight at the target he's wanting to kick through. When the foot is planted too severly too the left, this leaves his right kicking leg with pretty much no option but to swing/follow through in that direction also, rather than follow straight through in the direction/motion/target he was intending to run to and follow through to with the kicking leg/foot. Most of the time (if he plants the left foot on too much of a left angle...duck footed) it will unintentionally cause a hook on the ball, regardless of whether running on the arc for distance or running straight at a target between the goals with a shorter kick. If it happens on and arc you also get a double effect to the hook, resulting in a severe hook vs a mild (natural) hook resulting just from the arc motion. This will often see him miss entirely & kick it OOTF or falling short to the left pocket. This is where his variation of hook comes in. Then add the arc/no arc decision making. Plus recovery factor. You then have a number of variables and uncertainty creeping in. He has said he is taking extra practice sessions this season. Which has seen him go from a very low 34% in 2022 to a slightly better 41% so far. This is still below his career average of 44% though. It would be intersting to know where this % sits vs all other experienced main ruckman across the AFL. So at some point he was generally better at set shots for some reason. Maybe an age/fitness factor?

Max's accuracy has improved on previous two years but not so vs career average. 2023 = 41% 2022 = 34% 2021 = 39% Career = 44%

Rivers & Tomo

This could be proven correct. However, prior to going out he was (and still is) our highest goal kicker on averages and has yet to be given another block of games to prove whether he still has it in him or not. After being in the top two or three at Casey on Friday and playing out the entire game at a VG level, if he doesn't get picked this week then we may have seen the last of him at the highest level.

Yes and you could add Dunstan (great hands most of the time and pretty clean, kicking is a 50/50 proposition) Howes and of course Bowey

So any players not using grippo...OUT ....those willIng to use it...IN

Quote posibly more time. Even two or so if Gawn needs the assist early or Grundy replaces a tall forward having a mare / injury. Even across HB if a Lever or Tomo needed replacing. Occasionally you could swing them and have Grundy open proceedings. Gawn then gets to be partially managed from the previous week if he's been banged up a little and needs to keep things short & sweet for a quarter or so. Can be done and would work a treat imv. This also keeps both of them pretty fresh. Ruck work a biach on the body every week. Works for Goodwin & the two players as well. It's just an adjustment to the way you play them. Not an admission of failure at all.

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Agree on that if we don't DJ. BB appears ready and should be back in this week. If Goodwin reads the tea leaves he will come to his senses and Grundy should be the sub to be utilised around 3/4 time or slightly before depending on when / if Gawny is cooked. Maybe later if Gawn's managing much deeper into a match. Grundy can also be unleashed for a tall forward if they get injured or having a shocker. Or maybe played out of their skin, match in the bag and that player put into cotton wool in prep for the following week. Imagine the oppo ruck getting mauled by Max for 2 to 3 quarters, then having to face a fresh Grundy in the last part of the game. Terrifying prospect. The tap bros experiment is unnecessary once the forward line is finalised and has a full compliment of genuine tall forwards. Which it will have available starting this week on BB's return

Think they gave up on it after a block experiment of approx 4 to 5 games Lewis. He rarely if ever got to the drop at CB. Got on the end of a couple of receives and cleared or in the chain a few times but not much else happened. We are now apparently stuck with a player who was a small zippy forward and was light enough on his feet to pull off the amazing who is now (possibly) a few kegs over his weight of the last year or two. Which was fine if the mid field experiement worked. But not so great in terms of maxing out his original talent as a zippy, creative, crafty small forward that is able to shake loose his opponents on a regular basis and get to work quite a bit / damage around goals. He still does the latter on occasions but the consistency through an entire game now seems a little more muted vs prior years.

Gawn as the main ruck Grundy as sub BB back in for Chandler Bowey for ANB Genuine forwards when available pls. No wanna bees like Grundy and/or Max as a regular option. They just aren't effective enough, accurate enough (in the case of Max @ 44%) and take up the space of another player who could potentially add alot more value.

Thanks for stating the obvious

Think they were hell bent to get him in for KB. That decision might be coming back to bite everyone on the thigh.

He plays more like a medium small much of the time Ouch imv. Sometimes as a medium tall yes. Bit of a crossover player here.

The trouble is many don't play or work hard enough to get to the front often enough though JS. In addition you can have all the tumble punts/dump kicks you like but we lack any system to take advantage of those either in the sense of .... 1. The first point above. They mostly fall short. You need to be in front to take advantage; and 2. We structurally 'usually' play our talls too deep. Most pressured tumble punts aren't going to have the penetration of a drop punt with someone coming off the square in plenty of space under not much pressure. That means a big fella that could take the ball at a higher point usually isn't sitting in the spaces where the tumbles drop. Therefore not many clear marks, but also not enough contested marks with spillage for smalls to work amongst. 3. Instead.... we appear to prefer to use small / small medium forwards to play the higher CHF position for some reason. Usually the oppo are smart and play someone slightly taller and/or bigger bodied to either halve the contest or win it here. In the many times i've watched this set up from behind the goals this year, it certainly hasn't been a winning strategy for us and will often see the oppo slingshot the ball straight out & up the other end putting our defenders under immediate pressure and mids chasing tails. I didnt watch the Geelong game with as much intent as usual due to being very crook but as far as i know we were still persisting with this unsuccesful strategy prior to this match. I'd need to watch the Geelong game again to confirm if that was still the case on Thurs night. Maybe we came to our senses but from what i recall through the haze i'm pretty sure we didn't.

Best to watch the first half Sydee. Most players were a bit off in the third vs the 1st half as Geelong upped their effort & pressure significantly. Contested aerial work, lead efforts, 2nd efforts at ground level, Ruck work up forward, a few Marks inside 50, goal efficiency and work providing an outlet up the ground should see him coming straight in. 4th quarter was quite good also although not quite as busy/involved as his first half.