Demon Dynasty

The average Away crowd for GWS games in 2021 was 21,505 so tonight was about par However, given we've just won a premiership and on top of the ladder i would've expected at least 30,000 (+/- a few thousand) tonight so yeah it was a very disappointing turnout

Very tricky. After watching both very carefully tonight it was almost impossible to split them. However, neither are capable of putting regular scores (2 or more goals) on the board and stretching the opp's No.1 defender, freeing up others around in the process (as they will get the next best defender and BB will often draw two defenders), the way that BB does. When both are in the team i've also noticed that neither usually worry the scoreboard with more than a goal each (on average). There appears to be very little synergy between them within the 50 arc. When one is pushing up high and the other stays deep or is off the field...we look a much better team IMV. BB is also more lethal on the lead, can roost a goal from 50 - 55 ish quite comfortably and draws more frees in the marking contests. Whereas both Weid & T-Mac are probably more restricted to 40 odd meters and under in terms of length / accuracy and don't have the reach / marking / goal kicking capability of BB when he's on. Coin flip as to who comes out but i would still be bringing BB straight in, he's a decent improvement on both IMHO and we'd be mad not to take our best 22 in if he's fit & available.

6. May 5. Tracc 4. Maxy 3. SparGOAT 2. Viney 1. Clarry

Maysie BOG??

What about old Beddy boy!!

Hoo ****n Raa to that!!

Which one!??

Kozzie's been given a licence to run between the arcs tonight and its working a treat. Players also look like theyre deliberately looking for him as well

Lever is out warming up. Seems ok at the mo

If you are tallkimg punching it any angle towards goal over the top of the inner ring of players.....Yup!! Also Clarry and Tracc need to handball to outside preferrably Lingers side so he can run on to it. All these 2 to 4 foot hand balls, even Viney is guilty, bringing the heat on us around the ball and too easy for the Giants to get a hand in and steal or spoil. Go further / wider and changle lanes pls

Too often going up for the same marking contest. Nothing changes

Thanks Skuit. Our second quarters have felt like our worst part of the matches so far and this would appear to support that. Would be nice to know what underlying reasons are behind this so far. Hopefully we can turn this around a little as the year progresses.

About as much chance of that happening as no physical contact between you and the maid at the manner i would think Uncle...

I agree they would also need to train for it RP ....obviously just throwing them around on game day probably aint such a great idea.

Sort of but not Weid to the back line for mine. He's played very little 'senior' footy there to date. Probably won't read the ball as well as T-Mac in this part of the ground either. Now if you suggested T-Mac for Smith.... as a short term experiment for up to two weeks? And then, only once the game / outcome is under control say from half time onwards, late in the third or some way into the final quarter? I believe Smith started his career as a forward yes? Apart from very little experience there of late, the other thing going against Smith up forward might be his height. Although he seems relatively quick off the mark and a decent leap which could well make up for any deficiency here. See his dad....Robbo etc. I would prefer this option to both T-Mac and Weid both starting inside the 50 AND remaining there for the entire match. Unless of course it's actually working haha! But from what i have witnessed on game day from behind the goals, they both get in each other's way far too often and when was the last time that 'both players' worried the scorer with say three to four goals a piece in the same game?

W or KC must have some idea

I believe that was correct ...is that no longer the case?

It's ok...Ralphy is used to getting most of his calls wrong. What a [censored]

English also gave a similar forearm across the snoz of Townsend on the weekend and probably broke it but zip outcome...."play on". Townsend immediately retaliated with a slap across the head of English and have a feeling he was free kicked. English, the Bont and the Doggies in general appear to be very much a protected species and have been since 2016 season. Not sure why. What's their free differential now ??

My personal view Adonski is that we should avoid playing both T-Mac & Weid in the same team, assuming the FD are adamant they're both playing as genuine forwards inside 50 most of the time. Obviously this week it's not an issue as there's no one else to come in to replace either. They are both looking for the ball in similar parts of the ground (if playing an i50 role) and leading into similar lanes....they often end up getting in each other's road or leading into the same lanes and neither seem able to work different parts of the ground (i50) in a cohesion sense. Also Weid is pretty ordinary once the ball hits the deck IMV, T-Mac only slightly better here or possibly worse? We will need Kozzie & Spargo to be really switched on pressure wise. GWS will have their belief up after last year's effort. Take them lightly at our peril.

History repeating!?? BB was the glaring non pick in this same game last year at the G for mine and on the day we had so many decent entries i50 but there were very few targets on offer for those up the field to kick to. Plenty of holes for leading as well but the leads were pretty much non existent. Perfect conditions for footy that day and prior to the bounce i mentioned to bro "hey the missing ingredient today me thinks... BB!". Who knows if we would have won but for me this was the match that we could've/should've won last season. No fault of the selection committee this time around but BB is about to miss against GWS again...grrr. He was picked the following week and the rest as they say....is history.

Can't see it happening but would it be worth swinging Smith forward and T-Mac back for a stint and see how that goes for two weeks or so? Thats assuming BB comes in for Weid and not T-mac of course.

Would be pretty hard for anyone to cover Lever's role effectively as Lever himself (in best or close to best form) i would think LT. He plays it so well and such a specialist role at that. Petty might be a better foil though (covering the Lever role if / when he is out i mean) which might explain the comments from Maxy re May having some issues with Joel. That might be purely experience / time spent (in game) playing in the system and with the other fellas down back vs Joel (less time spent = less experience = more likely to muck up). If he (Joel) does miss due to Covid outing then yes it would be very unlucky timing for him eh. In terms of similar style / role i would think Joel might be (post Lever's return) more directly competing with Petty & Tomo? Hunt being more a high pressure (ground level) quick rebound type defender and more likely competing with Rivers & Hibb (high pressure sense in the case of Hibb). One stat that i have a sneaking suspicion some within the FD take a bit of notice of is... interceptions. The top five here (on averages) so far... 1. Steven May 7.00 1. Jake Bowey 7.00 3. Gus Brayshaw 6.75 4. Joel Smith 5.67 and 5 Ed Langdon / James Jordon both on 5.50

Chandler's game against Willy was pretty decent i thought. Will probably need to kick the door down to get another look though me thinks after his very ordinary first up performance in Rnd 9 vs the Blues last season. I liked Bedford's first up game this year. Looked more switched on to the high end tempo of AFL and brought some serious pace and reasonable finish at the highest level. However, he pretty much only played half a match so would need to see a chunk more and playing a large part of a match before being convinced he is ready. Laurie i haven't seen enough of of late at VFL level to say. If i had to pick one who is more ready out of the three i'd probably say Bedford but not with a high degree of confidence.

I realise the selection committee doesn't base it's decisions around stats but if you were to look at these four from a purely stats form perspective... So far Joel is running at approx 13.5% higher weighted score (output) than Petty's season average score in 2021, 21% above Tomo's average output (so far this season) and 74% higher than Hunt's average score (this season). Will be pretty stiff to miss out but wouldn't be surprised if he does either.