Macca

And we've become the hunted in our own forward line. Opposition teams know that we lack quality forwards and then take advantage What we can do this year is place some other types up forward. I'd start with Petracca (70/30 forward/mid) and we need another marking option just to keep the opposition honest (Van Rooyen) 3 smalls & Melksham isn't working ... not enough goals, not enough possessions and almost zero defensive pressure

Our Achilles heel are teams that transition from their backline quickly, are highly skilled, use the corridor and are able to make the switch of play whilst keeping possession of the ball That was Collingwood last night but the other teams have picked up on it as well (we've lost 6 of our last 10) So from rubbish forward entries along with non competing forwards the above occurs (time and time again) Ultimately, that puts our backline under seige. So we often do the first bit well (midfield strength and dominance) but then it can all fall apart once we go forward We need better forwards

Our backline is under extreme pressure as a result of how we go forward and how our forwards play. Our forward entries lack quality and our forwards lack quality Long bombs, no real defensive pressure up forward, a lack of marking power up forward and the ease that the opposition transition from their defence (our forward line) Intercept marks aplenty as we just don't compete in the air up forward Nor do we have forwards who can gain separation in order to take hit-up marks Out inside 50 count in terms of numbers doesn't tell the real story. The eye test tells us that what worked last year is not working this year. Our midfield dominance is stifled once we go forward The other teams have done their homework on us and have picked apart our forward line and our forward entry style Really need to change things up but in reality, we need better players in our forward line Petracca to play forward (predominantly) Gawn to get to better spots up forward (not the boundary line) and Van Rooyen needs to get a call-up (replacing Melksham who didn't do enough) Neal-Bullen or Spargo out as we can't have 3 small forwards not applying defensive pressure and also, not scoring goals. Petracca up forward replaces the need to bring in Chandler or Bedford Along with Kossie, all our forwards had enough opportunities last night but were found wanting. And of course, the way the ball enters our forward line is a major problem as well F Van Rooyen Brown Kossie HF Fritsch Gawn Petracca Spare forward ... Neal-Bullen or Spargo (not both)

Our forwards don't present enough, they don't fight for the front position, can't get separation and don't make anywhere enough multiple leads (at pace) Our midfield wins the ball but faced with our forwards not playing their roles properly are then coached to kick the ball long to a large pack or to the pockets (usually the left forward pocket) We've become very predictable So the numbers say one thing but the reality is way different. On top of that our marking strength up forward is poor (especially for a top 4 team) Lowering the eyes and following up with a bullet pass can only work if the forwards present. And they don't present The chaos ball forward has been worked out by the opposition and our forward line defensive pressure has gone missing as well. 8 tackles inside 50 tonight to Collingwood's 18. The Chaos ball forward (or long bomb) requires defensive pressure as one of the other main ingredients. Without that defensive pressure, it's just a rubbish entry. Next thing we see is the ball rebounding out often with a switch of play By contrast, we had 51 tackles outside the forward 50 tonight in the other areas of the ground Against the Doggies we didn't register a tackle inside the forward 50 6 losses from our last 10 is the stat that matters most right now and our record is 0-4 against top 4 teams

A lot and probably most of our forward 50 entries were ineffective and wasteful. My eyes told me that only about 35% of those inside 50's were fruitful. We never really looked dangerous when we went forward. By contrast, they did (all night) Bombed the ball to the pockets on a number of occasions where often nothing came of that tactic. Other times those entries resulted in a boundary throw in at half forward In other words, nothing entries most of the time. Other teams have worked out how to defend those long bombs to the forward pocket. We've now lost 6 of our last 10 games The Pies on the other hand were extremely effective with their inside 50 entries. So much so that they nearly always looked like scoring when they went forward (at least 75% of the time) They switched the play well, didn't fumble, used the corridor well and are highly skilled. Their forwards play in front and constantly present to the ball carrier. That's far and above being a one trick pony By contrast, our forwards are often caught playing from behind. Low percentage football and you can't play like that in September We need to fix our forward line woes and the entries need to be far more efficient So if you do the maths, even though we won the inside 50 count 65-41, the real numbers were more like 25 to 30 (in their favour) And there lies the difference, we were wasteful and they weren't wasteful As a consequence, they win And we got beaten fair and square Zero excuses

I often wonder why the EPL doesn't start their season with a few blockbuster match-ups But lots of interesting games coming up nonetheless Great to have Nottingham Forest back in the top flight (along with Leeds joining the fray last season) My Hammers will once again be aiming for a top 8 finish but I'd like to see West Ham make a concerted effort at the cup competitions (that includes the Europa Conference League) ... hoping that Antonio can have an injury free season too The fan friendly 9.30pm (Oz time) games sees a reasonable line up of match-ups for the first 2 or 3 months (those particular games start at 10.30pm in October)

Champion: Liverpool Runner up: Man City 3rd Chelsea 4th Tottenham Relegated: Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford Golden Boot: Harry Kane First Manager Sacked: Pass Over to ... @Grapeviney @Dee Zephyr @Winners at last

I prefer winning by a point against this mob With Langdon kicking the winning goal after the siren

That is certainly true but it's that way for a reason. As boring as it is, I highly doubt anything will ever change (apart from the odd comment to the contrary) There's also Pres-speak, media-speak and even supporter-speak I've seen numerous people here on this very site being told off for being too confident "If we lose, it'll be your fault" haha

There is a chance that his comments might motivate the Pies in some ways ... but equally (as I mentioned in an earlier post) we may well be just as motivated If you were a Demon player playing tonight you'd be well aware of how the Pie players would be approaching the contest ... you certainly wouldn't be expecting them to not be fully motivated. We'll be ready for them The game might have changed but the approach to the contest has not changed

You're probably right but the game is often played above the shoulders and sometimes motivation can be an issue (even at the highest level) Certain players are always highly motivated (Viney) whilst others need a rev-up (HWSNBM!) Still remember Buckley mentioning that in his belief, players shouldn't need to be motivated but he realised within a year or 2 of being the head coach that he still had to motivate his players Scarlett once mentioned that one of Thompson's great qualities was his motivation skills Ed hasn't committed a crime here but it is still quite rare for players or coaches to go away from player/coach-speak

You never give a sucker an even break. Team needs to walk the talk now which can be looked at as a positive. Inadvertantly, Langdon has in some ways, motivated his teammates Pies will see the comments as coming from further afield than Langdon. Imagine if it was one their better players making pointed comments about how we play? Collingwood attack with pace using the corridor and against us they haven't turned the ball over (that's in the last 2 encounters at least) So if we lose, we're never going to hear the end of it!

Correct, Jjrogan Caro conveniently ignores the approximately 40 other times tanking has occured (including 9 times between 2003 & 2005) I was amazed that Ross Lyon didn't intervene as he'd know about how tanking was once quite a normal practice (not necessarily Lyon being involved) Tanking has been going on since the mid 90's coincidentally when the priority pick became a thing. 2 picks in the top 5 as long as a team didn't win more than 5.5 games? There's a dangled carrot! And it still goes on today, albeit in a very well disguised form. Nevertheless, it still happens Caro rightfully brought up the Essendon drug taking scandal but has never blamed all & sundry (the players were obviously complicit) And as far as I'm aware, they are the only club that ventured down that path ... a dark day for Australian rules football The camp and what went on just beggars belief. People need to be held to account and the league's reply was and is pathetic ... the tone is that they just want to move on so it all goes away. Poor governance (again) Reminds me of how they turned a blind eye to the Adam Goodes treatment. A shocking time for the sport

Track and Field events in full swing now and it looks like England have rallied in the Gold medal stakes ... should be able to hold them off though! Would be a lot closer if we were up against the United Kingdom

Maybe they had purpose-built bigger wings at Waverley to promote corridor footy? These days, with the ball moving at such a rapid rate, the ground size would be ideal with the wings being utilised Always managed to find good viewing spots back then ... mind you, the AFL members reserve was situated well Went to a number of big games with big crowds and the atmosphere was great Was in the outer in that infamous Prelim Final in 1987. The crowd was at fever-pitch throughout The MCG can lack atmosphere with crowds below 35k ... not always of course Both grounds need (needed in Waverley's case) big crowds to create a good atmosphere Waverley was earmarked to carry a capacity of 140,000. Imagine the carpark! And that red arrow on Wellington Rd that only allowed 5 cars to get into the huge car park at a time! And the train to Clayton and then the bus was often a real eye-opener Those were the days

Waverley would be an ideal size for modern footy Great vision by the VFL way back when Not so these days ... they are better money makers & money managers. But the footy public want to see great footy (with the stronger passion being their teams & tribalism) In my view the VFL didn't want to move away from 18 per side so they built a bigger ground (Waverley) in anticipation of what might happen in the future The stadium was viewed poorly for quite some time until we grew accustomed to the large playing surface. In the end, the footy played there was easy on the eye Of course, the configuration of Docklands was virtually set when the AFL came in late as a stadium partner ... but the ground is too small for 36 players. As is the SCG & Cat Park. Too much congestion, too many stoppages & too many boundary throw-ins Optus (WA) seems bigger to the eye and of course, we won the flag there!

See, I don't believe he's necessarily gone 2 first round picks isn't enough especially if the club knows that the pre-season draft isn't at play. Are North or the Eagles going to pay him a lot more than what we would pay him (ball park $650k - $750k a year) Does LJ even want to end up at either of those clubs? Given that scenario we could play hard ball knowing that if Freo doesn't fulfill our needs, we'll get to keep LJ I'd want picks 5, 10 & 18 knowing that there's a good chance that pick 5 or pick 10 could be a complete bust Nothing is guaranteed with draft picks and that includes LJ becoming a top player ... that may or may not happen Of course, if there is real, proven talent coming back our way (somehow) that changes the equation

Agreed, Gonzo. The big offer (if it is a big offer) is possibly only coming from one club Especially as there is a large slice of speculation involved with a player like LJ. He is not a proven star, he's not even proven at B+ level But if course, he may well be heading for star-status The pre-season draft as a choice happens very rarely and usually involves a player who definitely wants out (an element of disgruntlement) My opinion (for what it's worth) is that he either ends up at Freo and they satisfy our demands in a trade (big ask) or he stays with us and signs at least a 2 year deal

It's highly unlikely that LJ would nominate for the pre-season draft ... can't see it He's coming off a flag, is well liked, we want to keep him and would pay him well. And he's certainly not disgruntled with the club It can't be assumed that North or the Eagles are prepared to pay big money on spec. Their offers may be about the same as what our offer is ($$$'s per annum over X amount of years) So if the big offer is from Freo only (which seems more likely) then we either get a deal done with them or he'll stay for at least 2 years But Freo might do everything possible to get a deal done I can see the club winning either way ... we get lots back for LJ or he stays

Good post There's no doubt that Cameron is a better player than Jackson right now, but ultimately, Jackson could prove to be a better player than Cameron (from an overall perspective) But it's length of service which is the big factor as well ... whoever might get Jackson might have him for close on 14-15 years at (possibly) B+ level. Where as Cameron almost certainly won't play any more than about 7 years (max?) for Geelong Sort of reminds me of the swapping of Wayne Schwass & Shannon Grant trade Grant played 11 years at North whilst Schwass only played 4.5 years at Sydney. So North won out of that deal (if it was a straight swap) I'm basing my scenario on Jackson definitely becoming a B+ player soon enough. Could be wrong of course but if we undervalue him (which I don't reckon we will) we could lose out in a trade But there again, it's the sum of all the parts with regards to one off season of trading ... and often we won't know how a trade turns out until a few years later When we swapped pick 2 for Tyson & Salem it did look for a while that GWS might have won that trade But Salem is a gun and Tyson gave us 4 reasonable years and then we ended up trading him (in a roundabout way) for Preuss who we then traded for a pick which we used to secure Ben Brown That's a win As for Jackson, he's not necessarily out the door anyway. There's a good chance he will remain with us especially if a deal can't be done. I'm reasonably confident that there is an offer on the table from elsewhere (probably Freo)

When faced with a loss it's natural for many here to mark down his ability & potential But we saw a real glimpse of his ability against the Lions ... suddenly he was the main man which eventuated in 22 disposals, 9 tackles and 18 hit outs. I'm sure Freo were watching too Agree with your post, PSD

Might be 11-1 if we only count 2nd Semi Finals & GF's. Might be 13-2 but it's still an imposing record any way you slice it Back in the day they must have hated us something chronic. We absolutely owned them It's any wonder their members stand erupted in glee when news came through that the Demons had missed the finals (last round 1976 as touched upon by @Anti-Saint) I was there that day and have hated them ever since

And we have beaten Collingwood in 14 of the last 15 times we have met them in a final An extraordinary record and a record which all Collingwood supporters need to know about

The game is so much better without countless players staging for frees Result - open footy, more attacking footy and more scoring opportunities Less congestion as the players need to keep moving the ball on instead of looking to get a soft free kick ... less stoppages as well The game at the MCG produced 29 goals ... what's not to like? High contact, soft, frivolous free kicks are no more (in a general sense) and the players have been well and truly sent a message Players being fined retrospectively for staging is a great move too

The Cats stand in our way of consecutive premierships The've reinvented themselves and have obviously learnt a lot from last year's preliminary final They have quality players across all lines and now play a form of total defence Their win against us is the best win of the season (given the stakes, 1 vs 2 etc) ... our 2 wins against the Lions & Freo would be next in line or at least in the top 5 wins for the season Our match committee will not be underestimating the Cats as we will have learnt a lot from our loss to them However, our best beats their best but we need to bring our best when we play them next