Macca

I reckon you're right, Pennant The Dominator played for Prahran which was in our zone I believe. Sheedy was another who played for Prahran and we might have knocked him back? Later on, we knocked him back as a potential coach?

Listening to Goodwin's presser ... he talks about the new way of playing and how we needed to change. And that has been the theme all season long Have we seen the team share the ball around like we did on Saturday? Even in the premiership year, the game plan was to boot it long for territory

I thought our deficiency on Saturday was defending against Freo's offense. They had 27 scoring shots and that's too many And they could have pinched the game with a bit of luck their way Still, it was still a very good win against decent opposition... in the end, our offense beat their offense

Yep, and along the road forward there's a few bumps ... the 3 players you mentioned also set up a number of scoring opportunities with their accurate disposals I've been watching a lot of footy and with the fast paced offense that we're seeing from most of the teams, we're also seeing a lot of turnovers & fumbles I reckon our biggest challenge will be defending against the rebound offense ... so it's not just our own fast-paced offense that we have to perfect Previously, those long dump kick forward allowed us to employ the press and the zone defence Now that we've gone away from that, it's a whole new ball game Take the game last night, for instance ... once the Bullies got their game going, the Saints became cannon-fodder

If Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Rivers & Sparrow are the chief offenders with regards to the dump kicks forward, we saw a marked improvement with all 6 (to varying degrees) Oliver just handpassed it, Gawn kept giving it off, Petracca & Viney were better and Rivers & Sparrow were much better

Dump kicks forward should be an absolute last resort ... unless those long kicks forward are to the forwards advantage in a 1 on 1 Kicking forward to a pack has become a low percentage play ... whoever is kicking it should always be looking for that extra handpass ... which can create a situation where the ball is run into the forward 50 instead (we saw a bit of that on Saturday) So we need runners and lots of run ... 2 talls only in the forward line. And those talls can't be just players who can take a mark. They need to tackle and become another runner otherwise they become liabilities Last night's game was a clinic for the Bulldogs but they still weren't tempted to dump it forward ... 427 possessions of which 343 found a target (81.7%) Keepings off to mega levels

We also received a few frees in our forward line (simply by playing in front) Not marks, but as good as And I thought Saturday was a big step in the right direction but again, we've got a long way to go. Still too many dump kicks forward but the number was well down on previous weeks We should be aiming at taking up to 15 marks in the forward 50 and that can happen with lightening ball movement further afield along with the forwards making multiple leads and gaining seperation ... along with other mids following up and dropping into space inside the forward 50 But we need to become more adept at creating that space in our forward line for marks to occur ... that one extra handpass on attack is often needed Another furphy that needs explanation ... the pace of our ball movement forward before Saturday was ranked 3rd in the league??? ... well, that's going to happen when long kicks forward are the order of the day (the ball travels quicker through the air as opposed to multiple possessions on attack) So that's another flawed stat. I'd say before Saturday our ball movement forward in terms of a string of possessions would have been in the bottom 4 (pace of movement)

Yes, eventually I reconstructed my swing and got rid of the slice ... but I'm still a mug golfer!! For a good laugh have a look at Robin Williams take on the sport on youtube

Yeah been there, done that It's like having a rattlesnake in your back pocket! As for Gawny ... his kicks for goal are like the draw shot in golf so why doesn't he just aim at the right hand goal post (or just outside it)

Freo's offense was very good and their chains of possession from half back or the wing was very good as well. And when they switched play they looked dangerous. Also, they missed a few they should have got. But we missed a few as well A day later and T-Mac's game looks even better. He was like a general down back and repelled a number of their attacks But they just ran into a better team on the day (us) I thought the game was of a high standard. Maybe not worthy of a final, but close An excellent win as Freo are no mug team It's only one win but it was a good win

Fair enough but the MC might decide to give Fullarton a block of 4 games (and that will keep JVR out as Petty looks like being one of our KPF's) And if Fullarton establishes himself the status quo will remain. We've been trying to find a forward line that functions and it did on Saturday with a more medium than tall forward line Fritsch could replace Melk but Jake did enough to stay in for now. Barring injuries, I can't see both Melk & Fritsch in the same forward line. But you never know

The issue that can arise (these days) is how many talls do you want in the forward line? Right now it's Petty and Fullarton (or Gawn) and that might be enough if we've got Melk, Kozzie, Trac, Spargo & Chandler buzzing about It's such a running game these days that you can't afford to have one too many talls that might slow down your running game (especially around that area 40-70 metres out from goal) I reckon it's Fullarton or JVR ... and Melk or Fritsch

6 - Gawn (Dominant) 5 - Kozzie (Match winner) 4 - Viney (Superb) 3 - Bowey (Star) 2 - T-Mac (Rock) 1 - Petty (Straight-Shooter)

Yes, the Pies will be tough old dee, and we've got them twice ... 1 & 1 would be a decent outcome We've also got 5 games at and against teams outside of Victoria ... 2 & 3? But any game is tough especially if you don't come to play But at least we now know that we are going to stick with the new game plan ... but up's and down's can be expected We might find ourselves winning games against good opposition and occasionally dropping games against the lesser lights. Starting the season 0 & 5 puts us behind the 8 ball But if we bring our best we should at least win the next 2 and reset at 3 & 5 Just speculating

And with experience comes the ability for experienced players to position themselves in the right spots with the new, league-wide game plan that we're witnessing Where as we are in the process of adopting that same new game style with a number of youngsters that are learning on-the-job So we're going to have our ups and downs on the road ahead A realistic prediction would be about 9 more wins which means we'd have to go 9 & 8 for the rest of the season. I'd cop that The optimistic in me reckons we can win any game ahead of us

A high CHF (if there is such a thing) Right now, he's not a stay at home key forward as he doesn't have the skill set But further up the ground he can get on his bike and won't be double-teamed (which he struggles with, big time) But as a high CHF he'd have to forget about scoring goals but instead, help set them up with the aid of his teammates A pseudo Forward/Midfielder per se Can he do it? Well, against Carlton in round 12 in 2023 he played the aforementioned role and picked up 16 possessions and kicked a goal. And looked good in the process A big sized link player I'm surprised that he has rarely, if ever, played that role since

I've been playing Devil's advocate a bit on this thread, just to try to even the score. But nothing I said I didn't mean ... more so speaking out loud about the player deficiencies (on various other threads, many others were saying the same sort of thing) I've even backed that up to a point where I've openly admitted that I am not a huge fan of Goodwin But I'm also not a fan of taxes! But I am a fan of fairness. Especially when fairness can be applied So we're not politicians where the other side of the argument is ignored The argument has been so ridiculously one-sided against Goodwin on this thread So there are numerous factors at play and that includes selection, our forward line set-up, our offense and other factors that are not directly player issues And then there is the player buy-in to a new game plan ... that's the biggie from my point of view Others can disagree

Well hang on, TR-A'B Doesn't an 18 & 5 record guarantee a top 4 spot? haha

The other aspect was we still had a fair bit of energy in the last quarter even though we went into a slight-lockdown mode (the better teams often do that as well) So I'm wondering if this new style that we saw is less taxing on the legs? (or the opposite) It's a genuine question because I don't know. We haven't played this style before as our previous game plan involved a lot of long kicks (for territory)

I can see both Fritsch & JVR being able to fit in with a new offense at senior level But they are both going to have to adapt to the new game plan and do all the team things required With JVR, youth is on his side and Fritsch just needs to lift his game otherwise he'll stay in the reserves Barring injury, both will have to re-prove themselves at 2nds level. Which isn't an easy thing to do as often the delivery forward a level down can be sloppy They'll have to win their own ball, tackle hard, share the ball around and play a selfless role. That's what the MC will be looking for

Kozzie is heading towards being a top 10 player in the league ... especially if he is used for the bounce downs and then forward (need to isolate him) And if that happens he's irreplaceable so we'd need a King's Ransom So he's an obvious keeper unless we got an offer too good to refuse So in terms of long(ish) contracts, we were very smart in re-securing him in April 2023 (otherwise Kozzie would have been out of contract at the end of 2023) Phew!

There's 3 games to go in this round but we lead all the other teams with the most Disposals (392), Disposal Effiency (78%) and Tackles Inside 50 (27) Do that every week and we'll win plenty of games

Especially if we want to persevere with a proper 2nd ruck ... Tom stays in the side And it wasn't so much Tom's contribution yesterday, it was more about being able to manage Max in terms of Max being at his max when we needed him most Previously, this season, there's have been comments that Gawn was looking a bit tired and listless. Yesterday, he dominated and looked fresh throughout But Tom held his ground when rucking and when up forward. And you'd reckon he'll get better at it too

Well, technically, we've got him for at least another 72 games (that includes 9 finals games 😁)

Ha! Yeah, he made a few errors (Rusty adjusting back to how he once played?) But we need Clarrie back to that point where he bursts into a contest and then gives off the handpass in a flash That's his 1 Wood