Macca

The noticeable change is that our on-ball brigade are sharing the ball a lot more by hand or foot (Gawn, Langdon, Oliver, Petracca, Rivers & Sparrow) Viney? Way less long kicks forward to packs or bombs into the forward line Corridor use when applicable only. Longish kicks to 1 on 1's being the variable With the rest it's kick to position as the first option (notably Salem, Bowie, Langford, Lindsay, Pickett, Windsor, McVee, Chandler etc) It's like we've got 2 types of players out there

Channel 9 (Gem) are also covering the Conference League final next Thursday 4.30am (Chelsea vs Real Betis) Also, the CL final is on 9Gem at 5.00am on Sunday June 1st (Inter Milan vs PSG) The 2nd legs of the A-League S/F's are on this weekend with the Saturday evening S/F on 10Bold (Melb City vs Western United) The Victory/Auckland S/F is on Friday evening on Paramount (streaming)

Could go either way Although, a guaranteed Champions League spot for winning the Europa League Cup is the equivalent of finishing 5th or better in the League so there's that Ange is on $10Million per year for the next 2 years but the payout out figure may only be for 1 years salary All things considered, I reckon Ange will stay on (for now, at least)

@Grapeviney @roy11 @layzie @Palace Dees @At Least I Saw a Flag @Jumping Jack Clennett @BDA @No. 31 @Jibroni and others 9Gem are covering the Europa League final live from 4.30am tomorrow morning (Spurs vs Man Utd)

Oh yeah, for those at the club it's a game at a time Where as we can speculate and it won't make an ounce of difference We live in hope

In effect @Dr. Gonzo if the players weren't listening or adhering to the new message re the new game plan, then the onus would then fall on the coach at some stage But it does look like we've turned things around, but having 6 losses already means we can't lose any games that we should win ... and we'll need to beat a very good team or 3 in the run home For instance if we can win 1 of the 2 games against the Pies and if we can somehow get a couple of wins against the Doggies, Adelaide away, Gold Coast away or Hawthorn But we've just beaten the Lions at the Gabba so there's that

What is also interesting is that we tried to change our game plan last season but abandoned it some time later Just goes to show how difficult it is to change a players ways no matter how talented they are The aforementioned 7 or 8 players in the above post have probably been kicking the footy forward in the same way for 15-20 years So to ask them to either handpass the footy off or to kick short to another open player does take time for those players to adjust A good example is Langdon on Sunday ... 10 kicks and 15 handpasses is unusual in the sense that his numbers are often close to the other way around (9/6 Cats, 19/6 Ess, 13/6 GWS) *9/19 against Richmond

The 2 secondary trophy's up for grabs in Europe now means that more teams from the big leagues have something to aim for (notably the EPL but also Serie A, La Liga, and the Bundesliga) FA Cup winners and even teams finishing as low as 7th or 8th can get a ticket into the European knock-out comps For instance, a number of teams in the EPL have something to play for in the last week of competition (CL spots up for grabs) I also really like the new Champions League concept with the 9 lead up games played to obtain a position in the knock-out rounds

In my view it was always about the players all buying into to a completely different game plan We had about 7 or 8 senior players who needed to get away from bombing the ball forward or rushing their kicks forward ... notably Gawn, Rivers, Sparrow, Petracca, Viney, Langdon & Oliver So now that the whole team is playing small ball and sharing the ball around, it's all systems go We've got plenty of skilled players to enact a more possession based game However, old habits die hard and we are still guilty of turning the ball over too much with indiscriminate kicks forward The Geelong game was a good example of what not to do when advancing forward The catch-cry should be to give the ball off by hand or foot if the way forward could turn into a negative result. Heads up, eyes down The long kick forward to a pack could become a thing of the past much like the bump or the sling tackle has become a practice from yesteryear We are now playing like we trained all summer to do Exciting times ahead as we've got a number of established good players with a number of up and comers with real talent The players just need to all get on the same page as well as get games together so it all becomes 2nd nature

Yeah, well done!! 164 years is a reasonable wait for a major trophy!! Although, winning the Championship or Division 2 x 8 are also achievements especially for a non-big club My Hammers for instance have a similar record ... more knock out trophies as such but nonetheless, any sort of trophy is hard earned So Palace have now earned a spot in the Europa league for next season ... which is another trophy worth fighting for Speaking of which ... Tottenham & Man Utd go at it for the Europa League trophy at 5.00am on Thursday

What is noticeable is that our players that are better by foot have a higher ratio of kicks to handpasses as compared to those who have previously been prone to bombing it long (or rushing their kicks forward) So Oliver, Petracca, Sparrow, Langdon, Rivers, Viney & Gawn are all handpassing the ball a lot more along with using the short pass a lot more Kicks/Handpass ratio for those players who have excellent kicking skills (against the Lions) Overall Kicks/Handpasses 228/142 (Total for the team) Kozzie 14/7 Melk 11/0 Salem 17/3 Lindsay 14/5 Langford 11/8 T-Mac 12/4 May 14/1 McVee 11/2 Petty 8/2 Fritsch 5/2 Windsor 6/0 Chandler 7/4 Those in and around the midfield are sharing the ball a lot more either by hand or by short passes Oliver 8/15 Petracca 13/18 Gawn 12/10 Langdon 10/15 Rivers 14/10 Sparrow 9/7 Bowey 12/10 The buy-in to playing short ball (or small ball) as opposed to rushing kicks forward (or long bombs) by our midfielders is at last starting to happen For those who were looking for the new game plan, it's starting to evolve But whether we can consistently adhere to sharing the ball more remains to be seen (even against the Eagles we had 70 turnovers often caused by errant kicks forward) That one extra handpass can often diminish the chances of the need to rush kicks forward (or the long bomb) ... to do that requires all the players to do that extra bit of running at pace (to provide the option)

For those following the Giro d'Italia, the last week is brutal (Sun Stage 15 - Sat Stage 20) ... no fewer than 9 Category 1 climbs along with 12 other categorised climbs in a 6 day stretch (Monday is a rest day) But the riders are in the mountains on Stage 7 (Fri) Stage 8 (Sat) & Stage 11 (next Wed) Roglic is favoured to win from Ayuso, Yates & Storer

Good point Pennant, but maybe the MC want to see that side of his footy all the time? Especially from the get-go We've seen Viney turn his season around once we re-designed his role (tagging and run with) ... and Petracca just needed to regain his confidence again (that's happening) Gawn has lifted big time and Rivers is using the ball really well now instead of bombing it. As are a number of others But that's just the footballing side of things The MH issues that Clarrie is battling is a completely different story of which we know very little about ... and the media should be observing his privacy right now. They observe that privacy with other players To be fair, it's only a few in the media acting up (this time)

From a footballing point of view Clarrie's best game in terms of being a team player and getting back to his old self was against Fremantle Didn't bomb it long and his stats read as 5 kicks & 20 handpasses. I felt his game took a big step in the right direction Against Richmond a few long bombs returned and he ended up on the bench for 24% of the time (9 kicks & 13 handpasses) So the break could also be form related but Clarrie has obviously got some issues where privacy should be observed I wish him well and hope he is back playing footy sooner rather than later

@hardtack 4 to 5 years can make such a difference with regards to what we appreciate in a band. For instance, I loved (and still love) a lot of the music from the early 60's to the early 70's but primarily the hits from that time I was too young to be into alternative bands or even progressive rock from that time. Just the hits So the first music from Fleetwood Mac that I got into was the Rumours album. I'd heard of them of course but didn't know a lot about their earlier music I remember years ago we had a similar conversation about Steely Dan ... you were into their early music whilst I got on board with Aja & The Royal Scam in the mid 70's So here's a couple from Steely Dan from their early days

We made the switch in the Freo game where the MC decided to have less players around the ball (or at the contest) ... thus, more players in the actual forward line (that need to be manned up of course) I saw one bit of vision in that game (that was highlighted) where we had 6 forwards each with an opponent but what was noticeable was that all 6 forwards seemed to be equidistant from each other As an aside, just 3 weeks ago many of us were concerned that Viney was becoming a bit of a liability but since he has been assigned as a tagger, he has turned his season around and is now playing very well

Here's a couple of tracks from the classic album by Fleetwood Mac (Rumours) Firstly, one of the better opening tracks and a real party starter (back in the day!) Followed by another track that is now used by the BBC as an introduction to their F1 coverage

The new-look forward line (mostly medium) looks far more dangerous than how it looked earlier in the season What stands out is how less crowded we look up forward but that might have something to do with not having 2 or 3 talls all attempting to mark the same ball Turner is more of a utility forward than a tall whilst the other forwards are not getting in each other's way. So when the ball hits the ground we're active Playing just the one tall (Petty) has a better look to it when considering that we're rapidly becoming a non-bomb-it-in-team We need to make it work with AJ or JVR next week as I see our forward craft as more team orientated rather than constantly kicking it to the talls

Another aspect to the revelation that is Chandler, is his kicking and his ability to shrug off tackles Kicked the ball to position well often to a lot of 1 on 1's (our forwards were not getting in each other's way) And his kicks were penetrative with not a lot of hang time (a forward's delight) If it wasn't for Gawn, Chandler was the standout performer on the day Chandler is more of a utility rather than a mid but his link up kicks from half-back to half forward are dynamic. Kudos

It's a big game for us isn't it? Another sudden death game and the players will know that any slip up means we could finish the season mid table (at best) The Hawks are decent but they are not that good. They are certainly beatable So the pressure is on and we just have to start well. We'd be in a better position if Clarrie was to step back in so let's hope that his break is a short one AJ or JVR to come in for Petty If Oliver is good to go then Sharp could make way (although Sharp does add a bit of pace up forward and isn't the worst of the back-ups) Sub to be strategic? Someone who can come on and impact straight away Could be worse as our season is still alive and at worst, we can play spoiler anyway

Right across the league, small forwards are often inconsistent ... but it's a tough position to dominate anyway Competition for midfield spots is hot but Kolt looks like a really good link player (team player) in the making He'll get his chances as a forward/mid but he's young and needs to bide his time up forward for now Expectations from the MC could be to get 10-15 possessions and apply as much forward line pressure as possible 3 shots at goal is not always going to end up in a 0.3 result. But having 3 or 4 shots at goal most weeks would be a terrific return Project player learning on the job

Chandler was fabulous Max was supremely dominant Langford is a beauty. Reads the play well and has got footy smarts

Another rev-up at half time? Again, we played really well in the 3rd quarter and that sort of footy we displayed in that quarter would worry most teams So we are quite capable and that gives us hope. 6 goals in the last quarter was pleasing as well as we ran out the game well First half? We need to get way better but at least we know we can bring it (if we're switched on) Manic hunger from the get-go is required if we're going to go on a run (as the opposition gets much stronger from last night) Bring on the Hawks!

Further to the Kolt discussion ... playing as a small forward alone can be tough going (they don't call it starvation corner for nothing) So if he finds his way back at Casey he should be played as a frontline midfielder But as it stands, if we get the chance to give Kolt some midfield minutes in the seniors, we should do so ... get him into the play

Correct And to expect much more than 14 possessions from a 19yo player who is playing a small forwards role is totally unrealistic Kolt needs to convert his opportunities but he's not alone in that dept. (from an overall perspective) The MC would be very happy with his development but that might mean that he could play some games at Casey as part of that development At a lower level, he'd be better suited as a frontline midfielder in order to develop his overall game