Macca

And Langford is on the 5th line of betting (and shortening) for the Rising Star Top 4 ... Ashcroft, Lalor, O'Sullivan & Reid

Salem made a few errors but he was far more creative with his kicks ... and with that creativity comes the odd error Kicking it down the line or sideways or backwards is often necessary but when we take a chance through the corridor or whatnot, there's a risk involved But no risk, no reward Mistakes/errors/errant kicks/ fumbles happened 113 times in our game But often the overall number is much higher As a last resort, long bombs to a pack needs to be replaced with the lower high velocity kick forward. Hang time kicks into the forward line are score killers

The Surfing from Bells today has been fabulous (big waves) On Kayo right now (Live) And 7Plus (Daily from early morning)

Yep, 100% against the Bombers, so you're right Down to 75% against Freo

I vaguely recall that he has gone as high as 97% but that might have been a few years ago ... but it was often a high percentage anyway as it was a talking point back then It was a mild surprise that Fullarton played just over half a game but it looks like that's how the FD are going to play it ... JVR was 75% T.O.G as the 2nd ruck against the Bombers

Time on ground stats were interesting for a few Melk 65% (only on the ground 2/3rds of the game but 13 possessions and competed hard) Fullarton 60% (therefore 40% on the bench) Kolt 68% (Fair enough) Langdon 75% (that's a surprise, is he carrying something?) Turner 46% & Sharp 40% (one replaced the other)

Lindsay's disposal efficiency is going at 81.1% for the season. Which is excellent for an 18yo in his first year player It's hard to not get carried away but he looks a goodin. The kid hits targets at speed and looks to have excellent vision

I reckon any team is beatable, even Brisbane on their home ground They were bog average against the Pies and did not come to play. Pies played well but they are not that good

Why are we even remotely concerned about what pick Essendon get from us in the draft? What's done is done and in the whole scheme of things, it doesn't matter Besides which, they gave us their 1st round pick last year and we drafted Lindsay with that pick Remember it's just a number and at least 3 of the top 10 picks each year are busts. And that's factual, not an opinion And Lindsay looks like he will be a fine player anyway Don't sweat the small stuff

Fascinating doco on William Randolph Hearst

His Wiki page touches on what you said, EH, and is an interesting read overall as well Different times back then but I remember him as a real nasty type who was also a very good player (played 8 times for the Vics) As for the Bison, I wouldn't mind it if he turned out to be good as Sheedy (personalities aside)

What I gleaned out of today's game was the style of play ... not that many dump kicks forward and a lot of handpassing and sharing of the ball (both teams) The extra handpass was in operation all day So how do we measure up is the big question? Right now, given the improvement that can be expected with the new game plan, we can compete hard against the 2 teams that played today, in my view Sure, the Cats beat us easily but we were ill-prepared in that game in so many aspects. Our style of play that day was below par and the coaching poor

The first half was much better and a lot of the 3rd quarter as well But the last quarter was a slog with a lot of congestion & stoppages and mistakes As an overall spectacle I'd give it about 6.5 out of 10. Maybe a 7 Dangerfield was the difference in my view. Not B.O.G but very influential

A no nonsense player with a good head on his shoulders My initial comparison when we drafted him was with a player like Luke Hodge Early doors but he looks like he's got a bit of a hard edge

Ok, thanks for the confirmation GtB He spent his early life in Wandin which was in Carlton's zone Top player, all the same

Yes, but we also need the 2 talls up forward to join in on all the team aspects that are required, AF Total team means all 18 on the field being team players

Agreed ... if JVR gets back in and we continue to only play 2 talls up forward, he'll almost certainly be replacing Fullarton ... therefore, by default, he'll have to do the 2nd ruck duties Petty as the mainstay up forward

Hawks have fought their way back but the Cats on top still The style of play from both teams is what I'm looking out for ... players from both teams constantly looking for a teammate And that extra handpass instead of dumping it forward Hawks have had 208 possessions to half time

I'm trying to think of those players who could do both with ease (eyes down, heads up) Maybe Petracca when he takes the next step But definitely Gary Ablett Jnr, Judd and these days, Nick Daicos

We could play Melk on Vlastuin But Vlastuin is at his best when teams bomb it into their forward lines (like the GC did on Saturday) Even kicking the ball to a 1 on 1 involving Vlastuin should be off the radar. He had 15 intercept possessions on Saturday night So we not only have to lower our eyes but we need our heads up as well

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