Macca

The 'Pathetic' word should be removed totally. It's demeaning to the site It's inappropriate and quite frankly, wrong

Good post On the above bit, it's a lot like the pure 2nd ruck In many ways, obsolete The game is a midfielders game with the majority of players being able to defend & attack A form of Total football

Well, we need to change as we are being left behind Working for a boundary line stoppage in our own forward line is now playing into the oppositions hands ... the other clubs know what we are going to do and plan accordingly We have to work too hard for our scores. It's exhausting to watch, imagine being part of it?

Out : AJ Howes In : May* Billings (sub) So that's 2 Talls up forward (only) as 3 unprovens is 1 too many T-Mac can do the spare rucking in the backline which leaves JVR to do a few in the forward line We can always throw T-Mac or Petty forward if we need some forward line marking power (in game) The swingmen *Is May available?

I thought Henderson & Sharp were ok for their first games. Both might have a future In the selectors minds It's perhaps Chandler or Spargo but when Kozzie comes back that might change What stands out (and has done for quite some time) is our lack of front & centre types. We pick blokes for that role but they rarely deliver ... it's a real issue as we aren't getting those snapshot at goal from the hot spot

I don't get the love for Spargo ... at the top level he has been found out time and time again. Doesn't get the ball enough At a lower level down he can play well but that's not always a good indicator I hope he does well, if picked The issue I have with playing the 3 talls (JVR, Jeffo & Turner) is that none of the 3 can be relied on to contributing in a meaningful way So it's one too many until they belt the door down A lot of teams have gone medium/tall and if we have Melk available with Petracca & Fritsch pushing forward, there's your marking power in totality (2 talls, 3 mediums) Added to that (if we're talking 8 or 9 possibles - rotating forward) are Tholstrup, Kozzie, Henderson, Chandler and the like So we can have a workable and dangerous forward line So it's not just picking things apart from my point of view ... I'm offering a solution as well And we shouldn't be too concerned about the 2nd ruck duties. JVR and our spare man down back (T-Mac) can cover for 5 minutes per quarter

Yes, we were running on top of the ground in 2021 And as a consequence, we moved the ball with real slickness. What stands out is how our forwards were often in 1 on 1's back then Example being Fritsch in the GF ... the ball was kicked to him 8 times in a 1 on 1 and he won the ball 7 times (the other time he was pushed in the back in the goal square) Since then most of the other teams have deliberately flooded our forward line whilst our movement forward has slowed right down (and we often go wide)

14 So with Goodwin's new way of talking openly, will he be prepared to admit that we went too tall in the forward line on a damp day? 3 rookies in fact when considering that JVR is far from the finished product 3 talls 3 marks (that's in total) We lost the game at the selection table (15) Hey folks, it could be worse Picket Fence - Jeffo

@DiscoStu17 I might add that too many tall forwards is going the way of the primarily 2nd ruck position It's a midfielders game so it's one thing to be outpointed by class/ability but the actual numbers as well? So the 2 key forwards have to be able to contribute, not just compete

Not sure on Spargo but certainly Melk & Kozzie will add much needed class up forward. And Tholstrup when he is healthy (forward/mid) Kozzie will also need midfield minutes as he can be quite dynamic out of the middle A forward line that is Medium/Tall is what I'd be looking forward to with just the 2 talls ... and maybe Turner if we can work 3 in an efficient way. But it's a big maybe so 2 KPF's would do me if we can have 4 or 5 Mediums & Smalls to complement Turner I see as a utility forward not a 1 or 2 KPF. So maybe So it's JVR and Jeffo (or AJ) but not all 3 (IMV) Along with Petracca up forward (periodically) once we get our expanded midfield up and running (adding Langford & Lindsay to the mix) And lastly, Jack Viney as a defensive forward in his twilight years. See ball get ball and kick goals. Why not? I might still have @Adam The God with me on that call !! So there's a fair bit to look forward to once we get everyone available Right now, we probably don't have one forward amongst our best 15 players ... but that can change rapidly

I agree There wasn't much in it but the Giants player accentuated the contact to make it look worse There was not much contact with the head and the ground either

Highly skilled kicking therefore a priority As an example the Hawks are revisiting how they used to kick the ball in that 3peat era. Less space to work with these days but nonetheless, still effective with those 25m-30m kicks Sharp, bullet like passing at a rapid rate to break down opposition defensive structures is what I'd like to see So where do we sit in that area and can we adapt and adopt? The recruitment of Windsor, Tolstrup, Lindsay & Langford the pointer?

They don't need to take marks ... just punch it out of bounds will do Or punch it to ground and then gather the ground ball. No need to worry about our front & square crumbers ... we don't have them

So by playing 3 forwards really deep that creates more space around the half forward area? Makes sense especially if the ball is moved rapidly to the half forward area The 3 that are playing and staying deep still have close checking opponents but they are effectively out of the play if they stay put Do you think that our Match Committee need to adopt this method? Or have we adopted the method in part?

Our 3 bigs up forward not only took just 3 marks between them (is that a record low?) but none of them were able to consistently lock the ball in our forward line Lumbering Giants was a play on words (humour) but on reflection more like Statuesque I wasn't impressed as I have reasonable expectations for the key forwards One mark each for the entire game and if the conditions weren't going to suit, why play all 3?

A good observation so how does a team counter that? Vacate that area or play more mobile players deep forward? The deep forwards could push up but then they'd be crowding the half forwards Another counter is to move the ball really quickly through the corridor towards the hot spot. Run the risk of turning it over but the rewards are there

I'm convinced that given that it was damp day, if we'd played Billings or Langford instead of AJ or Jeffo, we win the game One more runner can make such a difference especially against a free running team like the Giants The good news is that we have a soft draw/fixture (which I've reminded myself about) so I can now see why others may not be too perturbed about the loss yesterday We actually played quite well but couldn't quite clinch the win In our next 7 games there's only one real toughie (Cats at Cats Park) whilst the other 6 games are all quite winnable After that it gets a lot tougher but we can set our season up if we can perform to expectations in the next 2 months Getting Kozzie back will make a big difference as then we can rotate him and Petracca forward I'd really like to see Melksham added to our forward mix too These days, a medium/tall forward line is a smarter option and Melk would add add some much needed class up forward. 2 bigs only is my preferred option

People like winners ... and that's the World over Besides which, what do say to a member who pays $350 for a membership and only goes to a few games? It's estimated that on average, only about 25% of supporters use their membership in any given match There's a truckload that consistently stay away But the money is handy for the clubs So membership in relationship to attending has a large disparity And it's been that way for a number of years now Many are happy to plough their money into the club but not attend

lol In all seriousness, losing these games we should win is getting annoying We had their measure yesterday but found a way to lose (again) And my point about forward line pressure stands. We were too tall and slow for their runners On transition, they did it too easily

The transition forward from GWS often came from our dysfunctional forward line A forward line consisting of 3 lumbering giants who barely touched the ball (collectively 10 kicks & 3 marks) On top of that another forward (Fritsch) who is poor defensively So it still comes back to our forward line. GWS also kick to the hot spot (we don't) so therefore those scrambled goals came from 20 metres out dead in front Where as our stoppages in our forward line is consistently close to the boundary line. We don't challenge the hot spot in our own forward line ... often because our forwards lead to the boundary line And credit to GWS for creating so many opportunities in the hot spot (when the ball was in dispute) ... perhaps we should at least try something similar The boundary line has become our enemy (especially in our own forward line)

How do you miss someone that isn't that good? (Turner) We've got a soft draw/fixture so we are not out of it But by jingo's, we'll want to improve up forward if we want to somehow contend Left field but with Tommy Mac forcing the selectors hand, I'd be tempted to play Steven May forward At least we'd know he'd provide a decent contest

Spot on

Well you threw the first barb, I just reteliated. The reason I'm repeating myself is that people (a) don't like what I've got to say and (b) keep quoting me for a more detailed explanation And if you don't believe our forward line is by far our biggest issue, then what is it then? The midfield and defence was good and has been consistently good Where as the forward line continually let's us down. And that's not even an opinion, it's a clear observation We obviously view the sport differently

And GWS choked in the finals last year. They coughed it up from a strong position So if had have had a decent forward line yesterday we win by 5 goals (in my view) Our midfield & defence played well but the players in those areas of the ground can't do it all Our forwards do not like leading into the hot spot. We are no threat to the opposition in that area As a result, we often have difficult shots from near the boundary line The AJ one at the end of the game is a case in point. AJ could have presented in the hot spot area but chose to head towards the boundary line Watch where Hogan positions himself. He's rarely anywhere near the boundary line

It's both (Chaplin & Goodwin) but Goodwin has been head coach in his 9th season now and obviously overseas things And the offense starts from stoppages and half back Our game plan is Goodwin's as well (specifically our movement into the forward line) So 9 years down the track and we don't have one forward who we can rely on. Not one of them can consistently win their own ball How do you win a flag with that issue? I'm not calling for Goodwin's head but we are too defence orientated Our forward line should be the main talking point out of yesterday. GWS aren't that good and we had our chances to win the game but didn't