Macca

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

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)