Macca

4 years later for this thread? Where did the time go?

Fair enough but we know he's capable of so much more For instance, Oliver & Petracca both rushing their kicks is problematical as well. The best players take the contact and still execute with accuracy And the pace of the game seems too much for Viney right now ... but as a defensive forward, he might provide some value as he's not a bad kick for goal and is still a bulldog

$1.7Million to tag? That's a $500k a year gig (for a good one) No thanks We should be getting Oliver as a premier midfielder tearing the opposition apart for the sort of coin he's on Same deal for Petracca & Viney But we're quite possibly stuck with them as I can't see any other club willing to take up their salaries or giving us anything back in return Fingers crossed all 3 somehow find their best form again

If that happens then Oliver is the likely candidate as he can only play as a midfielder Viney could make it as a defensive small forward with Petracca as a high half forward But we're paying all 3 to be dominant midfielders so the way I see it is that Goodwin needs to demand more from all 3 ... no bombs and no hack kicks forward Elite footballers kick the ball well to position and have the ability to bring their teammates into the game Oliver, Petracca & Viney do none of that. They just get it and waste it (apart from when they are creative with handballing The other huge issue is that none of our forwards demand the ball, lead to the ball carrier or can win their own ball (consistently) I'm tipping a huge off-season as the current model is cactus

It's a mystery as to why the players didn't stay the course after being obviously encouraged by the outcomes when we went against bombing it in The other thing that stands out is that bombing it long is lazy & selfish. A bit like the long ball in soccer ... a relic of the past

That could work and we should have tried that option with Viney by now Petracca often used to hit targets by foot but he rushes most of his kicks these days We're paying elite money for B grade return (for all 3) At this rate there's very little chance that Goodwin will coach beyond his contract so he may as well go down swinging And to a certain extent he has ... dropped JVR & Fritsch, thrown Petracca forward, benched Oliver and played the newcomers But players get dropped for poor disposal and that should apply to any player

I reckon we can fix Oliver (just handpass it) but not so sure on the other 2

It's quite a situation where 3 players on elite money can't hit targets by foot Petracca, Oliver & Viney ... so in terms of expectations we're getting B grade performance from all 3 And that's not necessarily a criticism as all 3 have probably been pumping the ball forward in the way they do for 20 years But as we know, the long kicks forward often eventuate with a negligible return or in some cases, turnovers which can lead to opposition scoring opportunities We shared the ball well (heading forward) in the games against Freo, Lions, Sydney and to a lesser extent against the Hawks & Saints, so the new plan can work But sharing the ball in every game seems like a bridge too far And it's a player & coaching issue, not one or the other. Goodwin will likely stay as the payout will be too costly (especially when factoring in the 75% tax on the extra FD spend) Do we move some players on? Possibly, but the FD might think that the old habits can be fixed. I'm not convinced that can happen

Ban the Bomb

I'd rather see both kicking the ball well to position. And it's never too late to learn They've both got elite skills elsewhere Against Freo, Lions & Swans we didn't blaze away forward and Petracca & Oliver were both handpassing it more But elite footballers being able to kick to position is a pre-requisite skill We need to almost ban the long bomb as part of the game plan. I'd rather see us kick or handpass sideways or backwards from (55m - 70m) if an opening ahead doesn't present itself However, we keep lapsing back into old habits which makes me think that we're still trying to hold on to parts of the old game plan. Territory gain is a bit instinctive in footy Maybe the unlearning is more difficult than the learning But 1 mark from 28 f50 entries in the first half sums it up ... that's where we lost the game

Those long bombs in 2021 worked a treat We had an open forward line, lots of marking targets and we were able to hold the ball in our forward line with forward line defensive pressure But then it all changed. The other teams worked us out by flooding our forward line (2022 onwards) and intercept marking came to the fore Also, teams now are expert at defending the long bomb with rebound attack from even the last line of defence. Lots of handpassing and short kicks and hey presto, we're then trying to stop them scoring So why are we even bombing the ball in at all? With the 4 or 5 seconds of hang-time with those bombs, a defender can run 25-45 metres to spoil or mark Not withstanding those defenders anticipating where we are going to kick it to Effectively, we are handing the ball back to the opposition and from that point, the other teams has possession and a chance to score (if they keep possession)

Watts might have made it if we were able to use him as an outside player (old fashioned receiver) ... a bit like how the Pies use Nick Daicos But alas, we had a myriad of issues just putting a competitive team together in Jack's time with us But those kicking skills were sublime But back to Spargo and his F50 entries ... I always feel comfortable when he kicks it forward but either he needs to get the ball a lot more or we somehow get it to him more (as part of the chain)

The DE rating includes handpasses So Oliver & Petracca had 25 kicks between them yesyerday with only about 6 or 7 kicks hitting targets (assuming most of their handpasses hit targets) ... that's a DE rating of about 25% But both are supposed to be elite footballers. They need to kick the ball better (to position) or in the case of Oliver, handpass the ball more as he's never been a great kick to position player To be fair, all those long bombs forward come from a variety of players but you expect the senior players to set a good example

It's interesting that the player who is incapable of kicking long bombs into the forward is also our best exponent at kicking the ball into the forward line 30 metre low trajectory kicks is his go Our mids could learn a lot on how Spargo goes about it ... so we need to get the ball to Spargo more (when he's fit to go again) Perhaps as the last link going forward? The same thing was said about Watts years ago when he was playing as a high half forward

Yeah, I figured that JR The mids need a rocket

Our approach to goal is totally unprofessional Goodwin made an example of JVR & Fritsch but it's time he did the same with a couple of mids We've got nothing to lose as finals are out of the question anyway

How about our forwards start leading to the ball carrier or to space Our forward line is pure amateur hour and wouldn't be tolerated at suburban level. Pathetic On top of that we hoof it forward to compound the problem 4 years of absolute dross ... it's as if we are trying to sabotage our chances of winning

More than just several occasions Both hoof it forward on a constant basis with indiscriminate kicks that end up bearing very little reward We're paying them both elite money for B grade output Matchwinners? They are both a long way off and the other issue is that other players follow suit with the long bombs to the opposition So both either can't adhere to team rules or they don't want to. Either way, they are both costing the team wins

Could be that Goodwin can't fix it because our players just can't or won't change their ways The first half was diabolical with 1 mark from 28 forward 50 entries And just to rub it in Oliver & Petracca totally waste 2 more forward 50 entries late in the game with panic disposals We had a real opportunity to win the game today but we handed the game to the Pies by not taking advantage of our opportunities to score (specifically our forward 50 entries) That's on top of being largely wasteful against the Hawks & Saints ... use the ball properly and/or kick straight and we could have won our last 8 games

It's incredibly frustrating to watch ... if we just took a bit more care instead of blazing away we'd create a stack more scoring chances We've taken 1 mark inside 50 from 28 entries

Wasting our chances with the long kicks forward ... we're better off short passing or handballing forward More teamwork required if we're going to win this

What an amazing find! Who would have thought? Apart from the kicking skills, the game itself was very similar to a high pressure game played nowadays ... kicks to the boundary line (and the pockets) and the forward press all in operation. Intercept marks!! And RDB's 40 metre stab pass was a thing of beauty. Hassa Mann - all class And all those mistimed drop kicks would be handy for the chaos ball in the forward line we see these days (rather than the long bomb)

I'm 100% more concerned with the whole team as a group and playing as a team Changing one player or a few players is largely irrelevant if the whole team aren't all on the same page In other words, if T-Mac had played instead of Lever it wouldn't have made much of a difference

I listened to the game up until OKC were 8 points in front with a few minutes to play. Work intervened but I was assuming that OKC had won Watched the 'Mini' when I got home and sure enough, the Pacers got up and won! A number of the pundits have commented that the Pacers are very hard to match-up with

Yeah, @Gorgoroth , it's becoming quite the circus with Rodgers I'd like him to do well and not spoil his legacy but he's definitely not the player he once was It might work under Tomlin at the Steelers ... but it's a big if. The outcome may end up being more on the average/ordinary side of things But the Steelers made the playoffs last season so that would be the minimum standard you'd imagine