Macca

Good luck to the 49ers supporters on this thread ... @layzie @DemonDave @titan_uranus @Go the Biff & @Whispering_Jack You'll have to beat a great team to win but if you do beat the Chiefs, you'll be worthy winners A fair bit rests with Purdy but all the areas surrounding the QB are strong But I reckon if you do win, it will be your defence that will win it for you. It's been your strength all season

T-Mac can be useful for selected games if he can get his body right. And the reason why T-Mac still has to be in the conversation is that Petty has to get over his foot issues And Brown is in the reckoning as well because in an ideal world, the MC would prefer 2 bona-fide key forwards So it's JVR & Petty or JVR and ???? Many are envisaging JVR to CHF so the 3 aforementioned players can play deep forward The tricky part is the 2nd ruck and whether Schache or Fullarton get into the 22. If Max is 100% fit, then it's doubtful we'd use the 2nd ruck as the sub again If so, then maybe JVR has to spend limited time rucking (forward line only?) And someone else down back to cover a few ruck duals. If Tomlinson is the 3rd tall backman, maybe him The over-riding question is whether T-Mac & Brown can get their bodies right at all So if all 3 don't come up, who is the 2nd key forward, DS? (I put forward Tomlinsin but with no confidence)

Yes, the issue of Grundy possibly getting injured was a 2 way factor For our club, we've got a player who we don't really need anymore on a deal worth close on $3Million for another 4 years And we knew he was off to a club of his own choice so we needed to get him there without any hiccups Plus, the other factors that have been raised ... for instance, if it only came down to a choice between Grundy & Schache as the reserve ruckman only, I'vd got no doubt that we would have chosen Grundy under normal circumstances (but would he have been happy as the sub?) But the circumstances were complicated The red herring was Gawn's broken toe which many had forgotten about (of course, at the time, we were largely pre-occupied with the Maynard tribunal hearing) Max Gawn Broken Toe (carried for a number weeks)

I prefer posters who keep it real And again, if we'd taken T-Mac off what happens if we then needed to take Gawn off (broken toe)

@58er If we'd taken T-Mac off for Schache, what might we have done if Gawn then needed to come off with his brokren toe?

Yes, there are better and far more mature ways of critiquing your team or players without resorting to using terms such as weak, insipid, soft underbelly and wetting the bed etc etc And as @Slartibartfast mentioned, even a banged up T-Mac is better value than Schache And if he was only a reserve for Max, he wasn't needed Main issue ... the lack of quality forwards and we're confronted with the same issue this year (so far)

You ask a lot of questions but most of them look like the questions of someone who needs to be educated about how we went about it in the SF

No it's not that We took a chance on T-Mac and it didn't work. We had no other KPF's other than Schache and as a KPF, Schache has done virtually nothing So even a banged up T-Mac is better than Schache

If Grundy had checked out he's not going to be considered But don't forget that we drew the curtains on Grundy

No There is no shouda couda wouda You live with decisions, you can"t turn back the clock You have to talk before the event, not in hindsight

Grundy had checked out (in my view) And maybe the MC thought they could get more out of T-Mac Sometimes you don't get the answers until you get the answers

I'm not sure it cost us in 2022 (as much) as nearly the whole team ran out legs

So if Gawn breaks down and there's no Schache in reserve we would have had to use our only KPF in the ruck (T-Mac who was on one leg) Leaves us with zero KPF's in a final? Smith & Fritsch are 3rd & 4th forwards only We ran out of KPF's as well as an adequate 2nd ruck

Schache was unused as Gawn managed to battle through with a broken toe So he wasn't needed but we did need him in reserve

I wouldn't be sticking my neck out for Schache but I genuinly wish him well if picked

Proper forward line in both finals and we win both finals But I'm not going to change your mind and you won't be changing my mind Thankfully, most here are happy to scknowledge our forward line woes but you won't even reference it It's the elephant in the room Also, there are up to 7 forwards unavailable for the Sydney game as well) It's a real issue

What I also remember was that many here thinking that old dee's account had been hacked!! (in 2021) You've got to admit that old dee gets it right a lot and his views on Clarrie could be on the money as well.

I disagree The major factor was the replacement forward line being a big weakness

No 'old dee' is a realist and he gets it right more than most. And if you get it right most of the time you're keeping it real But he's seen as a pessimist by the optimists He made his call on the flag early in 2021 but I have no idea which threads I noticed because I always read what old dee has to say. rjay, Axis & bing are others who keep it real And they never complain about umpires either. Another thing I notice

I still believe we can win but we'll need a few things going our way. And Sydney aren't a great team either Our team can still be strong away from the overall forward line but our half forward line at least can be relatively good (Fritsch, JVR, Petracca/ANB) And on a small ground like the SCG that might cover it But the other issue is our movement into the forward line - it has to be slick otherwise we'll be entering a crowded forward line filled with replacement forwards And it's important to note that the yips in front of goal we had against Carlton in the SF came from the replacement forward line, not our first choice forwards That gets forgotten by the doomsayers who conveniently put aside our forward line woes as if it's not an issue Up to 7 forwards being unavailable is unprecedented. At least 3 of which are starters in the 22

Teams with an ever so soft underbelly don't win 16 or 17 games 3 years running And we romped in the flag in 2021 ... but no injuries that year And that's the main issue - injuries (specifically to our forwards) And most supporters and even the media are highlighting that facet

Specifically in the first game, the ground (SCG) itself is quite small. And given the fitness of the players who can run all game and then all the flooding, class is needed in the forward line Forwards who can win their own ball So we should expect Sydney to crowd our forward line at every opportunity. And they'll double team Fritsch you'd imagine. We need 2 big targets who will compete hard, mono. JVR & ???? Schache? I'm not filled with confidence Turner or Tomlinson maybe but playing as a KPF is a lot harder than as a KPD I'm holding out hope that T-Mac can somehow overcome the calf niggle as we know what he can bring (when fit) Petty? It's just fingers crossed with this bloke By the looks of it, Jefferson isn't ready and Adams the same What we do know is that the MC must start planning the actual make-up of the forward line as soon as possible. They need to practice together It's so important to start the season off with a win If I was to hazard a guess I reckon Tomlinson will end up being the 2nd tall forward B Bowey May Turner HB Salem Lever McVee C Hunter Brayshaw Langdon HF Fritsch JVR Petracca F Chandler Tomlinson Billings R Gawn Oliver Viney Int Sparrow (Oliver) Rivers (Brayshaw) Windsor (Hunter) ANB (Petracca) Sub Tholstrup (?) On paper, it's not a great forward line but I've got Petracca playing 35% forward as long as Clarrie plays (???) McAdam is in, if fit (for Billings) T-Mac is in, if fit (for Tomlinson) As for the 2nd rucking with or without Schache, who knows? He'll possibly play but I can't find a spot for him unless he takes the place of Turner or Tomlinson

Losing all these forwards is a reminder as to what happened to us after the '94 Prelim We lost Lyon, Schwarz & Jakovich for a huge amount of games. Neitz was thrown forward but that left the backline short, IIRC 1996 & 1997 and to a lesser degree 1995 were write-off years but Balme lost his job. Of course we bounced back under Neale Daniher but nevertheless, injuries cruelled us for 3 straight years prior to 1998 Forwards can and do win you the games. A functioning forward line requires decent talent levels and right now, we are now highly dependant on the midfield, structures, game plan and the backline We need to eke out some wins until the time comes where our forward line is a real threat again

Most of us would be a lot more confident if this was our forward line against Sydney HF Kozzie/Petracca JVR ANB/Chandler F Fritsch Petty Melksham Melksham had found his niche as a defensive forward, Kozzie can be absolutely dynamic and Petty was blossoming and is a sharp-shooter. Petracca playing forward (for good portions) is highly dependant on whether Clarrie plays. Without Clarrie playing, Petracca has to play predominantly on the ball otherwise we'll be conceding the midfield to Sydney Petty was also creating separation and space for himself, which is not easily replaced. Certainly not with a player like Schache So 4 first choice forwards not being available to use and we can't use that as a reason if a loss occurs? What if we lose by 1 point? Not a reason?

One more question @Roost it far If you reckon that Sydney will defeat us, will that have anything to do with our decimated forward line? Or will our decimated forward line have no impact on the result at all? Nothing?