Macca

I see Turner as more of a backman as his forward craft is not that good. Still, he'll probably get a few more chances forward Our best tall forward is Petty but unless we recruit a decent FB, Petty is possibly destined to fill May's role (down the track) If we can get hold of some decent draft picks, we might be able to lure a decent (experienced) KPF in the off-season

Fullarton has not shown enough so his height is not an advantage. He did ok against Freo but was largely invisible against the Tigers. JVR or AJ will probably replace him Playing as a permanent key forward is really hard work these days. Way less space to lead into so a KPF needs a few other tricks Years ago, many teams had at least 2 decent forwards. Nowadays, good key forwards are scarce due to the nature of how much the sport has changed

I doubt it will be Petty (rucking) And being in the ruck should help JVR, not hinder him It gets him into the play and he can get his hands on the ball. A bit like Kozzie who often needs to get his hands on the ball early But right now, 1 of JVR, AJ, Fullarton or Campbell gets a game so the MC will give them all a chance Fingers crossed 1 of the 4 turns out to be a decent contributor. There's a spot there for 1 of them My preference is for a more mobile forward line with very few inside 50 bombs (unless it's to the advantage of a teammate in a 1 on 1 ... heads up, eyes down, for the distributor kicking into the forward line)

For those who watched the Casey game against the Tigers What role did JVR play? A roaming forward or more stay at home? And did he do any rucking? And did AJ play deep forward or further out from goal? (or a combination of both?)

It's more a case if 'have-to' with JVR being the part time ruck If it's not him, then it's Fullarton or AJ as only 1 of the 3 gets a game under normal circumstances It's interesting that we were happy to go with just the one tall forward (predominantly) in the last 2 games (Petty) We've looked far more potent (and mobile) with a mainly medium sized forward line (we've also laid a lot more tackles and locked the ball more in our forward line as well ... in the last 2 matches) Helps when we're no longer predominantly bombing the ball forward (as a default move) Back-track to the first game of the season when we played 3 talls forwards with all 3 barely touching the ball (AJ, Jefferson & JVR) ... can't imagine playing all 3 in the same team now Right now, playing 2 of the 3 is 1 too many

In the last 2 games we only played 2* talls in the forward line so we might expect the same looking ahead Surely JVR can ruck for 15% of the game. Doing that can get him involved in the game and I'm not sure it effects his play in the forward line anyway In my view, if JVR comes into the side it will be at the expense of Fullarton. Which means JVR will be expected to contest about 15% of the ruck duels Petty to play deeper forward than JVR if we go with that 2 pronged attack is my bet But AJ might come in for Fullarton instead anyway. It's one or the other, not both If AJ comes in, he would be best suited deep forward with Petty out at CHF For balance, JVR to come in over AJ (assuming Fullarton has a spell in the ressies) When JVR rucks Gawn can have a spell on the bench or play deep forward with Petty out at CHF (so a rotating forward line as such) *Probably more like 1.5 tall forwards with the Gawn on the bench for 23% of the time along with Fullarton being on the bench for 30% of the time (against Richmond)

Yes I agree, Ernest To Richmond's credit, they pressured us well in the first half, so our short game broke down on many occasions And that's going to happen, we don't get to keep the ball to ourselves. We have to work our way to the right solutions against spirited opposition Resting Gawn in the last quarter was the correct move as we had the game in hand. We lost percentage as a result but winning games is more important (right now) And if JVR or AJ were in the ruck instead of Fullarton? Anyway, my thinking is that we've lost 5 games and we need to hold off for as long as possible before we lose a 6th game

The Eagles aren't much chop but you have to always factor in that they might have one of the better days (or their best day) You can never assume that a poorly equipped opponent is always going to perform poorly And they are playing on their home ground. If we start against them like we started last night, we can give them a sniff and they can win Let's not forget that they defeated us by 35 points last season We bring our best we'll win, but we were a long way off our best last night By contrast, we played very well last week against the Dockers and won well

On occasions last night we kicked long forward to a 2 on 2 ... what is required is that one of our forwards needs to lead away to create 2 x 1 on 1 scenarios Instead of that outcome we end up with a mini-pack situation and thus, a wasted opportunity to score It's basic footy practised at suburban or country level but our forwards on a whole are too statuesque ... creating seperation is also needed to create non-pack scenarios (not just on their opponents) In other words, our forwards need to get on their bikes (get moving)

287 uncontested possessions last night tells a story on how we are trying to transition to the short-ball game. But still too many long kicks to packs or 2 on 2's inside the 50 (with that final possession on the string of possessions) So we need another link to provide another option when entering the 50. Takes another runner to sprint to position or sprint to extend the chain of possessions. Running into the gap being ideal Easier said than done of course, as the new game plan is a work in progress

Fullarton played ok last week but not up to scratch last night ... either JVR or AJ should come in but either player will need to work in with the other forwards and do the 2nd ruck duties We lacked a tall presence up forward last night (Petty was reasonable without standing out) although what was pleasing was that we took 12 marks inside 50. We're finding targets at least So JVR or AJ can make a difference (not will make a difference)

We played one really good quarter and 3 bog average quarters. Obviously needed a rev up at half time, which is a concern Bowey & Salem kept us in the game until our stars decided to lift their intensity We're going to have to do better than that to defeat the Eagles I'm not sure we would have beaten too many teams last night We can play so much better but it's a 4 quarter game. So we need to bring our best from the get-go It's a win but unimpressive

Not sure on Tassie but if the big offer is going to come for Kozzie, I'd be reckoning it will be at the end of this season. They'll want his serviced now (whoever they may be) And if we got what we wanted*, we can use the picks we get for him in the 2025 & 2026 drafts *Lots of picks

Kozzie is not coming out of contract. He's contracted until the end of 2027 So to prise him out is going to take a huge offer I'm not at all concerned As good as he is, 3 first round draft picks coming back for Kozzie is also very appealing (esp with JT at the helm) And if we don't get that type of offer, we tell the suitors to P.O. We are in the position of strength because of the contract

Reckon you're right there, AF, good pick up Although the long dump kick forward to packs was probably more prevalent back then ... and defensive flooding less so? Last week we had 392 possessions in the game against Freo at 81.7% DE The last 6 games of 2018 R20 426 @ 70% ---------- R21 358 @ 72% R22 386 @ 72% ---------- R23 403 @ 75% EF 335 @ 72% ----------- SF 382 @ 69%. Difference being the DE rating up (albeit from one match against Freo) the good news is that our veteran players should be able to re-adjust to how they once played Back then Oliver handpassed most of the time and Gawn often gave it off short Can't recall on Viney & Petracca but they maybe handpassed a trifle more?