Young Blood

Probably already planning his four days off of golf. Post game Fox interview when asked what he was doing with his time off was literally responded with "golf, golf and more golf". May have also been where his head was at when he dropped those two marks that were all but his to ice the game but fumbled them in the dying moments. I am joking of course but if we somehow lost that one these would be big talking points. Funny how it all works.

Depends on the player. Salem came straight back into the seniors because he was able to put a block of full training together over a number of weeks. Can't see why Petty couldn't do the same. I think it was last week that I saw he was back to running. Might need one more week after the bye but from memory Goodwin said he would be available for selection. The answer to if he will come straight back in to AFL side is definitely a YES. He is clearly best 22.

Watched the replay for the second time. Its been stated so many times I know but boy our backline is just superb. Across the board no weaknesses, they just find a way every week to impact the game as our most important line. They're not perfect by any means but the way they structure up and support each other all on the same page is elite. Rivers makes mistakes but his ability to stay in the moment and follow up whether its tackling or winning back the ball is terrific. Lever and May had a lot of missed marks they wouldn't have been frustrated by but again the support of others to cover for them at ground level was great. Salem playing his best game in so long was the highlight for me. But McVee playing alongside him as an aggressive ball user adds another element. We might need to nickname them eventually (The Slick Brothers?). Love that Judd has learnt so much under Salem and shows similar traits with his ability to win contests and proactive ball movement. Hibberd got a fair amount of praise his first few years. But since I feel like he's been underrated. Rarely loses a contests, his physicality is so important. I hope they continues to manage him because in big games he just stands up every time. Tomlinson was another that was surprising but the role he's playing is by far his greatest strength taking the second key tall. Played with a confidence we haven't seen since first half of 2021. Will be interesting to see where Bowey comes back in. I think Petty much to others distaste will play forward. Especially with Tomlinson potentially settling back in. Frees Petty up to play deep or lead up forward.

Forgive me I'm sure its been posted on here somewhere. But there's a terrific interview Max did with Whateley on SEN this week (search youtube) where Max mentions that the team wouldn't really be chasing the level of form shown in the last 7 odd games of 2021, simply because it was fairly unstoppable football at the highest level and it seems unrealistic to reach that height of play again. But he followed up by mentioning we didn't need to play that extremely high level to win a flag. Its an interesting perspective and one I think @binman has probably brushed on in different ways. This team has a lot of belief. When we played poorly against Port and home we still found a way to almost snatch the game. When Fremantle found ways to break down our defence (again with us not at our best) we were still in it to win had we kicked straight down the stretch. I think the reality this season is this team isn't going to be pretty like the 2021 team. Teams last year worked out our method (one being the forward handball out of stoppages) and have greatly reduced our ability to score in quick succession like 2021. We have found different avenues to score while maintaining a top four defense. There's been a big focus this season on swinging back momentum in games. The team doesn't panic when the opposition get a run on. They are absorbing that pressure much better and grinding out games knowing they have a fitness level and method that can put them in a winnable position in last quarters. I think we might be able to win ugly on the weekend. But even if we don't to me it doesn't change the fact this team is building for the back end of the season.

I agree. As much as we would all love to know the philosophy, I'm perfectly fine with other clubs not knowing as well.

Amazing content guys. So keen to hear what Troy has to say as a catalist for a lot of our success the past few years. Q: He mentioned in a postgame interview how poised and calm Judd McVee was with ball in hand and how he seems to glide across the ground. Is there a player that Judd reminds him of with his skill set and ability to impact the contest? He might not be able to answer my next question as its more tactical perhaps. Q: With kick-ins this year there seems to have been some adjustments made. Are kick-in situations something that is practiced? Secondly, are kick-in tactics (or schemes) varied depending on how opposition teams set up defensively or is it simply a set play system we use every week? I imagine it also depends on who is kicking it in at the time.

My bigger question is less about the forwards and more the defense. With Hibbo out who plays on Curnow? Is May's back up for the task? I dare say Tomlinson will be a tad slow chasing him around the forward half.

Certainly smaller when you compare us to them. But not that unusual. Have a look at Collingwoods forwards size for comparison. Plus you have to remember we're rolling two 200cm rucks through there regularly.

Many factors why BBB hasn't broken into the side: - Fitness possibly still an issue. Might be on lighter loads until later in the year. - His ability to get any separation from his man (which was always his no.1 strength) has been greatly reduced. No longer presents like he used to due to lack of pace and not much of a contested mark. - Really struggles to do much when the ball hits the deck, especially in most likely wet conditions on Friday - Lack of forward pressure. I would say this is the main one. We're getting burnt off opposition winning and releasing the ball too easily out of their back half. He's been a liability there for a while. So I think its worth giving Smith a try

I'll be in the minority here but I actually wouldn't mind seeing Schache play. I feel one of the main reasons Tmac came in for Petty is that he can provide the versatility Petty has to be swung back when needed. I know he didn't set the world on fire against North but I thought he did enough in that game and has showed enough consistency at Casey to be considered again. I think Goodwin will stick with Tmac to try to keep some continuity down forward for the time being. But I just think Schache gives you more and a different look. Tmac is so stiff in the contest and unable to get any separation from his opponent now. As Binman has mentioned its probable that he's simply there to bring the ball to ground in heavily contested marking situations to get our small forwards involved but I would love to see another/better leading option moving into space besides Frisch and I think Schache could provide this. Add something more dynamic. Note of course this could be Smith but I'm not sure about his forward craft/experience yet to structure up well. Anyway just a casual thought. In: Schache (or Smith), Out: McDonald Harmes to swap with JJ as sub

Jesus now we're going to talk about list changes? Can we at least wait until round 20 or something? I guess halfway point assessment isn't such a bad thing but I really don't think its the list thats the issue at the moment from a talent standpoint. Obviously, we need forwards and younger talent for our ageing players but that will all happen in due course. I'll be sticking to structure and game plan threads and check in at the end of the year with a full season to assess.

So we can agree it depends on perspective. Lets just see how we go the next three games and reassess again at the bye. Still too hard for mine to see if we can consistently stack up well against the best sides.

I get what you're saying but my simple minded asterix is that the dogs were so bloody poor in that round 1 game. Really awful with some of the simple unforced turnovers/errors and lack of structure. I do believe the media choose to ignore a lot of the strong points you make but its understandable to a degree as the dogs I've watched closely compared to that round one game are like chalk and cheese. I concur, Media pundits will always pick and choose which facts to highlight and ignore to suit their narrative. Its a joke really.

Why so sir?

Big game this weekend for JJ. Would love to see him in around the stoppages winning contested ball. I imagine Gus will be needed filling gaps on wing and back line so I think its a terrific opportunity for JJ and Sparrow to stand up.

I'm a nuff at these things. So as full MCC if I want to get there early for walk up seats do I just purchase General Admission?

So for yours IN: Harmes, Brown, Sparrow, Smith Presuming at least two of Clayton, Fritta and/or Hunter are out. Who else you got coming out? Whose sub? I can't imagine you will ever see Trac permanently at HF unless he's carrying an injury maybe. He almost single handidly got us back into the game and almost won it for us last week playing on ball. He's our second leading clearance winner and most lethal/creative at stoppages. Understand he's spending more time forward which is great but in the heat of game we need him in the middle. Friday night was a perfect example.

I have to agree with @Queanbeyan Demon this isn't anything new. Its a simple, crude and brilliant bit of coaching from Hinkley. The vision you see where players are just slightly pushing him to delay him getting to marking contests is legal (apart from the obvious one paid against where the player actually held/blocked him). But I hate to say there's not much you can do to stop this at the moment apart from having someone run with Max... This vision King brings up below of the little elbow as max is down on the ground isn't the greatest example. Not sure how many players actually see it besides Hunter who clearly remonstrates. The other mids and backs are set up in position on a player. The balls going to be thrown back in at their HF. If one of our guys leaves their man/position we're pretty stuffed especially with how well Port were winning contest and moving the ball Friday night. In saying all that I would like to see some more grit from our guys at times throughout games. Prefer it on the ball but there are teams that inflict that intimidation without going overboard that we lack. Petty is one of few with Viney that does this consistently.

Awesome clarification. Exactly what I was hoping! Thats great insight. Thanks heaps! We have so many effective players to role through the middle to give us different looks and so good that its meaning less miles on our best mids. Also I think you're right we'll see the heavyweights in there more tonight.

Definitely not saying you're wrong but I'm curious as to how the mids have been rested. Do you mean less or lighter training, less % of time on ground? I've noticed our mids (mainly trac and clayton) look absolutely stuffed at the end of 3rd and 4th quarters at the last three games I've been to. But I might be missing some inside scope!

But you said! Still think Salem will be the sub

No harmes done

Its pretty strange isn't it. Although I think the media's questions have more been around whether Goodwin is starting to feel settled with what his best forward set up looks like, I still get a feeling around the AFL that people believe our forward line isn't fully functioning yet, maybe they are just looking at it more in a traditional sense where our talls are leading our scoring (ala Geelong) which is silly obviously. But I also don't know why Collingwood whose forwards have scored 10-20 less goals then our forward aren't getting similar queries. The below showing the inside 50 differentials between the top teams isn't overly significant. But the amount of goals we're scoring is. Our accuracy is outstanding (especially if you take out the Hawthorn game where I thought we were just a bit casual with our shot attempts).

OK cool thanks for confirming :)

Probably making assumptions going by Goodwin's presser. I did find it strange that he didn't rule it out when asked. I thought the answer would simply be that he will come through the VFL but made it sound possible of AFL return when he said he would see how Salem trains tomorrow. Made a point of saying he's had a mini preseason training fully for the past month. Would prefer to see him play VFL (even 70-80% game) but wouldn't be surprised if he ends up the sub.