Young Blood

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.

Jordan should come in to the 22 with most likely sub options of Melksham, Harmes, Laurie, maybe even Smith. I hope its Melksham for some depth/insurance up forward, especially if Tmac or Brown play and are still not fully fit and firing. Need someone to make Alir accountable so Melk could be useful there as a sub option. Its a shame Dunstan got injured as this would have been his perfect opportunity to at least be a sub bringing similarly what Jordan and Sparrow bring to the contest.

This one really stings. Agreed with others was starting to see some continuity up forward and felt he was just about to see some scoreboard reward for how much work he does in marking contests and off-ball with his physicality. However I think its losing the flexibility that he gives us thats going to give Goodwin headaches. We have been going really well with the two talls and Hibberd playing as the third tall (doing a terrific job i might add) but against bigger teams the luxury of throwing Petty back and playing one of the rucks/Trac more forward will be a shame to lose over the next 4-6. I think for the above reason I can see McDonald getting the nod over Brown as he can go back where needed. Coaching department favorite Smith might also be considered for this role as the swing man.

Totally its something every team 'wants' to do in terms of efficient effective ball movement certainly. I know when opposition teams do it to us finding movement through the corridor it really opens us up and makes our strong backline much more vulnerable. Like I said luckily we are pretty good at utilizing the opportunities other teams present us. When they shut down the corridors it usually means we have players free along the boundary where guys like Langdon and Brayshaw are excellent at moving the ball while constantly relocating ahead of the ball to keep presenting and work the ball up. Its not always effective but I think we're better at this then most. We use the boundary for safety as well knowing we can generate movement out of the contest with our mids. Its definitely a plan b but I definitely see it as part of our game plan and makes us more dangerous as a proven avenue to forward 50 entries.

Look I definitely agree we need to improve our connection. In both those pre season games we moving the ball quickly using different angles through the middle of the ground to work the ball forward with more precision. This created more space and less predictability for our forwards to lead into. It worked against Sydney as well. However Richmond had the middle of the ground filled any time we won the ball and looked forward on the weekend. Most of the better teams will zone players in the corridor to reduce this, we haven't been able to do as well as teams like Collingwood of navigating this. We do seem to do a decent job of moving the ball side to side and down the wings but it usually results in longer kicks inside with the oppositions defense well set up. Sorry that was a long winded way of saying if we can find the 45 degree angle kicks off half back and move through the corridor quicker we will get so many better opportunities with leading marks inside forward 50

OK so it has nothing to do with the forwards leading patterns or timing? Bayley seems to do quite well... He gets great seperation and generally leads or points to spaces where he can mark the ball in front. I'll admit we don't have the best delivery and delivery inside forward 50 but its as much to do with the forward line and their positioning as it is those kicking it inside to them. The long bomb has been covered in other posts. It's not a dump kick, its deliberate. When the forward line is congested and teams are zoning off its better to kick deep for our forwards to make a contest. Gives you more options at goal (mark, ground ball, repeat stoppage). If you kick short in these situations greater risk is too high with turning it over and teams transitioning so quickly these days. With all our backs pushed up you get exposed so easily in these situations.

Its a nice idea with Brown but when has this really worked? It was always his strength running into space at full stretch marking out in front. Many have criticized our kicking inside 50 as the issue but I think its more to do with Brown. Might be the wear and tear of injuries/fitness but he's unable to get much separation from his man these days. Also struggles to get his arms free in contests. The thing that hurts him the most is his inability to do much when the ball hits the deck, especially in contested situations. He doesn't do a great job of using his body to block and bump defenders out of position. Both Petty and JVR have shown more promise in these areas.