Knuckles

I’m sure I read Viney had a semi serious eye injury after round 23. Enough to require some form of corrective procedure.

Yesterday our best long entries into F50 were miss kicks that ended up directed to space, letting Brown and Jackson to run and jump at the ball. Seems like basic footy to kick to space that favours our 200cm forwards and let them jump and use their height. Every other F50 entry was directed straight at our forwards making it easy for defenders to pick them off. Also spreading our forwards wouldn’t hurt. The number of times three of the Browns, Jackson and Gawn were standing next to each other was absurd. Even Cox could read where the footy was going to end up, and that’s ridiculous. I did notice Goody getting stuck into Stafford at three quarter time. Maybe he has run out of patience internally.

Sad for Smith, but I'm glad this happened at training, not half way through the first quarter on Friday night. It makes me think, that if he is not in the selected team, Hunt is the ideal injury sub. He can play at either end of the ground reasonably well, without being brilliant and could hold down a wing if one of our midfielders went down and Brayshaw was needed in the middle.

The VFL concept is surely broken. Most of the guys above have played three games since May 23rd. How can they stay match fit over that period, let alone find some form. And now they will be travelling for three weeks with no games. For the apparent elite sporting competition in Australia this is embarrassing. And before anyone jumps in with the COVID card, I get it, but it’s not as though COVID is an unexpected issue for this season.

I hope the coaches are analysing our set up. Because we play such a full on team defence, every time we won back the ball on Saturday all of our forwards were 75 meters from goal at best, stopping all momentum and chance of finding any space inside forward 50. Ben Brown in the man to go no further than CHF and the push forward hard as soon we create a turn over. I’d hate to be defending him one on one in space. The other side of this is Kozzie needs to sprint forward as soon as we create a turn over. Using his pace to find space or get front and centre of Brown in a marking contest.

Last year when he was the number one forward, and Jackson was two, his marking was border-line elite. As soon as Jackson was injured and Tmac came back in his marking fell away. I genuinely feel like he defers to the senior player and doesn't attack marking contests with as much authority when he doesn't feel like he's the main target. So in short my theory is it is all confidence/self belief, combined with a bit of structural tinkering to separate our key forwards in marking contests.

Can see Fritsch missing this week and Weideman coming in. They are not dissimilar in style and Fritta looked like he was unwell or carrying an injury on Saturday night.

Guaranteed to upset some, but I rate Mark Howard on Fox. He resists the urge to over commentate, keeping his involvement to the minimum. He also lets the expert commentators give opinion and focusses on play by play calling.

Slightly unrelated, but how good is it that we don't need to rush our most recent draft picks. I understand Laurie is out of action at the moment, but it is a real luxury to let these young kids develop fully before coming into the seniors, especially after they played very little footy last year. In recent years I feel we've brought a lot of draftees in too soon compromising their growth. Also, hopefully given they will have had to fully earn a call up they will end valuing the opportunity even more when it comes.

I don't mind the idea of Max spending time forward to preserve his body during a long season. But I see Max and Jackson working in tandem throughout the year, with the club picking and choosing games where Jackson spends longer periods rucking, with Max resting forward. Potentially against teams like the Bulldogs who have younger or undersized ruckmen. This dynamic would change once Brown and Weideman return (which I feel will be closer to the middle of season than the beginning). I see Daw as a back up swingman option if any more big men go down.

I hate foot injuries. At least its a ligament issue, not bone damage.

Winning is clearly the only option tonight and any other result should see massive changes to our coaching staff and footy department in general. Having said that there are a few things I wan to see. With the number of coaching and support staff on our books I hope they are working on these or similar things. I want to see Kossie use his obvious talents to get the basics right. None of the of the hollywood tap on's or trying to make too much out of nothing. Just use his pace to hunt, tackle and harass the Dockers defence. Then use his speed to balnance himself before kicking at goal or dishing off. Our tall forwards need to be smarter. Too often they were spoiling each other last week. Whether that is Preuss or Gawn deep with Weideman floating around the top half of the 50 or a variation on that. Weideman also needs to get back to crashing packs with intensity. He has been reverting back to his timid self the last two rounds. Viney is the other issue from my perspective. He obviously give his all, but I have never seen a player get tackled so much. He needs to take a leaf out of Oliver's book and use his power to stay taller in traffic, and keep his hands free. He continually drives low through packs, and now that it seems OK to tackle people by the neck and head, that strategy doesn't work. He will get pinged every time.

So these two got caught because they got in a fight. How many other AFL players have been out and about enjoying the Gold Coast nightlife without being found out. I'd say plenty. They really don't get it, and are making NRL players look like rocket scientists this year.

This situation needs another year. May was good when available, Hogan had pre-season issues and his feet have to be a major concern. I watched King several times (including his best game v Carlton) and can't say I was blown away. Don't get me wrong, he might be the A grader some are predicting, but I would say the jury is still out. He only averaged 7 possesions a game and just over a goal, I know he is developing, but there's not much there to get excited about.

The word i have heard is that Goodwin doesn't rate Frost as highly as some on here, and feels his trade value will never by higher. Same source called the Watts and Hogan trades mid season. Doesn't mean he will be traded, but if the deal is right they won't hesitate on moving him on.