deelusions from afar

Yeah I agree. Geelong have definitely gone up a level this year... but they've shown a lot of their cards in that game. At the end of the day Thursday's result doesn't matter. All that matters is that you qualify and are able to play your best in September. Given where we were this time last year, it's fair to say we're still on track. But if we get similarly beaten by Collingwood, Carlton or Brisbane in the last three rounds then that would be cause for concern.

Interestingly 3rd or 4th probably has little difference to 1-2. i.e. - if our opponent is Geelong (or even Collingwood or Carlton), the game will be at the MCG in any case. If it is Freo - we'll see how we go against them in a few weeks on their home deck... but its not as if that ground is a bogey ground. We played our best 2 games of football there last year! Would be surprised if Brisbane finish above us given their injuries and form. If it were somehow Sydney, they've got a poor record at home compared with the MCG.

We've been doing this for years - it surprises me that other clubs haven't tried to exploit this much before. When Max is your ruckman, it makes sense to kick to him. But surely we need to get better at capitalising on the spares if a team like Geelong send extra players in to contest with Max? I actually like that Geelong have done this - it is easier for them to do this on a skinny ground like GMHBA and surely we will be ready for it next time.

Was a very disappointing game but I think some of the suggestions for changes are a fair way off the mark. Eg Spargo didn't get much of it - but we did struggle to get it out of our defence. He's one of the few that is reliable with ball in hand. Equally Bowey got caught out a few times but our defence was under enormous pressure. For me it is not about the personnel, it is about the effort. Geelong came to play and their tackling pressure was very impressive. Trac, Clarry and Viney all played well individually but Geelong killed our onball brigade as a whole. If this were round 20-23 I'd be concerned but it's not. Maybe it's fools hope but we timed our run to perfection last year and there's no reason we won't be doing the same this year. The Brisbane game showed we still have it. Our game relies on significant effort and pressure. Clearly it's not possible to bring it every week of the season. If we don't bring it, we are just an ok side. But when we bring it, we are almost invincible.

Isn't more about how many of these can we convert into full /proper memberships in the following seasons? Other than the first pandemic year in 2020, the club has increased it's membership numbers every year since 2013. So it's not just a matter of selling more of these gimmicky cheap memberships after the half-way point. If we managed to achieve the same growth in membership next year, we would reach 75k - which is the number that Pert had in the strategic plan. I thought it was laughable at the time... and yet we might get there despite the four years being hampered with a global pandemic. Enormous effort by so many involved!

I kind of agree with Jake here - It's going to take a mammoth contract to get Jackson to leave... but as we've seen in the past that can be a bit of a noose around the neck of the player and club. Jackson is a freak - no doubt. But if he is on $1M at 22 years of age (and the club has given up two first rounders, or one first rounder and a decent player) then the pressure is on him to perform. He seems to handle pressure well but he's not regularly tearing games apart like most that get paid that amount. I often wonder how these things work. Would a player manager ever say "You could get $X from Y but it's not all about the money. That's going to put a lot of pressure on you and we don't want another Boyd situation." Given that's against their own self interest I'm guessing not

Like Gosch's?

I'm happy for them to. They are a living demonstration that success in the H&A does not translate to finals / premiership success (despite getting close). I think the more games they play there, the more trouble they will have at the MCG.

Great post @Vipercrunch! It's a strange year with North and WCE performances skewing the points for a bit as well. As others have said, our scoring tends to rely heavily on solid defence and manic pressure around the ball. This style is exhausting but we've shown we can bring this in big games (eg in finals last year) and that we still have it (Bris two weeks ago). Having said that, there are some tactical moves that teams have made to curb our strengths - particularly our use of May, Langdon etc. Scott is seen by many as a great tactician and Geelong have clearly set themselves for this game (resting Selwood, De Konig last week). I think Thursday night will be a good indication as to whether well coached teams can will cause us trouble.

Out of interest, if another club were looking for depth in those areas, could they select Chandler or Disco before us in the draft? Or because they are rookies they are off limits.

I think this is why it's worth giving Petty a run forward - but that's more of a next year problem. It would be unlikely that they will bring in Disco again this year once he recovers unless one of the other three are injured.

My understanding about Lobb is that his desire to move relates to his partner? i.e. unrelated to Jackson

After seeing Goody's comments, can't see this happening. Having said that, I would like to see it (even if its a bit of experimenting pre-season next year). Having the ability to throw Petty forward in game if things aren't working would add a string to our bow. Given our tough run home, I don't think they will tweak with the back three unless forced to due to injuries (eg multiples of Max, Jackson, Weid, Brown).

I'm interested to see how Cameron goes. I feel like he is over hyped because he has huge games against lowly teams / teams that don't prioritise defence. Although admittedly that could probably be said of most key forwards. If he really is doing something different this year (eg with his centre bounce attendances, field kicking and running forward) we'll see how well our defence covers it. I remember seeing him on AFL360 last year in the lead up to the final talking very confidently about how relaxed and comfortable and ready he is for the game... and he didn't fire a shot. Obviously that was more about what was happening further up the field but until I see him take a decent defence apart, I'll think he's a bit downhill skier. Hawkins seems better suited to breaking a close game open with his strength in marking contests and smarts around F50 stoppages.

I opened this thread thinking GWS had decided to give Jesse a new role at full back! 😆 I think he has the physical attributes to do it. But we all know it takes more than that.

If he wasn't a ranga and/or was able to speak publicly (eg like Bont, Trac etc) he would be consider the best player in the game. From his first game he has been a star - unless injuries get to him, he will go down the best pure midfielder of the MFC and maybe our best ever player.

Nah it's legit. Came straight from Juddy's grandma.

A bit confused by this... I think loading is definitely a factor. But I thought it would ramp up throughout the season until a few weeks out from finals? Some saying the hardest bit is done?? I think the lions looked tonight like they were going through a bit of loading themselves - if that's the case and they are a week or two behind us, are they at more or less of an advantage when we get to finals?

I know he was on the wing against Freo. But apart from that I haven't noticed him played out of position. Where has he been playing? Why is he played out of position when we are not missing any small forwards or wingers?

To be honest it wouldn't take that much to be his best game. People single out his game against Geelong in the 2018 final. There's not that many other standouts (in fairness to him often the delivery has been terrible and he's stuck in the forward 50). He's been more lively when played in the ruck at Casey

I actually have a sneaking suspicion that Weid will play his best game for us if he comes in. He seems to be a confidence player and to a certain extent he gets a free hit in the ruck as the expectations aren't high on him in the way it is when he's forward. He impacts a few contests early and then takes a mark and goals when he goes forward and we'll see a different player.🤞

Psychologists... the game is played 90% above the shoulders!

In fairness though, it's very rare we seem them do it. I don't think its necessarily that we don't have players with the skills to execute it. Hibberd used to in his AA year. Bernie Vince used to do it when we were sh!te. I think this is an area we could easily develop. You get one or two of these per game and it makes a big difference.

Some big changes there. Not sure I agree with all of them. But I've come round on the idea of Petty forward. Doesn't mean he has to stay there all season. But with TMac out, it could give us real flexibility if we know he can play at either end. With Turner and Tomlinson we shouldn't lose too much in defence.

Someone might have some stats on this to back this up (or disprove it) but I feel like we play such a disciplined way that we rarely have shots for goal around 50m out unless under immense pressure or from a set shot. Our strategy is to bomb long to Brown (or whoever) hoping they will mark or create a contest and the smaller players crumb. Many other teams seem to be prepared to handball off to a designated kicker in this position or even have a go from general play. I'd like to see us try a bit of this - if nothing else it makes us a bit less predictable as the opposition know we're going to kick it long to our forward target EVERY time currently. Makes me wonder though... who would be the player you would want to receive the ball outside 50 to have a shot off a couple of steps? There isn't a standout for mine... Petracca is hit and miss, does Salem have the distance? Rivers? Hibberd? Sparrow? May? Harmes?