deelusions from afar

Yeah I think that is correct. Normally it would be decided by which is a player's preferred foot but seemingly that doesn't cause problems for Langdon

Understand where you're coming from but they might both have been passed (doesn't mean they can't recover). I think if any of our defender's come back this week it will be Tomlinson out. Hunt will stay in until all our smaller defenders are back (Rivers, Salem and arguably Hibbo). Then it comes a question of whether we prefer Hunt's pace or Bowey's precise kicking. As harsh as it is for Tomlinson, he offers less flexibility to Smith / Petty. Clearly the coaching staff love Smith and the fact he could play tall and then switch to small (when TMac went back) shows why he's very handy. The way the players (eg Gus and Gawny) talk of Petty, it seems he is now an automatic selection if fit. He can also play forward and is comfortable leaving his man to impact the contest and playing the sweeper. Like TMac, Tomlinson's elite endurance is a weapon but they're not able to capitalise on it at the moment as his skills / speed seem to suit playing deeper in defence. He has come back from a serious knee injury so he might have a bit of improvement left in him this year but he's no longer best 22 for mine.

Journalists love talking about TMac going back. But the reality is he has only done that under Goody when we've had injuries in game to defenders. I think against North last year it was similar when Tomlinson got injured. Would be very surprised if TMac started there this week.

Some interesting / bizarre calls in this thread. Clearly we all see it very differently. If one of Lever / Rivers is back this week, then it will be Tomlinson that's dropped IMO. The coaches love Smith and want him in the team - remember he only left the team in the finals due to injury. His form against the dogs justified his selection. Tomlinson is outside best 22 atm for mine (but it is a long season) whereas Smith is battling for his position with Hibbo / Petty (depending on the makeup of our back 7 / matchups etc). Unless there are multiple ins, I think Bedford will get another game. Can't see them opting for the likes of Dunstan or Weid (even if Tmac plays back again). Bedford did enough to justify a full game this week. But given a number of players will be back in the short term, he'll have to play out of his skin to hold his spot. The player most at risk on form for mine is Harmes - as Gawny wrote in his book, he's a confidence player. Let's hope his last quarter goal has given him a bit. If Dunstan performs at VFL level I think Harmes will be the one most at risk.

I may well be proven wrong but from what I've seen and what Goody has previously said, TMac back is very much an option of last resort. In my view, we won't start him back in almost any circumstances. Smith back there allows us to play an extra tall (as he can play on either) but ideally it would have been a smaller defender replacing Salem - but with Gus already back there we didn't have any other options. I Imagine that one of the 5 that were out will be back next game which means TMac will have no reason to be in defence (unless injuries strike again!).

No love here? Any thoughts?

Unless there's lots of injuries in the midfield, I think one of Oliver, Viney or Trac would have to be out and Dunstan in great form in the VFL. I think it's unlikely he would come in to play a wing or flank so he would have to be ahead of Sparrow, Jordon and Harmes as an inside midfielder to get a gig. Unless he's absolutely dominating in the VFL, I'd say it's very unlikely he plays in the first 6 rounds

You've got TMac in the backline. Yes he was moved there last match and did well but take it to the bank that he won't start there next week. edit: changed side to backline

You might be right. But I think TMac fell away towards the end of the season. Brown and Jacko will be better this year and Fritsch has now announced himself as one of the top forwards in the game. I think we're in a different place to the start of last year. We showed last night that if we move the ball quickly Brown / Jackson and Fritsch is enough. I'm certain the coaching staff will experiment with an extra small / pressure forward. Ultimately they might settle on what we have - but they can't stand still... they have to keep trying to gain an edge.

I feel like people are forgetting that it's not easy to come in and play as a small forward role player. Spargo, Kozzie and ANB took a while to get settled so Toby deserves a decent crack before people write him off. I know this is about Toby but I think a few will be eating their words when Chandler gets a proper go at it. For mine he doesn't quite have the pace that Toby has but has better skills, tricks and hardness (and he's not slow). Also yet to have a chance to settle at senior level. An injury to one of Kozzie, Spargo or ANB last year and we would probably be talking about Bedford or Chandler as premiership players.

Smith is the fastest player on the list over 20m. He can play tall and small. His main flaw / weakness is that he sometimes gets a bit lost / lacks awareness - which is how most of our defenders look initially when they come into the team. Just you watch if he can stay injury free and gets a good run at it. TMac will not be staying in defence. Held up well last night but that was out of necessity. To me it shows that with Brown, Fritsch and Gawn/Jackson we made not need Tmac forward this year. If you have another pressure forward eg Chandler / Bedford / Laurie / AMW this will do more to lock the ball in our forward line. Obviously things will change throughout the season but I can only see Weed come in now if Brown or Jacko get injured.

This is obviously related to the changes for next week thread but more about going forward for the rest of the year. We are obviously very unlucky to have all our injuries in one area of the ground. 5 of our 7 premiership defenders! Smith, Hunt, Tomlinson in, Brayshaw to come back from the wing (Jordon to take his wing) and when Salem went down TMac goes back and Smith goes from a tall to a small. While TMac did an incredible job, I think most supporters would remember why he has moved forward in the first place - which is the reason why he is not a permanent fix down there. So if not TMac, who goes back if we had the same number of injuries in defence? Who would be next cab off the rank? I'm thinking maybe Melksham? Or would Deakyn Smith be ready? Hopefully we won't have to worry about this with a bunch of them back next week.

That makes sense to me - Brayshaw has trained in defence for this very situation and Jordon showed last year he is able to do the job on the wing. Harmes got tried there a few seasons back - never again. Is a very handy second string midfielder!

I have a sneaking suspicion that the dogs will be hungrier than us for this one.

One that doesn't get enough credit here I think is Viney. Some would not be able to bounce back from being demoted from captain - and I feared that someone who bleeds for the club and is as proud as Viney, he might find it harder than most. Though we have no idea how it works internally, clearly he's found a way to make it work. While I always cringe when he is the spokesperson for the club, there's no doubt that Viney would be a critical driver of the high standards and the hardness required for success in the AFL.

I agree obviously that I (like pretty much every other supporter) would have loved to be there last year. However talking to Richmond / Hawks friends, they've all said it was the first one they were most passionate about and that means the most. Because we didn't get that opportunity, if we can win another this year or in coming years it may almost feel like our first. Not how we would script it but I reckon this would ultimately be better for the club's membership, supporter base growth and finances (though obviously impossible to say for sure). Hence the blessing in disguise.

I don't imagine the players are sitting down to watch this.

I think the GF being in Perth last year is a blessing in disguise - we get the bounce from winning a flag / success but at the same time as most fans haven't seen it live, they're just as hungry as if we hadn't won it. I live in the West and I'm not sure if I agree with what you say about the dogs. They are easily the most visible / dominant team out here. Maybe they haven't converted into members but over time I think they will. The dogs are very well placed strategically with the whole west to themselves!

Maybe missed your point... but isn't Succession available on Binge (which is owned by Fox)?

Good post. I mostly agree - so much needs to go right to do it again. However, I think its interesting that the teams that took us apart last year were mostly at the bottom (Pies, North, Adelaide) or teams that we had beaten earlier in the season (Dogs, GWS, Hawthorn). To me this suggests (especially when you look at our finals form) that it was more above the shoulders. I don't think it's possible for teams who play such a disciplined game plan to be up for every game - but we showed we could do it when it mattered - not just in finals but the big games through out the season when our reputation was on the line eg tigers, dogs, lions, port, geelong. I'm not saying I think we are invincible but I think the fact that the pies, crows and north troubled us the most is more about our effort on those days than a game style that is our Achilles heel.

Agree Smith is judged too harshly here. Yes Charlie cameron kicked a bag on him but I don't know any player that would have done better. As binman says he gives us great flexibility with playing on all sizes. Will be interesting because surely they can't go with May, Lever, Petty, Thomlinson - of them I'd only really back May on a smaller livewire forward but only if they are playing close to goal.

Thanks so much PF and SJ!! This definitely excites me PF. Makes me think of Farmer out at Waverly! Had seen the youtube highlights but given we'd missed out on Mac I thought AMW would be very much a project player and if we're lucky develop into a regular one day. Sounds like he's holding his own!

I found David King so annoying last year saying that a healthy list is an extra player when you get to finals... but as it turned out he was dead right. All the other "contenders" except maybe Port were missing key structural players and couldn't handle it. Fingers crossed for this year!

Look forward to Eddie saying that's it's Melbourne's grand final only for one of his panellists to correct him by saying "no they actually won THE grand final last year"

Ideal script for 22: The Tigers to start the year on fire and dominate the competition all season. We're a bit off the boil / deal with some injury issues but get it together for finals and ultimately face them in the grand final as underdogs... and go on to spank them. I know a bunch of Richmond supporters that think without injuries etc they would've beaten us last year in the finals.