deelusions from afar

Agree - I think Hannan (and Fritsch) are both worth trying in this role. I also wonder why Hunt hasn't been given a decent go at it. I know his kicking isn't great (but neither is Langdon's). I assume it is more about fitness. But if it's not a fitness issue, I feel like there's no reason why he couldn't do what Langdon's doing. When he started his career he showed not only his pace, but his ability to tackle, to win the ball in the air and to read the play. Even playing as a defensive winger to shut down their most dangerous one, he has the speed to hurt the opposition when we have the ball.

Agree 100% BR. I was very disappointed to hear we drafted Sparrow (not a knock on the kid but we had lots of players that play his role already when he was drafted) but the talk at the time was that he is very quick and able to accelerate away from congestion. Haven't seen this yet but he hasn't played a lot of senior footy so too early to know. Maybe the VFL watchers from last year might know better. Equally Jordan was picked as an outside mid / back flanker with good disposal skills. My understanding was that when he wasn't having much impact playing these roles at VFL last year they put him in the square and realised that's where he belongs.

Isn't Lockhart already playing this role?

I like the idea ... but I have a feeling that having one of Preuss or Gawn forward the whole game will have a detrimental impact on our forward pressure. Obviously TMac does not have great speed or agility but I feel he would do better than either of the ruckman at finding his man / running to the right spot in the zone etc. Potentially also messes with Weid's role because he's currently playing out of the goal square most of the match - can't imagine max or preuss playing CHF

I heard this exchange as well. My take is that Whateley is a big fan of Brayshaw and continues to ask these questions as he wants him at Geelong for when their star midfielders retire. What I found interesting was that Lewis said how much he thought of Jack... but went on to say he needs to find another position to pay (outside the centre square) as that's brayshaw's best position. But it was reported that he said to play Brayshaw on the wing. Anyone have a link to the audio?

Apparently we had a decent win - anyone know how we went? Pies 6.5 (41) Dees 12.8 (80)

Well with the rest of the fixture, I hope my theory of our game plan not stacking up on the wider grounds is proven wrong - The Gabba, Cazaly Stadium and TIO are 3 of the widest grounds going around outside of the MCG.

That's a bit comforting... but I guess it will be more about the cumulative effect. Especially as some of these teams will presumably have a bye in this block - actually maybe it's just the saints?

Good posts here. I don't think our midfielders were necessarily flatfooted early in the season, but I feel like better midfields in the competition knew Gawn would win the tap and so scrag / tackle whoever the tap was going to even before they got the ball. It was prommising to see Oliver / Petracca running away with the ball in the last two weeks - but for me I don't think the likes of Port / Bris etc would have allowed them to do that. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Agree - obviously all depends on whether we can beat teams in the 6-12 range but I think St Kilda are vulnerable as they still have games against Bris, us and West Coast.

While I think TMac has lost a lot of his speed and agility, I felt he actually showed positive signs before getting injured and he was ok last week. I think if we're asking him to play a high half forward then that works for us - but I don't think he's suited to the deep forward role which is ok as Weid is doing that nicely at the moment! Mixed feelings on Preuss coming in. He's a man mountain but does he have the fitness to not be a liability? Regardless of Grundy's form and potential injuries, he plays as an extra midfielder. Not sure if Preuss is capable of countering that or forcing Grundy to be accountable for him the other way.

I wish - but never seen Goody play any games at selection

While its all very interesting... I think most team's numbers will stack up pretty well after playing the crows and roos back to back. The question is have we turned the corner or are we just putting away terrible teams. Next two weeks will tell a lot

I like the thinking - I'm sick of playing inside mids on wings and flanks whether it be Jones, Brayshaw or Harmes. Surely if they're prepared to play Trac and Oliver forward then Viney in this role is worth a chance. The alternative is that at least one (and maybe two) of Viney, Brayshaw and Harmes will not be at the club next year - the club would be negligent to not try to get value a the trade table for an area we have a surplus and the players themselves would be silly not to look for a team that will play them in their best position.

I don't think he is - but would love to be proven wrong. Players rarely improve their kicking over their careers - particularly after significant injury. My sense is that people think because he is a (mostly) reliable set shot for goal he has got better with his kicking. But kicking to people who are moving between an opposition zone is a different skill. I would actually feel safer if the ball was in his brother's hands in defence.

Agree re Tomlinson. I'm sceptical that TMac back will work - but I think i Gawn comes in then a tall has to go out (or at least in the case of TMac or Tomlinson be moved to a wing) as the Weid/Jackson/Tmac forward line was tried and failed v Port. It would be a great asset moving forward to have TMac in the team as a defender knowing that he could be switched forward if Weid / Jacko go down or are beaten by their opponent - but I think he's too slow, lost his agility and foot skills / decision making error are far more costly in defence than up forward. Will be interesting to see what happens v the pies - TMac did enough to stay in the team... but I'm not sure if they have enough tall forwards to warrant him, Lever and May all in defence. I think if not for injury, the answer would probably be Petty or Hore to support May and Lever.

Spot on - I'm wrapped with how he's been playing since being brought back... but from all reports he was not looking likely through the pre-season with TMac, Brown and Jackson all showing more. He's had to earn it and he is doing everything right now (aside from missing a few set shots)

Not a personal attack as I've seen many others call for this... but I'm trying to understand why anyone would think TMac in the backline would be a good idea. Can you help me out? In my view, TMac is a terrible field kick. Potentially this is more decision making. But when he used to play in defence, TMac used to take it upon himself to take the low percentage kick into the corridor that only our best kicks could pull off regularly. If he didn't do that, he try and run around someone and get caught regularly. The benefit of playing him forward was that he could use his endurance and he could kick straight and was a revelation in late 2017 and 2018 with his goal kicking. Since then he's had numerous injuries. He seems to still have the endurance but appears to have lost some speed and agility. His tackle count last night indicated his effort and desire but he will be a liability in defence at the moment with ball in hand and when defending. And finally I think our defence is functioning pretty well at the moment... don't see how he could improve it.

Agree - I think we need to manage a number of players this week. The roos have more injuries and are also dealing with short breaks - I'd make as many changes as we can. I'd love to see JJ come in and spend more time in the middle with Sparrow Brayshaw and Harmes.

Given Goldy is struggling and off a short break, I wonder whether they're putting this out there to tempt the Roos to rest him this week as well.

Don't know what games you're watching but Oscar has been good this year. No defender is going to look good with the way the team played v Port. Oscar is never going to be a star - all he has to do is his role. We have May, Lever, Hibberd, Salem and co to do the attacking things.

I think it's also about there being more ball ups and throw ins so other teams that base their game around the stoppages also like the grounds that will maximise the chances of this occurring.

There's obviously other factors at play... but our win-loss record since I first posted this continues to fit the pattern. I.e. the grounds with a width of less than 135m we play well at (eg Metricon and Adelaide) whereas the grounds with a width greater than 135m eg The Gabba we play poorly at. Clearly this was not the reason we lost to port - we were smashed everywhere - and we weren't convincing against Adelaide in the 1st half. But based on how we've gone while Goody has been coaching, I expect our game will suit the narrower grounds such as Adelaide and Metricon more than say the Gabba or Optus in WA. Looking ahead, we play: - North @ Adelaide. Since Goody has been coaching we have an 80% record there from 5 matches. North have lost the 3 games they have played there - Collingwood at the Gabba. In Goody's time we have won 2 of the 4 games at the Gabba. In the same time, Collingwood has won both their matches at the gabba. - Western Bulldogs at Metricon. In Goody's time we have won 1 of two games at Metricon. In the same time the Bullies have won two and lost two. Small sample sizes and lots of other variables but will be interesting to keep an eye on.

Interesting - I think TMac might need to put the que in the rack for 2020. His endurance for his size is his biggest weapon - but as you say this is less important in the 2020 game. Maybe he should spend the next 6-9 months working on his agility / acceleration as that has fallen away for him - most likely due to injuries.

King went on and on about it last night - accelerating away from the contests. I hope it is a mindset thing that Clarry can continue to do. But I suspect it's got more to do with playing against the bottom side who didn't know how to stop him getting off the chain.