Lucifers Hero

Undoubtedly Clarry has turned a corner. A point the article misses is for part of rnd 10 and all of rnd 11 we had a different mid-field structure and roles which have helped him with the turnaround. At this rate he could become an inside and an outside mid, adding more flexibility to our stoppage structures/clearance strategies. I'm quite excited by how our midfield is developing.

I'm not one who wants to play TMac. I'm ok with his roles in the ruck at VFL and give Max a break as we had no one else and it helps him in his defensive fwd play. Just saying his comparison with Hipwood is poor. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, during Sam's tenure we had Watts, Pederson and Hogan then Hogan and TMac so there wasn't a lot of room for Sam. He did a great job when called up to replace Jesse in late 2018 but we still had a 2 talls fwd structure. In 2019 the whole team was crap, TMac failed miserably leaving Sam to take the 1st defender, until he himself lost confidence and became injured. Meanwhile, Hipwood played a support role in a strong team. Wallace is comparing apples and oranges. Wallace may make sense at times, I just think this isn't one of those times. He has chosen the Weideman vs Hipwood scenario to pot the club.

Firstly, thanks for quoting the key parts for those of us who can't get behind a paywall. Wallace should check the facts. Sam's development has been interrupted by surgeries and injuries. It has been stop/start development. As for this 'Captain Obvious' comment: I think their best option has been (Luke) Jackson and Weideman … let those two develop. That is exactly what the club is doing!! Jackson has been at the club for only 5 minutes. Couldn't have done it any earlier! Comparing Sam to Hipwood is silly. Totally different builds and have had different roles: haven't seen Hipwood in the ruck. Wallace is amazing at how he can put words together that make little sense. Click baiter extraodinaire!

With last nights results, spots 7 and 8 and finals are up for grabs. Will be decided between: Saints, Bulldogs, Ess, Pies, Suns (maybe) and Dees. We play the first 4 in coming weeks; all 8 point games for us. Finals are now in our control. This has a 2018 feel about it: Shaky start. Smashed then players publicly blow torched by the club. Started getting some good wins (albeit vs mediocre sides). Then had 'must win' games vs goodish sides to finish off the season. Its exciting to see how far we can go. At least we are still a very good chance and it makes the rest of the season interesting. Feeling good about where we sit.

Thanks for the tip DS. Another (fairly strong) rumour is we play Ess in Alice in rnd 14. So a Cairns hub looks very unfair on us as it means a trip to Alice then a trip to Cairns after a long series of short breaks (without the bye other clubs have) for another series of short breaks. A bunch of clubs have hubbed in Qld from the start, have not hubbed anywhere else and barely left Qld, if at all: Richmond, Saints, Ess, Suns, Lions, Bulldogs... Those are the clubs that should be going to Cairns.

Yes, a move as an FA gives us a compo pick. If Viney decides to go (it won't be the clubs decision) it will be as an FA and we must help him get to the club of his choice. He deserves that from us. I can't see any circumstance where we it would be a trade situation. It would feel like the Jr situation all over again. No one wins. Might I add I hope we solve the dilemma and not lose him. Its inconceivable to think of him in any other colours than the red and the blue, colours he has worn since the day he was born.

Doubt that will happen. Goodwin gave him big raps after the game along the lines of he is a very smart footballer and will be with the club for a long time to come.

Playing him fwd might look fine on paper but I don't think he is a fwd. We can keep the 4 in the mid-field roles if we clearly define the 1st possession, 2nd possession and spread roles and players follow the rules rather than their instinct: get ball. Viney and Oliver primarily take 1st possessions. Petracca and Brayshaw primarily take 2nd possessions to spread or clear the pack. So we can always have 2 inside and 1 outside mid at the stoppages, not just centre bounces. There are usually 60-80 stoppages a game so plenty of opportunity for each to play in their best role. They all take a turn on the bench and they all take a turn resting forward. I'm in the camp of re-training Viney to not compete with Oliver for first possession and teach him to give a team mate the 2nd possession for the clearance rather than trying to do it all himself. But can you 'teach an old dog new tricks', I don't know. Remember Jack is OOC on Oct 30 and even tho the freeze on contract renewals was only recently lifted it strikes me as odd that no new contract for our vice captain, has been announced. Not having his dad at the club. Losing the co-cap and people suggesting he should give up being part of the mids to roam far and wide, maybe more than the young man can take. Jack Viney, a cameo midfielder...don't think so! Wouldn't want to be in the same room when someone gives him that news! Careful what you wish for. He is an UFA. He might decide to walk and go somewhere where he can play the role he loves.

Eagles are planning to leave Perth after round 13 and not return for H&A games. So it won't be long after that Freo leave town. Its been mooted that we play Ess in Alice in rnd 14 so we could play Freo in Alice in round 15 or back in Qld. I'm also getting nervous about the Freo game. Only saw half last night's game but that was enough to see they are using the Eagles and Geelong 'possession/control tempo' style. The style was very visible for Freo vs Pies which they won. They used it to beat the Saints who have the same play-on, fast game we do. Each week Freo get better at it. Oddly enough last night they beat the Hawks at their own possession/control tempo, game, a game style that won them a few premierships. After the Geelong game Goodwin said 'we couldn't get the ball off them'. 'Controlled/tempo footy' is kryptonite to our fast play. Hope our opp analysts are putting a lot of time into countering that possession/control that Freo are becoming adept at. Too many teams beat us that way. I've now put Freo in with GWS as future losses. On that basis we need 4 or 5 wins from the other 6 remaining games to make finals. Not feeling as optimistic as I was yesterday...

And have a definite target for pick 3 given they traded away a few decent picks to go that far up the order.

I hope our coaches are watching the Cats vs Saints game. Cats spent the first 5+ minutes playing kick to kick as they did vs us. But the Saints were able to get the ball from them. 'Learnings' there for us.

A clean sweep of the coaches votes again: 10 Christian Petracca (MELB) 8 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 6 Angus Brayshaw (MELB) 4 Jake Lever (MELB) 1 Sam Weideman (MELB) 1 Ed Langdon (MELB) What a midfield! Petracca a long way second to Neale on the leader board with a game in hand. But round 11 not over yet so he could be overtaken.

Will be really disappointed if we don't beat Pies and Bulldogs. Pies have about 5-6 key players out with injury, 2 less days rest than us and returning from an intersate game. Bulldogs are struggling to win away from the closed stadium and the tightening of the HTB rule is not helping their game style. And their fwd line isn't functioning too well. Bont is spending a lot of time there so not sure what gives...is he playing injured perhaps... And if the Richo's appointment is to bear fruit we should beat the Saints! So the only definite L I have is vs GWS.

Yes, I noticed that also. Its made a huge difference to his game; gets the chance to find space and take a run. Similarly positioning for the second possession after the tap has made a big difference for Gus to get on the outside and spread from the contest. It will be huge for us if the midfielders get the 1st and 2nd possession plays sorted out. It will stop 2 or 3 going for the ball at once. It will make it harder for opp mids to scrag them, not knowing who will go for the 1st possession and not know who will take the 2nd possession and spread for a clearance. This 'role clarity' can easily be used in around the ground stoppages. We may finally be resolving the 'numbers' at the contest problem and do what other teams do and keep a player on the outside. I'm sure there is a midfield role for Viney its just a matter of coaches working out who is the best fit for each role.

"ADELAIDE coach Matthew Nicks has backed the Crows' move to target Melbourne's Max Gawn off the ball last week, declaring "we actually didn't know Gawn was injured". it-was-never-our-intention-crows-defend-gawn-tactics If he expects anyone to believe that it adds insult to injury. and 'confesses' "They'd [Demons] done a lot of blocking off ball for him and freeing him up...so we went in with the mindset of not allowing that 'throwing the first punch' (mentality), becoming a physical side off ball so that we weren't dictated to". I didn't see much evidence of us blocking off the ball for Max, in fact I felt we didn't do enough to help him. Crows should be find for deliberately flouting the rules.

Remaining Round 11 Games: Tonight: Cats vs Saints and Dockers vs Hawks Tuesday night: Crows vs Pies Wednesday night: Suns vs Ess We are 9th on the ladder. Have bolded the teams I would like to see lose to max our chances of overtaking them or be further ahead of them to make the 8. The next three weeks are critical as we play Pies, Bulldogs and probably Ess (in Alice, a real Home game). All are 8 - point games and all immensely winnable. Dare I dream that after round 14 we are 8/5 ?? With so many 8-point games and lack of consistency among many teams will 9 wins be enough to make finals? In rounds 15 to 18 we play: Freo, GWS, Saints and Swans. I reckon we can get 9 or 10 wins. Finals here we come?

Remaining Round 11 Games: Tonight: Cats vs Saints and Dockers vs Hawks Tuesday night: Crows vs Pies Wednesday night: Suns vs Ess We are 9th on the ladder. Have bolded the teams I would like to see lose to max our chances of overtaking them or be further ahead of them to make the 8. Then we play Pies, Bulldogs and probably Ess (in Alice, a real Home game). All immensely winnable games. Dare I dream that after round 14 we are 8/5 ??

North failed to kill off our scoring chains but for the most part we played well away from the boundaries limiting chances for throw-ins. And we were first to the ball and played on at all costs. The scoring chains were our coaching and players and less North's deficiencies. Goodwin takes the heat when things don't go well. I'm happy to give him due credit when things go well.

Maybe he doesn't want to play anywhere else. And being Captain/Vice captain has allowed him a 'right' to have a big say.

Good pick up DJ. Only 36 hitouts for the game. Typically it is 60 to 80, rarely below 45. With 18 goals + 4 bounces to start each quarter means there were only 14 around the ground ball ups or throw-ins last night. My thoughts on the low numbers: minimum stoppages was part of Goodwin's strategy to neutralise Goldstein's ruck strength. Less chances to dominate. it was clever of Goodwin to give LJ just 69% game time whereas Goldie played 87%. Goldstein looked flushed and sweating on the bench whereas LJ looked as fresh as a daisy. He is a cool kid! Never looked flustered or daunted in any way. few stoppages was a good tactic to wear down a less fit opposition giving them less time to rest. I'm guessing these 3 things were deliberate pre-game strategies by Goodwin and I applaud him for that creativity. On unrelated game tactics I thought Langdon spent a lot of time 'sweeping' near op goals, maybe to allow someone else (Lever) to fill the hole in defence that Max normally would. If my reading of that is correct, again kudos to Goodwin. Overall, it was a good tactical game and a big coaching win for Goodwin. Comprehensively out-coached Shaw.

He had zero stats for the first quarter. Stats aren't the be all, end all. He idles around for parts of the game. In another game (Carlton?) he had no stats for the last quarter. It can happen to anyone but we can't afford a player who does that on a regular basis. He improved after that and had an impact. But overall not sure he did enough to keep his spot. Doubt it is smart to take him into the Pies game after 4 games in the last 2 weeks if fresher players available.

Or play them in NT: Ess vs WCE and Dees vs Freo. And play Dees vs Ess in NT (as Ess play Rich in Darwin in rnd 13). But my mfcss says Ess will get to hub in Darwin and we move between Qld, Darwin and Alice...

Totally agree. But there seems to be considerable doubt as to whether Gus stays in the midfield as an 'outside', clearance mid vs keeping 3 contested bulls in the middle. I was trying to frame the discussion around midfield structure and roles and the point was Brayshaw and Viney play different roles and Gus adds a different look to our midfield structure. So may Brayshaw vs Viney isn't the right question. Whereas Viney and Oliver play similar roles, hence the rhetorical question of Viney vs Oliver. Oliver, hands down every time..

Sure Viney can break away from a contest but he is more prone to force a ball up or HTB than others. There is a consensus we have too many similar mids. Viney, Petracca and Oliver are bulls and or see ball, get ball types. Gus isn't. imv he adds something the others don't. As an outside mid type, his role is different to the other 3. So what gives. Taking the names out of it for a moment imv it comes down to midfield structure, roles and skills. If we want 3 contested bull types competing for the ball it is Oliver, Viney, Petracca. The first priority needs to be maximise the team's ability to win. imv the team will be much better off with roles for 2 inside, contested bulls and 1 outside mid to spread. The roles can mix a bit within games but their primary roles are clearly defined. True, the midfield won't be as 'strong' from a contested bull perspective with a 2 and 1 structure but I think it will be better than a 3 and 0 structure. If people accept that then either Gus stays in the middle or one of the 3 contested bulls are re-trained. Do we have the time luxury to re-train one this season... So the question is which contested bull comes out? The reason people suggest Viney comes out is because Oliver and Petracca are better. That is no slight on Viney. Its just that Oliver and Petracca are exceptional.

Re the Viney vs Brayshaw in the middle. For me it is not who is the better mid (both are) but the game plan we want at centre stoppages. Viney is such a bull; he hunts the ball, takes the first possession from the tap (as does Oliver), but likes to take ops on. We all love that about him. But unlike Petracca he isn't strong enough to fend them off (or he chooses not to). So when Viney takes first possession it is often HTB, another ball up or a turnover (if he can't get on to his left side). No spread or clearance for us. Gus takes the second possession after the tap, gets to the outside for a clean clearance. Its a bit like how we played in 2018 with players at the back of the square for centre bounces. Gus is less of a bull and a bit more of an outside mid. So I would suggest it is Viney, Oliver and Petracca that are most alike with Gus having attributes the others don't have as much. And, it looks to me Viney's style is interfering with Oliver's role (who gets first possession?) as much as keeping Gus out. When Viney is in the middle we rely on one of the wingmen to take the second possession but it takes too long for them to get there and meanwhile one of the op mids has taken possession of there is another stoppage. For a while our clearances haven't matched Max's ruck dominance. imv it is that the mids roles aren't clearly defined or they are not following orders. So is the discussion Viney vs Oliver rather than Viney vs Brayshaw? In a nutshell we spread much better with Gus in there. And in my mind it is Oliver over Viney. Its a real dilemma and at the end of the day it comes down to how we want our centre stoppages/clearances and spread to work. We need to do something to get more value from Max's dominance.