Lucifers Hero

I don't think it is zone defence that makes the difference. Richmond broke down in the middle and forward. The difference is the underlying game plan: 'chaos vs control' football. Like Richmond we play 'chaos' style whereas Collingwood more and more play 'control' style like WCE and Hawks. They amass huge uncontested possessions and marks and can control the tempo. Very difficult for 'chaos' style to stop that when they are marking and the ball doesn't come to ground for a contest. 6-6-6 and other rule changes aid the 'control' style more than 'chaos' by creating open space, as Port showed last week. 'Control' football requires a team with very good foot skills and to be very disciplined. We don't have the foot skills to play 'control' football. And tbh I'm not sure we have the on-field footy nous to implement it.

Reports are it is a broken bone so I guess it couldn't get any worse so they let him play (or he insisted) on.

Can't say I feel sorry for the Tigers. They've had their day in the sun. They are lucky to have Lynch but they traded out good players to fit his $ in. Depth or lack thereof may come back to bite them. Having Rance and Riewoldt out will certainly challenge their game plan. They also have Houli and Caddy out for a few weeks. Their next month is: Giants, Port, Sydney, Demons. They could easily lose a few of those. They don't have much time to adjust their game plan to cover injuries. Doubt they'll make top 4. All the better for us! On every measure their game last night was worse than ours last week. Will be a very interesting ANZAC Eve game.

Wow, 25:9! Did Hardwick sook about it in his press conf? Maybe Coll is the AFL's anointed team this year. Had thought it was Ess given the unearned prime time FTA exposure the AFL have given them this year; a plan that may backfire just as badly as Carlton's unearned prime time FTA exposure did last year.

It looks like lady luck has deserted the Tigers: Riewoldt may be out for a few months! Riewoldt wrist injury They are fortunate to have Lynch but missing Rance and Riewoldt; doubt they'll make the top 4. A good thing for the rest of us!!!

Umpires have umpteen colours to choose from yet they wear yellow tops and black shorts at a Richmond home game - they look like Richmond players half the time....

Hogan makes his debut for Freo and wish him well and hope he has a super game. HW$NBN makes his debut for the Hawks but can't wish him well. What a steel for the Hawks - 4th round pick, I think.

In: May, KK, Lockhart Out: Hore, Spargo, Wagner Not surprised. Changes should give us a bit more run and a bit more aggro. Not sure who is going to help Max in the ruck...

Gee whiz comparing a player with 265 games to players who had zero and two respectively isn't a strong position. But OK lets compare Jones, Sparrow and Wagner's other stats. Jones: 19 poss, 3 (ie16%) contested; 5 clangers; 1 tackle; one 1%. Effective possessions: 12 Sparrow: 15 poss, 6 (ie 40%) contested; 2 clangers; 3 tackles; zero 1%. Effective possessions: 13 Wagner: 14 poss, 8 (ie 57%) contested; 3 clangers; 4 tackles; zero 1%. Effective possesisons: 11 So, the main thing Jones performed better on were the number of marks (which were largely uncontested). The lack of contested possessions, tackles and 1% by Jones highlights his lack of physicality and pressure. That is hardly a good performance or captain's game in a team crying out for physicality and leadership. I know I will be crucified for this comment but on those stats Jones was on light duties. I'm not saying kids should be preferred ahead of Jones, yet; just saying the kids are doing their bit and Jones' last week does not compare well imv.

I understand Stretch's limitations but I still feel for him the kid. Yes, have mentioned in several threads 'if' Viney does not play.

Haven't we done this topic to death? Different commentator, same stuff. Carey could easily have written the same lack of intimidation story about North, Ess or Eagles. All were physically bad. It must be 'feed on the Dees week'. I'm over it.

Looks like Lockhart will play. Which means at least two changes (May being the other). Who might Lockhart replace? Given he is 176cm and we have Viney, 175 cm and Spargo, 173 cm, I don't think we can play all three vs Geelong. Assuming Viney is fit to play it may be Spargo that misses out. A bit unlucky if he does because he worked hard vs Port; just not strong enough to get a grip on opp and make a tackle stick, or to bump anyone. I really hope Sparrow doesn't get dropped, he was one of our better players. Feel for Stretch if he is overlooked again for a debutante.

Will debut this week according to this article. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-03-28/former-vfl-star-set-to-make-debut-15-days-after-signing-with-dees Early by some training accounts but well done, young man.

You were right. Thanks for that. Seeing the replay, Jones did well to get the ball to Sparrow. A very nice kick from our debutant and if the kick was a few centimeters higher Watts wouldn't have marked it on the line. A shame we didn't have someone back there to shepherd it thru.

Not sure how it looked on TV but I recall Tom Mc being well within the 50 and Jones was right in front of me about 25 mt out, on an angle. As I said Tom could open the face of the goal to better the 45 degr angle. Would be interesting to see what the tv cameras picked up but I don't have access to replays.

'chookrat' was joking.

I agree he did not squib it, just took his eyes off the ball. I don't agree tho that he was looking downfield for a quick pass: he was 25m from goal and had no intention of passing it. Really he should not have called for it in the first place: Tom Mc had marked and his position was not much different to Jones; possibly better for a right foot kicker to swing round and open the goal face. Selfish call by Jones.

Technically we did but we had difficulty getting the ball out of the square or forward. I haven't seen the replay - the positioning of our wingmen I noticed at the ground. I didn't mean to say it was a plan to be unaccountable, more that it made it difficult for us to defend when they got the ball out of the square. My post was hypothesizing on what Lewis meant by 'positioning' when asked why we were smashed in the middle. Would be interested in other people's theory of what he was referring to.

Hmm, he is laughing raucously while every one else look nonplussed...I wonder what Gus is saying to him...

Correct but we didn't and can't see how we expected to with Max out of sorts and being bashed all over the place. When we did win it our wingmen were sucked into the contest while their wingman stayed out and before long we had a turnover. It seemed the day for more defensive set-ups, especially as we are 'slow on the outside' at the best of times. More importantly, we didn't change tactics when it was obvious they weren't working. Not enough respect paid to Port by coaches or players.

An aspect of our 6-6-6 tactics backfired vs Port! For center bounces, our wingmen were positioned near the outside corners of the square leaving their opp around the middle on the outside. When their inside midfielder won the hitout, he would handball to an unattended wingman, who had a defender running down the wing to accept a pass for an easy i50. We were chasing all day and several meters behind opps. We played into Ports hands: 59 inside 50 for 27 scoring shots vs our 45 inside 50 for 16 scoring shots. On AFL 360 last night Lewis was asked why our midfield was smashed so badly. Lewis said it was a little bit positioning but also lack of effort. Unfortunately no-one asked him to elaborate on 'positioning'. I reckon it was what I've described above. Suspect our wingmen will stick to their opp this week. Last week was our worst game in a long time for our midfield and the team and we are much better than that. And we won't make the same mistakes as last week (I hope).

With Viney was off for much of the game, it was Jones' job to defend Max and rally teammates to help. In Lewis' and May's absence it was even more critical that Jones stepped in and set the example. He didn't and reflects poorly on him. When Roos took over he had to teach Jones 'team-first' ie not just focus on his possessions, his tackles, his goals, his stats. On Saturday Jones reverted to those old behaviours of self-first. I hope being in the last year of contract Jones does not go down the self-preservation/self interest path. He is still co-captain and needs to set the example on team-first behaviours. I'm glad May is back this week, he will add some much needed leadership.

Great for Christian to get the TOTW nomination. Well deserved for a stand out performance. Not easy to stand out in a team that was well beaten all over the ground. One of his very best games.

Suspect it was more an 'encouragement' from Hinkley. Jack played a good game but quite a few played better. Its hard to imagine that Goodwin valued Watts' game higher than Salem's to whom he gave 1 vote or zero votes.

1. He was, not to obliquely, referring to the rules that dictate the leave players must take which critically reduces the time fitness and football staff have to rehab and condition players. For us it was approx 3 months of preseason (incl JLT) in a 6 month off season. I think Goodwin used the words '...the amount of time we were given...'. Goodwin always chooses his words carefully; imv there was a clear message there for the AFL/AFLPA. 2. True - Hawks, Cats, Swans are battle hardened teams. But its often said that players need 4 to 5 solid preseasons to become an AFL hardened player. Of Saturday's team only Jones, Jetta, Gawn and maybe Melksham and Hibberd are in that category. The rest have had several interrupted preseasons or just not had enough of them. The shorter preseason, clearly impacted all 4 Prelim teams. Only Rich won but they were playing last years wooden spoon team. They also are largely a 'battle hardened' team. It also reduced our ability to practice tactics for the new rules. Three of our senior players didn't play with the rest of the team in practice/JLT games so their ability to show leadership and implement those tactics was limited on Saturday. Add surgeries and other injuries to the mix and our ability to get the team 'battle ready' was severely hampered. Port had 4 months of preseason with most players healthy and most 'battle hardened'. The difference was stark. Our players will get conditioning in the next month. I just hope that their injuries don't reoccur or have setbacks because they came in underdone. Not sure the selection committee had many options.