Sydee

I'm starting to feel we shoot ourselves in the foot some games with the high press (trying to keep the ball in the F50 and get repeat entry) The problem with this strategy is that most players on the field find themselves sucked into our forward half and this in itself reduces the space and time our forwards have to work in. It was painfully evident against Geelong in the last quarter where we pushed up high, lost possession and then got severely punished on turnover. Our key position backs are sound when the ball comes in slowly but I don't think they are the best when it comes in quick on transition - May in particular is very vulnerable when the ball hits the ground IMO.

Re BBB I only saw the last half but not doing enough yet imo

Genuinely surprised you think the umpires contributed to our loss we had the game in our control and then just seemed to lose all structure in the last quarter. We seemed to push too many into our forward 50 repeatedly only to be burnt on silly turnovers repeatedly

Yes correct

I’m hoping with the upgrades to their narrow little dung hill this might change and some of the protected clubs such as Collingwood, Richmond, Carlton May finally get shunted down there from next season

Gawn - actually looked disinterested Grundy - better than Gawn Viney - showed some heart Neal-Bullen - reacts before thinks Chandler - can't keep carrying Rivers - Close to best Fritsch - more cameo efforts Pickett - concerning post contract Salem - played quite well Brayshaw - some absolute howlers Langdon - not very effective Petracca - battled heavy tag Hunter - a good effort Hibberd - not his best van Rooyen - very little impact Jordon - looked at sea McVee - disappointing last night May - easily won duel Lever - did his job Petty - really looked underdone Spargo - hardly ever sighted Swallow - very limited impact Smith - defensive game missing

Last quarter was really disappointing - it looked like one team was playing for their season and the other was pretty much going through the motions and felt a win was not important. We had the best chance we can get to beat them on their dung heap, and we just didn't seem to match their effort. In a close competition and with teams nipping at our heals these games are important - we have yet again let ourselves down I feel. Top 2 finish gone as a possibility which should have been enough motive IMO

No, it wouldn't have made any difference.

No Oliver

Good luck to young Verrall on his return from injury - hopefully gets through the game and starts building some good form

Reckon we have Selwood covered

Pickett is struggling atm there is no doubt about that - he is still however doing what he is asked to do and that is pressure the opposition in our F50 and he is still on track to potentially get 40 plus goals this season. I'm confident he will come good and start impacting more on the scoreboard as the season rolls on. Suggesting he is one of the most overrated players in the league is way OTT. 40 plus goals in 2021, 2022, and could still get there this year is extremely good from a small forward. Small forwards that you can compare Cody Weightman (never kicked 40 plus goals in a season) Izak Rankine (never kicked 40 plus goals in a season) Jamie Elliott (never kicked 40 plus goals in a season) Shai Bolton (he's done it once) Jack Higgins (never kicked 40 plus goals in a season) Tom Papley (he's done it once)

Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen the AFL insists on the MFC going down there each and every season - drives me insane the inequity of this fixturing farce.

Some of his MOTY attempts recently have been totally unrealistic IMO. I'm not wanting him to stop trying to take big marks - his flair is exciting and brings people to the game but flying in a pack of giants is not what he is there to do - in those situations he should be positioning himself in a dangerous position to pick up the inevitable spoilt ball.

Hope you are right - tbh I'm struggling to see it myself.

Just wondering if there is a way to see a replay of the Vic metro game?

The effort was there from Trac as it always is but his kicking was very poor. Disposal efficiency of 50% is not what he would consider acceptable - mind you Pickett was 33% - he does need to lift I'm still surprised they subbed Spargo before him

Great effort from all the boys - sheer will to win was what got us across the line plus some shrewd defensive coaching well executed by all the players. Our kicking was very poor still IMO - goalkicking was abysmal and field kicking generally was not great either. The best part is that we can certainly improve and have a few very key players to return from injury. Also, big shout out to all the demon faithful who turned out and made some noise - well done. Interesting that Goody highlighted just how important that is for the team. Hopefully we can keep that passion going for all games.

Not sure why Spargo was subbed and not Pickett Hope he does something in the last because so far he has been well beaten

Our effort is good our kicking (field and for goals) is amateurish

Is the wind impacting the goal kicking at our end that quarter ??

Agree JVR is by no means a finished product and is still evolving but I don't see him being physically intimidated the way Watts was in his first game. JVR can handle himself just fine in the physicality stakes.

He shouldn't be given a promotion until he can deliver some sort of pressure on opposition backs intercept marking and chasing/tackling. There is no room at AFL level for players that don't or simply can't do the team things. If you watch the Casey game from this week you would love to be a defender running off our key forwards - virtually zero pressure from BBB and Jefferson who I can excuse to some extent given he is in year one and very raw

Having watched the game again I think JVR’s game was arguably his best to date His efforts particularly in the last quarter taking contested marks and gut running was really very impressive Hopefully he can continue to build on this - very promising effort

Good thing about him is he is a very reliable kick for goal we could use a bit of that skill atm - not sure who he’d replace though