Ted Lasso

Great stuff Mitchy!

Based on last weeks match ups Carlton are going to be looking at some significant disadvantages down back. Weideman should get Plowman, who he'll have a serious advantage over, Fritsch should get Stocker, who he should be too good in the air for and Saad will either have to sacrifice his running game to mind Kozzie, or Kozzie could get on the end of a few. he's way too good to be as unaccountable as Saad can be. Spargo and Melksham are both very smart as well and will make Docherty defend

I was chatting to a couple of blues supporting mates and i think there is seriously a CFCSS situation going on. one expects them to lose by plenty, the other things they'll dominate the game, have all the running and choke in the last 10 minutes and lose. i said i was fine with either, but would like to win by a bit as last week was a bit hectic. they both can't stand teague and think the club is covering up a pretty significant injury to Cripps

I reckon Trac will play

I understand what you mean. personally i rate the Power as a better side than the dogs as well. i think their backline is going to hold them back, they're a very good side, but i don't think their backline will hold up against the better sides often enough. I also think we've got a heap of room to improve as well which is a big positive, we're not doing well in the midfield, so if we get that right we'll improve quite a big.

Carlton can't defend, it's the entire reason they're not going anywhere as a club. if you watched talking points with Adem Yze, they're exactly the type of team he's talking about. they look great when it's all going their way, but they can't defend when it's not. the dogs cruised for 3 quarters then put the foot down and the Blues had no chance. we're a better team than the dogs and they're in for a rude shock on Sunday imo.

I'm sure it will, but i think we're capable of being better than that, with the midfield we have, which imo at least on paper is stronger than the Tigers, we should be in the top 4 teams for clearance, and i think that's a good aim. the players are still getting used to a new system and a new coach there so i'm sure as the year plays out we'll just get better and better

It's an interesting situation, because i suppose while you're 8-0 it shows it hasn't really cost us, but at the same time, i personally feel to win the premiership we probably do need to be winning a lot more clearances. and i think we'll tinker and get that right over the next 4-5 weeks. I do think Viney being out of the side is hurting us quite a lot in this regard as well. I've felt like we've won a lot of games without getting out of first gear, and i think the thing that's becoming really clear is we're not really getting the game on our terms, in terms of winning the contest and winning clearance, but our defence is so good that we're just destroying teams on rebound. if we can get the clearance stuff right and improve that area by say 20-30 % we'll be comfortably the best side in the competition. it's incredible we may be that already regardless.

I'd be really interested to see the scores from clearance differential, because there is some significance to the fact we have the best intercept defense in the game, and if the kicks are rushed, we'll score heavily from that situation. However i think the reason we haven't been able to blow teams away when we probably should have is because we haven't had any real sustained dominance out of the middle. as Axis mentioned, outside Petracca, we're setting up quite defensively, so potentially it is a ploy, we either win a really dangerous clearance, or we make sure if they do, we are a high % chance of winning it back and moving the ball with them out of position.

Bulldogs will be nervous if Weid finds form. their backline is a big weakness imo and if we can get our midfield sorted over the next 2 weeks, which i'm conident we can, we could become an even better side

it keeps the heat on Ben Brown and Tom McDonald as well, 1-2 bad weeks and Jackson could take their place.

Daw is a comfortably better ruckman than Weideman. and given we're losing a player who's most significant impact has been in the ruck, i think that should definitely be a big consideration.

we're a team that's struggling to win clearance, but can kick a winning score. Majak for me. we need a ruckman who can play forward, not a forward who can play ruck. priority has to be the midfield and clearance.

Jacksons stints in the ruck have turned games at times, this is a serious loss for us. thankfully we're playing Carlton and Adelaide who we should have covered. if we bring in Weideman it'll be very interesting to see how the forward line functions, he'd come in knowing he probably has to dominate to hold his spot because Brown is averaging 2.5 goals a game and T'Mac is playing really well.

Throw in Kozzie and Fritsch and i can't think of a more potent forward line. it's genuinely scary to think a player of Fritsch quality could get the 4th defender.

Agreed, which is why i prefer Daw. we lost the clearances drastically last week, but we've had no issues kicking a winning score. i'd rather sure up the midfield than the forward line at this stage, but that's just me. if weid gets a go it'll be really exciting to see the 3 headed monster in action at the G

They could. but i think Daw is comfortably better in the ruck than either. and the real big plus Jackson was bringing to the team was his work in the ruck and stoppages. i think we lose a little bit in the midfield where we need it taking that option. I won't be unhappy if we go with Weid. but my preference would be Daw based on trying to cover what we've lost.

This is probably going to be unpopular compared to those who'd love to see Weid in, but i reckon we've gotta go with Daw. he's been great in the 2's as a ruck resting forward. he is the best fit to fill the Jackson role, and Max needs the support in the ruck

Be interesting to see who replaces Jackson, is it Weideman, Daw or do we go small with say Sparrow?

with you, we've been spoilt by the tremendous year Tommlinson was having. considering the supply the Swans got, Petty and the entire back 6 stood up incredibly well. considering his opponent mclean dominated the week before i was really happy with Petty

I don't mind them getting one on face value, i just would like to see more transperancy around the process of deciding who does. so if we put in place a threshold based on win-loss and % in an individual season, they should get some form of priority pick. My opinion is that pick should be pick 10, not pick 1 though. so for example North Melbourne would then have picks 1, 10 and 19 in the Draft as it stands, and with some smart trading they could get 4-5 picks in the top 25 and the rebuild is well underway if the same team is in bottom 4 for the following 3 seasons, at the conclusion of the third season they should be awarded another pick 10.

well played! hahahahaha

I don't really see a drop off happening, in saying that i think it'd probably do us some good to drop a game. i reckon the players might have the streak in their heads a bit and will play with more freedom if that's not a factor

Against the Swans he may have, in all honesty i wasn't watching that closely. but previous weeks i've noticed he's the one who seems to line up in the more aggressive spot. but i think my point is, the whole midfield needs to be covering for each other so we can attack, although we probably would do just fine in pure one on ones

Oh for god sake. ?