spirit of norm smith

We surely saw it coming. Half games and 3/4 games versus lower opposition. Not putting them to the sword. “A win is a win, albeit ugly” was the chorus. But now those warning signs of imprecise footy are flashing red. In the words of Simon Goodwin after losing to the filthy pies (3 straight losses) “There’s some pretty clear trends in the last few weeks,” “ We played with heart, we played with spirit, we had a group of players that wanted to do well for their footy club, but our method wasn’t quite to the level” “We’ll find ways to get better”. so how does our method get better? Perhaps I’ll lead off. 1. Connection inside 50 (forward of Centre). Surely it’s number 1. Our inside 50s are still very high but conversion and connection are poor. Reasons? A) Forwards Marking power. Firstly absence of Tom Mcd. Absence of strong key forward. Either marking it or bringing it to ground. Contested marking by the opposition in our forward 50 has recently never been so high. B) But what about the delivery to the forwards. High bombing skyscraper kicks are useless. Like NFL punts. Lower your eyes, look for targets, even kick to space , don’t kick to the deep forward pockets 🤮 (C) goalkicking accuracy. It’s still golden. We got away with it versus lower teams but it’s still a thorn. D) crumbing the packs and pressure. Kozzzy yes a pass mark. But he needs to stay inside 50 more than ever. Up the ground he’s ok but we need him at the foot of the forwards. Too often no one is there. Kozzzy stay in the 50. And maybe Bedford could get a run of a few games alongside Kozzzy. 2. Contested footy and Stoppage clearances yes usually our strongest point but we have been matched in this and we are getting exposed on the defensive end. I think our run and spread has dropped off with overuse of “little handballs to another player within 2 metres”. We create pressure on ourselves 3. Run and carry and be smart with the footy We have been beaten by sides playing “our Melbourne plan”. Yes hold up the mirror. Slow and chip footy until we get to 60-70 out, stop and stop and prop and then bomb it (usually to a pocket or tallest opposition defender). How does Melbourne beat Melbourne. Others show us. Run and run and create defensive pressure. Don’t allow defensive walls to form. We looked good in the burst , running. Tidy up sloppy disposal (Sparrow, ANB, Harmesy) and we’d have a few more goals. 4. Injuries and fatigue Yes we need May back desperately. Lever still doesn’t look as energetic as in 21. Petracca has struggled for several weeks and doesn’t look like the ‘21 Trac model. Surely we needed a rest v eagles or Kangas to refresh. Gawn was obviously hurt v Pies. With May back and others recovered, we have 21 of the premiership’21 team for game v Lions. We need to find our mojo. Watch the 2021 highlights and GF and you can see it. Goody and team need to showcase our best to our team. It’s there if we are still hungry enough to execute it.

Politics and parabola and paradigms.

Agree. I wrote this last week and have updated it. Certainly need improvement in conversion and connection with our tall forwards. And if they’re not marking it, they should at least contest to bring it to ground. Bbb and Weid have been very poor across. Tmcd is strongly and more contested in his marking. Whilst not focussed upon, our output and goals from small forwards also needs to be addressed. Pickett 16 goals (6behinds) 12 games Spargo 5 goals (8 bdhinds) 13 games ANB 2 goals (10behinds) 12 games total 23.24 Kozzy should be a 40+ goalkicker. He’s been very good in patches but needs to stay in forward 50 and occasionally venture upfield. His danger is within scoring distance. Spargo and ANB contribute indirectly but need to be much more dangerous and score themselves. Often inside 30 metres they look to handball rather than score. ANB has missed very gettable goals and looks devoid of confidence. I’d like to see Bedford given a real run and not as a full time medi sub. Bedford and Kozzzy inside 50 would be good to have for 3-4 weeks. At the moment Cameron (31)Bailey (27)McCarthy (20) have amassed 78 goals for the Lions. That’s a fair differential in scoring power!!!

6. Clayton Oliver 5. Jack Viney 4. Angus Brayshaw 3. James Jordon daylight … then stretching to find 2. Harry Petty 1. Luke Jackson

Gawn -clearly injured and played under duress 🚑 Viney - hard at the footy. Tackling was superb. Great goal. One of our best ⭐️ Brayshaw - He put up a wall in defence. Kicking efficiently. But ball movements were often too slow. ⭐️ Salem - not back as yet with little running power sure handling was ok ☀️ Lever - um. Good then poor then good then poor. Misses his buddy May 🤨 Bowey - was just ok. Two bad turnovers. Yes still a young year 2?footballer 🤨 Turner -brave in numerous contests and looked composed before injury👏👏 Petty - top marks again. Withstood numerous forward thrusts. He was obviously hampered but brave 👏👏 Hibberd - steady and steady but this is his last year 😄 Oliver - umm yes⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4stars today for his contested footy yet at times fumbled and put teammates under pressure. Petracca - is he sore or I’ll? Definitely lost his edge of pace and not running freely. Missed certain goal with shocking fumble in the 3rd. Please find the 2021 Petracca 🤨 Langdon - wide and wide and wide. Once he’s blanketed by another runner, he lapses. Poor today 🤨 Harmes - tough and tough but disposal kills us 👌 B Brown - better but poor 🤨 Jordon - getting better and better. Disposal was very good ⭐️⭐️ Neal- Bullen - agree that he gets it but his disposal was amateurish 🤮 Jackson - better but still needs to ensure disposal is accurate 😃 Spargo - great 1st half. Missing again after half time and ineffective 🤨 Sparrow - huge potential. Little to support today 🤮 Pickett - one lucky steal to goal - overall he ran around like a headless chicken but not near goal and not at foot of the pack. 🤮🤮 Fritsch - tried but failed 🤨 M. Brown - will never play AFL again 🤮🤮🤮

Ins. A.Jakovich D.Neitz outs. Mbrown Bbrown forwards desperately needed we thought we had depth and how could we fit in Bbb Tmcd and Weideman. Well Bbb out of form, Tmcd injured and Weideman playing like a marshmallow.

Ditto from me. Love the scribble 👏👏 Maybe a few more 🤮🤮today Maxy 🚑

Who stays in Brayshaw Oliver Trac (but he looks sore or sick) Petty Gawn Lever Viney Jordon Jackson Hibberd Safe : Salem Langdon (too wide and shutdown easily) Fritsch Bowey on notice ANB getting the footy but completely ineffective - destroyed many forward chances Pickett - stay inside 50 please - Quaynor owned him all day Sparrow ummm looks like he could be on fire then extinguishes himself with poor decisions Harmes hit a target !! Spargo great 1st half was Noble’s gimp in 2nd half BBB is lucky Tmcd is injured and Weid is a marshmallow OUTS M Brown Turner (concussion) Chandler - was like a rabbit in headlights (really!!!) INS May Rivers sub. Baker

Same as last week !! Or last fortnight

Ummm. Umpire. How’s lever got any opportunity!?!?!?! Ffs

Or JVR. Young and not ready but he gives a crack. Weid and Mitch Brown appear not wanting to hurt anyone in a contest

Gets the footy. Impact is low. He’s not running or hitting targets. Stats can be deceiving in terms of impact.

⭐️⭐️⭐️oliver ⭐️⭐️Viney ⭐️Jordon Spargo Jackson Hibberd Turner is okay 👍🏻 🤔Petracca Harmesy Lever Kozzzzzzy - I love you but you need to lift - Get inside 50 and burn !!! Maxy 🙏🏽 Go Dees

😄Spargo much much better 🤨pies defence pressure and run 🤬Mihocek too clever 🤞pies missed shots 🤫lever lost without May

😵‍💫Fumbles and pressure and no crumbs inside50 🤔Petracca lacking bursts still (getting caught) 🤨Lucky … pies 2 posters and misses DEGOEY and mccreeeeey 😁Jackson getting into action ⭐️oliver is everywhere

Queen for BIG Freeze next year

Good progress. Good signs so far. But probably earliest debut is in 2023 imv

Malthouse was a great coach but lacks any quality in terms of insights or journalism right now. I went to a corporate gig about 4 years ago (2017/18) and Malthouse was the key note speaker on Motivation and Resilience. Worst $15k spent by the business for an hour. He finished in 45 minutes and was “boring “ to be fair. Rattled on about his childhood and how he would spent time dreaming about getting to the VFL. Ok if he was speaking to high school kids but not corporate audience. PowerPoint was scrambled slides put together without any link to his story.

I’m still onboard a 5-yr contract around the $3.5 million mark. That’s probably what the ( WCE) Beagles are offerring at a minimum.

11 MFC Listed in Casey on the weekend. Rivers will be back in the MFC team very soon. He’s too good for VFL and offers a lot of defensive pressure, run and energy in our back half. 12 Casey listed. That’s a good blend and shows some of the strength in the local players. Guys like Munro and White are seasoned VFL players but it’s great to see youngsters like Grey, Ellison, Bell, Steele and Baldi getting games and standing up at the level.

Dunstan. Again far too good for VFL but seems to lack that inch of pace and decision making at the highest level. If he gets another AFL game, I’d hypnotize him and get him to go bull at a gate and bang it long when kicking.

Ins. Hunt Tomlinson out. Hibberd Turner

So will we hear of an investigation of Bailey Smith by the very very special AFL INTEGRITY UNIT

Turner in. Petty must be listed as highly doubtful

Great news. And we needed some good news. It’s a huge game but he’s in good form so hopefully he’s ready.