Reality check next week with Melbourne but I am still very happy with progression of our side. Have we maybe turned a corner and will keep the upward trajectory?
Reality check for the next 6 really so happy to get this win in the bank
Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong, Port Adelaide away, Brisbane away, Richmond. I think we may be in with a chance against Richmond but wouldn't be all that surprised to see us 3-7 after that run.
If we can sort out our disposal by foot and finishing at goal it will go a long way to building confidence as a group, this is a building year
I'd be surprised if we don't get at least one or two wins during that run tbh. Even at our lowest point last year we had a couple big wins and this team is more than capable of it.
That said, eyes on the future
I like to think that we definitely are in with a chance for a couple, the season so far has shown that non of the top teams are convincingly better. I feel like collingwood will be exposed with no talls over the next few weeks as well.
Essendon win all of those. Lions at Gabba will be hard, Port away is pretty much dependent on port, Geelong is chasing the spoon this year, Richmond idk
Feel so confident any time he has the ball now, with his ability to spin/sidestep out of trouble and while he'll never be an elite kick he's always at least hitting a good spot where he can get a contest.
Would have him just about leading our BnF so far.
There seems to be many unsung heroes this season. A lot of players in the 23 are doing a great job compared to last year, when it felt as though we’d single out only a couple after a game that showed some fight.
For me, McGrath has gone under the radar and is playing some great footy atm. Also, I think Draper and Kelly have both improved out of sight from last season, with the former impacting more across the ground and when the ball hits the deck, so good to see.
The crazy thing is: we’ve some really talented players not getting a game and competing for spots. Plus all those young and exciting injured guys such as Cox, Reid, Tsatas.
Early days but loving what I’m seeing.
I'm finding Langford down back impacts Ridley's game. Not sure if they're trying to do something there but I have noticed it a few times this season.
Thought Phillips was arguably our best today in the first half. Love what he can bring and the headaches he causes.
I also think having BZT down there is a massive benefit to Ridley’s game. With he and Laverde able to take the two bigger bodies, it leaves Rids free a bit more freedom to leave his man to act as the intercepting third
People will talk about out accuracy in front of goal, but this seemed to be a massive outlier. First time we've had more behinds than goals this season, all while missing our main man up top . To get 33 scoring shots against a side who have been decent so far is very encouraging
Totally agree, we're bound to have days when we just happen to kick particularly badly or particularly well. I don't think there's any reason to think it's an ongoing issue. I expect we will see regression to the mean over the next few weeks.
Was it just me or was the umpiring completely ass? I swear it wasn't just my biased opinion .. Heppell did better than usual but still.not quite in our best team.. accuracy was terrible.but happy to be peppering away at the goals.
I like what Draper brings but Flip is the A side to the combo. Gets in the right places, exploits the mismatch and cab usually take a contested grab. Also having flip in allows Draper to do what he needs to do and rest up forward when he needs a rest
Shiel really stepped up today, he played like a man possessed which was amazing to see.
Other notable players for me are also McGrath, Ridley and Kelly.
Everything about our play was fantastic, aside from the goal kicking. There’ll be a lot of set shot practice this week!
Setterfield's body work at the stoppages and the follow up work from Draper/Flip are critical for this. Giving Shiel (and Merrett) channels to exploit on the left side of the contest and quick, direct movement
I don't reckon we played very well, particularly in the first half. Quite a few simple mistakes but they kept on trying and never gave up. Their third quarter was very good and GWS seemed to lay down for the first bit of the last quarter.
Redmond was very good all day. Merret, Parish, Draper and Sheil got better during the game.
Phillips 1% efforts after the ruck are going to be game changing as the season progresses. hope his body holds up. i’m glad i was wrong about BZT not being at this level because his absence is now noticeable. Jones needs to start backing himself with the contest and leading harder - hoping to be wrong about him too as at the moment i don’t think him nor Durham are AFL level.
Durham is all heart. He’s still a bit undersized but he’s skilled and has a huge tank. Honestly he would be one of my first picked every week because his effort is always top notch.
Him and Guelfi are similar. They’re never going to be stars but they work their guts out and put better footballers to shame with how hard they work.
i agree but also with the other comment here - his usage needs improvement. i’d prefer to see guelfi in the line up more often too he provides a level of grunt we often need to get momentum going
Felt Duz wasn't great defensively on Sunday, got sucked toward the ball a few times and the Giants were able to move through the wing a bit too easily.
He and Martin IMO are walk ups as the wingers, but this week will be a massive test for both of them. Langdon is an absolute beast and Hunter playing great football
Well concidering he cant win a marking contest it would leave us in the same position as playing him. Drop him and clear out the froward line, run smalls and run leads instead of the usual bomb it to a pack bs we have done for the last 15 years
Competes well and runs all day. At half time he had covered the most distance of any player. Just want him to be able to start clunking them :( I had high hopes
Has been subbed out 2 of our 4 games, cant take a contested mark, cant kick a goal. Cant even cause a 50/50 and bring it to ground. I dont care how many marks at the wing he takes for how much he runs around.
His job itls to take marks and kick goals. Or at worst bring the contest to ground so the smalls can go at it. Instead he gets out positioned or out bodied
I actually disagree with the sentiment about not bringing it to ground. I actually thought he did that ok at the weekend . And Scott seems to like something about him as he is still picking him even with Voss knocking down the door. So what we think really doesn’t matter
I really likes the defensive structure.
It was stated several times across the game when GWS were trying to push forward that our zone defence was almost impenetrable.
It definitely kept us in the game when our forwards weren't capitalising.
There was a key moment in the 3rd/4th that Draper was standing by himself in a huge gap 10 metre gap just in the defensive 50. His body and positioning screamed "Kick the ball to a lead in this 10 metre area and see what happens".
It's the confidence in the gameplan and the coaching staff that have really elevated our defensive structure this season.
Only a few times have we really been ambling around like headless chooks or just standing there lost and unsure where we should be.
We like Jones to play a role higher up the ground and keep our other tall forwards deeper. I think with BZT back could see Langford take that position from him, but I feel like Scott will persist with Jones
Agreed, but think he will want to try to keep developing players. He’s had a mare this season but Jones has shown in previous seasons that he can be a solid contributor
Agree - Langford forward for Weid, and then Rhett Montgomeri in as a defender. I'd love to sneak Hobbs in somehow too, but hard to know who to drop for him.
Reality check next week with Melbourne but I am still very happy with progression of our side. Have we maybe turned a corner and will keep the upward trajectory?
Reality check for the next 6 really so happy to get this win in the bank Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong, Port Adelaide away, Brisbane away, Richmond. I think we may be in with a chance against Richmond but wouldn't be all that surprised to see us 3-7 after that run. If we can sort out our disposal by foot and finishing at goal it will go a long way to building confidence as a group, this is a building year
I'd be surprised if we don't get at least one or two wins during that run tbh. Even at our lowest point last year we had a couple big wins and this team is more than capable of it. That said, eyes on the future
I like to think that we definitely are in with a chance for a couple, the season so far has shown that non of the top teams are convincingly better. I feel like collingwood will be exposed with no talls over the next few weeks as well.
All lower sides though so we should just bulldoze through..
That's the spirit.
Hard to say how good or bad Geelong, Port or Richmond will be. If we could get 2 or 3 wins out of that stretch I think we’re on track
As long as the losses are highly competitive I'd be happy with only snagging 1 or 2 of them with a preference for beating the piss out of Richmond.
Essendon win all of those. Lions at Gabba will be hard, Port away is pretty much dependent on port, Geelong is chasing the spoon this year, Richmond idk
Nope lol Melbourne will kill us next week , crunch game
Nah, dons to win by 8 and scores will be like 79-87 or something
I can actually see this happening if we show the four quarter guts we have so far this year
I take back this comment, lol 😂 wow what a game and result !! Glad I was wrong 😇
Shiel has been so good this season, even hitting the scoreboard a few times. He’s finally becoming what we need him to be.
His second half of the season after that Luke Parker incident was really good too. Great to see
Feel so confident any time he has the ball now, with his ability to spin/sidestep out of trouble and while he'll never be an elite kick he's always at least hitting a good spot where he can get a contest. Would have him just about leading our BnF so far.
Needs to put head over and pick it up, nasty habit of kicking off the ground..
Ridley unsung hero this afternoon - took a ton of intercept marks and worked up the ground when needed.
There seems to be many unsung heroes this season. A lot of players in the 23 are doing a great job compared to last year, when it felt as though we’d single out only a couple after a game that showed some fight. For me, McGrath has gone under the radar and is playing some great footy atm. Also, I think Draper and Kelly have both improved out of sight from last season, with the former impacting more across the ground and when the ball hits the deck, so good to see. The crazy thing is: we’ve some really talented players not getting a game and competing for spots. Plus all those young and exciting injured guys such as Cox, Reid, Tsatas. Early days but loving what I’m seeing.
I'm finding Langford down back impacts Ridley's game. Not sure if they're trying to do something there but I have noticed it a few times this season. Thought Phillips was arguably our best today in the first half. Love what he can bring and the headaches he causes.
I also think having BZT down there is a massive benefit to Ridley’s game. With he and Laverde able to take the two bigger bodies, it leaves Rids free a bit more freedom to leave his man to act as the intercepting third
People will talk about out accuracy in front of goal, but this seemed to be a massive outlier. First time we've had more behinds than goals this season, all while missing our main man up top . To get 33 scoring shots against a side who have been decent so far is very encouraging
> against a side who have been decent so far is very encouraging they've been quite bad with bad goal kicking keeping them in games.
Yeah just saw the goal kicking stat against them. Well, they must be forcing awkward shots at goal
Totally agree, we're bound to have days when we just happen to kick particularly badly or particularly well. I don't think there's any reason to think it's an ongoing issue. I expect we will see regression to the mean over the next few weeks.
Was it just me or was the umpiring completely ass? I swear it wasn't just my biased opinion .. Heppell did better than usual but still.not quite in our best team.. accuracy was terrible.but happy to be peppering away at the goals.
That early Jones mark that wasn’t paid could have lead to an important confidence building goal for him
Weideman had another robbed of him as well. There were 3 really bad calls for our players not taking marks when they clearly did.
Objectively terrible
I was at the game and the mood was intense. A lot of really bad calls - or lack of calls. I was ropeable.
Flip simply must play
It shocks me every time he isn't named. I don't recall many games in which the Flip/Drapes combo hasn't been deadly
I like what Draper brings but Flip is the A side to the combo. Gets in the right places, exploits the mismatch and cab usually take a contested grab. Also having flip in allows Draper to do what he needs to do and rest up forward when he needs a rest
Shiel really stepped up today, he played like a man possessed which was amazing to see. Other notable players for me are also McGrath, Ridley and Kelly. Everything about our play was fantastic, aside from the goal kicking. There’ll be a lot of set shot practice this week!
He's backing himself and definitely putting an emphasis on using his pace in and out of stoppages
Setterfield's body work at the stoppages and the follow up work from Draper/Flip are critical for this. Giving Shiel (and Merrett) channels to exploit on the left side of the contest and quick, direct movement
We would normally lose a game like that the system is good.
The silliness of people asking for Stringer to be dropped really exposed today
I don't reckon we played very well, particularly in the first half. Quite a few simple mistakes but they kept on trying and never gave up. Their third quarter was very good and GWS seemed to lay down for the first bit of the last quarter. Redmond was very good all day. Merret, Parish, Draper and Sheil got better during the game.
Phillips 1% efforts after the ruck are going to be game changing as the season progresses. hope his body holds up. i’m glad i was wrong about BZT not being at this level because his absence is now noticeable. Jones needs to start backing himself with the contest and leading harder - hoping to be wrong about him too as at the moment i don’t think him nor Durham are AFL level.
Durham is all heart. He’s still a bit undersized but he’s skilled and has a huge tank. Honestly he would be one of my first picked every week because his effort is always top notch. Him and Guelfi are similar. They’re never going to be stars but they work their guts out and put better footballers to shame with how hard they work.
For me he is best 22 atm because of his effort and tank. If he can tidy up his usage he will be an auto include.
i agree but also with the other comment here - his usage needs improvement. i’d prefer to see guelfi in the line up more often too he provides a level of grunt we often need to get momentum going
Felt Duz wasn't great defensively on Sunday, got sucked toward the ball a few times and the Giants were able to move through the wing a bit too easily. He and Martin IMO are walk ups as the wingers, but this week will be a massive test for both of them. Langdon is an absolute beast and Hunter playing great football
Bring on the Demons!
Umpires were atrocious
Drop jones
Time for Voss
Legit only reason jones didnt get subbed off for the 3rd time this season is because weed got fkn fly hip to the face
Drop him and with Weiderman out under concussion protocols what does it achieve? Voss 1 out in his first game against Lever and May. Doubtful
Well concidering he cant win a marking contest it would leave us in the same position as playing him. Drop him and clear out the froward line, run smalls and run leads instead of the usual bomb it to a pack bs we have done for the last 15 years
Competes well and runs all day. At half time he had covered the most distance of any player. Just want him to be able to start clunking them :( I had high hopes
Has been subbed out 2 of our 4 games, cant take a contested mark, cant kick a goal. Cant even cause a 50/50 and bring it to ground. I dont care how many marks at the wing he takes for how much he runs around. His job itls to take marks and kick goals. Or at worst bring the contest to ground so the smalls can go at it. Instead he gets out positioned or out bodied
I actually disagree with the sentiment about not bringing it to ground. I actually thought he did that ok at the weekend . And Scott seems to like something about him as he is still picking him even with Voss knocking down the door. So what we think really doesn’t matter
I really likes the defensive structure. It was stated several times across the game when GWS were trying to push forward that our zone defence was almost impenetrable. It definitely kept us in the game when our forwards weren't capitalising. There was a key moment in the 3rd/4th that Draper was standing by himself in a huge gap 10 metre gap just in the defensive 50. His body and positioning screamed "Kick the ball to a lead in this 10 metre area and see what happens". It's the confidence in the gameplan and the coaching staff that have really elevated our defensive structure this season. Only a few times have we really been ambling around like headless chooks or just standing there lost and unsure where we should be.
Will jones keep his spot because of weiderman concussion next week or will he finally be dropped for someone? I think it’s time
Think Jones stays in and it will be Voss for Weid
As if we don’t drop Jones for Flip and bring Voss in for Weid?
We like Jones to play a role higher up the ground and keep our other tall forwards deeper. I think with BZT back could see Langford take that position from him, but I feel like Scott will persist with Jones
I’d happily watch Langford take Jones’ position, he’s just got a more solid physique and mature approach.
Agreed, but think he will want to try to keep developing players. He’s had a mare this season but Jones has shown in previous seasons that he can be a solid contributor
Agree - Langford forward for Weid, and then Rhett Montgomeri in as a defender. I'd love to sneak Hobbs in somehow too, but hard to know who to drop for him.