Good summary
Unpopular opinion but I’d try Mason at half forward this off season.
He’s damaging when pushing forward and as you highlighted he really struggled defensively 1:1 recently
I’d play Merrett at half back as his defensive pressure is fantastic and his ability to clear the ball with pin point passing is best on our list.
Been saying that for years, problem is that it would be the furthest thing from Brads mind.
Mas definitely needs a change.
I don’t think he needs to be moved at all.
Those defensive stats are a direct result of our dominance in getting the ball inside 50 but being burned on the rebound where you are more likely to be isolated 1 on 1 after multiple forward advances and pushing your defensive line so far up the field. He wasn’t on his own as our entire defence was exposed so it’s not necessarily him, but the game plan.
For me, if you clean up the inside 50s and actually get a score from them, we’d minimise the 1 on 1’s.
Even a rushed behind would help as it gives time for us to setup behind the ball. But a rebound out of our forward 50 is more likely to find enough of a gap in our defence to make us pay.
This is one of the few times that a better forward mix would actually help the backline.
I’m also a bit against shifting Merrett at the moment because the centre bounce is actually becoming a strength of ours and Merrett’s a major part of that. Whether that is by winning the contest or winning the clearance. I also think taking one of our better defensive midfielders out of the midfield is likely to expose us on the rebound and transition.
I do think he can rotate from time to time with Martin to get a different look, but in general you want your best players in the contest at the centre bounce to get the ball forward to begin with.
Yep no arguments here re any of that, and yes flexibily important, has to be, i just thought he got a bit lost last year at times, looked like had the sulks a bit which had me thinking hed had his leish put back on compared to other years. Your stats indicate his year maybe not have been so bad, just seemed he lacked the flair he showed in other years, which is a key strength when hes up and about
yeah nah. you dont move mason redman forward so our best midfielder can play at half back. come on dude.
It’s been a few years so he may be better there now, but Redman’s at half back in the first place because he was bad in the forward line and wanted to move.
Not a skill issue with Mason, he just needs to want it more, he can be so much better than he is.
Brilliant! Definitely worth a listen.
Merrett is 29 and although our best player, when the heat ramps up against the top 6 teams, his form gets shaken.
We have 2 top 10 mids in Hobbs and Tsatas playing 2’s, signed Parish for 100 years, had Durham and Caldwell play break out seasons in 2024 and have our 2nd most creative player in Martin not playing on the ball. Also a top 10 pick in Setters.
We also have Perkins that the club has tried to sell us as a mid, who hopefully now plays the stringer forward role, but could be asked to play mid.
The easy way out for us is to play Zach mid perm, but if were genuinely looking to build a sustainable future, it’s soon time to move past him in there, just as we did with stringer forward. Use him as a rotation in the guts and shift him to half back, as outside of the miracle goal he kicked last year, he’s a liability when shooting for goal.
I think Redman will be just fine next year. Sneaky suspicion that he will find his best form again.
Which is fine, but Merrett is small, not overly quick or good above his head. He excels receiving the outside ball and delivering either by hand or by foot to someone in a better position. Now that may be a skill set which is good off hald back, but I dont think Zach has the body for it. Caleb Daniel will always be an outlier.
I am not of the view that it is ever a good idea to move a player who is excelling in one position, into another position, to accomodate others.
It just wreaks of Martins move to half back. Setterfield and Hobbs are completely different players to Zach. Ideally Setterfield and Hobbs would be giving the ball to Zach. They are competing with Caldwell and Durham, not so much Zach. Tsatas is probably the closest like for like to Zach, in terms of great hands and being able to also get the ball out of the midfield with confidence, but he is a long way away from cementing a spot in the team, and I dont think it should take Zach to play at half back for that to occur.
One of the very few that can kick them from 55 on the run, seems like a logical move to me.
Might be waste at HB with that talent, especially now McGrath has delegated himself to take the kick outs to pump his stats up.
I wouldn’t be against trying Redman forward.
I know our forward line sucks balls but I think he will be better for us on the wing or HBF. Run and carry/kick it into 50.
I’d love to know how many times you’ve used that line on here 
Ha ha! Is that actually correct?! No, I’m not that gullible.
We have tried Redman forward early in his career, and he made a habit of being where the ball wasn’t. He doesn’t have the footy smarts to play anywhere but defence.
I don’t know if it is correct or not.
I cbf validating the Blitz search function.
Not sure Brad really appreciates what Redman is capable of, he obviously isn’t get the best out of him.
I’ve slowed down somewhat towards the end of this season.
There were plenty more opportunities, but I’ve toned back using it. I am going more for quality than quantity with those responses.