#29 Patrick Ambrose -- forward or back?

Absolutely - talk about the cart before the horse!! The Tinners are having their farking grand final and we had better be up for it otherwise it will be a ■■■■ sandwhich. Worry about the prison bars after Friday!

Hurley on Stephenson would be a disaster, I reckon. Can see that as being a match-up the Piers would love. Look, with the Pies’ forward line, I think it will be a joint effort from the back 6 and defmids, and there won’t be any hard one-on-ones.

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Mckenna to stephenson and saad to elliot, imo

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Not correct. He was chasing Stevenson. Caught him, and brought him down, with a diving tackle that turned into a trip. Cost. 1 goal, 1 hamstring, 1 rotation and maybe the game.

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I haven’t seen much of Stephenson this year but last year he was excellent.

He looks a bit slippery for Hurley I reckon.

When Stephenson transitions to midfield he is going to be one hell of a player.

I think Elliott’s return has pushed him up the ground a bit more and he isn’t finding it as much.

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I know its pretty obvious now that he’s a rising star winner but he looks like a future champion of the game.

Football brain is out of this world.

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Was he drafted as a midfielder?

Pies are not getting the ball fwd as much either

The keepings off game / controlling ball is affecting their scoring

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I think he may have played wing?

Not really sure to be honest.

Makes his season playing forward even better if so.

No kid has the right to adapt to AFL life that fast.

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Yeah that’s why i was asking. He’s an amazing forward. Lightning quick too. I’d leave him there forever.

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Eating humble pie on Ambrose this season - he is destroying his opponents and working within his limitations. Great to see.

DeGoey actually worries me a little bit, I love Ambrose against the ‘straight line’ players (even if he gives up some height as with Hipwood), but slippery kents like DeGoey make me worry. That said, he has definitely earned the first crack at him.

Vs the Roos I suspect we’ll give him Brown first up and rely on Hooker to help inside 50.

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This new game plan is very very interesting. Buckley must believe that hard running both ways is not sustainable for 25 games, so he is trying to reduce loadings early in the season, practice ways to control tempo and still keep ahead of the ledger.

But there is no guarantee that Buckley will employ the uncontested game plan in every match. It might just be his plan B. On Anzac Day he may go back to the full bottle hard running wide spreading, overlap running / chaining game plan that got them into the GF in 2018

Yeah, was expected to make the transition to mid/wing.

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Mihocek 4 goals last night, hey? I’ll stick with my original suggestion that Paddy plays on him on ANZAC Day.

That’s not a bad idea. Maybe McKenna for De Goey. It’s a risk but Conor could really hurt him the other way

If Ambrose goes to De Goey he won’t be able to shut him down for an entire game, as if he isn’t providing much in the forwardline Buckley won’t hesitate in moving him into the middle. De Goey’s ability to go into the midfield and have a significant impact makes him an invaluable part of Collingwood’s team.

But this is all premature as we are playing Norf today, in what is a classic danger game for us as Norf will be all gee’d up and we may be caught napping

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Give Redman a crack if De Goey plays forward. If Buckley moves De Goey into the guts, switch Irish on to him in a tagging role. Jumping the gun. Tin-rattlers first.

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I don’t understand this thinking. If (and its a big if) Ambrose can go with him in the forwardline, then there is no reason he cannot also hold him in check through the midfield. Ambrose doesn’t lack endurance, and his agility is more likely to cost us goals within the D50 then it is in the midfield.

Would you want Ambrose in the centre bounce? Ambrose just doesn’t have the nous and would be at least a half second behind whomever he was tagging. And Woosh doesn’t believe in tags