I’m not so sure it’s that bad. As he notes the players are in front providing options.
We spotted up a target in board however who then finds a leading CHF (vitally important)
The issue your speaking of is when we hit neither the corridor option nor a wider leading target and due to opposition pressure end up kicking it high and long.
What happens then is it seems we are out of position and defender trailing behind will take the mark.
Our players are also seemingly not recognizing quick enough the pressure upfield to position themselves better/contest more strongly down the line
It is so frustrating seeing them continually worked under the ball by an opponent whose positioned themselves so much better. Cats did that all fkn day.
Putting to one side the question of weather and whether we’d be too tall, personally I prefer the look of JD CHF smack FF than Brown CHF JD ff.
I think JD gets lazy and plays from behind too much at FF. I think he does his best, galloping around wing CHF and pounding them in from range. Brown of course offers plenty in a tireless workhorse CHF role but JD can turn a game for you. Brown meanwhile will be an excellent contributor to a side that is in control.
Now that said JD, smack frang and stringer (with likely cameos from Langford) is going to be too tall on a wet night against a short, running side in Richmond.
It’s a tough call though because Langford and Francis both performed their roles well last week. Either would be unlucky to miss. I’m loathe to leave frang out because I think he showed real progress as a forward in just two weeks but if we are intent on bringing smack in (and I can certainly see the attraction)I think it has to be him that misses. We certainly couldn’t justify swinging him back against the tigers.
Since about round 2, I’ve been regularly thinking the Brisbane Lions were 4-5 when they played us at the Gabba in 2001 in the “if it bleeds we can kill it” game.
So it’s my fault we’ve only 4 games even though we’ve looked like we should have won more. Sorry about that.
But you can all thank me when we win this and go undefeated for the rest of the year
I don’t really understand people thinking that Smack or Brown will come straight back in.
I reckon they’re both certainties to play VFL.
Francis is a backman imo, but he has shown promising signs up forward. There is no reason to rush someone in to replace him and it is illogical to add another tall to this team,
Nah, Franga has 1 goal in 2 games up forward, you’d back Smack or Brown to get at least 1 with Joey in the side.
It’s a bigger risk to back Franga I’d reckon, Joey doesn’t have his mojo back yet either so can’t risk them both having off nights.
Then again what would I know- JoRang will probably get picked and kick 8.
in games we lose we have a constant trend of lack of i50 marks.
Syd: 54 i50s for 6 marks.
Geel: 49 i50s for 8 marks
Coll: 47 i50s for 7 marks
The list goes on
In every win we have also won i50 marks so I think adding height could potentially help us build to the winning footy we want to be playing. One of either Smack or brown comes in for me this week.
There’s is no doubt in my mind that our forward line hasn’t operated well the last three weeks because we haven’t had a legit second tall forward option.
I want us to go out there with real intent. This is a big game. People might laugh but talent wise I think we have enough there to beat Richmond. What they have that’s far superior to us is a structure that holds up under pressure. They are so well drilled, they know their roles, the sacrifice for each other, and they have recently tasted the ultimate success, so they know their method works and they trust their system. We simply don’t have any of that, or if we do, we don’t see it implemented often enough for long enough. Richmond scrap, fight, and try and drag you down. They aren’t a skilled team, but their pressure is manic that they take away your ability to play on your terms.
I want to see a hunger for the contest. I want to see a bit of ■■■■ about us. Our players are a bit too nice. Time to take a few angry pills, don’t take a backward step, send a message that we won’t back down. Anzac Day we showed some of that, but we got caught out by Collingwood’s ferocity early and it was just too much for us to peg back. We must be on from the first bounce. A win can be something we can build a season around. We haven’t beaten the Tigers since Dreamtime 2014. Time to put that hoodoo to bed.
I asked Ambrose last night (at the player sponsor night) if he thought Mitch Brown would be a good chance to come straight back in, and he hedged a bit and seemed to be supportive that Francis might get another go with Mitch and Smack coming back via the VFL.
Soldo out, Balta now the ruckman.
Is that good , or bad?
Tigers appear to be as weak as they have been in the last 3-4 years.
Even then, I need to be convinced we can/will play with the necessary work rate and physical presence to beat them. If we win more of the ball, we should be able to move it I50 often enough. The problem is winning enough of it.
