Clarke hasn’t kicked a goal yet this season. Maybe from the goal square he could put one through. From what I gather from the match thread, Clarke was getting the ruck hits but he/mids stuffed up getting the hits to our players. I’d probably keep Clarke as ruck and rev up McKernan to be a beast up forward.
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How is the midfield meant to adjust to our ruckman hitting it direct to their midfielders?
On a number occasions, Aliir didn’t even compete in the ruck contest. He just waited for Clarke to tap it and roved that. Swans had the extra midfielder pretty much. It was really clever.
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You only have to be smarter than your opponent to appear clever.
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After a few times they (ruck and mids) have to see the pattern and adjust. As someone said, maybe Heppell being out lost them onfield leadership. But there is enough experience there to sort it out. They do that huddle thing before a bounce, you’d think they’d have a chat about it there.
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Well it did take a surprising amount of time for our players to realise it 
curious - how did the Blitz match day thread deal with it…?
It wasn’t as prevalent as has been suggested… There maybe 3 or 4 occasions throughout the entire 2nd half where Allir failed to contest the hitout and one of those was a boundary throw in against McKernan. On all of those occasions our Ruck tried to hit the ball wide into space rather than straight down where Allir was waiting to mop up, but he was good enough to read the hitout.
The Blitz match day thread was really clever.
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Question, if Devon Smith was fit to come back in this week, who would make way for him?
I’d have LAV out
Our fwd pressure is lacking at present both with structure/balance and fact Raz isn’t 100%
With no Smith, I’d probably do it this week for Snelling even. Also allowing another player contributing to midfield rotations which helps over run sides as we have been.
We’d probably get a 20 possession 6-8 tackle game out of Snelling playing fwd/mid.
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Guelfi
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Clarke!
Agree
Injury report should be out soon, correct?
Get them in: The Bombers will be hopeful captain Dyson Heppell can recover from his foot injury in time to take on North Melbourne on Saturday. He was a late withdrawal against last week. Josh Begley booted three goals in the VFL, while Will Snelling (33 disposals) is also pressing his claims for a call-up.
Under the pump: Ruckman Zac Clarke had no influence on the game, so the Bombers will need to work out what they do in that injury-hit department.
Medical room: The Bombers will be hopeful Cale Hooker is fine to play after struggling with back soreness against the Swans. Zach Merrett suffered a heavy knock early in the game against Sydney but played it out.
Verdict: Heppell will be the big watch here. The Bombers don’t have many options with their ruck division, so if Heppell comes back he might replace Kyle Langford , who came into the side late on Saturday after Heppell pulled out. - Callum Twomey
Kyle Langford might make way for Dyson Heppell. Picture: AFL Photos
Alir hurt Clarke because he was so unpredictable, Goldy is much more conventional, he’ll beat Clarke no doubt but I think Clarke should be able to halve a lot of contests as well.
But just for a moment imagine a world where he was best on ground.
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Langford would be super stiff to be dropped again.
Kicked a vital goal and there were passages of player where his hard running was evident
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Yeah it was mind boggling that he was dropped initially. I’d be dropping Guelfi before Langford.
Brown has also been non-existent the past few games, so if Hep is ready to go then I’d be tempted to throw Langers forward and get Hep in the guts - Snelling to play the Dev Smith role.
OUT: Brown, Guelfi
In: Heppell, Snelling
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