Why are we able to burst out of the blocks with 5 or 6 unanswered goals but then fall away? Eg. Brisbane in the Prelim, Melbourne and Swans the last 2 weeks.
When we do it, it doesn’t look that physically taxing. Bang, bang, bang and the opposition’s heads are spinning!
What can we do to keep that going?

I wonder whether we take our foot off the pedal, or whether we get the lead and then do something different… ?


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I think you'll find it works the other way around (going by experience).
They should have more run in the cooler weather, cramping might be their only issue though, especially if it is raining.

It will be interesting to see what Gold Coast do at selection. They beat Geelong despite having made four changes, and all the blokes they brought in played well. But I'd be surpised if they didn't bring Witts, Walter and Holman back in...

As for us, it depends on availability, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced that we can't:

Play two rucks.
Play Cripps, Kennedy and Hewett in the same side.
Continue to carry small fowards who don't score goals (regardless of their 'pressure' or whatever).

x 2

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There's no more insecure feeling than when we're 20 points up

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#DonTheStash

it's frustrating that we still try. it was apparent in 2022 when we missed finals and lost our last 4 and only needed one win for finals.

it was well apparent last season when we lost 9 from 10 trying, and only went on the finals run bcos pittonet was injured.

by now, it's just laughable that we're even persisting with it on any level.


we could be such a good team, but through coaching stubbornness and a messed up, dysfunctional high performance and rehab department we may never see this actually happen

I think on both occasions we tried to control the tempo of the game once we had a bit of a lead on. The thing is, we played tempo footy beautifully against Melbourne, as we kept the margin between 30 and 39 points from late in the 1st quarter until the last couple of minutes of the 3rd (we then scored from the opening bounce of the 4th to correct that aberration). Even as we tired in the 4th, we maintained the margin until 9 minutes remaining, when the arse fell out.

Against Sydney, Weitering copped the corky very early on and that seemed to throw our plans out of whack completely, and Sydney ran away with it before we managed to pull our collective arse cheeks together.

Even against Melbourne, though, I was tearing my hair out at our inability to punish Melbourne on the break when they pushed forward. That's where the lack of pace kills us, and where Saad's return is a big deal.

we keep making excuses about players missing (yes it does hurt ) but i believe our game plan /system is at fault ,if you look at the crows game for example what can we say about that game . Over the years soon as teams start to run ,move the ball quickly we are in trouble .

Imagine the hiding we would’ve copped last week if not for Tom’s four hitout, four disposal performance.

He’s a treasure & the sooner we drop the competition’s #1 centre bounce player, the better.

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Not sure you can read too much into TDK's stats when he's playing as 2nd choice ruck and 3rd choice tall forward. His numbers were more impressive in the first four rounds. Highlighting his pitiful stats against Melbourne and Sydney only enhances the argument for one ruck, IMO. Having said that, I'd be curious to try Pitt+H for a week just to see if it can work. Time to play the "managed" card?

Oh, I’m all for one ruck - and the answer is Pitto & Charlie, not Pitto & H.

Charlie is the better wrestler & better kick off a short runway. The freedoms given to him in the ruck contest might even light a fire under him up forward.

No more dropping deep in defence to impact the game.

Also, Harry is not very good at ruck.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Charlie in the ruck? His knee cap was pinned together 3 years ago. Not to mention he's won the last 2 Colemans and is on track for a 3rd. You change players around when they're not performing in their roles. You don't change what is working.
Harry was the best big man in the AFL in the first month playing as relieving ruck. 23 coaches votes by Round 3. People are forgetting how dominant he was.
Playing him as second ruck gets him into the game. Since he has played as a permanent forward, his game has dropped off.
He's an endurance beast. Giving him freedom up the ground has proven to be a winner.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Yep.

I wouldn’t want to see either of them in a jumping contest. With the way the rules are set now, it’s easily the most overrated skill set in the position. Still handy in open play, obviously, but not at all necessary for the stoppages.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

i hope not!!!!!

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my last one was rubbish

I agree with you about Harry but I think that was more about the opposition we were playing and not the position he was playing.
The issue is TDK, he is not good enough to play first ruck against better rucks and he is a pretty average forward. At least Pitto equips himself at one part of the game.
Friday when Weiters went down would have been the perfect opportunity to push TDK into defence..What did we have to lose in by doing it. Sure made more sense than getting Charlie down back.
The Swans showed us how to take advantage of a dominant clearance and contested game style in much the same way Collingwood did a few weeks earlier. It was pretty ordinary viewing I would have hate to have seen it if we had Harry and TDK attending every stoppage

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Lewis Young was an interesting second ruck option last year, around the ground such a solid mark. He's roughly the same height as Pitto and TDK, just 10-15 kgs lighter.

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Green Shooter

I’m not yet convinced the two ruck combo is a bust.
I do believe, however, that we struggle with all three of Cripps, Hewett and Kennedy. I think Kennedy is more versatile, esp as a F50 target but Hewett is the better midfield option.
Of course, we are limited by injury atm.


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Yes Bookie , he went into the ruck and did very well . He gets bagged , but he is a mile in front of Mirkov , O"Keefe , and Lemmey .

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All my dangerous friends

Last year they had a bye after playing in the NT and we slapped them at the G.
This year they are coming straight to Marvel, not ideal, but I think they played better than expected up in the NT this year so hopefully we can catch them on the back of two overinflated wins.
Only concern for me is they had really good run in those games and in the heat too.
We don't want another game like we had on the weekend.
However, I think we should beat them, our team will be a lot more dominate at either end than the teams the Roos and the Cats fielded.
Plus the players have some face saving to do after a big loss.