Hi all,
Per requests from others in the changes thread, sticking media summaries in here from now on. Mods - please feel free to torpedo this if you don't think it's warranted.
Today's presser:
- Asked re Barrass: Not this week. Going in unchanged. Save you the trip to the airport.
- First time since 2012 we're going unchanged.
- Asked re Duggan/Butler: Both were close - Butler is two days off being right to play - getting another week. Liam is a first year player who we're managing. Probably off to EP.
- We've got players in form and no new injuries - which is a luxury of shorts - but good management from the fitness boys.
- Asked re the next 5 weeks: We've blocked our season up - we're in the middle of a four game block. We're not looking past the next two or three weeks. We know this half of the season is a lot tougher.
- For us, this is partly the unknown - we'll find a lot out about ourselves - but we're excited. The players are up and about. We want the challenge.
- This is the second or third game in this particular block. Not about who we play, we just block the year up.
- Different blocks occasionally have a different focus - not going into too much detail obviously - but it's really about how we deal with runs of losses or wins.
- Asked re Etihad: we like playing there. I'm not sure what our W/L is there - but we don't worry about our recent or past form there. We're not intimidated. Pies at Etihad is a little different.
- It's a quick deck - and the climate is a certainty for us - we plan and train for it here with the reduced ground size. We're ready.
- You'd be pretty worried if you had to change the way you play to suit each ground. We want to play the same way everywhere. I think the Pies are the same.
- Asked re: Pies/Melbourne loss streak: You can chop the data up in many ways. We're at a point where a lot of these games will come with bad stats. We're not worried about the past.
- Pies are a young side that is putting a lot of pressure on. It's a good brand, a tough one to combat. It's a finals brand of footy that Bucks has them playing. I know they haven't got up recently but it's a style that will stand up in big games.
- Asked re tagging - won't go into details about what we're doing tactically. We won't change too much about how we play.
- Asked re Pies desperation after the close losses: I don't know if they've come up empty in the last three weeks - they've proven they can match it with the best. They're in form. Our challenge is to handle their pressure.
- I for one am bloody delighted to see bombard remember to stick a * gag in this summary. What a delightfully meta joke.*
- Asked re midfield form: "They're playing alright - not too bad." - they had a good result on the weekend, but we're not getting carried away. More development to come.
- Asked re Yeo to the midfield: I wasn't part of the recruitment of Elliott, but I can see why we did. He's versatile, he's tall. He wants to be in the midfield - but he's developing versatility at the same time.
- I think last weekend we had 13 goalkickers but we haven't been doing that consistently enough.
- Every team wants goals from their midfield, but you need to balance against defensive challenges and supporting the forwards.
- Asked re Priddis form: His numbers he's up this year from last. His influence on the side and the way he leads is massive. His leadership has elevated from last year. He's having a better season from my point of view.
- Asked re Gaff's 100th and Rawlings' influence thereof: I'm glady he said that about Brady. Brady is a new coach but his experience as a run-with player will be invaluable for Andrew. Also Gaff is being educated about being more flexible - and he's getting more mature.
- Asked re stoppage congestion debate that has flooded the commentariat this week: I don't have strong thoughts on it really - but I'm glad there's debate. I'd be stunned if we make a change mid-season. I don't think the way the game is played has changed that much in recent years. Happy they're looking at it, the game always works itself out. Let's not do kneejerk reactions though.
- Asked re Eagles' spread at stoppages: Every club has a different strategy. All teams want to spread well, though. Whether they want to congest it before a stoppage varies more, but the spread is fairly uniform across all clubs. The game balances itself out as the weather gets better and it'll open up a bit more.
- Most teams don't have Nicnat in the ruck either, but we're seeing a lot of third man up across the league as an alternative.
- Asked re Brady - I saw him get stitched up occasionally when we played together - I'm sure he's teaching Gaff what taggers don't like as much as anything else.
* May not have happened.
Per requests from others in the changes thread, sticking media summaries in here from now on. Mods - please feel free to torpedo this if you don't think it's warranted.
Today's presser:
- Asked re Barrass: Not this week. Going in unchanged. Save you the trip to the airport.
- First time since 2012 we're going unchanged.
- Asked re Duggan/Butler: Both were close - Butler is two days off being right to play - getting another week. Liam is a first year player who we're managing. Probably off to EP.
- We've got players in form and no new injuries - which is a luxury of shorts - but good management from the fitness boys.
- Asked re the next 5 weeks: We've blocked our season up - we're in the middle of a four game block. We're not looking past the next two or three weeks. We know this half of the season is a lot tougher.
- For us, this is partly the unknown - we'll find a lot out about ourselves - but we're excited. The players are up and about. We want the challenge.
- This is the second or third game in this particular block. Not about who we play, we just block the year up.
- Different blocks occasionally have a different focus - not going into too much detail obviously - but it's really about how we deal with runs of losses or wins.
- Asked re Etihad: we like playing there. I'm not sure what our W/L is there - but we don't worry about our recent or past form there. We're not intimidated. Pies at Etihad is a little different.
- It's a quick deck - and the climate is a certainty for us - we plan and train for it here with the reduced ground size. We're ready.
- You'd be pretty worried if you had to change the way you play to suit each ground. We want to play the same way everywhere. I think the Pies are the same.
- Asked re: Pies/Melbourne loss streak: You can chop the data up in many ways. We're at a point where a lot of these games will come with bad stats. We're not worried about the past.
- Pies are a young side that is putting a lot of pressure on. It's a good brand, a tough one to combat. It's a finals brand of footy that Bucks has them playing. I know they haven't got up recently but it's a style that will stand up in big games.
- Asked re tagging - won't go into details about what we're doing tactically. We won't change too much about how we play.
- Asked re Pies desperation after the close losses: I don't know if they've come up empty in the last three weeks - they've proven they can match it with the best. They're in form. Our challenge is to handle their pressure.
- I for one am bloody delighted to see bombard remember to stick a * gag in this summary. What a delightfully meta joke.*
- Asked re midfield form: "They're playing alright - not too bad." - they had a good result on the weekend, but we're not getting carried away. More development to come.
- Asked re Yeo to the midfield: I wasn't part of the recruitment of Elliott, but I can see why we did. He's versatile, he's tall. He wants to be in the midfield - but he's developing versatility at the same time.
- I think last weekend we had 13 goalkickers but we haven't been doing that consistently enough.
- Every team wants goals from their midfield, but you need to balance against defensive challenges and supporting the forwards.
- Asked re Priddis form: His numbers he's up this year from last. His influence on the side and the way he leads is massive. His leadership has elevated from last year. He's having a better season from my point of view.
- Asked re Gaff's 100th and Rawlings' influence thereof: I'm glady he said that about Brady. Brady is a new coach but his experience as a run-with player will be invaluable for Andrew. Also Gaff is being educated about being more flexible - and he's getting more mature.
- Asked re stoppage congestion debate that has flooded the commentariat this week: I don't have strong thoughts on it really - but I'm glad there's debate. I'd be stunned if we make a change mid-season. I don't think the way the game is played has changed that much in recent years. Happy they're looking at it, the game always works itself out. Let's not do kneejerk reactions though.
- Asked re Eagles' spread at stoppages: Every club has a different strategy. All teams want to spread well, though. Whether they want to congest it before a stoppage varies more, but the spread is fairly uniform across all clubs. The game balances itself out as the weather gets better and it'll open up a bit more.
- Most teams don't have Nicnat in the ruck either, but we're seeing a lot of third man up across the league as an alternative.
- Asked re Brady - I saw him get stitched up occasionally when we played together - I'm sure he's teaching Gaff what taggers don't like as much as anything else.
* May not have happened.
