Game Day JLT1 - Richmond v Melbourne - Sunday March 3rd, 4.40pm AEDT

Haha, so it wasn’t clear at the game that Maynard, Sparrow and Kielty didn’t come on until the 2nd half? Not that it would have been likely to make much difference of course, because he’s awful
No it wasn't really made clear
 

JP2

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Pre-season game, so pretty hard to get a read on it. On the one hand we did well to get within two goals of Richmond considering the players we had out, on the other hand the margin should have been a lot bigger. That patch from halfway through the second to halfway to the third was just a training run for them. The weather was another factor, because I don't think either side was going 100% defensively.

Good:

- Brayshaw and Oliver were a class above everyone else on the pitch, but Brayshaw needs to stop butchering left-foot kicks when he could just as easily use his right.
- Salem looked really good in the midfield. Tough, composed and used the ball well.
- Petracca had some really good moments, and I think he's going to be a good impact player through the midfield this year.
- Petty really showed a lot down back. Weid and Hore had their moments. Fritsch had a decent game.

Bad:

- Again, I won't read too much into a JLT game but the two biggest problems we had last year showed up again here. First is not being able to stop an opposition team when they get a run-on, the second is just hoofing the ball to the top of the goal square on forward 50 entries and hoping something happens. If that's going to be our policy then we need to have crumbers there doing a decent job, but Richmond just strolled the ball out the 50 every single time we did it. Heat may have been a factor in that lack of defensive pressure, but would still wanna improve that come round 1.
- McDonald was absolutely eaten alive by Rance.
- None of the fringe players really did enough to stake their claim for round 1. Frost was terrible, I hardly saw Stretch, Maynard just isn't a footballer. Hunt, the Wagners, Smith had their moments but certainly aren't kicking the door down.

The... I dunno?

- Pruess was okay, but there might be concerns over his tank. No point selecting a ruckman who can barely play 60% game time, but again heat may have been a factor.
- JKH tries hard and is going to be decent as depth, but think he'll struggle to make it in the 22 if there aren't any injuries. Would still have him comfortably ahead of Stretch and Maynard though.
- Still not sure what our best forward line looks like. We have a lot of capable players who can switch through there and who are capable of making a cameo or two, but except for TMac, Weid, Petracca and Melksham I'm not sure who else we should definitely be playing there. Given how easily Richmond swept the ball out of defence, I'm not sure we can ever play Preuss, Weid and TMac in the same forward line either.
 

markm106

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Both teams would be pretty happy with the hit out today. When we were right on top in the middle early on we were able to get the score on the board. I the second and third Richmond got a heap the ball forward and we were pretty decimated back there today. Great to see Clarry and Gus are back to the form from last season.
Preuss ran out of gas very early. He’s going to have to build up that tank over the next couple of pre seasons.
Our delivery out of the back half was shocking. Add Hibber May Lewis Jetta and Lever and that massively improves.
Tigers showed of their running power throughout the second and third especially. And Rance looked back to his best.
Hore looks like he can play a role.
Fritsch is a classy player and is suited to a wing.
I still want Salem in the back half this year.
 
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49% game time
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360 metres gained

All while pretty obviously cruising around...

Wouldnt say s**t all, but to each their own i guess

I don’t necessarily agree with what G2B said but white knighting your team after a game on an oppo board is a waste of time.
 

Cannon82

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I hope we don't play Preuss. The guy is nothing special and we should be angling for more speed given the way the game is played these days.

Don't think we learned a lot out of today. The rookie back line gave up some rookie goals, Oliver is by far and away our best player, Brayshaw needs to tighten up his disposal, forward line is going to be competitive but the service needs to improve, Petracca is showing flashes of brilliance, Salem is quietly competent without being outstanding, Fritsch is a very useful player, etc etc. It's like we've picked up exactly where we left off last season... could be a lot worse.
 

markm106

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I hope we don't play Preuss. The guy is nothing special and we should be angling for more speed given the way the game is played these days.

Don't think we learned a lot out of today. The rookie back line gave up some rookie goals, Oliver is by far and away our best player, Brayshaw needs to tighten up his disposal, forward line is going to be competitive but the service needs to improve, Petracca is showing flashes of brilliance, Salem is quietly competent without being outstanding, Fritsch is a very useful player, etc etc. It's like we've picked up exactly where we left off last season... could be a lot worse.
I think next week we need to play Preuss Weideman and Tmac. And Gawn or course. That’ll at least give us some intel on whether Preuss plays round one. He was pretty good up forward v the pies last week. Not sure we can play those 3 with Gawn though.

Today showed me Preuss hasn’t got the tank yet and the heat obviously took it out of him. He rucked ok early on.
 
If the plan is to play two rucks, then we ought to give Preuss a couple more consecutive top level games to ascertain whether he’s up to it and the plan works. Keilty intrigued me though, sensational vertical leap. Can he mark?
 

Demon4123

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Interesting to read everyone’s observations on the game. I know it was only a practice game, but some players would have been playing to impress for a round 1 spot.
I agree with a lot of the comments especially the lack of run and carry. Too many times just bombed the ball in the air and hoped for the best.
IMO JKH, J Wagner, Maynard, Stretch and Jeffy will be only depth players. Frost really needs to improve his disposal although his not alone there. Impressed with Fritsch and Salem today. Keilty surprised me with his cameo ruck role. Also, Petty showed something.
T’Mac can’t play that poorly again and Trac again needs to play 4 consistent quarters. Brayshaw and Oliver in for big years IMO.
 

Crusty Demon

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I hope we don't play Preuss. The guy is nothing special and we should be angling for more speed given the way the game is played these days.

Don't think we learned a lot out of today. The rookie back line gave up some rookie goals, Oliver is by far and away our best player, Brayshaw needs to tighten up his disposal, forward line is going to be competitive but the service needs to improve, Petracca is showing flashes of brilliance, Salem is quietly competent without being outstanding, Fritsch is a very useful player, etc etc. It's like we've picked up exactly where we left off last season... could be a lot worse.
I actually think we learned a fair bit.

We desperately need runners off half back. Tigers run out of defence compared to us made us look embarrassing. Besides Hibberd who can run and carry, I'm not sure we had anyone else out who will improve this for us. Salem should move back which will help ball movement, but not that run and carry. So Jayden Hunt was the biggest disappointment for me. We need him to lift and he's looking like a bust now more than a chance to make best 22. Crows also look elite in this area with Smith, Milera and Laird all quick and smart users. Bombers have a few as well. So it's one area i can see us struggling with compared to teams around us.

Pruess clearly doesn't have a tank. He couldnt even get to a boundary throw in the 2nd quarter. His ruckwork was just ok for mine. Didn't impress me at all and looks likely to be a liability more than a help. Happy to wait and see how he goes with Gawn, but if Gawn gets injured, we're still in real strife.

We are also desperate for a quick intuitive forward crumber. Garlett looks past it and Spargo gives 100%, but lacks that pace. The Eagles have two elite in this area and Tigers have 3 or 4.

Our depth is ok, but we still have dead wood. JKH, Stretch, Wagners and Maynard look in trouble. Garlett and Hunt could be done as well. Yes, one game in JLT, but same issues as last year for both. Kielty and Petty did some nice things which suggests we have pretty good KPD depth.

Brayshaw and Oliver are both stars. Unbelievable.

Petracca looks fit. Struggles to run out games still, so we'll see how he goes next week. But his impact after half time seems minimal compared to 1st halves. But he looks fit which gives him a chance to improve in this area.

We still have issues moving into the F50. It looks like we will win enough of the ball and move it forward, but hitting targets still looks to be a problem. We need the ball in Salem, Fritsch and Melksham's hands moving into the forward half as much as possible.

We'll obviosly know more when we get a full strength side, but i feel we did get a bit from today. And even though we struggled after quarter time, we were still within a goal late in the match with half our team out and many areas to improve. Tigers should have won by 6 goals though. Score flattered us a bit. Next week will confirm a few things and hopefully shed some light on others.
 

Topkent

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Haha what's with the cats bloke it was ******* pre season.
Didn't we kick like 8 goals in a quarter basically against their best side? Then proceed get raped by that same one for the next quarter an a half?
 

Topkent

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I was annoyed with our run an carry or lack there of an I think it's a problem that we can't change up our style when we aren't playing well.
Jayden Hunt needed to get some touches, he looks so far off the level of AFL he played at in his debut season.


It's gonna be easier to run the ball when May, Lever, Hibberd an Jetta are back there but I would have rather have seen us lose by a bit more by trying to generate run some run.

As Cannon82 said apart from Petty playing ok that game from a supporters point of view was completely pointless

I'd wanna see Preuss with a full midfield an forward line around him before I gave up on him.
 

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As Cannon82 said apart from Petty playing ok that game from a supporters point of view was completely pointless

Trying to decide if it’s worth investing a few hours to watch this. At least there’s only one more. Hopefully we come out of these relatively healthy.
 

dylan93

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Yeah next week we need to go almost full strength I hope to see if this dual ruck thing will work. Would also like to see Baker and Bedford get a run on the extended bench.
 

AmericanAFL

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Someone explain to me the theory behind playing more than one ruck at a time. The advantage isn’t obvious to me- there’s only ever one ruck contest at a time. Is the advantage that it keeps Max fresh over the course of a game and season? Couldn’t we just use Tmac more in that role to provide him occasional relief? I thought he did a decent job when in the ruck last season.
 
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Someone explain to me the theory behind playing more than one ruck at a time. The advantage isn’t obvious to me- there’s only ever one ruck contest at a time. Is the advantage that it keeps Max fresh over the course of a game and season? Couldn’t we just use Tmac more in that role to provide him occasional relief? I thought he did a decent job when in the ruck last season.
The advantage is somewhat theoretical since it relies not just on playing 2 rucks but having 2 decent rucks.

It means you can get some wins when resting best ruck - because 2nd ruck is likely to be up against a non-specialist forward-type guy and would hopefully dominate. Two good rucks rotating can also just work the opposition ruck into the ground. West Coast made use of the idea late last year with reasonable success. And if your rucks are sufficiently mobile and a decent mark, you get the advantage of a difficult match up forward, plus a vastly tall dude who can drop back into the hole in defence.

The sticking point is that for everything you gain in this, you will lose something in speed and manoeuvrability, and the kind of pressure that you might be able to employ by going in smaller. This trade-off could well be quite pronounced so a team that attempts this would want to be pretty confident in both rucks.
 

AmericanAFL

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The advantage is somewhat theoretical since it relies not just on playing 2 rucks but having 2 decent rucks.

It means you can get some wins when resting best ruck - because 2nd ruck is likely to be up against a non-specialist forward-type guy and would hopefully dominate. Two good rucks rotating can also just work the opposition ruck into the ground. West Coast made use of the idea late last year with reasonable success. And if your rucks are sufficiently mobile and a decent mark, you get the advantage of a difficult match up forward, plus a vastly tall dude who can drop back into the hole in defence.

The sticking point is that for everything you gain in this, you will lose something in speed and manoeuvrability, and the kind of pressure that you might be able to employ by going in smaller. This trade-off could well be quite pronounced so a team that attempts this would want to be pretty confident in both rucks.

Thank you.
 

saj_21

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Fritsch’s field kicking was sublime, he lasered one into the forward 50 that bounced straight off Jeffys chest. We need to see Fritsch kicking forward of centre more often thank not.
 
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Thank you.
No trouble.

I think the reason the idea is getting so much discussion lately is because of the change of rules which favour teams that can win a centre bounce clearance. Plus it would be a different look and commentators are always on the lookout for the next big thing to dribble on about.

Despite the changes to rules, I still think the 2019 Premiers will be the team that plays footy the best and not the one that gets a jump on the competition by making one gimmick effective.
 
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