Training Pre Season '23

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Players like Graham are so underappreciated. Without players like Graham, Lambert and McIntosh running their guts out defensively every week we wouldn't have won a single one of those three flags.
Agree 100%.

Lambert's gut running has been missed and he always came up with a goal when we needed one in tight contests.

McIntosh criminally underrated on here given he's good overhead, provides an outlet on the fat side of the ground and is rarely beaten by his opponent.

Think the issue with Graham has been that he is a tackle, pressure act player who has had to up his possession rates to account for the drop off in players like Cotchin/Martin/Edwards/Lambert and injuries to Prestia. He isn't a terrible user but can't accumulate and my personal view is that he's best as either a high half forward or tagger.

We've elected not to go the tag for whatever reason and his pressure acts have been replaced in the side by Taranto and Hopper who regularly get the sort of tackle numbers that Jack brought while combining it with more clearances and size around the football.

I think there's still a role for him but he may need to reinvent himself again as a high half forward that comes into the middle or a wingman as I'm not sure that he'll be able to play on ball with the current brigade. I could be wrong though.
 
Agree 100%.

Lambert's gut running has been missed and he always came up with a goal when we needed one in tight contests.

McIntosh criminally underrated on here given he's good overhead, provides an outlet on the fat side of the ground and is rarely beaten by his opponent.

Think the issue with Graham has been that he is a tackle, pressure act player who has had to up his possession rates to account for the drop off in players like Cotchin/Martin/Edwards/Lambert and injuries to Prestia. He isn't a terrible user but can't accumulate and my personal view is that he's best as either a high half forward or tagger.

We've elected not to go the tag for whatever reason and his pressure acts have been replaced in the side by Taranto and Hopper who regularly get the sort of tackle numbers that Jack brought while combining it with more clearances and size around the football.

I think there's still a role for him but he may need to reinvent himself again as a high half forward that comes into the middle or a wingman as I'm not sure that he'll be able to play on ball with the current brigade. I could be wrong though.
I think Taranto and Hopper (who are elite at attacking the ball) can be complimented nicely by Graham who is elite at attacking the man.
 
we missed the 8 in 2021 and finished 7th in 2022...

Recognizing we need to continue to improve is not taking anything away form past achievements.

Kmac as the example is a limited footballer, does he give his best every week, yes, but is it players like him that we now need to improve on to go from 7th to the top, then that's also a yes.

And what worked for us in any of our 3 flag years, isn't automatically going to work for us now. They may have played vital roles then, but they may be out of the 22 now, it happens (and given there is a record that not one premiership team has ever taken the field as the same line up EVER, proves the point, even for back2back teams, players step up, other drop away, it happens)!

Yep and the game itself evolves so does the natural progression of a footy team. I’m confident we have the pieces to the puzzle, just need it to come together
 

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