What is required from here onwards to win the premiership?

[Seeds]

No but I want to hear crazy's thought's because he is making it out to be a positive when in fact, it's a worrying dilemma. Cameron is obviously a certain inclusion but you have a player who is ready to go up a notch and make the grade but only if he is played as a forward. He is a better mark and he is also a traditional key position player who can crash a puck in a way Cameron does not.

It's a concern going forward because we cannot play all three key forwards along with Stanley. Simply won't work. Ratugolea will have to go back to spudding it up in the ruck when Cameron returns.

Why won’t it work though?

cameron plays more like a medium. Hawkins is also much better Nowa when the ball hits the deck. Rohan is pure speed and great run down pressure.

do we really lose anything by dropping one of miers, close or dalhaus to play sav? I don’t think so.

 

[gaz love x]

Melbourne play Gawn, Jackson, Brown, McDonald, Fritsch which doesn't read TOO dissimilarly to Stanley, Ratugolea, Hawkins, Cameron, Rohan. Bulldogs had English, Schache, Naughton, Bruce, and JUH this weekend. It would be a bit of a shift for us but not crazy compared to what others are doing. I think it would need to be Kolo dropping out though with Blicavs playing back more and Rat relief ruck and I don't see us doing that.

 

[catters078]

In my view i think we need to assess what weve done wrong in our losses...in 3 of the 4 we have started slow.

I think if we can tie or lead any final we are in, our gamestyle takes over rest of way.

BUT at times this year i still see some tendencies as ive seen in finals past, slow 1st quarters can kill us.

To me, to win the flag. We have to win all 1st quarters. We are such a strong powerful team and as the game wears on, we just cant be 4 goals down chasing a final.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Getting Cameron and Duncan back, a fit and settled 22, and a bit of luck.

I think the Western Bulldogs & Sydney are our biggest threats, everyone else I’m very confident we have covered.

 

[Reppie]

Odd years are our years...we got it.

 

[My Tilly]

Why won’t it work though?

cameron plays more like a medium. Hawkins is also much better Nowa when the ball hits the deck. Rohan is pure speed and great run down pressure.

do we really lose anything by dropping one of miers, close or dalhaus to play sav? I don’t think so.

You can't play three big blokes up forward. It will work for a week, maybe two weeks in a row but teams will burn you at ground level. We aren't talking medium sized players either. These guys are legit 6'ft5 & 6ft'6 tall who are good when the ball is delivered well. Rohan, Miers, Close are terrific when ball hits the deck.

West Coast is a good example of a team who had a dynamic two man combo in Darling + Kennedy and have recently included a young buck Allen and it's not working. It will when Kennedy retires though.

 

[CatRiot]

Getting Cameron and Duncan back, a fit and settled 22, and a bit of luck.

I think the Western Bulldogs & Sydney are our biggest threats, everyone else I’m very confident we have covered.

I think Swans will get found out in finals.
Dogs are the team to beat, and we can, but it would be a very close game imho.
Demons have good ticker, though their form is tailing a bit at the pointy end of the season.

 

[FredLeDeux]

A few things.
1. Get Duncan back. Cameron is an awesome player, absolutely no doubt about that. But having a player of Duncan’s class moving the ball inside 50 - hell, we could plonk just about anyone in the forward line and at the very least they’d get opportunities. Cameron is the icing, Duncan is the cake. Also I think the form hawkins is in right now, Cameron only helps him and I think he will be second banana when he returns. That’s not a bad thing.

Yesterday's Q1 is a classic example of why we needed to recruit a goalkicker like Cameron, why we need him, and the regular, repeated difficulties we've had of winning big games without him; in short, we dominated but produced buggerall goals to show for it.

 

[FredLeDeux]

You can't play three big blokes up forward. It will work for a week, maybe two weeks in a row but teams will burn you at ground level. We aren't talking medium sized players either. These guys are legit 6'ft5 & 6ft'6 tall who are good when the ball is delivered well. Rohan, Miers, Close are terrific when ball hits the deck.

West Coast is a good example of a team who had a dynamic two man combo in Darling + Kennedy and have recently included a young buck Allen and it's not working. It will when Kennedy retires though.

You need to produce another gameplan because, barring some unforeseen circumstances, the 3 big blokes and Rohan will be playing.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Why?
Ratugolea was playing already for a good 2 months with Cameron in the team.

A common tactical focus of footy in 2021 has shifted towards an emphasis in your forward half of not getting intercepted against in the air. For years richmond and to a lesser extent us have been sitting structures behin the play picking off marks and repelling them.

In 2021 a focus to counteract this to an extent has been playing a 3 tall forward line trying to become far more competitive in the air.

This is my observation anyway. But cant really tell if you were genuinely asking or looking for an argument.

Ratugolea cameron and hawkins can co exist in the same fromt half, and i say “ front half” to mean one further up the field and two deeper. Keeping in mind cameron isnt necessarily your traditional key forward and plays more like a taller uninjured version of daniel menzel the way he moves around.

The big “if” is can ratugolea continue that form?? Can he play a good game as a forward flank to wing lead up that runs vack to the goals ?? I agree his not a ruck and cant perform there, but i do believe the 3 can play tall.

 

[you pick one]

3 finals wins Melbourne, Brisbane and the Dogs.Job done.

 

[Overhang]

I think a major thing that hasn't been mentioned is we need a covid free Victoria, an interstate finals bubble wouldn't be helpful at all, esp considering we look likely to earn some state home finals.

 

[Seeds]

You can't play three big blokes up forward. It will work for a week, maybe two weeks in a row but teams will burn you at ground level. We aren't talking medium sized players either. These guys are legit 6'ft5 & 6ft'6 tall who are good when the ball is delivered well. Rohan, Miers, Close are terrific when ball hits the deck.

West Coast is a good example of a team who had a dynamic two man combo in Darling + Kennedy and have recently included a young buck Allen and it's not working. It will when Kennedy retires though.

right now I would rather hawkins, Rohan and Cameron roving the pack then dalhaus and close. Miers not in great form either.

hawkino roving work was pretty good yesterday.

 

[D BRIDGE]

do we really lose anything by dropping one of miers, close or dalhaus to play sav? I don’t think so.

You think Ratugolea is going to shut down/limit an offensive half back?

 

[Kitcat]

I think a major thing that hasn't been mentioned is we need a covid free Victoria, an interstate finals bubble wouldn't be helpful at all, esp considering we look likely to earn some state home finals.

The Victorian government will bend over backwards to have the finals at the MCG. They do not want the embarrassment of the GF going to a rival state 2 years in a row.

 

[Hoops]

right now I would rather hawkins, Rohan and Cameron roving the pack then dalhaus and close. Miers not in great form either.

hawkino roving work was pretty good yesterday.

I thought Miers played well yesterday.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I thought Miers played well yesterday.

Richmond certainly put a lot of work into stopping him, probably as a result of how well he played against Freo.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

A lot of pieces to the puzzle but a fit Stanley is critical - we dominated clearances and hit outs yesterday against a bloody good ruck , first use for our mids is a massive gain for us. Stanley also allows us to play Blitz elsewhere with a bit of relief ruckwork.
I'd like to see us play the 3 talls before finals but that will be Cameron dependent , hope it can happen. Will the extra aerial power offset the drop off in F50 pressure - one for the coaches I guess.

Cameron and Duncan returning will be massive but will put extreme pressure on selection - we need the match committee to be smart and ruthless to pick the best side - no more smart arse left field selections in finals like we had 2 years ago please !

 

[year of the cat]

I think the biggest query is whether with the increased intensity of finals our players, and particularly our mids, are able to step up to another level.

 

[CabWesty]

We need to sports harder than the other team.

 

[Hoops]

We need to sports harder than the other team.

With that insight, you should coach sports teams

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

Recognise that finals football is a more frenetic and intense proposition than the home & away games, and adapt accordingly. Too often in the last few years we have been blindsided by our opponents’ aggression at the contest and everything achieved in the season is swept away in a quarter or half of mediocre performance.

 

[bellpark]

The two big finals we have lost over the last 2 years, we have NOT started slow, rather we have been up by 20 odd points at half time and been run over in the second half. This year, the team seems more able to implement a ''keepings off'' style when it really matters, to break a roll by the other team. When we have lost, they have not been able to stop multiple goals. So, not falling off in the second half, or when we are challenged, is more important I think. Also, in the past its poor kicking in the first half of finals, rather than a slow start, that has cost us. So, I say kick accurately for goal n the first half and apply the breaks if we need to in the second half are important improvements we need this year.

 

[Shadow89]

Recognise that finals football is a more frenetic and intense proposition than the home & away games, and adapt accordingly. Too often in the last few years we have been blindsided by our opponents’ aggression at the contest and everything achieved in the season is swept away in a quarter or half of mediocre performance.

I think yesterday was finals aggression from the first bounce - and we were up for it, until we broke them in the second and never looked back. We seem more hardened this year, and have built into the season and got better every week. Feels a lot different to previous years

 

[Shadow89]

The two big finals we have lost over the last 2 years, we have NOT started slow, rather we have been up by 20 odd points at half time and been run over in the second half. This year, the team seems more able to implement a ''keepings off'' style when it really matters, to break a roll by the other team. When we have lost, they have not been able to stop multiple goals. So, not falling off in the second half, or when we are challenged, is more important I think. Also, in the past its poor kicking in the first half of finals, rather than a slow start, that has cost us. So, I say kick accurately for goal n the first half and apply the breaks if we need to in the second half are important improvements we need this year.

This.