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No teams use a backup ruck from defence these days. Just destabilizing for the defensive setup. Would prefer to see Jones moved forward and be our backup 'ruck' than use Aliir / Rat and mess up our defence.

We've seen Farrell on a wing. He was much better last year off half back. Williams is a great player and should be in the team, but we need some speed in defence - something he doesn't offer but Jones does. BZT is the one holding Williams out of the team realistically.

Williams is forced out by BZT because we're playing tall in defence now with 3 talls defenders. Houston, Farrell and Jones all ahead of him + Burton who can play small and tall. At some point mid season I expect either BZT or Burton will end up outside the team to make room for Williams.

Do you have any worries about having a 3rd defender back there who offers no rebound / offensive capability? Feels like we'll be less attacking this year without McKenzie/Williams as defenders who are capable of hitting the 45 into the corridor.

Unfortunately for Burgoyne his mistakes at the moment likely outweigh his positives. That is he might have more good than bad moments but his bad moments are often so costly they give the opposition a direct chance at goal. There's a good player in there but he needs more time.

This is actually my main criticism of him - he throws his body out too much and goes to ground when he doesn't need to.

No Finlayson?

Both have their strengths. DBJ as silly as it may sound just does the things you expect reliably well. He hits up short kicks inside 50 easily. Doesn't go for too much but also not capable of the miraculous goals small forwards are known for. Marks in space, head over the footy high frees and...

Laughable to think Lords 7 disposal game against the Lions was better than Dixon was against the eagles. Yes he missed a number of shots, but he was also the only reason we almost win that final. Neither will get enough games. Marshall, Finlayson + a fit Dixon are first choice, followed by...

This doesn't apply for free agent contracts too. Was a big thing when Buddy got signed that they'd be stuck with his deal in their cap even if he retired injured 3 years into the 9 year contract.

I like that we're not relying on a tagger. Never liked lockdown mid roles - teams that have multiple elite avenues just play through the non-defended players like Brisbane were able to do when Drew held Neale to 19 disposals. A midfield of Butters, Rozee, JHF, Wines should scare the daylights...

I hope we dont play 3 talls in defence, which teams actually run 3 KPFs? Much prefer if we learn from Collingwood/Brisbane and play 2 KPDs like Andrews/Payne or Moore/Murphy with a 3rd defender who is able to back them up in the air (Howe/Lester). For us that'd be Aliir/Esava +...

Not the person you were responding to, but I did some digging into the stats on rucks for comparison sake. This excludes all games where they weren't the clear number 1 ruck (including basically all games Gawn and Grundy played together) and any games they got subbed out in. 2023 stats only...

Every other club has training reports, hype about new players and excitement about individual aspects of the club (e.g. draftees, breakout stars) and yet apparently all our board does is whinge about the same shit over and over again. We get it. No success under Hinkley. Kay, you've said your...

We did, delisted one who could do it too. And without a replacement ready to go.

Most important skill of a wingman is endurance running, which Burton does not have and is not capable of due to his leg/knee issues. We need someone with good running ability to play wing not just players good with the ball.

We need wingers and he's not getting a game anywhere else on the ground. Has always been a good runner from an endurance perspective so probably not as bad at the role as you'd expect. Having said that, I'd take the delisted Bonner over him on a wing any day of the week.

Agreed that McKenzie is not a KPD, but he can do it in a pinch and is likely a better 3rd tall when fit than BZT. Regardless I hope we line up with a defence of: FB Williams Ratugolea Burton HB Houston Aliir Farrell Int: Jones McKenzie and BZT would be depth for Burton / Ratugolea.

McKenzie is good when fit. Rare to get a full back who can kick like him too

I take it you didn't read even the full excerpt of that article.

Gotta manage your players properly such that you have your best team fit for finals, or great depth to cover. GWS were so good in finals last year because they actually had their entire team at full fitness - as opposed to playing the likes of Charlie, McKenzie, Lycett etc under duress. This...

I love this revisionist history. Briggs had 11 hitouts to advantage to Hayes 3 in that game

Hope he does well. Have always felt he'd excel in a different system that's able to emphasise his strengths whilst hiding his weaknesses.

FB Williams Ratugolea Burton HB Houston Aliir Farrell C Bergman Wines Drew Fol Soldo Rozee Butters HF SPP Marshall JHF FF Finlayson Dixon Rioli Int: Jones, Boak, Burgoyne, DBJ Interchange is flexible but think that starting 18 should be rock solid. Any of Narkle, BZT, Georgiades, Lord...

This is exactly my issue with BZT. Doesn't have the strength to play as a key defender, while also not having the kicking ability to play as a rebounder. When you look at our year just gone and the aggressive passes that were made into the middle, it was only possible because we had so many...

As others have suggested, this is a response to needing to drop players in our leadership group. Ollie missed out because he could feasibly be dropped whilst none of the others will be.

Lycett was awful in the GWS game but he was the better ruck against McInerney the week before. This is a great example of people overrating Hayes though assuming he'd have been better just because the option we used was bad. This is why we're getting a whole new ruck division - we didn't have...

FB: Burton, Ratugolea, Williams HB: Houston, Aliir, Farrell C: Bergman, Wines, Narkle Fol: Soldo, Rozee, JHF HF: Butters Marshall, Boak FF: Rioli, Dixon, SPP INT: Drew, Jones, Finlayson, DBJ Sub: Burgoyne/ Sinn/ Jackson/ BZT/ Evans /Georgiades / Lord I've got Narkle ahead on the second wing...

Went and watched his highlights from early this year and I'm very impressed. Has a very quick first step for someone his height. Kicking could use some work though

I don't think Esava is that bad 1:1. He gave Tex a bath last year even in all their 1 on 1s. At the very least he has the scope to be good in that role.