I think that it's time to concede that the new ruck rules, as flawed as they may be, haven't disadvanteaged Pitto and he's probably playing the best footy of his career.
He has adapted well, deserves a lot of kudos, and I'd suggest he has been very well coached because we are seeing now that even if he is beaten to the tap he's capable of creating a clearance by controlling the space around the contest, and that is far far more important.
Getting beaten in taps doesn't mean being beaten in the contest.
He's got Fraser and Kreuzer to feed off, should we expect any less from our rucks?
Even Young and Harry are looking better, both of them compete, especially in F50 and then immediately spread to become a target. In the past they would compete then stand watching.
It was a good result, I thought Smith, Cripps and Walsh smashed the Freo Mids, Pitto broke even with Jackson across 4-Qtrs, Jackson probably got the better off him around the ground but wasn't able to dominate stoppages. Our D50 clearly got the better of the Freo forwards.
When you think about the way we are moving the ball, the relative speed of our lot versus Freo, it's a terrific result, Freo won't be happy, you don't flirt with form at this time of year and they should have been favored by the fastest playing surface in the AFL.
The Oakley glasses are specifically designed for fielding and highlight the ball colour so it's easier to track. Why do I know this? My daughter plays state grade and her last pair cost me $450.
Then test them like I suggested. It's impossible for a curve surface not to cause deflection the moment the object is off axis.
The color shift thing is bogus, simple polarisation does the trick nothing special needed, it's marketing spin and the sales technique is called associate marketing.
A pair of Maui Jim polymer sports lenses will do the same job and if you buy them off a store you can get them for half the price. Of course your daughter will hate you because you've ruined her career, that's the head space issue associate marketing does on kids, FOMO.
Wasting those open disposals kills us, that Gov i50 kick, it's the difference between 10th and Top 4. Lucky for Gov Kemp finds Walsh who finished a moment later.
I'll tell you I'm not a fan of those sunglasses they wear, they aren't the best for preserving depth of field. If you want to prove this to yourself stare at some point on the ground in front of you as a raise and lower the lens, you'll see the point shift back and forth as you raise and lower the lens.
The problem isn't when they have one pair to wear for a long time, but they aren't made optically perfect so no two pairs are the same, and they change them under sponsorship all the time now.
If you don't believe me, given they reduce glare and increase contrast, ask yourself why they don't wear them batting?
I think Libba in the middle disrupting our clearance strength made as much difference as anything. I thought so at the time, but just checked the stats and was surprised.
Player x - 33 touches, 5 tackles, 12 clearances Player y - 34 touches, 6 tackles, 12 clearances
x = Libba y = Cripps.
Libba absolutely smashed us on the inside and gave first class delivery to Richards on the outside, and Richards doesn;t even need that help as he can win his own inside footy. When they lost the clearance our predictable direction worked against us because they had blokes running of the HFF and HBF like Freijah coming into the square and smashing guys like Walsh and Hewett. We were basically being taken out of the disposal chain by late dumping tackles, most of them unpenalized, which killed our overlap run. That's a tell to how teams will counter us in the finals when the heat rises! I hope we have taken some learnings from that game.
There is a distinct difference between an occasional pinch hit event and a regular role, which is the point of difference for all the sort of shock tactics that occur.
The suggestion they can be the default and be effective every time is the flawed suggestion.
Under the current rules, I can't recall a single team surrendering the ruck in advance, and turning it into a victory.
