Fun fact from round 10 to now we finish on top of the ladder.
Yep cant help but wonder what would have happened if we made the change end of last year. i know its a big if but the change in performance is amazing and clear we needed a new coach. The long down the long contested play was like driving a new car with the handbrake on.
The keep possession short game has completely transformed this team.
The form team of the finals and no one will want to play us and the multiple forward targets is unpredictable and GW fingerprints on the list changes are strikingly similar to what he did at pies and we all know how that went.
No longer reliant on a few. Used to be Cripps, Charlie or bust now we have a spread.
Credit to Ross the Toss this time. Made no excuses and said the box was very worried and obvious they had the issues before Milera broke down - he said we couldn't stop our uncontested ball use despite putting things in place.
Fraser has changed how we play and there is a full buy in. The evidence is there. He is getting the best out of the list and we now sit exactly where i thought we should. We are a mid table team and whether we make the wildcard or just fall short the list is in good shape and with a few tweaks will only get stronger. The difference in our ball use and ball movement is remarkable to see.
The pressure on TDK to perform on massive dollars and was carved up by a tough, determined plodder on a measly $400-$500K. That The boos Jack got whenever anywhere near it was unrelenting - and it was their home game!
Big money comes with big expectations - wonder if those 2 are privately having any regrets?
I’m ambivalent to be honest but I don’t buy your comment about quality of opposition given we have beaten Geelong and Brisbane.
I've just been breaking the ladder down week by week. Previous to our efforts this week (and geelongs to rise up the ladder) we hadn't beaten a team inside the top 6. Hadn't lost to a team in the bottom 5, and had split the difference between the teams in the middle. That was based on nothing other than the ladder positions for about a month straight. You don't have to buy it, that was the facts.
As mentioned, this was before last weekends games.
breaking the ladder down…… lol.
Youre critiquing Frasers 9 wins from 11 games and at the same time excusing 1 win against the bottom team in the first 9 games.
We have Kemp Harry McGovern as key forwards with haywood as a mid marking forward so imo we are probably a tad tall with that line up - reckon we could get by with 2 talls and using another mid marking forward then either kemp or mcgovern would be the depth key forward.
Its not easy to have quality key positions depth capable of performing impacting just sitting idle playing 2nds footy waiting for their chance.
No list is perfect and sure ours is not but imo its not anywhere near as bad as some make it out to be.
The reason the list needs work is because we have holes. Sure, everyone has holes. But, some holes we have no cover for. Imagine we had a good run with injuries, and were like Freo, sitting pretty on top of the ladder. Then we lose a couple players in key areas, which leads to poor results, which leads to more injuries, etc Season gone.
Won't/Can't happen?
Remember when we were 2 games clear in 2nd place a few years ago? Its already happened.....and we are more susceptable to that kind of fall now.
If we lost Harry and lost Kemp......how could we cover them?
you said the same about weitering yet 2 kids with under 20 games are covering.
You looking at everything with a negative lens mate. prior to last year you were the complete opposite and you has excuse after excuse lied up for every poor performance - so its hard to take your posts seriously at the moment as you seem to be more concerned with having your opinion being correct above anything else.
At the moment Young is rucking and floating forward, and it's Pitto doing the D50 end, it helped let Harry and Kemp off the hook. Young doesn't have to be as accountable in F50, he can move to space and make himself an option and teams aren't standing a close defender on him, but that won't persist. On top of this, right at the moment at least, he has the perfect coach to get the most out of him by using him in his best role.
In D50 Young gets caught out in no man's land ball watching, he's not needed there at the moment because we have Derksen and Dean doing a job. In this regard he is miles off Weitering, Dean or Derksen, they do no hesitate they just back themselves in to influence the contest.
As I watched last night I was thinking the Lions were making the same mistake with Hipwood that we made with Young, just because someone has the size and shape doesn't mean they will make it as a defender.
As much as I like the two rucks, I suspect when Weitering is back Young might be the out, with Derksen filling the F50 role, Derksen is now probably our 3rd best contested mark and getting better just behind Weitering and Harry. I think Derksen could easily fill the role left vacant by Charlie, and float to wherever he is needed. In my opinion he's a great get, who recruited him?
agree. much easy as a floating PT forward/ruck then being undersized as a key defender.
he is doing well in the new role but equally makes you appreciate the holding down of key posts the 2 kids in dean and dersken are doing ad that is not easy and they have held up extremely well considering neither have played 20 games!
Too many fans think because we have holes we cant compete for a flag.
Go thru the last 10 premiers and theres holes on there list and most will have several areas needing work or no depth in some areas. Nothing is every the finished piece as injuries can ruin the best plans.
You need a consistsnt strong list, playing confidently, mentally strong, with a good coach and then have a decent run with injuries and then get some 50/50 big calls in big moments your way lock straight when it matters and a list with holes will be very hard to topple.
