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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 1 2026 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Richmond
Last post by Lods -
Reports from other places from the VFL practice (just opinions and pretty lukewarm in most cases)

Good (fair)
Derksen
Camporeales
Byrne
Charleson (early)

OKs
Boyd
The Irish boys
F Young

Not so good
O'Keefe
Cowan (may be reported)

Bit of a mixture -Carroll and Acres. (probably need another run)

No-one really staking a big claim, which was disappointing but Derksen, Boyd and Byrne suggested as possibles.
O'keefe not coming on at the moment is a bit disappointing.

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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 0 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Sydney
Last post by Lods -


He's a player I have a bit of hope in.
He turns 21 in  couple of weeks,so he's still very young.
He wasn't our worst by any stretch, but once the pressure came on he was pretty much overwhelmed.
The intensity of that period was so much greater than the practice matches and Lord struggled a bit with the speed of the game.



As bb points out his disposals became rushed and inaccurate as the pressure increased.
Now as I see it, Lord's plays a bit of a role as a defensive midfielder.
He's one of the very few of our mids with a strong defensive side to his game.
Exactly what we needed when the Swans midfield started to cut us up.
And therein lies one of our problems...we don't have many.

An interesting stat that perhaps reflects the difference between a practice game and a real game is this one.
Lord had 13 tackles against Geelong in the practice game.
Last night he had 0

I was canned for suggesting Lord was sub-par in that Geelong match.
His 'saving grace' was his tackle count.

Well after last nights efforts, including his zero tackles, nothing has changed on my end......but it appears some others have seen the same.
Disposal is average.
Panics under pressure.
Without his tackles, whats he got?

Now as i said last week, i've got nothing against the kid and hope he comes on.....but if we get a few players back and a few kids step up, he's the one in the gun.

Do you pick him or Cerra? Cerra.
If Cottrell and Acres is fit, do we allow Jagga/Walsh more midfield time.....who would get less?
Williams in the midfield performed very well early, 5 clearances to half time.
What if Ben Camporeale comes on.....he might also force Lord out.

Whichever way you look at it, currently, Lord is the weakest link in a pretty stacked midfield. I wouldn't want to be having anymore 0 tackle games if i was him.

Your a stats man
Lets have a look at some stats

Jagga Smith -27 disposals, 11 kicks, 16 handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 3 clearances, 347 metres gained, 4 inside 50s 4 score involvements, 5 contested possessions, 74.1% disposal efficiency. 79% time on ground,

Cooper Lord- 26 disposals, 11 kicks, 15 handballs, 3 marks, 0 tackles, 1 clearance, 408 metres gained, 7 inside 50s, 5 score involvements, 7contested possessions, 76.9% disposal efficiency 74% time on ground.

It's like looking in a mirror :D
Turns 21 in 3 weeks.
Lord is one of the least of our problems.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 0 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Sydney
Last post by shawny -
Voss in his presser said he is confident the game plan will stand up as it did in the pre season games.

Surely he doesnt believe what he said there. both Geelong and Brisbane play pre season games with the least concern regarding intensity and purely use them as management games to get minutes into their players. to judge a system in that sort of game is pointless.

Putting cripps forward to start the second against a midfield of heeney warner guiden is asking for trouble and then to just sit idle without a single tactic to slow things down when the ball was streaming out of the middle is bewildering.

Why not try a hard shutdown role on Guiden when he was cutting us up. We just let him continue on his merry way.

Voss has a new group of assistants this year including a premiership coach to help him yet first game of the year and our opponent scores the 3rd highest quarter score telly in the history of the game and all without a single strong tactical move to try and halt it.

Nope hes not the man that should be leading us and when we sack him cause its a matter of when not if,  he will never be a senior coach again.
Yep, you can't go by pre season games and it's hard to change the game plan when your main midfield group are the players who lack the mobility to contain the opposition spread and get exploited the further the game goes..
You watch Gold Coast and their mids are contested types but who also have pace and I think this is where we need to recruit some new blood..

yes agree we have no line breakers apart from walsh. All one paced and as doc said once the game is no longer a contested affair and the ball is out in the open we have little answer. i dont know much about young walker but hopefully he has wheels.

the frustrating part as a fan is knowing when the game is turning nothing happens from the coaching box to make you think ok out coach is aware of it and pulling levers. he sits watches and does nothing

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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 0 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Sydney
Last post by ElwoodBlues1 -
Voss in his presser said he is confident the game plan will stand up as it did in the pre season games.

Surely he doesnt believe what he said there. both Geelong and Brisbane play pre season games with the least concern regarding intensity and purely use them as management games to get minutes into their players. to judge a system in that sort of game is pointless.

Putting cripps forward to start the second against a midfield of heeney warner guiden is asking for trouble and then to just sit idle without a single tactic to slow things down when the ball was streaming out of the middle is bewildering.

Why not try a hard shutdown role on Guiden when he was cutting us up. We just let him continue on his merry way.

Voss has a new group of assistants this year including a premiership coach to help him yet first game of the year and our opponent scores the 3rd highest quarter score telly in the history of the game and all without a single strong tactical move to try and halt it.

Nope hes not the man that should be leading us and when we sack him cause its a matter of when not if,  he will never be a senior coach again.
Yep, you can't go by pre season games and it's hard to change the game plan when your main midfield group are the players who lack the mobility to contain the opposition spread and get exploited the further the game goes..
You watch Gold Coast and their mids are contested types but who also have pace and I think this is where we need to recruit some new blood..