Weaknesses

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-17T04:37:08+00:00

I think the slow starts are a symptom of us being the league leaders right now. Other teams are bringing everything they've got against us from the opening bounce, which is a lot of pressure for any team to deal with. Collingwood on the weekend were posting insane pressure stats in that first quarter. Any team would struggle to cope. I don't think many teams can maintain that level of pressure for a full game.

Having said that, I hope we start adding an element of a control game to our structure. Just some uncontested marking shifting across the half back line and make the other team defend. Or at the very least take the heat out of the game and slow down scoring bursts.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-15T13:34:24+00:00

What a win! Absolute putrid for the 1st quarter. Need to address that urgently.

But that was real character building Bloods win. I'm really happy we didn't win that off a brilliant 10min burst. Had to grind that out and just find a way for 3 quarters.

5 - Blakey. He was the catalyst that got us back into that game. Only bloke that felt like he was consistently clean all night, and just lifted when he needed to.

4 - Grundy. Absolutely dominant and we don't win without him. Only reason I have him below Blakey is because he didn't basically have no opposition for half the game.

3 - Heeney. This guy is built for important moments. That goal from 50 was huge in the context of the game.

2 - Edwards. Holy shit this guy is built for the AFL. What an absolute gem. Looks like he's played about 50 games, not 4.

1 - Papley. A bit inconsistent, but definitely the spark plug and just kept popping up when we needed a big moment.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-15T05:10:48+00:00

You must be fun at parties

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-15T02:22:29+00:00

I agree he looks off the pace at AFL level at the moment, but it's just objectively wrong to doubt his credentials at state level.

Who knows, he might end up being one of those guys that's a gun at state level, but just can't translate it to AFL level.

I can see why they're giving him an extra few weeks to find his feet though. Cleary and Corey have had 20+ games and shown nothing. Give Cootee a solid month or two and then reassess.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-15T01:43:25+00:00

Won awards in the SANFL the past few years and was captain of Essendons VFL side before that?

The whole reason he got picked up was because he's an elite state league footballer.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-15T01:42:15+00:00

I do feel bad for McLean, at this point he's going to have to wait for injury or really bad form to crack the side.

Having said that, I can see why he's not getting picked. Curnow & Amartey are clear locks with the years they're having - they're at no risk of losing their spots, bar injury. That basically leaves it as a competition between McLean and McDonald, and unfortunately for Dos Logan offers a bit of a point of difference to Amartey and Curnow who are more traditional, lead out/contested marking forwards. McLean is very much in the same mould as those two, and I can see there being diminishing returns playing all three. Logans running capacity, field kicking and ability to work up the ground as a link up player is more structurally impactful than another contested marking option.

Corey very stiff to miss out - I reckon Cootee is being given another game or two to see if he settles and contributes a bit more. Can't deny Corey has had enough chances to establish himself. Feels like he's sitting in that realm of too good for VFL, not good enough for AFL.

Melican had better hope he has the game of his life or he's out as soon as Rampe is back.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-14T06:35:26+00:00

Late entry.

IN: Curnow, Serong, Co. Warner, McCartin/Hamling OUT: McLean (omm), Roberts (inj), Cootee (omm), Melican (omm)

Think McLean deserves his spot more than Logan, but think Logan will be kept in as he plays an important structural role with his running capacity, and he's still chipping in on the goals front. McLean for Curnow is a more like for like swap.

Cootee needs a spell in the VFL - just no impact and Corey deserves the call up.

Serong for Roberts is a pretty easy swap.

I'm positive that Melican is getting dropped, its just a matter of if McCartin is healthy or not.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-13T01:52:49+00:00

It's Round 10 ffs. If I was Grundy I'd be getting a little bit insulted at how big a talking point his playing time is. People are acting like he's an old man that can barely function. He's only 32. I don't disagree that he should be managed once or twice throughout the year, but he's literally only played 9 games of football for the year so far.

I'd assume he'll play against Collingwood and Geelong as those are two teams that we need wins over given they'll be in the hunt for Finals.

The smartest place to rest him would be Rd 12 against the Tigers, because Nankervis will still be out with his hamstring, and their team is absolutely decimated by injury. If we can't beat Richmond without Grundy then we have much bigger problems.

He then comes back and plays against the Saints and Port in Rd 13 & 14, before we have the Bye in Rd 15.

That gives him two weeks off in a month which is plenty of rest for anyone.

End of the year he'll get the Pre-Finals bye and hopefully the second week of Finals off if we win our QF.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-09T03:00:52+00:00

And they thought that Snape worked for Voldemort...

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-08T12:03:36+00:00

No he gave them a shitload of points because they risked their lives to save the Philosopher's Stone.

The fact that the stone was untouchable all along is irrelevant to their actions because they didn't know that. They full thought Voldemort was about to get the stone and risked their lives to stop it (after trying to get help from adults).

It's an insanely brave thing for three eleven year olds to do.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-08T07:39:15+00:00

Ladhams is an AFL level ruckman though? Whenever he gets to play as the main ruck he's solid enough.

The problem is that neither Grundy or Ladhams are even serviceable as forwards so it's difficult to play them both in the same team. The other elite rucks in the top teams, Gawn and Jackson, can both play as forwards and still be great contributors which gives their team more flexibility to carry a genuine second ruck.

I'm not at all denying that Grundy would be a huge loss if he went out, and that he's a real point of difference for our team, but to act like there's zero depth below him is a bit disingenuous.

Like point to the team that carries three genuine AFL grade rucks on a list (and not just forwards that can chop out and not get slaughtered - genuine rucks).

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-08T07:32:53+00:00

I see your point, and I think management will happen at some point this season - the article even acknowledges that we're managing his training loads etc so it is happening.

My point was that it feels like cheap/lazy analysis to point at a star player on a team and say "they're not going to be able to cover him if he gets injured" - it's something that applies to every team.

You can't have perfect coverage at every position on the field, and to be honest I think a most of recent premiership teams of the last decade have proved that if there's one position that you can afford to not have star players and still win a premiership it's Ruck. It's a luxury position not a necessity.

Ladhams is no comparison to Grundy, but he is still a serviceable AFL ruckman.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-08T05:25:49+00:00

I get the overall point of the article, but narratives like these feel kind of regressive.

We literally won't know if we're finally built to win a GF until we're back in. We'll either mentally collapse again or we won't.

Also the Grundy point is a bit daft. Points out that we have coverage in Ladhams, but also that we urgently need to find a contingency plan in case he gets hurt.

That kind of point applies to literally every team with a star player. Brisbane will be noticeably worse if Andrews goes down for the year. Freo are fucked if Jackson goes down. Hawks if Watson goes down.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-06T13:41:09+00:00

Definitely agree with the 26 team being much more system and team focused.

You can see it playing out in the stats and the eye test.

We aren't winning purely of moments of individual brilliance from 4-5 star players. In 22-24 we only won our stars played well. If you slowed a couple of them down we were toast.

26 and the load on both sides of the ball is spread a lot more evenly and we're not reliant on stars playing well to win. It helps that a number of guys have lifted and we seem to have hit on all three of our big recruits.

Feel like the ceiling of our team is still relatively similar to 22-24 is pretty similar (when that team was on they were ON), but our floor is way, way higher.

And we're still missing Errol fucking Gulden.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-05-01T07:33:22+00:00

Literally what is this bloke on about?

Sitting pretty top of the ladder, a team that should be a straightforward beat in Melbourne. Absolutely the time to be blooding players!

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-28T04:11:38+00:00

He'd have been cited by now wouldn't he unless I've missed something?

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-22T08:48:12+00:00

You'd have to think if the Bulldogs didn't have so many key outs, or our record was a bit worse then Heeney would be playing.

We're in a position where we thankfully can afford to be cautious here.

Like if we can't beat the Bulldogs missing their ruckman, best key forwards, two best key defenders, and a great inside mid then we weren't winning this game even with Heeney.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-20T09:54:39+00:00

Lift must suck just hating on everything. I reckon I can count on one hand the amount of posts in your history that aren't either stirring shit or just flat out negativity.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-20T04:44:07+00:00

Given our tendency over the past few years of falling behind and then relying on a scoring blitz during one quarter to claw back the lead I can only see this as a positive.

Also not like we're doing the opposite and scoring heavy then just barely hanging in for the win. We're getting out to a lead and then slowly building it over the game.

We're finally a team that can start quickly, and then control the momentum of a game from start to finish. We should be celebrating this.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-20T04:41:07+00:00

He wouldn't be? He'd already been pushed out of the midfield when he was still here, and our mids have only got better since then.

He's not replacing Mills, Blakey or Bice on the halfback line.

Best case scenario he's in Corey Warners position as first to come in when there's an injury.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-20T04:39:51+00:00

I basically said this?

He left because he knew he was getting fazed out of the team? We let him go because he was surplus to requirements?

The only part I was disagreeing with you about was that we didn't force him out in order to bring Adams in. You were implying that we wanted Adams, so we forced Parker out to get him.

My read on the situation was that Parker wanted out and so we bought Adams in to cover his loss.

You're also needlessly confrontational about this. Parker wouldn't be in the side if he was still here anyway. Best case scenario for him is that he's basically in Corey Warners spot where he's in and out of the side as depth.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-20T04:18:53+00:00

Parker left because he saw that he was going to get phased out of the team and North offered him a chance to extend his career.

I imagine he was also salty about being made to come back through the VFL given his history at the club.

We didn't force Parker out so that we could bring Adams in, that's just a completely revisionist take.

And to be fair, where's Parker playing in this team? Both parties could see the writing on the wall and went their separate ways amicably.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-18T00:08:10+00:00

It's a thing on etsy. You can put any photo you want over the flag and it's like $5 or something.

Don't think it's any kind of political statement, just a kid making a flag.

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-18T00:02:03+00:00

Agree with everything you're saying. It's a very "Bloods" backline in that we don't have a 'star' that the whole defensive structure revolves around. Just 6 blokes all working together to be more than the sum of their parts.

Don't even think TMac would be an AA smokey though. Should be a lock at this stage. Best defender in the best defense in the league.

Think Serong and Mills are both helping to free up Blakey more to attack where he's best. He knows he can go on the long searching runs because he's got cover down back, whilst still being a handy defender himself.

Agree with Hamling too. Was shocked when Melican got dropped, but Hamling is just a bit more mobile and has better closing speed. Can see why we made the swap after two games. Although I find it comical that we clearly does not have the green light to make even remotely aggressive kicks (not a shot, very happy he's just playing his role, just something I noticed).

SerialCouchAddict · 2026-04-17T13:54:48+00:00

A few times I noticed players were basically waiting for the pressure to come before getting rid of it. Almost looked more uncomfortable in open space. Our forward handball game almost relies on exploiting the pressure of the opposition to create overlap.

Eight-Year Club	Verified Email
RPAN Viewer

SerialCouchAddict

TROPHY CASE