I love Durdin, but he needs to bring the tackling pressure all game. He tends to go missing and then bobs up for an amazing goal here and there.

But i absolutely see something in him for sure. Especially if he comes up the ground from time to time to get himself in the play, like he was doing last year.

He needs to build a better tank. Dont laugh at me but i think he should watch Papley over the pre-season as he reminds me a bit of him.

Nah Drew….

i agree with you…!

but yeah…not sure if there’s time to get
his “wheels” back…!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Yep. Durdin will be easily best 22 in the future but he's too underprepared at the moment.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

i would be really, really surprised if he makes it.

I agree Harry was poor in the ruck but I'd tell him to push through. If we play Pitto and TDK, Pitto plays 60-70% ruck because he cant be hidden in the forward line. It reduces our flexibility, reduces TDK's time in the ruck and makes our front half less mobile. Harry can do it. He just needs to commit himself more to the contest. He has the size, athleticism and smarts to be a quality relieving ruck.
Let's not forget Pitto was poor in his last showing. It's not like he was in good form.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Spot on. Completely agree. What we lose by Harry in the ruck for 5 mins is not as much as we lose by having Charlie, Harry, and a ruckman in the forward line at the same time for the majority of the game. That’s just not the modern game


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Herald Sun guessing at:

B: B. Kemp, J. Weitering, N. Newman
HB: S. Docherty, M. McGovern, A. Saad
C: B. Acres, G. Hewett, O. Hollands
HF: M. Cottrell, C. Curnow, M. Owies
F: J. Motlop, H. McKay, J. Martin
FOLL: M. Pittonet, P. Cripps, S. Walsh
INT: A. Cerra, T. De Koning, D. Cuningham, A. Cincotta
SUB: Z. Fisher

IN: P. Cripps, S. Docherty, J. Motlop, M. Pittonet
OUT: P. Dow, L. Fogarty, C. Durdin, C. Marchbank (sub)

I would have Dow on the bench replacing Cuningham and Marchbank sub replacing Fisher.
At the moment our best onballer is Cerra. He should be starting not on the bench.
Doc is named where he should be, HB.

If Kennedy is fit, it would be tempting to name him as sub.

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

i agree about having harry there is better team balance than pittonet.

but harry was that bad, i'm not sure "push through it" is something he can do? there were times after he'd contest a stoppage where he completely stopped running, hands on hips while the play went right past him.

it's a bit of a mess really. tdk not quite capable of going a whole game - fades drastically. pittonet just really limited in what he can do and is capable of, and harry is a FF and not much else; in a team where we have a much better full forward.

Dance with what brung ya. Harry hasn’t played 2nd ruck for six years and we’re going to turn him into one on the eve of the finals? I think we should let Harry focus on his strengths at this point.

I also think TDK benefits from having Pittonet or SOJ share the load. If Pittonet is fit, I would have him in to set a brutal physical tone, with TDK jumping over the top of them later in the terms.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

yeah maybe... tdk resting, harry and charlie up front has proven the ball pings back out of our attack too fast. we lose that crumbing and locking it in ability with the swarming smalls.

but maybe you're right and if we get no injuries and if the game is still there to be won; midway thru the 3rd sub pitto out for some run.

Not sure if this has been asked off the back of a comment Kouta made a few days ago - Charlie in the mids for a stint? 2024 or this year's Finals? As a massive X FACTOR ring to it.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/afl/blues-great-kouta-wants-new-afl-finals-role-for-curnow-c-11749531

I find it curious that so many are advocating for Docherty to move back to the backline for the finals. IIRC Docherty hasn’t played in defence for around 18 months. I don’t recall him playing in defence at any time this year, and I am sure he played the second half of last year in the midfield.

If I am correct, I don’t see why we’d change something so radically for the finals, thoughts everyone?

If Harry was in form I’d try it, but at the moment Charlie is our only in form forward target.

I'm finding it pretty much impossible to think about anything other than footy right now

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#DonTheStash

I'm not totally averse to them playing Pitto if the MC believe it is beneficial but I'm not sure where Harry has played for 6 years is overly relevant. When you consider the overwhelming majority of those years we were crap. So I'm probably not going to use them as a measure.
The one year we are making finals, we've won 100% of games without Harry and less than 50% with him in the side. The games we won were against 3 top 8 sides and the game he went off in the first quarter injured, we beat a top 2 side that had won 13 straight. I'm not saying that's Harry's fault but more a reflection on how 3 tall forwards impact our team.

It's not a personal pot on Harry. Nothing would make me happier than to see him fire up and be a match winner. It's about minimising the deficiencies of players and translating that to success.
I don't believe his "strengths" are sufficient at the moment. And the fact he was tried in the ruck suggests to me either Harry or the MC have similar concerns. If he plays and we play Pitto/TDK, we're playing 3 tall forwards. 2 that are shitful shots at goal.
Yes Pitto is physical, TDK is athletic and Harry is a good mark on the lead but the negatives as a collective outweigh the positives structurally IMHO.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

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It's a weird feeling for the last day of winter, that's for sure.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

I reckon Kennedy is named sub, if fit.

Based purely on the assumption that Voss might want him to have some touches at AFL level under his belt, in case he needs to start later in the finals.

The Swans players I think we need to be very mindful of are:

Blakey - Killed us last time. Maybe a defensive forward role for Fogarty or Cottrell
Gulden - In superb form. Hewett might be the guy
Papley - Rate him highly, matchwinner, but hopefully he's a bit underdone
Mcleam - Last game we went in confident in our rucks but Mclean was very good for them

Noticed a few cracks in our game over the last few weeks which I'm sure Voss is all over:

Saints game - Fantastic comeback & a deserved victory but they out pressured us in the first half
Demons - Again, another fantastic win but we let them get goals out the back in the first half. And I don't think we were as composed in the last 5 min of the game as some said. In fact we nearly coughed up the match with some panic kicks out of defense
Suns - Midfield could not get near the ball or the opposition in the first half
GWS - Clearly took our foot off the pedal & adopted the exact opposite approach to what melbourne did at the SCG. Time will tell if we've flirted with our form


Carlton by 71 points

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#DonTheStash

Considering the overall needs of the team, I would argue that the 2nd ruck position is more important to our structure than the 2nd key forward. At the moment, Harry is either a permanent forward or not in the team, IMO. The MC should have tried Harry as 2nd ruck earlier in the season if they intended to play him there in the finals. He hasn’t played there all year (prior to Rd 24) and, as far as I can recall, he hasn’t played there since 2017. He has never shown any aptitude for the position. He can work on developing his ruck craft over the preseason, not in an elimination final.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.