Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Stuart Waitley. Thanks for listening to the podcast. In this episode, the Eye of the Coach with Adam Simpson, Carlton Vice-Captain Jacob Wietering, the latest footy news with Sam Edmunds, Strategy 2026 with Brenton Sanderson, and Know Your History with Shannon Gill, focused on the AFL's centenary celebrations of 1996.
Chapter 2: What topics are covered in the Eye of the Coach segment?
You can get in touch at any time. Waitley at sen.com.au. Thanks for listening. Enjoy.
Thursday morning. This is your town.
This is your station. This is Waitley. Good morning. I've tipped the underdogs tonight. It's just now a little confusing as to which team that is. The Fremantle has won seven in a row for the first time under Justin Longmuir and never looked better stocked. They're at home and full strength. By any objective measure, they are distinct favourites.
But the West, well, they're clamouring for underdog status. Hawthorne's coming off that weird draw where they did a lot right and a lot wrong. It was statistically impossible not to have won, yet they needed a kick after the siren to share in the points. At selection, Sam Mitchell has gone for a third Ruckman. Lloyd Meek, Ned Reeves and Max Ramsden will play together for the first time.
How many Ruckman does it take to turn the lights out in Perth? Who's got a theory on how this will work? It sets off a round in which Scott Pendlebury equals the historic marker of Boomer Harvey. And we might get a better read on the prospects of Geelong and Collingwood out of Saturday night. The Western Bulldogs must arrest the slide in a tricky encounter with Port in Adelaide.
It's a doubleheader Friday again for reasons that completely elude me. And Carlton heads to the Gabba. Michael Voss wants Coach the Miracle on grass. He needs the sequel tomorrow night. And I fear there are some big margins ahead. Some of the gap games, I reckon, are going to run right away. Around nine peaks early in a credential tester in the misconceived battle of the underdogs.
Yeah, looks like all phases of their game are in pretty good order. Yeah, they're tough inside.
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Chapter 3: What are the challenges facing the Fremantle team?
The stats say they probably should have won, or drew one that they probably should have won according to the stats on the weekend. So, yeah, they're in good form. Yeah, there's not a lot of weaknesses there. I feel like an underdog going into every game.
We prepare for the opposition's best and make sure we're up to any challenge that gets thrown at us and there'll be another great challenge this week. We've had some close games. I think last year we were sort of in front of three-quarter time and they ran over us late. And we've had some quite close games that they've won. They've been a good side for a long time and we've only sort of...
last couple of years sort of jumped up the ladder a bit more but they're very I mean they're really well systemized and got a lot of talent on their list as well so I mean their coaches are very very strong and their players are good so it makes sense that they've been up the top for a bit longer than we have but we know they're one of if not the best side in the competition right now and for this season so we have to beat teams like this and see if we're ready for it on Thursday night.
It'll be a tall tale in the West tonight. Adam Simpson, Brenton Sanderson to set us up for the footy ahead. Carlton Vice-Captain Jacob Wietering, a regular on the program, is going to join me later this hour before flying to Brisbane. Shannon Gill is going to take us back 30 years to the AFL's centenary celebrations.
By logic, it should have been 1997, but the AFL decided to go in the year of its 100th season. Some of it you will recall and some of it you will have hoped to forget. There are hits that I'd like to see that ad campaign has never been topped. John Lee Hooker, Heather Lockyer, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and George Burns. Props to the marketing team in that year.
The Essendon Geelong reprisal of the first match between the same olds and the Pivotonians, complete with the town cries, the penny farthings and Bruce and the top hat and tails was a triumph. Opening night with the Wiggles and a George Burns impersonator, but no footy. Kevin Johnson's reworked Aussie Rules, you gave me the best years of my life.
And the theme song medley under the giant marquee on the MCG will make you cringe anew three decades on. When Kitsch met Schmaltz. Let's see what you remember from 1996.
Aussie Rules, I thank you for the best years of our lives.
Know your history of the centenary celebrations coming up at 11. The Eye of the Coach with Adam Simpson. Hello, Simmo. Morning, Gerard. 96 is a good year to remember. Yeah, 30-year reunion this weekend. A gold Premiership Cup. It was gold, yes, yes. Good memories. I was 19. I think I was the youngest in the side, so I was just hanging on.
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Chapter 4: How does Hawthorne plan to counter Fremantle's strategy?
Oh, that's perfect then. So a bit of know your history with Shan coming at 11. Brenton Sanderson played in the game with Knickerbockers and Caps. What? So he's got memories of that as well. That was also the year where everyone got a tattoo. Just trying to find the dirtiest tattoo parlor in Union Street somewhere in Ascot Vale. Some of the guys, some of the tats. The whole thigh was a kangaroo.
None of mine. I had the inside of the ankle. Where could you hide it the most? The butt cheek or the inside of the right ankle? Does it survive today? It looks like a blob now. At the time, I thought, this is artistry. And within two years, it just... It leaked a little bit. Anyway, good times. The underdogs. Why does everyone want to be the underdog? It's the Australian way. Right.
Yeah, undersell, overdeliver. And I think Mitch finds it harder than anyone to push that out because he's so confident. And I actually, it's just different inside the four walls. It's almost like, guys, I'm going to say this. But, hey, this is where we're really at. And I think if you listen to Lange's press conference, there was a hint of it. Just a hint of it. Have we got a grab? We do.
Don't have to prove anything, like, to anyone. Like, we just need to, yeah, see where our footy stacks up. It's another opportunity for us to, yeah, try and improve our footy. We understand the opposition, understand their strengths. Yeah, understand what our footy's about. I mean, last year we played our best footy against the better sides.
So I don't, yeah, don't feel like we need to go out there and prove anyone anything. It'll just be another indicator of where our footy's at, win, lose or draw.
So between the lines, you win seven in a row and you get challenged about, oh, this is a big test for you guys. You know, we don't have to prove anything. That's the type of conversation you're having with your players. They're coming to play us over here. Good luck. That's, you know, without the expletives in between. Yeah.
Uh, that's the way I would assume that, that, that long, he will be talking and he's heading into a different phase. Now he's one of confidence and internal arrogance is fine, but externally it's all, you know, big, you know, they're, they're the benchmark. They're the games in good order. Stats said they should have won last week, all that stuff internally.
You, you, um, yeah, you, you don't forget to remind how good you are to your players and they know too, our best is better than their best. That's where you start. Otherwise, what's the point? Yep. Yep. So the rise of these two teams almost in. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a good, it's a good conversation about how to, how to get from okay to good.
You know, this is, this is a difficult period that clubs go through because you can go from rebuild to competitive, but how do you go from competitive to top four and not many clubs get there. And sometimes you fall short and then you've got to start again. So it feels like Hawthorne's last premiership was 15. Yeah. So, excuse me.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Jacob Wietering share about leadership challenges?
So we can talk about style of play and what he came in with, but from a ladder position or they're second and third at the moment, but last year they were sixth and eighth. So Fremantle was sixth, Hawthorn were eighth. This is home and away. 24, Fremantle were 10th, the Hawks were 7th. 23, Fremantle were 14th and Hawthorne was 16th.
So anyone out there supporting sides that are around that 14 to 18 mark, this is three years ago. So what they've done to climb up the ladder, they've settled down on their style of play and both teams started with, Fremantle started with defence, I think. You know, let's be a really good defensive side side. And whether that's deliberate or not, that's just the way it fell.
And Hawthorne started with, they were really attacking back half transition side. Once again, I'm not sure if that's how it fell. It's sort of like, geez, this is our strength. Let's just go with it. Whereas you see Melbourne, they've started with offense. Yeah.
So they've both begun wherever they began and then slowly they've built around, you know, acquiring talent from other sides, the Bolton and the Battles, you know, the Barass types and McPhee types that come in for Freemantle just to cap off the talent path. And then there's just the systems like... They win in multiple ways now, both sides.
So that's why it's, uh, they're both really good teams and internally they'll be very, very confident, if not arrogant on how they play this week. All right. A little more there in a moment. Um, how many Ruckman does it take to turn the lights out in Perth? Yeah, it's a, I don't think he's, I don't think Hawthorne, so they're playing three rucks. So I think it's a guess by the way.
Um, are they going to pull out someone late? Yeah. which may happen, or we've got roles. And that just means one of these three ruckman needs to play the role of a key forward. So deer goes out, we replace it with the tall, and that's just what we do. Our system's built around, there's 18 roles on the ground, and we're just going to replace the role.
And, you know, if it's Reeves goes forward and you just play the deer role or the whatever role they call it, that seems to be Where it used to lie with the sides at the top of the ladder, they just have a system-based process where you come in and just replace the role.
You might not be as good as the role executor who's number one priority, but you come in and you play that role as best you can and we'll judge you on the role, not on your execution or performance. It's just, do you comply?
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What key factors contributed to the Bulldogs' recent performances?
It felt like they really needed a win like they had against Geelong. That was, I think, you know, because they had the win against Essendon and Richmond. They needed a scalp like Geelong. And then obviously the showdown, that could have gone either way last week. And then the losses. They lost to the Hawks by only three points. They lost to West Coast by two points.
That was the one they should have won. And then they've lost to St. Kilda by 14 points. So what they're doing really well, and I think Josh Carr, you can tell now his coaching philosophy and his style, they're winning ā They're winning contested possessions. They're good around the contest. So the other part is they're possessing the ball.
So plus 38 marks against Geelong, plus seven marks against Richmond, and plus 107 marks against Essendon the day that they beat them. And they're winning inside 50s. They had 23 more inside 50s than Geelong did when they played the Cats. So I think it's just a combination of really good method around contest and clearance. They were plus 18 clearances against Geelong, plus 16 against Essendon.
They've been probably the two standout performances with what they're doing around clearances. But I really like their defensive profile. That's the bit for me that's really sticking out. So they're scoring from turnover and they're a really high tackling team. So their pressure is excellent defensively.
They've given up the fourth fewest points so far this season, Port Adelaide, which is pretty awesome when you look at their profile and what they're doing. So, yeah, it's a nice start to his coaching career, I think, for Josh Carr. In the games where they've played poorly, what are the trend lines?
Well, unfortunately, and this is now we're starting, we've got enough data now where we can look at how to beat them. So I've just talked about the stuff they're doing well. What's consistent in their losses is they do get ā beaten with contested possessions. So I think that's got to be the focus for the Bulldogs in this one.
They still score okay from turnover in their losses, but their scores from stoppage have been really low in the games that they've lost. And they're still trying to possess the ball. So I think Bulldogs, the focus is really obvious. Take away Portsmark chains. They've got to get their defensive method and back the Bulldogs if they're going to do that. Yep.
And I think that's probably been the challenge, I think, for the Bulldogs is they've got new faces coming in and trying to adjust to the system. And there's probably that little bit of lack of trust at the moment with the Bulldogs. When things break down, they just start playing rather than staying in system. But yeah, I think that's probably the area for the Bulldogs this week.
When Port are losing contested possessions and you've got to take away their mark chains, they're probably the two main focuses, I think, if you're the Bulldogs.
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Chapter 7: How can the Bulldogs improve their game against Port Adelaide?
And they've only won contested possessions once in the last four weeks as well. So I thought we saw some signs, though, against Fremantle that potentially that's changing. They might have got a bit of their mojo back around contest and clearance. It helps with English coming back into the side as well. But for me, when I watch them play, particularly the last month, I just think it's in the air.
I think it's aerial. So especially behind the ball. So when you look at their contested marking numbers for the entire season... Um, they've taken 46 contested marks for the year, the Bulldogs, their opponents have taken 90. So that's double. Um, and that's just, I think a talent thing. I think that's just, you know, Lobb goes out of the side. O'Donnell goes out of the side behind the ball.
They've been big losses. They're giving up marks now inside their D50, 14, 23, and 21 in the last three weeks. And then of course, um, No Darcy missing ahead of the ball. That impacts your contested marking ahead of the ball. English back in, but he missed that block of games as well. I just think they've got to find a way to fix their aerial work.
And in those contested situations, they've just got to find a way to get the ball to ground. What positives are we clinging to through the Dogs' losses? Yeah, well, listen, they've lost the last four, but probably to arguably the best four teams in the AFL. So Fremantle, Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorne. In all those four games, Dogs fans, you were younger and less experienced.
And we know the clearance numbers haven't been at their typical dominating best, but English now is back. And I thought we saw a bit of a shift in the ability to be able to win hit-outs and get the ball to the mids through stoppage and clearance last week against...
So despite losing the game, I thought we saw a little bit of a shift in the Western Bulldogs, which they've got to take into this Port Adelaide game on the weekend. Biggest concerns? Well, the biggest, I think, concerns for the Dogs, I mentioned their aerial, but they're minus 21 points from stoppage in the last month. And normally that's the other side. That's normally like plus 20, plus 30.
That's their go-to in their games.
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Chapter 8: What were the standout moments from the AFL Centenary celebrations?
And they're averaging minus 27 points from turnover head to head in the last month. So we have talked about it for years with the Bulldogs and we felt like they'd turned the corner in the opening four rounds, but they still were getting scored against. So that's the bit.
They've got to get back to either creating more opportunities to score from turnover and their defense or stop giving up so many scores from turnover themselves. So when you look at their average losing margin over the last four weeks, it's 50 points. And that's those two numbers. That's what they add up to. Stoppage losses and scores from turnover. So that's the areas to fix.
Aerial, scores against from stoppage, scores against from turnover. So there's lots of things to work on. Season's still very young. A lot of it is system-based and a lot of it's talent-based. But yeah, that's where I think from a coach's point of view, you've got your reasons and then you've got your excuses.
So yeah, I mean, just to put it in context, Brisbane have already used 35 players so far this season. And we're at round nine this week. Only Richmond have used more. They've used 36 players. Brisbane used a total of 36 players last year in their premiership year. So dogs have already used 35. So they're calling upon their depth. And the expectation is, and I say this with the team that I coach,
when your name gets called out and you play seniors, you better play well. I mean, there is an expectation. It's a little bit of sink or swim. But if you get a jersey, if you get a Western Bulldogs jersey, regardless of where you are with experience, there's an expectation that you come in and you play well. All right. You know I love a checklist.
So give me the key players in this game to impact. Well, the one that stands out for me, the dogs are going to keep the ball away from Aaliyah. I mean, he's in some sort of form. They've got to shift angles inside forward 50. Last week, 21 disposals, 14 marks, 14 intercept possessions, 10 contested possessions. He's a real headache behind the ball.
So the dogs have got to make sure they just don't blast it in there. And I think the Dogs have also got to have a plan down the other end for Georgiades. I mean, he takes marks inside forward 50. He's quick. He's explosive. He's their aerial target. He's such a challenging matchup ahead of the ball.
But I think the beauty of that is if you can stop Georgiades, Port's next best goal kicker is Durden, and then it's Horne-Francis. So if you can put Georgiades away, I think that's probably then who's going to score the goals. for Port Adelaide. And then the midfield is mouthwatering.
So Butters, Drew, Horn, Francis, they're their highest clearance players for Port Adelaide against Richards, Bontempelli, Kennedy, Sanders. And then, of course, the English v. Sweet matchup is going to be awesome too. So Sweet did spend some time at the Bulldogs. That's going to be fantastic. He gets a little bit of that red mist, big Jordan Sweet, when he plays.
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