Chapter 1: What topics are covered in this episode of Whateley?
It's Gerard Waitley. Thanks for listening to the podcast. In this episode, the Eye of the Coach with Adam Simpson, the latest footy news with Sam Edmund, Strategy 2026 with Brenton Sanderson, and Know Your History, the progression of the AFL Games record with Shannon Gill. You can get in touch at any time. Waitley at sen.com.au. Thanks for listening. Enjoy.
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Thursday morning. This is your town. This is your station.
This is Waitley. Good morning! Scott Pendlebury's games record shapes as the biggest individual milestone since Tony Lockhart broke the goal-kicking record in 1999. For spectacle, for grandeur and for magnitudes. It feels like a moment that will echo through football history and it's a timely reminder of what's at the core of the game.
The cynics have forgotten how to enjoy footy, the addiction to reaction over reflection. But the very essence of sport is based on grand accomplishments and deeds never previously accomplished. Saturday is for those who love the game, purely and innocently. And 433 games is to be revered and reveled in. Great players age. They evolve. They adapt.
They carry the faithful through long winters, shouldering our expectations and hopes. Yet Pendlebury gives the impression of being timeless through the moments, through the seasons and through the generations. He's carried a champion's burden lightly. Saturday gives us the chance to reflect and celebrate and to marvel at a unique achievement.
In Know Your History Today, Shannon Gill will recount the progression of the Games record. And you can be sure it's all happened before. If Collingwood gently arranged the stage for this record, it has nothing on the manipulations that have gone on previously to nurse ageing veterans to the then milestone.
extravaganzas staged, merchandise sold, paraphernalia of giant proportions, the auctioning of game-worn gear, audiences with the record breaker at high prices, and misplaced predictions as to how easily the new record would be bettered. If you think the setup for the Pendlebury record has been a bit gaudy, take comfort in the fact it's all happened before.
And give yourself permission to enjoy what's about to take place. We are still allowed to have nice things. And Mel has the right idea. I couldn't let Pendle's 433rd game go without reaching out. It feels really special and a bit emotional. I remember the draft day, getting the kid from Gippsland along with the other bombshell kid who we grew to name Daisy.
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Chapter 2: How significant is Scott Pendlebury's games record?
It drips with consequence. Can the Bulldogs end the rut against the White Hot Demons? Who will prove superior when first meets third at the Cattery? Which of Essendon or Richmond will get the desperately needed second win? And who will step forth as Hawthorne and Adelaide meet tonight? In the equation for top four finishers, this duel shapes as decisive.
There are hints the Crows are just getting going. And from the Hawks themselves is coming a demand. Will the real Hawthorne please stand up?
With Adelaide, you know that their best footy is phenomenal and their best players are very important to them. So it's an interesting time to get them, you know, when they put up 10 goals in a quarter against a side who's been going very well. I think we know what we're going to come up against with Adelaide. They're a really consistent side, really well drilled, well coached and
we're going to have to play our best footy and we feel we're confident in a better place than we have been and we know we didn't perform at the level that's required last week and to be honest I'm glad we got the tight turnaround because it was a hard one to stomach after the last game.
I know the players feel the same so I'm really looking forward to getting down to Tassie and getting back out there straight away to show who we are as a side and we're better than we have been the last couple of weeks.
Will the real Hawthorne please stand up? Adam Simpson. Hello. Morning, Gerard. How are you going? I'm well. What's your read on Hawthorne right now? It's a long year. So I think they're in a bit of a dip at the moment. You've just got to be careful you're not trying to squeeze the fish. Explain squeeze the fish? Well, I thought that was a common.
I'm sure I didn't make it up, but I'll claim it if no one's heard of it. But how do you hold a fish? You can't just grab it. It'll just slip out. And there's a way, it's almost, the analogy is if you try too hard, then you don't get the result. This is Robert Craddock's, you can't snatch at a small run chase. If you snatch at 120, that's the way to implode.
You can't squeeze the fish.
It's like trying to squeeze the soap. Anyway, I'm just trying to work it out what I'm actually trying to say. But I'm not sure if this is where Hawthorne's at. But we were a bit wobbly the last couple of weeks. What's going on?
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Chapter 3: What does the discussion reveal about Hawthorne's current challenges?
And I'm happy to move on from that one.
And your role at Carlton has been different all year on that front. Your starting premises was that if you stepped in there, you wouldn't coach them. I think that, yeah, that's the thought process I had when I went into the role.
Like if I take this, this role to help, not just, just Michael, cause I'm working with, with Josh as well now and some of the assistants, you take this role on, you take it on with, well, if the job does come up, I'm not going to, I can't, it just doesn't look great, does it? If you're, while I'm here, um, I might as well take over. It's not quite how you take those. It's not you. Not really.
And, and you know, it's, it's fair to say that the mentor, I had a great time with, with Michael.
I learned a lot about him and, and, and a lot of similarities about what he dealt with in his last, last 10 weeks that I went through. So there's some, some good conversations there. And then,
And, you know, Fraze is going through a different process. Like he can't control everything, but what can he control? I think he's speaking really well in the media. I think he's handling himself really well and obviously having a win. And the first question they asked, do you want to go for it now? It's like, oh, it's been one win. So he's learning a lot. I'm learning a lot as well.
And I'm happy just to play my part. Adam Simpson, the eye of the coach, gets us going every Thursday. Brenton Sanderson with his strategy in the next hour. And at 11, a special edition of Know Your History. It's all happened before. If you're at all squeamish or uncomfortable about some of the paraphernalia around the game's record, don't be. It's all happened before.
The 40 Wings Temperatex, 0433 98 11 16. Find your personalised bedtime solution with our friendly neighbourhood sleep advisors. 40 Wings, serious about sleep. Waitley on SEN. The Eye of a Coach with Adam Simpson and the various trends of the game that have revealed themselves through the first 10 rounds.
So last week you brought us the handball meters gained and there was no strong correlation between ladder prediction. In fact, it gave us the spread that there's a lot of different ways to go about it. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? It's great. So the Swans have roared forward in that, but Adelaide haven't.
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Chapter 4: How are teams adapting their strategies in the AFL?
Giants, Richmond. Hawthorne, 16th, minus 59. Essendon and West Coast. So that's problematic for Hawthorne. And fits in with the overall... Their deficiency is their midfield, which was declared by themselves coming in, and they haven't been able to resolve it, and that's why Will Day's return tonight at Williamstown is so significant. That is so important.
But they had similar personnel last year, and we'll talk through the comparisons from last year. They're the biggest drop-off from last year. They haven't adapted the worst from the rules, the rule changes. So despite the two rucks, which we thought was going to give them a distinct different advantage, it hasn't quite worked out with the scoring. So who's improved their game?
Well, the best four from last year to this year are Brisbane, Geelong, Sydney and St Kilda. They've really, they've worked it out. Okay. And this is the new rule, the jumping rule. You know, you don't have to have someone standing in the goal square anymore. So even those type of structures in front of the play and also how you defend. So what are you doing with your wingers?
How do we deal with momentum? All those things. So Brisbane, Geelong, Sydney, the Saints are the best. And the biggest drop off is Hawthorne, Essendon, Bulldogs and Collingwood. they've dropped off the most from last year. So very small sample size. It's a coaching thing more than, more than anything, but yeah, that's what they get to get to work on.
I've heard Sam talk about, they started well on the weekend and they finished poorly out of the middle. And I just think it's, It's got so much to do with success, these centre ball hops. And Collingwood and the Bulldogs, the numbers marry up with the eye test there, don't they? That has sat over them. Collingwood Elastic Clearance Differential.
So they've got some things to work on there with all the other stuff they're working on. But that's one of the ā and Gold Coast, strangely, they're poor at their clearance rate as well. All right. And so that feeds into ā you've done a bit more work on ā where the game finds itself. Are you happy with the game so far? Yeah, I think so.
In terms of the aesthetics of it all, does it look better than what we've seen? So is it a tick, these rule changes? Yep. As a broad sweeping? Yeah. Yes. Well, scoring's gone up, gone up by a goal, a game, and that always happens early in the season. So let's just wait on that. The stoppages are the ones. Between the arc stoppages, there was 41 per game last year. Now there's 31.
So it's gone down by 10. And that's just opened up the game a little bit. The poor old stoppage coach, he's got nothing to do. All the more reason why you've got to get the center ball up right. That's right. That's why it's so important.
And as long as the game doesn't turn into soccer, where it just, you control versus control, it doesn't seem to be that, does it? It seems to be a lot more pace in the game. You know, meters gained by hands has gone up as well. So-
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Chapter 5: What insights are shared about the performance of Richmond and Essendon?
Yes. All right, so mash it all up. Hawks always in Launceston. I think that's the general rule for tipsters. Maybe about 15 points, but I did hear, and you played it when I was driving in, the Sam Mitchell press conference, and I had it in my notes as well. Dawson, Millera, Peatling, Rankin, Worrell, Rochelle, and Phil Thorpe's back.
That's a good group who are starting to hit some pretty good form. So if those guys continue the way that they've been improving and now all hitting form at the right time, yeah, they'd want to be ready for that group, Hawthorne, if they're going to win this game. Big game tonight. Big game tonight. Hawthorne and Adelaide to start round 11. Dreamtime at the G next.
Chapter 6: What positives are highlighted for Richmond fans during the rebuild?
For City Power, Melbourne's weather. Cloudy at top of 16. City Power working in all conditions to keep your power connected. Essential As. Want to have your say? Ring Gerard on 1300 736 736. Now, back to Waitley. Brenton Sanderson with our strategy session ahead of round 11. We thought we would do Richmond and Essendon because they'll get overlooked for most of the year.
They're going to live in the bottom portion of the ladder. They play each other, so it's a like versus like game. And for all the negativity that swirls around it, you're going to play the glass half full here.
Chapter 7: What are the key tactics for Essendon against Richmond?
Yeah, I am. And I know a lot of Richmond fans. I know a lot of Essendon fans. So I've got on the phone this week and I've had some conversations with some people close to me around, if you're a Richmond fan, like, what are you seeing? What are you seeing that, and, you know, forget about the narrative that, you know, it's a tough season and we've got a long rebuild ahead of us.
What are some of the positives? And I've done the same with the Bombers as well because it's been a tough couple of weeks for them. All right. Give us glass half full for the Tigers. Well, Tigers, first of all, I think we're seeing some encouraging signs and we are seeing some younger players ā being involved in a positive culture under Uzay.
So I think we know now that he's a great young coach. The results are not there yet. We know that. But there is some genuine excitement around the development of the club's youth. And yes, they've had some challenges with their injuries, and we know that. to the point where they have hardly got a fit 22 to select each week.
But stuff like, you know, Bolter going into the ruck has been viewed as a positive. We're seeing and we're hearing, you know, Tom Lynch's willingness to be able to involve his younger teammates. It's a really encouraging sign. So, I mean, there still are some areas of the game plan that they are doing poorly. So they are still getting inside 50s, but they're probably going to lynch too much.
Chapter 8: How does the discussion shift to the historical context of game records?
That's one of the focus areas that they've got to adjust because he is getting double teamed a lot. So lower their eyes inside forward 50, use some of the smaller forwards at ground level. The ball movement and transition defence has also been a concern, but I think what we're seeing is just young men who are doing everything they possibly can to get a quality possession.
And sometimes you've just got to rush a kick, surge the ball forward. We're just seeing too many costly turnovers for Richmond because they're trying almost too hard, I think, at times. And then once the possession is lost, at the moment, Richmond are getting exposed defensively before their structure behind the ball is getting able to be reset. But I think...
Richmond, despite all the frustrations, I can see a calm, patient, optimistic leader in Uzay. And he's going to guide this young team through this rebuild. He provides great support. And I think probably outside of the injuries, we're seeing patches, and it's not four quarters, but we're seeing blocks of Richmond where you can see a positive future. I think you can see they're on the right track.
They just can't sustain it for four quarters at the moment. They're fading badly too often. And the really organized teams are taking control of Richmond too often. But I think there's enough positive signs there. And I think they've got the right coach in place that the rebuild is on track. It's just slower than what Richmond fans would be hoping. What have you got in the positives for Essendon?
Yeah, well, we heard from Brad Scott this week. And now the spotlight has turned to the Bombers. But... The young kids are the ones driving the standards at the moment. And you can see, Gerard, they're the ones that are hurting. I mean, they're all hurting, but you can see the disappointment in these young Bombers players when they lose and after the siren.
It's a great sign, I think, when you're watching them play. I'm not seeing the young kids drop their heads in games. And when you hear the interviews with players post-game or the sound bites coming out during the week, They're saying how tight they are and how keen they are for success moving forward.
So, you know, despite the results and we are focusing on Essendon now, I reckon these young kids are built to the right stuff, the real young ones. I think we're seeing them fight and develop and they're not dropping their heads and you can see that they care.
This is the club that they want to stay at and I think we're going to see some positive signs from Essendon through the remainder part of the season. All right, so that's the overall for Richmond and Essendon. We'll delve into the tactical side of it for Dreamtime at the G in a tick. Try McCafe's drinks range. Let's join Nath in the newsroom. Nath, thank you.
All right, let's do the strategy for Dreamtime. Brad Scott, what will he use against the Tigers? Brad Scott against the Tigers. I just think if Essendon used the ball well transitioning through the middle and can execute that last kick to Caddy and May and Roby, Langford and Cox, I just think Essendon should be able to expose Richmond's depleted defence.
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