UNLESS you've been glued to your TV, there's a good chance you've missed quite a lot during the Marsh Community Series.



It's hard to take too much out of preseason results, but it's always worth keeping an eye on the 'little wrinkles' like decision-making, positional changes and any new tricks a player adds to their bag.

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Let's take a look at the finer details from a few potential breakout candidates, plus Liam Baker's incredible reaction after Sydney Stack's sky-high fly.

Adelaide's set for a midfield injection

Myles Poholke looks to be the beneficiary of Adelaide's re-worked midfield under new coach Matthew Nicks. Hugh Greenwood and Cam Ellis-Yolmen sat ahead of Poholke as inside midfielders, but Poholke has a little more explosiveness and some real skill when he rotates forward.

Myles Poholke launches a kick against Melbourne in the Marsh Community Series. Picture: AFL Photos

Poholke attended 16 centre bounces in Adelaide's first Marsh Community Series game, second on the team behind only Reilly O'Brien.

The Demons trialled a centre-square stoppage line up where one wingman would sit at the back of square to stop any hack kicks getting momentum, while one midfielder would play off their man and try to generate an effective clearance.



Poholke managed to strip Jack Viney of the footy, follow up to win the ball himself, break through Nathan Jones' tackle, duck to avoid the unstoppable force that was Christian Petracca and then dish off to Chayce Jones for a goal – all in a matter of seconds.

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Sound too impressive to be real? Just watch.

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Copy link Link copied to clipboard Poholke punishes Melbourne's midfield Adelaide's Myles Poholke showed off some new strings to his bow in a 2020 Marsh Community Series Game

Pickett never ever stops running

It was hard to take your eyes off Melbourne's 2019 first round pick Kysaiah 'Kozzy' Pickett in the Marsh Community Series game against Adelaide.



His brilliant sidesteps, bone-crunching physicality and liveliness around goals will see him on plenty of highlight reels throughout his career, but one thing that goes under the radar is his engine.



Pickett starts this play by crushing Adelaide's Patrick Wilson in a tenacious tackle and then manages to sprint the length of the field to create an option, when most players wouldn't have got out of second gear.

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Copy link Link copied to clipboard Demon Pickett's insane effort Melbourne draftee Kysaiah Pickett showed off some brilliant gut running in a Marsh Community Series game

Big Doogs switching it up

The main reason why Dougal Howard couldn't break into Port Adelaide's line up consistently was the fact he and Tom Jonas are best employed as 'back shoulder' defenders.



Howard is an excellent spoiler of the ball, but he's most effective when he starts a metre behind his opponent and uses his leap and long arms to get a fist to the footy.

Saint Dougal Howard (right) contests a mark with Hawthorn's Mitch Lewis. Picture: AFL Photos





The one query over Howard is his running capacity and ability to play away from his man.

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If key interceptor Jake Carlisle ever gets injured (knock on wood that he doesn't), it's going to be a real problem for St Kilda if Nathan Brown and Howard have to play together.



If you run your eyes across almost of Howard's spoils on Jon Patton from the first Marsh Community Series game, he starts from behind the big Hawk, but you can see a little glimmer here as he held down space and came across to get the spoil.

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Copy link Link copied to clipboard Saint Dougs' defensive progression St Kilda's Dougal Howard is showcasing some development in a key defensive area





If he can become more comfortable in these sorts of situations, the Saints will have much more flexibility.

Maligned Bomber's decision-making prowess

Kyle Langford has always been a nice overhead mark, reliable kick and strong tackler.



The one issue that has held him as a whipping boy has been how slow he can be as a decision maker, leading him to get caught out.

Kyle Langford gets wrapped up against West Coast in 2019. Picture: AFL Photos



The Bombers rely heavily on kicks that cut through the corridor to open up slingshot actions for the likes of Adam Saad and Conor McKenna.



Langford's performance against the Eagles in general was impressive, but the speed at which he recognised Matt Guelfi streaming through the middle was a vast improvement from previous years.

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Copy link Link copied to clipboard Bomber Langford shows off great vision Essendon midfielder Kyle Langford has showed some development in the rate of his decision making





If Langford takes an extra second to pull the kick, Jarrod Brander likely holds up Guelfi and the rest of the Eagles midfielders can come across to clog up the half-back area.

Baker's bake after Stack's screamer

If you're a basketball fan, you'd be well aware of Shea Serrano's 'disrespectful dunk index', a column in which he breaks down the factors that make up a 'poster dunk' like the force behind it, the reaction from the bench and the stare down afterwards.



Sydney Stack's screamer over Toby Greene was an all-timer, but Tiger teammate Liam Baker was the one that really made this clip more than just a mark.

Sydney Stack just tried to win Mark of the Year in pre-season ??#MarshSeries pic.twitter.com/DzmrkYOMJW — AFL (@AFL) March 8, 2020

It was an immediate grin, followed by some choice words and a shove.



Nothing too over the top, but just the right amount of a jab to get to Greene.



It was great, but we may never see any post-screamer bystander reaction better than Mitch Robinson's 'The Scream' impersonation following Lincoln McCarthy's outrageous grab in 2019.