30 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

Garlett an absolute "will definitely play" according to Misson. That negates any of my replacement suggestions

Could also potentially mean he'll miss 2-3..

Can never be too sure with Misson..

18 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Could also potentially mean he'll miss 2-3..

Can never be too sure with Misson..

You mean 4 2 6

1 hour ago, Ted Fidge said:

Dunn and Matthew Bate were bits and pieces forwards for years and neither ever clicked in that role.

It's only being reinvented as a defender that has saved Dunn's career from going the same way as Bate's.

Dunn was initially hopeless down back as well,  & had to return forward,  back in the days of tails bigger than dogs.

Dunny had a habit from his first game of ducking the head.

 

BUT he has now found confidence in his abilities, seemingly since maturing & becoming a father.

He should be capable of playing cameos as a tall forward nowadays,  with the experience he now has.  His pace & mobility could be weapons in the wet,  IF its hard to mark the ball.

He could be damaging 2nd efforts,  & holding his feet.

 

1 hour ago, AngryAtCasey said:

I actually agree and come to think of it McDonald forward might be a better go.

Dunn on Petrie

Garland on Waite

Pedersen or Frost (whichever plays) on Brown

 

1 hour ago, Devil is in the Detail said:

If they are the match ups then Waite will have day out. Don't see Garland as a tall defender. See him as a taller small defender that can out mark smaller forwards.

I sort of agree DiitD.  Garlo may get ragdolled by the strong mature Waite?

I think it could also be >

Frost - Petrie,   TMac/Dunn - Waite/Brown

 

this leaves Garlo to play forward if need be, if solid rain ?

dunn was brought to the club as the next neitz didnt grow as quick as would have hoped,he now should be the first picked every week ,hard tough experienced player.something must be wrong with him being not picked in the first picked team

 

 

Just now, barneymfc said:

dunn was brought to the club as the next neitz didnt grow as quick as would have hoped,he now should be the first picked every week ,hard tough experienced player.something must be wrong with him being not picked in the first picked team

 

 

 

54 minutes ago, Samael said:

You mean 4 2 6

That quote only comes out after the obligatory 2-3 has been served, if memory serves. 

15 hours ago, AngryAtCasey said:

It's funny, cause i automatically thought the same thing when i initially wrote it, but then saw Waite only has 3cm & 1kg on Garland. Hardly figures that would make you think he'll monster Col.

Waite plays bigger than that. Reckon he has better and stronger leap at the contest than people of his size.

16 hours ago, AngryAtCasey said:

I actually agree and come to think of it McDonald forward might be a better go.

Dunn on Petrie

Garland on Waite

Pedersen or Frost (whichever plays) on Brown

Those match ups give me very little confidence. We need McDonald down back, at least to start. 

14 hours ago, barneymfc said:

dunn was brought to the club as the next neitz didnt grow as quick as would have hoped,he now should be the first picked every week ,hard tough experienced player.something must be wrong with him being not picked in the first picked team

 

 

So you'd pick him ahead of Nathan Jones, Jesse Hogan, Jack Viney...

I doesn't matter who plays on who, GWS had no forward line and they still nearly beat us, Essendrugs has a gangly kid that beat everyone who went near him, it's just lucky he can't kick too well.  What do you think Side show bob (Ben Brown) will do to us this week??? If not him then it will be Petrie, then if he fails there is Waite.  Shove Hogan in the backline and let him learn how to work hard from their forward line, oh and put Kent on one of their small forwards so he can learn that lesson too.

 

 

if we play like we have in the first 2 rounds (aside from one quarter) we'll get hammered, regardless of who is the 2nd tall fwd or who is down back

the issue is the midfield and ball movement and [censored] putting in for 4 quarters.

just name 22 fit guys who want to out their head over the ball and know the game plan (whatever the fk it is)

 

I went to training on Wednesday for a couple of hours. 

Just a couple of observations.

Dawes was back training with the main group and was a welcome return. There was a distinct lift in comraderie. He is a natural leader and was very happy helping Weidemann, Oscar, Hulett and King with their positioning etc. Hogan was very happy to have him part of training. You could see that Hogan is just a kid and having a big senior player there was good for him. I think Dawes may be important in the next 12 to 18 months for the development of our forward line. If we replace Frost with Dawes in the forward line doing a lot of leading up the ground it will take away a bit of pressure from Hogan and Watts can become the third tall again. Watts and Hoges were bordering on non-functional on the weekend and Dawes may help restore the balance.

 

Hulett was marking everything. He held his own against some of the senior players in man on man wrestling and out-marked the young King everytime. He continues to develop well. 

Trengove was looking good. He did a drill where you had to do a series of quick steps, then push off to one of three cones placed left, right and centre. He showed no effects of his injury and was quick and strong. He is another natural leader who likes to help with positioning and general teaching in drills. He and Dawes come across as pretty intelligent people. They aren't ever involved in joking or mucking around and Trengove really appears focused and determined.The addition of Dawes and Trengove to the team will add much needed senior leadership when they get back.

Tyson was impressive. He was better on the weekend and continues to improve on the track. He is another who you can see wants to improve and develop his game and hopefully now he is fully fit he will build into the year.

4 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

I went to training on Wednesday for a couple of hours. 

Just a couple of observations.

Dawes was back training with the main group and was a welcome return. There was a distinct lift in comraderie. He is a natural leader and was very happy helping Weidemann, Oscar, Hulett and King with their positioning etc. Hogan was very happy to have him part of training. You could see that Hogan is just a kid and having a big senior player there was good for him. I think Dawes may be important in the next 12 to 18 months for the development of our forward line. If we replace Frost with Dawes in the forward line doing a lot of leading up the ground it will take away a bit of pressure from Hogan and Watts can become the third tall again. Watts and Hoges were bordering on non-functional on the weekend and Dawes may help restore the balance.

 

Hulett was marking everything. He held his own against some of the senior players in man on man wrestling and out-marked the young King everytime. He continues to develop well. 

Trengove was looking good. He did a drill where you had to do a series of quick steps, then push off to one of three cones placed left, right and centre. He showed no effects of his injury and was quick and strong. He is another natural leader who likes to help with positioning and general teaching in drills. He and Dawes come across as pretty intelligent people. They aren't ever involved in joking or mucking around and Trengove really appears focused and determined.The addition of Dawes and Trengove to the team will add much needed senior leadership when they get back.

Tyson was impressive. He was better on the weekend and continues to improve on the track. He is another who you can see wants to improve and develop his game and hopefully now he is fully fit he will build into the year.

It's effing fantastic reading such good things about Trengove's progress. Cannot wait to see him run out onto the G. 

How were Tyson's foot skills at training?

Crossy took Tyson aside for some short kicking to a lead up and he hit Crossy on the chest everytime I looked. Can do it, just different under match pressure I guess.

26 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

Crossy took Tyson aside for some short kicking to a lead up and he hit Crossy on the chest everytime I looked. Can do it, just different under match pressure I guess.

Thanks, good to hear it is getting some attention.

1 hour ago, deespicable me said:

Trengove was looking good. He did a drill where you had to do a series of quick steps, then push off to one of three cones placed left, right and centre. He showed no effects of his injury and was quick and strong. He is another natural leader who likes to help with positioning and general teaching in drills. He and Dawes come across as pretty intelligent people. They aren't ever involved in joking or mucking around and Trengove really appears focused and determined.The addition of Dawes and Trengove to the team will add much needed senior leadership when they get back.

Great to hear Jack T doing so well.  He was a good co-captain at a very difficult time and has always been one of the few who showed really good leadership on the field (talking, instructing, encouraging) something we still lack greatly.  Watching him play it seemed he had a really good grasp of the game and what was happening on the field at any time and was able to react.

If his foot holds up and he can be a regular 22 again I can see him being part of the Leadership Group in a couple of years.  At the start of 2018 he will still be only 25.  Whether or not he becomes part of the LG, he will be a really good on-field leader again and with so much character building experience behind him he will be a great asset and role model for the team.   

Little steps still but it seems he is on the verge of making some giant strides.  His first game back will be iconic. 

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Great to hear Jack T doing so well.  He was a good co-captain at a very difficult time and has always been one of the few who showed really good leadership on the field (talking, instructing, encouraging) something we still lack greatly.  Watching him play it seemed he had a really good grasp of the game and what was happening on the field at any time and was able to react.

If his foot holds up and he can be a regular 22 again I can see him being part of the Leadership Group in a couple of years.  At the start of 2018 he will still be only 25.  Whether or not he becomes part of the LG, he will be a really good on-field leader again and with so much character building experience behind him he will be a great asset and role model for the team.   

Little steps still but it seems he is on the verge of making some giant strides.  His first game back will be iconic. 

At the start of 2016 he will still be only 25.  - Typo no doubt.

 

9

Jack Trengove

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02.09.91

With the talk about "tiredness", thought I'd look at some of the "% Time On Ground" (TOG) stats for last week to work out who might have been "tired" & had less TOG than might have been expected.

If I've got it right, the average across any team is just below 82% TOG.

The lowest on Saturday was Brayshaw with 58%, then Oliver with 67%. No surprises there.

The next lowest were BenKen with 72%, Tyson with 74% and Harmes with 75%.

Then comes Gawn at 78%, then Bugg & Viney at 79%, then Pedersen & Watts at 80%.

I don't know what this means, but is anybody else surprised at some of the names at the bottom of our TOG%?

Dunn at chf or even tmac is just common sense given that pederson or dawes just aint up to the job.

33 minutes ago, Akum said:

With the talk about "tiredness", thought I'd look at some of the "% Time On Ground" (TOG) stats for last week to work out who might have been "tired" & had less TOG than might have been expected.

If I've got it right, the average across any team is just below 82% TOG.

The lowest on Saturday was Brayshaw with 58%, then Oliver with 67%. No surprises there.

The next lowest were BenKen with 72%, Tyson with 74% and Harmes with 75%.

Then comes Gawn at 78%, then Bugg & Viney at 79%, then Pedersen & Watts at 80%.

I don't know what this means, but is anybody else surprised at some of the names at the bottom of our TOG%?

 

It's not physical tiredness they mostly refer to,  IMO.

 

The players are extending themselves  'mentally',  pushing hard to get out of their comfort box they are used to being in,  & driving hard to get higher standards & outcomes.  This eats up enormous emotional energy supplies.

 

Staying UP is driven by  'desire',  not how much work you've done on the track .

23 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

Dunn at chf or even tmac is just common sense given that pederson or dawes just aint up to the job.

I'll never forget Dunn's first 6 games when he came in and played at CHF.  Took some Schwartz like contested grabs in packs but then came back the next year and wasn't the same and from there got used everywhere from backline to a midfield tagger. Sill think he'll be better served in the backline this week with those 3 big forwards. 

I understand Frost needs a lot of development but jeez Pedersen is disappointing. He has the skills but never seems to be able to play for 4 quarters and meaningfully impact a game. I'm afraid that at this stage of his career what we've got is about all we're going to get from him. Like others I had Dawes as probably behind these two but after two rounds I'm beginning to think he's 4 quarter efforts are worth more than Pedersen's superior ability to hold a mark but only every now and then.

11 minutes ago, dee-luded said:

 

It's not physical tiredness they mostly refer to,  IMO.

 

The players are extending themselves  'mentally',  pushing hard to get out of their comfort box they are used to being in,  & driving hard to get higher standards & outcomes.  This eats up enormous emotional energy supplies.

 

Staying UP is driven by  'desire',  not how much work you've done on the track .

Well how the bloody hell are Essendon staying "up" for longer, much longer than us. Something fishy here.... It's not just desire, and not in the "who you're in bed with" context.

Dawes as a footballer is not always a great option but what I was suggesting is that if Hogan and or Watts become better footballers with Dawes out there then that is a win for Melbourne.

I don't think Frost or Pederson have as yet created a "finished" six forward line. Clearly on Saturday we were two talls down, one in the forward line and one in the backline. I don't think Pederson was any worse or better particularly than Watts or Hogan but clearly the "mix" didn't work. For some reason Kent was down as well. Dawes for all his failings might help make us a better forward line. Especially considering we missed leadership down there on Saturday, with the press carrying on about Hogan getting frustrated etc. I'm sure with clear planning Dawes can add something there.

2 hours ago, Django said:

Thanks, good to hear it is getting some attention.

I like to hear stuff like that - when there is an obvious flaw/weakness or something that just may need tweaking they are identifying it and working on it.

I noticed that in the first two games that Hogans stutter approach to goal was not as pronounced as it was during NAB.

19 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

Dawes as a footballer is not always a great option but what I was suggesting is that if Hogan and or Watts become better footballers with Dawes out there then that is a win for Melbourne.

I don't think Frost or Pederson have as yet created a "finished" six forward line. Clearly on Saturday we were two talls down, one in the forward line and one in the backline. I don't think Pederson was any worse or better particularly than Watts or Hogan but clearly the "mix" didn't work. For some reason Kent was down as well. Dawes for all his failings might help make us a better forward line. Especially considering we missed leadership down there on Saturday, with the press carrying on about Hogan getting frustrated etc. I'm sure with clear planning Dawes can add something there.

I am very torn on Dawes. To me he offers leadership, structure, bringing the ball to ground, opening up the way for the crumbers, really good at the 1%'s but his core business is to take marks and kick goals and he has not done that at all well. You rarely saw him last year get in the way of Hogan  - to the contrary  - he led outwards to make space for Hogan. As a forward you need to do all the little things that he does well but you also take a mark and kick a goal and he does not get a pass mark based on the most basic of criteria.