I don't think Melksham was successful down back and with Wagner in favour and J.Smith available soon, I think his future there is very limited.  I'd like to see him challenging Bugg and Stretch for the wing role.  Bugg was good against Adelaide but I'd prefer to see him as decent depth.

39 minutes ago, binman said:

I didnt say blinding stats. I said he played a blinder.Plapp was effusive in his praise of melk after that game. Compare that review to this weeks whre he was mych more tempered about harmes despite him getting 40 plus touches

"Harmesy was fantastic on the weekend."

Mmmm, very tempered.

11 hours ago, steve_f said:

I would put Wagner back for Hunt.  Hunt was hit too hard to get over in a week.

Weidemann and Hannan are doing a job for the coach and nobody tall is within cooee at Casey.  The coach and his gameplan are a revelation.

Harmes got more praise from Plapp and I expect him to come in instead of ANB.  Sounds good with the backline settled not requiring ANB running off HB and prefering more grunt up forward and in the middle.  Melksham is a very naughty boy and needs to put in at Casey on a horror day first.

In Harmes  Out Hunt

The HUN suggests that there is no one at North worth tagging - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/in-a-stats-special-we-reveal-the-victims-and-survivors-of-footys-dark-arts-tagging/news-story/cdb045084d2ab0a7d2bf5b3f08f219d8   Please keep Vince in the forward half.

I would watch Waite and Higgins carefully. Also Cunnington and Ziebell get a lot of it.

8 minutes ago, ManDee said:

"Harmesy was fantastic on the weekend."

Mmmm, very tempered.

 'I thought his effort and ability to show strong effort over four quarters meant he was clearly one of our best players. Although there are some areas of his game we’re still working on'

9 minutes ago, binman said:

 'I thought his effort and ability to show strong effort over four quarters meant he was clearly one of our best players. Although there are some areas of his game we’re still working on'

Compared to the "effusive" raps on Melksham

Plapp "The only downside to his game was that he kicked four behinds and really could’ve finished the day with a top game"

I assume that by saying he could have finished the day with a top game, that he is saying that he didn't.

6 minutes ago, ManDee said:

Compared to the "effusive" raps on Melksham

Plapp "The only downside to his game was that he kicked four behinds and really could’ve finished the day with a top game"

I assume that by saying he could have finished the day with a top game, that he is saying that he didn't.

Ok. You win. I still think Melk is ahead of Harmes in terms of getting a senior call up. 

I think "no change"

4 minutes ago, binman said:

Ok. You win. I still think Melk is ahead of Harmes in terms of getting a senior call up. 

I have been underwhelmed by Melksham to date, Harmes was coming back from a kick to the face in a game he was doing well in. At the moment I prefer Harmes. Sorry not trying to win, more trying to point out both have performed very well at VFL level. You may be right about Melksham being ahead in the coaches mind.

Wagner has been disappointing since returning to the AFL side IMO. He has been a touch slow, his disposal has been inconsistent and he is going up for marking contests unnecessarily at times. He will probably get another chance based on the height in North's forward line, but it could depend on the role of Tom McDonald this week.

I would be surprised if Hunt plays and would see Melksham as his likely replacement.

While I am not really a fan, I think ANB was stiff to be dropped and could easily replace Hannan or Kent. Likewise Harmes.

12 minutes ago, ManDee said:

I have been underwhelmed by Melksham to date, Harmes was coming back from a kick to the face in a game he was doing well in. At the moment I prefer Harmes. Sorry not trying to win, more trying to point out both have performed very well at VFL level. You may be right about Melksham being ahead in the coaches mind.

All good MD, was jesting with the you win comment. As i said i reckon Melksham is ahead right now not by much. Very similar players actually. They go hard. Can play HB, mid, wing and even up forward. Both kick a long ball but both can turn the ball over quite a bit and i don't think either are the sharpest tools in the shed. Melksham has a fair bit of AFL experience, which perhaps gives him an edge.

I hope Hunt is okay to play. Having him out with Gawn and Hogan depletes us of quality. North are not a bad side on occasions.

33 minutes ago, ManDee said:

I have been underwhelmed by Melksham to date, Harmes was coming back from a kick to the face in a game he was doing well in. At the moment I prefer Harmes. Sorry not trying to win, more trying to point out both have performed very well at VFL level. You may be right about Melksham being ahead in the coaches mind.

From this article (note: no firewall):

James Harmes is best placed to earn recall after lighting up VFL affiliate with 40+ disposals, while Jake Melksham, Alex Neale-Bullen and Billy Stretch could also be considered.

“All those guys will be considered, Jake Melksham’s coming back from suspension after a playing a really good VFL game so he’s also in the mix as well,” Goodwin said.

 

“Clearly the guys that went out there on the weekend performed really well so our changes will be limited.”

 

Edited May 18, 20178 yr by binman

Melksham is struggling to get back to his best (which I'm not sure was that wonderful at Essendon) so far this year. I agree that a run on the wing/midfield or even a forward flank might be worth a try. I hope he improves and proves me wrong, but his start to the year in the 1's was unimpressive. 

4 hours ago, Fifty-5 said:

I think "no change"

Agree. If not broken, don't fix 

Would have Harmes over Melksham in a heartbeat. And I'm not even much of a Harmes fan.

4 hours ago, Fifty-5 said:

I think "no change"

Fully agree.  I was at Adelaide last year for the Port game and last week.  There were clear similarities with the way Frost played and last week I thought Wagner did miss a few handball targets , but I could see looking end to end the backline starting to come together. Wagner's tackling was great. 

Downside is as David king said we have a few backs that can't hit targets 100%,  but at least Hibberd is brilliantly filling the role.

 

FWIT - I love Dom Tyson's work.

7 hours ago, binman said:

From this article (note: no firewall):

James Harmes is best placed to earn recall after lighting up VFL affiliate with 40+ disposals, while Jake Melksham, Alex Neale-Bullen and Billy Stretch could also be considered.

“All those guys will be considered, Jake Melksham’s coming back from suspension after a playing a really good VFL game so he’s also in the mix as well,” Goodwin said.

 

“Clearly the guys that went out there on the weekend performed really well so our changes will be limited.”

 

Watched Goody's press conference and thought it interesting that the press didn't ask about Melksham but Goody made sure he said that he was "in the mix as well." Based on this I think Melksham will be in the squad of 25 tonight and in the team depending on Hunt's test on Saturday.

Melksham, Harmes and ANB added to squad. No outs as yet.