Hogan looks set for a big year, touch wood.

And I'm very confident Salem is going to be our big mover this year. Absolutely class ball user.

13 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Don't care if its only preseason.

LOL @ Essendrug

LOL @ Stringers haircut

Will be interesting to see how we will perform when we r under constant pressure from the opposition. 

This will be the big test imo. 

14 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Don't care if its only preseason.

LOL @ Essendrug

And just to add to that..  LOL @ Essendrug for giving us Michael Hibberd and Jake Melksham for picks 30 and 31.

 

12 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Where is Brayshaw’s best position?

Anywhere on the fwd line, preferably as a flanker from the bench to come onto the ground whilst someone else rested; he can then play his terrific 'roving' role and with his usually superb disposal/kicking - and goals on the run - he could become an opposition nightmare. This young fella is quite a gun footballer who has missed many games due to previous injuries. He got hit in the head because he had to be stopped in the past.

A stark contrast to practice games in years gone by where we’ve seen our side underperform/lose the game by some margin, with posters usually defending the performances without really being able to see warning signs either good or bad. (Usually bad up until last year).

Regardless of the fact that these games are not worth points, if a team is fielding a near full-strength side, then these games should be taken seriously from many angles. Individual development, synergy between positional lines, observable gameplan, arousal levels/urgency at contests.

All of those things were on show yesterday which is an enormous positive imo and the warning signs are positive in this case.. I don’t care that North will most likely finish in the bottom five this season. They similarly fielded a strong side and the end score-line flattered them tbh. 

There’s now an obvious and real blueprint in the way we are both playing and talking about ourselves as a club. Whether it’s Jennings in his post AFLX interview last week or Bernie in his interview during yesterday’s match, the line “playing the Melbourne way” is becoming thematic. We’re back it up in the way we’re carrying ourselves on-field. 

Whilst I don’t wish to bring it up as a discussion point, it’s easy to see why Watts was pushed out. A player who simply doesn’t display the traits that Goody and co hold every player accountable to. If you want to create and breed a culture that will stick at a club, everyone needs to display those traits.

I don’t care that it was a JLT game. To me these changes are real and what we’re building is very real as opposed to years previous. The list, personalities, coaches and board are all clearly hell bent on re-branding this club. And I love it. Of course I know there’ll be plenty of downs this along the way and this season especially. But for the first time in many many years, I genuinely love watching us play, the “Melbourne” way.

Go Dees.

Edited February 24, 20187 yr by stevethemanjordan

12 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

We looked good. We were playing the worst team in the comp though so make of it what you will. Loved ANB, Lever, Fritsch & Hogan.

Anyone who watched the game closer than I did able to comment on Fritsch's defensive work? He looked good particular hitting the scoreboard later in the game but if he doesn't have the defensive skillset yet I'd have Bugg in the R1 side over him.

Fritsch does need to apply a bit more fwd defence than that showed against North in the JLT. A little word from Garlett may help as he is a recent improver in this part of the game. Overall, he adds plenty to our talents and potentials, and will benefit from more 'game time' experience at this level. The big bodies up there cannot mark every delivery but can be constructive in tapping, palming and knocking the ball to ground - with Garlett, Hannan, Fritsch and Bugg nearby - to enormous advantage. This may well be a regular role for the big heart of the team: Pedersen.

For those calling for Oscar to be dropped..

He kept Brown to 1 mark for the game. He out marked Brown twice, and hit a target with nearly every kick. 

He got pinged twice for holding but was not conclusive on the telecast. 

He looks stronger and more composed. Like the coaching staff, I’m going to back him in. 

Yet to turn 22, he must be in the top few KPD under that age. 

Good performance against a pretty young side. 

Really liked Harmes, ANB, Melkshem, Oscar and Salem. Bodes well as our improvement will come from these guys. 

With Lewis going off early, our hard running and leg speed really stood out. I’d like to see only one of Tyson, Lewis and Vince in the side. Two at max as I think hard running can be a real strength of ours  this year. 

8 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

the line “playing the Melbourne way” is becoming thematic. We’re back it up in the way we’re carrying ourselves on-field. 

Sure is becoming thematic! Hard for opposition teams to counter, respond to for a recovery of their game plan and change the pattern of an impending loss. Great to see, once again, after all these years.

3 minutes ago, The team we love said:

Good performance against a pretty young side. 

Really liked Harmes, ANB, Melkshem, Oscar and Salem. Bodes well as our improvement will come from these guys. 

With Lewis going off early, our hard running and leg speed really stood out. I’d like to see only one of Tyson, Lewis and Vince in the side. Two at max as I think hard running can be a real strength of ours  this year. 

Good point, 'hard running'. It is a real feature even in pursuit of a clear, opposition possession.

Just finished watching the game had it recorded, was a really good team effort can’t fault anyone I thought Oscar played well once him and lever gel more they will get much better, Salem could be in for a good year he is just silk tough to pick a round 1 side with a few guns still to come back in can’t wait to see our next game 

14 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

And yet Fox Footy spent 10 minutes after the game talking them up.

Whilst appreciative of the availability of the Foxtel broadcasts, it is time that its commentators concentrated on the essentials of the game. Sometimes, I feel that comments are way off the mark and often, a noticeable bias and even a prejudice arises. There even seems to be an urgency to be controversially sensational, similar to placing a bet on an a roughie in the last should the nag get up. It would be interesting to review such accuracies over time.

46 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

And just to add to that..  LOL @ Essendrug for giving us Michael Hibberd and Jake Melksham for picks 30 and 31.

 

That addition to our skills base of Melksham and Hibberd in one fell swoop was an act of genius. 

26 minutes ago, The team we love said:

For those calling for Oscar to be dropped..

He kept Brown to 1 mark for the game. He out marked Brown twice, and hit a target with nearly every kick. 

He got pinged twice for holding but was not conclusive on the telecast. 

He looks stronger and more composed. Like the coaching staff, I’m going to back him in. 

Yet to turn 22, he must be in the top few KPD under that age. 

Who is calling him to be dropped? He is a lock best 22 and will be a mainstay of this side for the next 10 years. Ther will be a fair bit of humble pie eating on DL. 

I'm looking forward to comments like 'playing well now, but needed to step up', 'where has this been?', 'he was lucky we had dearth of KPDs', "he was gifted games so he should be repaying us"  blah blah blah.

For anyone with an ounce of football knowledge his ability has been obvious since his firt game and his development clear, Which is why he has been in the side bar being dropped once, for one game, since his debut. Good thing the footy department have more than ounce of footy knowledge

 I did see that Deemania56 has selected a side for JLT2 and has dropped him.  Which gives me some hope that poster might have the fortitude to take my long standing bet. Walk the talk so t speak. We'll see. 

17 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Whilst appreciative of the availability of the Foxtel broadcasts, it is time that its commentators concentrated on the essentials of the game. Sometimes, I feel that comments are way off the mark and often, a noticeable bias and even a prejudice arises. There even seems to be an urgency to be controversially sensational, similar to placing a bet on an a roughie in the last should the nag get up. It would be interesting to review such accuracies over time.

Spot on Deemania. Anthony Hudson was starting to give me the "willies" during the  call. He is not the only one with a bias against Melbourne. Have spoken to Johnathan Brown over golf and he is very upbeat over Melbourne.

I agree with STMJ that there are plenty of useful things to take out of any JLT match. But in a JLT game against the current wooden spoon favourite, conclusions drawn out of the game (whether positive or negative) can be overblown.

What I'm enjoying at the moment is the shape of our forward line. We are developing a group of mid-sized forwards who can each take a strong mark (Melksham, Harmes, Petracca, Hannan, now Fritsch too, Brayshaw's a good mark as well). If we can find multiple avenues to goal through marks inside 50 that aren't just Hogan, that should hopefully assist in one of our biggest 2017 problems, which was converting inside 50s to scores.

 

2 hours ago, Forest Demon said:

Hogan looks set for a big year, touch wood.

And I'm very confident Salem is going to be our big mover this year. Absolutely class ball user.

Agree, Salem was one of our best against North.

3 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I agree with STMJ that there are plenty of useful things to take out of any JLT match. But in a JLT game against the current wooden spoon favourite, conclusions drawn out of the game (whether positive or negative) can be overblown.

What I'm enjoying at the moment is the shape of our forward line. We are developing a group of mid-sized forwards who can each take a strong mark (Melksham, Harmes, Petracca, Hannan, now Fritsch too, Brayshaw's a good mark as well). If we can find multiple avenues to goal through marks inside 50 that aren't just Hogan, that should hopefully assist in one of our biggest 2017 problems, which was converting inside 50s to scores.

 

That is a very good assertion. Yesterday, we did 'bomb' to a fwd line pack once or twice too often resulting in painful clearances whereas gaps and players existed in a more-focussed percentage game just a little short of this destination. Eyes up - these opportunities may well have been better exploited. 

22 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Whilst appreciative of the availability of the Foxtel broadcasts, it is time that its commentators concentrated on the essentials of the game. Sometimes, I feel that comments are way off the mark and often, a noticeable bias and even a prejudice arises. There even seems to be an urgency to be controversially sensational, similar to placing a bet on an a roughie in the last should the nag get up. It would be interesting to review such accuracies over time.

Watch with the sound turned off. All you need to know is who has it and where on the ground it is. You can see that for yourself.

If you need deeper analysis, then (i) do you really trust the commentators to provide anything meaningful? They prefer cliches and sensation; (ii) entertain yourself by making it up. You're bound to be as accurate as the paid commentators if not more so.

Does anyone really need the commentators hyping up the context of the game? One of their KPIs is to keep the "excitement level" up to stop neutrals from changing channels.

 

(PS. when I say "you", I mean "people in general")

1 minute ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Watch with the sound turned off. All you need to know is who has it and where on the ground it is. You can see that for yourself.

If you need deeper analysis, then (i) do you really trust the commentators to provide anything meaningful? They prefer cliches and sensation; (ii) entertain yourself by making it up. You're bound to be as accurate as the paid commentators if not more so.

Does anyone really need the commentators hyping up the context of the game? One of their KPIs is to keep the "excitement level" up to stop neutrals from changing channels.

 

(PS. when I say "you", I mean "people in general")

Thanks, MR. I find myself doing just that - most of the time. Ex-footballing commentators should have better morality. You posit these points very well.

I personally loved seeing Hogan in the midfield occasionally. This is just another example of how hard we are going to be to match up against. Almost every player has another string to their bow and this just makes us really unpredictable. Try matching up a defender on hogan when we can just swing him into the midfield and rotate Trac in there instead. 

As we’ve seen Clarrie is attracting a tag now, how is that going to work out when we have such midfield depth and with his hands we could easily rotate him into the forward line to break the tag. He can swap with Melksham, Trac, Harmes, ANB, the list just goes on and on and they can all play a role in the midfield.

The added bonus is with Fritsch and Hannan around, it doesn’t matter if Hogan and/or TMac get double teamed to take them out of the game, they are both so good overhead we can still pull in marks inside 50. I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I am very excited about this year.

Bring it on!

8 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

I personally loved seeing Hogan in the midfield occasionally. This is just another example of how hard we are going to be to match up against.

 

The thing I like about it is that Hogan is one of those players who builds confidence with every touch. And the benefits of this are twofold, one he will be more damaging up forward after getting his hands on it in the middle, and secondly we are less likely to see him rotting away at full forward getting frustrated, with the body language issues we sometimes get with Hogan.

I feel like the wider footy media have forgotten just how good he can be. A lot of talk around Lynch, Daniher and a couple of others, but Hogan could potentially be the best of the lot.

liked what I saw.

guys like harmes, hannan, melksham ANB etc.get a tough time on this board but they make our team competitive. 

getting rid of watts and adding guys that hunt the footy is going to do wonders for our team. 

i want it to go on record to say that ive always beena fan of harmes and melksham when no-one else has. 

on a separate note, pederson is going to be at casey unfortunately but hogan needs to pull his finger out. if he demonstrates any lack of defensive pressure or poor body language i'd kick him back to the 2's for pedo. pedo showed last year that his performance ceiling is just as high if not more than hogan 

It has been said, but Norf were vomitously bad.  Our systems and style were deployed without suffocating pressure, and we could look like pure class.  Hopefully the systems stand up to pressure in JLT2 against th3 Saints, who are supposed to be ‘similar’ in class/ ladder position as us.  That will give us a better idea.  However, great to have a 24 man AFLX game as a warm up to JLT2.