12 minutes ago, praha said:

You're bound to have among the best and worst times as a Melbourne supporter on this site.

Now, what are your thoughts on the Toumpas-Wines fiasco?

 Toumpas-Wines is water under the bridge .... too many what ifs???   Such as IF we got Wines we may have won a game or two more and missed on Oliver or Petracca etc etc (could have got McCartin or Parish ?)

We (should) have moved on from that by now (as we should re NikNat-Watts)

Not much use ever worrying about what one cannot alter, though one should always learn. 

We definitely need some outside skill and pace but more than anything to play on the wing we need guys who can run all day.

At some stage in finals - if we ever make it - we'll come up against Isaac Smith, Kamdyn McIntosh or Scully and we need someone who can match them.

Harmes and Jones are our best options this year. If Viney is back at peak form and we can find the right players in the inside mid and forward mix then those 2 can at least do the running on the wing. That said, I think they are more ball hunters than outside receivers so I'm skeptical long term. 

Fritsch has a lot of traits that would make a good wingman. From preseason he's probably not quite there ready yet to do it week in week out especially on bigger grounds and he's not a noted endurance machine. He's more the second wingman who can move around on the ground not the old fashioned lock a guy in for the far wing type.

Tommy Mc on bigger crowds should be considered to do it more than just for a rotation. To have a reliable mark like Tom leading to the open side would really encourage switching and opening up the ground.

It's also a long year and we shouldn't completely write off Billy Stretch. He's struggled in contests when given a chance the last two years but sometimes guys just start to click and be more confident. He wasn't timid when he first played as an 18 year old so I think he has something to offer. A natural outside runner and whilst his skills are limited he's pretty reliable. I hope he gets in from at Casey that gives him another go.

2 hours ago, monoccular said:

A couple of questions for avid training and Casey watchers.

How are Baker and Balic progressing?  Are these potentially what we need here?

Watching in preseason Baker doesn't have AFL midfield endurance just yet. If he is to play it would be either forward or back flank.

Balic was the least fit player on the list when preseason started. Fitter now, but that's how you end up with plantar fasciitis. He has agility and can find the ball in space, but he'd be far more suited to half forward and rotating on ball than wing.

Hunt's not a wingman either. Half back allows him to use his speed and height to defend and to flip the field and turn defending to attack with pace. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been fully fit all year but I still can't see moving to the wing ever helping that.

36 minutes ago, monoccular said:

 Toumpas-Wines is water under the bridge .... too many what ifs???   Such as IF we got Wines we may have won a game or two more and missed on Oliver or Petracca etc etc (could have got McCartin or Parish ?)

We (should) have moved on from that by now (as we should re NikNat-Watts)

Not much use ever worrying about what one cannot alter, though one should always learn. 

Pretty sure @praha's question was tongue in cheek mate

It's quite nice seeing Saints fans crying into their pillows over McCartin. Imagine passing on both Petracca and Brayshaw. Even watching De Goey would be tough viewing for them. So important to nail those top ten picks.

1 hour ago, praha said:

You're bound to have among the best and worst times as a Melbourne supporter on this site.

Now, what are your thoughts on the Toumpas-Wines fiasco?

Honestly, after moving from Melbourne to Northern NSW in 2011, and given the lack of TV for Melb, and given how c#ap they were, and given other things I was focussing on (getting a farm back into shape), I payed little attention to football beyond GFs until 2015.

So, that's a verbose way of saying, no comment because I don't know.

I saw some highlights of Wines holding the ball in one hand and balking around opposition last week and thought he looked good-as.

 

Edit: OH, I missed the fact it was rhetorical.

Edited May 8, 20187 yr by timbo
Who is Toumpas?

4 hours ago, praha said:

You're bound to have among the best and worst times as a Melbourne supporter on this site.

Now, what are your thoughts on the Toumpas-Wines fiasco?

Or jack watts?

Too far hahaha 

Have we had a half-decent winger since Robbie Flower?

None are popping into my head.

Just now, Demon Disciple said:

Have we had a half-decent winger since Robbie Flower?

None are popping into my head.

 

.

Edited May 8, 20187 yr by Rusty Nails

8 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

The player you are thinking of is Vandenberg

What was this statement associated with, MR? I didn't catch the thread, but I really like Vanders as a player, when fit. So I am interested. 

19 minutes ago, Doodle Dee said:

 

Stinger was excellent, too!

4 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

We definitely need some outside skill and pace but more than anything to play on the wing we need guys who can run all day.

At some stage in finals - if we ever make it - we'll come up against Isaac Smith, Kamdyn McIntosh or Scully and we need someone who can match them.

Harmes and Jones are our best options this year. If Viney is back at peak form and we can find the right players in the inside mid and forward mix then those 2 can at least do the running on the wing. That said, I think they are more ball hunters than outside receivers so I'm skeptical long term. 

Fritsch has a lot of traits that would make a good wingman. From preseason he's probably not quite there ready yet to do it week in week out especially on bigger grounds and he's not a noted endurance machine. He's more the second wingman who can move around on the ground not the old fashioned lock a guy in for the far wing type.

Tommy Mc on bigger crowds should be considered to do it more than just for a rotation. To have a reliable mark like Tom leading to the open side would really encourage switching and opening up the ground.

It's also a long year and we shouldn't completely write off Billy Stretch. He's struggled in contests when given a chance the last two years but sometimes guys just start to click and be more confident. He wasn't timid when he first played as an 18 year old so I think he has something to offer. A natural outside runner and whilst his skills are limited he's pretty reliable. I hope he gets in from at Casey that gives him another go.

DeeSpencer, I can see that with some physical development of the season and into next season, Fritsch has big possibilities as a wingman in the traditional mode, marking, running, intercepting, feeding by foot, etc. His body seems to be quite OK for two-way work all game. Stretch has some of those skills, as well, particularly in the running requirements, and in the old baulk of opponents. 

6 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Stinger was excellent, too!

Favourite moment was against WCE over there and he had one player on his tail on the wing, one coming full tilt front on to shirt front him, took one evasive side step to the centre , and both opponents collected each other... when he was on, he was sublime. Shame about the injuries...

Interesting points were made about the game plan and modern football not really needing line breaking outside midfielders.

I reckon that perhaps the game plan uses accurate ball movement  rather than foot speed to get from one end to the other but I think a Isaac Smith/Lewis Jetta/Peter Matera type could give us an unpredictable edge without compromising what we want to achieve.

The ball movement aspect of our game has come up wanting in wet weather and inclement conditions, let alone against teams who refuse to let us switch to the open side of the ground. Having someone to burn off the opposition could help circumvent this.

Future outside runner?

Three words: Charlie. Spargo.

7 hours ago, timbo said:

I am really glad I found Demonland (thanks Browney!). It is really opening my eyes to footy and is a really insightful read. You guys do an ace job.

(Also, embarrassingly, caused me to sign up as a member for the first time in the 31 years I've been barracking.)

Did Jono Brown mention Demonland did he?

2 hours ago, Danelska said:

Shame about the injuries...

Yep, he could've been really something if not for his injuries.

The list is starting to become quite versatile. For an outside jet I think we go to the draft for that need. The rest of the engine room looks good.

3 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Have we had a half-decent winger since Robbie Flower?

None are popping into my head.

Tingay? S Stretch?

10 hours ago, monoccular said:

Tingay? S Stretch?

Tingay and Stretch Snr would most probably have been the best outside of Robbie Flower. One can never forget - in a very poor team - just how good Stan Alves was - particularly at the MCG - even though that pre-dated Robbie by a few years. 

4 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Tingay and Stretch Snr would most probably have been the best outside of Robbie Flower. One can never forget - in a very poor team - just how good Stan Alves was - particularly at the MCG - even though that pre-dated Robbie by a few years. 

Yes I did forget Alvie’s though the question was post Flower.

(Certainly a far better player than a fourth quarter GF game day coach ?)

Edited May 8, 20187 yr by monoccular

14 hours ago, John Demonic said:

 

Still got his fridge magnet late 90s on fridge.

I used to love yelling out STINGAAA and CHOPPAAA

How much of a lair does he look.

2 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Yes I did forget Alvie’s though the question was post Flower.

(Certainly a far better player than a fourth quarter GF game day coach ?)

Gee, One-eye, be fair. He had his coaching ups and downs, sure, but a decade ago, he would have been better that both Bailey and Neeld for us as a coach. Do you remember - other than his poise, timing, kicking, speed and capacity to run all day - how good Alves' blind turn and side-to-side dodge at full pace matched with his acceleration actually was? No-one ever nailed him - even the best opponents. No-one has ever had a better evasive technique when in possession of the ball, either. Alves' skills and penetration were just magical.

Petracca? Explosive pace, good delivery, clean hands. Fritsch was training as an outside receiver last week. Stretch and Balic have trained in the receiver role at training as well. 

On 5/8/2018 at 10:24 AM, poita said:

You mean the guy who was slow and had poor foot skills before he missed two years of football with a foot injury?

Clearly if you are potting VDB like this you never went to training 2-3 years ago - prior to his ankle problems he was the only guy who could take on Jayden over 50m and have a realistic chance of beating him.

Sure his kicking lacks a bit of penetration, but I'd love to see you in the same room with him and make your comments to him.

A walk up start if he was fit, sadly I suspect his injury is such that he won't be able to crunch the Tigers and Hodgey again.