16 minutes ago, SPC said:

Over the last few weeks he has been.. Terrible kick and runs around in circles.. He is the worst player i have seen in a Melbourne jumper over the last 20 years. Big shout out to Shane Valenti.

Either you haven't seen many of the players in the last 20 years or you have a strange assessment criteria. Are you claiming Stretch is worse than Tom Gillies, James Sellar, Troy Davis, Jace Bode, Isaac Weetra, Tom McNamara...(I could go on)?

I don't mean to disrespect any player I've just mentioned, but let's stop being so emotive and be a bit more realistic in our criticisms. 

6 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Either you haven't seen many of the players in the last 20 years or you have a strange assessment criteria. Are you claiming Stretch is worse than Tom Gillies, James Sellar, Troy Davis, Jace Bode, Isaac Weetra, Tom McNamara...(I could go on)?

I don't mean to disrespect any player I've just mentioned, but let's stop being so emotive and be a bit more realistic in our criticisms. 

Its a pity you actually have to explain this to thr usual simpletons in a well thought out way.

Stop talking sense  LDVC.

Some thoughts:

Play TMAC back, put Frost on the wing, and bring in Weids to partner smith in the 50.  TMac out if he cant run (looked like he really struggled against the giants)

Trac and Brayshaw to play High HF roles, to deliver inside 50.

Mids of Max, Viney Oliver Harmes and Jones (as relief/burst rotating with Brayshaw). Harmes to run with as needed.

I would have said Lewis back in, but he is rubbed out.  We could use Lever in this role to cut his teeth back in the seniors until he is ready to become the focal defender.  Would be a good balance with Hore and Lever intercept marking, and TMAC and OMac locking down.

Salem straight back in.

Garlett under the pump.  Gotta stop the cute kicks, and just do the basics well (drop punts).  Hunt and maybe ANB close to goal.

Petty and probably spargo straight out.

Stretch - either play on fast, or go back to Casey.  You are killing is by slowing the game every time you get the ball.

Hey all,

A few of us are making the pilgrimage to the Top End this weekend!  

Firstly, the Dees will win.  You heard it first.  21 points.

Secondly, I have a spare grandstand seat, so if you need one, or know anyone that does, let me know.

Thirdly, it’s a big weekend in sport, with the mighty Spurs trying to knock Liverpool off in the Champions League.  I have arranged for the SkyCity Sportsbar to have the game on (kickoff 4.30am Darwin time, Sunday morning), even though the bar itself will be shut.  So my bro and I are planning a big post-win celebration, followed by the game at the casino.  All welcome to join!

This is a game and an environment where you need clean players mor ethan ever.. So Jeffy is a must to stay in. ANB should not come back in for this reason.. he cant handle a dry ball, same as Stretch. 

The ball will spend a lot of time on the deck, play smalls, dont get sucked in. Keep Tim Smith, Weid needs another game of form for mine. 

4 hours ago, Demon17 said:

Good call.  Darwin at night is similar to wet weather footy.

I think worse/slipperier...   and with all the sweat and oils on the footy,  its not really a game for overhead marking.  The ball will be on the deck, much more often.... and the conditions sapping for the running players. 

So more running players to lessen the load,  on them.

Remembering that this game will effect the legs,  for at least a week,  following the match.

 

And definitely NOT the game to have our long-term injured play in,  on the way back.

 

I would want Lever to play in regular games...  whilst his body is adjusting and building match condition strength,  back into his weakened legs. 

Sapping games like this,  are IMO,  not want someone who has been out for 3 months or more,  to return in.  

I think that is a recipe,  for another leg injury in this game or the following week.

 

Leave those long term leg injuries,  to return after Darwin... Please Melbourne.

40 minutes ago, Demon3 said:

This is a game and an environment where you need clean players mor ethan ever.. So Jeffy is a must to stay in. ANB should not come back in for this reason.. he cant handle a dry ball, same as Stretch. 

The ball will spend a lot of time on the deck, play smalls, dont get sucked in. Keep Tim Smith, Weid needs another game of form for mine. 

ANB should definitely not play...

2 minutes ago, DV8 said:

I think worse/slipperier...   and with all the sweat and oils on the footy,  its not really a game for overhead marking.  The ball will be on the deck, much more often.... and the conditions sapping for the running players. 

So more running players to lessen the load,  on them.

Remembering that this game will effect the legs,  for at least a week,  following the match.

 

And definitely NOT the game to have our long-term injured play in,  on the way back.

 

I would want Lever to play in regular games...  whilst his body is adjusting and building match condition strength,  back into his weakened legs. 

Sapping games like this,  are IMO,  not want someone who has been out for 3 months or more,  to return in.  

I think that is a recipe,  for another leg injury in this game or the following week.

 

Leave those long term leg injuries,  to return after Darwin... Please Melbourne.

ANB should definitely play.

That's clear, then.

 

23 hours ago, bing181 said:

In his two AFL matches this year, Preuss has taken a total of 4 marks.

Tim Smith: 3 matches for 10 marks.

Sam Weideman, even down on form: 6 matches for 22 marks.

If you want to consolidate marking capability you pick those guys ahead of Preuss.

How about some other stats? 2 games, 4 goals straight. 2 games, 1 win (which is sad to point out, I know, but such is the state of our season). Last game in seniors v Saints: 2 goals, 15 touches, 16 hit outs.

The bloke can co-exist with Gawn, can actually free him and T-Mac up, as other posters have mentioned. And he’s not afraid to throw his weight around, which is  (i) a vastly underrated trait these days (in terms of the impact it can have on both teammates and opposition players) and (ii) far more than a lot of his teammates are prepared to do at the moment. (See the impact Mumford’s return is having on the Giants this year.)

The coaches would probably base his continued omission on their preference for players with more mobility, run and spread, defensive accountability especially on transition etc. They might also think Max in his current form doesn’t need any support.

But I would take the ’one trick’ of Preuss - if that means his size, physicality, tap rucking skills, kicking ability, role as a foil for Max and T-Mac, extra marking option (other than Max, which is sooooo effing predictable) for that get-out-of-jail kick from defence or along the boundary line - over all that right now, particularly when our work rate when we don’t have the ball is absolutely crap anyway. He isn’t going to make that side of our game any worse now, is he, while making other aspects of our game better.

Top team Geelong are playing two rucks at the moment. Premiers West Coast play two rucks, as well as super coach Clarko (in other words, the tactic works and you can build a proven finals-winning game plan around it). Why can’t we, especially when our two could arguably develop into the best pair of the lot of the current crop?

19 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

The is my opinion only not mail but I'm very confident in it:

Brayshaw's on the wing because he's too slow and lazy in transition running and butchered the ball in the midfield. He lost the trust of the coaches to be around the footy. It helps if your wingers are quick but it's not vital these days as long as they run hard and keep in position. Slower, unaccountable inside mids get torched and Gus wasn't keeping up with the play. He'd get 30 but they'd do nothing and his many would get 35. Decision making and transition running are easier on the wing.

I think you're probably right there, Brayshaw's move out of the centre coincided strongly with Goodwin talking about us improving our defensive play.  Inability or unwillingness to run to defend is also a liability on the wing though.  This is probably my biggest concern this season - hopefully they can sort this out with Brayshaw.

Preuss is an automatic selection for Darwin simply on the basis of resting Max during the game.

It will not tell us much about playing both but if it even looks like working I would repeat the experiment against Collingwood.

Preuss is not instead of Smith or Weideman he's in addition to one of those two.

The cost is in one less mid on the bench.

28 minutes ago, Ben E said:

The coaches would probably base his continued omission on

... the fact that he's been injured and/or carrying an injury and/or coming back from an injury.

22 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

I think you're probably right there, Brayshaw's move out of the centre coincided strongly with Goodwin talking about us improving our defensive play.  Inability or unwillingness to run to defend is also a liability on the wing though.  This is probably my biggest concern this season - hopefully they can sort this out with Brayshaw.

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. 

He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. 

Wing is definitely not the long term answer and the diminishing results the last few weeks make me think Gus absolutely knows that. I'd think about using him as a tagger, although the question then becomes does Harmes have the smarts to be a ball winner or do we use him elsewhere. 

10 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. 

He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. 

He did have a back injury which significantly hampered his pre-season I believe.

19 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. 

He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. 

Wing is definitely not the long term answer and the diminishing results the last few weeks make me think Gus absolutely knows that. I'd think about using him as a tagger, although the question then becomes does Harmes have the smarts to be a ball winner or do we use him elsewhere. 

You don't want to put him back in the middle?

I wonder whether Brayshaw is a victim of the inability of Jones to play on the wing. My suspicion is that the coaches thought that the joint output of Brayshaw on the wing and Jones in the middle would be better than Brayshaw in the middle and Jones on the wing. I have no doubt that Jones has been better with the shift; but at the expense of Brayshaw. I'd put Brayshaw back in the middle and Jones in the forward pocket and find someone else for the wing.

24 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

He did have a back injury which significantly hampered his pre-season I believe.

If I can recall correctly he started the preseason healthy, then lost a few weeks in rehab before getting back in to the main group ahead of many others. The injury wouldn't have helped but he did more than enough sessions to be ready to go. And he was in terms of ball winning but clearly hadn't improved at using the ball nor his defensive running.

14 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

You don't want to put him back in the middle?

I wonder whether Brayshaw is a victim of the inability of Jones to play on the wing. My suspicion is that the coaches thought that the joint output of Brayshaw on the wing and Jones in the middle would be better than Brayshaw in the middle and Jones on the wing. I have no doubt that Jones has been better with the shift; but at the expense of Brayshaw. I'd put Brayshaw back in the middle and Jones in the forward pocket and find someone else for the wing.

I'd try him back in the middle as a ball winner but if it clearly isn't working then tagging would be the next step. Depending on availability of other players I'd probably try to use Jones forward/wing and on ball. I don't think at this stage of his career he was moved to play better. Jones is in the side to do what he can to help the team win, I doubt they are concerned about making him look good by putting him on ball. I think he was moved purely to provide some defensive run and has done a pretty decent job of it.

 

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. 

He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. 

Wing is definitely not the long term answer and the diminishing results the last few weeks make me think Gus absolutely knows that. I'd think about using him as a tagger, although the question then becomes does Harmes have the smarts to be a ball winner or do we use him elsewhere. 

I remember reading a story on how the Brayshaw bothers have a tradition of doing 100x100,  metre sprints on Christmas Day. A top effort in the off season but I cannot relate that to not doing enough two way running as Goodwin says.

2 minutes ago, Sorry kids said:

I remember reading a story on how the Brayshaw bothers have a tradition of doing 100x100,  metre sprints on Christmas Day. A top effort in the off season but I cannot relate that to not doing enough two way running as Goodwin says.

A simple change will fix it. Instead of doing 100x100 in one direction, they should do 50 in one direction and 50 the other.

I'll now sit back and wait for a call from someone from North Melbourne offering me the senior coaching job. It's insights like this that are clearly missing at that club.

1 minute ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

A simple change will fix it. Instead of doing 100x100 in one direction, they should do 50 in one direction and 50 the other.

I'll now sit back and wait for a call from someone from North Melbourne offering me the senior coaching job. It's insights like this that are clearly missing at that club.

First class thinking coach.

6 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

ANB should definitely not play...

ANB should definitely play.

That's clear, then.

 

 

I think its a game for players who love physicality,  because there should be plenty of loose ball to win,  and body on body imv,  is a must.

I think tSmith should do well with his low centre of gravity...  I'm concerned for any who don't want to lay some body on opponents.  I think we need players good below knees...  and as many good kicks,  as we can find.

 

3 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

I remember reading a story on how the Brayshaw bothers have a tradition of doing 100x100,  metre sprints on Christmas Day. A top effort in the off season but I cannot relate that to not doing enough two way running as Goodwin says.

Gus didn't participate this year because of a back injury though...

Hopefully Collingwood bring in Cox and we can play Preuss. I know conditions and strategy aren’t right for it but he shouldn’t be wasted at VFL

On 5/26/2019 at 8:57 PM, picket fence said:

Ok what conditions actually suit Pruess??

Recruited for ???????? Plays several games . kicks two goals in two of them, and still in a team berefit of big man strength and physical presence cant get a game??? Spare Me

Has played three games this year (including practice match against pies) We have won them all

45 minutes ago, grazman said:

Gus didn't participate this year because of a back injury though...

Yeah... that's right.   I'd forgotten with all the injury news... this went under radar.

I wonder if that's still a problem for him.   He's a gatherer of possessions...  but his kicks to advantage I think need much work.

Who is better ?    Langdon or Gus ?

.

In: ANB, Salem, Weid, JKH

Out: Spargo, Petty, Smith, C Wagner

Risky call to bring JKH back after one game but i have more faith in him than Wagner at the moment and from all reports he didn’t miss a beat. Unfortunately Wagner has looked lost during our defensive zone set ups from what I have seen of him live. 

9 hours ago, Harrisonrules said:

Has played three games this year (including practice match against pies) We have won them all

Preuss played against St Kilda in rd 5. I thought we lost that game by 40 points but happy to defer to the experts.