5 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

What isn't very clear is what his new role is.  Sometimes he is on the wing, sometimes in the middle.  If only playing 65% game time and being moved around he has little chance to settle into any role.

I agree about giving Petracca a chop out.  He played 95%, a huge workload all credit to him for lifting the team in the last qtr.

Game time for mids and wings: Jones (81%), Oliver (88%), Langdon (90%) and Viney (82%.

Harmes could have done a shutdown job on any of the midfielders or wingmen.  Both he and Brayshaw could have relieved any of those mids/wings.

Interestingly,  like Brayshaw, Harmes also played 65% (his game time has been trending down for 4-5 weeks).  Given that we have a game in a few days one would think the coaches would have spread the work load a bit more.

Something odd is happening with which players get game time and which don't.  All a bit of a mystery.

It's a great point LH, i was deliberately vague in my first post because like you, i've got no idea what his role actually is. 

the sooner that becomes clearer will hopefully be when we notice an improvement in gus's game. 

As for Harmesy i totally agree, the sooner he gets back to being a full time tagger, the better not just for team but for him as an individual. 

It is quite possible that the reason Jones was brought in and that Brayshaw is out there playing limited time in a non-ideal role is part of preparation for the hectic pace likely for the second half of the season.  We will surely be giving some players rests at unpredictable times and having the extra couple of possible 'grunts' ready to go will be important.

None of it is ideal and there's no mistaking that Brayshaw is fumbly and lacking the alertness that was a feature of his best football, but he may become very important, very soon.

 

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

 

mate. its your job to talk about it.. just be honest! then you won't have to talk about it anymore. 

11 minutes ago, Rocky said:

mate. its your job to talk about it.. just be honest! then you won't have to talk about it anymore. 

Rubbish. His job is to coach the Melbourne Football Club. In this instance, he's protecting his player.

18 minutes ago, A F said:

Rubbish. His job is to coach the Melbourne Football Club. In this instance, he's protecting his player.

no [censored]! his protection isn't working. something stinks. if its not his job to talk about why one of our key players is playing dramatically reduced minutes, then why even bother attending press conferences?! 

 

23 minutes ago, Rocky said:

no [censored]! his protection isn't working. something stinks. if its not his job to talk about why one of our key players is playing dramatically reduced minutes, then why even bother attending press conferences?! 

There isn't a conspiracy behind every single door mate. It may well turn out that we're managing him through something, but what's the point of speculating? I certainly wouldn't want Goodwin telling opposition clubs why he's on reduced minutes. That's bloody stupid IMO.

Agree there is no need to provide a running commentary, but if Gus's form continues in it's current fashion, something will need to be said sooner rather than later.

22 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Agree there is no need to provide a running commentary, but if Gus's form continues in it's current fashion, something will need to be said sooner rather than later.

Disagree anything much needs to be said. Just drop him if he's not meeting KPIs, as per any other player.

2 hours ago, Rocky said:

no [censored]! his protection isn't working. something stinks. if its not his job to talk about why one of our key players is playing dramatically reduced minutes, then why even bother attending press conferences?! 

 

um because its mandatory from the AFL that all AFL coaches do a press conference once a week..

You're looking very stupid here..

On 7/27/2020 at 6:45 PM, whatwhatsaywhat said:

Salem underperforming? Not sure I can agree with that

I reckon he has only had one really good game. The first 4 or 5 he was doing his dinky chips only putting teammates into trouble.. No penetration and his aggression and endeavour was missing

This bloke is an insult to the jumper 

Should have been dropped 3 weeks ago. Slow, sloppy weak.

7 minutes ago, GCDee said:

Should have been dropped 3 weeks ago. Slow, sloppy weak.

Not weak, but yeah, slow & sloppy

Hey Dees fans,

 

First of all this isn't a smack brayshaw post.  He has been my favourite player for a long time.

But the fact of the matter is he is a gun bull midfielder and looks to be behind Viney, Trac and Oliver. Fair enough.  Unfortunately Brayshaw struggles in any other position,  he can be a top 20 mid if he plays there.

If we aren't going to use him in the midfield he is too good to be a back up, we have Harmes, Vanders, Sparrow, salem and the like for that.

Brayshaw will have alot of value and we need to be bold or we will go around in another 7 year loop and get no where, our back line is good, our midfield is good (inside), our fwd line needs the delivery to see if they are any good.  The biggest thing we lack is class and polish.  

Could we be bold and try put a big deal including brayshaw and get a Whitfield(or someone of the like).

We need ball users! 

 

I've been saying since last year that our midfield is unbalanced and we need to trade one of Brayshaw or Viney and get in someone who is more rounded. We're got too many see ball get ball inside types, and lack rounded midfielders who can both win ball and use it well. We're now using Brayshaw on a wing like we did for Jones, Tyson, Lewis and other before him. It's not working. It hasn't worked for years now, yet the coaches keep trying to plug a round hole with a square peg. Supporters who believe this is the best list we've had are braindead. We're potentially going back to back bottom four and have one of the worst forward lines to take the field this century. Our list is average, and coaching group is rubbish.

I'm all for trading Brayshaw or letting Viney go through free agency if we get a first rounder back. Look at how Port drafted two years back: Rozee, Butters, Duursma. All rounded players with skill, pace and hardness who have an impact in multiple positions. I believe we drafted poorly last year with the picks we had available in the first round. I was vocal about it at the time and am unfortunately being proven right. Time to start making bold list changes. We have a nucleus to build around so we don't need to go full rebuild mode, but we do need to make some strong calls on favorite players. That may mean trading Brayshaw.

The whole side is unbalanced, no doubt about it

There is talent there, but it is being used (or given) unevenly

last night was off from the first bounce

disgraceful

4 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

I'm all for trading Brayshaw or letting Viney go through free agency if we get a first rounder back.

Brayshaw would get you a mid second round and we might need to pay part of his salary.

Because of the formula Viney may get us more but I think it would alienate many supporters.

No easy fix

Agree on our drafting, Jackson is going to be a great player yes, but we needed Hayden Young

Innovative thinking..... I started the same thread a year ago (Demonland changed the title and topic of my thread unfortunately).

Now convinced it must happen.

 

 

I think Brayshaw will be traded simply because he is in my favourite player list.

I've already had to remove Frosty. 

Question marks remain over Hunt and Helmet. 

Soon the only one left will be Fritzl

3 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Brayshaw would get you a mid second round and we might need to pay part of his salary.

Because of the formula Viney may get us more but I think it would alienate many supporters.

No 

I doubt that very much, he would get snapped up traight away and clubs will pay for him!

Freo would be hot on him i recon, yeh its Viney or Brayshaw, I think viney has stepped up this year,  brayshaw could have but hast had the opportunity.

How much better are we with just Bennell in the side? He adds that skill and polish we desperately lack.

Get rid of BOTH Brayshaw & Oliver. Still have Viney, Harmes, Petracca, Sparrow in the middle.

We need skillful & pacy mids who can kick.

Essenden are in the hunt for a big bodied mid. They have Shiel, Merrit, Devon Smith and McGrath who are all around that 180cm mark. Perhaps they would offload their 1st rounder for Brayshaw. 

Him and about 20 others. Totally disillusioned after last night.