Gus's workrate has jumped quite a bit the last two weeks as well! for anyone who watches the replay, pay attention to where GUS is he's really moving well and working his [censored] off, and getting rewards. 

it's really encouraging signs that our mids seem to be all coming into form at the right time

On 8/15/2020 at 1:23 PM, Action Jackson said:

With both Sparrow and Jordon waiting in the wings as potential quality inside mids, I think we should definitely consider trading Brayshaw, but only if it's a genuine win-win and not for a draft pick. We need an instant best 22 outside runner. So looking through teams that need quality on-ballers these are the options I'd consider:

Sydney - Oliver Florent straight swap. Would absolutely do this and they need a replacement for Kennedy inside.

Essendon - Darcy Parish springs to mind as an outside runner. Prefer Florent but not out of the question.

Carlton - Zac Fisher could be an option here, thought I'd want something additional back.

Fremantle - Adam Cerra. Hasn't really got going yet at Freo but maybe a move back home will help ignite his career.

Saints - in the hunt for another midfielder so may come knocking. Can't see what they can offer as a direct swap other than someone like Hunter Clark but that isn't happening. May need to be a first round pick plus someone like Sinclair.

My preference would be in the following order:

1. Florent

2. Parish

3. Cerra

4. Fisher

5. Whatever Saints offer

 

You  have suggested Jordon and Sparrow are in the wings, Gus is a proven AFL High caliber player heading into his prime with similar  aged midfielders to partner....why prefer a yet to debut and a 5 game player (roughly). The lure of youth and picks is crazy. 
 

lappin, Black, Voss , aker all seemed to share well enough.

Let’s hope we can enjoy the ride.

Go Dees!

12 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

He’s definitely spent more time around the middle of the ground the past few weeks. Here’s  his heat map vs Collingwood. He’s been good filling defensive holes and definitely stopped the Pies moving through the corridor more.

 

Many, many thanks LT.  I didn't notice Gus patrolling the middle so much in prior weeks but it stood out this week.  Good to know my eyes aren't deceiving me.

I really like him patrolling the centre square area.  It helps us control the corridor as he is a smart football, reads the play well and can dispose on his left and right by hand or by foot.  And has recently snapped goals from teh 50m line.  He is a dangerous player stationed in the middle and Ops are less likely to risk going there with him lurking in wait.

I like it also because it helps keep our attacking structures when the ball is in transition:  the wings can stay on their side and Gus can act as link man with them and the other mids going past. 

The other thing I like about it is it helps us keep the ops to the boundary with little room to move.  It is what Port did to us.  It was like a sardine can along the boundary in that game.

So the way I read it,  Gus is not only playing that inside/outside mid role he is also a cornerstone of our defensive and attacking structures. 

Maybe it is no coincidence that our scoring and our defence improvement in recent weeks has been while Gus is patrolling the centre.

Edited August 16, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

9 hours ago, whitito said:

You  have suggested Jordon and Sparrow are in the wings, Gus is a proven AFL High caliber player heading into his prime with similar  aged midfielders to partner....why prefer a yet to debut and a 5 game player (roughly). The lure of youth and picks is crazy. 
 

lappin, Black, Voss , aker all seemed to share well enough.

Let’s hope we can enjoy the ride.

Go Dees!

I agree and I personally think they can work together and did a lot better on the weekend.

Let's hope they can carry on that form and take it to the Dogs, who I think struggle when the hit is applied. The Crows put on almost no pressure yesterday, so Dogs had it easy.

 

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Pickett2Jackson

On 8/16/2020 at 3:33 PM, jnrmac said:

Or is it the other way around?

I personally don't believe this is the case.  He relies a lot on others to bring him into the game, and when our team defence is performing it tends to mask Gus' deficiencies in that area.

He is a smart offensive footballer.

 

Edited August 20, 20204 yr by Guest

He definitely looks better when he’s patrolling through the middle of the ground. Interesting that his efficiency has improved as well, makes you wonder about how much of a difference lower confidence plays on every facet of a players game. 

I’d always had him as quite a good user of the footy until this year where he was absolutely butchering kicks. North and the Pies is definitely more what I remember from him. 

54 minutes ago, Pates said:

the footy until this year where he was absolutely butchering

His  goal  from the 50 was superb. Finding and hitting up targets with the precision we saw in 2018. Keep it coming Gus. Love the golf swing.

So much more confidence.

13 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

His  goal  from the 50 was superb. Finding and hitting up targets with the precision we saw in 2018. Keep it coming Gus. Love the golf swing.

So much more confidence.

He kicked that cracker of a goal against North Melbourne as well, hit it so sweetly and it sailed through beautifully. Viney being injured and the midfield being restructured to give him more an opportunity could've been the best thing to happen to him (and the team by extension). Sometimes you create opportunities through best 22 players getting injured, would Weid have come on as strongly had he continued to share the forward line with TMac in those first few games back? Could we find something new with Preuss with Gawn and Jacko being out?

55 minutes ago, Pates said:

Could we find something new with Preuss with Gawn and Jacko being out?

Probably not?

On 8/17/2020 at 8:37 AM, Action Jackson said:

I agree and I personally think they can work together and did a lot better on the weekend.

Let's hope they can carry on that form and take it to the Dogs, who I think struggle when the hit is applied. The Crows put on almost no pressure yesterday, so Dogs had it easy.

It's all about how Goodwin plays them both, on Saturday both Viney and Gus attended  the centre bounce19 times each, we are  a better and more unpredictable side when both share the Centre, Oliver, Bradshaw and Viney have not played allot together and  have just worked out how to play together. 

Brayshaw, Brayshaw, BRAYSHAW!!!!

FFS.

Edited August 20, 20204 yr by ManDee
It's not that hard is it?

37 minutes ago, ManDee said:

Brayshaw, Brayshaw, BRAYSHAW!!!!

FFS.

Chat to Apple and Co's auto-correct, I think most Bradshaw's come from that.

On 8/17/2020 at 6:36 PM, Pickett2Jackson said:

 

Just reminded me why I don’t watch these shows anymore, cheers.

 

Looks like the club finally found the formula to keep our top 4 midfielders (plus others) in the middle.  AvB is now on a wing and Harmes in defence. 

The new roles work a treat.

MELBOURNE INSIDE MIDFIELD TIME

Player	R1-9	R10-12	Change
Angus Brayshaw	67%	96%	+29%
Jack Viney	93%	90%	-3%
Clayton Oliver	96%	93%	-3%
Aaron vandenBerg	7%	1%	-6%
Christian Petracca	70%	60%	-10%
Tom Sparrow	73%	55%	-18%
James Harmes	27%	0%	-27%

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

 

Marc's been watching this all year, good to see an analysis of all of the midfield tinkering to get to the current mix.

Tells me that the coaching group has been working pretty hard to get the best out of our best, despite how little can appear to have changed on gameday (particularly in our losses).

Also highlights how stats can be overrated in assessing the performance & worth of players like Tomlinson & vanDENBERG. Tomlinson may not be playing full time wing, but he's actually helped solve our wing woes in his current role, and AVB's defensive work on the wing helps release Angus to play more time inside. Those two playing have become pretty important to us playing our best footy for the year. Jonesy doing his bit too, which I thought he did exceptionally well last weekend. 

 

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Looks like the club finally found the formula to keep our top 4 midfielders (plus others) in the middle.  AvB is now on a wing and Harmes in defence. 

The new roles work a treat.

MELBOURNE INSIDE MIDFIELD TIME

Player	R1-9	R10-12	Change
Angus Brayshaw	67%	96%	+29%
Jack Viney	93%	90%	-3%
Clayton Oliver	96%	93%	-3%
Aaron vandenBerg	7%	1%	-6%
Christian Petracca	70%	60%	-10%
Tom Sparrow	73%	55%	-18%
James Harmes	27%	0%	-27%

Would prefer Petracca getting more of those midfield minutes and take more off Sparrow. Trac is a score assist King and to my eye, Sparrow does very little in or out of the contest. Certainly not enough to warrant 55%. 

2 hours ago, A F said:

Would prefer Petracca getting more of those midfield minutes and take more off Sparrow. Trac is a score assist King and to my eye, Sparrow does very little in or out of the contest. Certainly not enough to warrant 55%. 

Agreed.  The figures may be distorted a little because Viney didn't play round 11 so Sparrow filled in there a bit.

Over the last few weeks I've noticed our midfield becoming more about roles (when not attending centre bounces/not resting in another position) than names:

• Wingmen 1 & 2 (AvB and Langdon) play up and down their respective wings and help defend by floating into the backline, sometimes really deep.
• Midfield 1 (Gus) being parked virtually in the middle (see heat map above) where he patrols the corridor stopping their attacking forays which keep them out wide and helping our attacking forays thru the corridor by acting as a link man.
• Midfielder 2 (Petracca) drifts fwd of centre both sides of the ground.
• Midfielder 3 & 4 (Viney and Oliver) - not sure yet what there non CBA/non resting role is.  Will be watching closely today to see if I can work it out.
• Midfielder 5 (Sparrow) rotates with above to the bench or other roles
• Ruckman (Gawn/Preuss) - sit in hole in defence

(Wish I had access to heat maps to test these observations).

Its like the ground has been carved up and each has been allocated sections.  They don't all need to run both ways all day long.  Makes good sense, keeps our ball movement structures in tack while supporting defenders and fwds.  Not to mention it conserves energy and it means that a heap of players aren't all going for the same ball stacks-on-the-mill style.

So we are close to 'one soldier out, one soldier in' be it within a game or week to week.  A strong position to be in.

Edited August 22, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

30 minutes ago, A F said:

Would prefer Petracca getting more of those midfield minutes and take more off Sparrow. Trac is a score assist King and to my eye, Sparrow does very little in or out of the contest. Certainly not enough to warrant 55%. 

I agree with the sentiment. But that would be 55% of Sparrow's time on the ground I'm presuming - which last week was just 55% of total match time. So he's obviously mostly rotating on to give our other blokes a breather - effectively overall one less, but a solid player helping to maximise the output of our champion mids. It looks like he's mostly taken Harmes' minutes too, maybe also allowing for greater back-line stability throughout a match.

Bump.

Topic might be a bit premature to talk about this early in the season considering Angus has just come back from injury, but an article on the AFL website today lists Angus as not attending a single centre bounce with other options preferred including Jordon, Sparrow, Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Pickett and Jones.

His peak form come in 2018 when he played inside mid and seemed to have the best connection with Max in the centre. Obviously there are fitness considerations at the moment but it also widely suggested that we have a number of attacking midfielders with perhaps some less inclined to run hard the other way. So where do we see Angus in our midfield mix now? Jordon and Sparrow are supposedly liked for their defensive intent which compliments the attacking nature of Oliver and Petracca. I'm struggling to place Angus in other positions on the ground where he can excel. Thoughts?

 

13 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Bump.

Topic might be a bit premature to talk about this early in the season considering Angus has just come back from injury, but an article on the AFL website today lists Angus as not attending a single centre bounce with other options preferred including Jordon, Sparrow, Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Pickett and Jones.

His peak form come in 2018 when he played inside mid and seemed to have the best connection with Max in the centre. Obviously there are fitness considerations at the moment but it also widely suggested that we have a number of attacking midfielders with perhaps some less inclined to run hard the other way. So where do we see Angus in our midfield mix now? Jordon and Sparrow are supposedly liked for their defensive intent which compliments the attacking nature of Oliver and Petracca. I'm struggling to place Angus in other positions on the ground where he can excel. Thoughts?

 

He is still recovering from major ankle surgery 

Watched him closely on Saturday. Thought he got better as the game went on and finished strong.

Don’t wingers usually switch sides each quarter? Found it interesting that Gus played the Northern wing most of the game and Langdon stayed on the Southern side. I’d like to see him back in the middle soon but was wondering after seeing him not contest a centre bounce if the coaches truly believe he’s our next best option after Langdon on the wing. 

Also curious if anyone else at the ground saw a pretty animated discussion with May and Gus after Freo kicked a goal punt road end?

4 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Watched him closely on Saturday. Thought he got better as the game went on and finished strong.

Don’t wingers usually switch sides each quarter? Found it interesting that Gus played the Northern wing most of the game and Langdon stayed on the Southern side. I’d like to see him back in the middle soon but was wondering after seeing him not contest a centre bounce if the coaches truly believe he’s our next best option after Langdon on the wing. 

Also curious if anyone else at the ground saw a pretty animated discussion with May and Gus after Freo kicked a goal punt road end?

like you, i felt he finished strongly and overall had a pretty good game considering a limited preseason. Love May's leadership.

On 8/10/2020 at 12:39 AM, A F said:

I'd be dropping Sparrow next week if Viney comes back in. Young player, give him a rest so that we can bring him back in fresher when required.

Viney plays forward, takes forward stoppages and occasional midfield bursts. 

Harmes plays midfield minutes and wing, taking Sparrow's role from tonight.

I feel like we're getting close to finding the right mix. 

If Sparrow gets up again, take out Jones. 

We have to get proper bang for our buck with Gus and Harmes. Viney's a leader, he'll take to a forward role with stoppages minutes.

Yes yes and a BIG BLOODY YES.  Sparrow is promising but just not quite there yet imv.  That's if VINEy is ripe.

Harmes may not be in the greatest of form finish wise but he's pretty close.  He is getting to the right positions more often and confidence/belief slowly returning.

Now its just a matter of finding more "clean touches" and finishing off a little better, including through the big sticks. 

And guess what.  That improvement already appears to be coming with yes, probably a VG pre season, but also i believe it's no coincidence he was played through the middle and forward which seems to be a better fit for him (once he hits best form).

Harmes was one of our best in 2018/2019 drifting forward.  A step back last year but he is an elite two way gut runner, able to hurt his opponent occasionaly the other way, especially later in matches.

Last year's shorter version of the game favoured burst type players and he was also played in a non-familiar role down back much of the time.

I'm holding the faith here.  He has credits in the bank and you don't go from a decent chocolate to boiled lollies in one season for no good reason.

Stick fat with Harmes.  While he may not be a match turner in most matches (occasionaly he might bob up though!), i reckon he'll find his best again, provided Goody doesn't revert to pushing him to a defensive role down back once again.

Keep the faith fellow minions.

Edited March 23, 20214 yr by Rusty Nails