Just watched "All of the Melbourne Goals" on the club's site. At least six goals were the direct result of Petracca's play.

Three from direct passes to Hannan, TMac (on a good lead where he doubled back and led towards Tracca) and to Fritta.

Three from indirect play through Fritta to Melksham, through Pickett to Fritta and through Brayshaw to Hannan

Quick choice of best option and good delivery.

Six possessions like that are worth more than a haul of crappy possessions.

Let Tracca coach Clarrie on how to get to the right spots and pick the right option. If taught well, Clarrie could do the same standing on his head. He is that good also.

 

 

Our best player now by a mile.   Hes carrying us on his back.   So impressed by his rise to the next level.   Shame his teammates havent followed him. 

8 minutes ago, tiers said:

Just watched "All of the Melbourne Goals" on the club's site. At least six goals were the direct result of Petracca's play.

Three from direct passes to Hannan, TMac (on a good lead where he doubled back and led towards Tracca) and to Fritta.

Three from indirect play through Fritta to Melksham, through Pickett to Fritta and through Brayshaw to Hannan

Quick choice of best option and good delivery.

Six possessions like that are worth more than a haul of crappy possessions.

Let Tracca coach Clarrie on how to get to the right spots and pick the right option. If taught well, Clarrie could do the same standing on his head. He is that good also.

 

 

There is another, as yet unnoticed side to Traccas stats,  from this game just gone.

They are All assists.

 

He is IMO, still risk averse, to try to take it on or break a tackle to take a shot himself. 

I am really happy that he has extracted his digit,  and is starting to receive some fruit for his efforts.   Instead of rissoles.

 

Keep it up Tracca,  and you have a lot more in you,  young buddy     ?

11 minutes ago, GoGetRossLyon said:

Our best player now by a mile.   Hes carrying us on his back.   So impressed by his rise to the next level.   Shame his teammates havent followed him. 

No thanks.

Petracca is going to be  an elite  player for us and finally is showing what he is capable of doing as you have pointed out.

14 possessions in the 1st quarter he kept us in the game as he was everywhere busting his guts as were a few others. 

It took an umpire to stop him by penalizing him for holding the ball even though the Dumb Ump said that he had no prior attempt.

Petrac will  be one of that will help us turn it around. Just have to get the mix right. Stay tuned.

Looking back I don't believe that he was in a position to kick the goal himself in any of the goals and therefore there is no evidence that he was risk averse.

I don't care how he does it - kicks them himself or assists. A goal is a goal is a goal is a goal (repeating).....................................

Thanks Tiers, for a positive post coming on top of the junk most of the team served up yesterday.

The free kick against him was a disgrace and an insult to the spirit of the game.

The umpires' advisers need a good hard look at themselves and learn to get out of the way. Changing interpretations so easily destroys the intent of the game.

No prior means just that. It shouldn't matter how he tries to dispose of the ball when the  opponent effectively had more control of the ball than Tracca did.

5 minutes ago, tiers said:

Looking back I don't believe that he was in a position to kick the goal himself in any of the goals and therefore there is no evidence that he was risk averse.

I don't care how he does it - kicks them himself or assists. A goal is a goal is a goal is a goal (repeating).....................................

Yeah, but he's gotta develop further.   And he has plenty left over, to get out of himself. 

 

Lets not put him up on a pedestal yet again. That destroys young players development by placing a glass looking ceiling over their big heads.   And they feel like they've reached IT.

8 minutes ago, tiers said:

Looking back I don't believe that he was in a position to kick the goal himself in any of the goals and therefore there is no evidence that he was risk averse.

Maybe,  maybe not.  But if he breaks free thru an attacker, He might be able to do the finishing himself.

I'll be satisfied when he's a well rounded RuckRover and forward.

What if, in trying to break through a tackle, we lose the opportunity to score.

It's always better to look to score as efficiently and directly as possible. Tracca played it perfectly.

50 minutes ago, tiers said:

The free kick against him was a disgrace and an insult to the spirit of the game.

The umpires' advisers need a good hard look at themselves and learn to get out of the way. Changing interpretations so easily destroys the intent of the game.

No prior means just that. It shouldn't matter how he tries to dispose of the ball when the  opponent effectively had more control of the ball than Tracca did.

That free kick was pathetic and handed them a crucial goal to get a break on us. The umpire even admitted no prior opportunity, but "didn't try hard enough to get rid of it" despite it being held to his body underneath his arms where it was physically impossible to handball it. That umpire should get the sack and a curb stomping for good measure.

Trac is singlehandedly keeping this team afloat. He lead our goal kicking last year, and is the main reason we won vs Carlton a few weeks back. He's been brilliant this year. Hopefully he doesn't waste the good years of his career playing in a bottom four team for years on end. Nothing would be more frustrating as a player than being dragged down by no hopers around you and answering to a dimwit coach. Here's hoping he doesn't leave!

1 hour ago, tiers said:

Just watched "All of the Melbourne Goals" on the club's site. At least six goals were the direct result of Petracca's play.

Three from direct passes to Hannan, TMac (on a good lead where he doubled back and led towards Tracca) and to Fritta.

Three from indirect play through Fritta to Melksham, through Pickett to Fritta and through Brayshaw to Hannan

Quick choice of best option and good delivery.

Six possessions like that are worth more than a haul of crappy possessions.

Let Tracca coach Clarrie on how to get to the right spots and pick the right option. If taught well, Clarrie could do the same standing on his head. He is that good also.

Yep, Petracca was very good when he got it.

I think the lambasting of Oliver is overplayed. Sure, he could improve his disposal, but for my liking, the players around him need to improve their disposal more so. Oliver is the extractor and constantly wins contested possessions. If he was giving to a Harley Bennell it'd be a different story.

He's our best for average score involvements.

Guess who second best is? ANB. The same ANB dropped after 2 goals and 5 score involvements against Carlton.

And Goodwin bemoans our 'connection'. He's as bad as some of our supporters with his bias.

 

Trac had another very very good game. Not excellent. I’m tough. You have to be. He is now a bona fide mid imo. Who can also rest forward. 
He can try to copy Dusty and be dangerous wherever he is  

His first quarter was A grade. But then he fumbled a few and handballed too often.  With such kicking ability, he needs to burst and kick.  He created about 5 of our goals yesterday.  And we only kicked 8 !!  

39 minutes ago, tiers said:

What if, in trying to break through a tackle, we lose the opportunity to score.

It's always better to look to score as efficiently and directly as possible. Tracca played it perfectly.

That's judgement at the time,  as you well know, the player with the ball will make that judgement there and then,  and hopefully they won't burn a teammate in a better spot..

What I'm getting at is, I don't want him to stay in his shell.

 

I want to see him, (now he is starting to develop), to really take the game on.  Not to just scrap, for scraps on the ground;  because Tracca is capable of using his bulk to the teams advantage.

40 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

He's our best for average score involvements.

Guess who second best is? ANB. The same ANB dropped after 2 goals and 5 score involvements against Carlton.

And Goodwin bemoans our 'connection'. He's as bad as some of our supporters with his bias.

 

He needs to come in for Melskahm. 

Melky is one of Goody's mates, so it'll most likely never happen.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

He needs to come in for Melskahm. 

Melky is one of Goody's mates, so it'll most likely never happen.

Agree mate. Melksham is usually one of my faves but he's played such selfish football this year for some reason.

I'm not the biggest fan of them all, but bring in ANB, Bennell and either Weid or Brown for Melksham, Hunt and vandenBerg and not only do we have more skill forward of centre but we get back to a more 'traditional' setup that the players are more familiar with. We need to make it more simple for them.

 

2 hours ago, tiers said:

The free kick against him was a disgrace and an insult to the spirit of the game.

The umpires' advisers need a good hard look at themselves and learn to get out of the way. Changing interpretations so easily destroys the intent of the game.

No prior means just that. It shouldn't matter how he tries to dispose of the ball when the  opponent effectively had more control of the ball than Tracca did.

I can't say I agree, I wish they would pay all of those, the frustrating part for me is they don't. Players too often, grab the ball and look for the tackler, and have no intent in moving the ball on. It's a real blight on the game. The problem is highlighted with the Petracca incident, that it is up to the umpire when he blows the whistle, often a player gets tackled the same, and the umpire blows the whistle straight away and throws it up, and sometimes they wait and then ping the player, there's no consistency 

2 hours ago, tiers said:

At least six goals were the direct result of Petracca's play.

Y'know, tiers, you are onto something ... his game has really improved and he sets the standard, so often in recent times. Some say he is better than Dusty ... and that is a big call ... but I could consider him improving further to achieve such a ranking. 

2 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

Petracca is going to be  an elite  player for us and finally is showing what he is capable of doing as you have pointed out.

14 possessions in the 1st quarter he kept us in the game as he was everywhere busting his guts as were a few others. 

It took an umpire to stop him by penalizing him for holding the ball even though the Dumb Ump said that he had no prior attempt.

Petrac will  be one of that will help us turn it around. Just have to get the mix right. Stay tuned.

That's the goose that tried to square thing up by giving a free to us about two minutes later, to make himself look good and that he knows the rule that says you have to make a genuine attempt in the tackle to get rid of it. Even an umpire who deserves to be at French Island Prison Thirds would know that when you have the ball pinned to your chest the only way to make the bloke let go of the ball would be to break his finger and you would probably get six weeks for that if you were one of ours...

On another tack why have the Fox decided only to replay what they think is the mental giant's (stable genius) noteworthy stuff.

32 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Agree mate. Melksham is usually one of my faves but he's played such selfish football this year for some reason.

I'm not the biggest fan of them all, but bring in ANB, Bennell and either Weid or Brown for Melksham, Hunt and vandenBerg and not only do we have more skill forward of centre but we get back to a more 'traditional' setup that the players are more familiar with. We need to make it more simple for them. R

 

Vandenberg had a good game played fairly well compared to some and was his second game back and will be improving. You are being picky with who should be out. I see you haven't mentioned Smith, he will be the first to go. Rivers and don't be surprised Kossi you might find they could be managed to be rested.

24 minutes ago, Demon_spurs said:

I can't say I agree, I wish they would pay all of those, the frustrating part for me is they don't. Players too often, grab the ball and look for the tackler, and have no intent in moving the ball on. It's a real blight on the game. The problem is highlighted with the Petracca incident, that it is up to the umpire when he blows the whistle, often a player gets tackled the same, and the umpire blows the whistle straight away and throws it up, and sometimes they wait and then ping the player, there's no consistency 

The time between Petracca grabbing the ball and getting tackled was a split second. Then Nankervis who's 105kg and strong as an Ox latches right on to the ball. Was Petracca giving it his full attempt to knock it out - probably not. But why should he? He's been set upon as soon as he's gathered it and has a big man holding it to him. If Nankervis wants the ball to come out then: 1. Win the hitout or contest himself. 2. Don't tackle Petracca or don't tackle him arms and ball in all. 

The rule is 'holding the ball'. It was designed to penalise players caught holding it when they had options to move it on. If you get tackled right away you aren't holding the ball at all. 

I remember when Davey really revolutionised forward pressure he would sweat on opponents and give them enough time to gather the ball and take a few steps so he could run them down. It was beautiful to watch him lure defenders in to a trap. Now there's so much congestion and tight checking that guys are getting tackled before they even have the ball. It's crazy to reward tackles when with 10 guys around the ball you can pretty much fall in to a tackle at any chance.

The only good thing that came of this round of nonsense was the Hawks were the biggest victims of it. 10-1 holding the balls against the.

2 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

Vandenberg had a good game played fairly well compared to some and was his second game back and will be improving. You are being picky with who should be out. I see you haven't mentioned Smith, he will be the first to go. Rivers and don't be surprised Kossi you might find they could be managed to be rested.

This isn't the changes thread so I just stuck to the topic brought up. We all love vandenBerg's intensity, but he's not giving us what we need, which is skill forward of center. Second game back is irrelevant. Why does he get that let off but others don't?

For the record, this week I would be brining out all of vB, Smith, Lockhart, Hunt and Melksham and replacing them with ANB, OMac, Jetta, Bennell and Weid/Brown.

3 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

Vandenberg had a good game played fairly well compared to some and was his second game back and will be improving. You are being picky with who should be out. I see you haven't mentioned Smith, he will be the first to go. Rivers and don't be surprised Kossi you might find they could be managed to be rested.

I'm with you soup.

I thought Vandenberg started to move around better,  and uses his body moving opposition out of the way, and often on the ground.   This helps create opportunities and space for teammtes.

So many times when our team tackles, the opponent is left standing upright.   Put them on the ground, and let them spend petrol tickets.