On 7/26/2020 at 9:58 PM, WERRIDEE said:

IN: RIVERS, T.MCDONALD, NEAL-BULLEN, TOMLINSON

OUT: BENNELL, JETTA, JACKSON, BRAYSHAW

Yep, on reflection, this is probably the best solution to better play across the ground. I'd also like to drop OMac if TMac comes in, playing TMac a CHB and Lever free as a utility intercept across the backline. Tomlinson is a must, out there on the wing, so let's hope May sees him and makes the opportunity real. 

11 hours ago, cantstandyasam said:

Definitely need Tom to play forward with Weed and then play Jacko on the wing or HFF. I think Jetta needs a rest and I'd like to see Smith in to play forward as the x factor. Play Hibberd in the back pocket and even use Salem for a stint on the forward line at least he will kick it straight. 

I'm not sure there's a common understanding of what "x factor" means. In a football sense, to me, it means someone who is not possible to define. They're not a forward or a back and they're not reliable. They show potential with occasional flashes of brilliance but have never yet realised any semblence of a consistent form line.  

If they were a comedian, they would be described as "zany" - a word used to describe someone who isn't actually funny, but you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. (The word to use if they're not funny and you want to be critical is "buffoon", regularly used among people I know to describe Bill Brownless.)

For what it's worth, I don't think Smith has x factor (as I've defined it). He meets some of the criteria, but I'm yet to see any flashes of brilliance.

2 hours ago, P-man said:

Well [censored] me that’s the last time I read the Facebook comments for a while.

Numerous calls to drop Oscar. For T Mac. Who apparently should be moved back to defence. So essentially robbing both Peter and Paul, then kicking Peter in the nuts.

And another bright spark chiming in with: “Weideman the ?,,, won’t be getting any cheap goes in the goal square like 2 weeks ago... hasn’t done nothing again”

It’s like asking Cletus from the Simpsons what he thinks team selection should be.

Its "noyce" P-Man. Don't you understand double negatives? It's the Queens English. 

BTW what is a "cheap goes?"

I don't want to see Jacko dropped. 

Find a spot for Tmac, Jacko and Weed. Push Tmac up to high half forward for the extra bail out kick. 

We have nobody other than Gawn doing this and it's so predictable every time 
 

IN: Rivers, Tmac, Tomlinson, 

OUT: Jetta , Jones, Brayshaw

Also would really like to see Salem + Rivers push up the ground more now that we have a solid backline. 

 

19 minutes ago, MF-C said:

I don't want to see Jacko dropped. 

Find a spot for Tmac, Jacko and Weed. Push Tmac up to high half forward for the extra bail out kick. 

We have nobody other than Gawn doing this and it's so predictable every time 
 

IN: Rivers, Tmac, Tomlinson, 

OUT: Jetta , Jones, Brayshaw

I like this.

It’s surprising how few goals are kicked by Angus Brayshaw and Clayton Oliver. As midfielders one would expect more.

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm not sure there's a common understanding of what "x factor" means. In a football sense, to me, it means someone who is not possible to define. They're not a forward or a back and they're not reliable. They show potential with occasional flashes of brilliance but have never yet realised any semblence of a consistent form line.  

If they were a comedian, they would be described as "zany" - a word used to describe someone who isn't actually funny, but you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. (The word to use if they're not funny and you want to be critical is "buffoon", regularly used among people I know to describe Bill Brownless.)

For what it's worth, I don't think Smith has x factor (as I've defined it). He meets some of the criteria, but I'm yet to see any flashes of brilliance.

Hopefully they'll play him in the forward line somewhere and he can go 4 his marks and use his pace. I think he'll be better value there and hard to match up on, which will mean the other forwards will have less attention. 

Edited July 29, 20205 yr by cantstandyasam

On 7/27/2020 at 12:05 AM, Dr.D said:

Yeah, I just find it amusing that since people were demanding Oliver to be dropped he has been our 1st, 3rd and 4th best player according to the official match report. 

He is our best clearance player and our best tackler. Viney is great too but because Oliver is significantly quicker then he chases down more people. 

Oliver is quietly having a career year. 

Out: Weideman, Brayshaw 

In: McDonald, Tomlinson

If you can't kick straight as a forward you need to be punished and Weideman cost us tonight. 

 

 

 

 

Dr D  You have an opinion and l can fined a few that l would give the chop. The Weid missed a vital goal and so did a couple of others      That were gimme's.                                                                                                                                                                                                                The Weid is a good presence for us up forward and you need a reasonable key position opposition to mind him.  He has been good since his return and he can only get better as he plays more time. Punishing won't help him however he knows where he is at.

Let's have a win tomorrow and the boys gain more confidence.We are good enough. As is the Weid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, P-man said:

Well [censored] me that’s the last time I read the Facebook comments for a while.

Numerous calls to drop Oscar. For T Mac. Who apparently should be moved back to defence. So essentially robbing both Peter and Paul, then kicking Peter in the nuts.

And another bright spark chiming in with: “Weideman the ?,,, won’t be getting any cheap goes in the goal square like 2 weeks ago... hasn’t done nothing again”

It’s like asking Cletus from the Simpsons what he thinks team selection should be.

They are the lowest of the low.  While the official Melbourne page gets some ridiculous comments, the supposed 'fan sites' on there are even worse and they're generally run by nuffies who only push their own agenda.  There is a trades and news page that is run by a Saints fan and watching people bait him is hilarious.  He releases his current AA side regularly and it's just choc full of Saints players.

11 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

They are the lowest of the low.  While the official Melbourne page gets some ridiculous comments, the supposed 'fan sites' on there are even worse and they're generally run by nuffies who only push their own agenda.  There is a trades and news page that is run by a Saints fan and watching people bait him is hilarious.  He releases his current AA side regularly and it's just choc full of Saints players.

AA: Alcoholics Anonymous?

Looks like Port are going to try the Brisbane model of getting flogged in the ruck and trying to shark Max's taps.  Only one ruckman and he's very inexperienced (Ladhams), with backup from Westhoff.

Hopefully we learned a thing or two last week and can take full advantage of the ruck dominance.  It will go a long way towards us winning this game and winning it well.

From reading some suggestions I really like the idea of giving Jackson a go on the wing. He is developing so well and Kossie, Jacko and Rivers are a great credit to our trading team. Jackson has taken the centre square tap work on occasions to give Max a rest and has been handier as an extra mid moreso than the ruck work where he is still a bit light and can be pushed around. I would like to see TMac come back in and go straight back to the role in the forward line supporting Weid and Jacko go to the wing for half the game and rotate to the forward line when TMac or Weid need a break.

Jackson has speed, skill and height and can get loose and play with a bit of freedom on a wing, maybe not this week but in a game where we are well up and we can experiment a bit.

21 hours ago, Pollyanna said:

So who out of Petracca, Oliver and Viney did you want out of the primary midfield rotation to enable this to happen?

It's not netball, players are allowed to move out of their position once the ball has been bounced. Start one of them at half forward and they move straight into the centre.

If you are getting flogged in clearances, it makes sense to have an extra player around the ball (ie Harmes).

1 minute ago, poita said:

It's not netball, players are allowed to move out of their position once the ball has been bounced. Start one of them at half forward and they move straight into the centre.

If you are getting flogged in clearances, it makes sense to have an extra player around the ball (ie Harmes).

If you want to affect centre clearances then you DO need to make the substitution.

15 hours ago, Pates said:

I'm no Spargs fan, but he did provide good energy in the forward line during 2018 and for a first year player to do that in a finals winning year that's a decent effort. 

If he's showing form I'd reward him like we rewarded OMac. That said it's pretty hard to forget one of the worst games I've seen by a Melbourne player in Spargo's round one WC performance.

I'm not sure if this is a better option but I'd have ANB over Spargs if they were looking to rest/drop Pickett.

People do forget, don’t they. 

And in the space of a year, at the tender age of 20 years old, the guy becomes the most torched player on this forum. 

Would love to see him turn last year’s performance around. Both for the sake of the team, and the quality reading on Demonland.

 

14 minutes ago, BigFez said:

Looks like Port are going to try the Brisbane model of getting flogged in the ruck and trying to shark Max's taps.  Only one ruckman and he's very inexperienced (Ladhams), with backup from Westhoff.

Hopefully we learned a thing or two last week and can take full advantage of the ruck dominance.  It will go a long way towards us winning this game and winning it well.

The major downfall of the ruck duels normally earning possession are the holding of Demon midfield players, and the screening/blocking of the tap result - leaving one opposition midfielders free to play the ball. They don't win every tap but two or three out of five or six centre bounces are enough to tick over the scoreboard continuously. So if Port shark/rove to Gawn as the first measure, we need to 

• have Max hit out further to an incoming flanker to sprint into the midfield from the edge of the square (if not both)
• employ our own screeners with Max quickly moving after the tap directly at the tap direction - and with as much pace as he can apply
• fake holding barriers to get a free - but it will be interesting if the umpires even care to notice such holding (against the Dees)

Our flanking of the midfield area is usually good to great. 'In possession' from the 'tap' is usually all we need to get away. However, there is little protection when this is done; just a little more shielding/screening may well work to our benefit - and enable our midfielders to get further into the forward line - at a faster rate - to effect some greater penetration or even some longish shots at goal - enabling them to score. That penetration should be the signal for the true forwards to lead to space in all directions, providing options for passing, handballing and a second or two to line up a kick for goal that is closer to the sticks. It implies a 'pronged' attack that leads outwards for the oppo backmen to chase down, if they can. Meanwhile, the midfielders should be re-gathering in zone and the forwards, re-scramble the space plays. Should the opposition defenders gain possession in our fwd line, Max and the midfielders will be there to assault the repelling interests.

 

lycett physically monstered gawn in round 1, 2019, so happy to not have to have him physically maul our skipper

ladhams is a bit like o mc and archie smith - a competitor 

31 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

From reading some suggestions I really like the idea of giving Jackson a go on the wing. He is developing so well and Kossie, Jacko and Rivers are a great credit to our trading team. Jackson has taken the centre square tap work on occasions to give Max a rest and has been handier as an extra mid moreso than the ruck work where he is still a bit light and can be pushed around. I would like to see TMac come back in and go straight back to the role in the forward line supporting Weid and Jacko go to the wing for half the game and rotate to the forward line when TMac or Weid need a break.

Jackson has speed, skill and height and can get loose and play with a bit of freedom on a wing, maybe not this week but in a game where we are well up and we can experiment a bit.

We need to stop thinking the Tmac and Jackson will play on a wing.  The wings role is to fill space behind the football and once we have it run hard to be an option.

If we play the three talls which I'm a fan off you basically set them up in a line, Tmac as an old school hit up CHF that plays basically between the arcs and is the an option hitting up out of defense.  Jackson slots in behind Tmac and Weiderman deep.  These roles can be changed but that's how it works.

Jackson is a Baby Giraffe he is doing well in the role he has, you keep him doing this role until he is ready.

1 hour ago, BigFez said:

Looks like Port are going to try the Brisbane model of getting flogged in the ruck and trying to shark Max's taps.  Only one ruckman and he's very inexperienced (Ladhams), with backup from Westhoff.

Hopefully we learned a thing or two last week and can take full advantage of the ruck dominance.  It will go a long way towards us winning this game and winning it well.

Goody will be right on to it by 3/4 time.

On 7/27/2020 at 10:27 AM, Dr.D said:

Wow, are you joking?? Oliver is quick. very quick. How can you say he is slow? He would beat all of our mids over most distances for speed. 

That's why I like Oliver. He has speed that none of our other mids have. 

 

I wouldn't say Oliver's slow. I'd say Cameron is fast and Oliver's leg speed is decent enough, but he's quickest when he's entering a stoppage. 

I know this isn't you, Doctor, but bloody hell the Oliver bashing is getting tiresome.

On 7/27/2020 at 10:37 AM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Just to add a comment about Oliver. I was delighted to see him chasing Cameron, even if he didn't catch him. The biggest weakness up to know in Oliver's game has not been his disposal but his willingness to run hard both ways. This year he's improved his kick to handball ratio and improved his two way running. Two big ticks from me.

I'd say he improved his kick to handball ratio last year. This year he's working on being more damaging with those kicks. I think the added fitness of our group is enabling our mids to run better both ways. I think Oliver has been one of our better mids at defending, even last year, but I guess that's just me. It is certainly great seeing him cover so many kms.

15 minutes ago, A F said:

I'd say he improved his kick to handball ratio last year. This year he's working on being more damaging with those kicks. I think the added fitness of our group is enabling our mids to run better both ways. I think Oliver has been one of our better mids at defending, even last year, but I guess that's just me. It is certainly great seeing him cover so many kms.

You may be correct. I didn't check any stats to confirm my impression. Maybe he did change last year and I didn't notice until now.

Out Fritsch, Jetta 

In T McDonald, Rivers 

Harmes and Brayshaw can lift, enough grunt and to turn the corner and we don't want to make too many changes. Lean on the depth as/when needed. 

3 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

Out Fritsch, Jetta 

In T McDonald, Rivers 

Harmes and Brayshaw can lift, enough grunt and to turn the corner and we don't want to make too many changes. Lean on the depth as/when needed. 

Why Fritsch?