Melbourne midfielders have to park egos

[Macca 16,972]

24 minutes ago, picket fence said:

And the one that needs to take MOST notice is Viney!!

Viney would be a terrific small forward (defensive & opportunistic)

But we need his attack on the ball & aggression in the midfield ... his decision making is questionable though

In an ideal world we'd have another fierce midfielder type which would allow the Viney to play forward.  His kicking for goal is quite good compared to most of our other forwards.  But more importantly, he knows how to get the ball

[Demonstone 22,583]

17 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm a bit worried, though, that "park the ego" has become its replacement.  

I hope it's not parked next to the reality bus.

[Waltham33 475]

20 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

Typical pre-season guff.

If we played the game like we talked we would be premiership shoe-ins.

And rather than “Park the Ego” how about "Run both Ways"

Agree - get back to basics.  Although I am preparing for at some point this season a starting forward 50 of Gawn and Oliver - it will happen

[Doug Reemer 1,197]

On 3/7/2021 at 10:26 PM, PaulRB said:

I’m not sure I like the idea of any of those three (Oliver, Viney and Bradshaw) cooling their jets in another part of the ground. Will be interesting which one adapts best to their “second” (non-mid) role on the field.

I think Oliver has the biggest amount of upside to rest forward that we haven't seen yet.

I remember in 2018 he played forward a bit against North and kicked a beautiful snap from 40m out after a good pick up and turn!

[BDA 22,755]

Hard to square what we read in the newspapers over the weekend to what we saw yesterday. Skills let us down under pressure, poor tackling, labored ball movement. All the familiar faults and failings. And none of the "egos" were playing either!

We have 2 weeks to the Freo game so time to sharpen up. And please no more articles telling us what you're going to do this season. Show us against Freo instead.

[BW511 2,673]

After yesterday's showing, we will be going in to Round 1 with a lot of blokes rushed back and short on match practice.

Hope that doesn't hurt us further

 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,850]

5 minutes ago, BW511 said:

After yesterday's showing, we will be going in to Round 1 with a lot of blokes rushed back and short on match practice.

Hope that doesn't hurt us further

 

It reeks of round 1 2019.

Bringing in a bunch of under cooked players that ran out of gas in the third quarter in a game we started as favorites.

Not sure what's worse? Rushing back Brayshaw, Melksham, Kozzie and Hibberd who are league standard, or playing a fit and healthy VDB, Jetta, Jordon, Sparrow, Baker, Bedford etc who are not league standard. 

Chances are we'll have B Brown, Weid, Viney, Melksham and Hibberd all out for round 1 so unfortunately we're going to have our share of plodders in the side.

[Bay Riffin 1,475]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

It reeks of round 1 2019.

Bringing in a bunch of under cooked players that ran out of gas in the third quarter in a game we started as favorites.

Not sure what's worse? Rushing back Brayshaw, Melksham, Kozzie and Hibberd who are league standard, or playing a fit and healthy VDB, Jetta, Jordon, Sparrow, Baker, Bedford etc who are not league standard. 

Chances are we'll have B Brown, Weid, Viney, Melksham and Hibberd all out for round 1 so unfortunately we're going to have our share of plodders in the side.

agreed. Bit harsh on AVB and Sparrow has shown something, but yes we can't go in with too many underdone. 

[drdrake 3,178]

This article is nothing that hasn't been posted on here for the last few years.  We are a see ball get ball team, all our players are drawn to the football even when we have it and more so when we don't often we have 2-3 players going for the tackle.

Our mids don't work for each other, our forwards don't work for each other.

Our defenders are starting to really work well as a unit my feeling is they will have to especially in the first 3-4 rounds.

Max needs to stop tapping the ball behind, we don't play a defensive sweeper at centre bounces as we leave that space for Max to hit the ball and mids to run onto this.  The issue is our opposition know this and also work to Max's tap it is an easy clearance for them if they win first possession, if we win we either look to feed it to a HBF running through or rush kick around corner. 

 

[Pates 9,660]

On 3/8/2021 at 4:11 AM, Macca said:

Viney would be a terrific small forward (defensive & opportunistic)

But we need his attack on the ball & aggression in the midfield ... his decision making is questionable though

In an ideal world we'd have another fierce midfielder type which would allow the Viney to play forward.  His kicking for goal is quite good compared to most of our other forwards.  But more importantly, he knows how to get the ball

I was JUST about to say this. With AvB showing very little in the pre-season I would love to see Viney line up on the half forward flank as a pressure forward designated to nullify the opposition run out of defence. 

He is actually a decent mark as well and I vaguely remember Gawn nominating him as his guy to kick after the siren.

With our heavy mix of “bull” midfielders I really hope the FD is looking at multiple ways to use them. 

[Macca 16,972]

32 minutes ago, Pates said:

I was JUST about to say this. With AvB showing very little in the pre-season I would love to see Viney line up on the half forward flank as a pressure forward designated to nullify the opposition run out of defence. 

He is actually a decent mark as well and I vaguely remember Gawn nominating him as his guy to kick after the siren.

With our heavy mix of “bull” midfielders I really hope the FD is looking at multiple ways to use them. 

We've relied on any number of NQR's in our forward line for far too long.  It isn't working and if we want to play finals a change up is required

Players like Gawn,  Petracca,  Viney and even May could play forward (not all 4 at once but maybe 2 of the 4)

Jackson can ruck for a time,  we've got enough midfielders to cover for Viney (again, for a time) Ditto for Petracca and against certain teams May could go forward with T-Mac, Petty, Smith and 1 or 2 others covering in the backline

May & Gawn are the only 2 players on the list who can take contested marks.  Lever as well but not as a forward

A forward line that constantly rotates (with an injection of genuine talent) would have to work better than what we've got now

If Fritsch could kick straight he'd be our only relied-upon forward.  After that who is there?  Ben Brown if he can recapture his form and not much else

It takes 14 wins to guarantee a finals spot and to achieve 14 wins requires a functioning forward line

The better opposition teams flood our forward line knowing we can't take contested marks (amongst numerous other faults) whilst pressuring our midfielders into kicking towards the boundary line in our forward line 

And we've got no answers because our forward line lacks class & ability

If we just leave things as they are we'll get about 10 wins

[rjay 24,943]

Forget about them having to park their egos...how about they get on the park.

[Macca 16,972]

1 minute ago, rjay said:

Forget about them having to park their egos...how about they get on the park.

Yes we need all our good players available rjay and they all need to play well every week if we're going to be any sort of finals threat

But Goodwin is going to have to throw some talent forward.  I'm reasonably confident that he will too.  What have we got to lose?  And what has Goodwin got to lose? (apart from his position)

Gawn looks dangerous playing deep forward and Petracca was easily our best forward in 2019.  Viney is a likely candidate forward but for whatever reason he only ever seems to play on the ball.  Steven May forward would really worry opposition defenders (and the opposition coaching staff)

Goodwin's biggest fault is not knowing where his best players are ideally suited (in terms of the best chance of winning games)

Yes we might be robbing Peter to pay Paul but what if we don't win anyway?  What will it matter?

Swing the onfield positional changes I say but those positional changes need to make sense

For instance, Goodwin playing Harmes on a half back flank and Brayshaw on a wing (for any number of games) didn't make sense when it was happening and still doesn't make sense

A forward line consisting of any 2 NQR talls (who don't get near it) combined with any 3 NQR little blokes (who don't get near it) hardly inspires.  Fritsch floats in but can't kick for goal whilst Melksham doesn't hit the scoreboard either (and doesn't get to enough contests)

None of them would get a game in a good team

[rjay 24,943]

19 minutes ago, Macca said:

Gawn looks dangerous playing deep forward and Petracca was easily our best forward in 2019.  Viney is a likely candidate forward but for whatever reason he only ever seems to play on the ball.  Steven May forward would really worry opposition defenders (and the opposition coaching staff)

 

I think Gawn is only dangerous floating forward 'Macca'...he's been tried forward before and found wanting.

Trac will need to put in more forward time ala dusty & danger...

I've been pushing for the Viney forward move for a while now but we do need to find another mid, Harmes would need to find form and Brayshaw back to the form of a few seasons back and it will work. Might even help Brayshaw with more pure mid time.

23 minutes ago, Macca said:

Yes we need all our good players available rjay and they all need to play well every week if we're going to be any sort of finals threat

Spot on with this 'Macca', yesterday sure proved that...our depth is poor.

[titan_uranus 25,020]

31 minutes ago, Macca said:

Yes we need all our good players available rjay and they all need to play well every week if we're going to be any sort of finals threat

But Goodwin is going to have to throw some talent forward.  I'm reasonably confident that he will too.  What have we got to lose?  And what has Goodwin got to lose? (apart from his position)

Gawn looks dangerous playing deep forward and Petracca was easily our best forward in 2019.  Viney is a likely candidate forward but for whatever reason he only ever seems to play on the ball.  Steven May forward would really worry opposition defenders (and the opposition coaching staff)

Goodwin's biggest fault is not knowing where his best players are ideally suited (in terms of the best chance of winning games)

Yes we might be robbing Peter to pay Paul but what if we don't win anyway?  What will it matter?

Swing the onfield positional changes I say but those positional changes need to make sense

For instance, Goodwin playing Harmes on a half back flank and Brayshaw on a wing (for any number of games) didn't make sense when it was happening and still doesn't make sense

A forward line consisting of any 2 NQR talls (who don't get near it) combined with any 3 NQR little blokes (who don't get near it) hardly inspires.  Fritsch floats in but can't kick for goal whilst Melksham doesn't hit the scoreboard either (and doesn't get to enough contests)

None of them would get a game in a good team

I agree with you that Goodwin has had issues working out where to play players. Hunt and Harmes are the two biggest examples.

But I strongly disagree with the idea we should try May forward.

The May-Lever combination down back is blossoming and is critical to us being any good. All good sides are set up well behind the ball.

We literally cannot afford to play May forward.

It's up to TMac, Jackson, M Brown and Gawn to hold the fort until B Brown and Weideman are back.

Also disagree re: Fritsch, he'd get games for most sides and probably would be even better than he is with us if he had proper key forwards to take the heat. 

[Macca 16,972]

6 minutes ago, rjay said:

I think Gawn is only dangerous floating forward 'Macca'...he's been tried forward before and found wanting.

Trac will need to put in more forward time ala dusty & danger...

I've been pushing for the Viney forward move for a while now but we do need to find another mid, Harmes would need to find form and Brayshaw back to the form of a few seasons back and it will work. Might even help Brayshaw with more pure mid time.

Spot on with this 'Macca', yesterday sure proved that...our depth is poor.

None of our good players are forwards but we may have 10-12 good players on the list

Gawn,  Petracca,  Viney,  Oliver,  May,  Lever,  Salem & Langdon make it

Harmes,  Jackson,  Brayshaw & Rivers are on the cusp

Not one forward unless we are counting a questionable Ben Brown

2 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I agree with you that Goodwin has had issues working out where to play players. Hunt and Harmes are the two biggest examples.

But I strongly disagree with the idea we should try May forward.

The May-Lever combination down back is blossoming and is critical to us being any good. All good sides are set up well behind the ball.

We literally cannot afford to play May forward.

It's up to TMac, Jackson, M Brown and Gawn to hold the fort until B Brown and Weideman are back.

Also disagree re: Fritsch, he'd get games for most sides and probably would be even better than he is with us if he had proper key forwards to take the heat. 

You're probably right on Fritsch but his kicking for goal is unreliable.  If we had a good forward line he'd be under the microscope though

I totally agree that May & Lever are a terrific combo but I'm playing coach and trying to find a combo that can win 14+ games

May forward periodically though ... within games and not every game.  A good coach picks his moments and we need more versatility within games in order to win games

We are far too predictable and it wouldn't be difficult to coach against our team

[58er 6,458]

4 hours ago, Macca said:

None of our good players are forwards but we may have 10-12 good players on the list

Gawn,  Petracca,  Viney,  Oliver,  May,  Lever,  Salem & Langdon make it

Harmes,  Jackson,  Brayshaw & Rivers are on the cusp

Not one forward unless we are counting a questionable Ben Brown

You're probably right on Fritsch but his kicking for goal is unreliable.  If we had a good forward line he'd be under the microscope though

I totally agree that May & Lever are a terrific combo but I'm playing coach and trying to find a combo that can win 14+ games

May forward periodically though ... within games and not every game.  A good coach picks his moments and we need more versatility within games in order to win games

We are far too predictable and it wouldn't be difficult to coach against our team

You are wrong about Fritsch Macca.

if he gets 3 goals each game he is finally kicking straighter and is dangerous  even more so with Kossie BBB and other crumbers and of course Trac.
 

Bayley is one of our stars and will kick 50 goals This year. He Is very underrated. We need Spargo and ANB to consistently hit the scoreboard also.

[rjay 24,943]

3 hours ago, 58er said:

if

If doesn't kick goals....

...and if doesn't win games of footy.

[Macca 16,972]

5 hours ago, 58er said:

You are wrong about Fritsch Macca.

if he gets 3 goals each game he is finally kicking straighter and is dangerous  even more so with Kossie BBB and other crumbers and of course Trac.
 

Bayley is one of our stars and will kick 50 goals This year. He Is very underrated. We need Spargo and ANB to consistently hit the scoreboard also.

If Fritsch starts kicking straight on a consistent basis he can be called a good player. He needs to practice overtime to get better

Mind you, he's our best forward but that's not saying much.  Our forward line is a shambles and has been for over a decade

I'm hoping there is dramatic improvement in our forward line and that needs to happen if we're to win 14+ games

[Dr. Gonzo 24,227]

Ben Brown is our best forward

[Macca 16,972]

12 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Ben Brown is our best forward

That's if he can get on the park in a productive way.  Brown has to get over his knee issue as well as returning to his best form.  2 areas

I would rather rely on our proven best players to produce the goods

Trouble is none of those best players are forwards ... we'll be good enough to win at least 9 or 10 games but without a productive forward line wins will be scarce after that.

In 2018 when we bobbed up and played finals we had 4 productive forwards (Hogan, T-Mac, Weideman and Spargo)

We'll need something similar to happen this season in order to contend