CHANGES: Rd 17 vs Port Adelaide

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 3,293]

4 minutes ago, A F said:

I watched the Port v Suns game a few weeks ago and saw Gray injure his knee. Hadn't realised he'd gone in for surgery though. 

With him missing and Boak in doubt, with Butters no certainty to come back in, at the very least coming back from injury, it has to tip the scales our way. 

How much do our guys want to make a statement about our 2020 loss to Port too?

Given Port's forward set up is anchored around Dixon, if we keep him quiet, you'd have to think that'll go a long way towards us winning.

If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Georgiadis [censored] us last year? 

[Adam The God 30,411]

1 minute ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Georgiadis [censored] us last year? 

I would have [censored] us last year. We didn't turn up in that Port game. He's looked decidedly average this year IMV. I'd back Petty to take him. 

[Mel Bourne 4,534]

On 7/5/2021 at 4:45 PM, Supermercado said:

I don't understand why people treat Brown like Juice Newton. He kicks five goals in two games, has one ordinary outing and gets written off. Can we try and get the guy who's won the Coleman and kicked 10 in a game going first before opening the last resort envelope? 

Do you mean Juice Newton who sang “Angel Of The Morning” and  “Queen Of Hearts”? Do you mean because she wrote a successful, early 80s country-tinged ballad then followed it up with a toe-tappin’, light barnstormer, only to be written off after the lukewarm reception to her third single, “The Sweetest Thing”?
 

I’m so confused by this analogy but I’m enjoying it very much  

 

[Kent 2,914]

16 hours ago, BW511 said:

I guess this is another thing we need to counter with opposition sides taking away the ability of those guys to create offense.

 

There was very little offence on Saturday. In my opinion  Good went in with a defensive minddset and it cost us big time

[Doug Reemer 1,197]

On 7/3/2021 at 4:33 PM, Hellofatime said:

We need Majak

[Doug Reemer 1,197]

8 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

How much do our guys want to make a statement about our 2020 loss to Port too?

One thing Gawn has been repeating is how much he has want to "get teams back". So if I was a gambling man (and I am) I would be tipping a big one from him this week. He has been a bit flat, I'd expect him to fire up like he did for the Bulldogs & Lions game.

[picket fence 17,502]

8 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Do you mean Juice Newton who sang “Angel Of The Morning” and  “Queen Of Hearts”? Do you mean because she wrote a successful, early 80s country-tinged ballad then followed it up with a toe-tappin’, light barnstormer, only to be written off after the lukewarm reception to her third single, “The Sweetest Thing”?
 

I’m so confused by this analogy but I’m enjoying it very much  

 

YES MICHAEL "JUICE" NEWTON

ENIGMA,UNTAPPED TALENT,RUTHLESSLY AND UNFAIRLY MALIGNED AND POORLY MANAGED BY THE CLUB AT THE TIME

His stats comfortably compare to Weidermans easily. Plus MOTY!! Can someone please upload? Plus after that mark he cooly potted the goal from 50.havent seen many of our guys do that? Ask Dazzle about Capt Juice in the Grand Final in 2017 playing for Wangaratta kicking 7 goals I think.

Edited July 6, 2021 by picket fence

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

11 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I too said have said that I believe Jackson is a weak link in our forward. He has no forward IQ and his leading patterns is all over the shop. Not only that he never threatens in the air which pretty much leaves McDonald and Fritsch as the main two key forwards. 

His ruck work and around the stuff is amazing, but up forward he's a witches cones unfortunately. 

We've trialled McDonald, Weideman and Brown once all together. I would certainly like to see more of it.

I love his work up the ground and i even appreciate the efforts up forward Dazzle.  On the ground he's also very good for his size.  

However, as you say, in the air (when playing forward....bit better up the ground) is the issue here given his height.  He just doesn't clunk enough or on the lead.  I see him as our possible (similar) version of Hipwood (without the the rucking component).  Everyone plays diff of course and not expecting a dopple ganger but he isn't even close to a Hipwood.  We probably would have won a few more,  and much more comfortably if he was.

This was my worry when we were selecting him in the draft.  That he wasn't a genuine KF.  Ok so he's a Gawny future replacement/protege and I do love his work in the middle.  Hec i would happily see him playing through there in place of Gawn in a 70/80% role.  But... where does that leave Gawn?  He isn't a genuine forward either just ok for a cameo.

That's why i wasn't as keen as some here in getting him (plus the go home factor) vs say Young (Hibbo replacement?) Weightman, Green, Serong, Ash, Schoenberg and Henry (some of those weren't realistic of course given the academies).

Having said that if Dogga can learn to mark on a lead and clunk more in the contest / pack (inside 50) he could become anything which would have my views looking pretty foolish in a year or two's time.

As i said earlier would love to experiment without Dogga in.  Just BB & macca as the two talls with two mediums (Fritta & other, resting mids? .. Tracc for example) and two smalls....and see how we go.  Time is running out though and i can't see them dropping Dogga at this stage as he they obviously feel he is doing enough (and up the ground he is) to hold his place.  But the issue up forward remains.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Rusty Nails

[binman 43,762]

14 hours ago, Mental Demons said:

The other teams have figured us out

I reckon posters have no trouble figuring you out

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

We may need to look at dropping either Gawn or Jackson this week to see if our forward line can function better as neither is doing anything up forward. Or as George on the podcast described it as an "abject failure".

Clearly it's not going to be Gawn getting dropped. 

[Skuit 10,031]

16 minutes ago, binman said:

I reckon posters have no trouble figuring you out

What's there to figure out? It does what it says on the can. 

[dazzledavey36 55,347]

9 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

We may need to look at dropping either Gawn or Jackson this week to see if our forward line can function better as neither is doing anything up forward. Or as George on the podcast described it as an "abject failure".

Clearly it's not going to be Gawn getting dropped. 

Jackson 

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

Fritta on SEN now

[godees 873]

Apparently Hinkley has said Butters and Clurey will come in for them and Boak will play. They won’t be far off full strength. Big test for us

[drysdale demon 4,837]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

We may need to look at dropping either Gawn or Jackson this week to see if our forward line can function better as neither is doing anything up forward. Or as George on the podcast described it as an "abject failure".

Clearly it's not going to be Gawn getting dropped. 

Nor Jackson

[deanox 9,989]

11 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Do you mean Juice Newton who sang “Angel Of The Morning” and  “Queen Of Hearts”? Do you mean because she wrote a successful, early 80s country-tinged ballad then followed it up with a toe-tappin’, light barnstormer, only to be written off after the lukewarm reception to her third single, “The Sweetest Thing”?
 

I’m so confused by this analogy but I’m enjoying it very much  

 

Both Leigh Newton (1997-1999) and Michael Newton (2005-2011) who played for the MFC were nicknamed Juice, in obvious reference.

I am not sure if Ben Newton (originally PA then MFC 2015-2016) got the same nickname.

[KingDingAling 3,758]

Must win game. Prime time TV slot. We need to start performing when given these opportunities. Not just for our season, but for our future supporters. We need to put on a really strong performance.

[titan_uranus 25,043]

Just now, KingDingAling said:

Must win game. Prime time TV slot. We need to start performing when given these opportunities. Not just for our season, but for our future supporters. We need to put on a really strong performance.

Prime time games played by Melbourne this year:

1. Saturday night vs St Kilda - win
2. ANZAC Eve vs Richmond - win
3. Saturday night vs Sydney - win
4. Friday night vs Bulldogs - win
5. Friday night vs Brisbane - win
6. Queen's Birthday vs Collingwood - loss
7. Saturday night vs Essendon - win

I don't think prime time TV has been a problem for us, with two of our three losses on Fox.

[FritschyBusiness 1,478]

13 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Georgiadis [censored] us last year? 

He did and basically ended Oscar McDonalds career at Melbourne

[NeveroddoreveN 1,034]

19 hours ago, binman said:

We have the players to run off half back, that's not an issue. But our lack of overlap run and dare was super evident on Saturday. 

I know Goody said we are doing any extra training loads but frankly I don't believe him. 

We are not running out our games the way we were in the first 10 games or so, we are not playing with anywhere near the same intensity, our defensive running has been off for 3 weeks and we have lost our overlap run. All that points to a team that is physically tired. And perhaps mentally tired too, but i reckon that's less the issue. 

An issue for us is how many young players we have in the team and it is totally normally for young players to be flagging at this stage of the season. So that's part of it no doubt.

But you make an excellent point about the TOG percentages, with the young'uns getting a lot of bench time and the senior players conversely up around the 90% plus range. But any extra loads on top will impact the senior players and younger players. 

Our game, like Richmond. is super taxing - physically and mentally. The system is completely dependent on huge physical effort. And when that drops off, for whatever reason, we come well and truly back to he pack.

And we have major Achilles heel that is exposed when drop off our physical aspect - our kicking is woeful. We are mid table at best in terms of kicking skills across the board.

It is important to put our losses into perspective. We have kept oppositions to low enough scores and our average losing margin is only 9 points. But in each of those losses, our terrible foot skills has been a huge factors.

The obvious ones are missed shots on goal, but more frustrating is the terrible missed passes inside 50. So many wasted chances where all that was required was a basic 30 meter kick to a free target. And tracc has been worst offender

All teams have to bring their effort and will pay if they don't. But the  dogs, cats and lions sneak wins because even when off they  an rely on a handful of key players to kick difficult shots and nail both easy and hard passes inside 50.

The Cats stayed in their game against ess in the first quarter becuase of their elite kicks. The dogs were just paddling agianst the roos but players like MCrae, Bont and Bailey Dale did both the basics and difficult well

So, we have poor kicks. And i reckon we are fatigued. And nothing exacerbates poor technique like fatigue. 

We won't win the flag unless we are physically ready to go and cheery ripe come finals. And it would make sense to build that base now, even if that risks losing some games we might otherwise win.

I'm increasingly convinced that is what is going on. 

All of this makes a lot of sense.....If this were the case why did we finish full of run in the last quarter and not the first 3?  Something is not quite adding up with Melbourne atm.  I believe it is more a mindset thing.   We have won games off our defensive effort all over the ground in the 1st half of season.

Lately we seem to see what the opposition are going to do and hope that our defensive structure helps us repel and prevail.  We have lost the impetus to win the ball, take on tacklers, or pressure the ball carrier lately.  Our structures when we go forward are all out of whack because we are defending all over the field.  The balance of our team has gone way too defensive, we need to move the ball much quicker.  We seem to be switching every time through the backline which makes us slow and predictable.  We are allowing any team vs us to be in the game up to their eyeballs through our currently predictable game style.

Melbourne have been great at resetting this year within games.....i feel they need to take a collective deep breath and reset themselves for the business end of the season.  As a collective we have become too insular in our mindset and ability to take the game on.  The shackles will (should be) released this week.   Expecting to see a new mindset and lot more energy from the whole team.  Really looking forward to this coming match, will tell us lot more accurately of where we are at than the last 3-4 weeks!

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

1 hour ago, drysdale demon said:

Nor Jackson

I like Jackson but how do you best utilise he and Gawn when our forward line is struggling to kick 8-9 goals a game.

 

1 hour ago, godees said:

Apparently Hinkley has said Butters and Clurey will come in for them and Boak will play. They won’t be far off full strength. Big test for us

They must seriously rate Butters if he's coming into play off a 5 day break from the SANFL following a 10 week lay off. Hope he doesn't do to much damage. 

Hopefully is Boak is banged up off a 5 day break.

[Dannyz 2,851]

Brown is in

[WA Demon Boy 966]

Just now, Dannyz said:

Brown is in

Thank god 

[dazzledavey36 55,347]

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by dazzledavey36

[roy11 3,893]

Hopefully he's given a few weeks. See how his tank is, but also see how the small forwards operate around him etc