Who needs a big preseason at the MFC?

[#11-TonyAnderson 691]

I’d like to see what Kade Chandler can do

[picket fence 15,046]

Case of, so many  good players, so little spots available

Edited November 15, 2021 by picket fence

[tiers 2,761]

All the players need a good pre season. There is a chance to create a dynasty.

[jnrmac 18,914]

On 11/15/2021 at 1:09 PM, CYB said:

Expect a solid pre-season from everyone. They have proof now of what is required to win a GF. The can now build on that, which is a scary proposition for everyone else in the AFL.

Those that want to break into the 22, know they have to put in extra effort in a variety of areas. it is not just about mileage and endurance. The key players not in the top 22 that need to go above and beyond are:

 

 

This cannot be under-estimated, They have now seen what is required from a commitment level to achieve success, It's tangible as opposed to some far-off goal that seemed perpetually out of reach.

It's a wonderfully exciting place to be 

[Deemania since 56 6,119]

On 11/13/2021 at 4:49 PM, Jontee said:

Michael Hibberd? If it wasnt for a hamstring and an ankle may not have been picked for the GF?

Yep, 'Hibbs has been a very useful player but is starting to slow a little and his kicking is just a bit short of that previous penetrating/target-bound skillset. He has much to teach. inspire and influence our junior players, including evidence of how to play 'tall' against bigger forwards (perhaps at Casey) at this stage of his 'second' career since joining the Dees from Essendrug. 

He is a vocal and committed driver at training sessions, highly motivating and courageous. It might be  time come next season to replace his noted drive in the AFL team should the sunset in his skills be at hand.

 

[deejammin' 2,065]

Excitingly, the reality is there is serious competition for spots on almost every line, in fact I’d say we only have 10 guaranteed locked in players and beyond that every player has someone talented gunning for their spot. I’m not saying the others will lose their spots, I’d back in our premiership side to keep them if they all continue to work hard and improve, but even slight laziness will lose most of our players their spot to someone hungry.

UNDROPPABLE:

Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Langdon, Salem, Lever, May, Pickett, Brayshaw, Jackson

Competition:

Viney, Harmes, Sparrow vs Jordan, Dunstan, 

Hibberd, Rivers, Bowey vs Hunt, JSmith,

Petty vs Tomlinson

Brown, McDonald vs Weideman

Spargo, ANB vs Melksham, Chandler, Bedford, Laurie

The only position we have no genuine contender, only backup, is ruck, but that’s partly because Gawny is one of, if not the, greatest ruckman of the modern era and Jackson is a freak. Daw would be pushing for selection at many other clubs.

Exciting times. 

In terms of the article I would have Hunt, Tomlinson, Dunstan and Jordan all needing equally as big pre-seasons as Weid.

There’s no doubt Sam has a chance to bust into the team, one of my main frustrations of not watching the finals live is that I’m not entirely sure what role TMac was playing in the finals, it felt like he had less impact than earlier in the season, but Brown and Fritsch were able to dominate so it’s possible he was playing a decoy role. Sammy might be gunning for that.

My real feeling is that Hunt, Tomlinson, Jordan and Dunstan have more chance of breaking into the team in the pre-season than Sam. Both Brown and McDonald had interrupted pre-seasons last year, Brown through injury and TMac through training early on a wing, if both have good pre-seasons the mix of added fitness, time together, cohesion and confidence should see them improving on last year, a scary thought, but bad for Sam’s prospects.

Hard to see us slipping with that many blokes gunning for each others spots.

[Jaded No More 57,630]

Me. Lockdown has not been kind. 

[DeeSpencer 23,058]

Brayshaw: got himself rock hard fit for the the first time and became a useful role player with upside, the best of which was the grand final. But he had some stinking games. He’ll have to be just as fit if not fitter to keep with the competition and it’s time he gets his skills to where they should be too. The last time he had a good season  he dropped off a lot.

Chandler: I think his future is as a midfielder as much as a forward, needs to get stronger and fitter. Doesn’t have the speed to be a danger deeper forward but could be another essential link/tackle player which is the basis of our game plan. 

Petty: Had a fair bit of last summer wiped out by illness and missed the entire year before. Which makes his 2021 even more impressive. Could really take another leap and needs to in order to fend off competition from Tomlinson and probably cover May who’s track record of playing 22 games isn’t great. 

BBB: we probably won’t have the luxury of giving him a preseason mid year again. So he has to be durable through summer. Teams will also put a heap of work in to Fritsch next year, the best way for us to cover that is for Brown to play like he did late in the year (or even better).

[Jontee 3,632]

40 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Teams will also put a heap of work in to Fritsch next year

I would play a very physical (modern word for biff) game on Fritta.

[Diamond_Jim 11,676]

you have to wonder how Melksham will approach the season.

Surprised no other team was interested in him and hard to see how he will break into the team without significant injury.

Needs to dominate three or more games at VFL level and even then does he have the goods to demand a spot over ANB or Spargo. He's also competing with the likes of Bedford and Chandler at VFL level for the AFL spot

[daisycutter 28,454]

I'd like to see BBB have a big uninterrupted preseason and fully fit

could get back to a 60 goal season

[DeeZone 7,661]

I am re-reading the Red Fox, just won the 56 Granny and heading into 57, Norm Smith philosophy was that you needed to blood 5 - 6 new players every year to get that continuous improvement in your list. He was shrewd and ruthless, I think that Goody has read the book. Our 55 & 56 teams had 14 players 22 and under in the team.!!!

[Demon Disciple 10,902]

8 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

you have to wonder how Melksham will approach the season.

Surprised no other team was interested in him and hard to see how he will break into the team without significant 

I guess it’s entirely up to him and whether he wants to consistently apply the forward pressure required.

[picket fence 15,046]

On 11/16/2021 at 3:06 PM, deejammin' said:

Excitingly, the reality is there is serious competition for spots on almost every line, in fact I’d say we only have 10 guaranteed locked in players and beyond that every player has someone talented gunning for their spot. I’m not saying the others will lose their spots, I’d back in our premiership side to keep them if they all continue to work hard and improve, but even slight laziness will lose most of our players their spot to someone hungry.

UNDROPPABLE:

Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Langdon, Salem, Lever, May, Pickett, Brayshaw, Jackson

Competition:

Viney, Harmes, Sparrow vs Jordan, Dunstan, 

Hibberd, Rivers, Bowey vs Hunt, JSmith,

Petty vs Tomlinson

Brown, McDonald vs Weideman

Spargo, ANB vs Melksham, Chandler, Bedford, Laurie

The only position we have no genuine contender, only backup, is ruck, but that’s partly because Gawny is one of, if not the, greatest ruckman of the modern era and Jackson is a freak. Daw would be pushing for selection at many other clubs.

Exciting times. 

In terms of the article I would have Hunt, Tomlinson, Dunstan and Jordan all needing equally as big pre-seasons as Weid.

There’s no doubt Sam has a chance to bust into the team, one of my main frustrations of not watching the finals live is that I’m not entirely sure what role TMac was playing in the finals, it felt like he had less impact than earlier in the season, but Brown and Fritsch were able to dominate so it’s possible he was playing a decoy role. Sammy might be gunning for that.

My real feeling is that Hunt, Tomlinson, Jordan and Dunstan have more chance of breaking into the team in the pre-season than Sam. Both Brown and McDonald had interrupted pre-seasons last year, Brown through injury and TMac through training early on a wing, if both have good pre-seasons the mix of added fitness, time together, cohesion and confidence should see them improving on last year, a scary thought, but bad for Sam’s prospects.

Hard to see us slipping with that many blokes gunning for each others spots.

BBB is now UNDROPABLE ! Same as BOWEY, SPARROW close!!

[Demon17 4,531]

19 hours ago, Jontee said:

I would play a very physical (modern word for biff) game on Fritta.

Good call on Bailey.

His GF was fabulous, he is now a Demon legend (with a Norm Smith haircut no less) and he is a great foil for bigger forwards, but he must be stopped by the opposition and can't be given the 3rd best defender necessarily. In fact given his class in the air and on the ground, and his footy IQ, he takes a special defender.

A doggies friend was calling for Easton Wood's retirement 3 years ago. Fritsch found him out big time and Easton has recognisd reality and is now retired, but Bailey's 6 goals on the lead often had Wood miles behind him.  

He will need to be prepared in 2022. I'm confident he can do this though and will cope.

[FlashInThePan 1,893]

Next year will be interesting for many of our players. Fritsch will certainly have a target on his back, when a player kicks 6 in a granny the opposition needs a plan for how to manage him. The upside for us should be the ability for other forwards to exploit the attention he gets. We've seen the bulldogs strategy for negating Lever, trying to force a match up with another tall like Shache or English so that he can't get any easy intercepts. I expect other teams to try to implement that strategy.

I'll be interested to see whether teams try to put a hard tag on Oliver or Trac. Tagging Clarrie rarely seems to have a big impact since he is an inside, contested beast and extracting under pressure is his bread and butter. I haven't yet noticed any team put a hard tag on Trac, I'll be interested to see if anyone tries it next year and what sort of effect it has on his (and our) game.

Maxy gets attention week in, week out. Frankly I'd like to see the umpires get a lot more involved with physical stuff and impeding movement well off the ball.

It is going to be really interesting being the hunted. Can't wait for next season to start.

[58er 5,591]

19 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

you have to wonder how Melksham will approach the season.

Surprised no other team was interested in him and hard to see how he will break into the team without significant injury.

Needs to dominate three or more games at VFL level and even then does he have the goods to demand a spot over ANB or Spargo. He's also competing with the likes of Bedford and Chandler at VFL level for the AFL spot

ANB is in no danger   His GF performance was magnificent over 20 possessions and was his career best game for our Club. Was on the ball for about a third of the game also.

 

[DeeZone 7,661]

4 minutes ago, FlashInThePan said:

Next year will be interesting for many of our players. Fritsch will certainly have a target on his back, when a player kicks 6 in a granny the opposition needs a plan for how to manage him. The upside for us should be the ability for other forwards to exploit the attention he gets. We've seen the bulldogs strategy for negating Lever, trying to force a match up with another tall like Shache or English so that he can't get any easy intercepts. I expect other teams to try to implement that strategy.

I'll be interested to see whether teams try to put a hard tag on Oliver or Trac. Tagging Clarrie rarely seems to have a big impact since he is an inside, contested beast and extracting under pressure is his bread and butter. I haven't yet noticed any team put a hard tag on Trac, I'll be interested to see if anyone tries it next year and what sort of effect it has on his (and our) game.

Maxy gets attention week in, week out. Frankly I'd like to see the umpires get a lot more involved with physical stuff and impeding movement well off the ball.

It is going to be really interesting being the hunted. Can't wait for next season to start.

Agree FTP The Umps need to step up on their shift, Max cops so much unfair treatment a few more free kicks would stamp it out. I think that it will be difficult for any team to close us down you put a stopper on Fritsch and up pops 5 others and there is no Law that you can’t hunt the hunters.!!!

[DistrACTION Jackson 6,388]

I think the following 5 in order:

1. Weid - hopefully gets a good run at it this year and can push for TMac's spot.

2. Chandler - signed a two year deal and now needs to step up. Could easily take Spargo's spot if he can improve his consistency.

3. Bedford - needs to find more of the ball I think, otherwise this could be his last year.

4. Dunstan - could easily find himself in the side. From the outside looking in, will need to increase his running power and kicking efficiency.

5. Laurie - this one is really just because I want to see a glimpse of what he can do. Would love him to shadow ANB and see the work rate required to make it at this level.

[loges 6,002]

Is there anyone who can teach Weird an aggressive/competitive mindset.

[58er 5,591]

5 minutes ago, loges said:

Is there anyone who can teach Weird an aggressive/competitive mindset.

Put him on the ruck and let him go  Jacko !!! Has the skills.

BUT do we need 3 ruck/ forwards ? 

[picket fence 15,046]

2 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Agree FTP The Umps need to step up on their shift, Max cops so much unfair treatment a few more free kicks would stamp it out. I think that it will be difficult for any team to close us down you put a stopper on Fritsch and up pops 5 others and there is no Law that you can’t hunt the hunters.!!!

Oliver often is held of the ball, but umps rarely pay him a free kick.This holding and blocking a clear run is a blight on the game. If Oliver was paid his frees then he would gather about 40 posessions per game