54 minutes ago, 58er said:

Chandler is further away IMO now than last year as Bedford has surpassed him.

BUT let's not get too warm snd cosy and say that either Kossie or Spargo or even ANB should be dropped for Toby despite his excellent team play yesterday. Showed some great skills in his goals and that pick up that BBB  eventually goaled from was pure class.

One season of 25 games  and 7 this year are excellent brownie points to base a spot in the team for all three. Of course sometimes someone is going to be unlucky like our tall forwards or defenders fighting for positions. 

It will keep the players on their toes and us fans alert as well. Good competition to have as no one will go stale. 
 

The loss of Kozzie was glaring when the team played fast out of defence. A number of times we stopped because of  no options.  Usually its KOZZie speeding to goal and/or space.  Not last night.  Spargo played his pressure/tackling role very well, but those small forwards operate as a machine with moving parts so with ANB and Kozzie out it was always going to be problematic.

Speed against the Saints will be a real weapon. I hope Bedford and Pickett can play together, but who knows who comes back in at this stage. Covid affects everybody differently 

1 hour ago, drysdale demon said:

What is a bedsore offense? Do they have to lay down before going forward?

I should have edited my post DD

I meant to say, I think the coaches rate defence over offense, so if guys like ANB and spargo are excelling in their roles it will make it very hard for Bedford and Chandler to break in to the team

This is just an opinion and i really loved watching Bedford play on the weekend, i am excited about what he brings.

Bedford would be incredibly stiff to miss, thought he was great.

Weideman is the classic “almost” player. Can’t help but want him to succeed so I’ll keep the faith 

Melksham appears done although he’s got a great footy brain and beautiful disposal

Dunstan just isn’t that good but a worthy back up

Tomlinson over Smith for me

Chandler is below our level, he’s at the point where our depth gets seriously challenged 

Brown needs to stay inside 50!

Petty, Kozzie, Jackson, Sparrow, ANB all walk straight back in when fit

 

Edited May 1, 20222 yr by Roost it far

13 hours ago, brendan said:

Madness to bring back 5 players who have been sick and who probably won’t train much, especially Neale bullen who’s 7 days will end Friday, so he is no chance so Bedford stays in and we will need a 100% fit side against the saints so I can’t see there being many changes if any
will depend how sick they got, when I got Covid I was still fatigued 2 weeks later I’m not a professional athlete however 

How do you know that they're sick? They may have just had a positive RAT test but felt fine. People are just speculating that they are sick.

1 hour ago, COVID Dan said:

I should have edited my post DD

I meant to say, I think the coaches rate defence over offense, so if guys like ANB and spargo are excelling in their roles it will make it very hard for Bedford and Chandler to break in to the team

This is just an opinion and i really loved watching Bedford play on the weekend, i am excited about what he brings.

I did realize that, my post was an attempt at humor.

17 hours ago, Deedubs said:

In: Jackson, Pickett, Sparrow, ANB, Petty, Hibberd.
Out: Melksham, Hunt, Chandler, Dunstan, Weideman, Joel Smith. 

ANB won’t come back in.  He won’t be able to train all week 

2 hours ago, drysdale demon said:

I did realize that, my post was an attempt at humor.

All good, fair to say it went over my head :)

Smith will miss through injury - Petty takes his spot if he's ready to go, Tomlinson I suppose if Petty's not ready.

If Sparrow, Pickett and Jackson are OK to come back, they come straight back. I reckon the FD will value TMac's positional flexibility, and they may well have considered Weid the true Jackson replacement given Weid did the relief ruckwork. Melksham makes way for Sparrow, but that then leaves a tough question on who makes way for Pickett. Bedford is the positional replacement but it would be tough to drop him. Does he hold his spot over, say, Dunstan? 

5 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Fritsch, Pickett, Ben Brown, Petracca all consistently burn team mates. Not to mention Harmes is the king of trying to do it all himself.

Im not sure you can mark Tom down too much on taking that mark or some of his other ball use. That’s Tom. If he made good decisions he’d probably still be playing at CHB. 
 

The entire forward line needs a good kick up the backside in terms of blocking and creating space for each other. And the team needs work on inside 50 options.

Trac and Pickett can be selfish a bit too much, agree with you there, but to lump Fritsch and Brown in with them is harsh IMO.

TMac right up there with the first two unfortunately. I can understand how TMac's mistake marking Harmes' goal happens, but it really shouldn't have (he was under zero pressure, it's not like he was worried it might have been spoiled or marked).

7 hours ago, deespicable me said:

With Covid it depends how sick you get. I know they are fit athletes and in most cases it is nothing more than an inconvenience where the time out doesn't justify the level of sickness, but some of the players, not necessarily ours, will get next level sick and develop a cough that may take a bit of time to clear.

People here talk about Covid like it is a week off and back to full output and while we certainly have seen that with Viney (warrior spirit) I will be very happy to see each of those players, fit and healthy and back out there. It's just not a given.

Yep

like I keep posting -> https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/19/1174

5 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Speed against the Saints will be a real weapon. I hope Bedford and Pickett can play together, but who knows who comes back in at this stage. Covid affects everybody differently 

This - after cairns let’s run them off their feet

43 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Yep

like I keep posting -> https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/19/1174

Which is why we're not being negative nellies when we wonder how it will affect our high work rate game plan.

11 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Correct.

Yze said he is the one that is least likely to be ready as he went into covid protocols late so may not get training in.  Others will be able to train mid/later in the week.

Viney didn’t train this week and he played. 

ANB has elite fitness and is extremely important to us. If he is feeling ok I reckon he plays. 
Of all the players who missed this week, he and Petty are the least replaceable. 
It would also be good to have Jackson come in as Ryder is in good form and our two ruck combo gives us the edge over them. 

I would also dearly love Sparrow back. He covers so much ground and is streets ahead of Dunstan. 

4 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Trac and Pickett can be selfish a bit too much, agree with you there, but to lump Fritsch and Brown in with them is harsh IMO.

TMac right up there with the first two unfortunately. I can understand how TMac's mistake marking Harmes' goal happens, but it really shouldn't have (he was under zero pressure, it's not like he was worried it might have been spoiled or marked).

Trac has every right to be selfish. He’s a superstar and a game changer. He turned a grand final off his own boot basically. 
But he is also very team focused and absolutely gets other teammates involved. 
 

Tmac even said post game on Fox that he hasn’t been playing great and wanted to kick a few goals regarding the Harmes goal that he marked. Yes he was making a joke but I am sure there is a lot of truth to it. 
I felt his desperation to impress, but sadly that did result in selfish behavior which is a big no no at Melbourne. 

13 hours ago, TheWiz said:

I don’t think we should rush players in from Covid. If they need it, give them another week to get back to normal and match fit. This can have quite an impact on different people and have to think about injuries if they come in unfit.

Also, after watching the Saints game last night I really think they will struggle with recovery. They were absolutely cooked in that humidity and contest, let alone a travel day. 

Would prefer to see the same team as yesterday have another tilt.

Sorry I may have missed a reply, but do we actually know if the players in question were positive swabs, symptomatic, or just close contacts?  Will make one hell of a difference in return to duty planning 

Aside from the covid crew returning, Hibberd is also now available. He and Petty will be asking for their rightful places back, so who apart from Smith is asked to step aside? Really looking forward to Salem’s return too. Another head-scratcher for the selectors (in the best possible way). 

23 minutes ago, Mel Bourne said:

Aside from the covid crew returning, Hibberd is also now available. He and Petty will be asking for their rightful places back, so who apart from Smith is asked to step aside? Really looking forward to Salem’s return too. Another head-scratcher for the selectors (in the best possible way). 

No he's not.

He pulled out of today's VFL game against Box Hill.

On 4/30/2022 at 8:21 AM, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Jordon out. Super fumbly. Doesn’t know what to do with the baLl. Made poor decisions all night. He has made tht wing position weaker. I’d prefer we got someone else working with Langdon. 

Jordan is one of our best tacklers with Sparrow and Neal-Bullen. No way he will be dropped.

18 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Speed against the Saints will be a real weapon. I hope Bedford and Pickett can play together, but who knows who comes back in at this stage. Covid affects everybody differently 

Hoping that the Saints coming from the humidity of Cairns will mean their speed will be heavily affected, plus us getting back quite a few H&S affected rested players may just give us an extra boost of energy. 

I would really like Bedford to keep his spot, I just don’t know who misses or who doesn’t come back. We sorely missed Kozzie and Nibblers forward pressure to slow the Hawks out of defence. 

Hate to say it for Weid but I think TMac did enough to stay in. I swear Tom isn’t doing a lot but he just seems to do “enough”. 

On 4/30/2022 at 10:21 PM, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Jordon out. Super fumbly. Doesn’t know what to do with the baLl. Made poor decisions all night. He has made tht wing position weaker. I’d prefer we got someone else working with Langdon. 

 

On 4/30/2022 at 10:21 PM, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Jordon out. Super fumbly. Doesn’t know what to do with the baLl. Made poor decisions all night. He has made tht wing position weaker. I’d prefer we got someone else working with Langdon. 

Yes! Angus!!

Two points. Firstly, we shouldn't assume payers with Covid will be automatically fit to play the next week. I thought Lever looked way off the pace on Saturday, although Viney seemed as good as new. It may be risky, therefore, to bring back five Covid affected players all at once.

Secondly, a couple of people have suggested dropping Hunt. I think that might be based on looking at disposal numbers rather than the job he's doing. It seems to me he has become Jetta's replacement as the lock-down defender playing on the opposition's most dangerous small forward. I'm pretty sure he played n Shai Bolton and kept him out of the game and was it Luke Breust on Saturday? (I couldn't get to the game and it's hard to identify match-ups from the TV coverage.) It makes sense if that's become Hunt's role as it leaves the distribution roles to those better at it, such as Bowey, Brayshaw, Rivers and, when he returns, Salem.  

12 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Tmac even said post game on Fox that he hasn’t been playing great and wanted to kick a few goals regarding the Harmes goal that he marked. Yes he was making a joke but I am sure there is a lot of truth to it. 
I felt his desperation to impress, but sadly that did result in selfish behavior which is a big no no at Melbourne. 

Agree 100% with this!  Tom isn't impacting the scoreboard enough to keep Weid off his back, and I feel it is starting to tell with his intent. 

Remember the line the boys have used in the last few years where everyone will 'Get a lick of the icecream', well it kinda feels like Tom is holding on to the icecream tightly. He's not the player that won that game against WCE in 2018 and he's not kicking 50+ goals any more. Weid, Brown and Fritsch are the forwards who are likely to kick bags of 3 or more in a game, Tom is good for a goal or two at best.

3 hours ago, Pates said:

Hoping that the Saints coming from the humidity of Cairns will mean their speed will be heavily affected, plus us getting back quite a few H&S affected rested players may just give us an extra boost of energy. 

I would really like Bedford to keep his spot, I just don’t know who misses or who doesn’t come back. We sorely missed Kozzie and Nibblers forward pressure to slow the Hawks out of defence. 

Hate to say it for Weid but I think TMac did enough to stay in. I swear Tom isn’t doing a lot but he just seems to do “enough”. 

Tom could've perhaps should've kicked 4 goals on Saturday. Ones he missed were quite kickable.

I hope the Saints are close to full strength and push us hard. I want to see us challenged and respond. We’ve got a solid month of footy coming up in 3 weeks and we need to be ready