2 hours ago, picket fence said:

Melksham has been bog ordinary for Casey and Bedford was dreadful last week

Melksham had 21 disposals and 7 tackles against Geelong VFL.

5 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Bill there are 2 issues here . One is expressing an opinion and questioning a selection based on form. 
Supporting the player is another issue. He’s playing for Melbourne so I hope he proves me wrong and plays a blinder

I support Melksham, but am stunned he has been picked on form, over Chandler, who has been great at Casey.

Only thing I can think of is Melksham has been picked because there is a role they see him better at, even while badly out of form.

He might kick 5 and shut everyone up, or he might go kickless and DL will light up.

3 minutes ago, Redleg said:

He might kick 5 and shut everyone up, or he might go kickless and DL will light up.

Melksham is still a better user of the ball into the forward line than almost anyone else on our list. Of course, he has to get it, but given the "blaze away" approach of the likes of Trac, Oliver, Harmes etc., not to mention the "burn your teammates" approach of a couple of the other forwards, you can perhaps understand the reasoning behind his inclusion. But even back in 2018, Melksham was never a big possession-getter, he was just very damaging with the possessions he did get.

Though i wonder if they'd earmarked Laurie for a call-up for exactly this reason/role, but he's unavailable (Covid?).

3 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

In: Melksham🤮, Tomlinson✅️, Rivers🤔

Out: Oliver, Petty, Bowey

Cue outrage.

Dunstan✅️  Tomlinson 🤷‍♂️  Hunt✅️

19 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Melksham is still a better user of the ball into the forward line than almost anyone else on our list. Of course, he has to get it,

It's simple Bing... he doesn't.  Couldn't think of a worse replacement for Clarry. 

Dunstan by the length of the Flemington in comparison.

If he was replacing Spargo or Bedford i'd be more understanding

Edited July 15, 20223 yr by Demon Dynasty

So we replaced a 30 plus possession player with a 5 possession player

Obviously I know nothing about selection

We should win in spite of it but this is doing my head in

14 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Couldn't think of a worse replacement for Clarry. 

He's not a replacement for Clarry. If anything, he's a replacement for Sparrow, Harmes and Trac down forward, to free them up to take on more of the midfield/Clarry role.

Melksham to play defensive forward on Aliir I would think

2 hours ago, Deetention said:

Time for Gus to play in the guts... 

No. Gus is basically in All Australian form on the HBF so why would you move him for one week? When Salem came back the selectors made the decision to drop Rivers and keep Gus where he was. Gus did a great job on the Wing last year but is doing an even better job in the backline, and JJ has been excellent on the Wing in 2022. 

Tomlinson is in for Petty, Rivers for Bowey. These make sense but I feel a bit sorry for Bowey. I thought the backline as a unit did a phenominal job against Geelong and no-one deserved to be dropped. The problems were with clearances and a non-functioniung forward line.

The selectors have clearly decided to give the small forward line one more chance, have brought Melksham in to play a role and are looking for our midfielders as a group to cover for Clarrie. Strange approach IMV. Surely Dunstan in rather than Melksham was the logical choice. Maybe given the lack of connection last week the concern was Dunstan's lack of foot skills adding to the misfiring!

37 minutes ago, bing181 said:

He's not a replacement for Clarry. If anything, he's a replacement for Sparrow, Harmes and Trac down forward, to free them up to take on more of the midfield/Clarry role.

Don't confuse those with an inbuilt group hatred for Melksham

 

 

All I ask is that Ben Brown, Fritsch and Dogga/Max compete strongly in the air and bring the ball to ground for the small forward brigade. Port's backline will feast on our long high bombing entries if we choose that avenue consistently. 

If milkshake can deliver those entries from 80m out or so and hit some people lace out on a lead, he'll have played his role perfectly. 

There are others that are stiff to miss but I hope all three inclusions have a great game. 

 

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

Melksham had 21 disposals and 7 tackles against Geelong VFL.

Handy game 

35 minutes ago, bing181 said:

He's not a replacement for Clarry. If anything, he's a replacement for Sparrow, Harmes and Trac down forward, to free them up to take on more of the midfield/Clarry role.

I'll stick with my call bing.  Tipping the mid field contest in their favour here IMV.  Not the smartest move i've seen but hope im wrong

44 minutes ago, Clayton spirit said:

Melksham to play defensive forward on Aliir I would think

I think that might be the case...he plays this type of role well.

Good call 'Clayton'

Dont love the selection but lets get behind Melk, this old dog ain't done yet.

16 minutes ago, Tom Dyson said:

Port's backline will feast on our long high bombing entries if we choose that avenue consistently.

Interesting observation, and makes me think that we may have a different plan going forward with lower entries and isolating Pickett and Fritsch - hence why Melksham is in.

Looking for a market to bet on Melksham getting <5 touches and 1 tackle. 
Too short. 

7 hours ago, layzie said:

Dont love the selection but lets get behind Melk, this old dog ain't done yet.

Yes he is lol.

He's been cooked since 2020. Why we continue to reward a bloke that's well past it and barely has any impact at AFL level for the past 2 years just shows why Goodwin is still incredibly stubborn.

It sends a poor message to the blokes like Chandler and Laurie who have continued to bang the door down week in week out at VFL level with not even a sniff of being named an emergency. 

Melksham should not at all be part of any future team selection unless we are decimated with injuries. He's not part of our future plans moving forward and it's completely worthless that we are wasting games on a cooked 31 year old instead of seeing what Chandler has to offer at AFL level if given the same opportunity of games similar to what they've done with Bedford.

 

I also think Melksham must be in to play a very specific role 

Don't think I have seen anyone mention this yet but what about Jordon into the guts? He played in the middle last year and is regarded as one of the best tacklers in the club. Our pressure is something that I think we need to work on and JJ's tackling pressure is a good place to start. That would mean Melksham up on the wing were I think his ball handling skills could be put to good use. He's one of the players I can actually see hitting a target inside 50

15 hours ago, bing181 said:

Yes, lord forbid there could be some actual reasons for the decisions.

Melksham frees up Trac and Harmes for more midfield time. Not complicated.

But is this the right move? Without picking another tall forward, can we afford to not play Trac predominantly forward?

The Age tipsters ... 14-0 Demons.

Incredible. Surely close to an even money match?

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Yes he is lol.

He's been cooked since 2020. Why we continue to reward a bloke that's well past it and barely has any impact at AFL level for the past 2 years just shows why Goodwin is still incredibly stubborn.

It sends a poor message to the blokes like Chandler and Laurie who have continued to bang the door down week in week out at VFL level with not even a sniff of being named an emergency. 

Melksham should not at all be part of any future team selection unless we are decimated with injuries. He's not part of our future plans moving forward and it's completely worthless that we are wasting games on a cooked 31 year old instead of seeing what Chandler has to offer at AFL level if given the same opportunity of games similar to what they've done with Bedford.

 

You can see I'm trying to convince myself Dazzle. If that book The Secret that I never read taught me anything its that if you wish for something hard enough it will happen.

22 minutes ago, layzie said:

You can see I'm trying to convince myself Dazzle. If that book The Secret that I never read taught me anything its that if you wish for something hard enough it will happen.

I've wished hard for Jennife Lopez all my life.

I'm still waiting mate..

 

Edited July 16, 20223 yr by dazzledavey36

1 hour ago, titan_uranus said:

But is this the right move? Without picking another tall forward, can we afford to not play Trac predominantly forward?

Agree

If anything we need to be freeing up Tracc to play more time forward