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PREGAME: Rd 03 vs Sydney

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in Melbourne Demons

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3 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

I love the look of JVR. But I want him bought in in the right way also. I guess the question has to be,  is giving JVR 2nd ruck duties just too much on debut? I watched him rucking for casey and can’t see that’s anywhere near his 1 wood. Id love to see him debut as a forward and perhaps take the throw ins in the fwd line.. but if he’s in the centre square that feels like a recipe for a mauling. you have no doubt seen more of him and know a bit about his character …what’s your opinion WCW? 

I’m totally with you on the timing of his debut. Ideally he’d be debuting when we’re closer to full strength and therefore the pressure on his performance wouldn’t have the potential for overwhelming him.

Personally, I think he is ready. He’s a confident boy but still seems very grounded and not inclined to get carried away. At that age kids seem to be fearless and this can be a good thing going into next week’s match. I know he’s had the best possible psychological preparation, not only from his senior teammates but also from our staff who (I’ve been told by a little birdie) are amazing when it comes to the mental well-being of our boys… above and beyond type things.

Physically? Also ready, imho. 

 
On 3/24/2023 at 11:36 PM, dazzledavey36 said:

Harmes played majority in the midfield and only gathered 10 disposals. No he didn't tag anyone before some jump down my throat again. Enough is enough, his efforts tonight were simply deplorable. 

McDonald is cooked. No simple way to look at it. We all know his foot nearly done so while we have a fit Schache and JVF then may as well see what they got to offer.

I'm a broken record with Melksham so I'm not adding anymore to this.

If Petty is sore then just give him 2 weeks. He was woeful tonight and Tomlinson was the better defender. Reward good form at least when May comes back next week.

Agree with you on Harmes, Tmac and Melk time to make changes...

    • Like 1
    3 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

    What we’re seeing at present is the advent of the elite young player coming in and playing well from the get go - Nick Daicos, Harry Sheezel, Will Ashcroft, Cam McKenzie and Mattaes Phillipou. They’re all medium sized midfield types (although not necessarily playing there yet at this level). 

    Jacob van Rooyen is a key position player with a season of VFL behind him and before that, a few WAFL games. He has to be rewarded with an AFL debut very soon and if it’s true that Schache is out with concussion, next week against Sydney is the time to make it happen.

    And you know what they have, pace unlike Harmes, Tmac, and Melk who are slower than the milk horses and I would even throw in Hibberd, agree with you on JVR just get him and give him a decent chance.

    • Like 2
     

    Collingwood had 16 players hit the scoreboard yesterday, 14 of them kicking goals. Last week it was 13 players with 10 of them kicking goals. I understand some people on here have greater knowledge of the tactical side of the game than me, but I’m sick of reading that i / we / someone doesn’t understand someone’s roll within the team. We supposedly have the no.1 ranked midfield and defence and no.6 for our fwd line. We have numerous fwds that on a regular basis don’t kick goals, but I’m led to believe they’re in the team because of their defensive efforts and or their role within the team. It’s seems to me it’s everyone’s job in Collingwood’s fwd line to kick goals. We’ve gone from slow predictable down the line into the fwd pocket, to slightly quicker ball movement to the top of the square where we have more than one fwd competing for the ball. We need to get some separation from our fwds, an extension of that is the separation of the oppositions defence. Cloning Kosi would help enormously as he gives us variation in the middle but his creativity around goals is unrivalled. We need quick entries inside fwd 50 and some more youth to go with it. I’d love to see JVR given a chance, Chandler is starting to show a bit, along side Fritsch and Brown we would have a diverse fwd line. If not this week, then the 6 following games are a lot easier and gives us a chance to try something different. 

    • Like 4
    5 hours ago, BDA said:

    Melks is great to bring on in the second half when he's fresh and the opposition are starting to tire. He doesn't have the legs for a full game anymore as we saw on Friday night.

    He very classy though. Took his goal against the doggies from outside the 50 brilliantly. I don't think we have anyone else on our list that would have nailed that kick.

     

    Sparrow? Kozzy?

    • Like 1

    2 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

    He has to come in. 

    36 touches in the VFL.

    They were often as an unopposed sweeper in the backline. His disposal was good but rarely was he pressured.

    Good game but I'm not sure what it means for AFL selection

    • Like 1

    May, JVR, Jordan and Hibberd must all be a chance this weekend. This is a roll up your sleeves and get dirty weekend more so than most. The 4 above will all give you that level of effort, it's just how they roll. The outs for mine are Gawn, Melksham, McVee and Harmes. Can't see Goodwin making 4 changes though.

    • Like 2
     

    Bris played terribly against port, we played terribly against Bris, Sydney will play terribly against us. Ezpz.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 7
    36 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

    Can’t believe we’re currently favourites to win this one.

    Sydney has had the softest start to the year of any side. GC and Hawks. A complete joke. 
    Can’t judge their form yet. 

    • Like 1

    45 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

    Can’t believe we’re currently favourites to win this one.

    This. Scratching my head that we’re 1.60 favourites. That will come in no doubt, but gosh we’d want to start a hell of a lot better than we did this week.

    Hard to judge Dogs game (Saints rolled them by 50 as well) and the Lions game (Max goes down inside 5, we play half a quarter of footy and nearly roll them). This will indicate where we are more realistically at. If we can’t beat the Swans (something we have struggled with recently) then we ain’t doing much this year.

    Longmire also comprehensively has the wood over Goody, so let’s see if it’s the same old ‘back in the system’ or something a little different. A lot of this is up to the players’ mindset……….do they want to work hard for it?

    2 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    Sydney has had the softest start to the year of any side. GC and Hawks. A complete joke. 
    Can’t judge their form yet. 

    Fair point.
    But you can judge losing 8 of our last 9 MCG games to Sydney. Most of them when we’ve become a half competent football side.

    • Like 2
    16 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

    My weekly teams selection

    Seniors

    B: Lever, May, Bowey

    HB: Hibberd, Petty, Rivers

    C: Hunter, Oliver, Langdon

    HF: Petracca, McDonald, Neal-Bullen

    F: Fritsch, Brown, Spargo

    FOLL: Grundy, Brayshaw, Viney

    IC: McVee, Sparrow, Chandler, van Rooyen

    SUB: Laurie

     

    Reserves

    B: Adams, D.Turner, D.Smith

    HB: K.Turner, Tomlinson, Buntine

    C: Howes, Dunstan, Sheppard

    HF: Moniz-Wakefield, J.Smith, Gray

    F: Melksham, Jefferson, Sestan

    FOLL: Bell, Jordon, Harmes

    IC: Verrall, Farris-White, Munro, Gregory,  Cross

     

    Not sure why Disco, Verrall and Farris-White were out. Does anyone know?

     

    I fiited in Harmes and Melksham.

    2 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

    This. Scratching my head that we’re 1.60 favourites. That will come in no doubt, but gosh we’d want to start a hell of a lot better than we did this week.

    Hard to judge Dogs game (Saints rolled them by 50 as well) and the Lions game (Max goes down inside 5, we play half a quarter of footy and nearly roll them). This will indicate where we are more realistically at. If we can’t beat the Swans (something we have struggled with recently) then we ain’t doing much this year.

    Longmire also comprehensively has the wood over Goody, so let’s see if it’s the same old ‘back in the system’ or something a little different. A lot of this is up to the players’ mindset……….do they want to work hard for it?

    So if Spargo is having a shot from 40m out after the siren down by 3, to win the game. Whether he kicks the goal or not, will decide whether we are doing much this year?

    Strange logic, I would've thought its more about 'how' the game is played next week, rather than the result.

    It's a round 3 match against a red hot team coming off a grand final, without our captain the most influential player on any football field. Take a breather!

    Edited by John Demonic

    • Like 1
    On 3/24/2023 at 11:59 PM, dee-tox said:

    I have had enough of Harmes already. Not convinced he is AFL level despite playing well as a tagger before signing a ridiculous five year deal.

    Bizzare comment. 143 games, key premiership player, gets a game at at least 15 other clubs.

    Edited by Queanbeyan Demon

    • Like 7

    We could put in a good performance and still lose so I'm not as concerned about the W next week.

    I just want to see a proper performance. And from our mids in particular. 

    • Like 4

    Its pretty simple

    This is the real test for whether Goodwin and Co have learned anything from last year.

    The Swans are a good side and their style of play is difficult for us. We have tried to play the same way and come unstuck repeatedly.

    We have to stop their overlap run and ensure their mids do not get control. Last time Buddy took May out of the contest and their other talls killed us as well as their medium fwds like Hayward. 

    If we have learned anything it will be on show here. If not the same fate most likely awaits us.

    • Like 6
    • Thanks 1
    16 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

    Its pretty simple

    This is the real test for whether Goodwin and Co have learned anything from last year.

    The Swans are a good side and their style of play is difficult for us. We have tried to play the same way and come unstuck repeatedly.

    We have to stop their overlap run and ensure their mids do not get control. Last time Buddy took May out of the contest and their other talls killed us as well as their medium fwds like Hayward. 

    If we have learned anything it will be on show here. If not the same fate most likely awaits us.

    Agree, our form this year is somewhat unknown, best the Bulldogs who are not too 8 and lost to the Lions, who got smashed round 1. Need a win this week 

    45 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

    Its pretty simple

    This is the real test for whether Goodwin and Co have learned anything from last year.

    The Swans are a good side and their style of play is difficult for us. We have tried to play the same way and come unstuck repeatedly.

    We have to stop their overlap run and ensure their mids do not get control. Last time Buddy took May out of the contest and their other talls killed us as well as their medium fwds like Hayward. 

    If we have learned anything it will be on show here. If not the same fate most likely awaits us.

    Yep... this week & the Pies / Geelong will be decent indicators as to how we are fairing vs 2022 & 21

    Goodwin essentially said we were staid and boring. Hi Clayton and Jack and Ed, do you not what to play like this?

    This week will tell us whether our best players agree with the move to replicate Collingwood in transition. We’re lost if they don’t. God help JVR and anyone else we blood.


    4 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    They were often as an unopposed sweeper in the backline. His disposal was good but rarely was he pressured.

    Good game but I'm not sure what it means for AFL selection

    We need a mongrel to play on Papley and he fits the bill perfectly.

    We beat Sydney twice last year if it wasn’t for injuries / fitness. 
     

    I expect the midfield to come out and make a huge statement next week. They have too much pride to accept the dismal performance.

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1
    3 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    Sydney has had the softest start to the year of any side. GC and Hawks. A complete joke. 
    Can’t judge their form yet. 

    How has this been allowed to happen?

    An AFL Grand Finalist, top 4 team to be given a simple introduction/transition into the 2023 season.

    You can just picture all the AFL cronies gathered around a table together discussing the AFL fixtures for the next year.

    They have their list of teams who in their eyes must get off to a good start so the big markets around Australia (NSW) stay interested in the game and the Swans would be right on the top of their list.

    Edited by YesitwasaWin4theAges

     
    14 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

    We beat Sydney twice last year if it wasn’t for injuries / fitness. 
     

    I expect the midfield to come out and make a huge statement next week. They have too much pride to accept the dismal performance.

    So we lost twice?

    • Like 3

    Also, how is the crowd going to be this Sunday? I was there last year and it felt like an away game. 

    Over/Under on excuses at 5.5 @ $2.

    Thats money for jam.


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