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PREGAME: Rd 09 vs Hawthorn

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in Melbourne Demons

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32 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

Salem fit and ready to play. Do you play him for a half against the hawks?

Personally i wouldn't. 

You would then have to cover him with the sub.

Effectively restricting your selection. 

Let him build up some real fitness.

He'll be handy fit with some form

Bloody useless otherwise....really....

    • Like 4
     
    35 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

    Salem fit and ready to play. Do you play him for a half against the hawks?

    in about four weeks after two or three games at Casey that is how I would play him for a couple of weeks. Offers a chance to give reduced duties to Hibberd or another smaller backman in the run home.

    You could use the same approach with Joel Smith and Lever

    1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

    Salem fit and ready to play. Do you play him for a half against the hawks?

    Never treat a game as a training run. Quickest way to loss a game.

    • Like 11

    1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    I like your thinking (although I think you'll find it's George M Cohan).

    Dammit, a rookie error on my behalf!

     

    Hope he’s picked otherwise it’s another week he doesn’t play a match. He’ll take awhile to pick up the pace of the game but a good game to start with 

    • Like 1

    With no Casey game this week would this not be a good chance to have Salem as the sub? If we bring him on great, if we don't we don't.


    15 hours ago, BDA said:

    I'm attending this one in a family Group. Kids and cousins (all Dees supporters)

    I want my kids early footy memories to be of us beating the Hawks. A bonus would be if we belt them. That would be good for my kids development i reckon. Hopefully instil a sense of disdain in them for that club and their horrible guernsey.

    I tried to invite the Hawthorn supporting wife along. She declined. Still haven't been able to work out if it's because her team is rubbish; or if it's about getting a baby sitter for our two year old; or it's about watching football with me (don't blame her); or all of the above.

    Our son is Melbourne, but she has this ridiculous rule that she won't convert to Melbourne (we've been together since 2007 FFS) unless we beat Hawthorn in a GF. She thinks she's pretty safe there, I reckon! I'd love to beat Hawthorn in a GF, but I'd much prefer they stay in the bottom 4 forever and eventually fold.

    I hope your kids have a big, memorable victory, mate.

    • Like 6
    14 hours ago, layzie said:

    Absolutely. I'd want my kids first memory to be the 18 final and then go through their whole life with no memory of losing to them like we had to endure.

    I dunno. I reckon it was character building. Seriously. Sure, I don't want my kids to be put through hell, but I despise bandwagoners in any sport, so sticking fat when things aren't going to plan is an important life skill.

    11 hours ago, MrFreeze said:

    May is in bad form!!! Fritsch doesn't pressure!!! Our transition sucks!!! All fugazi, we're closing in on the number 1 rating for both offense and defense. As always, in the FD i trust. 

    Screenshot2023-05-09111151.thumb.png.4e694256f60667e8725eff13e3efdeb8.png

    I'd love to know what this is based on. From @WheeloRatings stats in my new favourite thread 'Why are we continuously being beaten in clearances', we have Geelong covered in pretty much all the key indicators.

    10 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    I think it’s a safe bet the crowd will be at least 50/50 if not favoring Melbourne.  Hawks fans can’t be keen to come watch their side at the moment. 

    Hawks fans are never keen on watching their side when they're not in the top 4. Biggest fair weather supporter base in the game.

    8 minutes ago, A F said:

    I dunno. I reckon it was character building. Seriously. Sure, I don't want my kids to be put through hell, but I despise bandwagoners in any sport, so sticking fat when things aren't going to plan is an important life skill.

     

    Maybe they can have a losing streak against another team. Their generation should be superiority over Hawthorn.

    Edited by layzie

    • Haha 1
    7 hours ago, A F said:

    I'd love to know what this is based on. From @WheeloRatings stats in my new favourite thread 'Why are we continuously being beaten in clearances', we have Geelong covered in pretty much all the key indicators.

    That chart is simply plotting teams points scored ranking versus points against ranking.

    Melbourne 2nd in points scored (107.4 per game), Geelong 1st (107.8). Melbourne 4th in points conceded (77.6), Geelong 7th (79.4).

    • Like 4
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    Going off Goodwins presser I highly doubt Ben Brown comes in even if JVR misses. Says he still has thing they'd like him to work on at VFL level.

     

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    4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Going off Goodwins presser I highly doubt Ben Brown comes in even if JVR misses. Says he still has thing they'd like him to work on at VFL level.

     

    No one up forward excelled at VFL level. Please don't tell me they'll try Joel Smith forward given he was the best of a middling lot

    • Like 1
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    16 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Going off Goodwins presser I highly doubt Ben Brown comes in even if JVR misses. Says he still has thing they'd like him to work on at VFL level.

     

    And it appears that we will also persist with Petty up forward until one of TMac / BBB can come into that spot. Sounds like JVR has secured the other tall forward option with Maxy for now. 

    • Sad 1
    18 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Going off Goodwins presser I highly doubt Ben Brown comes in even if JVR misses. Says he still has thing they'd like him to work on at VFL level.

     

    Selection integrity is a tricky thing. It doesn’t apply to a third of your list, but when it applies, IT APPLIES!

    • Haha 2

    Not sure if this would be the game to bring Brown back in for. Quite a bit of dash in that Hawks backline I can see him tailing behind them as they take it out of our 50. 

    Wouldn't be totally disappointed if we tried Smith in there, hardly laden with options right now. 

    On 5/9/2023 at 12:43 PM, FlashInThePan said:

    I think I can explain it to you. There are a few posters on DL who love to latch on to a player and tear them down. They do it relentlessly, week after week. For them, anything that goes wrong can be sheeted back to their pet hate project.

    I have only been in DL for 4 or 5 years but I first noticed it with Jack Watts, Omac, Milkshake was the target for a while. They don’t have to actually be bad players, Spargo and Gussy have been in the sights for example and now May and Hunter who are both really solid, talented players.

     How it works is that the usual suspects will get to work white anting, they can be relentless. They criticise everything that player does. If we have a loss or a bad game they can usually convince a broader group of people to jump on board for a big pile on.

     In my experience you can’t stop it. The best you can do is occasionally point them to some stats or  ‘actual facts’ about that player’s role and output. If you engage in any other level it just feeds it.

     

    Hard to present any facts saying OMac was the answer 🤣


    3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Going off Goodwins presser I highly doubt Ben Brown comes in even if JVR misses. Says he still has thing they'd like him to work on at VFL level.

     

    Goodwin said Hibberd would come back and Petty would stay as a forward.

    He also said that he sees Joel Smith playing in a very dynamic way as a forward in the VFL.

    Reading between the lines, I think Smith will come in if Van Rooyen fails to get off and Hibberd will come in for Daniel Turner. Spargo is also likely to come back in with one of Spargo, ANB, Chandler or Jordan as sub.

    • Like 2
    3 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    No one up forward excelled at VFL level. Please don't tell me they'll try Joel Smith forward given he was the best of a middling lot

    They're probably going to try Joel Smith forward given that he was the best of a middling lot!

    Please not Smith!!!

    Why much around with that, bring in BBB or  T-Mac,  not another player who doesn't have a good forward craft.

    Salem needs to spend a couple of weeks in the VFL, do some match sim this weekend then 2 VFL games.  No need to rush him in, get his body ready to hit the ground at 100%

    Who goes out for Spargo?  Our small fwds are doing ok.  Or does he play in the VFL again until his opportunity arises.

    We are in a good position here, we are resting Trac, Oliver, Gawn and Grundy in games and still getting wins.  Need to shut down Sicily and it goes a long way to beating the Hawks. 

     

    Smith has looked absolutely electric in patches in the VFL the last two weeks. He kicked well against Box Hill but he did not finish well against Gold Coast. There is not many players with his athletic profile in the competition.

    • Like 3

    Goodwin stated in his press conference today that Salem won’t play this week. As the VFL has a bye this week, he will play VFL next week and go from there. So officially no Salem for minimum two more matches.

    • Like 6

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