Why can’t good medium-small defenders just stay that way?
 

There is always, always need for competitive, skilled defenders in the back 50. I don’t understand the fixation with wanting to turn them in to midfielders all the time.

I note with interest that Judd is still on the rookie list and his contract is up at the end of this season. Can someone confirm. If true why hasn't he signed?

3 minutes ago, djr said:

I note with interest that Judd is still on the rookie list and his contract is up at the end of this season. Can someone confirm. If true why hasn't he signed?

He is signed to the end of next season.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1307057/young-gun-signs-new-deal#:~:text=MELBOURNE'S Judd McVee has signed a fresh deal with the,teammates and Dees fans alike.

4 hours ago, demon3165 said:

Yeah a one paced midfield with a lack of outside run and carry, name our midfielder who can pass like Bont, Reid etc and under pressure?

And you think McVee is that??

Give me a break. 

Pickett is the skill set we need in there; excellent skills and speed. 

And our ‘midfield’ isn’t the problem right now - it is the team driving a predictable transition off half back. McVee can impact that where he is right now. No need to love him.

10 minutes ago, rpfc said:

And you think McVee is that??

Give me a break. 

Pickett is the skill set we need in there; excellent skills and speed. 

And our ‘midfield’ isn’t the problem right now - it is the team driving a predictable transition off half back. McVee can impact that where he is right now. No need to love him.

Pickett definitely has the speed and agility but his disposal under pressure is not elite. I have seen him butcher the ball several times.

Im also not yet convinced in his ability to hit the right targets - WIP and something we should definitely persist with.

I think McVee has the composure and the vision to make for an elite ball user moving forward. Reminds me a lot of McCluggage. Having him play in defensive will give him time to build his tank but all develop his defensive game. 
 

Would be a perfect rotation at some stage. 

8 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Pickett definitely has the speed and agility but his disposal under pressure is not elite. I have seen him butcher the ball several times.

Im also not yet convinced in his ability to hit the right targets - WIP and something we should definitely persist with.

I think McVee has the composure and the vision to make for an elite ball user moving forward. Reminds me a lot of McCluggage. Having him play in defensive will give him time to build his tank but all develop his defensive game. 
 

Would be a perfect rotation at some stage. 

Or he can stay in defence and excel.

And he holds the ball like he is cracking an emu egg… just sayin

14 hours ago, gs77 said:

Bowey?

Bowey and Wowie. Both have speed, meat and smarts with both kicks and handball. 

9 hours ago, rpfc said:

And you think McVee is that??

Give me a break. 

Pickett is the skill set we need in there; excellent skills and speed. 

And our ‘midfield’ isn’t the problem right now - it is the team driving a predictable transition off half back. McVee can impact that where he is right now. No need to love him.

Do you ever watch a game without red and blue eye patches on and never see a fault, first off Kossie does not have the tank to play midfield for long periods so let's ask this why doesn’t Goodwin play him primarily in the midfield? Second his skills around the forward line are great but his kicking skills when under pressure are not around the ground.

Our backline is OK it only comes under pressure when the midfield is not working and that's where it all starts you do realise that don't you the forward line can only work when the ball gets there and the backline needs the midfield to work to get the ball forward that's why the midfield is called the engine room of the team.

 

 

Could be worth an experiment, i think it is much easier to develop HBs. With Andy Moniz pushing for selection, i would like to see talent 'graduate' into the midfield. Although, the experiment did not work with Rivers and may not work with McVee. 

14 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

They aren’t, which is why Josh plays mostly on the wing and why Nick plays his best footy getting handball receives. But he’s also a freakish runner and accumulator and incredible getting out of traffic when he’s on the move.

In the last four weeks ND is ranked 1st in the league for winning the ball.

231st for what he does with ball in hand.

Edited May 30, 2024May 30 by Demon Dynasty

While I think he needs to stay back for now, I don't think it's out of the question seeing him push into the middle in future. Would be nice to see that delivery coming into the 50. 

26 minutes ago, layzie said:

While I think he needs to stay back for now, I don't think it's out of the question seeing him push into the middle in future. Would be nice to see that delivery coming into the 50. 

Not saying that McVee is the answer but until you try you never know and I think for a quarter here and there is a start, if it's not his position he stays back but people like to pigeon hole players and people should look outside the box.

A hard no from me, this year anyway.

Given blokes such as a severely out of form Charlie Cameron and Matt Owies of all people have gone to town on us, I don’t think it would be wise to release our number 1 lock down defender up the field.

Each unit is as important as the other so I don’t see the point in robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Edited May 30, 2024May 30 by Bring-Back-Powell

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A hard no from me, this year anyway.

Given blokes such as a severely out of form Charlie Cameron and Matt Owies of all people have gone to town on us, I don’t think it would be wise to release our number 1 lock down defender up the field.

Each unit is as important as the other so I don’t see the point in robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Then our development of players is poor then, so if he was injured what your saying we are in trouble don't think so...

4 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Then our development of players is poor then, so if he was injured what your saying we are in trouble don't think so...

Say we play Carlton week 1 of the finals.

Owies is in one pocket. Motlop in the other.

Who are our two small lock down defenders to take the above 2 players if McVee is in the midfield (or out injured)?

If there is no clear answer, then it's probably best that McVee doesn't get moved out of defence, for at least this year.

5 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Say we play Carlton week 1 of the finals.

Owies is in one pocket. Motlop in the other.

Who are our two small lock down defenders to take the above 2 players if McVee is in the midfield (or out injured)?

If there is no clear answer, then it's probably best that McVee doesn't get moved out of defence, for at least this year.

I would say Lever tries to get to one and use his advantage in the air to be a threat, and Judd takes whoever we feel is more likely to kick a bag

Just now, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Say we play Carlton week 1 of the finals.

Owies is in one pocket. Motlop in the other.

Who are our two small lock down defenders to take the above 2 players if McVee is in the midfield (or out injured)?

If there is no clear answer, then it's probably best that McVee doesn't get moved out of defence, for at least this year

With our backline no problem the issue is the quality of ball that comes in pretty simple.

56 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Say we play Carlton week 1 of the finals.

Owies is in one pocket. Motlop in the other.

Who are our two small lock down defenders to take the above 2 players if McVee is in the midfield (or out injured)?

If there is no clear answer, then it's probably best that McVee doesn't get moved out of defence, for at least this year.

I wouldn't risk debuting him in finals but the same scenario earlier in a season (say last time against the Blues) and assuming Bowey wasn't coming back from injury and in decent form and this player already had 8 to 10 AFL games under his belt.

Ie;  alot of 'IFs' !!  Given present Casey form you could trial Bowey & Moniz as the options here with some experimental minutes of McVee through the middle taking on 'SOME' of someone else's mid minutes like a Sparrow or Tracc or in place of say Salem's minutes that you might be considering playing through there instead of Sparrow etc.

I'm not saying this should happen with McVee and that's it's a lock or anything and we'd be mad to not change him from his ptesent role either.

He might be best suited to staying where he is after trialling him for a while in some 'select' games and scenarios half a dozen times to see how he goes.

But as 3165 has already pointed out, no harm in trying and no harm in a player's capabilities being explored and potentially expanded.  Especially important on game day IF things go awry for whatever reason and you simply have very few other options (rare but can happen).

Edited May 30, 2024May 30 by Demon Dynasty

19 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

I wouldn't risk debuting him in finals but the same scenario earlier in a season (say last time against the Blues) and assuming Bowey wasn't coming back from injury and in decent form and this player already had 8 to 10 AFL games under his belt.

Ie;  alot of 'IFs' !!  Given present Casey form you could trial Bowey & Moniz as the options here with some experimental minutes of McVee through the middle taking on 'SOME' of someone else's mid minutes like a Sparrow or Tracc or in place of say Salem's minutes that you might be considering playing through there instead of Sparrow etc.

I'm not saying this should happen with McVee and that's it's a lock or anything and we'd be mad to not change him from his ptesent role either.

He might be best suited to staying where he is after trialling him for a while in some 'select' games and scenarios half a dozen times to see how he goes.

But as 3165 has already pointed out, no harm in trying and no harm in a player's capabilities being explored and potentially expanded.  Especially important on game day IF things go awry for whatever reason and you simply have very few other options (rare but can happen).

Well said....

He may end up as a mid, it's where he played a lot of junior football I believe.

...but then again all these kids were stars as juniors so they all played mid.

Could be a bit like Ed Richards who has developed his craft in defence and has now moved into the midfield.

Give him time.

Remember one of the greats that he shares a nick name with played a lot of his footy off half back and went into the midfield when the Hawks needed a lift.

I would like to see him getting a bit more ball out of defence.

Edited May 30, 2024May 30 by rjay

Who was the Hawks player nicknamed "Knuckles" @rjay?

 

remember when the rev tried to turn whelan into a midfielder? think it lasted about a quarter of the regular season of him running around not touching the ball and not laying a tackle before he was sent back

14 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

remember when the rev tried to turn whelan into a midfielder? think it lasted about a quarter of the regular season of him running around not touching the ball and not laying a tackle before he was sent back

And we remember when when father Christmas was real then found out later he wasn't, must be hard being one dimensional.

Keep up the face palms, the vomit ones as well.

 

27 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Who was the Hawks player nicknamed "Knuckles" @rjay?

 

"Knuckles" is also called "Silk"...

Now I'm with ya!