PREGAME: Rd 18 vs Essendon

[whatwhat say what 22,938]

for me it's one of viney, anb, or sparrow to roll thru zerrett from a 'cooler' perspective - viney probably makes the most sense around stoppages, but anb has the bigger tank / more defensive mindset

durham is arguably in just as good form imo

caldwell and shiel go alright too

their pace worries me

[redandbluemakepurple 360]

Fullarton is named as an Emergency 🤔

Coach may be just revving us up.

[beelzebub 23,383]

51 minutes ago, redandbluemakepurple said:

Fullarton is named as an Emergency 🤔

Coach may be just revving us up.

It's a curiosity.

We're down a ruck but we don't pick one.

Some suggest too important a game to risk. I don't concur. It's a game.. they're all important.

Some suggest he's underwhelmed and so not picked.... yet he's named as an emergency, and not the first time ; so he's good enough if you 'need to break glass' but not if his exact position is vacant ???

Not picking Fullarton is either,as suggested above...a ruse or it's illogical. 

He's not picked because he may not win the contests ( neither does Max and often sharked )  but we'll have possibly 3 non-rucks competing and probably losing. Yep, makes zero sense there.

Max's value around the ground i think is actually irreplaceable but we'll try with Petty ?? 

I truly find all of this fascinating. We'll know Sat night. Hope it works. 

[DiscoStu17 789]

19 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

It's a curiosity.

We're down a ruck but we don't pick one.

Some suggest too important a game to risk. I don't concur. It's a game.. they're all important.

Some suggest he's underwhelmed and so not picked.... yet he's named as an emergency, and not the first time ; so he's good enough if you 'need to break glass' but not if his exact position is vacant ???

Not picking Fullarton is either,as suggested above...a ruse or it's illogical. 

He's not picked because he may not win the contests ( neither does Max and often sharked )  but we'll have possibly 3 non-rucks competing and probably losing. Yep, makes zero sense there.

Max's value around the ground i think is actually irreplaceable but we'll try with Petty ?? 

I truly find all of this fascinating. We'll know Sat night. Hope it works. 

I don’t mind this selection too much. It surprised me, but mostly, because I did not think Petty would recover so quickly. 

He surprised me the last time I saw him ruck as he has obviously done the job as a junior. He jumps early and tries to initiate contact. This is good as Draper, despite his size, is not fond of people jumping into him, and has not grown up in the role, so does not protect himself adequately. Petty’s marking is also a real feature of his game,

Petty also seems to have a bit of mongrel about him, which you need in this position if you are going to wrestle most of the game and try to dominate them in the contest.

In wet conditions, it doesn’t matter how big or small players are. Either they can or they can’t pick up a ground ball when it’s slippery.

Looking forward to it. 

[Garbo 1,542]

Forget which game it was this year that petty got a decent run in the ruck, thought he actually did ok from memory we actually got a few clearances. Where we will miss max most is he’s contested marking work round the ground, Petty is better than our other ruck options in that aspect

Edited July 11 by Garbo

[Oxdee 438]

6 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Maybe he is not up to doing the job, they want him to do?

We are not inside the 4 walls, but i bet my Left Ball that Goodwin wants to win the game. 
Max is out, this is a massive gamble, but if it comes off….

It’s seems that Fullerton isn’t rated highly by the coaches. Simple as that. 

[dazzledavey36 55,318]

37 minutes ago, Garbo said:

Forget which game it was this year that petty got a decent run in the ruck, thought he actually did ok from memory we actually got a few clearances. Where we will miss max most is he’s contested marking work round the ground, Petty is better than our other ruck options in that aspect

West Coast.

[Dee Zephyr 19,268]

16 hours ago, middleagedemon said:

I've posted here before, for years so please save the 'arrived here 5 seconds ago' 

This sounds like another Demonstone challenge.

Guess my name. 

[JJR 681]

18 hours ago, middleagedemon said:

Toxic positivity on it's full display ladies and gents. 

Hey @WalkingCivilWar, please quote me on a post I made 'bagging' a player?

Bet you can't. 

Maybe spend less time trying to policing this joint and more time accepting that not every supporter needs to be a 'fan-girl' of everything MFC eh?

 

🥴🥴🥴

[John Demonic 5,850]

Ahhh memory lane.

 

Jack Watts game

I remember Spencer got injured against Richmond the week after Gawny went down for a large chunk of the season in 2017

Edited July 11 by John Demonic

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

7 hours ago, Clayton spirit said:

 We went in with Weideman as solo ruck vs Adelaide a couple of years ago, which worked out fine, so this comes as no surprise that Goody is just backing tried players. Winning clearances will be a bigger worry this time, but at least we have a few guys to rotate through

Remember that 2022 game well. We were all panicking that Gawn and Jackson were both out and had Weid as first ruck and Mitch Brown as his back up. But we ended up beating the Crows away despite losing to them the prior year with Gawn in the losing side.

And last year Port had to call up an 18 year old kid that was absolutely not ready for AFL footy with about 4 hours notice to head up their ruck department. The game was against Essendon on a damp early July night at the MCG and Port beat them after the siren.

Gawn’s bail out contested marking around the ground is absolutely irreplaceable. However the last 2 weeks there has definitely been more energy, spark and commitment to pressure to suggest that we can takes it up to the Dons and register one of our best wins of the last couple of years.

And lastly, we strangely have a superb Saturday night record since round 1 2021. It’s something like 15-3 and a draw. And one of those losses was the controversial Trac touched call against Carlton last year.

Edited July 11 by Bring-Back-Powell

[Magnus 45]

Hi all, am looking forward to this game. Interesting tactical choice by the selection committee. I think there a few variations as to why we haven’t listed a recognised ruck in the absence of Gawn. 
 

first, gone are the days when we materially score from the centre contest. Although it is exciting to watch a mid gain a quick goal from a clean tap, it is rare this occurs. Thus needing a strong ruck for the centre is not hugely important (aside from stopping the opposition from scoring quickly). Thus having 3 talks doing it part time but focusing on around the ground work could be an interesting tactic.
 

second, it could all be a ruse so they don’t play 2 rucks and put Fullerton in at the last minute (as he is listed as an emergency).

third, unfortunately gawny can’t play forever and we need to make a decision in the next year or so if we need to invest in an equivalent (ish) ruck. It will cost us and salary cap might be spent better elsewhere. Thus this is a test if the 3 “gifted amateurs “ approach to rucking works. 
 

finally it might rain, and they have gone in with a tall list. Could backfire materially on them (but let’s not try and predict Melbourne weather).

I find this change interesting and can’t wait to see it in action this weekend.

[FearTheBeard 1,223]

I’m sure everyone will be happy to know that the blond mutt Williamson (22) is umpiring us yet again. 

[Engorged Onion 10,223]

10 minutes ago, Magnus said:

Hi all, am looking forward to this game. Interesting tactical choice by the selection committee. I think there a few variations as to why we haven’t listed a recognised ruck in the absence of Gawn. 
 

first, gone are the days when we materially score from the centre contest. Although it is exciting to watch a mid gain a quick goal from a clean tap, it is rare this occurs. Thus needing a strong ruck for the centre is not hugely important (aside from stopping the opposition from scoring quickly). Thus having 3 talks doing it part time but focusing on around the ground work could be an interesting tactic.
 

second, it could all be a ruse so they don’t play 2 rucks and put Fullerton in at the last minute (as he is listed as an emergency).

third, unfortunately gawny can’t play forever and we need to make a decision in the next year or so if we need to invest in an equivalent (ish) ruck. It will cost us and salary cap might be spent better elsewhere. Thus this is a test if the 3 “gifted amateurs “ approach to rucking works. 
 

finally it might rain, and they have gone in with a tall list. Could backfire materially on them (but let’s not try and predict Melbourne weather).

I find this change interesting and can’t wait to see it in action this weekend.

Well posted Magnus, it echoes my thoughts.

I think what is interesting now, is the JVR is seen as a bit of the Golden Goose, due to his form, but he is young, and invariably he will have dips in forms (but that's what happens to 25yo and 30yo's too) - and the cry is often, put the player into the ruck to 'find the ball'... when this happens in game.

There are 3 zones, covered by individual players, rucking individual areas of the ground. JVR won't be wasted up the ground...much. But then there is the flexibility that comes with it.

We're watching an evolution of Goodwin's mini version of total football, and what our style of play will potentially look like post the end of Gawn's career. It's just been pulled forward to 2024 for a variety of reasons around, our coverage not been good enough, or feeling as though what is required is marking strength around the ground, versus actually rucking dominance. Fluidity is important.

But of course, Goodwin has no plan B and is too rigid 😅

Edited July 11 by Engorged Onion

[jnrmac 20,185]

One problem with not playing a regular ruck is the number of frees we're likely to give away. Newbies often give away silly frees 

If we can neutralise the ruck battle somehow the plan could work. 

High risk high reward

When ppl complain about players leaving Melbourne like Jordon, Bedford etc this is a prime reason

And also why is hard to recruit a back up ruckman 'come to Melbourne and play at Casey for 3 years' doesn't have great appeal

 

[Dee Zephyr 19,268]

21 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

I’m sure everyone will be happy to know that the blond mutt Williamson (22) is umpiring us yet again. 

Been mentioned several times already, I actually felt Ump No.12 was hot garbage against the Lions.

[Billy 2,544]

7 hours ago, redandbluemakepurple said:

Fullarton is named as an Emergency 🤔

Coach may be just revving us up.

I Hope so because we are gifting Essendon the win & any chance of the finals playing Petty in the ruck

Remember Fremantle? He was totally uncompetitive & avoiding contact 

Edited July 11 by Billy
Punctuation

[Roger Mellie 4,102]

13 hours ago, BigBadBustling said:

I hope everyone's enjoying their Thursday night. Sorry for this.

I feel we have the quinella and possibly the trifecta of umpiring duds with Williamson leading the charge by some margin.

Where do the stats come from? Cheers

[DemonOX 8,800]

Looks like someone else has the same concerns as a few posters on here including myself. 
 

From sen article  

David King is concerned about this call, wondering if the Demons have already lost this game at the selection table.

[Neil Crompton 5,618]

I think Disco will morph into Cam Pedo and take the lions share of the ruck work. 

[adonski 12,427]

11 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

Looks like someone else has the same concerns as a few posters on here including myself. 
 

From sen article  

David King is concerned about this call, wondering if the Demons have already lost this game at the selection table.

The Kingy Curse

Dees by 200

[DistrACTION Jackson 9,224]

11 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

Looks like someone else has the same concerns as a few posters on here including myself. 
 

From sen article  

David King is concerned about this call, wondering if the Demons have already lost this game at the selection table.

We are definitely going to win now

[old55 23,687]

Petty is the best replacement for Max's key strength - down the line marking target. He's the next best contested mark we have and was just hitting form in this area against Brisbane when he took 5 contested marks - a very high number. So I'm very happy to see him selected.

But he doesn't have to ruck to provide that target and he didn’t against Brisbane, he can play high forward and get up the ground to do it, while JVR, Fritsch and Melksham play deeper.

He'll get burned in the ruck and his marking will suffer, or worse he'll get injured because he’s never been robust.

We should be sacrificing Fullarton or Tomlinson to the ruck contest and Turner can make way in the 22 because as above, we'll have enough forward targets.  JVR and Petty could ruck just 20% each then.

[dice 712]

1 hour ago, Billy said:

I Hope so because we are gifting Essendon the win & any chance of the finals playing Petty in the ruck

Remember Fremantle? He was totally uncompetitive & avoiding contact 

100% correct. 0% logic in this stupid selection

[Ollie fan 3,468]

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

One problem with not playing a regular ruck is the number of frees we're likely to give away. Newbies often give away silly frees 

If we can neutralise the ruck battle somehow the plan could work. 

High risk high reward

When ppl complain about players leaving Melbourne like Jordon, Bedford etc this is a prime reason

And also why is hard to recruit a back up ruckman 'come to Melbourne and play at Casey for 3 years' doesn't have great appeal

 

I just don't understand this post - unless Jnrmac is saying that we should have played Jordon and Bedford more often, and thus kept them. 
 

The thing is, if they weren't first 22, why would they be picked? Should we have dropped a first 22 player back to Casey just to play an inferior player? And clearly, they weren't seen as first 22 - at the time, quite rightly.