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I pointed this out last year but for those who do not know of Stats pro on AFL.com it is a brilliant resource. If you are a Telstra customer, in addition to having access to live pass you also have access to video of every player's involvements in each game from the last 3 years. It is great way to get an objective perspective on a players game. Watching the video of Omac's last two games highlights that a key feature of his game is how many spoils he effects. All of his 13 one percenters last game were spoils (and 9 of 10 v the Hawks). Spoils often go unnoticed by commentators but even they made comment on how many spoils we made (though of course not the fact that Omac got most of them). It should be noted that reflecting his poor start to the season Omacs one percenters were way down (averaging around 5-6) prior to being dropped, and no doubt that was a big factor in him being dropped. Omac killed Peter Wright - gave him nothing. Don't believe me, look at the evidence. If Wright gets off the chain we lose that match. Colins meanwhile gave up 3 goals to TMac, who despite those goals most are saying still played poorly. And i can't believe in the analysis on Footy Classified and AFL 360 i saw that Collins' decision to sag of TMac (his man) at the death and his failure then to get back on him and either stop him kicking the ball off the ground or stopping the ball was not highlighted (or even commented on) as it literally cost GC the game. I have no doubt Dew highlighted it in his review

Really? We have 10 to 15 injuries and we've won our last two games, one against the Hawks who just knocked off the Giants. I reckon our depth is doing pretty well.

Some good points. But your argument loses a bit of credibility, given the following two facts. Tim Smith did not play against the hawks. He was a late withdrawal and replaced by keilty. Hard then for him to keep us in the match. Perhaps you meant the tigers game, in which Smith was good (not great) in so far as he took a couple of contested marks. Not sure he kept us in the match though. Oscar can't win a contest? If you mean aerial contests as I pointed out in another thread omac had 13 one percenters (and 10 against the hawks incidentally), which measure defensive efforts (but basically spoils) against the suns, which is elite. 7 more than any other player. As a result his (very tall) opponent could only manage one goal - and that was from a pass Oscar couldn't stop. So whilst he is certainly slow and has other weaknesses you could have highlighted, not winning aerial contests is not an issue. Sure he doesn't win every contest and last week against the hawks he lost a couple of critical contests (none last game) but show me a defender who doesn't lose some contests. I would agree he perhaps doesn't win enough contested ground ball but his job as a tall defender is to stop his opponents marking it and he has done his job in that regard in the last two weeks. Two weeks that we have been defensively very strong and won both games. Would be a strange time to drop him then.

6-6-6 is rubbish, footy in general this year is rubbish to the point I have stopped watching it, I liked that we could be innovative at a centre bounce having players coming off the back of the square last year, the rule changes are crap, the umpiring is diabolical the AFL Has stuffed the game completely, what more can I say the game is completely [censored]

What he tells the media and what he discusses with the players and staff are most likely two different things. I wouldn’t want to give the media anything either. They keep bringing up the Prelim in an attempt to manufacture a story, I think Goody plays them well.

I suspect the 6-6-6 rule has had no impact other than making the playing field look good at the bounce of the ball after a goal or at the beginning of each quarter. The real concern I have is the way the rule was introduced without a proper trial. A couple of half-hearted try-outs when neither coach is trying to win a game (or willing to show his hand) clearly isn't going to prove anything. The AFL should have used a full season of State League (ie, VFL or equivalent) footy to trial it before it was introduced. That should be the same for any proposed rule change other than an emergency rule change which might be needed for the purpose of enhancing player safety.

I saw this article on the 6-6-6 Rule where Don Pyke: "...believes the six-six-six rule, introduced at the beginning of 2019 with the intention of creating flow and boosting scoring, has had the opposite effect..." He highlighted that there have not been many 100+ pt scores this year. So I put together a little Table showing the # of 100+ ptscores over recent years in rnds 1-8 Its no wonder games are harder to watch. This year there has been only one game where both teams scored 100+ pts, coincidentally when we played Ess. Given this (and other rules) came in because the AFL and ch7 thought 'not enough' goals were being scored and wanted to open up the game, the Table would not make them happy. iirc the AFL wanted to outsmart coaches by taking away some of their defensive tactics at centre bounces and kick-ins. Interestingly, Pyke also said: "...Adelaide simply had to adapt to the new trend and cast aside their reputation...for attack before defence". In 2018 we were proudly a fwd half team that relied on the weight of i50 entries to kick winning scores so we were about attack, attack at all costs. Perhaps it is not only our lack of two-way running that caused Goodwin to change and go back to the earlier Paul Roos strategy of 'defence first'. Lower scores are unexpected outcomes of the new rules and as Pyke says: "... I don’t know what the AFL is going to do about it.” I would say the rule changes have backfired! Over to you, Gil!

I still back in Goody. This year has been cruel but he keeps his focus.

That’s huge news about Lever! Great if he can have a run around in the VFL.

Pretty good analysis Ill be the jerk and pull you up on that one, I think it was the game before. The Richmond game was the first game we went full defense first, but apart from that I think you are spot on. They game will develop - but the question has to be what was the point of it all? Why make the changes in the first place.....

Or try bringing the interchange numbers back to what they were in the 80s/90s.

Agree. The OP says games are "harder to watch" because there are fewer instances of a team scoring 100 points. The Melbourne v Essendon game had lots of goals but no skill, turnovers galore, and no defence from either side. I don't accept that made the game enjoyable. The scoring debate is taking over from the real debate, which should be about what we are actually watching. Goals do not make the game enjoyable in all circumstances.

Congratulations to Nathan Jones on the accomplishment of becoming the equal second games record holder at the MFC today against the GC. Somewhat fitting that he shares jumper No.2 with the late Robert Flower, as although they are somewhat different styles, they will go down as great captains and players for the MFC that loyally stuck with the club through some hard times for the team. I actually wounder if playing this match with Jonesy was something which factored in Jack Viney declaring himself fit? Anyway go forth and get the job done for the skipper today lads. Great captain Great clubman Great player Well done Jonesy GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS

I was taking the [censored]. I’m amazed that people actually believe we haven’t analysed that game endlessly. As @Ethan Tremblay wrote in another thread Goodwin has played this perfectly do one thing and tell the media another when it is to the benefit of the club

Don’t bother bringing logic into the argument bing, it won’t be listened to

I applaud Goodwin for focussing on the things he can do. And right at the top of that list is "Refuse to learn from the biggest learning opportunity Melbourne has had in the past 20 years."

Oscar will sort them out.

It's just come to me. Put a roof on top of the MCG and put turf on it. Right size, right orientation, right location.

Where is there any evidence of the MCC not wanting to be part of the future?? Don’t make things up to suit your agenda. Neither the Club or the MCC have said anything is off the table yet, and i believe Pert when he says this is a long term project, because it is. As i said earlier, we have already cut ties with the MCC once before and it was a disaster, ultimately leading up to the dreaded 1996 Merger options i don’t want to go through ANY of that ever again...

The Latest: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-05-14/injury-update-five-dees-to-prove-fitness The list is looking decidedly healthier! The five players listed as 'Test' are expected to be available this week? Pleased that Sam is one of them and has avoided hip surgery?, at least for now. KK is aiming to play a game before the bye. No detail on AvB status.

There is one obvious solution. Move back to the MCG. The surface is now managed so much better than in the past that I would be very surprised if it could not handle a few nights of training each week. The MCC should simply tell the AFL that we are moving back home. Keep Gosch's & Casey for summer training. This is such an easy solution that it borders on ridiculous, don't be surprised if it happens. Lose public land or lose some other public land or , hang on we could move back to the MCG if that helps! OK

I don't understand this point. Being a member of a club - whether it's a sporting club or some other type - means you want to associate with what that club stands for. It doesn't mean you have to attend or participate in all its activities. I'm happy to have anyone be a member of the club whether they want to attend games or not. Keep in mind there is a whole group of potential members who will never be able to attend a game because they are infirm, live overseas or in non-urban Australia or are just too nervous to watch games live. There's a supplementary value from having people sign up as members whether they attend games or not. Sponsorship today is about the sponsors getting access to the club's database of members to enable direct marketing. The more members we have, whether they attend games or not, the more valuable that database of names becomes to enable larger sponsorship dollars.

100% agree. It is staggering that such a major change was implemented without a proper trial. Amateur hour. Do what the AFL does (repeatedly) in any other sphere and your career would suffer.

Well, I just watched the replay. Hard to know what to say about what I just witnessed. It’s actually amazing that we have 3 wins playing like hot garbage. There were culprits everywhere but Stretch and Oliver in particular should be embarrassed by some of their ball use in the forward half. Absolutely ridiculous for AFL players to be kicking the ball like that. We now have the worst conversion from inside 50s since the stat has been collected. If historians ask how that happened, they need only watch a replay of that game. Shameful. Fix up the skills for god’s sake.

Another quick throw-together with the main building on Olympic Blvd (more prominent shop front), a decent car park to the south, and the oval overlapping the one we currently train on. We can only dream...........

My god the over reacting on here is ridiculous. I know its disappointing... you think we have an MRI scan on the sidelines? he was sore but you can't diagnose a broken bone in the mid foot on the sidelines. and if you stopped any sore player from going back on you'd have 10 blokes on the field by the 4th Q. Every club does it!! Tiges will Jack twice, with a broken hand and then leg/foot. far out

Having rewatched the footage, I will just say the three stooges on Access All Areas (Lloyd, bartel, Damian Barrett) are despicable. O Mac could barely move and was clearly hurt, and none of them even bothered to mention it. Of course he couldnt follow his man down the field.

Fair enough. My bad then. In my defence a confusing turn of phrase and I'm a bit over the bagging omac cops on this site.

Do you understand the term machine learning as a subset of artificial intelligence? I engineer systems of this nature for a living and what you just said makes absolutely zero sense.

Ben Guthrie @BenGuthrie_ Jordan Lewis (ankle) didn’t do much work on the track but still a chance to play against the Eagles. Jake Lever looked sharp and is set to return via the VFL this weekend. Simon Goodwin to speak to the media shortly.

Votes from both coaches again

I love some high brow reading early in the day: "Adopting Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, field and habitus along with Loïc Wacquant’s understanding of neoliberalism as the reengineering and redeployment of the state,I illustrate the use of elite sport as a form of cultural glue to re-regulate the city in favourof market-like mechanisms thatbenefit the urban and political elite. The Victorian state has successively re-regulated this neoliberal urban entrepreneurial strategy, often preventing dissident groups from resisting neoliberal activities,through its monopoly over the legitimate use of symbolic and material violence."

For a really good analysis, have a look at pages 100-115 of this extremely readable academic thesis which discusses the politics of parklands when the National Tennis Centre (aka Melbourne Park and Rod Laver Arena) was first proposed. It's a fascinating read and hopefully has been looked at by the club. It explains how difficult it is to get any developments which impact on parkland in the area.

If it isn’t already on the agenda, I’d like to hear his thoughts on the new rules, particularly the no runner rule. Probably won’t give much away but it’d be interesting to get a small insight into how we are going about it. Keep up the great work fellas.

Only to the punters DJ for the managers it is hell. They much prefer mushrooms.

And what is the obsession within the AFL of turning the sport in to an American sport? Night grand final Mid seasons drafts Unrestricted Free agency Rule changes - obsession with scoring over it just being a good game. lets give the players less time to take a set shot/speed the game up/ and then complain about lack of scoring - whos genius idea was that? Shizen umpiring What the actual f does the MRO do I am not silly enough to not realise Free Agency and the mid season draft are good for players and creating better competition while filling a void, but the AFL seems to be determined to corpratise and Americanise the entire competition and make us much money as possible at the expense of the game and it's traditions Now this may have been the same throughout history but the AFL are doing a great job of lining their own pockets Soon we will likely see shorter games or seasons to make it more ëxciting' or more stupid rule changes. Go get stuffed AFL

With less goals there is less time for runners to deliver messages. Teams have to rely more on on-field leaders, something we are lacking. So we have suffered for this, especially in the first month this year. And, quite contrary to expectations fewer goals with fewer center bounces is reducing the importance of tap ruckmen and the flow on effect is to reduce the impact of a dominant inside midfield like ours. Perhaps, it is no coincidence that WCE stopped using 2 ruckman about a month ago. Interestingly, most teams geared up and recruited an extra ruckman on the back of the new rules and how WCE won its way to a premiership. Now, they may not be needed! Clearly, their have been unforeseen impacts of 6-6-6 and some clubs were better positioned with their existing defence oriented game plan (Geelong) or woke up to what was happening very quickly (Adelaide). Interestingly, Clarkson started the game vs GWS with the old tactic of flooding the GWS fwd line for the 1st quarter. 'Defence first' to the extreme. It worked - broke GWS's spirit and run! In the last qtr he went back to controlling the play with kick/mark to kick/mark and they had a trillion uncontested possessions. The 'penny dropped' for Goodwin after the Richmond game and our game plan changed toward 'defence first' and we won the next two games even with a significantly depleted team. Like many other teams we have been playing 'catch-up' and our players are finding it hard to re-learn 'defence first' after 3-4 years of a ballistic style of attack. Our poor defence in the earlier games wasn't only because they didn't 'run both ways'. By mid year most teams will have sorted it out and it will good to watch how strategies pan out. So Geelong and Adelaide may not be as dominant later in the year but they certainly have the early advantage when it comes to making the finals/top 4.

You’re a good man DA. But I’ve decided not to go - I checked the flights and they’re a total rip-off!

@Grapeviney I’ll wire you an even 90k, that should cover snacks.

No, I'm not... I'm putting No blame, on either player. One of the players had no awareness, so was not as diligent as I would expect, from an AFL footballer. I think you should check the Vid again... I am sure Rohans head did not turn to... or away from Durdin's. No case to answer, imv... Simply an accident. it happens. No one to blame, but plenty to learn from. As we all do.

yes we can! sore hip, broken collarbone, busted knees, mangled feet...

Dil and Shocking must be worried about what they've done. footys never been so boring imo. also while we are talking about it, I've come around to the way of thinking that they should just do away with prior opportunity altogether. if you don't want possession for fear of getting caught holding the ball, just tap it on until you do want to take possession. like they used to do before they brought in the prior rule. at the very least they should bring in team prior opportunity like Moonshadow says. it might help clear some of these scrums that end up repeat stoppages and would be more exciting to watch, keeping the ball in constant motion. ruckman will bring back the big smash to clear the ball out of the ruck as well. a feature of the game that has all but disappeared these days.

In. Preuss, Petty. TSmith, ANB, O Baker, Out Lewis, Melksham, Hibberd, ( Inj ) Keilty omtd. OMAC Disinterested or lost his nerve. 5 changes and l wouldn't be surprised. 3 compulsory.

Stop the season, I want to get off.

The Good Bloke Club is flourishing under this system. It is so bad, it is predictable as to who will be suspended and who will not. Superstars, Big Names - Off. Run of the Mill, No Name - Out.

My favourite grand finals were the ones where 50-60 points were scored each. I want to see a good contest, not just a good shootout. Couldn't care less about the low scoring.

I think I can safely say he is the clear favourite whipping boy of 2019 binman. He ain't as bad as a lot think.

Could barely walk after the game. But hey let's find another reason to find fault with omac.

If anyone cares to reflect on Jones' loyalty in tough times, consider this - Robert Flower: 272 Games, 88 wins, no draws, 184 losses Nathan Jones: 272 Games, 86 wins, 3 draws, 183 losses. Another side note, since his debut he has missed a total of 11 games.