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I reckon we are in good shape for a tilt at the flag this year and here are my reasons; 1. Eight matches into round 5 we are sitting at 1-3. Improve our composure in forward half and we are likely to find ourselves at 3-3 by the end of round 6. 2. Our list is fit, with no injuries to our best 33 players. The expected compressed fixture will work in our favour with ability to back up matches every 4-5 days through fitness and ability to rest and rotate players across all lines. 3. Our contest work is a real strength and much better than last season. Defensively we are holding up well and despite some poor discipline re being switched on we are keeping teams to a low score. 4. Our ball use can be addressed through our team playing together more, playing more than two matches in a row tweaking game style and bringing in better ball users, e.g. Harley Bennell and Nathan Jones. 5. Goodwin's management style is very much process based, we saw this in 2018 where once we got going we were the most dominant team for decent parts of the season. The next 4-5 weeks will tell us alot. I'm confident we can turn things around and be at 6-4 heading into the last 7 rounds.

Question paraphrased: Can the issues be fixed and can they be fixed quickly? Jennings answer: It's a 30 second fix. That's just pure strategy and match day coaching. Pretty damning assessment of Goodwin right there!

Weideman grab your chance by the balls son, your time to shine baby. Show them who's boss big dog.

I posted in the changes thread that Tomlinson jibbed a few contests and was weak in his tackles and the FD wouldn’t like it. He will be back, but hopefully harder and more committed.

I would have thought bringing in two sponsors during COVID is quite impressive given the current mess the economy is in. What in particular are you upset with? The fact that memberships are down during a time fans can't attend games? Financials will take a hit in a year we don't get dollars from attendances? You can't just hit without giving specific examples.

Long suffering/supporting Demon whose heart beats red and blue. I reckon I been reading this forum pretty avidly for last five to six years, was certainly overdue to subscribe! I watch every Melbourne match twice. Somewhat glutton for punishment, but I find I see quite a bit more second time around without the vested emotion of win or a loss on the line. It actually baffles me as to why our coaching collective can't find a solution to ignite this team. There is a fairly simple solution that I can see that would change the whole vibe of the way we play. Our transition since 6-6-6 has been fairly abysmal, our fall since then or maybe that Prelim vs West Coast has been on a downward trajectory. Short of Petracca there does not seem to be much individual improvement. Our team looks great on paper this year. Our game style, not so much..... Until we fix what we seem to have seemingly forgotten what made us a revelation in 2018. In all the analysis I have seen of Melbourne lately I am gobsmacked they do not offer any real solutions. Our disposal as a team has always been hit and miss. 2018 chaosball when we scored highly, and played an inspiring style of football should have been the new standards. The messaging must be confused. We try to play a zone, which all teams must do to a degree, our team is one of the best at keeping a structure in the back half. As a team trying to play a zone though, what are we actually doing? We run frantically back towards the opposition goal once the opposition have possession, trying not to give up easy goals, and by doing this we actually give up pretty easy goals ironically. Time, and time and time again. Solution?? Pressure the ball carrier. It is basic football, and we are the worst team at it. In 2018 we had waves of players attacking the ball carrier, why have we as a collective stopped doing this? Nowadays we are so busy running backwards to guard grass. Opposition gets the ball and you are within 5-30m of that ball, get proactive Demons, attack that ball carrier, there are so many positive flow on effects from doing this. Don't turn your back to on player who has ball to run and guard grass. Hands up on mark. Simon this IS the problem. We don't attack the ball carrier. We allow other teams to display exquisite skills either by hand or foot, yet ours looks so bad because hey no one is ever pressuring the ball carrier or even has their hands up on the mark. Chinese checkers is an easy game to play for most AFL teams. Geelong played something far worse against us. Chip checkers i'll call it. We got beaten by a garbage tactic which should have been easy to punish but all day we ran to guard grass. Please Simon for the love of God go back to instilling into this team to attack the ball carrier. Your job Is to get the best out of these guys. They, mostly...are fit. We have close to a full list. Picket our newest recruit get it. He scampers to pressure the ball carrier, Hannan is another who also has laid some crunching tackles, and runs as fast as he can to pressure the ball carrier. Our whole team needs to start getting inspired by their teammates actions of creating pressure/turnovers. Start pressuring the ball carrier as a collective and we will improve overnight. Scrap this zone BS. No one is responsible for anything currently. Hunt the ball barrier, handball or kick forward a lot more often. Sense your teammate is going to win the ball and you don't need to be that second man in to pressure? RUN. Create an easy option for your teammate who just did a great job. Get involved. There needs to be more shepherds. Now I am confusing the messaging. Adding layers to this team we seem to have forgotten the basics. Kicking and handballing skills are dependent on the pressure being applied. The best teams, the best players all succumb to pressure occasionally. We need to start applying it as a collective when we don't have the ball. That includes pressuring the ball carrier at all times. If you are not pressuring the ball carrier you should be trying to shut down their next option. Get on a man or close enough to intercept should there be turnover. Help your teammates. Shepherd. Give them that split second more to dispose of the ball better. Create options. Create pressure. Create chaos. Play on when you have options streaming forward, don't be afraid to take the first option, reward your teammate running past if he has momentum and running into space. Don't be afraid to take the game on. So our attack starts from the contest. Attack it, hunt the ball carrier, shepherd your mates, run and create options when we got the ball. Hunt the ball carrier when we don't. The skills will then be able to be seen from our list. Currently this zone thingy is a disgrace and has never quite functioned right, it has flow on effect where nobody is responsible. Scrap it Goody, your back 6 can keep the shape but have to go when required is their turn, that part just requires a tinker. The rest of the team need to be hunting the ball or creating options, the rest really would look after itself. Sorry for the long winded first post and emphasis on this whole hunt the ball carrier thing we did for parts of 2018. Our skills and personnel are much better now . It's been driving me madder than isolation that this is not where our game plan starts. Add or take layers but we need to start being uncompromising again. Currently we are the opposite. Pressure!! PS. Still get a forwards coach next year.

Hallelujah! A second tall forward. A player who can kick the footy. Jetta. And a far more reliable tall defender in Omac who will make Lever more able to zone off. It’s like the coaches finally caught up to 2020 ?

Bit harsh on AVB guys. Deserves a few games to find some touch after what he has endured. Adds some much needed physicality when on song. He will have more than a few oppo players looking over their shoulder.

It will be very interesting to see if lever’s form improves significantly with omac in instead of Smith.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/740069 Great selections!

I doubt there is too many bigger Omac fans on this site than me (i'll let my fellow demonlanders into a little secret - i tricked my family into calling the dog we got 18 months back Oscar - my wife tricked me back and registered the name as Oskar) but the only selection that really surprises me is Omac in. Not because i don't think it is the right move - it is. He'll play deep on King and free up May to be more attacking and allow Lever to play the role he is most suited to. he should have been playing all season, but there you go. But jeez it is tough on Smith. Worries me that they would go with a particular approach and then abandon it after only two games, particularly given he was ok against the tigers (he did a good job on Riewoldt). Where does he go with his footy now? I hope they put him up forward and tell him to make merry hell. To a lesser extent the same goes with the forward line set up ie playing small. That said it clearly was not working and good to see Goody accept that (though no less frustrating he tried the small forward line, not so much agiansth ecats but more so against the tigers when it clearly had not worked). Play weed high (see what id there) and TMac deep (nothing to see there) out of the square with Fritter either on the wing or at high half forward And Tomlinson was poor but i would have given him one more chance and dropped Melksham in a heart beat. Benell for Hunt is no brainer. Had his chance and simply did not do enough in the last two games Rivers a touch unlucky i reckon but i like Jetts back in the team. One thing i really like with the selections is that Harley is the best kick in the team and i reckon Omac is the next best (Salem has gone backwards in my view - a player who can't reliably hit a target 50 metre away and can't kick low and flat is not great a kick in my view). And jetts is a reliable kick as is Weed (except when he is having set shot for a match winning goal). Smith, tomlinson and Smith all below average so the players in address the skill issue a fair bit

Won the lottery, going to the game.

Melksham very, very lucky!

how on earth does AVB stay in ahead of Rivers/Tomlinson?

The first 15 mins or so of this is great listening if you are interested in hearing a dissection of how our game plan (or lack of) is falling apart. Edit: starts at about 2:30 mark

The movie is "The Shining" based on the Steven King horror book. Jack Nicholson at his scary best and the phrase Redrum, redrum. Look it up

How to beat us has been known and successful for a very long time: Control via short kick mark (deny our ballistic play style): Geelong, WCE, Hawks Match in the contest, beat on the spread/outside (too many committed to the contested to stop opp spread): Lions, Tigers, Pies Drop an extra in defence (to mark our bombs): Every team has been doing it for the last few years. What is fascinating is that he was our strategy coach last year. As he was given the flick one can only assume that Goodwin didn't want to hear these messages from Jennings. Will Goodwin now take on board what Jennings has suggested to win...

Well, this has come from out of nowhere.

I have no problem with them selling extra jumper space to a current sponsor to keep them happy and give them more value for money if it's going to keep them around.

I would rather anyone than melksham. And that is frustrating because he is od the most talented players in the team. And he should be a leader. But is playing selfish football.

my goodness, a forward line built around two key forwards! who'da thunk it?!?? i don't care it it doesn't work - i personally expect gc17 to be far too quick and skilled for us - but at least it's a proper structure

He has a history of playing players out of their positions. Fritsch, Brayshaw, Harmes are three. He seems incredibly stubborn to me. Infuriatingly monotonous - I couldn't imagine going to work every day and having to listen to him drone on.

Agree with a lot of the changes, but reckon Rivers is far better than Lockhart and I would have liked to see Hunt used elsewhere. He has been good this year with the limited supply. Hardly think he has been part of the problem this season. Also, Melksham and AVB are very lucky to hold spots. Acid test this week for the FD and Goody

How well am I going: Backed in Smith - he gets dropped. Backed in Rivers - he gets dropped. If anyone wants someone dropped just let me know and i'll be all over it for you. On the other hand, really good to see Bennell and Weideman in the side, and I think Nev will bring in some experience as well. Bit meh on Oscar but I'll be hoping he does well.

And I remember some telling vision in the coach’s box last year when we had one of our few close wins of Goody ruffling Jenning’s hair immediately the siren went. Jennings reaction indicated that he and Goody were at loggerheads over something and he had just been put back in his place. Was gone at year’s end.

Interesting to hear a previous coach pointing out these issues and that the club still haven't addressed it years on. Also interesting that teams actively target Oliver and Petracca as weak links defensively and try to launch offensive attacks through the players they're on. Also suggest Oliver be played more forward for his own development. Too many players go at the footy, opposition just wait on the outside. If Melbourne do win the ball, they're surrounded and make poor decisions as a result. Coaches do this on loop to nullify the amount of contests we win. When the opposition get the ball they maintain possession and play keepings off, and we have no way to combat that. They're two obvious strategic things that have brought us unstuck for years now. We are outcoached on a weekly basis. Until we change gamestyle, we can give 110% effort as much as we like, but we will not be a competitor.

Rusty you can take this as rumour if you like and it is admittedly third hand but I spoke to someone yesterday who tells me he has it from very good authority that a not insignificant part of the playing group are far from happy with the FD this year. The main gripe is that they are being played out of position and it is killing their careers. A number are being encouraged by their families and managers to look at their options by years end. One good player is of the opinion he wont be at the Dees in 2021 if Goodwin is still there. This business that the players love Goodwin is hogwash. Now I am not saying it is all the group but a sizable number by all accounts. This source has never given me a bum steer in the past and does not come up with a constant stream but they have been correct a lot in the past. I cannot say who the players are as I was not told. Take it or leave it for whatever you think.

At the 5.00 mark he says the footage Garry Lyon showed on AFL360 On the Couch, is how Saints played for the last 5 years. Can only be Richo's influence. Worrying. A losing strategy at saints and so far the same for us. Was not a fan of his appointment. Less so after hearing that.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ummm no

Tad harsh. Inherited Goodwin’s contract extension so is limited in his capacity to impact football performance. Tick on new sponsors. Tick on a healthy(ish) balance sheet which will give us a fighting chance of avoiding AFL intervention. Too early to tell on finding a new home - certainly hasn’t succeeded on that front but that is a long range project so deserves more time. My biggest query on him is his role in endorsing the coaching changes (and bringing a failed coach in Richardson in to support a coach under pressure) but that really should sit on Mahoney’s shoulders first.

More useful than kicking it straight to the opposition!

This is the dumbest thing written in this thread. The HUN article isn't the problem. We have our fair share of supporters who think the trade was a bad idea. Some, like @TheoX here, simply say the trade is bad until we win, in which case presumably it will be good. The most classic of classic hindsight reasoning. It's not like we threw a first round pick in the bin without using it at all. What we did was bring it forward into 2019. That was done in part because we saw ourselves rising up the ladder in 2020, and in part because we thought a first round pick in 2019 was worth more than a first round pick in 2020. Put to one side the fact that we've played 4 games out of 17 this year. In backing us in to improve in 2020, the club did what most people on here want. It set a higher standard for our performance. The alternative was to keep our 2020 first rounder because we were worried of finishing on the bottom again. That sort of attitude is "accepting mediocrity", isn't it?

To my mind this is a dumb move... We tried it a few times last year, probably Jennings idea. It didn't work... Clarrie is not a forward, he's a pure mid. Viney should be the pressure forward if anyone, he doesn't offer enough around the ball. Clarrie out of the midfield gives the oppo one less thing to worry about. I don't mind Harmes in as a tagger but only when there is a suitable job. Clarrie played one on one with Cripps and did him over in the first game, they had to move him forward to get some value. ...by the way, how is Cripps, Danger, Neale, Martin etc. etc. defensive game. Clarrie just needs more time midfield and learn to hurt the oppo more with his possessions, then it won't matter as they will always be watching him. There lies the problem at the moment.

Never seen a team whinge more to the umpire and beg for frees than the Cats. Actually sickening.

Jetta and Oscar completely change our defensive set-up, releasing May and Lever to be much more counter-attacking and in particular it should benefit Lever who can now be the smart interceptor and third-man up he is best at, without crapping his shorts all day about what hole is opening up behind him. In Jetta's case, I think his presence as a proper responsible adult will help things enormously. Weideman in will help T Mac operate with at least a little less than a 100% blanket on him, and doubles the chance of a tall person being under the fall of the ball from one of our random kicks forward. Bennell in is just an obvious one, even before what apparently was a very busy and effective scratch match effort. As far as I can see it, all four changes improve out structure and the outs, while being a little tough on a couple, are not diminishing our structure at all. I approve of these decisions, now I wait...

Tommo out is a big call but I like it, he hasn't done a hell of a lot except do some absolutely bog ordinary turnovers. Rivers is maybe a little unlucky but I'm ok with him coming out for Jetta who I still feel has much to give this year. In fact really I'm happy with all the changes. I think Oscar has deserved a recall and was actually hard done by to be dropped after playing quite well in the west. Bennell and Weid coming in had to happen, I think there would've been such a big outcry from the footy world that Goodwin wouldn't have anywhere to hide. For me all of these Ins/Outs address the issues I've been talking about: Hunt for Weid - Ineffective Mid forward for a tall (hopefully) marking forward Tommo for Bennell - Poor disposal inside 50 for good decision making and good kicking Smith for Oscar - Defensive structure which I think hasn't looked right since Smith came in Rivers for Jetta - Perhaps the only one hard done by but we regain experience and usually a good kick/decision maker I also think Rivers may be a victim of Pig returning to some form, hopefully Hibberd continues to play well. One thing I want to see now is Sam get a clean run at it, baring him getting 1 possie and giving away a 50m penalty (basically a Spargo WC game) I think he should stay in to be given an opportunity to gel with the picked 22. I would also like to see him only take forward 50 rucking duties with TMac being the chop out ruck (and rest Gawn in the forward line for periods). For me this is a lot more like what I think our best 22 should look like.

I like this side !!!

I like this team a lot more than I have liked the teams over the last few weeks. Good inclusions and a better overall structure. Will be watching VdB closely as he is the one in the team that I would have replaced.

Wow is Goody actually listening to Demonland ?

I have made my comment earlier in the thread Wise I will leave it at that.

Nice to see you on here NN don't worry about length. Welcome aboard.

He kicks to Max and it is nearly always to the members side of the ground (or the left when at other grounds). Very, very predictable. Haven't seen our kick-in players take a run out of the goal square this year - they may have forgotten the rule changes allow it.

He also has told us how to win and it's unbelievably simple" Gawn back half ruck. Tom forward half. Oliver to forward line Defend further back in the field.

And Kane Cornes who is calling us out on it and saying the footy department overrated the list. Well Kane my friend they weren't the only ones, you selected us as Premiers for 2019. David King said we had all the pieces in place, by sorting out our defence. He even continued the theme throughout the season when we were dropping games saying he wasn't worried about the Demons and put it down to the surgeries. Everyone is a hindsight genius

Agree. You win a few games and then everyone and everything is fantastic.

Well he won't get a possession if they kick it away from him, as is our style. Here is a hypothetical. If Weid got one out and the ball was kicked to him 10 times, could we assume he might get it 4 times and have 4 shots at goal. Could we assume that maybe 2 would be spoils and thereby give our small forwards an opportunity and say he would be outmarked 4 times. That would give us at least a 50% chance of scoring from inside F50 entries. We are currently scoring at less than 25%. It's pretty simple really. Play an extra tall forward. Stop the play on at all costs mantra, giving a bit longer to make decisions and execute proper, or at least reasonable disposal and we are a better side.

It’s nice to see so many have picked themselves up from the floor (where I imagine most of our comments on the “Closer To The End” thread were typed from), and resumed some of the regular muses and suggestions that allude to some kind of future. You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on - Samuel Beckett (probably a Dees supporter).

I think the relevant comparison is Young v Rivers not Jackson. I looked at the comparison a few weeks ago and Rivera had more disposals at much higher. DE than Young. A good HBF isn’t worth nearly as much as what Jackson will bring if he delivers. Rivers doesn’t have to be as good as Young, just nearly, for this to be a win win. So far he’s looking as good. Rivers is the key to the success of the decision to pick Jackson and to trade for Norths picks.

I am not concerned with Pert There are many others who come into the firing line before him You may not like him, but he is a smooth operator

As far as I've heard, the problem isn't Pert. Mahoney was being groomed for the CEO role and then didn't get it. He should have moved on at the time. Jackson was the one preparing Mahoney for that role but Bartlett decided to take a bit more control and make some decisions. I haven't heard anything negative about Pert, doesn't mean it's not there of course, but I've been hearing plenty of noise about Mahoney and Bartlett. My opinion is that things weren't setup well enough when both PJ and Roos left (at different times) and we really needed PJ for longer. Seems like the culture has gone back to how it was previously already. Cliques and friction.