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The selection dilemma caused by the injury to Melbourne’s 209cm ruckman Max Gawn leaving him out of the side for the next two to three weeks recalls the panic that spread through the ranks in Simon Goodwin’s first season as coach of the club. It was early in the AFL’s 2017 season when Max, who was the reigning All-Australian ruckman, badly tore his hamstring in Round 3 against Geelong at the Docklands and was facing a lengthy amount of time on the sidelines. Luckily for the Demons, they had a back up ruckman in the person of 203cm Jake Spencer who was in his tenth season at the club spent mostly as second fiddle to Mark Jamar and later, to Gawn. He was called up to face Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands who amassed 53 hit outs to Spencer’s 15 in the Dockers’ surprise 2 point victory at the MCG. Things did not improve in the following match on Anzac Eve against the Tigers when Spencer was given a bath by Toby Nankervis (56 hit outs to 13) in a game where the Demons gave up a 20-point lead at the final break to lose by 13 in the wake of multiple injuries to their players including one to Spencer’s shoulder as the team’s finals hopes plummeted. Enter 193cm undersized ruckman Cam Pedersen who was called up to the senior side after spending the first five weeks with the Casey Scorpions in the VFL. His first assignment in the role was to take on 203cm Tom Bellchambers. Petersen lowered his colours by 18 to 33 in the hit outs but he fought valiantly as the Demons revived their season with a 38-point win over tomorrow night’s opponents, the Bombers. George on the Outer wrote in Demonland of his round 6 performance: “The return of Cam Pedersen to the side as a replacement ruck worked really well, for while he may have lost the hit-out stats to Tom Bellchambers, it was he who racked up 19 possessions to Bellchambers' miserable 9. Best of all was that he relieved the necessity for Jack Watts to ruck, which resulted in Watts kicking 4 goals when up forward. How we could have used that scenario in the final quarter last week!” Pedersen didn’t dominate the hit out stats by any means - against Adelaide, Sam Jacobs amassed a 74 hit outs but Melbourne won by 41 points. The point was that Petersen contested everything and became an asset around the ground where he played the best football of his career despite being matched against much larger adversaries such as Ben McEvoy, Jacobs, Todd Goldstein and Brodie Grundy. He was also capably assisted by Tom McDonald who was handy when called upon to give him a chop out. By the time, Gawn was ready to return to take his place in the ruck in round 14, the Demons were in fifth place on the ladder. While Pedersen was a handy back up who continued to play some top football, the team was squeezed out of the finals race by the narrowest of margins after the final home and away game of the season. Incidentally, Pedersen who was drafted as a rookie by North Melbourne made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2011 season in the ruck against West Coast’s six-time All-Australian ruckman Dean Cox after Goldstein was a late withdrawal for the Kangaroos. He acquitted himself quite well in that position and gained the title of his team's "Mr fix-it" but fell out of favour and became a Demon in 2013. His first game was in a forward/ruck role in the club’s disastrous round 1 game against Port Adelaide when he was criticised for ducking when backing back to take a mark. After struggling in 2013 under Mark Neeld, he resurrected his career under Paul Roos in 2014 and went through highs and lows until he was thrust into the Demon ruck in that round 6, 2017 game against the Bombers. These are the teams for that game:- ESSENDON B: Patrick Ambrose, Michael Hurley, Martin Gleeson HB: Mark Baguley, Mitch Brown, Ben McNiece C: Travis Colyer, Zach Merrett, Andrew McGrath HF: Orazio Fantasia, Cale Hooker, David Zaharakis F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Brendon Goddard FOLL: Tom Bellchambers, Ben Howlett, Dyson Heppell I/C: Josh Green, Conor McKenna, Darcy Parish, Jobe Watson EMG: Kyle Langford,Brent Stanton, James Stewart IN: Tom Bellchambers, Martin Gleeson, Ben Howlett, Kyle Langford, Conor McKenna, James Stewart OUT: Aaron Francis (rested), James Kelly (rested), Matt Leuenberger (rested),Brent Stanton (omitted) MELBOURNE B: Michael Hibberd, Tom McDonald, Neville Jetta HB: Jordan Lewis, Sam Frost, Bernie Vince C: Jayden Hunt, Nathan Jones, Jake Melksham HF: Christian Petracca, Jack Watts, Alex Neal-Bullen F: Jay Kennedy-Harris, Mitch Hannan, Jeff Garlett FOLL: Cameron Pedersen, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney I/C: Tomas Bugg, Oscar McDonald, Christian Salem, Dom Tyson EMG: James Harmes, Billy Stretch, Sam Weideman IN: Tomas Bugg, Mitch Hannan, Jordan Lewis, Oscar McDonald, Cameron Pedersen OUT: James Harmes (omitted), Jesse Hogan (family bereavement), Jake Spencer (shoulder), Timothy Smith (lung), Billy Stretch (omitted) Pedersen announced his retirement on 25 September 2018 after 64 games with Melbourne and 16 with North Melbourne. It's a late call to make almost six years after his retirement, but when all is said and done, Pedersen’s role as an undersized ruckman against giant opponents made him a modern day marvel. Here’s hoping that Harrison Petty who is four centimetres taller, can replicate Pedersen’s efforts from seven years ago!

This "outstanding list" stuff is so often used to bash the coach. The truth is: we had and still have 3-5 absolute champions, and quite a few good players behind them. But so do our competitors!! Eg Carlton have had Cripps and Walsh, Weitering and Curnow. Footscray have many good players starting with Bont. Brisbane have got many good players starting with Neale but all around the ground. Etc etc etc. We are not the only team in the league and premierships are not given for the asking. And we have had some bad luck at critical times, most notably the injury demolition of our forward line at the pointy end of last season, not to mention what happened to Gus. Time to move on. We have won a flag, we have been consistently right up there, we are regularly pointed to as a model of defensive setup, and we have brought in a heap of good young players to take us forward. Let's support them!

Shameful? good lord. We are not running a charity mate. If you are the 23rd best available player - you are the sub. The kids would be happy to have a chance especially in their first year. And good teams lose their 22-28th rated players - it happens. Was it shameful that the Tigers lost Higgins/Butler etc during their premiership years? No, just fringe players leaving for more game time or longer contracts

The Coach bashing is so tiresome.

The Kingy Curse Dees by 200

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.

ANB has done very well in his hard tagging roles of late partly because he's one player opposition midfielders can't run off. He (or someone) must follow Zach Merrett all game. The dude is on absolute fire right now, hitting up targets from anywhere and everywhere.

Impressive number for roey. Good evidence to support my opinion he is the best 21 and under key forward in the game. And arguably the best young key forward full stop. On that front, preseason i compared his numbers with Amiss, Logan McDonald and Ugle-Hagen. He had all covered at the same point in their career. And of that group, jvr is the only one of that group who has subsequently improved.

Win or lose we'll be ok while we have each other.

It's totally nuts the amount of hand wringing on here about the non selection of a kid who is two years away from being AFL ready and an ex basketballer who could only manage 19 games accross 3 seasons at the lions, is not even the main ruck at VFL level (he only averages 11.6 hit outs - by way of contrast majak daw averaged 26) and has been in the best in the maggoos no more than 2-3 times.

Petty has had a lot of trouble getting into the game as a forward. Having him be a defensive ruck following Draper around the ground and helping out defensively could work very well in theory. 1. Gets him into the game 2. Utilises his defensive nous and knowledge of the backline structure 3. Potentially providing a good marking target down the ground 4. Keeps the forward line open for players who know what they're doing (Roo, Melk, Fritta, Kosi) to go to work Better than Fullerton, who wouldn't really be able to do any of that

I'd like Petty to ruck. He will compete, and at any opportunity, attempt to bring the pain to their mids. The aggression that he shows is something that can only enhance Viney's, Sparrow's and ANB's pressure game. Bring on the "bruiser".

Being an ex-player obviously gives you knowledge that the rest of us don't have. It doesn't make you a good commentator. King is not a particularly good commentator, because he says stupid things and changes his opinion all the time. For example: A few years back he did a big thing about how the top 8 had the same W-L record against each other. Which was how maths works, not some sort of insight into the evenness of the top 8. This year he said in April that only three sides could win the flag - Geelong, GWS and Carlton. Those three sides went something like 1-8 over the next three weeks, two of them fell away so much that the debate turned to whether they'd make finals, and his analysis obviously ignored the current flag favourite (Sydney) and the next best side (Fremantle). Pre-season he said we weren't going to make finals until we beat Carlton in a pre-season match and then he said we would make finals. Which is stupid because pre-season matches shouldn't make that level of difference to your opinion on any side. I give him plenty of credit for at least looking for the stats and using them when he can. That beats out a fair portion of other commentators who don't even look at the numbers. But that doesn't mean his opinions are good.

You are forgetting when he gets it correct same posters come on and acknowledge they got it wrong. Oh Wait 🤔

We are definitely going to win now

Dee's have gone ahead of the Pies on the ladder without kicking a ball!!😃

Im possibly going and if so I will post a report!

That's fine. Let's just win.

Some of your best work cranky.

Squads win premierships not 22 players. The notion of 'they're not best 22' went out with the Ark. You need to rotate players in your squad. Bedford was sub 8 times. Is it any wonder he left? Jordon sat on the bench for the entire GF and was a sub numerous times. Is it any wonder he left? Fullarton would be mighty [censored] that he was lured to Melbourne and can't get a game. Where does that leave the club if he takes off again? Darren Jolly left years ago because Daniher only played Jeff White. Jolly was brought on for around 6 mins a qtr. He left and played in premierships at Collingwood and at Sydney. But he wasn't best 22 at Melbourne? C'mon. You can't let players languish in the Dewies otherwise they will leave. And when you need them they won't be there.

Exactly! Petty has some absolute Cya You Next Tuesday in him. Gawn doesn't. What Petty lacks in ruck craft, he will make up for being an absolute pest to the opposition IMO.

We are winning anyway.

Yeah and the rest of the team had 2 kicks that day. The Petty bashing is nauseating, like the team his confidence has grown the last few weeks. Loved how he attacked packs against the Lions two weeks ago.

Kingy, is that you?

Personally, David King wouldn’t be my go to guy to support a position i held. But each to their own.

This sounds like another Demonstone challenge. Guess my name.

I know his family well especially his brother.

the marquee match-up we've all been waiting for

Fair chance there'll be fisticuffs given the aggressive, 'take no prisoners' approach they've both displayed in the past.

Yes we really need an option that mutes any Commentary Crowd noise would be fantastic cranked up

Pies to loose. Pies too loose. Pies too lose. Pies Toulouse. Pies to lose.

Schache Vs Weid now we get to see who’s best.😳

My theory is they picked Petty because they didn’t know how to spell Faller … Fuller … Fullarton

Got to smash the Bombers. My hatred for them stems from 2000 GF and the fact my brother in law supports them. Not only is he an arrogant toss, he is also my brother in law!

David King is an expert at cherrypicking stats and presenting them in a convincing manner. Case in point https://streamable.com/93bnox

The Forward line worked really well with JVR, Fritsch, Disco and Melky last week. I would have Petty play a similar role to Gawny, Rucking 80% of the game and then having Disco, JVR and Tmac roating through at stages. Hell, even chuck Clarry in for some centre bounces. I must say after spending one week out with a hamstring complaint, I have concerns over Petty being able to play out a full game but need to back in the Coach etc.

Bowey into the ruck please

We had a lot of fun with that "Pedo" nickname back when he was running around. In regards to this thread. One of my all time favourites, absolute workhorse who I thought was harshly dealt with at times when Roosy would pick Chris 'bucket hands' Dawes over him at times.

I would have selected Petty and agree with the idea of rucking Petty, JVR and Turner. I think Petty will primarily take the centre bounces and then Turner will mostly play as a follower ruckman. From VFL watching, Fullarton looks to me to be capable player around the ground, but he is not a dominate centre bounce ruckman. I think Petty, JVR and Turner are better or just as good in the centre bounces. (We are still at a disadvantage at centre clearance though.) In terms of our defensive structure, we can't replace what Max gives us. He stifles the opposition ball movement just by his positioning and our plan is to force the opposition to kick down the line to a contest with Max on a slow play. In around the ground stoppages, we will need to play with at least equal numbers this week, which could expose our defence. (Salem will need to push up to the stoppage, as I don't think we can play a man down with an inferior ruckman.) Going forward, we lose Max's marking threat as a deep forward, but we gain a bit more pace and unpredictability. I don't think we want it to rain because our midfielders are better in the dry. And I think we will want to play a more expansive game style (a bit like last week against the Eagles and not down the line like against the Lions and Roos.)

Keep an eye out to see who rucks in drills please.

Thanks for taking over from the esteemed Luci, R&BF. Sign Lingers this year and next year looks pretty good - Petty and McVee in that order assuming Gawn, May and Viney all sign. Key year for Howes who hopefully keeps progressing. Hopefully TMac is willing to go one more year too.

A mate of mine played golf with the Bombers president who said they are supremely confident of beating us this week.... which makes me happy because if they are drinking their own bathwater no doubt they will sheet the bed

In isolation I might see this selection as a bit strange but not worry-inducing. But in the context of a number of bizarre and very costly selections in recent years it is hard to not be concerned any time there is another glaring selection question mark. Even in the past year we have had: - Laurie sub for 2023 qualifying final, which made no sense at the time and came home to roost - Schache sub for 2023 semifinal, which made no sense at the time and mustn't have made sense to the coaches/selection committee either as he didn't get on the ground. Giving a fresh legs advantage to the opposition was a massive own goal. Worth 2 points on the scoreboard perhaps? - Playing Spargo in Round 0 when he was clearly not fit and clearly did not have adequate preparation That's just a sample of selection in 3 consecutive AFL games. You have to be trying hard to come up with a defence for some of these things.

As for the general thrust of this thread: Henny-Penny, the sky is falling, the sky is falling. No it isn't. We will crack in on Saturday night and beat them.

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

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

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

I'm ok with this selection. They obviously feel Fullerton will loose the ruck battle most of the time, so may as well go with 3-4 guys who will loose the ruck battle most of the time but offer way more when they are not playing ruck then Fullerton

Well, I for one will be much more concerned about how farmers are going to find wives in this bleak future.