Lil_red_fire_engine

I watch a lot of Essendon due to the wife. Has serious ball carrying speed, is a good long and short kick and very rarely loses a contest. If he is any chance should be our number 1 target.

The MFC way would be to play our best game since 2018 and win easily to then not turn up next week. I dont think we are finals worthy or bound so this will be as close to a final as you can get without playing one with both having it on the line. Let’s see who stands up and whether allegedly having a game style that should stand up in finals actually does. My hope is we come out and try and win the game and play on with some aggressive ball movement and defensive pressure rather than try and stop them from winning it and control the ball and fall over the line.

We need to desperately address our run and polish and look to improve our key position stock without spending a fortune. Saad, Williams, Finlayson should be our priorities as well as Polec on a suitable wage. Of others out of contract Atkins, Cumming, Mihocek, Cedric Cox, Narkle I am sure other names will come up in contract but the above is based on OOC except Polec.

Agree. Our top 7 stands up against all sides but against the top 5 our 8-18 don’t have the consistent quality needed. I think we struck gold last draft and I believe a further preseason there as well an available Jordon, Petty, Hore will improve our 8-18 quality. However for the past 3-4 years we have hung on to too many that should have been turned over sooner to uncover more. That combined with no top 20 talent 2016-2018 hurts,. Being we have no early pick this year it will be interesting to see how we navigate the trade and free agency period to close the gap.

Changes are very beige granted they probably right some things that didn’t work last time. Gee TMac is on the outer. Hoping Nev can show them what it means to play every game like its your last.

Ignore his last name. If this unlocks a mid-late first round pick and $600-700k that allows us to start to rebalance our side. Don’t push him out but dont over extend on him and if he wants to go dont stand in his way.

We advised Neeta he would be given another year so he would not rush a program no idea whether main list or rookie. We have plenty of players with exposed form out of contract that we know are not good enough. In a highly compromised and allegedly shallow draft with limited exposure to players backing in a kid who has worked on his body and been around the club to take a final spot on the list is the right thing to do with limited risk.

Is the type of player not getting a look in at another club that we should be checking out.

Out Pruess, AVB, ANB, Smith In TMac (LJ if ready), Harmes, Sparrow (if ready), Lockhart

I am not sold that Goodwin must go unless there is clearly an improved position for both development and list management. That to me is Clarkson or hold. If not then the club in a weird 17 x shortened game year played completely away from home would want to be certain that Goodwin cannot take us further under new normal circumstances. If that was the case under no circumstances would I want an untried coach. I would want someone who has learnt in a strong current system and who exhudes success and leadership. That to me would be Voss.

6. Petracca 5. Viney 4. Fritsch 3. Oliver 2. Rivers 1. Gawn

We have 4-5 elite players but lacking in 6-16 bracket and no visible game plan of any sort. Even in the wet I could see what Freo were trying to do but buggered if I could work us out. Starting Fritsch behind the ball in the first showed a lack of confidence in a team defence and robbed us of balancing our chance to score against a miserly side. We are not finals worthy and will finish accordingly.

We have 4-5 elite players but lacking in 6-16 bracket and no visible game plan of any sort. Even in the wet I could see what Freo were trying to do but buggered if I could work us out. Starting Fritsch behind the ball in the first showed a lack of confidence in a team defence and robbed us of balancing our chance to score against a miserly side. We are not finals worthy and will finish accordingly.

We are a combination of not very good, looking tired and a set of players that don’t appear to understand the game plan (if there is one). We have some high quality players in Gawn, Trac, Oliver, May and Langdon but our next layer is a combo of developing, declining or not quite good enough. This is not a side deserving of a finals spot.

You dont need one behind the ball if your mids and half forwards work hard enough.

We lack the want to spread, the ability to stick a tackle or the ability for players to hold their position and trust their team mates. Playing like we are we trying to save it rather than win it?

Tackling poor. Decision making poor. Did not let them have easy entries to 50 but were so focussed on defending that we didn’t consider leaving some player in 50 to try and score. Let’s see what we learnt last week with the wind (granted this time in the wet.)

The changes finally will bring some outside dash. I dont mind trialling the two rucks when we dont have another key forward nailing the second spot. At minimum it will remove the focus of double teaming Weid. Melksham surely on notice. I assume he will play midfield time with AVB to cover the loss of Brayshaw in particular. Best of luck to Baker and Bedford who I think can give more of what we need with a clear go at it.

I feel Hore, similar to AVB before him improves at AFL level the longer he is out.

We have a great opportunity due to injury to completely change our midfield mix this week. Two of Oliver, Trac and Viney should be the constant but the third position should be a combination of Melksham, Bennell, C Wagner, Rivers even Spargo for spurts. Let’s compliment the inside bulls with some polish and run. This and include Baker and Bedford for some run. I suspect we won’t do this and just add another insider in Vandenberg but if there is ever a chance to do something different this is the week.

I am impatient as well but Have come to accept that the list is where it is meant to be. It’s just not good enough yet. We got on a hot streak at the end of 2018 (we were 8 and 6 at this time of 2018). We had a nightmare preparation in 2019. In 2020 outside of the Swans game and the Port game we have beaten the sides below us, won more than most around us and are mainly competitive but lose in patches against the top 5. This is away from home in a shortened game style that does not suit us. We have a strong backline and inside grunt but we need to add further dynamic run and polish to the midfield and half forward line. We still have too many roles not locked in to provide us stability that rotated through by players that have been here long enough to sustain it if they were good enough. I suspect over the coming 12 months we will only lose Jones, Melksham and Hibberd from our best 22 but most will still be in development and maturing years. The eldest players will be May and Gawn at 29 with Trac, Oliver, Langdon, Lever, Salem and Brayshaw in the 24-26 window. The TMac of 2018 has been cruelled by surgeries so we must see continued development in our Tall forwards in Weid, Jackson and Petty. All of LJ, Kozzie and Rivers looks like they have high ceiling potential, at minimum Petty, Sparrow and Jordon should develop into good soldiers. Another good lot of kids and some shrewd trades and we should be taking another step in the right direction and closing the gap above us.

They may but I doubt its a worthwhile trade it will be as delisting. On Hore I would retain on a one year deal just because he hasn’t had a run at it this year.

Based on the view of not delisting harder than 7 (does not mean we dont trade above this) we need to clear those we dont believe can play a role in 2021 and beyond. We also need to consider the amount of contract and length and size they would partake. I would be delisting in order Jones (retire), Hore, Hunt, J Wagner, Smith, OMac, Hannan, I would be promoting Lockhart to the list and delisting Brown and C Wagner and possibly Dunkley Whilst in contract I will not be surprised to see KK retire due to his concussion issues.

One year base deal with game incentives. Otherwise delist. Realistically in a shortened year with shortened games and limited view of a draft which was already highly compromised due to high NGA’s I dont think you can cut harder that 7-8 players that are unknowns. There will be players that get contracts that are not first 18 but that is fine as long as the length and the salary is commensurate with the role.

Because they have a different set of attributes that could change the dynamic of the side and solve some our overall deficiencies. It is obvious we lack run and are one paced. Bedford, C Wagner and Baker serve this well and between them have less than 30 games development. I would prefer to shift the dynamic and see if one or more rises to the occasion with consecutive games of development. The alternative is to persevere with players who have had plenty of chance to develop and show consistent output (ANB, AVB, Hunt, Hannan) or have validated the game has seen their best (Jones, Melksham, Jetta).