Red and Blue realist

I'd hope that there'll be some more announcements in line with Hunt singing on for an additional 2 last week. They've spoken about making sure there's enough to pay all the guys who are maturing into really good players, so hopefully they get the one's you've mentioned done early cause they'll create the most headlines.

I think this is the bigger issue, with Watts and Salem in the team our delivery into FW50 improves incredibly. We just bombed it on Jesse's head on Saturday night, which played right into Lever and co hands and made it too easy to read then beat. For mine if we were going to do something like this, then I'd prefer Weid to come in and sit in the square. Hogan has a big engine and is more valuable roaming around, while I think Ped will be dropped for Watts, who again (and along with TMac) should be out roaming when the ball is in our back half, and they would command a player being on them all the time. Weid would then get the 3rd or 4th best defender and then wouldn't be shown up around the ground which he currently is. If he created a contest then back in Jeffy and the others to get to the crumb or he marks and is a pretty good shot at goal, might give him a bit of confidence doing this as well.

Agree with the all that you said, one thing I think we need the coaches to work on is for a better plan with our 'bail out' kicks. OMac and Frost, seem to kick their bail outs shorter than most and on 45 degree angles so seem very easy to read. With time i expect they'll get better, but it's also up to the coaches to get them there and provide a plan for those pressure kicks. Leave the creativity to Hibberd or Hunt, or like Frost does often, tuck the ball under the arm and sprint out of trouble until they can go for those easy targets.

He was living in Ballarat for a few years prior to being drafted, so this ins't true. I posted in the Jake Lever thread where his name was brought up, that he actually enjoyed the Melbourne lifestyle too much and dedicated more time to external activities rather than footy. If he has matured a bit and I think going home might have given him better perspective on life, then he could come back and make a real contribution. I also think he left on pretty good terms, might be worth a rookie spot.

Amazing what finals chances and even a premiership do for member numbers. The Dogs finished last year on 39,459 members, so a massive increase of over 7,000! Using an early figure of $150 average per membership that's an extra $1,050,000 (plus extra merchandise etc.). With North they finished with 45,000, so would be down $750,000.

I liked him as well, hopefully he's matured a bit from when he was with us. I heard very early on that, nearly the opposite to some indigenous players, he actually liked the Melbourne lifestyle a bit too much and might have been focusing his efforts elsewhere rather than his footy. Maybe returning home and engaging with his community a bit more has given him greater perspective and if he comes back he'll be prepared to give it his all, in which case I'd happily give him another chance.

Doubt Adelaide would actually want a future 1st rounder, I'd imagine they'll be gunning to add something immediate to their team as they are well in the so called 'premiership window' and won't want to wait. We might need to get creative to move up the draft order if they want a really high pick, something like our first this year and a 2nd next year for a clubs 1st this year, meaning we might be able to give pick 6 or 7 instead of pick 14 or higher.

For a player who Nasher rightly points out is spare parts or back up, he needs to be looked at on a weekly basis rather than what he produces over a longer period - his form was much better a month ago than what it's been in the last 3 weeks (I know he's last quarter against the Eagles was great but he was very poor up until then), plus I thought his defense (when down there) last week was very ordinary. So on form he'd be the first one out if Watts was available because his form has dropped since Gawn has returned. Don't get me wrong, I love that he's been able to fill in so well, but he is just a fill in and with TMac filling the role of Fwd/Ruck at the moment there's not really a spot for him on the team once we're healthy.

I heard on the radio this morning, that they've changed their tune on this. Geelong don't want the Monday anymore because they think they'll get less of a crowd on a Monday night. Personally I think we could be one of the big benefactors of the pre-finals bye, just because we've had such an injury interrupted season and if we make it, then a week to freshen up those who've had to play every game will do us good. Guys like Vince and Lewis, I thought might have the odd game here or there off but they haven't been able too. The final round is being delayed (I think they'd normally like to have t locked in by now) as you said it should be up to the higher on the ladder teams to choose when they play (but the bye nearly makes it irrelevant). It looks like only Cats vs GWS and Rich vs Saints (maybe WCE vs Adel) will involve 2 teams in the finals. My guess, we'll end up with the Saturday day or night game vs the Pies because the other MCG game is the Tigs vs StK and they both play Sunday games in round 22.

Our figures will naturally come down after we play in Darwin next week, plus our other remaining home games are against 2 interstate sides (Pt Adel and Bris) and also St Kilda (a low attend Vic club), so there's every chance our averages will be forced considerably lower. Not to say we haven't increased substantially from last year, and based on our projections we should get a better fixture next year (from a timing point of view) so this should again increase, but like any stats take them with a grain of salt, and look at who pushing their agenda (in this case the HS who seem to write nothing but positive articles pushing the Tigs and Essendon).

The win this week is all about the half backs. Our half backs - including Hunt, Hibberd, Frost, TMac, Jetta and Vince/Lewis need to use the ball smartly and don't just turn it over to Docherty and Simpson (who are really good players) and provide their rebounding. If we can get the ball deeper and quicker to Hoges, Peds, Garlett or whoever might be there, then their main defensive structure is taken out of play and we'll have the chance to score or at least lock the ball in. If we just bomb the ball to 40-80 meters out from our goal then I think we'll not only get beaten in the middle but also play into their hands. Last time we played them they really flooded the backline and made it hard to score (but never really looked like scoring themselves). Now there playing better and with more freedom we need to take out what has been their strengths. I'd bring Kent in for Bugg, and tell him he needs to either be in the middle to take the ball from the half backs ass they come out (so not caught in the 40m-80m area) or when the ball is in the fwd 50, if he is unable to directly impact the play go and stand right next to Simpson or Doc and stop their easy get out.

Patience in not a virtue of many around here. We took Weid at pick 9, knowing that he would take a fair while to develop, especially as he had missed the majority/all of his draft year. If we traded him now we'd be lucky to get a pick in the 20s, which we then wouldn't be able to trade onto T.Lynch, Cameron, Patton (insert other key forward here), as you know the system doesn't work like that. I think your point was similar to mine, except I'm happy to back them in to develop him as I'm sure they've got planned before starting to think about trading him.

I wonder if we've spend a lot of time trying to fix our deficiency's on those other grounds that we've become less effective on the 'g. That should hopefully be pretty easy to over come, and possibly was put in place for the front half of the season, knowing we had more games away from home?

Just don't want to sell the farm to get someone to cover for a year or 2, then struggle to retain the core. I'd say that's what Tim Smith was brought in for, unfortunately he's injured now, but I wonder if we'll again look at a mature age to provide cover. I think Weid will come on pretty quickly though, remember he didn't play at all in his draft year, so he was always going to take a little bit of time.

He's done a great job, I wonder how many other clubs will now be looking to only use their 1st round pick, then try and fill gaps sending their second rounder on? They have done seriously well with those later picks, but as M38 said, I think credit also needs to go to the development team, there was an article about Rob Jackson in the HS today, detailing the program they put in place for some of those later picks. This touches on not only the strength/weight stuff they do but also ensuring there not overloaded to retain running endurance. It's a good read - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/strength-and-conditioning-coach-rob-jackson-has-helped-transform-the-demons/news-story/f5baa806b3494026410636dd56033611 (sorry about the paywall).

Good post, I think we'll see by the end of 2018, Brayshaw, Frost, OMac and Weid also commanding a position in the best 22, so we're up to 19 names, plus J.Smith, Harmes, AVB, JKH and ANB have potential to also join the automatic selected list. We'll be in a situation where those 1st and 2nd round draft picks will be able to develop properly at Casey. The rest of the list is for role players (Bugg, Melksham at present), those draftees and veterans (Jones, Hibberd and Jetta will be around for a while).

Well done with the amount of research that's gone into this! I wonder if it tells us anything, we won 6/7 on grounds less than 129m wide and then 2/6 on the G which is 141m. My guess is that when were on the wider ground we still have a higher possession rate but those possessions might be of greater distance (forwards, backwards or sideways) so our guys are expending more energy getting to the ball or give's us too much space in which to make error (then less space to minimise them)??? Maybe we'll see more direct play tomorrow night because of this.

Just put this in the Casey thread for this week, but I've been really impressed with the way the guys who've been dropped down to Casey this year have performed when they've come back into the senior side. The term "shuffling the deck chairs" was used a lot on here in the past, but guys like ANB, Melksham, Harmes and OMac have gone back, performed well, and come back better into the senior side. Give's me a lot more confidence than some others if they do pick JKH, Weid, Wagner or White that when they step up they'll perform - not just their role but make a very worthwhile contribution.

They got the top of the table Hawks last week and while Salem and Garlett are out of the seniors J.Smith is back and we'll also have the carry over player from last week, so essentially no loss of senior guys (in numbers). I've been really impressed with the way the guys who've been dropped down to Casey this year have performed when they've come back into the senior side. The term "shuffling the deck chairs" was used a lot on here in the past, but guys like ANB, Melksham, Harmes and OMac have gone back then performed well and come back better into the senior side.

I also think the speed of Hunt and Frost will really worry Buddy. He likes to get it 60-70 out and wheel around either looking for a target or having a ping for goals, those 2 have the speed to force a decision from him quickly which he's been troubled with lately.

Hammy's can be a bit fickle and normally you don't know how they'll react until you put on significant speed, that's probably why it's a week to week proposition, Watts might have felt good on a day he only extended to say 75% but felt tight the next when he went to 90%, no point having someone off early in a match. Jeffy will be the same, except he does seem to come back pretty quickly from them. If we played a day or 2 later my guess is that he would have been fine (guess only though).

Actually a couple of Petrie's marks/goals were when Jetta was manning him, so using your logic we should not play Jetta? You can't blame OMac for every goal the opposition kicks against us, even though it clearly suits your tired agenda. We don't play a man on man defensive zone, so whoever comes in will be required to help OMac, Frost, Hibberd and Jetta minimise the influence of Franklin, Reid, Papely etc. I wonder if we'll let Franklin roam a bit then really pressure him when he gets to within 60, using the speed of Hunt and Frost with some mids peeling back.

Make's you wonder why they do it, or why this hasn't been called to attention earlier. If I were a supporter of those clubs then I'd be furious and lose a little trust that the clubs there for the supporters not just using them. I can understand the supply vs demand aspect as long as clubs don't go overboard, but only when a sell out is likely and fans are then compensated when lower attended matches have there prices reduced.

I actually do think Sydney is one team where we'll need 3 tall defenders, they have Franklin, Sam Reid (who's can't be underestimated) and also will have a resting ruckman - they have been playing 2 all season. What we don't readily have a match up for is someone like Hibberd, who is great against the 3rd leading type forward. Hopefully he becomes the distributor you desire, while helping out on the other talls. If we find we're rebounding easily then TMac could be swung forward again, which would put pressure on their defense which is a little short - assuming Hogan, Watts and Pedersen are playing.

We had the chance to do it on Queens Birthday and I'm not sure if was from respect to Danners Fight MND, but we didn't. This isn't correct, I don't think any of the teams you've mentioned there WB, St K or WB have reached capacity at any of their home games and they've still used it. Same as Carlton, they got around the same crowd to their home game vs Essendon as we did the week before as a home game against them, but Carlton have used the pricing 5 out of 6 games. Maybe what we can't afford to do is shaft supporters while we're building something special. No point turning off those who might be just starting to support us or re-connecting with the club.