mo64

Stringer made AA in his 3rd year playing a similar role, so that's a big call. If Petracca kicks over 50 goals as Stringer did in his 3rd year, then we'll finish top 4.

Petracca has all the tools to be an elite player, but the great unknown is what role he'll play in the future. He could become a Gary Ablett, who started as an average half forward and developed into an elite midfielder. Or he could become a Jake Stringer, who despite winning an AA berth at a young age, I'm unconvinced that he'll ever reach elite level. IMO, there's greater certainty of Oliver reaching elite levels than Petracca, even though Petracca has more natural ability.

Some people are getting way ahead of themselves with their assessment of what Petracca has done to date. He's hardly been an instant star like Judd and Selwood. At this stage, he's provided some cameos without ever being a top 3 player in any game. McCartin has shown a fair bit, but injuries have cruelled him. He's still a developing key forward who needs to get his body right, so any comparison with Petracca to date is pointless. On pure talent, Petracca has a higher ceiling, but only time will tell as to who has the greater impact at AFL level. If you want to crystal ball, I'd see McCartin as a future Josh Kennedy (WCE) and Petracca as a future Jake Stringer. If we didn't get Weideman, I would say it's a 50/50 call as to who I'd prefer long term.

Also reported that in order to protect the turf at Etihad Stadium, players will be banned from ripping up blades of grass and throwing it in the air to gauge the wind. A Donald Trump toupee will put on top of a mast as a form of a windsock, in order to assist players in gauging the wind.

I agree with that, which I stated, but you don't factor that in 2-3 weeks into the season. We only had 2 first year players last week, and both were mature aged. Smith is out, and I can't see us resting Hannan. And I'd like to think that we've gone past the stage of gifting games to young players. I can't for the life of me see anyone being rested at this time of year.

Good point L36. And I think we'll miss Joel Smith for that very reason.

What are you talking about? Neeld came as an assistant coach from Collingwood, Neil Craig was a former Adelaide coach, Jade Rawlings was an assistant from Richmond and the list goes on. If you and Saty don't like posters raising questions about the skill levels of players, feel free to to exclude yourselves in the discussion. It's a forum based on opinions afterall.

What a load of croc. Do the interstate clubs, who travel fortnightly, make constant selection changes due to travel. NO. The only exception would be older players, like Sam Mitchell or a Matty Boyd, who may struggle to come up, or 1st year players. But that tends to happen midyear, not 2 rounds into the season. To think that you'd compromise on selection this week for any reason is absurd. Do you realise that Geelong also have a 6 day break?

Conversely, some posters can't identify a player with ordinary skills.

IMO, Bugg's JLT series was at his normal level, which is that of an average footballer. Harmes had a quiet JLT, but his ceiling is higher than Bugg's.

It's the reason why he gets so many possessions. He can actually get to the target of his kick as it arrives.

Are you serious? You really think we are that good that we can afford to be planning for the week after. As for the ruck experiment, FMD!!! Three games ago we lost to the same team whilst we we pushing for finals, and they'd put the cue in the rack. Jeez some supporters get ahead of themselves.

Played really well, but tended to throw the ball on the boot a few times when under pressure. Just needs to tidy up his disposal, and he could cement a spot in the team.

Kreuzer and Cripps are the 2 Carlton players that worry me the most. In the JLT Cup, Kreuzer was basically jumping into Gawn at the centre bounces, and Max went down a couple of times. Gawn won't dominate Kreuzer like he did Hickey. And Kreuzer is 10 times the player Hickey is around the ground.

That's spot on. If you can stop quick supply into their forward line, we should have enough numbers behind the ball to limit contested marks by their talls. We should be able to generate more scoring on the rebound than they'll generate with an additional tall.

And also Liam Picken was a father-son but at different clubs.

One thing that was also pointed out on Fox was our players being on the move at centre bounces, which makes sense when you have the dominant ruckman. So rather than having the opposition sitting on our mids and waiting to tackle them, you could see that Oliver and Viney where on the move after Gawn had directed the tap. We outnumbered the Saints 21-5 with hits to advantage.

Not sure how many played in the one team, but Geelong had a Blake, Callan, Ablett x 2, and Scarlett on their list at the same time.

We won on Saturday. So what!!!! If you want the team to be contesting finals, you would accept that there is still room for improvement. You're right in one case. O Mac didn't get towelled up in one-on-one costs. He actually won more contests than lost. His problem is the numerous howlers he made when under little to no pressure. If you want examples, I'm happy to give them, because I've watched the replay 3 times. And just to balance things, Lewis made just as many mistakes as O Mac. But in his postgame interview with Matt Burgin, he wasn't happy with the number of turnovers he made. It's reassuring that one of our leaders has higher expectations than our supporters.

Contrary to what a few of us on Dland thought, Garland was getting games in 2015 and at the start of 2016. Roos and the FD finally woke up that he wasn't playing at AFL standard and banished him to the VFL. By that stage his confidence was shot. BTW, I think that O Mac will eventually make it, but I'd rather see him learn his craft at VFL level, and not have the same thing happen to him, that happened to Garland. Coaches and their assistants don't always get things right. Some coaches have their pet players, and a new coach comes in and banishes them to the VFL. Which coach was right, and which was wrong?

Wow, you really think that Ross Lyon should still be sticking with Zac Dawson? It wasn't a problem a few ago, when Dawson played his role well. It seems that the same posters who defended Garland to the hilt are now defending O Mac, and vice versa. I don't have a problem playing O Mac due to lack of manpower due to injuries, but you can't convince me that he is AFL standard at the moment.

Yeah, my bad. It was Melksham underneath Garlett who had 4 frees against.

The Zac Dawson/Nathan Brown role in the modern game is redundant. There are no longer stay at home gorilla full forwards. It's all about constant leading and applying forwardline pressure for the modern day forwards. So the slow lumbering fullbacks like Dawson and Brown, who don't have any other tricks to their bow, will be weeded out of the game.

Not surprising considering he hasn't played at AFL level. I'm not suggesting replacing O Mac with Keilty, but it is not as absurd as what people are suggesting. Keilty being a rookie is irrelevant, because history has shown how rookies can make an immediate impact at AFL level when given the opportunity. Everyone was surprised when Wagner was selected last year. And almost everyone sh#t canned Mark Stevens for suggesting that Hannan would push for round 1 selection. Some players actually thrive when elevated to the next level. Keilty may be one of them.

Garlett had 4 free kicks against but only 1 recorded clanger, so I don't believe that this is correct.