KingDingAling

25 minutes ago, layzie said:

Premiership is firmly on Collingwood's sights now. Top 2 very much on the agenda, pretend all you want. This is happening 

I think they are peaking too early.

Collingwood were just far superior. They converted their opportunities, and were making the most of their inside 50’s. We don’t do that. We haven’t got a long time - years. It’s frustrating to watch us. I usually go have a shower in the last quarter expecting to check the scores and see we’ve dropped another one. 

Collingwood are obviously very well coached. 11 on the trot now. Simply outplayed us. They were very efficient at goal. Credit to them.

Have to be efficient going inside 50. We haven’t been for years. We were fortunate to have a purple patch last year at the right time. 

1 hour ago, Pates said:

Will be interesting to see how that works, does Sparrow make way for Harmes? Does Harmes have to earn his way back in through Casey? 

Either way glad to here that Gus will remain in the midfield for a while yet.

Harmes too good for Casey.

Skill wise I haven’t seen a demon come close to Kozzie. Maybe Farmer. But that in itself is something because watching the Wizard I never ever thought I’d see a more skillful, crafty and talented demon in my time. Kozzie is that. Even at this young age he is the most talented kid I’ve seen, and most naturally talented Demon I’ve seen. Cyril like. Very crafty. 

59 minutes ago, Garbo said:

What I don’t understand is how we a premiership team can’t attract any of the better key fwds over and yet freo is able to poach Jackson. What is going on 

Where are the good forwards? 

Get out the side Sparrow 

I cannot stand that. 

That last goal was big 

3 hours ago, rpfc said:

Yes, and our FD don’t think in terms of getting back picks. They want enough to do what they want to do - ie Hogan got us May, Preuss got us Brown.

If Jackson gets us Larkey that would be excellent. That’s not to say there aren’t other options but as an example - it suits.

That’s a bad result. If Jackson gets us Larkey god help us. 

2 hours ago, mo64 said:

The 1st time I heard the "unicorn" tag it was used to describe draftee NBA player Kristaps Porzingis. He was drafted no.4 overall as a 7 ft 3 centre, but what made him a unicorn was his ability to shoot 3 pointers. Had a great start to his career, but after 7 seasons he's now at his 3rd club. He's had his share of big scoring games and his share of injuries, but the biggest criticism of him is that he doesn't do what is expected of a big man in the NBA. He's not a good rebounder and doesn't use his size to be a good defender. The "unicorn" tag was all hype.

This brings me to Jackson. His greatest strength as a big man is his ability at ground level. That's why he's tagged as a "unicorn". He's a developing ruckman, and I think he can become an elite tap ruckman, in the Nik Nat mould. If he reaches Nik Nat's standards, that puts him in the elite ruckman status. But as a big, I'd say he's a poor mark even for his age. I thought he took a big step last year with his marking, but has regressed this year.

So how do people project his career, and his impact on the team, regardless of whether he stays or goes. For the next potentially 3-5 years, he'll be playing 2nd fiddle to Max or Darcy.

IMO, he can only earn the "unicorn" tag if he becomes an elite contested mark.

Porzingus got injured and it curtailed his career. The trajectory of his decline - coincides with his ACL. Outside of the label ‘unicorn’, you cannot compare the two. Jackson isn’t solely a ruck, in the way Porzigus is solely a center with the ability to shoot outside. Jackson can play forward, mid, back, ruck. He could play any of those positions. It’s only due to size that he’s tabbed as a ruckman, and to be fair, his craft as a ruck appears to hold up in big pressure games. That ability to push the ball forward, tackle hard, and link as a midfielder - is a set of skills that stands up when the pressure is on.

But outside of the media label, Jackson Is no unicorn. He is simply a big, raw, versatile young lad, who has a set of skills that stand up well in big games, where pressure and momentum are at a premium. Jackson will resign with us, and we’ll be lucky that he does. We won’t afford his next signature. And that is fine too. 

I don’t understand why Brayshaw hasnt Signed 

8 hours ago, A F said:

I've noted a few posters reckon we played a more aggressive ball movement style against Bulldogs. I'm not sure I agree. 

I think we've identified a weakness at centre stoppages with the Bulldogs set up. They tend to cheat forward a bit, which means if we can create a loose ball situation and tap it forward or get a handball going the other way, we get out the front of stoppage. We did this multiple times and we scored from it pretty much every time.

From a half back situation I felt we looked to switch early in the game, but we still tended to go long down the wings to a contest a lot. As the Bulldogs aren't particularly strong in the air defensively, we weren't exposed to intercept too much, but Weideman was run under the ball quite often. 

I'd be keen to read what people think we did differently. We didn't seem to play on more fr half back. I think we just got our centre stoppage game going, but they dominated us around the ground. I noticed as in the Freo game, we allowed a 2+ at the contest. We still won it occasionally, but perhaps there was some disorganisation around stoppage? Without Lever I doubt we wanted to give up +2 in these areas.

The Bulldogs were quite aggressive in these situations and I thought May was ordinary most of the match (aside from maybe 5 strong contested marks) and Petty struggled in the second half. Essentially, we didn't win the intercept possession in the air, which meant giving up those two extras at rhe contest was useless.

I wonder if allowing the plus 2 means that it frees up Gus to sweep behind the interceptors? I haven't examined this thoroughly enough, but he does get in behind almost every time. It's like the Salem role from last year, except Gus is much better in the contest and Salem is a better kick.

Even though JJ has made some great leaps forward this year, I actually think we should send Gus back to the wing and Salem should sweep when Lever returns. It either pushes JJ out of the team altogether or he plays some wing, half forward and half back. Gus gives us better stability behind the ball as the First line in the defensive structure.

Anyway, what do others think?

I think JJ adds more to our midfield than Sparrow, who is too similar on Viney, and Is a bull like Petracca. We need some deft touch as a third linkage mid, and that’s Jordon. His time is now.

1 hour ago, Fanatique Demon said:

On Thé Couch said that Weideman is the worst forward line pressure player in the entire competition. Brown is second worst and Fritsch is 9th worst. What hope have we got with that?!

This is why Spargo keeps getting a game - despite being average. He is good defensively, In a forward line where not many are. I’d play Van Rooyan before Weideman or BBB

We need to win games. Our game plan will hold up in finals we just need to make the top 4.

I’d get Brayshaw out of the backline and bring Bowey back in. Salem and Bowey are good kicks, and that can start the sequence. Move Brayshaw back to the wing. JJ can replace Sparrow in the middle. In: Bowey, Chandler, Lever. Out: Sparrow, Spargo, Tomlinson.

This has been a bad weekend to be a Dees supporter 

If we had the red carpet treatment the bulldogs get we’d probably be undefeated this year. Last night hurts because we played so well and the boys didn’t get reward because the umpires stepped in. As a lifelong AFL fan, it really makes me sick. I question whether I even want to keep watching. Then I think to myself - it’s not MFC fault the umps do what they do. As a club, we need to double down on playing the game despite what the umpires are evidently trying to do. It gets taxing for the players mentally, but there is no other solution.  The game is becoming mentally taxing for everyone to be involved in.

I was thoroughly impressed with us tonight. We did really well. Best we’ve played in some time. The only difference is last year we were able to win in spite of external factors (ie: umpires). This year, we aren’t quire at that point. We will need to get back there.

He did well in areas, poor in areas. He is our best bet at present.

We were robbed by the umpires. I cleaned up punting live in betting because of it, but I’d rather have won zero money. I had a lot of calls after the game saying “well done mate you cleaned up”. But I’d rather have not cleaned up. Fact is. Football is a hard game to win when your morale is continuously obliterated by the umpires. The bullies free kick count is just the usual for them. But for us, we can only go to the well so many times. It’s like a handicap in harness racing. We can come off of 10 and still win,’ come off 20. But if we keep coming off handicaps eventually you get rolled due to circumstance. Ideally we’d be treated fairy. Ironically, the answer isn’t to change our game, it’s it’s double down. Do we have players who play for free kicks? And if we do, get them out the side. Come September the teams who don’t get the arm chair ride off the umps - that they are used to - won’t last.

6 minutes ago, praha said:

Don't want to overreact because it's a very close league but pretty concerning how we are losing matches.

It's something like 40 goals to 17 in the second half in loses. That's very concerning. 

We are really good in close games. I actually can’t believe how well we do under pressure. But when you play your heart out, wrestle momentum, bust your nut, only for it to be all taken away due to soft frees - it’s deflating for a team. Umpires are rewarding staging and mentally weak players - ahead of 1%’plays and sacrificial acts. It’s hard for MFC because we don’t get the rub for a reason. The free kick count is lob sided against us all the time - because we don’t have players who play for frees, I mean, we have Spargo, and clearly this should be his last game for us till he changes this. It’s a weakness come finals at the G.

8 minutes ago, Foita said:

Umpiring was a disgrace, two different sets of rules out there

Yeah I tend to agree. I am really patient watching the footy. Never turn it off like a lot of ppl I know so when it gets close. Tonight I did. I thought we played really well. But it’s hard to win when the free kick count is one sided. I actually feel sorry for our guys.

This is why I reckon a close game is brilliant. If we can win this I think we’ve finished the Bulldogs mentally.