KingDingAling

One of the best games I have seen from Oliver was last weekend. Finally he lowered his eyes and started hitting targets, held onto the footy and taken blokes on - which freed up the next link, which helped us with our spread. Someone clearly got in his ear, he can be so much better - more effective - than he has been. Oliver is highly rated but needs to ignore the outside hype and just focus on how he can improve his game to make us better. Oliver's improvement last weekend was real shining light for us. Viney has shown over the years how he can adapt and shift his game to fit the occasion, Brayshaw also has (he is just out of form and needs to adjust again), Petracca is an improving type, and now Oliver is shifting his game to less wasteful, and more effective. Really good signs for our club. I think we could go close this year. Next 5 years we are in a window. 

Brayshaw is just a bog average football player. Slow by hand and brain, sloppy by foot, just a real liability. I'd package up a pick to send with him if that meant a team would take him and his contract off our hands.

He looks ok, he just needs to clunk his marks. Get to the right spot, and has a red hot go, which is good for our crumbing forwards. But it would be good to see him hold a few more marks, and really assert himself on the game. I think he is capable. Definitely still developing, will make a nice forward. Collingwood would have their eyes on him, as we have done all the development, and Weideman actually looks pretty capable.

On 7/12/2020 at 12:58 PM, Lucifer's Hero said:

Well done Bartlett to get on the front foot so quickly to support Harley.

He also said:  “I am already in discussions and intend to follow up key Federal and Victorian Government Ministers to explore what can be done to strengthen laws to make people accountable and stamp out this abhorrent behaviour".

Shocked that the AFL hasn't already done this on behalf of all clubs and really all sports. 

The AFL and online platform services need to go hard. I'd hate to see the Government involved in law changes just because of select behaviour from a very small minority of individuals (who may not even be from this country). 

2 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Another game where we dominate for periods. Misuse the ball horribly and let the opposition run off our mistakes and score. 

By periods you mean a large majority of the second quarter. Not a lot to show for our dominance. At one point GC had only 5 forward 50 entries for 2 goals. 

4 minutes ago, Hellish Inferno said:

Why do our players try and take it from the oppositions hands when the ump is about to pay holding the ball!!!???

Never wait on the umpires to pay our club a free kick. 

The amount of play we have had this quarter we should be 7-8 goals up.

There should be a rule, if our midfielder have nothing on offer, hold onto the ball and draw players until there is something on offer. Just rushed players. If you're going to play chaos ball at least teach your players to hit targets and not just bomb.

We sold our future for this defense. GC can just stroll in whenever they like. 5 forward 50 entries by them for 2 goals this quarter. Lucky our midfield is actually working hard, even if it just hacks it up in the air.

Kossie is a good little forward pocket player - nippy, sharp, skillful, crafty, necessary. But not the type of player you hand over a top 5 pick for. If we do land in the bottom 5-6 this year, then it will be a poor trade. No dodging that for mine. It would add to the collection of very poor trades by MFC in the past 5 years - Lever, May, and potentially North trade. I don't know who ticks off on these trades, but its never too late to fire these people. It won't top the May trade though. That was just an idiotic trade. We'll pay for that.

Oscar Mc was actually a reasonable forward a a junior. I wouldn't mind giving him a go at it. I thought Tom as ok up forward today, and May solid down back. No point fiddling around with May or Lever. Our strength will be in leaving those two sort themselves out down back. Hibberd was good today. The more organised May and Lever are down back, it frees up our runners, we get run that way. We need run. Attacking right out of the backline is something we need. It will come. 

5 hours ago, america de cali said:

I would say roos’s tenure was underwhelming and his le

I would say Roos’s tenure was underwhelming in many respects and sick of all the unwarranted platitudes he receives here. He won only 21 out of 66 games. Sure he turned us from a basket case to just mere mediocre but any other coach once Schwab and Neeld were gone would have done the same given the resources given to us by the AFL. His game plan was unimaginative and stifled creative play. Recruiting has been horrendous. He had minimal commitment for the long haul, only the money.  He left us with Goodwin at the helm who appears more and more a horrible dud every game. The way the players gifted him a 111 points loss for a farewell was telling. Hiring Roos set us up for another lost decade.

I mostly agree with that, and have for a while. My issue with Roos is that he appointed Goodwin to carry on his legacy, when it wasn't safe to do so.It was a risky decision. Goodwin wasn't only unproven, but he also shown poor judgement in aligning himself with Hird, and subsequently the saga (essendon drug program) that followed. I have always known what Hird was about and I am not even remotely close to AFL circles, so the fact that Roos appointed someone close to that saga is just lazy and short sighted. Roos loves a dollar. I agree that it is increasingly looking as though his appointment was a failure. 

47 minutes ago, London Demon said:

So disappointed, and increasingly fearful for the Club. It seems we’re headed for another down period. I don’t like the chances of supporters staying with the Club this time. There’s a limit to the number of times you ask people to believe only to disappoint them.  

I'm not fearful, but I am frustrated by the direction of the club, and the level of acceptance to just make up numbers. If we do have a list capable of winning a premiership then we shouldn't be fearful of making moves now. Goodwin isn't the man, we know that. So we either have the list capable or we don't, and if we don't, then why did we sell our future for our current list? Those in charge at present traded away quality picks for the list we have, and not only are we no better off, they even traded away quality picks we don't have. I have supported this club also for 35 years. I know its not the red and blue that makes these decisions, and the club that I do support and have fallen in love with, will see out this period. No point changing, but I see why Norm was frustrated.

13 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

The guy looks like he struggles to run at times. Genuine question, is he still suffering some kind  of knee problem? He was being managed a few weeks ago. 

Probably. He has done his ACL twice. He had already did his ACL once prior to our diligent football department paying overs for him (and somehow not factoring that in). We kind of get what we deserve in that sense. Lever was only ever a third man up at Adelaide, an unaccountable defender, who whilst great to have, should never be acquired at the cost of your future. 

1 hour ago, TheoX said:

This clown will have traded more than the number 1 pick for a midget that can't get the ball and doesnt kick goals.

Not just that, but pick 6 for Steven May who was actually a free agent at the time. Picks for Lever. Just bad negotiators. Its really cost the club now, set us back 15 years at least. When you miss out on quality talent, and you are a bad football side, you are up sh*t creek without a paddle. I have always been vocal about overpaying at the draft table. It will come back to haunt us. We had an opportunity to have the best young list in the league. Amateurs in charge of list management compromised our future, now its to the point where we are looking at a bottom 6 finish and don't even have our draft pick. Well played North though, they did exactly what I would have.

Oliver is ticking along ok. Went head to head with Cripps when we played Carlton and did some nice defensive work. So I think Oliver is passing the grade. However, he does play scared, which is frustrating to watch because he moves the ball onto the next bloke - like a hot spud. He could do with some rounds in the boxing ring just to become aware of that contact, and psychologically get over that fear, because he is a star and its a shame to see him go to waste. 

12 minutes ago, Unleash Hell said:

Our side has to worst decision makers and ball users in the league.

Coachibg and structure aside, we wont win with this group of butchers.

The players are always rushed. They are always under so much pressure to perform, ironically, because our team consistently perform below expectations. Playing with discipline, and to a structure would certainly help. But when the players have been taught to play 'chaos football', a central pillar to that is pressure, and an unfortunate flow-on effect is lack of composure, poise, and discipline. We really need to shift our whole approach, starting with our game plan. We are in desperate need of pace around our midfield, but more importantly, pacey players who can use the football. What I would give for Brodie Smith or Josh Kelly. I'd sell the farm for Kelly. But unfortunately, due to amateur trading decisions, we kind of just have to make do with what we have now.

Trade Brayshaw. Might be able to get a second round pick for him - if we are lucky. Approach Tom McDonald about a trade, if he is willing then trade him. I'm not really sure I see much value in others. I'd move Hunt on if he was up for it, and any suitors were available. I think he could thrive in a good team. A side might be willing. We are ready for a mini rebuild just to freshen up. That first round pick we naively off loaded to North would be nice, but we will have to settle with moving some pieces around and positioning up for a couple of second round picks. 

9 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Matt Rowell just did his shoulder

Feel for Rowell. Shoulders can be a frustrating heal sometimes. I don't feel for GC though. The AFL's baby. F em.

23 hours ago, MyFavouriteMartian said:

Oliver burned Lockhart badly, last week.  Lockhart worked hard ahead of the ball to find space as the direct option, Oliver looked at him and then ignored him, and kicked sideways to another player near boundary. Lockhart was [censored] off,  and stopped working after, for a minute or so.

It was a glaring burn; and It caused me to wonder if there was some history there.?

To be fair, Oliver probably saw that it was Lockhart. Oliver probably decided he was even better off retreating ground and kicking it to a player he had confidence in. Lockhart is barely even VFL level, so I am going to defend Oliver here. Lockhart would've most likely wasted his opportunity. In key moments last weekend it was obvious Lockhart should not have been out there. 

The game was done once players weren't allowed to dive on the ball. Once you had to keep your feet, it was curtains for our great game. I said to my old man at the time "the game had a good run now its finished". He thought I was getting ahead of myself, but years later he understood. To know the game of Aussie Rules, once you play around with the most basic aspect (contests), then it reshapes the whole game. The AFL played around in the name of safety, and they were not experienced enough to understand the damage it would do. 

Both Fritsch and Tmac should be leading up the ground as far as possible in order to open our forward line up. Weideman or Petracca should be playing deep one out, and the other making an initial lead. Gives us two options, kick it to the lead up bloke, or kick it to the space behind him where another forward will be deep one out. This way we can go inside 50 without having to bomb it on the head of 20 blokes and wonder why we aren't converting for all our grunt work up the ground. Open it up, have a two pronged forward set up of Petracca and Weideman, have one lead up, the other sit in the square, and implement a mozzi fleet. What we are doing at present is simply not working, and its not just broken, it has been for many years. This sh*t has been happening since Moloney/Jamar.

Play your best mid in the middle. Not rocket science. When the chips are down and a player needs to step up - its always Harmes. Harmes, Petracca and Oliver is a hell of a midfield. Wouldn't be beat often. Harmes runs both ways, Oliver is starting to as well which is scary. 

2 hours ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

I haven't started a topic so thought i'd throw one out there! 

Where do we think the club is at in terms of it's premiership window? do we have the talent to challenge but are underperforming, has our football department overrated our list

very curious to hear peoples thoughts on this

Successful opposition teams play with structure, and an organised game plan - we have neither of those. So its hard to see us making the top 8. If we were able to implement a successful game plan then we would have some nice role players to compliment our quality. We do have a lot of quality, but its hard to see it when they are asked to do too much too often. We are blessed as a team to have the best ruck in the game, and best tap ruck to give us that advantage out of the centre - in theory. We also have a quality extractor in Oliver, and a capable tap gatherer in Petracca (who has clean hands also). But we waste our advantages because we do not have a coach who knows how to use them. Bombing the football into a crowded forward line may sound like a good strategy when you are in under 11's and goals do not matter, but in reality it doesn't provide the best chance to kick goals consistently, and if you do not kick goals consistently, then you don't win games, and you end up closer to the bottom of the ladder than the top, which is our reality. Makes our list appear as though it isn't in the window, when it should be right in the window. 

Tmac can help our forward line out immensely if used correctly. He does however need to be fit and able to make long leads up the ground all day, creating space behind him, which opens up our forward line. He isn't he answer for us as a goal kicking forward, but he can still be used to improve our forward line. Just have to use him right. Keeping him out of the 50 not only opens it up, but drags out an additional defender that only becomes a burden when we do bomb it in (which we do all day). If we are going to continue to bomb it into our forward 50 (which nothing suggests we won't), then we need to open it up and give ourselves a chance. Otherwise its just more inside 50's that go no where.