KingDingAling

Salem is a weapon down back. I'd like to see him take full ownership over the delivery out of the backline and push to get the ball as much as he can. Needs to be more consistent, but he could play a quarter back role down back. A real game changer. Lever and May back (eventually) will help us a lot. Lewis isn't the answer down back. Its time Salem taken over and stamped himself as a general.

We have no mids with pace. We have no mids who kick efficiently and with precision. Harmes is probably our best midfielder if you ignore the stats and look at actual impact. Our backline is terrible. Our forward line is just below terrible. The game has changed and the open space has caught our lack of skill out. We are in for a long long year. We will likely be 0-4 after next week.

Sydney next week. Won't be easy.

We look good for a quarter again, but mostly ordinary.

ANB either has something on Goodwin and is blackmailing him, or is related to him.

Petracca is a gun. He can and probably still will be a better player than DeGoey. Don't forget Trac missed his first full year with an ACL. That is less time to develop his tank, and he is still developing his tank. He is a full time midfielder. When that happens we will see the obvious - that Petracca is a superstar. I wouldn't trade Petracca for pick 1 in the next upcoming draft and many on here want to sell him off for a bag of chips and a pie.

Oliver and/or Brayshaw if they don't seek a trade.

Before they hand you a Nobel peace prize, dare I suggest onlines users - use the block or ignore function? Or would that be called 'victim blaming' in this day and age? Deadset. MFC supporting a cause that could be largely prevented by just using basic common sense. Ironic that MFC supports a cause that could be prevented by using basic common sense, because we are 0-2 and its largely because we haven't used our basic common sense. Stupid campaign, waste of time and virtue signaling. Poor form MFC.

Oliver is a potentially great kick. I say 'potentially' because we never really see him kick effectively - he just long bombs. Its pretty pointless, not to mention lazy. Oliver should be held to higher standards than others. He needs to find the balance between when to handball, and when to hold onto the footy, find space and execute effectively.

Yep. Costly. Not only wasting them but overpaying in the process.

Good observations scarlett.

Hunt isn't finished at Melbourne. We need his run. We need his run out of our backline, as he was good last week at times. Why did he look so ordinary tonight (among many?). Because we had no structure or game plan running the ball out of our backline. When Hunt looks good its when he has space. How do we get him space? Get the ball in the hands of Salem who can find him space. Tonight Salem locked down Ablett early and we had rushed players like Hibberd and rusty players like May kicking out. So you say Hunt is finished at Melbourne, but take him out and we still lack run, and its not Jayden Hunt's fault that he isn't getting that space. So you want to move Keilty up forward? Based on what? Its speculative and desperate. Tom McDonald has actually shown something up forward. Keep him there. He isn't our problem. Our problem is our lack of effective disposal inside forward 50. If Tom McDonald had clean disposal coming into him he'd be kicking straight and there would be no problem. MFC have a big problem, but it isn't our players, its our coaching and their lack of structure and planning. We have have the best ruck in the game, the cleanest first touch mid in the game - Oliver - yet we are still hacking it inside forward 50. So something is either going wrong from Gawn to Oliver, or Oliver to forward 50, and if that is no Oliver substitute that for Brayshaw. These guys hack the football when they need to be working as a unit to dispose the ball effectively into our forward 50.

You think Hogan wanted to wait around for effective ball use inside our 50? This club has been bombing the ball inside forward 50 since Jamar/Moloney, and nothing appears to be changing in a hurry. I'd have Jones no where near the ball drop, Brayshaw and Oliver are not much better (unless they were to handball to a receiver).. There isn't a real effective plan out of the middle. It would be a long term option, but something I would consider exploring would be to have Salem rotating with Fritsch in the midfield, and have them play as a link man - on the receiving end of a handball from Oliver or Brayshaw. The aim of the game is to kick goals, the best way to do that is to move the ball out of the middle and cleanly into our forward line - giving our forwards the best opportunity to kick goals. Our club has the greatest capacity to do this. But instead we play a sloppy country football reserves style of play - with absolutely no organisation.

Where to start, where to stop! We are blessed with the best quarter back in the game (Christian Salem). Tonight we chose not to use him in that role. It was back to being an ineffective team. We have too much ineffective runners in Hibberd and Hunt (who wasn't too bad). The fact that May came in meant less ball in the hands of a real user (Salem). I think we play in a year where the ball needs to be in the hands of a real user of the ball, and set up from the backline. Really disheartening tonight, not a lot to like, no real structure. The boys tried hard, many did well, but they are running around chasing kicks without no real disciplined game play or structure. Reminds me of when I played under 11's.

I think the problem is both mental and physical. Mentally Petracca is trying 'too hard', and he is playing outside of himself. He wants to have a real impact - you can see that. The kid tries his heart out. Physically, as has been mentioned on this site all pre-season, Petracca is carrying too much weight. Everyone outside of our fitness department can see that, and its obviously having an effect on Petracca's game. The solution: Lose weight, build endurance, and run full time on the ball. Put down the basketball and start training for distance. I am still very impressed with Petracca, he is just not being served well by our fitness department.

I felt sorry for Max Gawn. He was getting smashed up from pillar to post, and not one of his teammates flew the flag. Thankfully May comes back in this week, a side with Steven May in it wouldn't side by idly and watch Gawn get battered. I know a side with Jake Lever in it sure as hell wouldn't either - as that kid has serious hands (players know it). Look forward to getting Lever back. After last week I'd say Jack Viney's reputation took a slight dent. As a player most others consider to be hard and play on the edge, he sat by and did nothing whilst Gawn got hit contest after contest, and often by slight on players who were doing it just because they could see others were getting away with it.

We looked slow, were beaten in close by youngsters, killed on the spread, didn't have a plan B for Gawn. Today was a bad day. On the upside, we have May coming back in and Lever also at some point. It's hard to really say what we need. Salem was an absolute standout today and I thought Spargo tried hard with his constant pressure.

Put Spargo and ANB in the midfield. At least they give us pressure and Spargo at least runs both ways.

Put Spargo in the midfield.

Even if he has been seen out more than Elvis? So what. If Jesse Hogan has anxiety then it is possible he is using substances to relieve any symptoms in the short term - because he may not have been aware of anxiety as something affecting him. Now he is aware, Fremantle will ensure Hogan is treated effectively, and not with alleged substances like drugs and alcohol.

In all likelihood Hogan has been playing with anxiety for quite some time. If Fremantle can get on top of this and get Hogan treated sucessfully - then they will see a player who reaches his full potential. If that were to be the case, then Jesse Hogan's best football is most definitely in front of him. I admire any AFL football player who even walks the field with clinical anxiety. Good luck to Jesse. Welcome back to the great MFC anytime.

My old man just started a league RIFF RAFF. Feel free to join (anyone). 719755

I thought Petty was very good. Keilty was beating Nankervis - and sometimes easily. That is a very positive sign for Keilty. If that second ruck role is going to be a thing for us this year, Keilty just put himself in the conversation after yesterday.

Brayshaw needs to work on his left foot. He has turned it over twice in a row. Frustrating.

Spot on.