KingDingAling

Greene is proven, Gus isn't even getting a game at the moment. There is day and night between them. One is a top notch AFL player and the other is a solid VFL level player. That is how big the gap is between Greene and Gus at the moment. Whether Greene was to play forward, midfield, does not matter, he is playing at a level above Gus, and playing a far highly quality of football. I don't mind Brayshaw, but he is absolutely unproven in comparison to Greene.

Providing he plays the year out strongly and his soft tissue injuries are behind him then I think he should be our target. His inconsistency can probably be put down to injuries. Hasn't had a real solid run at it. So far this year he has been Sydney's best forward. Reid is a serious talent. He would be a great get IMO.

Reid is an absolute gun. He should be target no 1 for us. Reid is the real deal. He is every bit as good as the best forward in the league IMO.

Zac Jones would be a good get. He takes the game on. Has a hardness about him. We are a hardened outfit. Jones would add to our side. Upgrade on Melksham.

Agree with all of this.

I will wait to see how Lewis executes over the next 6 months. I am not sold he is as great a kick as we've been led to believe. So far he has been sloppy by foot. There is a big difference between executing on a training track, and doing so in a game. The fact that Lewis does hit most targets on a training track - yet can't in a game - suggests that it is above the shoulders. He was also quite wasteful at Hawthorn as well. Found a lot of the footy, but could have been more effective. I hope Lewis has been working hard in his time off to improve his execution. He needs to.

He'd be 30 leading into next year. I assume Collingwood would only move him on if they received a great offer (by trade). I doubt we would entertain handing over a first round pick for a 30 year old - who does appear to be trending downwards - albeit very slowly, but downwards nonetheless.

Watts will be fine in the ruck. He is doing a sound job - under tough circumstances. He will just need a chop out, perhaps that comes from either Frost or Kielty. Pederson isn't mobile enough around the ground for mine. We are going to need some above average athletes to get this job done. Generally, stand alone ruckman are not very agile, they are more or less rigid with below average co-ordination. They can be exposed. I think this is a perfect opportunity to find a collective set of players capable of exposing the modern day ruck man. What also works in our favor is that midfielders are more at a stand still at stoppages - which will create easier tackling opportunities for our players. The old adage of 'first to the football' is not really applicable anymore. If the opposition doesn't have clean - one touch - midfielders, then it is nearly advantageous to be second to the contest. At the same time, a good ruck man always benefits one touch players like Oliver, so it is not all positive for us not having a ruck. It does set us back in many areas, but it is not the be all and end all, we can still win games without a traditional ruck.

By continuously going short Vince basically delegated kick out duties to Hibberd.

I would agree with that. Should've been well over by that stage. We are potentially a very good football side, and perhaps the makings of a great football side. But, at the moment we are an ineffective football side. Any ambitions we have will only ever be realized if we use the ball effectively. Until then we are doing a lot of hard work and not getting rewarded for it. I thought it was a smart move to start Oliver, Salem and Petracca all in at the opening bounce. Sadly Petracca injured his knee early and didn't run on the ball much after that. I think we are getting there, slowly, but we are getting there. Very proud of the lads tonight regardless of our flaws, and result.

Years gone by our pressure would've been enough to break them by now.

I hate how we concede goals before quarter breaks. Within the last minute you can see it coming.

Oliver is very alert around a contest though. But as we seen in the Rioli incident last year, Oliver isn't exempt from taking a head knock at times. No doubt Oliver would have learnt something from that incident. He looked to of tweaked his game a little. He is more upright this year.

Even taking the concussions out of it Brayshaw still lacks awareness. He doesn't slow leading into contests, he only has one speed, doesn't adjust his reactions based on others - which is important in today's game (not so much in the 80's). With the constant rule changes the game is becoming nuanced, and if players continue to go at one speed with their head down - they need to be aware of their surroundings. More than ever these type of players are exposed IMO. Not to single out Brayshaw, but I did say the same about Viney when he used to go in bull at a gate - before he made adjustments. Brayshaw needs to make adjustments now more than ever, as he can't afford anymore head knocks. He should be slowing right down entering contests, not only will it lessen the chance of greater impact should he be hit, but it will give him better time to think also.

You could say they weren't aware, yes.

Continuously getting concussed kind of takes the luck out of it.

Brayshaw lacks awareness. No easy fix.

He let someone else use his own (Melksham's account), and he taken a cut. The guy who used Melksham's account was a profitable punter - to the point that he had been banned from having his own accounts. Melksham knew exactly what he was doing. If the AFL weren't so tangled - and compromised - with gambling, then Melksham would be copping more than a 10k fine. This isn't related to tanking - other than Melksham once again showing poor judgement. Hopefully the club takes the appropriate stance and suspends Melksham for a while.

Petracca already looks ready to explode. So impressed with his the past month. He has shown consistency, and has stepped up when we needed. I think if we were to put Petracca in the midfield that he would add a lot. I believe he is absolutely ready. I think he could be elite right away. I look at the game from the weekend and it is evident that either Petracca or Salem need to be added to our midfield - perhaps even both at once (but maybe down the track). Petracca is very physical. I hope we start him in the midfield from here on in. Now Hogan is back in, I would be starting Petracca as a mid. Many of our other mids - Tyson, Viney, and even Lewis - have been wasteful and sloppy by foot. Petracca as a player is effective, Melbourne as a team at the moment is ineffective. We need to put our effective players in midfield position IMO. That way we can give our forwards better opportunities.

It was a terrible decision at the time and remains. Melksham isn't a great athlete, and he isn't a very skilled footballer. Should be in VFL at moment. That is his level IMO.

Another stupid decision by someone involved with Essendon Football Club. I am not longer surprised. Annoyed we got lumped with the likes of Melksham, Goodwin and Hibberd.

Even as a forward Petracca is ahead of McCartin. Petracca is exactly the type of player we need in the midfield at the moment. He is effective with ball in hand - something many of our mids aren't. Petracca actually does something with the football when he has it. I hope he starts in the midfield along with Oliver and Salem or Jones.

We can find the footy, we just can't use it well. Inefficient and ineffective. We play school yard footy. Hard to watch.

Couldn't be true, surely?

I don't disagree with that. But the fact (I think it is fact) that Viney has shown over the years that he can harness his aggression, and improve his game - I think he is ok as co-captain. I do understand the knock against Goodwin appointing him because maybe it was a little early and perhaps undeserved? But I don't think it is a replica of Trengove and Grimes. I don't think either of those guys were ready. I actually made a thread on that at the time (that Jones should've been appointed). At present I don't think we have a leadership problem, I think we have an effectiveness problem. We are an ineffective football club. You can be well led and still be ineffective. I don't see a real problem with Viney as captain though (at least not to the extent of Trengove/Grimes - who weren't leaders from the get go). But I see a problem with Viney's game at the moment. He needs to make some adjustments. If he doesn't make some adjustments then being captain will be irrelevant because he may be borderline to even get a game.