deanox

I actually think we spent big on a guy who covered our biggest hole. The hole was not personnel but strategic positional. We want to defend up the ground and play the backline as a zone. We know that means defenders will be caught out with fast out the back ball coming at them. We spent the equivalent of pick 5 on the best reader of the play, zone defender and intercept marker in the competition who was also only 21.

When I first saw the footage on the weekend, I was actually very surprised at how Curnow left himself open, which I feel contributed to the issue. He should have braced protected himself from contact, instead it looks like he didn't even realise May was there...

Thanks DeeSpencer, looks like my description was a pretty good lay explanation of those detailed rules!

"As a testament to his standing within the team, Neal-Bullen has been given a leadership position in the forward line, with Misson saying the unofficial title was indicative of his attitude." Can we stop slagging him off now?

This is fantastic news. This was always the rule of Australian football and had been overlooked in recent years. In this case Iagree, because May's bump was designed to stop Curnow being involved in the next part of the play (ie a handball 1-2). The "late" rule applies to a kick where the ball has cleared the area and a) is no longer within 5m or b) because the player is now far enough away from the contest that he couldn't reasonably have expected contact. Long live the bump.

5th least time on ground for MFC with the following stats: 22 disposals (4th for MFC) 1 goal 1 behind 12 tackles (BOG) 5 intercept possessions (=3rd for MFC) 30 pressure acts (=1st for MFC) 393 m gained (5th for MFC) 12 contested prisons (5th for MFC) 3 clearances (=6th for MFC) 4 inside 50s (=3rd for MFC) 112 AFL fantasy points (1st for MFC)

This is nonsensical. "Gaffs defense isn't good enough so get Steven May" as if they play similar positions. Add Lever and Hibberd back into the side and our back 6 are fine. We play a zoning defence that requires all the defenders to leave their man and run up the field to defend/hold up/pressure/spoil the next free player, while the midfield is meant to push back hard to cover the overlap that is created. Our problem is not defenders. The best one on one defender in the competition will lose the majority of contests when one out and unassisted by team mates and OMac is a good zone defender. Our problem is two way running by midfielders who are meant to run back hard to cover space and run back hard with their direct opponent to make sure that don't pop up out the back. Our mids don't cover this kind of ground they only run forwards. We don't need Gaff to defend, we need him to gut run. PS you're not going to get much peace because Omac will be in this side for the next 5-10 years unless he asks to be traded. The quicker you accept that, the easier watching footy will be!

I think the nature of our losses this year indicate demonstrate how valuable Gaff could be. He covers a lot of ground and is regularly in the eagles top runners. That two way effort is something we miss. It was visible in the last play against the cats, it was massive against the saints and has played a part regularly as we watch teams stream past us and we don't follow. Put him in for JKH and we win this week. We need to be all in.

We have the best ruck in the competition who loves to ruck all day. We have two gun KPFs. We have a young third KPF whom we're grooming as a back up ruck but we're can't fit him in. We've shown a reluctance to play a second ruck and have even preferred to pinch hit smalls. Which AFL ready ruck is stupid enough to come and play at Casey in the hope that we get 4 injured talls? Anyone who fits that description will be looking to move to aclub where they get more game time, not less.

This weekends results have really helped us with respect to the other teams' runs home.

Even if wet get another home game in Melbourne they'll find away to make us play an extra interstate away game to even it up!

Got it. Ihad problems with Howe the image displayed on mobile so it looked cropped I could only see the NE corner.

In the OP out says the article states northeastern corner, but the image shown in the next post is the northwestern corner... Can someone clarify?

I think you're probably right about boat and sailing, and looking back he only averaged 15 disposals in his 28 games, im wondering if i remember him better for his effort than his output. I think Brayshaw's rise has made things hard, pushing Tyson out and putting VDB down the end of the line. That being said, I personally think he had more upside than Maynard, who got games this year. Similiar hard at it inside mid but with the additional bow strings of strong over head and knows where the goals are. He has had a run of injuries over 3.5 years though: shoulder, hamstring, ankle, hip, heel stress fracture, ankle again. Maybe it just isn't meant to be.

Where do you see him fitting? There are a few ahead of him in various roles right now: Tyson as inside mid, garlett as a small forward, if garlett pushes back in for one of the mid forwards, they'll be there too. VanDemon plays strong overhead but Pedo and Weid/Smith are playing well. I feel he plays a similar role to Tracc, but with a better engine. When he broke into the scene he got to play almost anywhere because we were terrible but what will his role be when he returns, and who will he be trying to push out?

Still one of the most dangerous and most dirty acts i have seen on the field in recent times. Should have been 6 weeks, elbowing a bloke in the back of the head while he lies on the ground in a disgrace and a dog act.

Of course they are. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of design and marketing and science brought together for the sole purpose of trapping people into addiction. The machines aren't fun to play and provide no entertainment value. The fact that only a small proportion of people even use the machines demonstrates this. They are designed to exploit. If you think that people choose to do this, that they have any control or that they have the abilty to out smart the hundreds of millions of dollars then you lack understanding of the situation.

Pokies are designed through neuroscience to entrap and addict people. People can't simply "take responsibility" these machines are so advanced they will always catch a certain percent. The government should represent the peoples interests when they can't represent themselves. That is why government should step in to protect people even if it unfortunately limits the "rights" of others especially when the rights in question are inconsequential (who really cares about being on the pokie??).

Hogan is a god contested mark, when he has a bit of form behind him. He isn't the strongest overhead; that is Weeds thing though. Weed attacks the ball high info the air. Once he gets the pace of the game he'll complement well.

Having Gawn and Hogan out for most of the year has really hurt us in this department. But looking at it subjectively, we are the 6th highest scoring team in the competition; the lack of marking hasn't hurt our ability to hit the scoreboard.

I think I disagree. Ice got a theory that our defensive zone works better at Ethihad as it is narrower than the G, where the extra width opens it up allowing teams to find a gap. Subiaco is 15 m longer, but narrower than ethihad again. "Bigger" in this case doesn't affect modern defensive. I'm really interested to see how it works for us.

Hibberd > Melksham Pretty happy with this. We paid overs last year and unders this year. Both are best 22 and I think Hibberd will be close to top 12 for us for the next couple of years. At his age he is effectively a very good quality upgrade on Matt Jones. Make our list run much deeper.

Id love us to say that publicly.

Just to throw around some other possible scenarios, how would people feel about: - Hibberd and Essendons 2016 2nd rounder (19?) - for - Our 2017 first found (12?) - Hibberd and Essendons 2016 2nd rounder (19?) - for - Salem and our 2016 3rd rounder (46?) - Hibberd - for - Grimes/other fringe player plus or 2016 3rd round (46?)

It's rough but it comes with the territory of a $60k per year job straight out of high school in an industry where you are the focus (everything is done for you and tailored personally to you: coaching, fitness, personal trainers, massages, specialists looking after you), with a chance for that to jump to $200k plus within a couple of years.