Watts the matter

Agree. Judd and Cousins quite easily for mine. Black not quite in the class of the other 3. Oliver/Viney have a long way to go to be in that sort of discussion.

Voss, Black, Akermanis, Lappin, Power, Headland. We are not even close to that. Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Embley. Or that. If you swap Wines for Fyfe, Martin or Dangerfield then you might get a seat at the table.

I actually think we do better against teams with better ruckman as their midfielders aren't used to roving to opposition taps. The bulldogs knew Gawn was going to win every tap. Collingwood might think Grundy is a chance which will help us.

I think early in the game, when the game is in the balance you go and get stuck into him. But with the margin as it was, there was no need to do it and I'm glad he didn't.

Great performance, hard to even know who our best player was. A real team effort. But, what was the AFL, Chanel 7 thinking with the red ball in the first half. Terrible to watch.

I think it has more to do with the inclusions of Fantasia and McKenna, they have their speed back. Probably no coincidence that Mark Neeld is no longer in charge of the game plan and the ball is moving again.

"I've played in all positions, mainly due to (not) finding one myself which I really did well in," Melksham said on Wednesday. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-02-14/all-out-attack-is-right-for-versatile-demon We recruited him as a half back, not a midfielder.

No, he was unable to lock down a position consistently and was switched around because of this, not the other way around. He has admitted this in press conferences in the past so lets not rewrite history.

He has been much improved with this and his body language this season, however, on 2 occasions he went back to his old ways. The first was when he didn't get the free kick and stopped playing to complain to the umpires. It was a clear free kick but you have to play to the whistle. The second was when Simpson was 1 on 2 or 1 on 3 and Hogan went to ground way too easily. Hard to fault any players performance on a day like this. Very satisfying win.

You must have pretty low expectations if you actually believe this. He has shown steady improvement and is playing his role solidly, however is not paying anywhere near the pay cheque he is earning. I'm sure this will come up in Tom McDonald's contract negotiations. A poor precedent has been set. Interested to see how he goes this weekend if he matches up on Curnow. Curnow exposed him last year.

With May off, they are a good chance of getting off. However, May got off because it was not intentional contact. I don't believe the same case can be mounted for either of the Curnow's. Charlie specifically was intentional (even though it looked like he was trying to get the umpire away from a minor scuffle).

I agree that Petracca needs to improve but I just found it strange that you said Brayshaw is a good set shot. I've watched countless contests between him and Jones at training and I can't see it. His AFL set shot kicking has done little to change my view. And you can manipulate stats easily. Petracca kicks at 62% for goal over his career, excluding complete misses. He has not started well this season but when analysing players it's important to use all of the information available not just small samples that don't tell the whole story and suit a need.

Is this a joke? Gus can nail set shots? Based on what? He would not have kicked more than 5 goals from set shots in his career. You have a very short memory or you must watch a different game to me. Petrarca's goal kicking has been a bit disappointing this season but it was a strength last season kicking 26.6.

I think this thread is a gross over reaction to a long awaited impressive game from Brayshaw. Trac has the attributes to be the best player in the comp at one stage, Brayshaw doesn't. I was encouraged by Brayshaw's performance on the weekend, but I'm going to need to see it against some better opposition before I get on the bandwagon with everyone else. For me, his kicking is always going to hold him back. I think some of your observations are off the mark also. There is a reason Petracca is the 3rd rated small/medium forward on the AFL player ratings behind only Greene and Betts. He is elite at what he does.

It didn't look as bad as I first thought when watching the replay and I can't recall what other options he had so that's probably fair.

I posted about this incident in a different thread and I feel like my take is right on the mark if I do say so myself. It did not warrant a free kick, the rule is if you don't make contact with ball, not if you don't attempt to mark it. It's normally a poorly adjudicated part of the game but this was the correct decision. "He had a chance early in the game to impose himself when Hannan skied the ball. He needed to launch at it and mark it in his hands. He tried to mark it on his chest and this allowed Webster to run back and spoil without giving away a free kick for not looking at the ball. Great spoil but an easy free kick to draw for a marking player".

I normally don't notice this kind of thing, but in the first half it was pretty clear. Paul Roos is just as bad when covering Melbourne games though.

Why are you taking away handballs? That's just stupid when critiquing a player who handballs as often as he kicks and plays their best footy as an inside midfielder. How about you focus on the whole game instead of just one aspect, then maybe you will be able to see the value he represents. He has his flaws but he is still an important player and will continue to be as we phase out our older players. I actually find it quite ironic that you rate Lever so highly considering you have such a narrow minded focus.

I feel like I'm always the one being critical of him, but he had a chance early in the game to impose himself when Hannan skied the ball. He needed to launch at it and mark it in his hands. He tried to mark it on his chest and this allowed Webster to run back and spoil without giving away a free kick for not looking at the ball. Great spoil but an easy free kick to draw for a marking player. Tom McDonal burnt him in the first quarter on another opportunity where he had a nice run at it with an open 50, unfortunately the kick wasn't high enough and was intercepted. He needs to give us more in the first half of games if he is going to remain in the team.

His kicking was very bad in the first half (lucky that Spargo could play out the game after one of those and that was probably the only one that hit the target in the 1st half), but improved substantially after half time. A very encouraging performance and loved the gutsy mark he took early in the game. Thought his hand balling in tight was much better than what he has previously shown at AFL level. Also nice to see him bounce up after a few big hits.

I thought I had read that Gaff was a Melbourne supporter?

In fairness to all the posters, the topic is how how will go this year. So far he has struggled as has been pointed out. This thread isn't focussed on what he will be in 5 years time (as this has been done to death in other Jake Lever threads). He is likely to finish higher in the clubs best and fairest than the Demonland player of the year due to the nature of each voting system. I am doubtful he will finish in the top 10 of either system.

I think he is probably similar to Garlett, he is capable of playing some high quality football but you wouldn't be able to trust him to always do the right things and could be a liability in big games. Has plenty of attributes that we need and on paper he would seem a good fit, however, I can't imagine us having much interest in him.

He was a solid contributor but lets not get carried away. Kicked it out on the full twice under minimal pressure if my memory serves me correctly. The performance against Essendon should be the minimum for a player of his reputation.

Filipovic, someone most likely clicked the wrong profile.