Gator

What footy acumen you have, Turbo.

This isn't hyperbole, our midfield is one of the worst in the competition. What was once a strength is now a liability. Big time.

Exceptionally limited preseason. Selected to play AFL on the back of zero VFL form and lack of preparation. Head-scratching selection decision. Will turn it around.

Amusing. van Rooyen was drafted in 2021. His first year of football was playing VFL in 2022. His second year of footy was playing AFL in 2023, ie two years after he was drafted, yet it's counted in column ''1''. Larkey was drafted in 2016 and played just 2 games in 2017, while Allen was drafted in 2017 and played 2 games in 2018. Their only 2 games in their respective first years are correctly counted in column ''1'', ie one year after they were drafted, yet van Rooyen's zero games are not. van Rooyen's second year on a list are matched against Allen's and Larkey's first year on a list. If you can't see the discrepancy I'm not talented enough to educate you. Btw, I'm sure others in the stats provided are in the same boat as Allen and Larkey.

Your reply has zero to do with my post.

Your stats are misleading. You should have zero in van Rooyen's first year and 28 in his second. Larkey, Allen, and Naughton all played footy in their first year on a list, while van Rooyen didn't crack a game. Larkey and Allen played just 2 games, while Naughton played his entire first year as a key defender.

Billings has always been a terrible kick for goal.

Fitting and somewhat ironic. Viney's and Wines' first ever AFL games were against each other in round one 2013 at the 'G when Wines won the RS nomination and Melbourne were thrashed by 79 points.

Carlton. Easily.

Maybe a little. I think it's easy to see little bits in lots of different players. For example, my Brother sees a bit of Gerard Healy in Windsor. I see a little bit of Bailey Smith in the way they move. But the one player that has never had anyone remotely resemble him is Flower. I've never seen anyone that reminds me of Flower. They used to say Dean Kemp, but I couldn't see it in him either. But each to their own.

Disagree.

I saw a lot of Flower. Nothing of Windsor reminds me of Flower.

Gawn Oliver May Petracca Billings Viney

I'd bring in Hore. We play 7 defenders in the 22. May, Lever, Tomlinson, Rivers, McVee, Howes and Hore is a strong unit. McVee can take Weightman. I mentioned Woewodin earlier, but I acknowledge that's unlikely. The Dogs are naturally taller in the front half than many other sides, so Hore makes sense as an intercepter at 191cm, who's still agile enough to be a flanker. And it allow Salem to stay midfield. Imagine abandoning Salem as a midfielder after one game after it's been earmarked for two years ? It doesn't make sense to me.

I don't think he has, but considering it's the easiest gig in football and he's played there as a junior, I suspect he'd cope well.

Woewodin played half-back for East Fremantle (as well as midfield and forward). He's fast and well skilled. I like speed from a running back. In his third year I see no reason he couldn't slot in there, especially as we've now got 3 wingmen ahead of him.

They won't abandom the Salem midfield move after one game. They've been trying to get him into the midfield for two years.

Jefferson has talent, but little aggression or intensity. The bad news is that's the hardest trait to instill into a player. Further bad news is that it's the most important trait for a key forward. Defence is a far easier position for someone with his DNA. I'm dubious that he'll ever make an AFL key forward. I know those with red and blue goggles have conniptions about such views.

I'd replace Bowey with Woewodin, who played multiple positions as a junior at East Fremantle, including as a running half-back. It's his third year and imo he's ready. Fullerton seems a no brainer for Schache, who hopefully never plays AFL again. Pickett replaces Laurie, who's not good enough at AFL level. I doubt they'll make more than 3 changes, but the sooner they deem Kynan Brown ready the better. He already looks better than all our smalls bar Pickett, even with a small sample size.

I completely agree. People may scoff at reserves form, but in periods 5-7 against Richmond Salem played as a pure mid and looked fantastic. He was moving better/quicker than I'd seen him for years, used it well and looked like a point of difference to a midfield that has probably become a little predictable. Yes, a tiny sample size, but I'd love to see him given a crack at a midfield spot. Historically I've been in Dazzle's corner, in that I prefer him behind the ball, but he's far more mature now and I reckon can make a fist of it in the middle, especially after seeing him in the match sim.

He says Melbourne were ''shown up in the finals''. That is patent nonsense. They dominated Carlton in most of the general play, but didn't close the door and lost by 2 points. They won most metrics, i.e. clearances, contested possessions, etc. They had 69 inside 50s to Collingwood's 37. They had 8 more scoring shots and they also dominated contested possessions, contested marks, marks inside 50, clearances, etc., before managing to lose by 7 points. It's obviously infuriating to lose two games we should have won, but we certainly weren't ''shown up''. Not having either Petty or van Rooyen for both games also didn't help, but naturally that gets overlooked.

The main issue today was poor kicking and handball. We're clearly trying to play faster and use the corridor, but you get torched on the rebound when you turn it over, as we did today. Last year we lacked some dare, but had a fantastic all ground defence, which is why teams found it hard to move the ball against us. Think of Collingwood only having 39 inside 50s in the final and their struggle to move the ball forward on KB. In general play we dominated Carlton, but didn't close the door. We didn't get our tweaked game-plan right today and lost momentum. Richmond kicked it far better. They'll learn a lot from the hitout. Oliver and Salem the big pluses from the second game. Kynan Brown surprised me. He looks very promising.

I see. Fair enough.

There's zero chance of Oliver playing in the seconds. He may only play 2 or 3 quarters, but he's not playing seconds.

Whether it be life in general or football, no-one is interested in your story unless you win. So win.