stevethemanjordan

That's one of the worst hypotheticals I've heard and I'd be mortified if we were to entertain anything close to that. Langdon? I really don't understand the crush many have on him. Yeh he's quick, cool. But he is far from classy and he doesn't use the ball well. Two things we are dying for. The only way we'll allow Hogan to leave this year is if we end up with a sweet arse deal. And the deal you've just outlined is hideous.

Some supporters on this forum are far too caught up in the world of draft picks thanks to years of having only the national draft to look forward to. It's a brainwashing of sorts. I'd like to remind some that we just made prelim final and carried 9 players into that game who are under 22/23. That's not including Hogan and Lever. Whether we get May or not, the point is that we're now at a stage where we may have to pay slight 'overs' for players who will have an impact for us in the short term. The lens needs to be changed now given our list demographic and the fact that we're clearly in the flag window. And if posters think Steven May wouldn't be that important, you've got rocks in your heads. Go back and watch Frost and McDonald in the prelim. Whilst I'm not blaming the loss on them, it's more than clear that when we don't win the midfield battle, we are extremely vulnerable having those two play in the same side. We need a mature-aged, strong bodied key defender. Not only for performance but to instil confidence and belief in our entire back half. Every side in the top 8 this year had at least one strong-bodied and aggressive key defender. Collingwood lost Dunn and watch what Kennedy will do to them at the G this Saturday if the midfield battle is even.

This is your best ever post, well done.

If we land Preuss and May, we'll be officially the most physically intimidating side going into next year. It'll be [censored] awesome.

Bit more info?

He was, I wasn't.

As he always was, developing nicely.

I'm really not sure why posters are so convinced Gaff is off to North. Polec is about to go there on enormous money so I find it extremely difficult to believe North would pay another bucket-load to a similar outside running player? It really doesn't make any sense to me from a list management pov. Not that it means much, but I happened to bump into Gaff last week playing golf at Camberwell. I had a chat to him and told him I hoped to see him running around in our colours next year, to which he responded; "I've got a bit to think about over the next few weeks." My feeling is that we're still very much in the frame. My brother played school footy with him and has said he's a very honest kid who was a big dees fan growing up as most are aware. His father hasn't been well either which is obviously a massive factor in his decision. Players go home to play at their club of choice sometimes even if it's for less money. Jeremy Howe for instance took less to go to Collingwood over the Gold Coast to play under Buckley who was his favourite player as a kid. I'm still confident.

No, obviously not. He is a young and developing player. However, it's the only line we have that lacks depth, quality and experience. And it's remained that way since Dunn left. Frost, Keilty and Petty are not depth yet as we saw with Petty. Two of them are untried and Frost is a mistake ridden athlete who is the furthest thing from the word 'consistency' one could think of. The fact we don't have a mature body with either experience at AFL level or the level under is a serious oversight by Goodwin and the recruiting team. You look at Weideman VS Oscar McDonald and compare the way in which they've been handled over their careers. One has been made to play out of necessity rather than form. The other one is in his third year and has been dropped again after one poor game due to depth and talent. Weideman was a top end pick. Oscar a pick in the 50's. It doesn't make sense to me. It should be our priority over the off season along with diversifying our midfield mix. You get rid of Frost, Tyson and Bugg over the off season and bring in May, Gaff and a half forward who is quick, skilled and pressures and watch our team transform.

Give Frost a chance? He's been given a chance in almost every position possible on the football field. Unfortunately for him, (and fortunately for us watching) his weaknesses won't allow him to be a consistent AFL player.

Nah, don't need em. Ask Goody. I arksed him. He only plays inside mids on the wings like Tyson and Harmes and it's the same with half forwards. ANB and Petracca. Ball use, composure and speed is overrated. He thinks it, not me.

Pretty sure Roos said this when he first took over in 2014, which is why Daniel Cross was brought over. But cool to know Goodwin is saying that it's still not ingrained in our players 4 years later... On a serious note, that kind of a response is an absolute cop out. How obvious is it to see that if you play a super aggressive zone as a defensive unit, you're going to need to be an extremely skilled side through the midfield and forward line? We are the third easiest team to score against once the ball is inside 50. We just let St Kilda of 2018 kick a score of 119 against us. 119. Do something Goodwin.

Incredible resume, huge get.

Both Petracca and Brayshaw have had to face some adversity early on which has most obviously had an impact on their development as players. I don't really care for comparing them at this stage. Gus had his breakout couple of games for us this year and Trac has shown glimpses of what he's capable of. As long as we continue to nurture and educate these boys, they will both be big time contributors for the MFC. Trac missed all of his first year and Gus pretty much missed all of last year. It put them both back. The exciting thing in my eyes is that they're both so untapped along with some other players and we're still sitting 5th at the halfway point. As I've said a number of times, greater consistency in performance will come once these guys reach 80-100 games. And from then on it'll be a hell of a watch if we can keep our core together.

Can confirm that we wouldn't be interested in 'any' player. And no, I didn't ask Mahoney.

Should always be playing in the guts with rests either on the pine or at half-forward. He is ball player. No more experimenting thanks Simon. Gussy looks to be gaining more and more confidence with each game, can't wait to watch him develop further.

Weird thread. Both differing in skill-sets and neither of them are well rounded yet. Petracca is clearly more dynamic. But when they’ve hit 100 games together with Oliver, and Viney is close to 150 our midfield is going to be pretty crazy. That’s all I care about.

There's merit to both sides of the argument. In the past, Oscar was rightly criticised for some bog ordinary efforts and performances. But that's going to come when a club decides to play a 20 year old bean pole as a key defender at AFL level rather than trade for a stop-gap in order to let Oscar develop for a couple of years at VFL level. Turns out we didn't opt to go down that path and maybe the MFC knew there'd be some bumps along the way, but he'd develop quicker at AFL lever. To date, it's clearly worked. He's been super solid so far this year, not without the odd-brain fade. I think part of why posters like Binman and others become enamoured with pieces of play that one would term 'elementary' is because there was a period of time where he was not only getting beaten easily one-on-one, but he was missing spoils completely, getting caught holding the ball, getting out-positioned too easily and making really dumb decisions whether in the contest or not. When a player is doing all of those things on a regular basis, he is going to cop criticism. It's fair. Now that he's not doing that, we're hearing that he's "improved out of sight", when really, it's just that he's eradicated so many brain fades from his game. He is now competing strongly and is more reliable and consistent in the contest as a key defender. He is good with ball in hand and he is playing with more confidence. All positives. Against Roughhead, I thought that's when we saw the best of him this year with his ability to take intercept marks and out-position Roughie thanks to dodgy kicks on a few occasions. That's now his next stage of development. Turn some of those one-on-ones into genuine wins by using his body and either taking strong intercept marks or killing the ball with conviction. That's when we'll really see the signs of a high quality key defender. I'm not convinced yet, but the signs are positive so far. Oscar has been a positive in a disappointing start to the season for the MFC.

I'm so tempted to make long-winded post but I just cbf'd.

And for the record, I agree he showed great improvement in certain areas in the first half of the Hawthorn game. He was genuinely making a positive impact in contests and turning them into wins rather than floating about in an insignificant way. His kicking is usually very good. His defending needs improving along with his general intensity, body positioning, reflexes and awareness. Hopefully he can go on with it on Tuesday night.

And for the record, I agree he showed great improvement in certain areas in the first half of the Hawthorn game. He was genuinely making a positive impact in contests and turning them into wins rather than floating about in an insignificant way. His kicking is usually very good. His defending needs improving along with his general intensity, body positioning, reflexes and awareness. Hopefully he can go on with it on Tuesday night.

Given we're all Melbourne supporters, explain to me the incentive we get in pointing out obvious weaknesses in an individual's game aside from wanting to see the best from our club? The only reason that a player becomes a 'whipping boy' is because of an obvious flaw/flaws in an individual's game that a majority can see. That includes supporters, expert opinion, media etc. You can argue that a player may be unfairly criticised, but you can't argue that the issue isn't there.

I just find it funny when posters are confused by criticism around a player. If a bunch of supporters and footballing followers share a common view for a player, there’s got to be some sort of truth to it. A whipping boy doesn’t magically appear without reason.

Obvious to say, but Guss’s concussions from last year have set his development back significantly. Not only has he had limited continuity in playing games at AFL level, but we haven’t even seen him play those games in his most natural and best position, which is starting in the square. He was drafted to this club as a hard nosed, big bodied inside mid with a few other strong attributes including contested marking and an ability to kick both sides which gives him some positional flexibility. The club were rightly cautious last year when bringing him back into the side with a different role, but it’s definitely not where I want him going forward. As others have already noted, I think a contributing factor to our break down during games through the middle is due to the fact that we have so many personnel rotating through that midfield mix. It’s a double edged sword if I’ve ever seen one. Whilst it’s great to have some flexibility and options for different setups, it also takes away any sort of continuity and chemistry we could be building with a smaller and more concentrated group of mids. I have no concerns over Gus as long as he remains uninjured going forward. But really, once Lewis and Jonesy move on, we should be playing a consistent group of inside mids that play 80% + midfield time that include Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Salem and Petracca. Trac obviously playing more of a Dusty balance of mid/forward time due to his one-on-one dominance. I hate Tyson on a wing and I hate the fact that’s Goody continues to play far too many numbers through that part of the ground who don’t contribute enough. Our next step is to find some speed and power runners for the wings so we don’t have to continually play inside, one-sided and one-paced mids like Tyson on the outside. Clearly I’m on a rant and have entirely lost track of this thread but [censored] me can we please start playing blokes on positions they’re suited to.

Possibly doesn't need its own thread so to the overwatchers of this forum, feel free to merge. To anyone who has info, what is going on? I heard him interviewed during the week and he gave away nothing to suggest his omission was due to his wisdom teeth being pulled/lack of preparation. I had just assumed it was to do with that. He is a number 3 pick, highly talented and I can't understand why he's been overlooked again when any number of players could have been omitted for this week's game.