stevethemanjordan

When? We only ever do well if we're smashing the oppo around the ball. If it's even, we generally struggle. Like wtf is that handball by Pedo?! It's so dumb! We have so many players who are average ball users and as soon as the oppo put pressure on us we fall to water.

If I were an opposition supporter, I would similarly be bored watching this game. We play really dumb footy. If we can't bully our way to a win through contest work, we have no other way of playing.

We're getting smashed in the clearances because of Max. Zorko is only getting loose because Max is either hitting it to the wrong spots or because Martin is destroying him. A bit of both. Max needs to lift.

I don't care for disposals including handballs and kicks under no pressure. They're expected.

Our side has the footballing IQ of 30. And that 30 comes from Hibberd. Hopefully demonlanders now know why Tyson is a whipping boy. Srsly. He fumbles, turns it over and plays the game in slow motion.

As an outside type of player, Stretch has average pace and foot skills.

Gawn needs to smarten up, get physical and stop floating. He is getting smashed in the ruck by Martin.

You're a funny poster. I'm not sure how many times you need reminding of how the term 'whipping boy' comes about. But I'll remind you, again. Players who generally make many errors are the ones who get stuck with the name. So the reason why Oscar, Frost, Tyson and Watts are highlighted so regularly on demonland is because of the frequency and type of errors they make vs the positive pieces of play they're involved in. Yeh, all players make errors/mistakes, I don't need reminding. You've pointed out Lever's on Friday night. But the reason he is not a 'whipping boy' is because of the sheer volume of positive play he creates or is involved in. A small example of one attribute being the way he kills a contest with his spoiling. Not just getting a hand on the ball which allows a spill. Genuinely killing a ball so that there's a reset in play. Lever displays this skill at a level that is completely incomparable to Oscar's. The way he spoils compared to Oscar is like chalk and cheese. There is spoiling then there is killing a contest. Lever almost always kills a contest when attempting a spoil. Compare that to Oscar who is 50/50 at best to even get a spoil in, let alone kill a contest. That is one example of many I could give you in regards to the two players. Marking, awareness, composure, speed, ball use, aggression. You can't compare them as players because Lever is so far ahead of Oscar in all of those areas in the game. The goal/scoring saving moments that Lever makes are out of this world. Therefore, a few mistakes from him isn't going to get the same reaction given the level he plays at for the majority of the game. All great players who make mistakes cop far less for it because of their ability to win contests they shouldn't, create scoring chains from nothing, save what would otherwise be certain goals and the list goes on and on. Why so hard to understand?

Hope Oscar is watching Lever tonight. He's giving a masterclass in effective spoiling. Take note.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-08-18/coach-confident-viney-will-return-in-2017 "But we certainly feel that he's got some footy ahead of him. He recovers well, he heals well, and it's not a fracture or anything in his foot. "So we're really positive about him playing some footy. If it's not next week, we'll see how we go for the rest of the year. "It's a week-by-week thing. He's starting to heal and feel better, but we'll just see how he comes up on Monday and start progressing him from there." Next week no certainty.

It's an ambiguous sentence. Read the rest of what he said in the presser and you'll see it's all just hopeful talk. Noone knows.

How can you be sure? Goody likes to use the word positive as 'hopeful' an awful lot.

Goodwin on Viney: "We certainly feel that Jack has got some footy ahead of him. We're positive he'll play again this year". Doesn't fill me with great confidence as a Melbourne supporter. In fact, I'm fearing the worst whilst trying to slap myself out of it.

Yeh, I find it hard to believe that ^ Especially given the way he spoke about next year in his latest interview.

I've watched a bit of Andrew this year for Sandy. He's not at his brother's level and whilst he may end up going earlier than expected, he isn't what we're after from a list balance/target perspective. And especially not if we're hitting the draft with our first rounder. We have an abundance of contested bulls most of which are all around the same level of disposal skill and decision making. Cleary we need to target players who's strengths are in areas we lack as a side.

^ Not great news.

I'm not sure if it's been said and sorry if it has but Viney's latest foot injury is different to the plantar fascia related surgery he had.. That's quite worrying. Mahoney specifies this on our website.

Yes. It's absolutely too much to ask.

Pffffftt. No. I love Oscar, I don't know what you're talking about.

Burgo's latest article headliner: "Lions won't be taken lightly". Burgo needs to leave quotes like that out of his articles. Or just not write them.

* Two of those...

Maybe. But it's my view. Honestly, the role player can be important but there a plenty who can do it and it's mainly left to individuals who are limited in their ability. Would rather a high pressure, quick and skilled half-forward ahead of Bugg or ANB. Hopefully we get another during the off-season. The more attribute diversity a player has, the better the team will be.

I said that he's similarly a pest. But Ballantyne backs it up with his individual performance in most games both won and lost. This year has been injury riddled. My wish is for Tom Bugg to offer the team more than just an ability to get under the skin of the oppo when we're on top. He the walking definition of the term 'down hill skier'. When the going gets tough, his ability to pester becomes obsolete and I've never seen him get the team going on the back of individual efforts when we're not on top in games. And as I said, the Sydney game said it all really. He may as well not have played.

ANB and Milkshake playing his role just as well. The fact that he did absolutely nothing against Sydney after his tough act still annoys me. He literally went to water. I'd be happy to leave him at Casey for the rest of the year and he can try and add some other elements to his game over the off-season. Ballantyne is similarly a pest but can back his talk up with ability.

The trajectory is good and the future bodes well. We're still a few important jigsaw pieces away. At the end of next season when Hogan, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem and Hunt have played 50-60 games I reckon we'll start to see some big inroads. It was Viney's third year that was his breakout and if not for his plantar fascia issue earlier in the year he would have been a much bigger contributor. Same can be said for a host of players who have had significant injuries. Gawn, Jones and Hoges obviously. But as I said. The 50-100 game mark is where we'll start seeing some serious improvement from our young guns.