stevethemanjordan

Well you better speak to him about improving it then? Tom is a very good defender and defensively, he is up there with the best in the competition when on song.. But I'd argue that due to our thin key-position back stocks, nobody is putting pressure on him for when he has down games and when he kills us with his poor disposal/decision making. Which is the reason why it's almost 'universally expected' on demonland that he just has scratchy foot skills and as some have said, "he is what he is". (A vague line). Supporters now accept that Tom possesses this weakness simply because we have nobody threatening his position in the side. That is the simple fact of the matter. But I guarantee that if we had better established key position depth and quality, Tom wouldn't necessarily be a lock for CHB every week if his kicking and decision making continued to let him down.

VAFA? Div 4? Thirdsies? They'd allow that.

As soon as you point out a 'fault' that a particular player possesses, you get what seems like this recurring nightmare of a merry-go-round of posts. It starts as a simple, "McDonald is still making too many errors in dangerous parts of the ground, he needs to address this". To which you get the typical, "Everyone makes errors, you clearly hate the guy, he tries his best" response. The response provides no critical analysis. So the next few posts become a conversation between someone who is pointing out a glaringly obvious weakness that a really strong defender possesses and someone who is vehemently denying this weakness and accuses the poster of "hating" that payer for critiquing this area of his game. Then along come the rest of the gang who have most likely cast a quick eye over the thread, seen some Tom McDonald talk, and chime in themselves with the old; "All this garbage talk about him is nit picking...yep he will make some mistakes but I'm happy we've got him." "This should have been retitled the TMAC thread - there is so much outrage - perhaps he is non deserving of a spot in the lineup anymore" Etc Etc Etc. I could identify and criticise any turnover from Saturday made by any particular player, whether it's Nathan Jones or Bernie Vince who both gave away two easy goals from turning it over inside our defensive 50. The reason I don't is because 8 times out of 10, they hit their target/make the right decision under heat. (Pressure). Unless Tom McDonald is under absolutely no opposition pressure and literally has a teammate who is completely on their own to kick or handball to, he is generally no better than a 50/50 when it comes to choosing the correct target, executing the skill under pressure or making a right or wrong call as to when to play on from a mark. I repeat, that is when there is pressure. Now, Goody, (as posters have suggested) may indeed be giving him the 'freedom' to pick and choose the moments in which to play on etc. But the decision making process is completely and wholeheartedly his. And as a supporter who wants the team to be conceding less goals from turnovers in their back half, I'm simply pointing out that I want him to greatly improve in this area. Both his decision making and the execution of the skill need to improve. The only way he'll become the AA defender that posters hope he'll become is if he visibly improves in these areas. Not in one game or two games. But consistently over the entirety of the season.

Wondering if I can talk about Tom McDonald here?

Weideman.... Weidematts....Wattseman

I meant a 'proper' mature-age defender. Not a pretend one.

Hate? lol. You are the one vehemently defending him. So much so that you think I hate him haha. So really, the bias is coming from you. Should I say you love him? Everyone knows decision making, disposal skills and execution are of far more importance when inside your defensive half and especially inside your defensive 50. Obviously the best chance for an opposition side to score is from a turnover close to their goal. Surely that is a given? You are bringing in pointless other information that holds no relevance to what I'm talking about which is the need for Tom to make better decisions and to show more composure with the ball in hand. You can bet your bottom dollar that in the review for the game, Tom will be spoken to about the need for this. I haven't once bagged him and I certainly don't hate him. But I definitely think that he needs to show much greater consistency in his kicking and decision making. You're either a McDonald relative, the guy himself or you don't wish for our team to improve by debating these facts. That's cool.

Lols. I distinctly remember that also and it was indeed against Essendon in that god-awful 'get-around the players' game. I'm sure a Tom defender will bob up and some stage today and go on to say, "Oh yeh, it's alllllll Tom McDonald's fault for that one kick. That's why we lost isn't it. Isn't it!" Nah. It's not. Obvs. But [censored] like that only gets the ball rolling for opposition side, especially when they have a 45,000 strong crowd there. They are called 'momentum changers'. Agree with your second paragraph though. If I was Goody, I'd say; "Listen Tommy. You do your best work when you spoil, intercept mark and make desperate defensive acts that kill the ball for us. When you're in possession of the ball, just relax and try and spot up a simple target. We've got Vince, Lewis and Hibberd back there for support so try and get the ball in their hands. Don't be a d*ck and try to take the world on. Just be smart. You know you could be an AA defender if you made smart and simple decisions with the ball?"

Saty. You sound like that Saty guy.

Touch wood that there are no injuries in our last JLT game. When I look at what will definitely be a difficult Round 1 task, I can identify three visible positives/points of difference to our side now. 1) The added experience and level-headedness of Jordan Lewis to our 22 and to a lesser extent, Hibberd and Melksham. (Maybe leave the level-headedness bit out for Milky Joe). Lewis's influence just cannot be underestimated and like so many who have said it already, I'm not really concerned about his possession count etc on game-day. It's his general aura that holds such significance for the rest of our side. The 'Gordan-Aura'. As if walking out onto the ground with a modern day champion midfielder who has been apart of one of the strongest dynasties in footballing history wouldn't get you supremely aroused. He also nominated us as the club of his choice. Lewis, Hibberd and Melksham over Matt Jones, Grimes and Lumumba. List upgrades. I love em. 2) The Goody-Effect. I think it's a safe bet to suggest our midfield are going to really trouble opposition sides this year. Goody has got us playing like manic, hunger-crazed Hyenas and when you look at the attribute types and strengths of our midfield collective, it ain't gon' be no passing fancy. We have a genuinely angry and hungry group of midfielders who want to hurt other humans and are running in hordes, out-hustling and tackling ferociously. It's a pleasure to watch. I've never been as excited by a group melbourne mids, most of whom are still cubs. Oliver, Viney, Salem, Brayshaw, Petracca, Tyson. Our 22 and unders just look like they want to play for Goody and that's an incredibly exciting thing. 3) Ball movement. Look so much better. I guess another Goody-effect, but who wouldn't want to play the game in such an exhilarating way? Some of our movement yesterday was super impressive and Casey is a difficult ground to navigate being the Bermuda Triangle it is. I'm definitely aware that we still lack serious class kicking skills and maybe I've watched too much of the outlier in Hawthorn over the years so my expectations are way out of whack, but footy is so much more enjoyable to watch when risky plays come off. I think the deliberate repositioning of players like Salem into the midfield and Jones to half-back are two small but important moves that really complement this attacking style we're seeing. I have nightmares when I think of Neeld's 'long down the line' approach with Magner, Couch and Dan Nicholson causing havoc at the fall of the ball..... .. . All-in-all, it's just nice to be a relevant footy club again with players who are now universally recognised. I'm still pretty uncertain about a couple of things. For one, I think our backmen still battle above their weight division. I think Oscar and Tom will be mauled a number of times be bigger, stronger and smarter opposition and I still think the club should have picked up at least one backup mature-age key defender. The saints game is likely to come down to the talls and who can penetrate better in that regard. The midfield will be a fairly even battle, so it'll come down to who has the most effective forwardline and defence. I think their KP defenders are better than ours and our KP forwards probably break-even with theirs so I reckon they'll pip us unless we comprehensively beat them in the midfield. Carn though.

Yeh nah look. One thing that is consistently annoying is the misuse of stats and in this case, the clanger stat. A clanger is a direct turnover to an opposition player, a free kick against or a dropped mark or fumble. What is of equal annoyance, is the fact that there are plenty of mis-kicks resulting in non-direct turnovers that are not included as clangers. For example: A kick that gets to its identified target but not on the full, resulting in a play-on and immense pressure for the player who is now in possession of the ball. Any mis-kick that doesn't result in a direct turnover, (ie on the chest of the opposition player) is not counted as a clanger. Nobody is disputing Tom's strengths. So why dispute his weakness? Go back and watch the game and tell me how many times Tom puts his team mates under unnecessary pressure after making an effective spoil/defensive act or gains possession of the ball in the backline. Whether it's playing on when he doesn't need to, executing poorly or making the wrong decision, he does it too often for my liking. And the best teams will absolutely make us pay for it during the season if he doesn't calm the fark down.

Petracca could be scarily good this year.

It still makes me giggle when posters defend Tom McDonald's kicking. I mean. What are people defending? The evidence is nearly every second kick.

Ripper. He and Hogan three years from now. Scary.

Nah, he's just pointing out the walking contradiction that you are.

Did you just say that or do I need to check my eyes? You never believe them? Hang on. Wait on now. What?

Pro Dee is like a dog with two phalluses after this news. Look at him go.

Mine: Pistachio nuts that haven't fully opened.

What a blow-up. It's all fairly self-explanatory. The calls that Jack came back underdone/that he enjoyed the off-season are pretty far-fetched. Clearly he didn't perform as well as he needed to in the intra-club to get first look in and we have a host of forwards who did. Structurally we can't fit them all in so Watts was left out of the first JLT game. That's pretty much what Gawn suggested anyway and is hardly a surprise given this is the AFL. A good thing for Watts, keep him keen. Pro Dee loves a J Watts story but.

This would suit me just fine.

Bulldogs of 2016. Decimated by injury throughout the year. Finished 7th. Won Grand Final. One of the youngest lists. As LH alluded to, Roosy loved to talk drivel to the media to protect the players.

Hardly a revolutionary thought, but after seeing Smith on the weekend I can quite easily see him playing that third tall in the backline. He is so much better suited to the modern game than the likes of Garland. As others have said, it sounds as if Frost and Oscar will be competing for the second kp spot. Probably a little too early to call, but going in against the Saints who will have quite a tall forward-line I'd like to see both Smith and Hibberd in the same team given they can both spoil really well as a third man up. This would sit well with me: B Jetta O-Mac Hibberd HB Hunt T-Mac Smith Or do posters think Smith and Hibberd will be competing for a spot? Seems like Vince, Jones and Lewis will spend a fair bit of time at HB which is a little at odds with that backline ^ Having Hunt and Smith start on the half-backline at the G could set some [censored] alight though. Good problems.

Not his fault he's an ectomorph.

When you're used as an outlet option in a switch of play passage in the backline, you're going to take plenty of marks. Seriously. That is a really useless stat.

I'd give it 10 pixels max.