ArtificialWisdom

Don't give me hope, hope ends in heartache

After watching Melbourne play every week for the last 20 odd years I've had more than my fair share of horror

Nor have i but i believe he is swinging an axe

#InBurgessWeTrust

I feel like May's kicking is all or nothing. He seems to have his 8 perfect kicks out of 10 but his other 2 are howlers

Gary calls it the red mist. Jennings referenced Gary's comments and added he thought it's the way St Kilda played

Imagine if it's 0 changes. There wouldn't be enough popcorn on earth for that show

I wondered how long it would take until this got mentioned. Without getting past the pay wall to read the article I can say from memory he's had quite a few chip kicks inside 50 to a player about 45m out on the boundary line. Chalked up as an effective kick inside 50 but it's not particularly useful for generating scores

Salem, May, Lockhart, Rivers, Jetta (when playing) all decent kicks. Our back half is not where we need to improve our kicking. We need to improve our kicking further up the ground. We actually exit the defensive half pretty well, it's the next 2 kicks that us down

Who's that in the moon boot at 24 sec?

Don't some players have a close to 50km drive to and from Casey anyway? Other than being on a bus instead of driving themselves what difference does it make?

But he is number 1 for average hitouts to advantage per game across his career. Hitouts to advantage are an average stat. I don't care if his % is 600th in the AFL if he has a better average than anyone else. He was way down in round 1 which given a 3 game season has impacted his 2020 average heavily. But given the matches are 20% shorter having 10 and 9 in the next 2 games is back around his elite career average. Max career average: 11.7 Goldstein: 9.5 Grundy 9.3 Witt's 8.5 NicNat: 7 Martin 6.6 Ryder 5.3 But sure Max doesn't get enough hitouts to advantage

Just to be clear, you think that the club is spending time and money on random online forums to argue with fans too narrow minded to listen to any opinion that doesn't match their own?

Sun's winning record in the first 5 rounds of the past few seasons is actually similarly pretty good. Since 2016 theyre 14-10 in the first 5 rounds and 8-60 in in the rest. Hope for their sake that this run last a little bit longer.

Just a few months ago it would've been hard to believe a change like that would ever be necessary

These two sentences arn't mutualy exclusive. He does have potential but for now he is still a fringe player

Lots of complaints about the defence's structure. But the structure is much more inline with the rest of the competition's top sides. Take last night, Collingwood, who's defence held up incredibly well for 3 qtrs of punishment. They only have 1 key defender Roughhead, 2 intercept players Howe and Moore, a solid role player Maynard an under 10 gamer in Madgen and rebound defender, Crisp and it appeared as Mayne spend a fair bit as the 7th defender/mid On the other side we saw Richmond with again with just 1 Key defender Astbury, 2 interceptors in Grimes and Vlaustin, maybe even a 3rd if you count Broad 2 rebounders in Houli and Short add Baker as a small role player/rebounder. Richmond's line up is more aggressive and relies on their forwards and mids protecting their defenders as they can be exposed when there isn't much pressure up the ground (hmmm, this sounds familiar) A side note on the Eagles. The only reason their defence looks like it has more keys is because they have Barrass and McGovern is abnormally large for the Intercept defender role around the comp. Looking at some of the best and you get Howe, Lever, Haynes, Sicily all too undersized to be "Key Defenders". Not many clubs have the luxury to play 2 Key Defenders like the Eagles. May, Lever, Smith, Jetta, Rivers, Salem and Harmes I'm not saying our lineup is 'better' than the most effective defences in the comp, we have a long way to go before we even put our hand up to join the discussion. But as a structure It's not a lot different.

Smith Vanders and Hannan all being available for selection means it wouldnt be crazy to sugest as many as 7 changes

3 huge changes

How can you rule out Vanders and also say Bennell is a genuine chance? He very clearly says they'll be putting their hands up to play

have to admit that was my first thought too... But that first kick was to a 1 on 1 and to Fritch's advantage, he should probably have marked that himself much less let Smith mark it. And the May kick should get a pass, under pressure with no other option. And Viney's kick did go straight to Max who dropped a mark he would often take.

Looks like Dark Blue forwads and mids are the A team and the Roal Blue Defence is the A team. So notably it's May, Jetta, Harmes, Salem, Smith, Rivers in the royal blue defence. Assuming Lever is on the bench during this it wouldn't be unreasonable to sugest thats the leading backline lineup a week out. Wouldn't be unhappy with that although would leave Lockhart incredibly unlucky. Bennel in the B team midfield, but that's hardly surprising. Also of intrest, Chandler, Jackson and Hannan appear in the 'A' team forwadline More RE: Bennell https://www.afl.com.au/news/442015/demons-complete-final-major-tune-up-but-where-was-their-star-defender-

Sit-com style canned laughter after each missed set shot? And Benny Hill music when players fumble?

I think there was merit in the idea but with Lockhart's preseason form and solid performance round 1, One of Harmes or Salem should be moved up into the midfield rotation. FB: Jetta Omac Hibbard HB: Salem May Lever 7th def: Lockhart Looks like a reasonable defensive structure to go with for now. I'd like to see Harmes playing the defensive/2 way midfielder role again.

Lockhart and Sparrow to get chances maybe?