Wiseblood

Any young player signing on is cause for celebration. Love how quickly Kozzie has settled into the senior side. He has already added an element to our forward line that we have been sorely lacking for some time now. You can tell that a few defenders are worried when he is buzzing around, and it's only a matter of time before he starts kicking some bags of 3 or 4 goals.

Rivers slightly stiff, but Lockhart has been terrific so he deserves to come straight back in. Obviously Preuss in for Jackson is no surprise, and I don't necessarily mind the omission of Hannan for Viney. When you look at who they have named in the starting six up forward, I wouldn't have him in there for any of those, nor for someone like Spargo on the bench.

Thoughts on Rankine wasting all that time to stuff up the kick forward? Seemed like he backed himself to make the distance and got nowhere near it. Surely he knew there wasn't much time left.

Of course they are. They'll be waving bags of cash at any footballer with a heartbeat and two working legs this offseason.

Melbourne supporters don't say things like that, dazzle. Most here, me included, were packing ourselves that we would somehow lose that game.

I think he's a recruit that, when compared to others who get plenty of column inches like a Butler or Jack Martin, he has well and truly slipped under the radar. Now that we are working out how to use him best, he is having a real influence on our games. He can run all day and is just as happy being that extra man in defence as he is being the last kick inside 50, some of which have been really good of late. If we can nail down the opposite wing to go with him then we're in a really good position going forward.

I hope not. I don't rate Hipwood much at all. I hope Jackson becomes five times the player he is.

Williams would be sensational coming off our half back line. Exactly the type of player we need, and he would love playing on the MCG. But can we afford him, or even outbid, some of the others like a Carlton or even a North Melbourne? I'm not sure we can. If we finish the season strongly you might be able to sell our future prospects better than others, but I'm not sure we can pay him more than others.

Or, on the flip side, he can count himself lucky that at his age a club threw him a life line when it looked like he was out of the system all together. He probably jumped at the chance, even if he was probably told he was nothing more than depth.

Agree, especially with the second paragraph. However, would it be remiss to say that the club did the right thing in waiting to play him when they did? It seems as though he has come in to the side with more confidence and more belief in himself than he has at any stage in his career. This is an assumption based on his time out of the side, but it seems as though they asked him to work on certain aspects of his game and, when he did, he would get a run. Prior to him being selected we went with Brown, Jackson and T Mac in various forms, and let's not forget the one tall forward line experiment that was a massive fail. Key position players can take time, and I think the kudos needs to be shared between Sam and the coaches for ensuring that, when he did return to the side, he was ready to do the things being asked of him, and we're all reaping the rewards of that.

Well if they go through the season without a win you could kind of understand it. @Pickett2Jackson We will get there. Our season isn't defined by one game like this.

Nah we want them to win. Last thing we need is for the Pies to give the Crows their first win. They then get smashed in the media and are fired up for their game against us. Better for them to win, be relieved and be exhausted before facing us.

Good point there. The only thing I will say is that, on occasion, we have put Oliver forward and he hasn't done too badly. He is deceptively good above his head. However, he would play the role different to what we would want of Viney, which might be a problem. I see no issue rotating one through the interchange either to give them a rest and allowing the other three a run at it through the middle of the ground. It's a good conundrum to have, though. At least the discussion is around how we fit these terrific mids in together, and not looking at recruiting more or asking questions why we play average players through there.

Except for the fact that this draft is massively compromised, and that high second round could easily become a mid to late second round, which wouldn't be even close to what Viney is worth.

Some really well constructed arguments above. It was terrific to read. However, this is still how I feel about it, even with the opening few posts taken into account: Jack Viney is terrific in the guts. Yes, he might be a little one eyed in how he goes about it (see ball, get ball), but when he is on, he is just the sort of player who can turn a quarter for us, or help to will us over the line. Oliver and Trac are starting to develop those traits on a consistent basis, but I think our issue is more to do with how we run players through the middle, than playing Viney forward. However, I see the benefit in playing Viney forward for resting purposes. Why can't he play 7-10 minutes there a term, putting on pressure (and with Jack down there much of it will be implied pressure - just having him there will have oppo defenders worried!) and hitting the scoreboard? He can rotate a little with Trac, or even Clarry, to do this as I see the benefits it will bring. But I still lay the issue at the feet of all our midfielders and our coaching group. Why can't we look at ways to make all four of our premium mids (Trac, Oliver, Gus and Viney) co-exist on a more consistent basis? We do have the capacity to rotate players in different positions more - three of the above can play forward, although I worry for someone like Gus as I don't really think he can play anywhere but in the midfield. Some good points to consider, though. Bringing Viney back into the side should make us better, not take anything away from the three guys who were in there for most of the game against North. Very interested to see how we go over the next few weeks, but I don't think sending Viney forward for the majority of the game is the answer.

His celebration after the Pies rolled us to keep us out of the finals race has always annoyed me. While it's good to see him persist and make his way back to the senior side for the Pies, I'm not a fan of his at all anymore. He lost it that day at the MCG.

Yes, on second reading that's a pretty poor sentence. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, normally, by this time of the season the eight is pretty set. But I don't think it is this year. Teams are more prone to losses, and in some cases big losses, and if we can hold our nerve then we can knock someone out of the eight as the season progresses. That's what I was trying to say anyway.

Who knows what to make of this season. Saints have looked a million bucks recently, and then turned into a 2013 Melbourne side tonight. They didn't kick a goal after half time after smashing sides these last few weeks. Do we rate the Cats? I feel like they could fall off a cliff as well. If we can keep winning games then we can play finals. It's that sort of season.

Not as yet from what I can tell. Depending on how the rest of our season pans out, we have an opportunity to cull a few off the list and re-set a little bit if we miss out on finals. We know the draft will be compromised, but hopefully we can find a few diamonds in the rough.

We have plenty of players out of contract, so we're either re-signing most, or we are looking to the draft and/or signing up a few free agents in the off season. I still think there will be some turnover, but not necessarily as much as last year.

No, we didn't. The last quarter evened it up, but for the first three quarters they smashed us in contested possies, clearances and disposals. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a team without Max. And what Max brings to the side is more than just ruck work. His positioning, influence etc are all things that someone like a Tom Mac can't even get close to. What got us over the line last night was our connection all over the ground, not midfield dominance.

Loving what Langdon brings to the side. He runs both ways and I think the team as a whole are beginning to work out how to play through him better. I wouldn't say he is the recruit of the year. I think Dan Butler has that sewn up at the moment.

And he is making better decisions. One of the times I saw him give off the handball straight away was in the centre when Trac flicked him a handpass, he assessed the situation and flicked it back to him almost straight away, which allowed Trac to break free and goal from 50. That quick handpass can still be deadly, and it seems as though he is choosing the right time to give it, rather than it being his first instinct every time.

No idea about centre bounces, but he has 80% TOG.

He finished the game with 321 metres gained, so he can't have been chipping it backwards all that much.