Wiseblood

I'll clarify by saying I meant 'footy smarts'. The bloke knows his way around a footy field and that's about it.

That's a pretty fair comment, chook. I think Nev goes to Tippa and then the rest go to whoever else is down there. I wouldn't mind giving Smith first crack at Stringer when he is forward. Has the height, strength and speed to go with him... the only issue for me is Stringer being a little too 'smart' for him, but otherwise I think he's actually a good matchup on paper.

They are being gutsy with selection, I'll give them that. Let's assume Jackson plays as the second ruck/tall forward again this week. We know Kozzy is in the side as well, so who survives from that bench? I'd love Vanders and Hannan to get a look in but you feel as though they might give both another week, meaning Smith and ANB probably survive. I'm very surprised that they haven't given either Weid or Mitch Brown a run, but the proof will be in the pudding. I'm not ready to knock selection just yet.

They got picks 10 and 16 for him, plus an exchange of second rounders etc. They paid up pretty big for him.

Howe didn't want to stay, though. He wanted to play at the Pies because Buckley promised to play him forward... and look where he ended up. In the backline. Not much we can do about that.

@bing181 - couple of good shots there. Thanks for getting them up here for a look. While it's disappointing to see three go up while two wait down in the wings, especially as they all went the spoil which would mean the ball hits the deck, this is something that they CAN get better at. If we were showing shots of them caught behind their man, constantly being beating one on one etc then I'd be more worried. I like the shot of Nev at the bottom of the second one as he keeps an eye on Gibbons. That's some experience there.

@ding - good points re: list turnover, but how many of those teams had their new additions in their 22 on the weekend? Off the top of my head, we had Tomlinson, Langdon, Rivers, Jackson and Bennell in there (not to mention someone like May who has played less than 10 games for us at this point), and we also had Pickett play in Round 1. Not asking you to actually sift through each team and look at those stats, but it would be interesting all the same. Some of those teams mentioned still might have played very stable Round 1 teams of players who were already on their list and had their 'new' additions not in the side at all, and thus they have more time to train, gel etc. Just a thought.

Or, if he can't get his body right, he may just retire anyway. I didn't mind the contract at the time - give the bloke some security while he gets himself right - and he was only a 'steak knives' addition to our list as part of the May trade anyway. It was always high risk, high reward stuff, and unfortunately this one might come off. But, to me, it hasn't really cost us anything, so it was worth a try for a player who could have been very handy for us if he could get over the concussion.

We were second in contested marking in 2018, so unless 18 months is a 'long time' for you, then you're wrong.

Nothing a few peptides can't fix.

Good thread @dworship. Here is where I sit based on your post and others. Goodwin can clearly coach. He has shown that he has the ability to create a gameplan that we can implement effectively. 2018 is obviously the perfect example of this. You don't get to a prelim on luck alone. He was able to put together tactics that were simple enough for the players to follow, and follow well, and we were able to generate some fantastic results because of it (the winning streak in the middle of the season, wins on the road, two finals victories against experienced sides etc.) However, 2019 and now 2020 is where Goodwin needs to go from being a good coach to a great coach. It's been discussed ad nauseum here for a while, but there were large factors involved in our horror 2019 - ridiculous amounts of injuries, poor player form, coaches not adjusting the gameplan in the face of new rules and teams learning our game style etc. 2019 was a write off almost before it began, but you get the feeling that Goodwin takes some responsibility for that, as he should. We know that we are looking to change up our gameplan a little, although our core focus on contested ball, pressuring to keep the ball in our half etc still remain. It was good to see us switch the ball well, especially in the first half, and when we used the ball well our forward line seemed open and we hit targets inside 50 (Fritsch, Hunt and Trac to name a few). But then the second half is where Goody needs to improve. He still hasn't gotten to the point where he can see what the other team is doing to counter us and make changes accordingly. That is on our leaders somewhat as well, but you get the feeling that we really only have a Plan A (and maybe a Plan A.5), but that there is no real Plan B or C if the opposition are on to us and ramping up the pressure. That, to me, is where Goodwin needs to get better. Is he being stubborn? Possibly. We just have to hope he learns, and I'm willing to give him more than just one game back from the first mid season break in... well... a very long time, to see if he can do it. I also think that we have made the necessary changes and looked to recruit accordingly - however, getting players to gel will take a little time, and patience isn't something us Melbourne supporters are known for (not now anyway). You're right in saying that the Tigers, Eagles, Pies etc are all pretty stable lists with players who know each other and have played together regularly. We only have that in some respects. Compare our 2018 prelim side to our side on the weekend and it's quite different. Compare the others and you would probably see less difference. Either way, I think we have a sound gameplan and a good coach, but we need both of those things to become strong if we're ever going to challenge for a flag. I think Goody has the capacity to do it, but time will tell.

Would you class Watts as a CHF? I always thought he was nothing more than a tall flanker.

Sounds like he was extremely stiff to miss out, and it was more down to missing some training sessions than anything else. Hopefully he gets a gig this weekend.

While playing for the worst team in the league? He was always going to get a few bags kicked on him no matter what he did.

And I agree with that. It's almost as if he is trying too hard to do the right thing and is therefore not making the right decision often enough. Oscar does play the team game and he is more proficient as a key backman right now, but I can see the club giving Smith another 2-3 games at the very least to get settled and see how he goes. If things don't improve then he will be dropped and we'll look at other options. But I'm holding out hope that, with this game under his belt, that he can continue to improve and learn to work with the other guys down back. Either way, selection will be very interesting this weekend.

I cant' really justify my feelings here Rod, but I'm hopeful that they persist with Smith. I think he has more upside in terms of athleticism, strength and pace than Oscar does. He made some errors on the weekend, and needs to learn when it is his time to go, but what I saw of his ability to keep up with his opponent on the lead and effect a spoil was excellent and worth persisting with. I can understand totally why people want him dropped, but I think he deserves a few games to get comfortable down there.

Time will tell. After all, right now, we're only % out of the 8.

Bit of a nothing game really. Lots of positives, sure, but we can't take a massive amount of it. What I do like is that we have a pretty fit list, and there is still some players who can come into the side and have an impact going forward. Hopefully that puts pressure on those in the AFL side and helps to ramp up the performances going forward.

Frost, May and Lever are still too early to tell. Howe wanted out so it wasn't as if we had a choice, and Dunn wasn't going anywhere under Roos.

Does that say more about us or him?

The problem with Smith is that he doesn't seem to have much of a footy brain. There was one piece of play where Carlton were going forward and were kicking to, I think, McKay or McGovern on the lead. Even though the kick to this lead was good, Smith was able to close the distance, effect the spoil and then get the ball when it hit the deck. Yes, that's just one example among others that were not so flash, but there is something to work with here. While not much of a kick, he is quick, strong and can play either tall or small. It's worth persisting with, although we may not have the option to do so right now.

Of course. Plus Tom McDonald missed a large chunk of the season as well, and Weideman was injured too. Either way, I don't think we're too different from the Bombers with their forward structure.

Both have a ripping set of hands and are capable of playing taller than their height. Also, and this is unbelievable really, but Jayden Hunt took 29 marks inside 50 last year. Shaun McKernan took 26 marks inside 50. Here is the link if you don't believe me: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_rankings?year=2019&rt=LT&st=M5

Stringer took 31 marks I50 compared to Petracca with 23. So not a massive difference overall, but he clearly took a few more. And he of course kicked a few more goals. They are pretty similar players to be honest.

Stringer took 30 less marks than Trac last season.