titan_uranus

I agree with the OP's general argument. Every year we look to trades and the draft as the way to fix our problems. IMO, and this is something I've said before, the single biggest change we could make to our performance would be to find a proper tall forward to supplement Weideman. On our current list that would be TMac. If it's not TMac, it's unlikely to be Brown or Jackson given neither of them are a true stay at home marking forward. Maybe it could be Petty. Whoever it is, if someone was good enough to demand opposition attention it would give us a different dynamic forward of centre and relieve some of the significant pressure on Weideman to be the one to lead, create marking contests, haul in marks, and kick goals. If we had had half of our 2018 TMac this year we'd have won more games and made finals, I'm confident. Other than that, I agree with those who say Oliver's improvement doesn't need to be his kicking but, instead, needs to be the way he exits stoppages. Reduced frequency of in-close handpasses and increased running clear of tacklers makes him, and us, much better. Also agree with Fritsch. If he can work on his set shot goal kicking and become accurate, that will make a significant difference.

Aside from the general problems I have with your posting/complaining, I just cannot see how anyone can look at this trade and be upset. Rivers fits our needs more than Serong does (bearing in mind you yourself said during the lead up to last year's draft that we had no need for another inside mid like Serong) and has shown more than enough this year to suggest he'll be a really strong long-term player for us. And then we get Pickett on top of that (and also a 4th round pick this year, which I suppose we could still use). As far as I'm concerned it's a great result for us.

Yep I question this too. Saturday night the Dogs were yet to play, so we were still very much in the finals hunt. Even assuming Petracca was having those thoughts, would he really have called his manager on the Saturday night?

Well there you go. I've just learned something. (Not sarcasm - genuinely learnt).

That's not really fair I don't think. From memory he left Brisbane because of Brisbane being bad, they didn't push him out. He then left Port because, at least in part (if not entirely) because North gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Now he's being pushed out of North and there's certainly discussion he hasn't fitted in or followed instructions, but one of the alleged instructions was to tag Cripps - that's like us asking Langdon to play an inside mid role and then getting upset when he struggles. Why would Shaw ask Polec to tag?

8 of those were in the last four games though, including 3 against GWS and IIRC each one was for holding the ball. So I think the recency effect has kicked in on that front. I also think it's correct to argue that Viney regularly takes on a tackler when he should instead have released the ball. I don't think that always shows up as a holding the ball free - it might result in a poor handpass or kick under pressure, or a turnover without a free kick, or even a free kick to him. I'm 100% in favour of Viney staying but IMO there is improvement in both where we play Viney (i.e. midfield/forward split) and how he plays.

Congratulations to Petracca and Gawn. I was surprised Gawn made the squad, let alone the 22, but that cements him as one of the best players this club has ever had, let alone one of the best ruckmen the game has ever seen. The 22 is pretty rubbish though. They insist on certain types of forwards and backs but then give up and just chuck midfields in on the wings and half-forward flanks. It's even more egregious this year when Butler and Papley both put together strong seasons and couldn't get a spot in a forward line filled with midfielders.

Agree. The gap between Fritsch in 12th and Melksham in 13th is 35 points. The gap between Fritsch in 12th and Brayshaw in 8th is 32 points. It was relatively even in that 8-12 bracket before falling away.

If someone puts a good offer to us, I'd be happy for us to consider it. I have no issue with Jackson being our back up ruckman. He can play forward when Gawn plays and if we need a different number 1 ruck, we can shift Jackson into that role. In saying all this, it's all about the offer. I'm absolutely 100% against letting Preuss go with two years to run on his contract for a third round pick. We have all the power in any deal. If someone wants him, make it impossible for us to refuse.

Sure. Same with me. But I don't think anyone reads Gawn's quotes and thinks "well that does it, we're clearly going to make finals in 2021". What he said was refreshing and candid. Rather than whinge about "talk is cheap", let's just accept the honesty of his quotes. You think what Gawn said was BS?

From memory, this happened last year around exit interview time. Rumours of players wanting out. None of which eventuated. Sometimes I think the issue is as simple as a player expressing disappointment about something in an exit interview which then get spread as a rumour and mutates slightly ("Petracca was upset we didn't make finals" becomes "Petracca's upset at Goodwin that we didn't make finals", for example). I usually take the view that where there's smoke there's fire, but nothing came of any of this last year so I am sceptical of these "X wants out" rumours.

Tom Browne's a terrible journalist so take anything he says with a grain of salt. Like, what does "support for four day breaks" mean? No one in the league would ask for a four day break unless there was context to it (in "normal" years clubs complain about five day breaks). So what's the context? In the event we have to hub again in 2021? To allow a condensed fixture if that's required in 2021? If there is no need to hub in 2021, I don't understand the need for four day breaks or same day travel. Those should revert back to what we had prior to 2020. Minimum five day breaks (which should be rarely if ever used at all) and why would a club be required to travel on the same day as the game unless it was their decision? Quarters should return to 20 minutes as well. Again, unless we're affected by condensed fixtures, there's no need to shorten quarters again. It robs the game of time for goals/advertising anyway.

It only took three posts for someone to pull out the old "talk is cheap". What is it that you expect from him in the week after our season finished?

Congratulations to the top 5. Whilst I personally would have had Oliver and Langdon above Viney, ultimately it's a reflection of great years for all five of them. Special mentions to Hibberd, who bounced back well after a shocking Round 1 performance and from being dropped, and Weideman, who made the most of his opportunity after not being selected for so long at the start of the year. Very surprised to see Brayshaw finish as high as he did. Would not have argued for him to be a top 10 B&F finished this year. Disappointed to see Lever, Melksham, Tomlinson and vandenBerg score so low. Not surprised at all by Melksham's poor result. The surprise is that he didn't get dropped. Lever only just missed the top 10 but that's a disappointing result, and a surprising one. I would have happily said he had a better year than Brayshaw, Hibberd and Weideman who all finished above him.

I know in that photo he stands out whilst everyone else is smiling, but I think it's very dangerous to read into photos like that. Who knows what was going through his mind or of the context. No smiling issues in his photo with his trophy or with the top 5.

His display picture is him in a Melbourne jumper and his most recent photo is him and Petracca. So, no.

Strip the title back and assume it was called "Melbourne's 2019/20 pre-season". Would anyone care then? I suggest the answer is no. Because, if you watch it, you'll find that it was a well-made series which showed us members what we were doing in the 19/20 off-season to try to improve our 2019 season. It wasn't designed to tell a story to members that we assumed we'd win the flag, or even make finals. At worst, it was designed to show us all that we were putting in hard work (which, if you watch the videos, you'll see we did) to try to have a much better 2020. Which, of course, is what we all wanted. The title gives rise to flak but title aside, it was fine. And I think it's rich in the extreme for someone to tee off about it without having watched it.

I really like Gawn's quotes in that article. I'm sure the usual suspects will say "talk is cheap" or "too little too late" etc., but I like Gawn's attitude here and I think what he says is fair.

I think on the idea of us not forcing enough stoppages, our tackles are an issue. How often does it feel like opponents break our tackles easily and get out of sticky situations?

Agree. I think at best he demands attention from the opposition secondary and maybe frees up some space for others on our offence. It's crazy to say and a bit early obviously but right now you'd have to say we're a decent chance to finish bottom of our division, given the improvement the Cards have shown (I like Murray a lot).

It's the right call, on both fronts. J Wagner didn't do too badly in his two games this year but he's a limited footballer who hasn't really developed beyond what he initially showed in his debut year in 2016. Good luck to them both in their future endeavours.

Agree. We're going to struggle to compete in a tough division and with a schedule featuring the Packers, Patriots and Bills. I haven't posted here regularly for a while so I might have missed this but do you think we can get anything out of Sanu?

Doesn't sound true. Source?

As the OP said, we're 15th for clearances. But we're 7th for average clearance differential (at +1.4). So we're top 8 for having more clearances than our opponents despite being bottom 4 for total clearances. I think that must say we play a low stoppage game. So our raw numbers are low but we still win more than our opponents. We're also 9th for inside 50 differential at +2.2. Port lead at +10, then it's Richmond, Brisbane, Collingwood, Geelong, the Dogs, St Kilda s and Carlton. So the top 8 for inside 50 differential this year has seven finalists and Carlton. Then us. West Coast, the missing finalist, is 10th. Goodwin always talks about it being a forward half game. That inside 50 stat lends support to that theory.

It's like the whole thing about the club requiring him to add muscle. That was spread on here like gospel. Turns out, as far as anyone is aware, there's not a shred of evidence to support it.