titan_uranus

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-west-coast-clash-in-doubt-20200629-p5574q.html

ANB was a beneficiary of his favouritism in previous years. I'll reserve judgment until I see the team this week, but I suspect we will see vandenBerg hold his spot and ANB fail to retain his. IMO, we have few players who are more trustworthy delivering the ball inside 50 than him. I genuinely do not understand your attack on that aspect of his game. He's one of the few players who kicks to a forward's advantage. Did it yesterday on at least two of those inside 50s you mention, did it again vs Carlton. He's also one of the few players who consistently, all day, runs both ways. I can't think of one example in three games where he's been obviously caught out for a lack of speed, either. Not every player has to have Hunt's foot speed. From what I saw of yesterday's game he was probably in our 10 best players.

You're right in that pinpointing one error and trying to extrapolate it out to affect the conclusion of an entire match can be unreasonable. But the issue with us is that we see, weekly, basic fundamental errors being made. IMO, the issue is that it's a pattern of behaviour. We regularly stuff up our attempts to touch the ball on the goal line. We regularly drop marks. We regularly miss shots from directly in front. We regularly take on tacklers and get caught holding it. They are a feature of our game and when I see them week to week, I get concerned.

That may well be the case. His mistakes will have to be outrageously bad for me to consider returning to Jetta after just one game though.

They're not "very good", as @Fat Tony suggests, but they're not a terrible side. They seem to me to be mid-table and a clear chance of finals. They belted Hawthorn, who are undefeated outside of that match. Yes they lost to Carlton, but Carlton have shown signs of improvement (we played them into form). We did a few things right today to keep them from getting the ball into their forward half and from scoring. The way we defended the MCG today was not as bad as we saw in many of our 2019 losses.

I've only seen the first half and 5 minutes of the third, so I've missed what seem to be Lockhart's big errors, but from what I saw there's no way Lockhart gets dropped. What he showed in the first half was miles above what Jetta's been giving us in that role since the start of 2019. I'm also shocked to see any calls to drop Tomlinson. He was clearly one of our best in the first half and he's one of the few consistent two-way runners. Salem was poor, but the bigger problem is the forward half. We're not going in with the right line up and it needs to be changed. We've made big calls dropping Jones and Jetta, it's time to make the same call on Melksham I think. We need another tall forward so someone has to come out. Other than a structural fix to our forward line, the improvement we need to see isn't going to come from making changes to the 22, it can only come from the 22 we put out there improving individually and as a team.

I only saw the first half and 5 minutes of the third. It wasn't good. Goodwin told Channel 7 pre-match that the key to winning today was to get the ball locked in our forward half. We did that. But we lost. Goodwin is doubling down on the aggressive forward press method of play. He continues to believe that we can be successful by keeping the ball locked in our forward half, so our focus continues to be on getting it in there first, dealing with it second. There is enough evidence to suggest he is wrong. It doesn't help, though, that our players continue to make fundamental errors. Not manning the goal line properly and failing to touch Ratugolea's shot on goal, in a game we lost by 3 points, is criminal. Dropped marks, missed shots from directly in front, handpasses to stationary players or behind running players, turnovers in the back half. Mistakes get made every week, but when you are making errors with the fundamental basics of football for years, there is a systemic problem. I'm sure part of the problem is the stop-start nature of this season. We're getting no consistency. We're chopping/changing the team and we're not playing week to week. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next three matches as they present interesting match ups. But most of all, I want to see us play a month of solid football together. My last bastion of hope is that we need to click by getting some consistency into our 22. Unfortunately, I'm not confident.

Agree with everyone suggesting we need a second tall forward. We're too one dimensional and there is too much reliance on TMac to make contests up the ground. We don't need all of Melksham, Hannan, Fritsch and vandenBerg in the side, one can come out to play a second tall.

No way. Both are settling after poor starts. Lever's second quarter so much better with his body positioning. TMac getting to more contests and started leaping at the ball.

Much better quarter but still issues. We're barely generating shots on goal and too many of them are on an angle. Brayshaw's goal was nice but the kick inside 50 from Harmes was to a pack of Geelong players who spoiled each other. Our defence tightened though, and our ball movement sped up which was important. We're zero chance of winning if we try playing slow with short kicks. Gawn, Tomlinson and Lockhart all playing well IMO.

Gawn's last 5 minutes exceptional, especially that pick-up in the backline.

Tomlinson playing really well today IMO.

Undoubtedly our best football so far today, that chain.

Brayshaw's kick inside 50 is classic Melbourne. Has plenty of time, but either the forwards don't lead to the right spot or the kick is poor, or both, and we can't make the most of the clearance.

Tom Stewart done for the day with a broken collarbone apparently. We'll see if that makes a difference to our forward line.

+1 CPs, +4 clearances, +5 inside 50s. But we're two goals behind. We know this is the style of play Goodwin wants. He speaks about wanting the ball to sit in our forward half. Geelong knows this too. As does every other side that we've played since the start of last year. We can't keep going like this.

That was exceptional from Melksham. Fritsch can't drop those if we're going to win. And Pickett can't miss from 10m out directly in front! [censored].

Lockhart looking great so far.

We look awful as soon as the ball crosses into our defensive half.

Horrendous defence. They had three floating back to the goalsquare. Suggests our forward press was too high and once they got through, it was too easy. Dangerous signs.

Goodwin in the interview on Channel 7 just now said we need to win the stoppages, get it in our forward half and keep it there. Our 2018 mindset remains.

What's the reasoning there? Geelong's got Ford in that same sport. Zurich still on the front for us.

Sounds very NFL. Agree - we're 0% chance if we're not on top in the middle. I don't see us generating our scores from the defensive 50, I think we'll do better generating them from stoppages. Being on top in the middle won't necessarily be enough though - the long up-and-under inside 50 bomb will be a recipe for disaster against a side like Geelong.

I believe someone said that Mahony this week during one of those member Zoom calls that Hibberd is going to take Harmes' spot in the backline to free Harmes up to play midfield. If that is correct, I think it's a reasonable call. Although we cannot tolerate Hibberd kicking it like he did in Round 1 vs West Coast.

Are these inconsistent? IMO what we tried to do against Carlton, and succeed in doing for the first half, was our 2018-style of game: dominance in clearances/CPs, most of the game being played in our forward half, strong forward half pressure. It even, at our best that day, had the addition of lowered eyes kicking inside 50 and players taking marks on the lead. Kent's already been dropped once this year, was a late inclusion yesterday, had just 10 touches and didn't lay a tackle. If, say, ANB did that, he'd cop it on here, and/or get dropped - precisely what happened after he kicked two goals vs Carlton. We have May, Lever, OMac, Smith and Petty on the list. Frost asked for a higher sum than we were prepared to offer him. He turns it over repeatedly and wasn't learning from his mistakes.