tiers

M Brown is much more versatile as an emergency than B Brown. Bide your time Ben, your opportunities will appear.

I like how the changes to the team are always minimal. No more than needed. Building consistency in team selection is a feature of recent successful teams. Get the balance right and let it continue.

Sam has great judgement and gets his hands to the ball first regularly in packs. It's just that they don't stick. Maybe better resin (sticky stuff on the hands), maybe squeezing a squash ball in each hand to develop strength in the hands, maybe screaming "it's mine" to switch on his brain and body; maybe short, sharp kicks into his hands at training to build muscle memory; maybe he should stick to leading rather than pack marks. He has the ability it's just that it is stuck somewhere. Find the release and he will be good.

The first time I heard a reference to playing a role was when Paul Roos discussed the 2005 Sydney premiership team. He spoke glowingly about the role played by the CHB Lewis Roberts-Thompson who nearly won the Norm Smith. Roos explained that all LRT had to do was compete in the air and deny his opponents and it was the role of the smaller players to then win the ball on the ground. Not only did he compete but he also won more than his fair share of the ball. Finally the dees have twigged to Roos's message. Build a team and then implement a game plan and structure where each player plays his role. That's why Brayshaw, Fritsch, Spargo and ANB keep getting games even when there are perceptions (and criticisms on DL) that they don't contribute - they play their designated roles to perfection. Either get the ball and deliver with purpose and style or deny the opposition. Go dees.

If it hasn't been said in the previous 10 pages, the only venue is the Colosseum now that we are loaded up with Christians.

Yes it is predictable but it is predictable in our favour. We set up for it. The ball is kicked well outside the so-called"danger zone" into a contest near the boundary line. It plays to our strengths and minimises to risks if it comes unstuck. Regarding Dunn's kick outs. He was also highly predictable and so the rest of the team and the coaching team should have accepted and set up for it. When Maxie says that they didn't know it was perhaps their own fault. Wouldn't happen today.

+1. His main job is to kick goals not to be a pressure forward. Note how many times he is on his own as the leading, or loose, forward 30-40 out. He doesn't fly with the big guys but provides an alternative target for non-long-bomb kicks. For as long as he keeps scoring at over 2 goals a game, he is doing his job.

1. No matter how much the dees gesticulated and pleaded with the umpire he would not have changed his mind. 2. The reason it was wrong is that the deliberate OOB rule has been so badly interpreted and ruled this year that no one is sure of the correct interpretation - players, commentators and umpires. It was suggested that if a crow had been close it would have been ok. Yet there have been many decisions paid where the ball, kicked from within a pack close to the boundary and with no other realistic option, did a leg break and not an off break when it landed, as if the kicker had Warnie's control over the direction of the ball, even as a team mate was running on to the ball, and then rolled OOB. The rule is a farce, a flop and a travesty and should be immediately either abolished or very closely defined. It has cost us 4 points and, heaven forbid, it might cost someone a flag.

Have watched highlights only but the only team mate who has figured out Clarrie is Langdon who seems to receive an inordinate number of handballs because he runs with Clarrie and positions himself to assist on the outside. Clever. The rest of the team should look and learn and so should the coaches.

Clarrie's game against the crows was something that Mitchell could only dream about. There is no comparison to Clarrie's dynamic running, ball extraction from packs and inventive, literally "over the top" handballs.

TMac on a wing was, and is, a good idea. If not for his sterling performances kicking goals he would have been played there. In any event Brayshaw is now learning the craft and has become an effective interceptor and support for the backs. Langdon is in a class of his own as a wingman - runs up and down and helps out from front to back. As for the "one player syndrome", it is real when the one player is a Martin who can win grand finals by his own efforts. In any other situation, it is a myth because there is no such thing as an un-replaceable player, even one as good as Max or Oliver (or Fyfe, Dangerfield). A strong team will have multiple paths to victory and should not be too focused on any one.

Should be automatic free kick against piling in team. Obvious attempt to obfuscate.

Players are not always "dwelling on the outside". What if one player arrives at the ball first by a split second and then the second player lays a tackle. A fair contest in accordance with the spirit of the game. What is unacceptable is for players to pile in after the initial tackle has been laid to prevent a proper disposal. Consideration could be given to those who systematically and deliberately pile in being denied a free kick The spirit of the game demands that players be given, however briefly, the opportunity to dispose of the ball..

As LDV has said, a drop kick should definitely be allowed but only when the ball is dropped to the foot in the attempt to kick and the ball is kicked on the half volley as in a true drop kick. Prior opportunity must be retained as otherwise players will not attack the ball. The amount of time for prior opportunity however should be short - just enough to swing a foot or a hand in an attempt to dispose of the ball - and definitely not as long as Salem got in his 360 degree pirouette. Trying to avoid a tackle is automatically prior opportunity and should be penalised. For a tackle to be effective, it must restrain the player with the ball. Too often a solid bump and flailing arms is adjudged to be a tackle. A tackle must be a tackle.

Clarrie is not Mitchell reincarnated in red and blue. There is no comparison. He is a much more impressive and complete player. Clarrie wins his own ball in crowded situations (unlike Mitchell who used to stand at the back of packs and wait for the ball to be flicked out) and can deliver with thought, play with intensity, tackle with ferocity, run with speed, mark with the best and kick with both feet to advantage so as to create scoring opportunities galore. His hands are slicker and quicker than Mitchell and even Williams from the 90s. When the demons start to read and react to Clarrie's possessions in the same way that the dorks did with Michell, then he will be unstoppable. It is time for the team to step up to his standard. As for being lippy notice how, when he gets pinged for supposed "incorrect disposals" by umpires who have no feel for the game, he does not carry on but only shows his disappointment and gets on with the game. A model citizen yet he loses Brownlow votes because his best work is too quick and too subtle for the umpires. No grand gestures like others. Just pure footy smarts and skill.

Looking forward to never having to beat anyone above us!

Too hard to place in order. So give 3 votes to Salem and then 2 votes each to Lever, May, Oliver, McDonald, Neal-Bullen, Spargo, Hunt, Jordon, Petracca and Langdon. Total 21 votes. How good is it when the teams performance is so even with multiple contributors.

The only significance of 9 wins in a row is that it is one more than 8 wins in a row. One week at a time. First make the eight, then the four, then the two. Have been through too many false projections.

Oliver's kicking needs some refinement. He has to decide whether he is a "long bomber" in which case the forwards should adjust or if the is to be a "straight passer" which will also require an adjustment. At the moment he/we are not sure. He has shown before that he can pass with long bombs but it requires the forwards to lead to space. As for Brayshaw. His kicking was poor but his kick selection was worse. He should be reminded that the goals are the big sticks at the end of the ground, not in the grandstand, and kick in their direction. In fact most of the team should be reminded as too many kicks are directed deep into the pockets. Salem is a gem. Lever and May, as a unit, are clearly the two best key positions backs I have seen for decades. Hunt, Hibbert, Petty and Rivers fill any and all gaps and Brayshaw and Langdon provide key support when needed. Roos' defensive planning finally coming to maturity.

Stats are easy to collect in other (inferior) sports where the action is slower, most of the play is static, it is less crowded and there are lots of stops in play. How they collect our footy stats always amazes me. So let's not compare our great game to others.

It's time to go back to one week at a time. Projections are worthless.

Well summarised Dee. But to me it is as much, if not more, a case of the coach constructing a team and team plan around his assets. In the past there have been times when it seemed that the team and team plan was based on some pre-conceived plan (typically a copy of the current fashion) and that the players had to adjust their games to suit the plan. This led to many disappointments. Finally, this year, we have the assets - three strong talls at the back, an in and under midfield cohort, two tall mobile ruckmen to share the load, three talls and three smalls at the front and two running, roving wingmen to patrol the boundaries. All that is missing is a pair of hard running midfielders to complete the plan by improving the clearance rate. And a coach who let's it happen. Go dees.

Two things caused our decline. The first was the so-called Norm Smith curse that destroyed the fabric of the club. The second was much more influential and compounded the effect of the first. In the mid 60s the VFL implemented "zoning" whereby each club was gifted an exclusive recruiting zone in Victoria. This destroyed the MFC's dominance in recruiting by being able to use the MCG and the connectedness of our club to attract talent. Our zones delivered Robbie and Garry but not much else in terms of out and out champions. Clubs like the dorks and the lollie blues were, by chance, gifted unfettered access to productive zones that delivered an ongoing supply of great players eg dorks had Mornington Peninsula and Berwick that were fast growing residential areas that delivered Tuck, Matthews, Scott, Brereton, Langford, Mew, Ayres, Crimmins, Wallace, Dipierdomenico etc etc hat brought them success.

Been here before and learnt a lesson. Back in the early 00s we were top of the ladder after 18 rounds for the first time since 1964 (when there were only 18 games in a season). Then we lost three(?) in a row and missed out on the double chance. My time for celebration will only come with a cup in our hands.

Melbourne equal second in the positive column is clearly an error and should be disregarded. How the AFL allowed this top happen is not yet understood but I believe that it will be overturned this season and the dees will be demoted to their 57 year old status of not being allowed to be successful. Let's scream "baaaaallllll" at every opportunity to try and maintain our advantage.