Gawn's Beard

Just send him 4 videos: 1. His assist to Garlett against Richmond last year 2. His one handed trap and handball against Hawthorn in his first year 3. The handball against the saints to Jones to set up a goal 4. The 25m handpass from the middle of a pack to (I think) Petracca against Brisbane last year. If anyone wanted to put together a highlights package for him i’m sure Demonland would be eternally grateful!

I look forward to us winning this game - it will be nice to see some sanity return to this Forum. While I’m all for critical and constructive analysis of players and team performance, the slotting of players, coaches and the club (often irrespective of outcome or performance) generally is, quite frankly, pathetic at times. We are at the end of the day supporters of this great club. Imagine if one of our players jumped on here to have a read - whatever confidence they did have would be gone on page one of a post-game thread.

I think for me the issues almost boil down to a change in roles across some of the defensive lines, particularly: Hibberd & Hunt: gone from the alternating free half backs to tighter man markers. Hibberd has been required to play deeper than he was last year Lewis / Vince: now playing the free half backs It’s meant we’ve played with less pace, are quicker to close down up the ground, and then get exposed out the back. Perhaps Lewis going out will be a good thing for our defensive structures, particularly to be replaced by someone with pace who can implement the aggressive press more effectively. I understand wanting to get the ball into Llewis / Vince’s hands at HB, but it appears to be causing too many structural issues for our defence to deal with

It’s funny how we’re always the subject of these articles. Yes while we’re guilty of it, most teams across the weekend conceded a barrage of goals in quick time. Teams can’t and don’t play at 100% for 120 minutes, so it’s about minimizing the damage when you’re not at 100%. We were better at it this week

I didn’t say he was a lock for the season. I said that if he produces that kind of form all season then he’d be a lock... I agree all players are on notice and must perform week to week. Just happy that Kent produced the performance he did today when many of us questioned whether he still had it in him.

Great game by Kent today. Lifted us in the first quarter with his tackle and goal. He did a number of 80-100m gut busting runs to give an option today. Must have worked on his fitness because it really showed. If he produces this form for the season he’s a lock for our forward line. Would have felt like a bit of redemption for him too - it’s almost 12 months ago to the day against North where he shirked from a 50:50 contest running towards goal.

Interesting to see Max Gawn practice his ruckwork at the Centre bounce with the match day umpire bouncing

Daw could be a good strategic change for the Roos (obviously they would prefer Tarrant). He could be their second ruck, and should dominate whoever he’s up against. That said, Dees to win and win by 5 goals

A lot of the issues were down to two-way running (or lack thereof) from the midfield. While we were winning our fair share of the clearances, as soon as the ball was turned over and went the other way our mids were very slow to transition. I love Trac and think he’ll become a superstar but 2 way running isn’t his best attribute. It might have been part of the reason why he was moved forward after HT.

http://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-03-22/oliver-signs-on-until-end-of-2021 What awesome news before the season starts. Done with a minimum of fuss too - 2 weeks from discussions starting to signing.

TMac and Viney our for 6-8 according to Goodie...

Maynard with 8 tackles - and it’s not even HT

It was surprisingly easy. They have a huge resale market in the USA so got tickets through Ticketmaster resale a couple of hours before the game. Pretty cheap all things considered too.

Just returned from a trip to the states and went to 2 NFL games. One was the Oakland Raiders last home game, and the other the New Orleans Saints for wildcard weekend. Both games were awesome and the atmospheres were far better than any other sporting event I’ve been to. Definitely not just a TV game for mine and like most USA sports they keep you entertained during the downtime.

Exactly. The response of the player shows a lot about their character. Put them in an uncomfortable situation and see how they react. Getting up and walking out (if that did indeed happen) says it all really...

Apparently Richmond met with Stringer. Stringer was asked a rather direct question about some rumored off-field issues. Stringer apparently got up and left the meeting on the spot. If there's any legs to that story (and the question which was put to him), I'd be steering well clear of him.

Trengove, Spencer, White and Hullett all confirmed by Melbourne as delisted

Without trying to oversimplify things, there's effectively two competing game styles: Option 1: Your slower, keep possession style of play where you focus less on winning contested ball and more on keeping it once you have it back (i.e. Hawks of the previous years). This requires a high level of skill to kick through zones, strong defensive structures to absorb forward 50 entries and high level pressure when in certain areas to win the ball back. Option 2: A run and carry game where you attempt to run in waves through zones, limiting the amount of kicks (Melbourne / GWS / Adelaide). This relies on you winning the contested ball and getting it on the outside where you run and spread hard. You have to build your list to execute one of the 2 game plans. Tnte Hawks had the list for option 1, but then replaced their 2 best kickers with handballers so they struggled and their game style now is a work in progress. Melbourne have gone for contested beasts and (usually) win the clearances. We have identified the stoppages as a competitive advantage and structured the team accordingly, the idea being to handball to someone outside of the immediate vicinity of the stoppage, who can then do likewise, until such time as it is in the hands of someone on the outside running at full pace to break the lines, or who can hit up a target moving away from the stoppage. When we're on, our run and carry is evident and we rip teams to shreds. When it's not, we look slow, "handball happy" and our backline get caught between streaming forward for the outside run and staying back in their defensive setup Ironically, some of melbournes best passages of play this year have been a chain of handpasses, where we've broken through the oppositions line, force the defender to leave their man and commit and we handball over the top. Where this breaks down is when we don't have the outside run. The inside mids flick it around looking for it, but if it's not there they then get caught with the ball. As for those who scream "just kick it", and then bemoan the player for kicking it to a 1v3 up forward, it's down to the way we are trying to play and why players just don't throw it on the boot. We want to effectively run it into our 50, not launch it high and long from stoppages. Hence the "over handballing". I don't criticize the inside mids. They're doing what they're told to do. If you're going to criticize anyone point the finger at the lack of outside run during stretches of some games forcing the inside mids to keep it within the immediate vicinity of a stoppage.

Goody has ruled Trenners out...

Sorry to give this thread a bump, and perhaps it should be a new thread altogether, however Lindsay Thomas is up to his old tricks in his first game back from suspension after the Maynard incident. Check it out below - lucky not to put Palmer in hospital for a month... https://au.sports.yahoo.com/afl/a/36036329/lindsay-thomas-vfl-elbow-opponent-in-the-face-mrp-suspension/#page1

With all due respect, I think that's pretty harsh on Spencer. Goodwin's philosophy is to bring high pressure all over the ground, and in order to do your job (whether forward line or ruck) you need to be executing to stay in the team. You can't really pick and choose when you contest the ball and then say in the team review on Monday that you didn't go in hard at the contest because you're the ruckman. That would be as good as asking to be dropped straight back to the 2s. Spencer might have been a bit reckless in his approach to that contest, however you can't criticise the guy for doing the team thing, impacting the contest and trying to win the ball. If there were 10 seconds left in the game and it was a game saving contest we'd be praising him for being so selfless... Yes he's had a lot of injuries over the year (much like any young ruckman whose body is developing) however his form last year at Casey was great and in my opinion he has a role to play on our list.

I think you're thinking of the clearance against Richmond on ANZAC Day. He hunted the ball twice in the space of 5 seconds and got it out to Garlett (I think) to kick the goal. EDIT - http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-04-26/rd-5-all-the-goals about 3.40 through this video

This is going slightly off topic, and not sure whether this should be started in a new thread, but Jack Gunston hasn't ruled out being traded (or open to it) at seasons end. What are people's thoughts on going after him, and what would it cost? He's quite similar to Jack Watts in build (193cm, 87kg) and is only 25. Could potentially allow us to have a very mobile forward line in Watts, Gunston and Hogan with Watts pinch-hitting in the ruck. Yes he's having a down year, however he's scored 50+ goals over the last 3 seasons. Would allow Weid to develop in the 2s for another couple of seasons before bringing him in. Just a thought.

Melbourne FC twitter page:

This surely has to be the next step. The struggling clubs (and their supporters) are the ones who will be missing out as their better players leave in search of premiership glory ASAP. Players don't want to be a part of a rebuild / premiership challenge in 5+ years time. The more I think about it the more I think we're heading towards an NBA style system. Not sure whether it would work, but that system looks like the following: - First Round draft picks locked into 2 year contracts, with TEAM options in years 3-4 for a set salary (potentially fixes the problem that Brisbane is having with retaining players) - Player contracts often have player or team options for their final 1-2 years - RFA and Free Agents (we already have this) - The trade period is open from the off-season until mid-way through the season, allowing teams who are struggling to trade out assets for picks, and vice versa - Players can be "waived" (their contracts are effectively paid out) meaning there is flexibility on rosters / lists - Players can be added onto a teams roster / list at any time (save for about 3 weeks before finals until the end of the finals) if they have space (i.e. you have to waive someone first). Players can only be added if they have been waived by another team, or have gone undrafted (i.e. you can't go and add juniors to your list). I think the players have too much power at the moment, and some needs to be given back to the clubs. Flexibly rosters could potentially help avoid our disaster of this year of not having a ruckman. We could "waive" someone off our list (i.e. Lumumba) and add a VFL ruckman. You're still encouraged to keep and develop talent on your roster, but ensures teams seasons aren't ruined by 1-2 injuries to key personal. Something to think about anyway.