Swooper1987

There are two points of difference between the sides: 1. They have more goal kicking options; 2. We have Gawn. I expect they'll come hard at Max, as they did last year. How the team handles that will tell us a lot. I like our defensive match ups on their forwards and our system should hold firm against their style.

Adelaide Oval or Optus for mine. I reckon we'd get a big crowd at either venue.

Agree with most of this but harsh on Gawn. According to the coaches he's the 9th best player in the competition at the halfway mark of the season. That's pretty dominant. In a specialist position, he is absolutely miles ahead of the next best - probably Naitanui, who averages about 70% game time, 14 disposals and 1.4 marks and about 29 hit outs per game v Gawn who averages 19 disposals, 6 marks and 34 hit outs. He's absolutely dominant in his position to the mid point of the year, even allowing for a little lull for a couple of weeks against North and the Swans.

Harley Bennell ran into an open goal and missed. Weid missed a sitter as well. That was one we should have bolted in.

Taken for granted by quite a few is Maxy!

Western Bulldogs v Melbourne 9 Max Gawn (MELB) 9 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 4 James Harmes (MELB) 4 Jake Lever (MELB) 3 Christian Petracca (MELB) 1 Tom McDonald (MELB) Leaderboard 61 Clayton Oliver MELB 50 Marcus Bontempelli WB 50 Hugh McCluggage BL 47 Touk Miller GCFC 47 Darcy Parish ESS 46 Ollie Wines PORT 45 Zach Merrett ESS 44 Samuel Walsh CARL 43 Max Gawn MELB 39 David Mundy FRE 37 Jarryd Lyons BL 36 Taylor Walker ADEL 33 Jacob Hopper GWS 33 Jack Macrae WB 33 Christian Salem MELB 32 Tim Kelly WCE 32 Dustin Martin RICH 32 Christian Petracca MELB 30 Travis Boak PORT 30 Mitch Duncan GEEL 30 Cameron Guthrie GEEL 30 Jake Lever MELB 30 Tom McDonald MELB 30 Nic Naitanui WCE Good to see that Gawn was rightfully acknowledged for what was an outstanding ruckman's game. He is now 9th overall. Oliver comfortably in front by 11 votes (61) to Bont and McCluggage both on 50. Gawn 43, Salem 15th on 33, Petracca 18th on 32, Lever and McDonald equal 21st on 30.

Peter Ryan did this game. He knows footy and yes you would be right they didn't go to the game - but I'm certain Peter watched it, and the replay too! And on occasion I've scratched my head at the Demonland selections for best player too.

He is a victim of the position he plays. There'll be some days where it just doesn't work for him. Overall, he's having a very good year. If he kicks 50 goals for the season he'll have done a wonderful job. That's the pace he's on now.

And The Age Player of the Year of the Votes for Round 11: 8. Oliver 8. Gawn 7. Harmes 7. Petracca 7. Spargo Great to see Spargo's game getting acknowledged. Current top 12: 76. Wines 68. Oliver 62. Walsh 54. Laird, Bontempelli 53. Gawn, Macrae, Lyons 47. Parish 46. Miller 45. Petracca 44. Guthrie

I'd be looking at Zac Foot. A mid/forward and knows our systems having been with Casey this season. Can hit the scoreboard. Can never have too much midfield depth.

He struggled without Allen to give him a chop out.

Any of Manuka, Giants Stadium or the SCG would be fine. Staying out of Queensland should be the priority for Pert. Ideally we get to play in Alice but I can completely understand why that may not be possible. It's unfortunate but the most at risk population in Australia lives predominantly in the NT.

Thanks Colin for this sensible and accurate analysis. If we sat to down and analyzed the performance of every ruckman in the league this season, and their influence on their teams performance, and their capacity to assist the midfield, the defence and the attack, then Gawn comes out miles in front. His work rate to move up and down the ground, in comparison to any other ruck in the league is in its own dimension. Despite dropping the odd mark, he takes so many more than other ruck. Last week he took 10 marks - that was one less than Naitanui took for all of 2020. Think about that. He gets back to create confusion in the minds of the opposition trying to enter 50, he provides the down the line option to our own defence, he goes forward and hits the scoreboard. His hitouts to advantage are elite, his score involvements etc etc. And then you add his leadership on top of that - read Michael Gleeson's article from yesterday - then you have just about the most influential player in the competition. He is underrated on here, almost taken for granted. He was excellent again last night. When an opposition ruck breaks even with Max they are lauded (Hickey for example). Imagine that - being acknowledged just because your opponent doesn't dominate you! That's the sort of player Max is. The guy is nearly 7 foot tall, he's going to have the odd skill error and drop the odd mark with 10 players crashing into him at most contests but he is a genuine star of the game and we are lucky to have him.

6. Harmes 5. Brayshaw 4. Oliver 3. Gawn 2. Lever 1. May

There have been many, many better mid fielders than Petracca this season. I think the coaches votes are a more accurate reflection of his season than the views of the Herald Sun / Fox Footy cheer squad. As much as Gawn's form may have dipped a little, Petracca has equally declined. Oliver has been outstanding and is in the conversation right now as perhaps in the top 3 players of the season - and rightly so. Petracca's year has not been in the same hemisphere as Oliver's.

Fantastic effort by Clarry. A consistently brilliant season thus far. Not at all surprised that Tracc doesn't feature on the leaderboard. I think the over the top adoration of Mark Robinson and the crew at the Herald Sun regarding Tracc's season thus far is somewhat misplaced. He's played in fits and starts, has had a couple of truly powerful performances and had many games with the odd moment. That there is substantial improvement in him, and to a lesser extent Gawn, is what gives me hope that this might be our year. But that aside, a great accomplishment thus far from Clayton. A deserved leader!

The other time it worked was in 1994, when Balme played Dean Irving as first ruck changing with Stynes off the bench. Jim adapted reasonably well to that at the time. Similarly, Stynes had been worked out and Irving gave us an immediate, if short term lift. It's worth a try.

Fair comment titan, although even not at his best he was still easily in our best handful of players, and I thought his attack on the footy was the best it's been for at least a couple of weeks. 10 grabs, including 5 contested. He dropped 2, but I guess how many forward would kick 12 out of 12 shots. Odds are you are going to miss occasionally. And he did score 8 votes in the Age player of the year award for Saturday nights game. Like Petracca whose fumbles cost us, or Fritsch's goal kicking, or Hibberd and May's defensive errors, I'm sure they'll all go away and try to get better.

It was pointed out on the commentary that the hit was perfect. Hibberd didn't block Rowe and Oliver didn't move. Max did his bit.

The Age votes: 9. Oliver (makes you wonder what a 10 might look like) 8. Keays 8. Petracca 8. Laird 8. Gawn Total: Wines 68 Oliver 60 Walsh 55 Laird 54 Bontempelli 54 Macrae 54 Lyons 53 Gawn 45 The Demons and Bulldogs have four of the top 8 players between them.

This is right. I think our top performances were up until the Richmond game. After that, against North, we introduced Brown and dropped Jones. Since then, we have lacked another mid option (losing Viney as well hurts there) and Gawn's role has changed from the early half dozen games (playing more back to help out after the loss of Tomlinson and less need to go forward). I think this hasn't been helpful to the overall function of the team. I'd take the extra tall out, go with the group suggested above by DeeZee and bring in an extra mid - be that Sparrow, Jones or whoever can be versatile and provide some run. I don't think it's Chandler; perhaps it's Bedford. Salem is desperately needed and Viney would make a world of difference. I think our team balance would look much better without the extra tall.

His form this season is spectacular. Other than the GWS game, he's been absolutely outstanding. His form line rarely alters irrespective of the team performance. That is the mark of a genuine champion. He is that now.

It's very unlikely anyone who played today will come in for a Friday night game. I'd be expecting very little change. Hopefully Salem back.

I think M. Brown is actually the player who best suits our current structure out of he, Weidemann and B. Brown. He won't play this week off a short break, but Fritsch, Tom, Jackson/Gawn and Mitch Brown with Neal-Bullen, Spargo and Pickett is probably the way to go. He was stiff to be dropped after the Hawthorn game in my opinion.

Plenty of players can make no errors but have little influence. By the way, Jackson dropped a number of marks but I put that down to his finger injury. I have no issue in you having a differing view but to say that you disagree with all those people who felt Gawn was in the best 6 Melbourne players last night, plus the Age, the Herald Sun and the opposition coach I think warrants scrutiny. That you believe his mistakes contributed to two or possibly three Adelaide goals (I'm not sure what the third was but I can only guess it might have been the tap intercepted by Rowe who wasn't properly checked by Hibberd), yet don't apply the same level of rigour over any other errors made by Melbourne players stands out like a beacon. I'll stand by my view that Gawn was our second most influential player last night, that he made some mistakes but that the good (and excellent) far outweighed the bad and that we are a much better team with him than without him.