Swooper1987

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.

Did you watch Nicks presser?

So in your estimation Jackson was a more influential player than Gawn over the entire game. Righto then, just proves we see things differently.

Exactly. Nicks said as much after the game in his presser. I just don't get the chronic underestimation of Gawn's performance on here. Every other club in the competition would kill to have a ruck as dominant as he is. He took one less mark last night than NicNat took in the entire season 2020! That's how good he is. And people harp on about the one or two he might drop occasionally. Just staggering!

Agree entirely. It was a terrible non-decision, but it was no more costly than Fritsch's terrible underground grubber attempt when Tracc was on, or Lever's ridiculous push in the back, or any of Tracc's multitude of fumbles, or Harmes falling over, or Gawn's dropped mark, or Hibberd's failure to check Rowe at a stoppage etc etc. Yes we expect a higher standard, but I'm sure Goody will spend 99.99% of the time after the match addressing our team's shortcomings and around .01% worrying about the AFL umpires department.

Have a look at the Crows Coach presser. You might form a different view. Yet you include Petracca who made many more errors than Gawn, and Jackson because of?

Couldn't agree more. All the chat about Gawn's dropped mark, or May's lack of body on Tex, or the other 200 mistakes made tonight and yet the single biggest issue for mine was that Fritsch decided not to be a team player tonight. The easy give was on and he chose the grubber which was picked off easily on the goal line. Pretty much all of the other errors were forgivable because they weren't deliberate actions. Fritsch's was and I thought that was even more disappointing than the umpires non decision. It flies in the face of team v individual.

The first point can sometimes be overcome by a team mate running past for an easy handball receive. It did happen once or twice tonight. The second - he took 10 and dropped 2. If you are talking about first option then I'd be lining up Petracca, Harmes and most of the rest of the team before Max. Can't say that I've noticed the spoiling of team mates as a significant problem. As probably the best contested mark in the game maybe they should be providing coverage for him so he doesn't get bashed from pillar to post every game, or get out of his way. The final one was a disgraceful flat footed effort by both Hibberd (Rowe's man) and Oliver. As pointed out on the commentary there was nothing wrong with the tap. It went exactly where it was supposed to. Hibberd was supposed to check Rowe - he didn't; and Oliver didn't move (he should have). The whole clearance thing is an inexact science with multiple variables. Being on the move is one of the non-negotiables. So my point stands - Max's errors did not contribute any more substantially to the loss than most of the others that were made tonight.

Mustn't have seen the same game. His ball use was actually very good tonight. I'd be more concerned about his dropped mark, or Tracc's fumbles, or Lever's soft in the back, or Harmes falling over etc etc. I'm sure you get my point - the game is made up of mistakes. Whoever makes the least usually wins. Gawn played well.

And a few of our other "stars" as well had their moments - Tracc's fumbles at critical times resulted in goals to Adelaide, Lever's ineptitude in 1v1's, Clarry's look away disposals in the first half. Max made two significant errors - a dropped mark and the very questionable 50 metre penalty. He played a great game overall. The fact that Oliver and Hibberd didn't actually get to the drop when Rowe scored his goal was a blight on them both. 10 marks by a ruckman in any game of footy is pretty impressive.

6. Oliver - a magnificent effort in the second half 5. Gawn - a magnificent effort in the first half (10 marks for the game, 5 contested and 20 disposals at 85%) 4. Petracca - although fumbly at times his third quarter made us look better than we were 3. Langdon - a great first quarter, slowed down after that but ran his guts out. 2.Nibbler - 7 tackles, and at least tried to display a decent defensive mindset. 1. Lever - 8 marks and the best of our defensive unit tonight.

Every game is a danger game in this competition.