Swooper1987

6. Gawn 5. Petracca 4. Viney 3. Oliver 2 Weideman 1. Jackson - a really good game and just pipped Langdon for mine. Massive plaudits to the whole defence, although it helps when the towering figure of Gawn marks everything, and draws three opposition players to every contest.

He had 19 possies, 9 marks (4 contested) and 7 tackles. That's a very decent game for a ruckman. 12 hitouts but as you say Nic is one of the top 2 tap ruckmen in the game (our bloke is as good as him). It's an interesting observation and obviously the coaches view is the one that counts. Still it must have been one hell of a 7 possession game. I watched it and other than his goal and his post match handing over of the phone there weren't too many other highlights that I picked up. It was a good duel and O'Brien can hold his head high. And agree with everything you say about Petracca. A credit to his improved professionalism this season.

Absolutely. Petracca had (and has had all year) a great impact on Saturday night but he was the third best player in the Melbourne side against GC. NicNat at best drew level with O'Brien yet picked up 5 votes for 7 disposals and one goal. Go figure! As I said previously, it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Gawn is on 17 and equal 20th (8 v Carlton and 9 v GC). Interesting to note that Goldstein is the highest rated ruck by the coaches this year, followed by Naitanui, Witts and then Gawn. Grundy follows on 16. In the Age player of the year, Gawn is equal 3rd with Pendlebury (both on 30) with only Goldstein and Neale ahead. Gawn has also polled votes in three out of 5 games in the Herald Sun (1 v Carlton, 1 v Richmond, 3 v GC). Bearing in mind Max has a game in hand on everyone bar Petracca. It's all in the eye of the beholder but I'd say Gawn has made an excellent transition to the Captaincy and continues to play excellent footy. Based on Goodwin's post match comments he gave Gawn 5 and Viney 4. I think Dew didn't vote for Viney. Not sure how he saw Tracc as a 5 vote game given he went at 40% by foot but he is having a wonderful season and he did have a significant impact on the game.

If TMac doesn't come up I think Tomlinson is the logical replacement. He can swing between mid and forward and he played a great game against Hawthorn in the Marsh series.

Except that Jennings was part of the coaching group last year. He was also one of the coaches that voted for Oliver to win our B&F when he was accumulating some very average stats.

And that would be no surprise. Gawn is a good kick for a ruckman, but most of his delivery into the forward 50 is from a stationary play - he has time and composure (and yes, the skill) to hit a target. His pass to Melksham inside 50 at the City End last week was a great kick which wasn't rushed and was well executed.

Dermott Brereton can talk some absolute rubbish nearly all of the time, but his call on Sunday was spot on. Gawn had the measure of the Tiger rucks, we were winning clearance yet totally ineffective inside forward 50. The time was right to throw the big man forward and set Pickett at his feet. Our clearance numbers would have still been solid - Chol can't ruck -his strength is his mobility around the ground. Our high, indiscriminate bombs forward to Max may have had a different outcome to that which was seen when we bombed long to Hannan and Fritsch. Rather than move Tomlinson forward (a winger who actually holds his position well and has been playing reasonably good footy) I think Gawn needs to spend more time forward. This is where Weid becomes structurally important. He looks the most likely relief ruck and he never gets outmarked. He drops plenty but he does have a good second effort.

There is some real merit in this Old Dee, and I am a Gawn fan. When you look at the last few flag sides, they've managed to get by with journeymen type rucks. Richmond - Nankervis/Soldo/Grigg; WCE - Lycett/Vardy; Bulldogs - Boyd/Roughead; Hawks - McEvoy/Hale/Bailey; Swans - Pyke/Mumford. That takes us back almost 10 years. There's certainly no Gawn's, Grundy's,etc amongst that crew. Even back to the mighty Brisbane team who rolled Clark Keating out every September to feed Voss, Lappin, Power, Akermanis et al. I'm pleased Max is playing for us, but we are certainly not getting maximum benefit from his dominance.

1. Gawn comprehensively beat both Richmond rucks. There was no "break even". 2. No, I'm not Simon. 3. Go back and watch the game again. You'll see a goal where Gawn got the ball to Melksham which ended up in a goal (city end). Was a decent kick too. 4. Check the Age player of the year totals. Gawn is on 22 votes from 4 games (all the others in the top group have played 5). He has the 6th highest total with one game less. Goldstein is on 29 and Lachie Neale is the runaway leader. 5. Most unbiased observers believe Gawn is having another good year. 6. I respect your opinion even though I disagree with it.

So you are saying Chol was a more influential player today than Gawn? Righto!

Except he Grundy couldn't beat Phillips on Friday night. Grundy has played 1 good game this season - round 1 against the Bulldogs. Todd Goldstein has actually been the form ruckman this season.

Disagree. Nankervis goal was a gimmee from a terrible umpiring decision against Petracca. Nankervis got injured immediately before 3/4 time. Chol and Nakervis shared ruck duties and Gawn played 90% on ground. He beat both Chol and Nakervis convincingly and if you saw it any other way I doubt you were watching the same game as me. Gawn was not the reason we played so poorly today. And as for the season. We've played 4 games. He was beaten in round 1, was second best on ground in round 2 according to the coaches (8 votes), beat the Geelong rucks last week and was clearly in the best 5 or 6 on the ground today. Solid enough form for me.

Rubbish. He had 19 disposals to 3/4 time and his 6 tackles were all recorded up until 3/4 time. As I said, he has set an incredibly high standard and his form in two of the four games we've played has seen him in the top three on the ground. He was certainly more than acceptable last week and only in round 1 would I say he was beaten by Naitanui. He comprehensively beat Nankervis.

Harsh on Gawn. He was excellent. Equal leading tackler on the ground,huge number of hitouts to advantage, 22 disposals at 64% efficiency and 5 marks. Even Jay Clark gave him a vote in the Herald Sun. I reckon the man has set an impossibly high standard here!

6 Gawn 5 Hibberd 4 Petracca 3. May 2.Salem 1. Hannan

I thought Grundy was just average tonight. Bombers dominated clearance and Phillips at least neutralized Grundy, yet lo and behold, according to the Herald Sun Grundy scores 2 votes as second best on ground! I reckon there were at least 10 players who were more influential in the result tonight - in no particular order Shiel, Hooker, Hurley, Stringer, Ridley, Ham, Langford, Phillips, Treloar, Daicos, Maynard. How the Collingwood cheer squad get into the Herald sun voting panel has me beat!

He and Mooney usually where 50/50 guernseys.

6. Gawn 5. Brayshaw 4.Tomlinson 3.Petracca 2. Oliver 1. Viney

I rate Heppell, Balls! My brother is a Bombers man so I've seen a bit of them. While he can turn it over from time to time, he gets it frequently, is very courageous and is a great leader. They play much better when he's on that's for sure. I think he's a huge loss for them and it's a shame because he's a decent bloke too! A terrible injury as well. No guarantee to play again this year.

I'm watching Rowell absolutely dominate against WC - no nomination for Rivers this week.

6 Gawn 5 Oliver 4 Petracca 3. Salem 2. Langdon 1. Tomlinson

One of of my best footy memories was that amazing comeback. A wonderful day!

Yep, agree. I'm waiting for the next instalment too!

I'd agree with that. North let that one slip, but then got lucky the next year when Essendon were clearly the best side but lost that unloseable game to Carlton. I think the 1998 North Melbourne side was actually the best of that 7 year period.