Dee man

At least this game eliminates the possibility of us missing out on finals by 0.1% again

I really hope someone at the club can work out how to maximise his talent because he has a lot of x-factor about him that is worth building around. I didn't mind the way he played on the weekend - he was dangerous when he got the ball inside 50 (and kicked an excellent goal and almost kicked another one in a similar fashion) and occasionally made his way to half back to help out. As another poster mentioned in the kick-ins thread, he provided a great option late in the game on the opposite wing but May ignored him. I think he has value as a medium marking and crumbing forward option, who can pinch hit around stoppages to provide an extra outside player - so long as he's given the licence to do that. I was watching his highlights reels from 2016 and 2019 the other day and thought, "Damn, this is exactly the kind of player we need!"

Just as important as his final goal were the two one-percenters he had in the final 30 seconds of the game. Giants were charging towards a match-winning goal but he kept getting in the right spaces defensively to prevent that from happening.

Is the pace of Hunt, Pickett, Bedford and Baker compromised by the inclusion of Preuss? Maybe the plan is to play Preuss out of the square and the let the smalls do the chasing work for him.

Good pickup. I think it's certainly a factor, but you're right that it doesn't go the full way to explaining our performances. In the three games you've mentioned, our goal accuracy has been 7.7 (against Brisbane), 7.10 (against the Bulldogs) and 6.10 (against Sydney). The other games in which we've been inaccurate at goals have also mainly been losses - 7.9 against West Coast, 6.8 against Geelong, and 4.8 against Port. The only game where we've been inaccurate and won was against North Melbourne (13.14) and the only game where we've been accurate and lost was against Richmond (8.4). Granted, better defences force you into harder spots to score but I think our goalkicking in particular has looked pretty shoddy in those three games you mentioned.

Add another one to the list with Justin McInerney from Sydney the latest to get a nomination.

I was thinking about what Goodwin would have said to him at half time. If it was me, I wouldn't have given him a spray but told him "You cost us two goals. Make sure you get us two back." He got us one with the give he gave to Petracca but I didn't notice him too much in the second half (except for another kick out of defence which was a better percentage play than the terrible error in the 2nd). My Jones-coloured glasses might be influencing me here, but I thought he did an alright job other than that error, providing good link up run between half back and half forward. I think the trick for him now is to play within his limitations and not try to attempt the pinpoint passes that he was able to nail in his peak.

Our defence was so organised tonight and repelled a lot of Saints inside 50s so I wouldn't expect many changes there, except for Hibberd if his ankle doesn't recover. Apparently he came back on the ground late but not 100% sure about that (in the post-game interview, Maxy mentioned it but I might have missed it). I'd also give Hannan another go up forward. He missed some targets tonight but his marking and running on the wings is really handy and he provides a pretty good target for our half-backs. He looked dangerous when he got the ball and if he can think through his kicks a bit more he's got the potential to be a very damaging player.

A few friends and I were putting together the best Demons 22 of our lifetimes during the COVID off-season and full back was the position we really struggled with. Carroll was good for about one year, as were Ingerson, Frawley and Garland, so if May can keep up this consistency it won't be hard for him to be our best full back this century. As for All Australian team, he's doing very well but there have been lots of good defenders this year. The ABC did a great piece on the competition for spots earlier this week, which is a helpful reminder that there are 18 clubs who reckon their defender is a lock for a spot: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-26/afl-defenders-ready-for-all-australian-team-battle-royale/12596418

I wouldn't mind this, potentially packaged with some kind of role to keep Jones involved in a coaching or training capacity (similar to what we offered Lewis, Cross and Byrnes). It's about time we started keeping some long-time servants of the club on as staff rather than watching them build their post-footy careers elsewhere (Yze, Neitz, Bruce, Green, Rivers, Miller to name a few). With that said, I have no idea whether Jones wants to pursue coaching or if he'd be good at it.

Fox Footy posted a stat before the game that during 2008 we were one of the highest clearance teams in the competition in 2008 during Gawn's absence. From memory, I think McDonald and Pedersen played ruck a lot during that period and both of them (particularly Pedersen) gave us a lot more flexibility in the midfield. I don't think that, nor last night's performance, is enough to suggest that we can start planning for life without him. But it does suggest that we can be competitive without him in the middle and that we should be willing to experiment with him in different positions during the match to maximise his strengths in a range of ways, depending on the game situation. My takeaways are that: Gawn is an elite ruckman but needs to maximise his weapons in the ruck a bit more by being less predictable in where he is hitting it. Otherwise, opposition mids (like Brisbane a few weeks back) are able to read our set plays with ease and win clearances even after Gawn has won the hit out and hit it directly to a Melbourne player (I think the discrepancy between us winning first possession and clearance is quite wide). We can afford to play Gawn forward or back (or on the bench) at more centre bounces and not be hurt by this. Gawn is an elite contested mark and is a danger to the opposition wherever he is. He can also create a favourable mismatch for us, regardless of where he is on the ground. If we can get to the point where Jackson/McDonald/Weideman can hold their own in the ruck and Gawn can be resting behind play or in the goal square, that will make the opposition nervous and makes us a bit more unpredictable at centre bounces. We have elite mids that can get the ball inside 50 regardless of our ruckman. Especially when we are having inside 50 connection issues in game, playing Gawn as a tall forward completely changes our look up forward and means we have multiple threatening options. Either the opposition will double team him or he'll take Weideman/Jackson's opponent. Plus, he's often targeted by the opposition, allowing us to draw free kicks in a dangerous area.

Good thread, Binman. You might be interested in some of the recent articles the ABC has written about tactics, by Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson: https://www.abc.net.au/news/cody-atkinson/12422846?section=sport&nw=0. Some of the best footy analysis I've read in a while The books 'Time and Space' and to a lesser extent 'Footballistics' by James Coventry are also great lockdown reads if you're interested in the recent evolution of the game, as are the videos on Youtube from FootyA2Z (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtT6czP8n-fM3SVMFV3AOIQ). I also recently stumbled across The Shinboner (https://theshinboner.com/), which is written by a North Melbourne fan but includes some pretty astute tactical analysis.

Great to see McDonald come back a better player and get praise for it. Like every player, he will play bad games again and frustrate supporters. But hopefully the same people praising him today don't bring out the pitchforks when that happens. The praise he's getting is reminding me of this article two years ago, when he was starting to get noticed by savvy football reporters as a pretty handy player: https://www.afl.com.au/news/136327/your-clubs-mid-season-all-australians. Incidentally, the weekend before this article was written Jake Lever got a season-ending injury. I wonder what impact that injury had on McDonald's form and development?

6 Petracca 5 Gawn 4 Oliver 3 Salem 2 Hunt 1 Langdon

Hibberd's non selection, especially at the expense of a first-gamer in Rivers, is a very bold call but I like it. Mahoney mentioned in the Zoom chat that Rivers had overtaken him. I was just flicking through the AFL Record and remembered that Hibberd statistically had a very good game in Round 1. In some ways was back to his best in his ability to get the ball, but his delivery into the forward line was atrocious. I know it's been a long time between drinks, but it really shows that stats like metres gained and inside 50 aren't going to impress the coaches.

I think Heritier Lumumba was very misunderstood by the AFL community. As fans, we're often crying out for players that don't fit the same mould or give us the cliche 'the boys played well' answers to media questions. Lumumba was a player unafraid to express his own personality and intellect and got ridiculed by the AFL community for it and also copped a bit of racial discrimination while he was at it. We wouldn't accept that kind of treatment of many players, but many fans were happy for Heritier to cop it because they found him too confident or self-assured, ironically traits common to many much-loved AFL players. If you're interested in understanding a different view of Lumumba, I recommend watching Fair Game - a documentary about his football journey that was made a few years ago. It used to be available free on the SBS website. It's also available on many university databases if you're a student. Otherwise it can be rented online at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fairgame2 The documentary doesn't go much into his time at Melbourne and the reasons behind his retirement (other than retirement) but provides a good insight into some of the issues faced by footballers who come from different backgrounds, and the multi-faceted nature of footballers (they're humans too, and football is just a workplace for some)

If I recall correctly, Clarry credits his work ethic at Melbourne to Billy Stretch and how hard he trains. I think other players have made similar observations. Obviously you've got to bring more to the team than being a good trainer but if keeping Stretch on the list means pushing Clarry an extra 10% and getting the best out of some of your youngsters then he's not the worst player to keep on the list. Given he plays the position we need most, I'd keep him on the list unless we're confident we can pick up a bargain late in the draft (and that's all we'd get if the Suns traded for him)

A bit late. We've had stickers here for years.

Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game. What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing. Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis. Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good. Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result. Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad. Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year. Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result. Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year. Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds. Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year. Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case). Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

The AFL website is reporting that we have one rookie spot left that we are likely to fill with a SSP list player (in addition to Wagner).

I know this is a long shot, but if anyone has access to a Priority 2 barcode they are not planning on using (and is feeling extra generous), please private message me. I'm a Priority 2 member but am looking for a way to get a family member to the game with me (they're a long-suffering supporter who isn't a member because they live overseas). Promise I'm not a scalper! ?

You can watch Roaming Brian at the below link:

Because 2 weeks waiting for a match makes the mind go restless. And Bartram unfortunately got injured in the final match of the 2006 season, missing the Elimination Final and almost all of the 2007 season.

Tomorrow, we move forward into a new era of the Melbourne football club, but let's take a brief moment to reflect on those that could have been. This thread is dedicated to 12 years worth of Demons who never got to represent us in a final. We could argue until Melbourne's next premiership (23 days and counting) as to why these players never got to represent the Demons in September. Some went on to better careers elsewhere, some were a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, while others just never developed into the players we wanted them to be, either through injury, poor development or situations we'd rather not remember. Alas, there's some handy names in this line-up, and I didn't even have to call on Blease, Gysberts, Maric, Strauss, Tapscott, et al. Criteria: Didn't play in any of our finals games from 2004-2006 Represented Melbourne between 2007 to 2017. Current Melbourne listed players haven't been included in this list Selection is based on their contributions from 2007-2017 to the Demons or clubs they joined after playing at the Demons. I considered players like Lumumba, Rodan and Byrnes but their contribution to AFL after being recruited by the Demons was minimal. And I know Mitch Clark only played 15 games with the Dees, but my god they were good. Ditto Daniel Cross' 39 games. B: Clint Bartram James Frawley Matthew Warnock HB: Colin Garland Lynden Dunn Joel Macdonald C : Jack Grimes(C) Daniel Cross Jack Trengove HF: Jeremy Howe Mitch Clark Jack Watts F: Ricky Petterd Liam Jurrah Austin Wonaeamirri R: Stefan Martin Jordie McKenzie Tom Scully Int: Chris Dawes, Matt Jones, Kyle Cheney, Cale Morton Em: Paul Johnson, Jamie Bennell, Rohan Bail Coach: Paul Roos Anyone I missed?

I think the nominations are based on the player's output during the 2018 season: an All Australian team for under 22 year olds you might say. As such, it would make sense that Lever would miss out as he hasn't played half the season. I think Hogan was young enough last year but didn't get nominated due to being injured.