Lord Nev

Won't go into who obviously, and I know the usual posters will line up to have a crack at me, but a current players family member told me after the Doggies game that at stages during the game that player and another one (both of whom are 'best 22' players) were on the bench just totally confused and getting no instruction at all from Goodwin. Obviously from that I've expanded that out, but hearing it reinforced things I already thought.

Clarry was in the clear, sure, but he was behind Petracca, so Trac had the decision to play the odds or to handball over his head. He made the wrong choice. He shouldn't be crucified for it given it's just one example and he's having a great year, but it's caught the eye of Melbourne people somewhat because it's so emblematic of the club's attitude for so long. We just too often look like a confused team that doesn't totally understand what we're mean to be doing, and the players don't get enough instruction from Goodwin during games IMO. There seems to be this attitude of 'we'll fix it during the week', but by then the impact and opportunity to change it is already gone. This is where we start to miss someone like McCartney IMO. Down on the bench providing experience and advice, giving instruction during the game. Not saying we should get him back btw, just saying I think this is a weakness in our coaching structure, game day and head coach.

Jordon's out for a month and Jones is right to go apparently. Sparrow a month also. Gawn back in. Jacko for about round 18. Round 14 Injury Update | Two youngsters sidelined

He didn't say 6 month contract, he said a 10-12 game, half season contract.

I didn't write the article mate, but if you take a breath and read it again you'll see it doesn't say that Jones being out made it compromised, it just says the lineup featuring a lot of tall and mid sized forwards left a lot of the pressure on the shoulders of Spargo and Pickett. If you read my post you'll see the point I was making was about having a smaller, quicker forward line with less mid sized forwards.

Agree with this. I'm hoping we go for another small or two in as I think we have too many mid-sized forwards in who don't pressure enough. Also, this is from SEN today: Prior to the Bulldogs game, Melbourne had settled on a forward mix that provided marking targets and defensive pressure. The late change due to Nathan Jones’ quad injury brought Mitch Hannan into the side, and the Weideman-McDonald-Fritsch-Hannan-Melksham mix was unable to pressure the Dogs’ defensive half attack, leaving too much to Spargo and Pickett. In their third quarter burst, the Dogs kicked four of their six goals from defensive half chains, as the Dees were unable to pressure the Dogs switch. A slightly smaller and more mobile forward mix will create more defensive pressure, as it showed in the Dees impressive win over the Pies. The teams on the fringe of the 8: Where they're strong and where they must improve

Mahoney said on the broadcast it was tightness and thought he'd be right for this week. (Granted Mahoney isn't a doctor, Jones hadn't had scans, and neither can predict the future tho)

Please don't use that 'f' word when talking about an upcoming game against St Kilda...

Who says they didn't?

Just sick of us having to have a horrible game, cop a whack and then be pressured into reaching the minimum level again. To me, it's symptomatic of the example the coach sets with selection.

What?

Not a fan, but if he's earned it then why not? About time we started selected players based on form and performance rather than name.

Moving McDonald back doesn't change his physical situation, so don't see the point. The bloke is playing physically hampered. It's both frustrating and sad to watch at the same time.

Yep agree, but that's what I'm saying about the leadership, Viney is one of those effort type leaders but we rarely see him organizing the midfield or instructing/directing. Then we have Preuss, Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw, none of whom are leaders. Forward line only TMac I would consider any kind of genuine leader but he's too busy concentrating on his own game. I don't know what the answer is. Perhaps if we had a coach who communicated better and was a stronger leader it wouldn't be something that hurt us so much.

Yeah, nearly put in that disclaimer tbh. Both those guys do it, but that's it from what I can see, which is why I put "not enough" (should have clarified). We need it in the middle.

I'm sure there would have been some, hard to tell when watching just on tv these days, but from the somewhat limited view we get there didn't seem to be much communication out there. We really seemed to lack leadership on and off field yesterday. We still don't have very strong leadership in the organizational sense IMO. We have the effort types, but not enough that can sense what is happening and instruct our players on the field.

Melksham had plenty of warning, not sure what you're talking about. You can clearly hear the umpire yelling "hold" to him but he kept moving forward. Obvious 50.

Sure, that might be one example, but I just watched a replay of a whole bunch of the ruck contests and Preuss was horrible. First half he either tapped it straight to a Dogs player or blindly behind him to at best an even contest. There were a few examples where he had a Melbourne player directly in front of him with no one on them yet he still tapped it sideways or backwards to a Dogs player. This is basic stuff, so Goodwin talking about cohesion after the match is an absolute cop out. In the second half they obviously decided hitting it to one of ours was too hard so Preuss just hit the ball straight to the ground. This plays right into our 'bees to the honeypot' problem that has been talked about for 3 years and once the ball got on the outside it was game over. Not letting the mids off the hook of course, there were problems everywhere yesterday, but geez this stuff isn't complicated.

You're right, he probably won't drop him, and then he'll wonder why our efforts are inconsistent and our forward pressure so poor. Then he'll drop Spargo or Hannan, maybe even Kozzy, and the cycle will continue unchanged.

Would probably help if we had a proper goal kicking coach to instruct him. Doesn't matter how long you practice for otherwise.

I've been a big fan of Melksham but he has absolutely lost me this year. Lazy and selfish. To see him named stand-in captain was both baffling and eye opening. You'd say maybe Hannan, ANB and Hunt are the similar kind of players to Melksham. Melksham is behind all of them for tackles, tackles inside 50, one percenters (although ahead of ANB), contested marks and pressure acts (although just ahead of Hunt). He's a 'Goody's boy' though, so while others who don't apply enough pressure get dropped after 1 game, he's made captain. No wonder our team is inconsistent, they're following the example of their coach.

In the backline he is sure, but he's played his best footy in the middle.

From what I've heard, they're aiming for the Freo game for his return, could be back for the Sydney one though. Just part of his management.

I like where you're going, but not sure classifying 1 goal as a 'fast start' makes it a great analysis (by your usual lofty standards).

IN: Jones (or Jordon if Jones isn't right), Bedford, Hunt, Rivers, Gawn OUT: Sparrow (inj), Melksham, vandenBerg, Hannan, Preuss Move Harmes into Sparrow's role. Also feel it's time to change up the forward mix, get more run in there and less midsized forwards who don't tackle. Wouldn't be against Brown for TMac either. We all love vanders, but 5 turnovers and 2 clangers from 11 disposals and 1 tackle is not helping us.