Lord Nev

That is the complete opposite of what happened.

Bennell, ANB and Jackson all say this is rubbish.

Unchanged lineup. Hopefully not the same story with the game plan.

Hunt and vandenBerg combined for 7 tackles, 12 disposals (4 of which were kicks), 1 goal, 1 score involvement and 2 one percenters. I'm not sure this argument about their immense pressure stands up, let alone that they brought more of the things we are lacking atm.

This is also an interesting case for the AFL and their stubbornness in not changing back some of the rule changes that don't have the desired effect. In 2019 the AFL recorded the lowest average score across the league since 1967. Scoring shots were down also, so it wasn't inaccuracy. The AFL used the VFL trial games to justify the rule changes for 2019, despite the fact that the average score went down by 9 points in those games.

Can't wait champ. Nothing says "I understand footy" like judging the ability of a player one a game by game basis.

vandenBerg last week 7 disposals and 0 goals. Must be Brownlow incoming then? I'm rapt our list strategy revolves around Bali holidays.

Ah gotcha, the official "Always injured but he's a good bloke" list limit quota is 1. Makes sense.

We got rid of Kent in the same offseason we signed vandenBerg to a 3 year contract. At best it's inconsistent.

Cool mate, I look forward to your Levi watch reports after every quarter the Blues play this year. Can't wait.

Yeah absolutely. My stat wasn't to try and imply he's playing poorly, I think he can lift but I don't think he's been poor at all. Just throwing around the idea that in 2018 when we had great stats in that area; we were able to get the ball forward more quickly and effectively use 'chaos ball' to become the highest scoring team in the comp. If we could recapture that and then marry it with our improving backline and bring in the element of some more deliberate use going inside 50 I think we could all of a sudden become a dangerous team again, even more dangerous than 2018. For me, I see it as all connected right now.

Not sure if this is directed at me for bringing up the hitouts to advantage %, but I'm gonna guess so and answer if ok? Pointing that stat out isn't intended as 'Gawn bashing', in fact it's not even all his fault. I brought it up to try and point out that our midfield connection is currently a bit out of sync. It's near impossible for us to know if Gawn is hitting to the right spots but the mids aren't there, or if Gawn is missing his targets or if opponents are reading him better than ever, but the simple fact is our centre work is way off where it has been at the moment. Hitouts to advantage is as much a midfield group stat as it is a ruck stat. Ignoring this current weakness because we all love Gawny isn't fair, especially to the players who get bashed week after week no matter what. Seems a bit Goodwineqsue to explain it away by saying we were up against good midfields. It's the AFL, we're up against good midfields every week. It's one of the areas we need to lift as a team, and maybe just maybe a few more classic Gawn hitouts to advantage will allow us to get better looks going inside 50?

Thanks for backing up my point. Over his career it's been a strength, this year it's a massive struggle. Cheers. PS - The stat I used was percentage of hitouts that are to advantage, it's a good one hey? Gawn is ranked 23rd this year. It's an area he and the midfield group need to work hard on IMO.

Goodwin won't quit until everyone is Jack Viney. Really not sure he understands the balance between contested and skillful yet.

Needs to stop kicking goals and learn 'Melbourne football'...

Just to add to this, here's a painful stat... For hitouts to advantage %, Gawn is ranked 23rd in the league.

This is spot on. We haven't seen Gawn seem to hit targets with his taps for 18 months, not sure what has happened. In the Geelong game, I'm not sure what the final number was, but at quarter time (I think it was) he had 10 hitouts with only 1 to advantage. This year he's average 28.3 hitouts (down on his career average of 35.4) with only 8.3 to advantage (down on his career average of 11.7). In 2018 he averaged 44.8 hitouts. (Obviously we allow for slightly less game time here too)

Let's not jump to conclusions, I think Eddie's version where Steele drank scotch, a different drink for him, and accidentally walked out the wrong door sounds more feasible... ‘He doesn’t normally drink’: McGuire details how Pie walked out the wrong door half-naked

Sidebottom gone for 4 weeks.

He could watch any of our replays of the last 18 months for that. Thanks for your contribution as always.

After reading this it feels like maybe... ANB in (possibly for vandenBerg) Bennell, Jones and Jackson close, but maybe won't make the final team. Jetta and OMac won't be selected yet.

Actually, there were at least 2 or 3 articles about our team selection well before game day. Mostly they were around Jetta, but they were also raising questions about selection in a broad sense. Then, following the game and the poor performance, more commentators raised questions. So it's not 'hindsight bias', and if that's what you interpret as 'confirmation bias' then you could apply that to absolutely anything. Of course, you're welcome to shoot that down by finding articles where our team selection strategy was praised. I'll wait.

This is great @DeeSpencer! So much work has gone into this, it's a pleasure to read. Worries me a bit if we're pinning our hopes on two out of form players like Melksham and Fritsch, but guess we need to hope they can turn it around. What's your thoughts on us picking 2 tall forwards for a change this week, especially given Astbury is out? Also, anyone know how to tag @SimonGoodwin in this post?

Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer. What I'm saying is, if we're in such a poor financial situation; what are the realistic ramifications from a football department point of view if we don't meet the expectations he has set? To use a crude example, if the season is judged as a failure due to the coaching, how can we possibly afford to pay out Goodwin's contract? I just wonder if the expectations actually have any teeth given the financial implications.