Lord Nev

And he's potentially one head knock away from either being an outside player guaranteed or even career in trouble.

You're not this naive are you? Do you think Gus, or anyone from the club, is going to say 'yeahnah I hate playing the backline hey, I should be playing mid but the coach is a dud'.... And that of course ignores the fact Gus' brother came out and said he'd spoken to Gus and it was clear he wanted to play midfield and would potentially leave for that and a "lofty contract".

Cheers mate, saw the articles earlier in the week re: surface.

Yep, surface could be slippery, just won't be a wet weather game as such I reckon.

When I say defence I mean as a team, just to clarify. Having the holy trinity back together in defence will help, but need the forwards and wings to lift considerably in the pressure stakes.

Yeah for sure. Really intriguing offseason for him - Gut feel is Goody would be happy to ship him off, but we will have a very bare cupboard in terms of tall forwards and rucks quite possibly.

Chandler is a confirmed in?

We kicked 15 goals last week mate, scoring wasn't the problem, defence and pressure was.

As often happens, I think people are getting too caught up in the 'wet weather'. Looks like showers in the early morning but dry by late arvo. 17 degrees most of the arvo, don't reckon the weather will be a factor.

Kicked a 'winning score' last week by our standards, the problem was we gave up too many. Personally, more worried about our pressure and defence.

Yeah gotcha! We're in agreement then mate. Wondering now too, as we've spoken about BBB's form, it does seem to have coincided with his knee flaring up. He's a much better player than his second half of the season form says, so wonder if that's a big part of it? The irony with Weid is, he may end up not on our list for the very same reason Brown ended up not on North's. He's a leading forward, not great with the packs and pressure, in a team that relies more on pressure and contests (which is apparently the direction north wanted to go when not re-signing Brown). I'm resigned to Weid just being depth tbh, think he's a long shot to lock in a spot in the 22 for finals (pending Brown's injury status).

Hey OD, Goody has already said earlier in the week BBB won't be playing this week. Personally I'd love to see JVR in, reckon we need a second 'proper' tall in that forward line and even though JVR is young and not super tall he'll bring the mongrel and intensity we need in that forward half IMO.

Hasn't been 'up and about' this year then for the most part. Back a few weeks ago the article about our forward targets mentioned he's been 'targeted' the most for one on ones and only marked it once and was outmarked 8 times. As far as contested marks goes, Ben Brown is ahead of Weid by 0.1 per game. Disagree Weid doesn't compete well in the air, that's actually a strength of his, IMO his weakness is competing in the packs where he doesn't get to have a run and jump - he's never been good at that and his second half against the Dogs was poor for that even by his standards.

Just mostly Gus' quotes from SEN. Says Freo have apparently offered Gus a deal that "could be worth" 800k per year over 5 years. Nothing new about Jacko.

From the article: "I’ve spoken to him about it, I’ve tried to pick his brain."

Hamish Brayshaw: “If he leaves Melbourne it’ll be for a position in the midfield and on a pretty lofty contract.” "...I don’t think he’d leave Melbourne without a midfield opportunity elsewhere.”

Apparently happened during the game but the coaches/fitness staff had no idea at the time. Not sure how it works time line wise as the concussion test didn't happen until Monday I believe (but not 100% sure if that's the case, could have been post-game).

No pot stirring, it's come via a family member of a player. Potentially may not be announced til the team comes out, not sure, but source is pretty good.

I mean, we kicked 15 goals last week with that lineup...

With Daw retired, Mitch Brown likely to, Jacko probably gone, JVR not quite ready, TMac sketchy and Goody not being a fan of Weid, it definitely gives a lot more context to why we've been chasing so many key forwards. Could be a big issue next year.

Would you employ a manager who didn't handle contracts potentially worth millions of dollars in person?

100%. Would be a big reason why Goody isn't a fan of Weid, but makes the consistent Brown selection more frustrating.

Fair enough. IMO it is because he's not a key forward, but get where you're coming from.

Just to add: "Bayley Fritsch, who has come under fire in recent weeks for “barbecuing” his teammates, is ranked ninth."