Lord Nev

It's not all the mids fault. As already spoken about in this thread, the forward structure and leading has been horrendous this year. Ben Brown has 1 mark from 45 one on ones, I find it hard to believe the 1 mark was the lone half decent kick. He was outmarked 8 times among that number too. He's our number 1 most targeted player inside 50. The whole narrative of 'the mids just bomb it, it's their fault' falls apart pretty quickly once you go to a few games and see the lack of leading and efforts from the tall forwards. Clearly something needs to change - the disconnect is a worry - but these stats miss the bigger picture.

Why did this make me think of Marilyn Manson...

Assume it's from somewhere in Champion Data. Not sure if us nuffs have access or you have to be in the media/AFL industry.

Rumour (and I stress, rumour) is Dees have offered a 2 + 1 deal. So 2 years, then option for a 3rd based on meeting KPIs.

The bombing is a problem, but IMO it's not all on the mids. Our forward structure is a bit of a mess and Brown plays his part in that. He is not moving well this year, struggles to lead or find any space. We need to look at the delivery for sure, but part of that is often when our mids look up to deliver inside 50 they just have flat footed targets not giving them anything.

3x Premiership Winner, Team Of The Century half back, Captain, the list goes on. Passed away yesterday at the age of 95. Vale.

Only took 1 mark inside 50 against Geelong. It's not a 'contested mark' stat, it's how many marks he's taken when one on one inside 50 and has the ball kicked to him.

And to clarify, I rate him as a player, I just wanna find a way to get him in form for finals.

Haha that's a more than reasonable call for a Monday morning. Cheers mate!

Because he's taken 1 mark from 45 one on ones. Simple.

Come on mate, seriously. We're talking about one on ones here, not pack situations. Far out. Don't understand why so many are so hesitant to admit how bad Brown has been. So bizarre.

Can understand that, and I'm not trying to say Weid is better than Brown, just pointing out that Brown has been terrible most of the year yet many still try to defend him.

Mate, read the first line again. It's very specifically about how poor he's been in one on ones. 1 mark from 45 one on ones, out marked 8 times from those. That has nothing to do with TMac and nothing to do with being out numbered. Brown should wear his fair share for his lack of marks on the lead too, I've watched him closely at the games I've gone to and he simply does not lead and can not find a way to get around a defender. Bombing it forward is not all the mids fault.

BEN BROWN Ben Brown has been targeted inside 50m one-on-one 45 times this season. He has taken one mark from those battles — a junk-time grab on Marcus Adams (Lions) late in the fourth quarter. He has been out-marked eight times. The Demons don’t trust Sam Weideman or Mitch Brown and so it’s a mighty concern for Melbourne as the absence of Tom McDonald — the swingman they attempted to offload in 2020 — aches. On Thursday night the Dees took six marks inside 50m, their equal fewest this season, and the disconnection is also disarming Kozzie Pickett and Charlie Spargo while Bayley Fritsch has been accused of being goal hungry. Contrast Brown’s numbers to Geelong goliath Tom Hawkins, who gobbles 38 per cent of his one-on-ones. The next best in the AFL is Darcy Cameron (Collingwood), who marks 25 per cent of his one-on-ones. Early Tackle: Sam Landsberger’s Likes and Dislikes from round 17

Peter Ryan from The Age seems on board with a Laurie/JVR/both debut: It’s time to introduce in-form youngsters from Casey to give them a spark, otherwise their premiership defence is doomed. AFL round 17 key takeouts and match review news

I'm firmly in the camp that we did some loading in/around the bye, but can see this narrative going a bit off the rails now. Admittedly I wasn't at the game in person on Thursday, but at least on TV I didn't think we looked flat like we did around the bye. We just looked beaten by a more physical side who have been planning for us for a long time. Feels like some may have got sucked into the early media narrative of us being unbeatable red hot flag favourites so now every time we lose we must be in a loading down turn.

Pretty coy on it at the moment is old Tex... https://www.facebook.com/7AFL/videos/5217726195014887/

BEN BROWN Ben Brown has been targeted inside 50m one-on-one 45 times this season. He has taken one mark from those battles — a junk-time grab on Marcus Adams (Lions) late in the fourth quarter. He has been out-marked eight times. The Demons don’t trust Sam Weideman or Mitch Brown and so it’s a mighty concern for Melbourne as the absence of Tom McDonald — the swingman they attempted to offload in 2020 — aches. On Thursday night the Dees took six marks inside 50m, their equal fewest this season, and the disconnection is also disarming Kozzie Pickett and Charlie Spargo while Bayley Fritsch has been accused of being goal hungry. Contrast Brown’s numbers to Geelong goliath Tom Hawkins, who gobbles 38 per cent of his one-on-ones. The next best in the AFL is Darcy Cameron (Collingwood), who marks 25 per cent of his one-on-ones. Early Tackle: Sam Landsberger’s Likes and Dislikes from round 17

Pretty much everyone would, including the club, I reckon. There was goss we were looking into King before he re-signed, doesn't seem likely now though. I really really like Larkey, would love us to have a crack, but he's contracted until end of 2024, and given he's only just turned 24 we probably wouldn't be able to entice North with draft picks. All that said, there's no reason we couldn't bring in Walker AND bring in another young key forward. We'll lose a few key talls this year anyway.

Yeah for sure. Weid is the interesting watch for mine too. I reckon he was as good as gone earlier in the year, Goody seen enough, but with Daw, M.Brown and Jackson all quite possibly gone he probably stays but may depend on the Walker call.

Yeah 100%. Don't know how much of a chance, Walker may decide he wants to stay at the Crows, but just heard the Dees were keen.

Genuine chance of happening apparently. Rumour is talks, and potentially offers, have happened.

This is back from 23rd June so may no longer be accurate but wouldn't think much would have changed in Brown and Fritsch's positions. "Of the top 50 most used Inside 50 targets in the league, Gawn is sitting 47th for the percentage of times his team scores when he is the target (33.3%). It’s worse reading when Melbourne’s most used target, Ben Brown, is sitting at 46th (34.2%)." Article Here

Nah all good mate! Can see how that would happen. To be clear, if we just picked one forward to come in it would be JVR over Weid without a second of hesitation. Was more just trying to highlight the minuscule difference in their output compared to the huge difference in their assessments by us fans. Can 100% see what you're saying, I just differ with you I guess in that I'm choosing more to look at the whole game rather than just the first half. I have much higher expectations of Brown than what he produced on Thursday night (and for most weeks previous). I'm not sure 1 half of footy is a trend. Yep all fair points for sure. Absolutely agree bringing the ball to ground is important within the context of our game plan, but I'm a bit sick of it being the only thing we expect from Brown and the line that gets trotted out as a defence of his poor form. The games I've seen live this year I've been extremely disappointed with our tall forwards, including Gawn when he's there. Prior to going to a few games I was putting all the heat on the mids for bombing it long, but once I went along to games I realized it was at least 50% the forwards fault. The lack of movement, crowding packs, all flying at once is really bad this year and leaves the mids with not many options when breaking forward. That's another part of the reason why I wouldn't mind a change up in there as a circuit breaker. As far as the mids go, I'm disappointed we seem to be bypassing ANB and Spargo a fair bit when going inside 50, both can be good users going forward, so I think an adjustment there might help too. I think Goody will keep Brown in, and have a feeling we might bring in another tall to help him. I'm with you, if he was to bring in 1 tall I really hope it's JVR. Reminds me a lot of Petty tbh, just has that bit of mongrel about him, a lot to like.