Lord Nev

Tall forwards didn't lose us the game.

Tell me you're not watching the game without telling me you're not watching the game...

Smashed in centre clearances, smashed in defence, smashed for ground balls.... Demonland: Weid is useless

That's a big part of the problem though. We're really kicking it on top of their heads a lot this year. Thought we turned a corner last week, some good signs with forward delivery. Hopefully it's better in the second half. Not that that's the only problem of course, but it's the main one IMO.

Geez pretty harsh, neither have had much opportunity so far.

Great interview with Kozzy in the HS today. I particularly loved this from Koz, and amazing to hear a young Indigenous man who has battled moving over to the other side of the country and losing his mum talk about 'facing your fears'. "The main struggle is moving away from home and if you want to make your dreams come true, you have to face your fears. I guess you just need to use the people around you to talk to. For me, that was one of the hardest things as well, moving away from home. But I’ve been lucky to have a lot of Indigenous people around me. ‘Wheels’ (Matt Whelan, the club’s Indigenous project officer) knows Uncle Byron well. If I am going through something, he tells uncle Byron. Wheels keeps me connected. He is basically like an uncle to me at the club and he is pretty important to us Indigenous players. With me being a (young) leader now, it is just about being a helping hand in the communities, which is important." Kysaiah Pickett opens up on the passing of his ‘old mum’, his culture and his sporting hero

I think 'failed' is more a reflection of your expectations. But that's beside the point I was making which is I think most of us, yourself included evidently, have made up their minds about where he's at and what he will become by now so judging it on one game seems a bit over the top.

I just reckon everyone needs to give up on their big hopes for him. Forget the draft order, just recognize he's a depth player. I've accepted that with him tbh.

I didn't say anything about this time being different.

I wouldn't say lucky as such. He's had an unlucky run with poorly timed injuries, especially early on when they hindered his preseasons. The club would have him placed fairly among the group in terms of contract and expectations I reckon, so it is what it is.

My opinion is he doesn't need anymore time. I think where he's at is where he'll likely always be. A solid backup option/depth player that can play an ok role up forward but won't be a game breaker consistently. I think people just still consider his draft position and are waiting for some kind of 'break out', but I don't reckon that will happen, at least in a way where it leads to consistently great games.

100% agree.

I don't begrudge anyone having made their mind up about him by now, fair enough. But to say 'if he doesn't perform in this one game then he's never gonna make it' seems a bit over the top to me.

Seems a bit of a harsh call to judge him on one game as a late replacement coming off a bye...

TBF, it IS the internet, and most of us go to the black and white pretty quickly and pretty hard! I think we can recognize Milkshake had a poor game (and is probably lucky to play this week) but also not absolutely smash him all week.

They're not ALL that matters, but they do give an indication of certain things, for us it's usually an indicator of the role being played and then potentially how effective the player was in that role. Melksham's game last week just seem a bit devoid of those indicators. He was clearly brought in for Harmes' role, so you'd think stoppage clearances, marks, tackles, inside 50s and possessions (to a point) were indicators of how we went. Statistically he was poor in those areas. He possibly had some time on Langdon's wing as well, but those statistical indicators would have been fairly similar for that role IMO. For mine, the key areas I think Melksham can contribute really well are inside 50s and goal assists. In some previous years he's been quite important for us with his quality delivery forward. Last week he had 2 inside 50s and 0 goal assists. You can forgive a lack of impact with the ball if the player is 'bringing the heat', but he had just 1 tackle, 1 one percenter, 1 ground ball get and 10 pressure acts (for reference, ANB in a similar role had 25). Just not a good enough game from a senior player.

Can't see them adding Walker to a forward line with Cameron and Hawkins.

0 chance it's us. Would be out of Freo and Saints IMO.

See above mate, already been addressed.

Yep, you're right, fair call. 1 game he actually played - 15 touches, 4 turnovers, 2 clangers. That 1 game was against the Kangaroos...

Is Gus 'super quick'? Is Jordon? Perhaps it's not just speed that makes a 'specialist winger'. He played 3 games last year. Averaged 5 disposals, 1 tackle and 1 mark. You seem to not know your history. Both were dropped numerous times before improving and earning their spots. Spargo played 8 games in each of 2019 and 2020. Neal Bullen spent a ton of time at Casey working on his competitiveness playing as an inside mid and was nearly traded end of 2020. Give it up mate.

Ridiculous comment. Chances are earned, not given. All of those players have had times where they've had to earn another chance. Sparrow's first couple of years were very similar to Baker's, with almost the exact same number of games ('chances'). Do you honestly think their different trajectories since then is due to purely being given opportunities? Rubbish. Jordon's were even tougher due to injury but he earned chances and took them. Spargo's 2nd and 3rd years he had to do the hard yards, Harmes struggled early too. 'Given games'... Please.

Just a slight correction - He re-signed DURING that season, in July. And even thought he finished 3rd in the Brownlow, he was 6th in the Bluey that year.