Grouse

The question for me is can Oliver carry the bulk of our clearance work again, against one of the best midfields in the comp? I think we have struggled to win the ball around clearances the last few weeks and that has been one of the main reasons for our drop in form. Salem back will help our disposal from turnovers but I'd love us to dominate again when the balls on the ground, like in the first few rounds.

I was asking if may doesn't accept the fine and challenges, but is still found guilty, does he only risk the original 3k fine or do we have to pay another 10 like for the fritch challenge? Hawkins incident is irrelevant to that question I would think.

What a joke. So 3k but 2 for early guilty plea. So if he pleads not guilty is there a chance he can get off and only risk 1k?

I would like to see tmac stay back and weid come in but it will never happen. I just can't understand the calls for harmes to be brought back. Even though others thought he did well in the vfl I thought he looked very ordinary. Sparrow looked much better. Also didn't notice kozzi rotating through the midfield this week. Looked good there for small stints previously. Thoughts?

Weid kicks his third.

Harmes looks very ordinary.

Yes there have been some quality players added, but for me its the coaching. Players that were turning the ball over multiple times are hitting targets. Our mental toughness is completely different and we are strategically adapting mid game, something goodwin seemed incapable of doing the last few years. Mark Williams gets my vote as the most influential change.

Frosty!

Interested to know what everyone thinks will happen when weid and bb are available. Jackson probably out but big Tommy Mac is playing well again. Fritta is important. Surely we can't play Tom Mac, weid an bb in the same forward line can we?

The difficulty is, last year preseason, the 'urgency' was through the roof. I remember being so confident, based on the training reports that we would go deep into finals, and look what happened. I agree that it's very hard to judge until you see what unfolds in the actual season.

Possibly, but assuming may takes Hawkins, could he take a Cameron or dangerfield? Can lever or smith take them for that matter? I'm not so sure.

I'm not sure if it's already been discussed but I think we need to be aware of the possibility of some really potent forward combinations next year. If Cameron goes to Geelong and hogan to Richmond, we need to have the ability to defend against three pronged forward lines. Can lever take one of those guys? If not, and the macs go, who will our other two defenders be other than may? Smith? Tomlinson?

OK. But those 22 possessions felt like 40. Compounded by the fact we were paying. And that it was Collingwood. I couldn't handle a repeat.

I still have flashbacks to Shane woewodin ripping us apart against the pies, while we paid a large chunck of his wages. Any thought of continuing to pay tmac who will be opposition is off the table for me. I'd rather roll the dice with him than pay him for someone else.

The problem with brown imo is that he benifits from lace out passes inside 50. That's Melbourne's issue. Our current forwards will thrive if they are receiving passes on the lead inside 50 but we can't deliver. Better to fix that with outside run and kicking and watch our forwards thrive.

Good to hear. I hope burgess stays and there is some continuity in fitness / strengthening for the players. Hes now had a year to understand injury issues and really build a strong preseason that will have these types of guys ready to go.

The thing that concerns me with this selection is that we have very few injuries and yet it seems like we don't have any quality depth. We don't have speed, and apart from our ruck stocks, it seems like we have a list clogged with players that can't quite make it in out best 22. Really hoping the boys have come to play but the doubts remain.

player health and ability to run out games and over run opposition late must be due go burgess. There us a marked improvement since his arrival. I sure hope mfc has an off sider learning what he does because I'm sure he will take a bigger offer when it presents itself.

Tomlinson for benell and tmac for maxy. Play both Max and preuss.

Any danger of Salem making contact? Looks scared in every contest. Won't tackle.

I agree that a 4 qtr effort will get us the points. We have been starting incredibly slowly which is the problem. If we can start by winning the contested possession and clearances I am confident we will out score them.

I think Brown out for them will help them score. Brown has been like when we have tmac up forward. We bomb long to an out of form player who doesn't score. Both are match winners in form but destroy our teams ability to score when off.

Here we go again. Let's put a non back (think fritch, Smith) down back just to upset the balance and wreck the players confidence for the rest of the year.

I agree. It seems to be an ongoing problem. Harmes to backline, fritch to backline, Smith to backline. All wasted there in my opinion. We also seem to keep persisting with horribly out of form players. Why bring back tmac, the most out of form bloke in the comp, when we need some speed? The worst selection of the year. Tmac is finished and if he's picked again we will loose again.

Tmac selection just doesn't make and sense to me. He's looked wooden all year and hasn't been target at all. I'd love to be wrong but I just don't know what he brings to the team at the moment. We have looked so much better up forward without him.