BW511

100% agree with all of this. I was not at all concerned for the result for the night, I just felt sick about what Brayshaw and his family would be going through. Goody openly said Gus was very shattered and upset, I bet it was emotionally charged in the rooms. To interview Maynard after the game was probably the most disrespectful thing I can remember. Gus is downstairs in a really bad way and Ch 7 think this is appropriate? I’m not typically an overly empathetic person and I’m not a huge Gus fan but his health and well-being is significantly more important than anything else right now. The way the AFL is stage managed and the fact that it’s gone to the social media/clickbait model makes me want to permanently walk away.

Genuine question @dazzledavey36, how do you think he performs in our current setup? I am 100% on board for his pace, skills and goal sense, just fear for the bloke when he’s working in a jam tin with 36 other bigger blokes on top of him.

This is by design though, I doubt Stafford says to Goody, what we really want is 26 blokes in here to limit our space and opportunity. Our forward structure and method is the way it is because we don’t have good/reliable field kicks and we want to lock the ball as far from the opposition goal as we can. Our forward setup is all about defence. Stafford nor anyone else will change that

I don’t think any gun forward would want to sit under high balls every week like we demand. We are relying on very low probability marks (huge pack marks) to generate scores and we are asking two undersized players (Fritta and Smith) to be the ones doing it. If you were Fritta (who was very proppy all night), this is the hardest possible way to impact a game/earn a wage. Also, the most risky being in contests with 6-8 blokes all night The most damning thing is every team mentions how they want to keep the ball away from May and Lever because of how they control the air, yet we actively kick to Moore/Murphy/Howe in this way and let them do it to us

I’m in a similar mindset. Koz can be absolutely breathtaking or completely invisible. I’d be much happier if he was somewhere in between each week, with lower highs and higher lows. We just make scoring so difficult, every half chance has to count.

I felt sick after Gus went down, incredibly tough for the players to come back from that. Could be career ending. 5 mins longer and we likely win that. Incredibly frustrating game and there’s some hard questions to be asked of a number of players. Also, Cox is the biggest piece of [censored] going round, the dive into Trac’s legs and then holding it while he twists is so incredibly dangerous

Seems like a great Melky replacement, much more mobile, physically imposing and still happy to take grabs and kick goals. I’d say he is the perfect fit for our needs up forward

If the hawks are happy to use 3 on Smith, surely that’s good for our draft hand. Would be an bold move, I think Smith is a bigger marketing asset than on field asset

We’ve been running out games superbly but a 90k crowd worries me in the final quarter. Hope we stay within 10 points for the first three quarters. With his injury and return to the side, I think Clarry is cherry ripe for a 35+ disposal masterclass. Just hope him and Trac don’t try to do too much early Huge game, can’t wait

Doesn’t Joeboy congratulate players on tagging jobs each week? We can’t afford to do it because it means another part of the system breaks down. Having said that, Jordon or Sparrow would be my pick. I’d also think Rivers could do it too now his tank is getting bigger.

I don’t admit to watching too much of Essendon but surely with the holes they have, losing him is suicide?

AA mids don’t grow on trees, I’d take him. He’s certainly got no problem finding the ball and if we can compliment that with the better kicks coming through, it’s a good result Melbourne fans love to heap praise on Trac and Clarry, plus to a lesser extent Viney. None of them are good users of the ball. Trac’s fumbles and wayward kicking sometimes have to be seen to be believed

JVR’s ruckwork is so underrated. He was exceptional today

How’s that a free kick to Fritta when Kozzie had the same amount of time?

No danger of having to play forward at North either, Larkey is a beast

You’re not alone thinking this

I would for sure. He’s next in line to be captain of his club, he’s ready made and he’s still young enough that you are looking at 7-8 years of top level service. Can also play either end and be equally as good

In theory, I love the idea of a very mobile and dangerous forward line of JVR, Fritta and Georgiades. Even better if we could get Watson in the draft to pair with Kozzie. However, I don’t think the combination carries enough size for our defensive game plan. None are big enough to sit under high ball’s for an entire year, they’d be cooked before finals

There’s zero chance North/Clarko have any dealings with us

Salem was not flash on the weekend but he’s been very good since his return. Salem>ANB every day of the week

It’s the dream for a lot of young kids but if you think more than 10% of AFL players view this as anything other than a job, you are kidding yourself. Probably even less.

If North get Sanders and Reid, they will have enough for two elite midfields

The thought of May further up the ground does not fill me with confidence. I think he’s better suited close to goal

I’ve woken up today feeling more confident than after any previous loss. We played a team who could barely be any better and we had a less than spectacular night. Our best is better, just can’t afford to give an opposition a start, especially at this time of year

How does the group feel about letting teams get out to a lead most weeks? Understand it’s impossible to control all facets of games from week to week. However, we are sure making hard work of things by having to overcome deficits so often. If that’s the model of finals football, which I think it was, then there’s a fair few things we can’t quite do well enough just yet. We were lead to the ball all over the ground, we reverted back to the bees to the honeypot method around the footy, we can’t kick to advantage consistently, we lacked legspeed and despite some questionable treatment, Max was worked over and dropped his head. We can finetune the above and are definitely in the mix but Carlton are now a serious threat and have a game plan that stifles us.