JimmyGadson

Nice to see the Pies lose to a severely undermanned Carlton side the other night. They were very disappointing and let's hope this spells the start of some shaky form for them heading into the end of the year. Dare I say it... Colliwobbles..

Draft them to us now and they would be very different players. Same can be said for every player drafted to Melbourne from that period. None of them had the foundation or environment to fulfil any sort of potential. We were an absolute mess as a club.

More than pick 1! Demonland, a place that forever gives great amusement.

No, it wouldn't be a reasonable assumption. Because, as I've said and will say again, he'll be a welcome addition as long as we don't spoil what we've managed to achieve in his absence. Posters bang on about Gus being missed for his defensive work since he moved to the midfield. I'd argue that we look a lot cleaner out of the back half thanks to Gus not being there. So whilst we may miss out on some of his fantastic intercept and spoiling work, we also miss out on him butchering the footy in dangerous areas. Everyone sees things differently. I think Oliver's one-touch contest work is unmatchable in the AFL. Is that clear? How many times do you want me to compliment it before believing that I rate him in that regard? But like the Gus example, I think some of that work comes undone due to his poor disposal or decision making at times and therefore dilutes his value. I don't think that can be disputed personally. Especially if you talk to football barrackers of all clubs and lovers of the game. Everyone notices it. Its the same with Petracca. For elite players, they waste the football and opportunities too often. It's only demonlanders who kick up a fuss when things like this are said. But it's the truth. You seem to pick and choose your clearance argument. If I could be bothered, I'm sure I could find you a stretch of games where we have been comprehensively beaten in clearance with Oliver in the side. In fact if my memory serves me correctly it was either at the start of this year or for a big run of games last year. Clearance has always been inconsistent for us with Oliver in or out. It's a none argument. Teams have gone to town on the Oliver-Gawn connection. I think the only thing I could agree with is that we've done well to cover for his loss due to the abundance of strong contested players we have who roll through the middle. Viney has stepped up and assumed a role. Gus was drafted as a gun inside mid. Sparrow and Jordan are both naturally contested mids even if Jordan plays a slightly different role. We've had no issue winning contest in the middle. Clearance? Yeh well as I said, it's always been an inconsistency with or without Oliver. As for your last comment. It's not about those players becoming 'lesser' players when Oliver comes back. It's about what it will do to the balance and function of the side. I think and hope that Oliver's injury has opened Goody's eyes to new possibilities around player positions, flexibility, unpredictability, team structure and even gameplan.

I love the club. I come here to vent. Everyone uses forums differently. I provide the chaos to the order.

He's never been a small forward? He played the entirety of his under 18's year as a half forward and winger. Are you trying to be technical? He is under 180 cm tall and has played a lot of football forward. Therefore, a small forward. Early days with Freo he played forward also. I think he could add to us, I think he's got a skill set we need, I think I'd rather have him in the side over Spargo and even ANB sometimes. I think him being close to Kosi would bring the best out of both of them and allow Kosi to further explore a move up the field as he's got the grunt to compete in contested situations.

Of course it's hollywood. He's 27, in the prime of his career. You think he's lost speed?! What on earth. Since he began playing AFL footy, he has always looked to fend off before giving first option which has been a bugbear of mine and many Melbourne supporters as more often than not, he gets caught. He also loves to try and pick a ball off the ground one handed instead of two far too often. Another trait that sees him lose contests regularly. He's a player who should just do the basics well and understand the importance of that, but doesn't. Which is why he's not in the best 22 when everyone is fit and firing.

What about Petracca in his draft year? Were you thinking the same thing about him?

You're impossible to reason with because you consistently exaggerate. Everything. Not sure if I could have been more reasonable with my response. The same can't be said for yours. All you hear is what you want to hear. Try and have another go.

I think that overall you're trying to make a case for why we're missing Oliver. And if it's 'clearance' then I'm not sure it stacks up. His propensity to butcher the ball being one reason against. Quite clearly, we've been doing fine without him. And for every game you say 'he could have been the difference', (like the GWS game), I could name a handful where we lost what we we should have won with him playing. We beat Collingwood and Brisbane without him. So how are you equating this? I'm not sure how much more clear I can be. The way we play as well as the abundance of similar type mids that we have has meant we don't miss a player like him as much as a club like an Essendon would, or any other club that have fewer contested dominant mids. And thereforeeee, regardless of his unbelievable and undeniable ability to win contest, we've been okay without him. Fine in fact. And again, there's an argument to suggest we look better balanced. Trac and Oliver both playing full midfield minutes with Viney only amplifies our forward connect issues. Oliver and Trac are both players who consistently waste disposals. Argue all you like, but it's the simple truth. They blaze constantly as well as miss kicks they should be hitting. Everyone knows it. Maybe not Demonlanders. Oliver will be a welcome addition back butttt not if it's at the expense of certain players who have stepped up/providing a different blend of attributes and/or Trac being taken away from that forward role. Oliver's omission has brought about needed change to our mid rotation, we look better balanced, less predictable. (that includes the Gawn to Oliver predictable connection). Has led to Trac playing more forward time which has refreshed both his form and ours. So yeh. I think it's a gross exaggeration that we've missed him. I think we've been fine.

Churs Tim Lamb.

Yeh but is that the journo trying to make sense of Chandler's extension? Or is that news from within? Small forwards are important, especially mercurial ones. Competition for spots is healthy.

Why would we rule him out.. ? I can't understand it. We need speed, class, foot skills. The ability to turn no opportunity into an opportunity. He has the same skill set as Kossie just without the hardness. He's a former top 10 pick who we could get for a second round pick at the highest. We better be looking at him. He's mates with Kossie, you know playing with your mates can completely change an environment and therefore one's performance. We simply need more x factor, danger and classy opportunists in our side. And a far better balance of skill set across the ground. If we don't go hard for him, I'll be super disappointed. Playing him inside 50 could give even more opportunity for Kosi to play midfield minutes which we need. The bottom line is we need players who just don't waste their possessions and can turn chains of possessions into scores or scoring opportunities.

Oliver is top in the comp for winning the ball at the contest. No question. But we have a number of players who excel in that area. So the talk of us missing him is over-hyped and our results both with and without him say as much. Our problems have nothing to do with him being in or out of our side and there's an argument that suggests we are a more effective and balanced side in his absence as well as being more unpredictable. Oliver's loss is not like losing May at his best or Gawn. Let's not think it is.

Melbourne supporters playing the victim card, who would have thought. Every club's supporters think they're hard done by. I don't think it's any wonder that Adelaide got more praise than we did, on any show. And if it were us going over there as a young side against an expected flag contender, losing three important players during the game and coming back from five goals down at three quarter time to get within a few points, we'd be congratulated for our 'brave effort' as well. PERSPECTIVEEEEE.

Okay. I think I want Reid now. I think it could be one of the biggest stories going into next year if we were able to pull it off. He is generational. I mean, part of me is still torn as I really love Duursma and have made that known. He has the potential to be anything. But Reid could almost have as big an impact off the field for our club as on. One of those players who is so marketable, has had one of the most dominant under 18's years we've ever seen. He would help with memberships, game attendance, new generation of young supporters. It's a tantalising thought. You just wonder what we'd be giving up for it. But to have him and Trac playing a tandem deep forward/mid role with Oliver and Viney in there is just absurd. The more there's talk of it, the more I can't help but think.

How did Duursma go at Casey yesterday? Eking conditions into account.

Better the interviewer, the better the question, the better the answer. Unfortunately, interviewing skills are completely absent within the AFL media landscape. All they want is short one liners to use as headlines and click bait. Half the time they don't even ask questions. They just say something and stick a mic in front of the interviewee. It's an embarrassment and a great shame really. Post game presser questioning is almost comical. It's as if they choose people off the street to do the questioning.

This. Would also love it and think it'd spark us up. With Hibberd coming back, Mcvee and Salem are a great pairing for run, carry and ball use coming out of D 50. I think Bowey could be a real weapon centre forward and if not this season, I hope he is moved there next year.

Two top 10 picks and we're laughing. One inside 5 would be a dream. I can't see Freo staying at 15th on the ladder. I mean, it's a dream. But out of all this bottom sides, they have more to play for given they have no first round pick.

Instrumental? Bit of a stretch! Everyone needs to breathe out and understand that clubs need to consistently change over their lists and make the hard calls in order to keep competing at the top. If old boy Saty was in charge, we'd be a happy little club delisting nobody, moving on nobody, giving an equal salary to all bodies, but dwindling away down the bottom of the ladder. He'd still be joyous though.. Jordan is an A grade foot-soldier who just doesn't offer a point of difference to our midfield. He is never going to offer a point of difference to our midfield. Is he? What he provides, we already have and then some. And what he lacks, those far ahead of him already lack. He should and will look elsewhere as it would benefit both our list to bring in someone with a point of difference as well as his own footballing career. We're at a stage where we can bring some seriously high end talented mids. And they're the ones who should be taking the spots of Jordon and Haremes etc whilst Trac and Clarry are in their prime. We need a blend. And we need a better balance. And Jordon won't be missed because of this.

Would take him in an instant as long as we didn't pay the farm. His marketing value for our club alone would be worth it. And he is a gun at top flight. Whilst his kicking is left to be desired at times, his gut run and speed is a huge point of difference. Big moment player and I could see him, Trac and Oliver tearing teams apart. Would happily have him.

Win enough games to finish 4th. Play Collingwood at the G. That's the most favourable of the likely scenarios. The most favourable but unlikely scenario is that we go unbeaten from here and somehow finish second thanks to Port dropping off. Can't see it happening though.

Duursma was super impressive today, right back into our mix. 4 goals and 20 disposals.

If we were to nab pick 7 from Gold Coast, we'd go to the draft with pick 4 and 7.