rpfc

Oh boy

1 minute ago, DubDee said:

this not correct?

Potential first games. It’s an extended bench with potential milestones.

This is why we can’t have nice things

Watch the vultures in the game thread when he makes a mistake as the only small in a backline against the Premier.

‘Well, we’ve wasted the Petracca Haul!1!1’

‘We never have good kids! Why can’t we be more like other teams I don’t watch?’

‘We just love picking players that can’t kick’ (pouty face)

3 hours ago, TRIGON said:

Yet

Yes

That’s my point

35 minutes ago, layzie said:

Whether that article is right or wrong, I love how Essendon bring pressure, spread, overlap support to very few games in a season but ours is usually one of them.

You always commit more when there is a chance of winning

9 hours ago, Macca said:

With 7 experienced players out it's hard to see a game-style that can win us the game. But you never know

This is the perfect game to experiment in terms of trying players in different positions

• Windsor back to a wing (HFF ➡️ Wing for the centre ball ups)

• XL as a loose man in defence (Wing ➡️ HBF for the centre ball ups

• JVR to the backline has merit (if T-Mac is out)

• Kentfield (or Jeffo) up forward

• Moose as a 2nd ruck

• Langford more midfield minutes

• Lindsay on the other wing

• Langdon maybe back

I think they should continue the development of the players where they are trying to develop their game.

Progress isn’t linear and they are going to have setbacks. Players don’t like to be thrown around - they can smell the desperation.

25 minutes ago, DubDee said:

This could be a huge loss

Lions are getting back to their full team

and we are a bunch of kids

It might be.

We aren’t a good team after all.

Early look at 2/3 of our Petracca haul.

Latrelle looking likely.

Exciting to see XT early but jeez it’s not ideal with no Bowey, Salem, CJ, et al.

Lamb to the you know what…

Going to get plenty of footy back there

Oh boy

2 hours ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

I reckon if he didn’t have the issues that the club clearly moved him on for, he would have been a great forward. Always a very reliable kick.

9 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

I would love to 5 or more changes to stick it up the players but I think they will only have 1 forced change Salem and 2 unforced changes Culley and either van Rooyen or McDonald, 1 of them will get 1 week to prove themselves. McDonald is my bet to get dropped with Rivers, Laurie and Heath coming in. If they want to make a statement drop Langdon but I don't think they will.

B: Lever, Petty, Howes

HB: Tholstrup, Turner, Rivers

C: Langford, Sparrow, Windsor

HF: Chandler, van Rooyen, L.Pickett

F: Fritsch, Mihocek, Melksham

FOLL: Gawn, Steele, K.Pickett

IC: Lindsay, Langdon, Sharp, Laurie, Heath

EMERG: Culley, Kentfield, Henderson

So after one terrible game you want to punish the players?

I didn’t know you used your 23 as a weapon either…

Oh Werridee, what hath we become…

Dost our membership cards be destin’d for the microwave? How’th we deal with digital memberships

28 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Just checking in...

Has the blood letting finished ??

Not yet

Maybe it’s a bottom 7 clubs…

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

We're going to get these kind of losses this year against some potential bottom five clubs.

We are regenerating on the run in terms of new game plan and transition of a team trying to build cohesion.

You're bound to get inconsistencies all year round.

Review it hard and move on to the next challenge.

I said this after the Freo game - we are not a good team.

And when the league is even enough for us to beat anyone on a sunny arvo at the G, it is certainly even enough for us to lose to anyone anywhere.

Are we front runners?

‘Goodwin advocated for the same player moves a year earlier’

That’s quite a counter factual parallel universe where Goodwin’s attempts at a new game plan are far more successful in 2025…

42 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

Fascinating. I need to watch more closely. I felt he'd really struggled this year.

I heard that Culley and Langford are out on the wings to get their spread more innate so they don’t just become plodders in the middle (ala Carlton mids) that can’t run and spread and find footy.

I think they both are not suited to the wing and are fighting through that uncomfortability in different ways. Culley trying to impact in contests and possibly trying to do too much, and Langford really pushing to get goalside wherever possible.

The hosting stuff will get rightly critiqued, I just thought they were going to sell the TV rights separately. Ah well.

And to the argument above - we won the flag from last in 1900!

36 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

"Contested footy" is the bottom line and essential part of every team. Not negotiable. Not sure it even warrants mentioning.

We excelled in contested footy in 2021 but started to lose our way in 2022/2023 and were relatively poor in 2024/2025 so much so that we lost most games as a result.

So, I would contend the building blocks were crumbling.

Our contested footy assets impacting this year are new players (Steele, L. Pickett for implied pressure, Mihocek) or players getting more opportunities/roles (Sparrow, Culley, Sharpe, Howes etc),

As to the question of whether we've changed the way we play, I'll let the coach answer that:

"We're game three into a new game plan and new system so for us, we're just chasing constant improvement," King said. 

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1980845/press-conference-focuses

On that note I exit this conversation!

5 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I admit I thought he was another NQR but I've been impressed this year, he has really stepped up and become more consistent in his output. Add him to the list of players who we are getting the best out of atm (Sharp, Culley et al).

It’s amazing what a gameplan committed to by the whole team does for NQR players and ‘list cloggers’ and ‘pure depth’…

The ANB role was similar to what Sharp is doing but the crucial difference is what ANB did for Petracca. Essentially, CP5 would go from a stoppage and flow forward and leave ANB to take his defensive duties on the mid that was his opponent.

From what I can see, all the Half Forwards push up the ground to make an outnumber at the stoppage or ‘around’ the stoppage/contest, especially defensive side so that when we get a turnover or when we win the ball in contest - we have to use hands in close to allow Sharp, Chandler, Latrelle, the mids/wings (whoever is not winning and sharing the footy) to get up the ground to provide a target by hand or foot.

So the ‘ethos of ANB’ is there with the hard running from defensive stoppage but it’s more of a determined counter attack set up than ANB sticking to Petracca’s opponent.

Oh and @binman - you were talking about why we had less forward handball against GC - that’s because we were setup to negate their forward handball so couldn’t do both - we opted to have extra players behind stoppage and deal with trying to use hands sideways to find the right time to kick over their HB line.

13 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

He's absolutely good enough to get a game on merit, but assuming he does and isn't a mile off the pace he needs to be kept in or even brought back in to the side through some ups and downs as most young players are - especially key forwards. That's not gifting games, it's just not overreacting to week to week output.

That’s fine. I made the same argument for Latrelle after Rd 2, but the larger point about ‘having to’ get games into speculative kids is not where we are at. We can have defined development of very good young talent in a competitive team that would only be adversely impacted if more kids are thrown in there.

Tholstrup, Turner, Sharp, Langford, Culley, Howes, Pickett, Lindsay, and Windsor is more than a third of the team. That’s is a great many young talents to bring in and give a role to thrive in.

5 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

I'd rather play a more mobile back half.

AMW Petty Howes

Taylor Turner Bowey

With Lever and Salem for support.

But as with King's philosophy, he wants players to be able to play multiple positions.

Blake could play a wing or half forward as well.

Happy birthday, Blake. 🎉

This year?

We may build to that but our backline is helped by having lever and Salem in there having the lion share on their shoulders.

The lesson from our previous ‘rebuild’ is the need to have senior players to support the development of the likely types.

4 hours ago, Gator said:

Isn't he allowed to ever do his job properly again ?

Dannyz intimated that the situation of going to this man for a moral concern is ridiculous. And it is. He is not commenting on ‘whether he should ever do his job again’ which is the chosen strawman of those defending people from ‘consequence culture’.

Tom revealed his character with those comments years ago, he was fired quite rightly and he has weaselled his way back into the industry and congrats to him.

But one can point out the ridiculous situation of this immoral grub standing in the middle of a story with a moral concern like this one.