old55

Agree, excellent point. And a point some of us have made is that with this year's shortened quarters there are less starting midfield minutes available to go around. Nevertheless Harmes was training with the backs before the season started so that was the plan going in. It was worth a try to get some more dash. He's strong overhead and has some penetrating dash. It hasn't worked out. Goodwin frequently gets criticized for not trying anything, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I do get the feeling in the wash-up for next year that the whole group won't all be there.

People over rate draft picks. If either Saad or Viney were available at a pick in the teens in this draft you'd be mad not to take them.

Love Demonland .. Goodwin vs Swans - too passive, vs GWS - too active.

This is the difference. If we have that we're fighting for top 4 this year, not top 8.

duplicate

A lot of lament here about losing to Geelong and Brisbane in close games - the ledger in games under a goal is actually in our favour 3-2: Carlton +1 Geelong -3 Brisbane -4 St.Kilda +3 GWS +5 It could very easily be 2-3 and we would be out of it now. The Swans and Freo losses were extremely disappointing but there are reasons or excuses depending on your viewpoint. The other club in a similar position to us without a bye - Essendon have gone from 5-0-2 to 6-1-9 since the compressed fixtures started, that's 1-1-7. In the same period we've gone from 3-4 to 8-8, that's 5-4. It's going to be interesting to see how we go against them this week. It's also going to be interesting to see how the Dogs go vs Freo in Cairns off a day's less break.

We made the trade with a plan to draft Pickett and on the belief that we would rise up the ladder - looks like things have gone pretty much according to plan.

Sydney currently pick 4 and Collingwood currently pick 14 will take both those picks before needing to bid on their NGA according to the Twomey order and use later picks to match the bids.

Our Pick 10 now with North is unlikely to be pushed out much - maybe 2 picks to pick 12. Pickett for 2020 pick 12 is looking OK - a year of development into him.

Good resource here for draft pick order that @Whispering_Jack has also provided above: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/2020-nominal-draft-order-live-based-on-current-ladder.1229399/page-2 Cal Twomey has 8 Academy players in his most recent top 25 at 1 (Dogs), 8 (Sydney), 11 (Port), 13 (GC), 15 (Sydney), 16 (Collingwood), 20 (GC) and 25 (Hawthorn) https://www.afl.com.au/news/493042/cal-twomey-s-2020-phantom-form-guide-september-update Dogs will use pick 12 to get Ugle-Hagan at 1 so that will bring other picks after 12 in by one. Sydney x 2, Port, GC x 2, Collingwood, Hawthorn will presumably use later picks to match so that will push other picks out by 7. So on that basis our 22 would be pushed out to 28 (net 6 loss).

You don't know me at all. I'm pleased to say the only thing we appear to have in common is supporting MFC.

It was great to see Nathan Jones down on the bench with the headphones on in the thick of things. He was clearly still engaged and elated with the win. That's a healthy sign of good culture.

We went hard after Jamie Elliott last year so it doesn't surprise me.

Is that you Gaddy?

It was great that we found a way to win against an equally desperate side and keep the season alive into the final round. It will be interesting to see if can do the same against Essendon next week - another team that played finals last year and has had a similar horror fixture to us without a break. It's desperately disappointing that we couldn't find that against the Swans or Freo. Now we've seen GWS lose to Adelaide and MFC in consecutive weeks off the back of some arduous travel. It's strange to think they belted Freo in WA just a few matches ago and now Freo is playing some very good football - they are not without a chance against the Dogs next week in Cairns.

That probably means it was Spargo ahead of ANB.

I feel sorry for Weid - KPF at MFC is the worst job description in the AFL with the chaos ball coming in on your head everytime surrounded by 3 tall defenders. He played in impossible conditions in Cairns for two weeks and has been beaten up for countless matches in a row with short turnarounds. Brown offers something but he doesn't offer another tall contested target and the less said about Preuss up there the better. Changes: Nev is my favourite player but he is totally cooked (like Nathan Jones) after years of punishment. Showed his never-ending courage last night but he's a shadow of his former self. Hibberd is the likely replacement. I'm just not a believer in ANB and it seems the FD isn't either - 64% gametime for the fittest player at the club. Harmes is a far preferable option. Most of the debate about whether Luke Jackson should play is around swapping him for Brown, but I think Brown offers a target up and down the ground, was desperately unlucky to be dropped after the Swans game and played some smart football in the last quarter. I'd retain him and Weid and bring Jackson in for Jayden Hunt. Jacko can do everything Hunt can do and better. In: Hibberd, Harmes, Jackson Out: Nev, ANB, Hunt

Interesting that the coach thought the best place for ANB, aerobically fittest at the club, was on the bench with rookies Pickett and Baker when the heat was on in the final minutes.

FYI ... Average Attributes Melbourne Attribute Fremantle 188.0cm Height 188.0cm 87.8kg Weight 88.6kg 24yr 11mth Age 25yr 1mth 78.9 Games 92.8 Total Players By Games Melbourne Games Fremantle 8 Less than 50 7 6 50 to 99 8 5 100 to 149 3 3 150 or more 4

Wow you're more confident of a good outcome this week than me.

With our loss and the Dogs win we're only the proverbial "mathematical possibility" now. Hard to argue we should be in ahead of them anyway after ther beat us easily.

There's 10 changes from the side that played the Dogs 2 matches ago. But all of the core is intact. I hope Harmes, Jones and ANB have some midfield minutes and give the core midfield some respite - Oliver and Viney understandably look tired - they both willed themselves to lift in the last quarter against Sydney which was great but they must be low on petrol tickets. Weid is going to feeling beaten up too flying in all those contests. I would seriously have considered Preuss for Gawn.

Outs make sense. I'm not a Smith or ANB fan but hope they do well, it's a good opportunity for them to show their value.

Norf supporters on BF were gleefully "death-riding" MFC for the 1st round pick we traded to them - that thread has gone a bit quiet now. I think they fell off a couple of weeks ago and have their foot caught in the stirrup and are getting dragged through the dust. At least they'll the picks they dreamed of at the start of the year - 2 & a pick in the teens, but I don't think they'll get them the way they hoped. Maybe we should have a "Death riding Hawthorn's 2nd round pick" thread to show them how it's done.

If we can't win it then I dearly hope it's Brisbane defeat West Coast.