old55

Then we had "our best team in 50 years" now we've got the worst team again and if we're 6-5 in next couple of weeks we'll be flying again ...

Look we "should" be able to bully Adelaide's midfield with Matt Crouch and Rory Sloane out and then follow up against North with Cunnington and Ziebell out. If we can't then shut up shop. The test then comes against Collingwood who will have Pendlebury and Sidebottom back - unless we play differently they will smash us along with Treloar and Adams.

What I'm trying to suggest is a way to harness his dominance more effectively by using it more dynamically and not letting the opposition set up for it on a permanent basis. IMHO a big ruckman's greatest asset is around the ground marking which Max is great at and my suggestion tries to maximise this. I've never rated tap-outs, no matter how good they are.

Well it's very hard for even @Pollyanna to find any positives from that debacle, although I guess Steven May contained Charlie Dixon. Our biggest strength is our greatest weakness. Max's ruck domination is too predictable. There's a difference between first possession and clearance. We're flat track bullies - against the weaker midfields we can turn first possession into the clearance but against stronger well-drilled midfields they turn our first possession into their clearance. Contested clearance is the centre-piece of our strategy and it all goes horribly wrong from there. What to do? Well it won't happen but ... I'd ruck Max less and ruck Jackson (or Preuss when Jackson needs week off) more to change up the dynamic. I'd also ask Max to mix up the set-plays when he rucks much more with some big thumps forward and make sure our forwards are first to the ball. When he's not rucking I'd vary Max either in defensive 50 or attacking 50 and let him use his marking strengths which is really his biggest winning asset. I'd also instruct him to handball from the mark to a runner going past at least some of the time, probably most of the time. I'd move Viney forward, he has been very good this year but along with Oliver he's all first possession and it's too samey with him in the midfield rotation, he'd make a great small forward and he could cameo or provide injury coverage in the middle. I'd put Brayshaw back in there with Petracca and Oliver and as others have pointed out - use Harmes as a stopper when Neale or Boak get on top - in this case Oliver and Petracca can go forward in his place.

So they have - you are correct!

Sydney and GWS are scheduled in Queensland for the next 2 rounds, then they both have the bye in R11. Sydney and GWS both have not played West Coast and Freo and are scheduled over there for R12 so will follow up with games against the Perth teams in the following 2 rounds R13 and 14. Who knows after that? The Giants still have to play Adelaide and Sydney still has to play Port so maybe they'll swing by there in R15.

If you want to affect centre clearances then you DO need to make the substitution.

Quarters were 20 minutes plus time on and we had 4 starting mids in the rotations in the finals - Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney and Harmes, even then Jones was a cameo. Now Petracca has emerged and games are only 3/4 as long. Brayshaw and Harmes have been squeezed out and Goodwin believes, not unreasonably that Petracca, Oliver and Viney can go head to head with any midfield. That theory clearly failed vs Brisbane looking at the clearance numbers ... and still we lost by 4 points. We're not far off.

Petracca was a forward and Viney was injured then.

Or we could re-open the Viney as small forward idea @A F

I think the midfield rotation is the cornerstone of our contested gameplan and it's where we have strength and depth. I guess we didn't know whether Viney's foot would hold up, we didn't know whether Petracca could transition and there could easily be an injury to one of the 5. It that's reduced to 4 because we trade one and then we get an injury we'll be actually using Jordon or Sparrow full-time in the rotation when we're trying to win the flag. I'm fine with Brayshaw and Harmes having contracts - if they are in a trade discussion then we still hold the whip hand.

So who out of Petracca, Oliver and Viney did you want out of the primary midfield rotation to enable this to happen?

Normally you need 4 in the midfield rotation and we have 5: Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Harmes. This year Petracca's ascension and the shorter quarters meaning less rotations have pushed both Brayshaw and Harmes out of their best (and possibly Brayshaw's only) roles. As you say AF - one injury and Gus is straight back in there doing what he does best. In Brayshaw's best year 2018, Petracca was a forward and Viney was injured. Next year with the expected return to 20 minute quarters we'll need the full 4 in rotation. The question is can we maintain the luxury of 5 first choice starters on the list in case of injury? Probably only if they can play elsewhere which looks like a struggle for Gus, maybe less so for Harmes because he is a threat up forward. So maybe there is a trade market for Brayshaw but it would need to be for a required player role, we don't need draft picks.

I like this analysis - keep up the good work!

That was very disappointing. They beat us at our own game in the contest and smashed us in the clearances. Brisbane are one or two steps in class above Hawthorn - it's amazing to think that Hawthorn belted them in R1. We missed too many easy chances - 7.7 compared with St.Kilda 12.1. All that bad against a very good side and we still only lost by 4 points.

Both clubs in the same age and experience zone: Average Attributes Melbourne Attribute Brisbane 187.0cm Height 188.6cm 86.9kg Weight 88.1kg 25yr 8mth Age 25yr 5mth 95.4 Games 100.5 Total Players By Games Melbourne Games Brisbane 5 Less than 50 5 10 50 to 99 6 4 100 to 149 6 3 150 or more 5

I think it's "Current Team Potentially Best in 50 days"

Parental guidance recommended, not suitable for viewers under 15. Slaughter likely.

There have been plenty of varied problems at MFC over the past 30 years but the performance of our captains is at the bottom of that list. Apart from the Neeld debacle they've been good selections who have represented the club strongly: 1981–1987 Robert Flower 1988–1990 Greg Healy 1991–1997 Garry Lyon 1998–1999 Todd Viney 2000–2008 David Neitz 2009–2010 James McDonald 2011 Brad Green 2012–2013 Jack Trengove/Jack Grimes 2014 Nathan Jones/Jack Grimes 2015–2016 Nathan Jones 2017–2019 Nathan Jones/Jack Viney 2020– Max Gawn

It's a big pity old "bruise-free" Robinson is going to miss his date with VDB.

Depending on list sizes next year, of the players mentioned at other clubs I think Allen Christensen can play and it's no big knock being behind Charlie Cameron and Cam Rayner. As someone noted elsewhere Alex Witherden is struggling for a game behind Grant Birchall - he'd be worth a look. I like Zac Fisher at Carlton - I know he's small framed and that counts against him - but he's a goer and has pace.

That's not the information I have.

Nice work R&BR. I've thought for a number of years that our zone works far better on narrower grounds and it's why we've generally been better at Etihad than the MCG. We've generally played well at Geelong recently apart from last year's debacle and we were good at Spotless the last two weeks. There's an obvious criticism available that we play a style that doesn't suit our home ground. Looking forward we're up against it on this basis against 1st and 2nd at the wider Gabba and Metricon, but better suited to Adelaide and Blundstone - where incidentally we've been much more competitive against North than most teams without winning.

A David Neitz story from an impeccable source ... When Neitz injured his neck and was forced to retire he was eligible for an AFL mandated injury payment from the club of several hundreds of thousands of dollars but, because of the club's dire financial circumstances at the time, he didn't take the payout - that's the kind of leader he was. There have been various cases made for a number of our captains and I'm not sure if Junior McDonald has been mentioned, but he should be and is under-rated. We've generally been well-served in this area. Anyway, this thread is about Maxy and I am genuinely hopeful that he can be the best of the lot and lead us to the much longed for flag.

Neitz > Lyon. If you can't see that I cannot help you.