Skuit

Ok.

I think about it a lot but can't come up with a solution. Our FD are trying. Harmes back to HB for example. The one thing people don't get: our very narrow window opened and closed in 2018/19. Next one just starts opening again next year. We are still in trial/training mode. If any one of our one-dimensional mids could just offer the slightest glimpse (bar Trac) in another position we would be set. I would have all of Trac (of course), Oliver, Harmes and maybe even Brayshaw ahead of Viney on forward craft. I still want Viney in our first team though. I have no idea what the solution is. Wing? Nah. Half-back? No. But he is probably better than Jones (and Melksham) at whatever they currently do now. Give him a run there but don't expect any immediate returns. Training wheels still. Unfortunately.

Agree that we have heavy inside problem. Throw Harmes into that problem mix and it becomes more of a problem. Agree that Oliver/Petracca/Brayshaw is our best first-line mix. Don't agree that Viney at HFF is the solution. Think Viney is invaluable. Have no idea what to do. Viney has been tried in the forward line for limited returns. Don't recall when exactly. Was for shock value at the start of the match.

The below was cookied in my text-box following the Port debacle. Maybe I got it wrong. My stance was clear at the time but I haven't reflected since the past match. The FD said they would review and maybe they got it right this time as to mid-week workloads etc. But the third para stands and in my opinion still much of the first (we should be an absolute shoe-in vs Collingwood and I will be highly stroppy if we cough it up). ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... Goodwin and Burgo got it wrong. And possibly our administration. I like that my club gets on with things without much fuss because that’s what I like in people and entities I associate with. But four-day breaks aren’t on. The AFL in its desperation for cash (which I understand) is compromising its primary commodity and putting the livelihoods of the players at risk. We absolutely should have kicked up a fuss. Maybe we did. But one of the aggravating factors – probably for Barlett – is the apparent confidence we went into the game with re. fitness. It’s all good to call up mates in the EPL and NBA – and it’s great that they did – but those sports aren’t football. There’s no major team sport as demanding as football: the combination of aerobic, endurance, physicality, difficult skills’ execution, both aerial and ground play, and decision-making – while constantly getting smashed from every direction.

The Top Ten things I would like to see vs. the Roos. 1) Tomald to not interfere with our forward structure. Primary ruck role – follow Goldy around and stop him from marking/scoring. Cut off outlets. Nullify hit-outs to advantage. That is all. 2) Jack-weid to continue to develop in tandem. Throw in some Pickett at the feet and a whole lot of defensive forward pressure. Fritsch to capitalise on oppo attention on the above. 3) Recently posted about our first fixture vs. North in 2017 as an example of Salem on the angry pills. Christian needs some fire to play at his best. Please be today and forevermore. 4) The big one. Brayshaw to relish the opportunity in the middle in Viney’s absence exactly as occurred in 2018. Give the coaches something to think about in the coming weeks. 5) Melksham to look like he cares and try a bit (cut and paste from round 3 when I posted the exact same thing in my top ten things I would like to see list. It’s now eight weeks later). 6) A new Kysaiah dance move. Followed by a snap for his third goal and a celebration-sledge that somehow indicates MFC first-round pick 20 going to the Kangas next year. 7) We all know Harmes’ best role is as a tagger (personally I think his best role is just any in which he is given simple brainless instructions). Roos’ midfielder gets on top: send in James. 8) I would like to see Spargo demonstrate why he should continue to be on our list. Not writing him off just yet – but he’s the new Stretch. Not enough weapons to overcome physical deficiencies. 9) Of the other ins. Rivers doing what he does best on the burst off half-back and offensive kicking. Keep developing. Hannan to bring the tackle pressure again, enough to make up for the absence of AVB. 10) Lastly – team-wide intensity for as long as possible. I gave the four-day pass last time and others disagreed. Either way, we should have learned some lessons. Other teams are managing it. 36-point win the pass-mark. Go Dees.

I'm in Bin (actual question in bold below). Also started a thread a few years back looking at Ajax and my suspicion that Goody and co. had an eye on them tactically and from an operational perspective. Was mocked. Whatever. I'll get over it one day. So the last match I attended live was in 2016 and I'm a complete ball-watcher on TV (get to the end of a game and I have no idea our centre-square attendance break-down for example or what's going on at the clearances). Used to attend regularly throughout the 90s and as well as gaining a better overview of movement and space would often zone in on a particular player e.g. McLeod or Carey - and get a real appreciation for their brilliance and role. Suffice to say we've moved on from then and so my deep tactical understanding has elapsed. I don't watch the selective footage from the footy shows and most of what I pick up is on replays - but it's rare that I watch a whole match again nowadays. ........................................................................................................................................................................ I should get the Telstra app or renew AFL Live for greater insight but I probably spend too much time caring already so likely won't. In that vein, here are a couple questions on contemporary tactics that I'm curious about. Probably the most frustrating thing watching modern football (and particularly Melbourne but not just Melbourne) is a) the number of bombs that go directly down a defender's throat, and b) team zones getting cut up in the opposite direction. The zone is now ubiquitous. Why is it that teams haven't switched back to a man-on-man defence if it suits their personnel or if they're getting done during a match? If feels like no team has even attempted it in eons. (I understand the balance with offence). Raised this recently and it's not disingenuous. We have defensive half-fowards now. Why not defensive KPFs? If it keeps going directly to a defender out of the centre-square (i.e. when 6 vs 6) why not get one of the forwards to stand where the defender is? Lastly. I've noticed this year (from memory MFC v Richmond and Geelong) that the forward trap is less effective. Defenders used to hack it out due to pressure - goes straight to a stationed forward press player of the opposition. Repeat entry. Ongoing pressure. It seems that these hacks are more often randomly landing in the arms of a teammate now. Have teams adjusted somehow? Like by reducing the number of players at the defensive-50 contest and having more outlets stationed just beyond the arc?

Great input EO.

Utterly ridiculous.

Hey Deever. On the 13th of August in 2016 in response to our round 21 win vs Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval you curiously posted the following: "Whoo Hooo. Don't think well play finals this year but I'm sure we will next year."

Can't recall the industry term but nowadays in a high-end TV series you will tend to have one or two standalone episodes intended to bring the budget down. Usually a minor character study or some single location script. This will be that. In the course of my research I just got a tonne of information on why we can never hear the questions in AFL post-match press conferences, and a reasonable explanation of why we suddenly can. A new side-mystery, maybe resolved. First thing. It's not the AFL. The individual stadiums have AV contractors. The standard set up is two desk-mikes, one between the legs, and a mobile boom guy. A couple drop-down mikes would fix the problem, but at an unworthwhile expense. This feed goes out to the radio. If you see mikes with radio logos set up on the desk these are just props. The leads go nowhere. The press room at AO is like a university auditorium. I always imagined it the size of an average lounge-room. So the journalists are hugely spread out. It's almost impossible for the boom guy to get across to the question in time, especially when everyone is firing off questions until one is picked out. The exception is when questions are staged in advance. Another side mystery that could probably be easily resolved. My source mentioned a chubby channel 7 journo who all the coaches seriously hate. Has a tie or something. Anyway, they will get the camera and boom on him for prearranged questions. Very simply - with Covid - there are now a fifth of the journalists in the press room. And they don't have to compete to get their questions across. So they just agree to take it in turns and the mobile boom guy is standing there in advance.

Didn't catch it clearly from George's post but this confirms a first quarter woo-who.

Fancy bringing your smooth podcast voice to the party AmDam? Or taking the opportunity for a free plug? I have the link in my pocket but don't want to publicly out you without consent.

Do some googling AF. It will be worth the effort. Somerton Man is probably now more well known outside of Australia than within.

Oh Ho Ho man just became another episode of the podcast. Dead-end? The pivotal clue?

I got the headphones on and I can definitely hear an 'oh ho ho' and then maybe a 'woo-who' but I'm not sure if I'm making the last part up? https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/376363/rd-8-all-the-goals?videoId=376363&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1494814196001

Update: I just scanned the 21 pages of the 2017 Adelaide post-match thread (it's depressing how much we all just keep repeating ourselves - but it was definitely a pivotal match in MFC history in that there are still some lingering ramifications being felt today). @Dr. Gonzo gets in a early reference to woo-who without context or response. Then later on @dazzledavey36 says (with 14 likes): "Good to hear the 'whoo hoo' guy was back in action yesterday! Slowly becoming a cult figure at AO!" So Woo-who man emerged before 2017. I can remember the 2016 Port match in Alice in detail but the AO fixture later in the year is all fuzzy - which is strange because it was a super-important match in the run up to the finals. Anyway. Scanning through post-match threads from years ago is emotionally draining. Who wants to take on the 2016 one?

I was thinking you're from Adelaide?

If Woo-who is reading can you throw us a bone during the North match? Woo-D'land-hoo?

So this angle was part of my original post but I didn't draw the links together. They pump artificial crowd noise into stadiums, so my AO source said there's an outside chance it's a recording. Definitely don't get that vibe though.

Woo-who man knows who woo-who man is. Also - the crowd mikes thing. Have you ever seen them? A big fluffy boom-type thing in the stands. I can't recall ever having seen one at a stadium.

I'm thinking of making this into an eight-part podcast series: the unmasking of the mystery MFC woo-who man at Adelaide Oval. First point of order. I've given considerable time to reflecting on the ethical issues of this project and have reached a self-justified conclusion that it's perfectly fine. I'm a shifty journalist after all. And if Woo-who's identity is ever revealed he will probably also get shouted a drink by any poster on this forum should they ever bump into him. ............................................................................................................................................................. Now that the fiddly legal stuff is out of the way: hoping for some Demonland hive-mind on the basic facts. Woo-who man first emerged during our famous win at Adelaide Oval in 2017? Has always been just Adelaide matches? But we also last played Port at AO at the end of 2016? He was only audible in the final quarter last night? Memory thinks yes but has he been there for each and every one of our AO games since first emerging? ............................................................................................................................................................... If my podcast has any hope of getting past episode 2 and moving into Tiger King territory then I think the following is an important factor: my initial instinct was that last night's Woo-who man was an imposter. Anyone else get that vibe? Or any audiologists on here or even sound engineers who can pull the audio and run it side by side? Has Woo-who man spawned copy-cats? Now. I've already spoken to someone high-up in the AV realm at Adelaide Oval (who happens to be a very close relative) - but he works more on the conference side than in the 'bowl' (on field-stuff). His initial instincts were that Woo-who man is also AV. But the oval has two crowd-mikes in the stands. Woo-who man and/or any imitators would have to be savvy enough to know where to sit to be audible above the crowd noise. Did you know that stadiums even before Covid-19 pump artificial noise into the crowd to provoke cheering and such? Canned cheering. Crazy. My very close relative said it's the strangest thing when you're wandering around the ground on a quiet Tuesday morning and suddenly a massive cheer goes up when they're testing out the system. ................................................................................................................................................................ Anyway. First point of investigation. Woo-who man obviously has a sense of humour. The beauty is in the understatement. I'd also be willing to bet the house that he scouts this forum and is probably a poster. If my facts are in order, someone - original Woo-who man or not - made a deliberate effort to get on the soundtrack in the last quarter last night. Would he have any public recognition outside of the tragics on here? I don't think it's just a personality quirk and huge coincidence based on member's seating or some such. Can think of roughly four SA-based supporters on this forum off the top of my head. But the details escape me. There was someone who used to post pre-match footage with his kid. One of our older grizzly members who hates South Australia (who I would probably rule out). Someone who mentioned they were in attendance yesterday. Another younger guy from circa 16' who may have changed his username. Anyone else? Confession. I'm originally from South Australia. ProDee (whatever happen to?) called me out once in pure ProDee style for listing my team-sheet backwards - forwards at the top and defenders at the bottom. This may be a clue to any other closet Croweaters on here if anyone wants to scan the 'changes' threads. Anyway. Any confirmation of facts or clues or hypotheses are most welcome. Get sleuthing.

Choo Choo PF! And pooh pooh to the naysayers.

We planned around TMac. We got it wrong - but other than the hindsight heroes on here there's not a lot of blame to pass around. He looked the goods up forward. Got foot injuries, structure changed, is spent earlier than expected. The best and only thing we can do now is continually play Weid and Jacko and develop them into our one-two up-front combo. TMac goes to pasture. It's unfortunate but necessary. Edit: Or we recruit a forward.

Nothing much to add other than can we please resist the temptation of bringing TMac back in for any non-emergency reason.

Another Adelaide Oval who-hoo. Someone on here should put their hand up. Legend.