Skuit

I've maintained that Christian is always better on the angry pills. Recently scanning the 2017/18 threads on another matter and reflecting on those games reinforces that opinion. A super-tough kid but currently playing like Watts - in the sense that while Watts was a nice kick I always considered it overrated due to Jack commonly taking the short and safe option. Both players are capable of breaking across a line though. Never thought much of Salem as a pure defender (and always considered HF was his go) but he seems to have improved lately. Next step is taking the game on a little more as Hibberd and co. move toward retirement and take up other roles. Edit: where do I find this 100-game highlight package? I switched to some tree-planting search engine and it's lacking somewhat . . .

Yup. Don't get sucked into the contest AmDam. It's a no-win sitch.

A TLDR reiteration from the above. Big congrats to Christian Salem on his 100th match today. Next in the frame for 2020/2021 Petracca: 95 / Oliver: 92 / Brayshaw: 90 / Bennell: 88 / Lever: 85 / Langdon: 78 The received wisdom that players start hitting their straps/feeling like they belong from the 80-game mark on (was that Roos?) comes from a single source from another era as far as I can recall. The big stat in my mind: Oliver and Harmes are now #3 and #4 in consecutive games played. Brayshaw, Trac and Langdon also sit in the top-20. This is invaluable. The core builds and learns together. #dynasty.

The expanded one dozen things I would like to see vs. the Pies: 1. Out and out just a victory please, preferably hard fought against quality opposition to instill genuine confidence and put the competition on notice. Also to shut up Dr. D and co. 2. The victory to be again led by Oliver and Petracca, with both working well in tandem. These two need to be aware and accept that our team’s ultimate fortunes now revolve around them. 3. Weid. Contested marking. I don’t actually care that much if he kicks straight at this stage, but keep taking contested marks and building the confidence one-on-one and in crashing packs. 4. Fritsch on the other hand. Kick straight dammit. If he had converted just five of his 15 missed shots he’d be top six in the Coleman with a game in hand. His kicking motion is mostly fine. (What ifs. But he could be such a dangerous player and difficult match-up if he better capitalised on his chances. In the conversation and opposition commits greater resources. Get mobile.) 5. Pickett with his first bag of three or more. Wouldn’t describe as graceful but another wacky dance move would be a bonus treat. Probably helps that even he doesn’t seem to know what he’s up to. 6. Someone to remind Eliot that Pickett likely wouldn’t be playing for us if Eliot had signed on with Melbourne. Jamie as such to struggle to get near it all day and Lockhart to shine. 7. Pies have won the equal-most first quarters and we’ve won the most final quarters. Let’s flip the script and hold them early or at least tick over our own scoreboard in the first stanza. 8. On that note: come out hard, akin to the intensity vs. Carlton. Hunt in packs. Put in some early hurt on their key play-makers. Paging AVB, Viney, and Preuss. Braydon is a horrible name: seek revenge. 9. Brayshaw/Harmes/Viney. I doubt fans of other teams would spend as much time pondering trading out such attributes/talents. We need to find the balance to fit in all of the above. Do it now. 10. TMac to stay out of the way - some tackles like last week. Melksham to try a bit more. Jones to hit some shots from around the arc. I’m getting sick of wasting my breath and hold little hope. 11. I’m digging Langdon. It feels strange to have a bona fide wingman. I want another one (Hunt should spend all his days learning). On the flip: we need to curtail Sidebottom. Always kills us. 12. Like many on here I have a soft spot for Dunn. Wasn’t happy at his sidelining in favour of Oscar at the time. But there’s some weird anger from our seniors toward Lynden. May it continue please. Bonus shout out to Salem on his 100th. Easy to forget that he’s also had to overcome some adversity. Should maybe be dominating a bit more but is a solid performer with next-level potential. Congrats Christian. A 24-point win will do me.

I'm packing the car to Cairns. Pretty confident I can get into Cazalys with or without a ticket.

On a side note. The Carlton vs Suns match in Darwin sold out in roughly ten minutes. Not sure how many tickets were on sale but the 12,000 capacity has been reduced. Almost no hope of getting into Essendon v Richmond and my brief thought of a road-trip to Traeger (~7,000) to see the Demons is looking shaky. I'm sure our Victorian-based posters on here will have little sympathy though.

Why have they fixtured this as a night game? Not a biggie - and the clubs could have asked for it - but the day matches are glorious and it seems like a lost opportunity to best showcase the region when international eyeballs may still be heightened. They'll have to put a fluoro reflector on the boundary tree so no one runs into it.

Strange commentary. Weid finally starts playing well and hitting his straps. Conclusion: we developed him poorly?

Question: what happened to Jack overhead? I recall him taking some decent contested marks in his earlier years but that seems to have evaporated now. Is my memory wrong?

Anyway. I have no idea why you'd think I'd be looking for a convenient argument. Demonland isn't battle-stations where we pick a side and fight it out. I would really like some solution to what I think is a midfield issue for our team and don't know the answer - and as such I'm interested in hearing all sorts of opinions and ideas. But I'm not convinced Viney can make it as a forward based on the available evidence. You're right though - my argument was far from convincing. I don't always have the energy to dive into the records to back up a statement. In fact - the one game that I can vaguely recall Viney starting forward (somewhere around the middle of 2018 - maybe in Darwin?) he actually did quite well. Just as Oliver has done well once or twice resting forward. But on the entire body of evidence he hasn't got much of it when playing up forward. Maybe an extended stint will change that. I'm not convinced. We will probably never know.

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