CHF

Read the club by club reviews of trading and some pertinent comments about different club's trading were made, However, when it came to MFC, the whole blurb was to do with the rubbish that had been going on the the last month or so. Nothing really about the fact that we have a couple of first round picks in the first 10. Also started reporting on what the situation might be in 12 months time with Pickett, Petracca and Oliver. That has very little to do with our performance in this trade period, except to say that we have done very well to retain these three players for next season, added a couple of depth players to cover holes and got two excellent first round picks in a deep draft.

I think that we are in a position that if he is not picked up in the next couple of days he could be picked up at a later stage as a UFA by any club. We could make him a contract offer at any time a I understand it.

If we do not get Derksen in this trade period I would keep Tomlinson.

Damn, it would be a hard gig on trade radio so far this trade period. Not sure what else to expect though. Not a lot of prospects in the market this year for trade, either buying or selling. A high quality draft crop and mid level talent on the trade table. All the teams want to get into the draft as early as possible and as often as possible. In my book that leads to high price tags on any that are traded. For the MFC I do not see us doing much in the trade week. ANB to Adelaide, Campbell in and maybe a couple of steak knives shuffles but I expect us to retain and use pick 5 and try to get into a position for a late first round selection. As to the Oliver situation I think it is as much a result of the lack of trades so far as anything else. I think he will line up for us next season along with Petracca. With not a lot else to talk about the AFL Media is driving this for all it is worth. Give me a break.... I read a headline that said Oliver has a dream of playing for Geelong.

Who is this 'Sam Manure' and why should I bother with him?

The "Dude" being Moore putting Petracca's life on the line.

It is as I thought. No definitive statement from either the player or the club until the talking is done and there is a resolution as such that looks to close the chapter. Keep in mind that the story has not been written or completed just the latest chapter. For a number of years now I have accepted that the AFL is a professional sport where the players have a limited time to maximise their earnings and set themselves up for their post playing lives. Accepting that I have to accept all that goes with it Including the last few weeks of discussion and conjecture about Petracca's future. It is the way it is. I also have to say that I support the MFC team and not just individual players. As with all of us, I have favorite players but it is the team I support. I think that there were faults on both sides of the table and in hindsight both sides would have handled it a bit differently. However, I take the statements from the club and the player at face value for the time being until words and actions tell me differently. I expect that the club and the player will act with professionalism from now, through the pre-season and into next season. No matter what Petracca might think or feel he will need to be ultra professional to get back to playing the standard of football he knows he is capable of. Either to get the MFC back into contention or to showcase his ability to potential suitors. I hope both sides take lessons from this and not 'learnings'. P.S. I would not be surprised to see Petracca spending more time operating out of the midfield next season than he did this last season.

Fair enough but I would still give him a run this week or next week to see how he reacts to the situation and to give him some clear incentive over the off season.

I would like to see Sestan given a run.

Melksham sub….. interesting call.

I am a supporter of Goodwin and think he has done a good job of developing the list and the players. Have all the trades worked out? No. Is Goodwin solely responsible for that? No. Looking at this season i do not see that the results are all his responsibility. A tough preseason with a couple of players injured and/or having issues, Brayshaw having the retire.... Critical injuries to critical players, It added up to a very tough year for the players and the coaching staff. I add to that an item that Goodwin and the coaching team are responsible for. I believe that they tried to adapt to the latest coaching/playing trends and on top of that, adjusted the game plan with what they thought was the next step in the development of those latest successful trends. It looks to me as if we are trying to control the ball movement much more than last season and this is leading to a much more static setup after a turnover. I think we might have coached the wrong structures this season. it may be that injuries have not helped the adoption of the new style of play that is required. I will be interested to see what is developed during the next preseason. In the last three games of this season I would like to see the team given more freedom to attack. Let them play a bit more instinctively. Still make them aware of the required fundamentals but give them licence to play with imagination and aggression. As for the players I would give Laurie a run for these last three games as well as getting a look at Jefferson and Sestan. We need to know what they could bring to the team.

Breakfast out of the way..... showered and shaved. Now waiting... waiting...waiting. I think we will give a good account of ourselves in this game but it will be close. Dees to just scrape home with a big finish in the last quarter. Go Dees!

None at all. It works well where I am in NW Europe.

Marvel is just that little bit closer to me....... 16,604.52 kms

Just checked on google maps and from my front door to the 'G' is 16,607.31kms. I did watch the whole bloody lot on my live stream. .... And have watched the replay a couple of times to work out what I saw. Is that a good enough excuse?

As William Wallace was once heard to remark.......

I've given up trying to predict selection and picking a team and giving my compelling reasons why I am 100% right and they should leave team selection to me. Having said that, the team this week, given the unavailables and injured, is about as good as we could put together.

It is not a matter of being pleased or displeased with the selections over the last two weeks. It was just a reflection of the reality of the results. Additionally, with regard to team selection, I do not believe that it is possible to please ALL of the people at any time.

Last week we gambled on selection and had a win... this week we also rolled the dice and lost. I think to walk (or fly) away from these last two games with 4 points given the loss of Petracca and Gawn is not a bad result. A few observations... a. It is foolish in hindsight to go into the season with no recognised back up ruck. We have bought in a couple of NQR talls/forward/rucks (?) that we wanted to develop and that has not worked out. Bad list management or bad luck? b. I would still like to have seen one of the talls given a run on Sunday so that we could have a look at them in context. c. With Brayshaw's medical retirement, Oliver's lack of a pre-season and Petracca's long term injury our midfield is very underpowered and badly structured. It looked like we did not do any research into the setup of Fremantle's mids at the bounce or stoppages. d. Given the lack of midfield cohesion and structure I find it difficult to be critical of either our Defence or Attack on Sunday. With no defensive pressure between the arcs from boundary to boundary, it was impossible for the defence to hold up. Similar for the forwards. No attacking structure through the middle gives the forwards, no clue as to where to lead or where the ball is going to arrive. e. One other observation. Our defensive team lead by May and Lever is still one of the best in the game not only during the game but also off field in driving the standards and culture of the club. Some of this might be down to Troy Chaplin, I am not certain to what degree. One thing I do find interesting is the way the players from the defence are finding their feet in other roles within the team. Petty and Turner in the forwards, Rivers and Salem as mid rotations. This development of role flexibility is critical to our future success and I hope that it continues. I am at an age where I have a hell of a lot more long and winding road behind me than open road in front. When I survey my journey as a MFC supporter over the years a couple of things stand out. Win the midfield and you win the game. Players that play with imagination and a smile are always my favorites. Anyway.... onward and upward to the next game.

the mousetrap worked to perfection.... well done Goodwin and co.

The mousetrap is working. so far... so good.

so far..... so good.

Goodwin and the selectors have come up with a cunning plan and believe they have built a better mousetrap. All we need now is for essendon to chase the cheese. Dees by a couple of goals.

Well, this selection has made the game a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. A lot of pressure on the midfield to step up and force turnovers. I feel that is going to be the key for us. Mildly confident about a win on Saturday evening. Go Dees!

Looking forward to seeing how we cover Max's absence. I don't see us changing our setup very much after the good pressure we showed last game. It will also be a bit of an unknown for the Bombers as they, along with all the other teams in the comp set up to Max's taps most of the time and accept a negative, covering attitude at the center bounces and, to a lesser extent at stoppages around the ground. Without Max there they will need to adjust to their ruck winning more taps and their mids will need to be more aggressive at the ball rather than trying to negate our mids. It may open up the work around the stoppages for us a little. I am sure we are doing a lot of work on all of their possible rucks to put in place a few options as to setup to ensure we get some good clearance numbers. Around the ground I think we can cover them. It will again require a lot of thought and planning to work our way around this but the basic nonnegotiable is that we bring the pressure for 4 quarters and force the turnovers. Force the turnovers and nail the transition with speed and being clean by hand and foot. B: Lever, May, Bowey HB: AM-W, TMac, McVee C: Langdon, Oliver, Windsor HF: ANB, JVR, Pickett F: Melksham, Fristch, Chandler Fol: Fullerton, Viney, Rivers IC: Salem, Sparrow, Tholstrup, Turner, Verrall - sub Yep... I know no Petty, and Verrall as sub. The forward setup last week worked as good as it has all year and I think it would be a good thing to give it another run. Petty at Casey for mine. We do not seem to use the sub as an aggressive move at all. It may be an evolving role for all teams but I think this may work for us. Fullerton as main ruck with Turner as back up. Those two can rotate between ruck and forward as required. As long as we do not have any injuries we bring on Verrall half way through the 3rd quarter for either of them. We get to see what he has at this stage and a fresh set of legs to run the oppo ruck around a bit more.