Its Time for Another

I agree with you that the use of handballs wasn't a change in game plan. What I think it was, was an indication of a significant coming of age in the playing group. I think it showed that they are now able in the middle of a game to respond to a changing set of circumstances. In this case the Tigers opening with ferocious attack on the contests was leaving our players exposed and isolated and forced to dispose of the ball ineffectively under immense pressure. The first thing I believe that happened after that first 15 minutes barrage was the players, in the moment on the field, realised they had to increase the support by getting more numbers back around the contests so we were no longer isolated. Once we did that we started to turn the tide. We then used the system around the contests Jordan Lewis said he has been teaching them to have strings of players away from the contest ready to release the ball further and further into space. This is a significant development of the game plan we've been waiting for years for. It's hopefully the end of the bees to the honey pot syndrome. Secondly we realised the way to retain control of the ball was not to always kick long to release pressure which is how I've seen MFC play forever and usually means top teams like the Tigers end up with our clearing disposals. Instead we used handballs to clear into space and then look much further down the ground and if there aren't clear options kick short thus keeping possession. Salem is the master of this. I think this is the single most significant change in the way the team is playing that gives me the most confidence they are becoming a top 4 side. Running in numbers is the key to all of this. You can't run back deep in defence to help out or far in attack to create options if you don't have the fitness. You don't have the fitness until you've had enough years in the system and you have the right fitness people training you. We finally have a critical number of players who have been around long enough. We should have been here in about 2011-12 after the rebuilds started at the end of 2007. Instead of that we've waited through 3 1/2 rebuilds. I think there's only about 3 players left from when Roosy started. Gawn, T Mac, Viney. Salem's draft was the first under Roosy. There's so much else that's gone into this finally happening. But it mainly seems to be a critical mass of players reaching the number of games necessary to understand the game enough to respond to changing circumstances mid game and make the right decisions. Without that you have nothing. Those decisions are taught by the right coaches which we now appear to have. This week they are likely to face a lot less pressure at the face of the contest so will probably be able to get into space away from contests without needing to handpass as much. This won't be a change to the game plan it will be a response to the state of the game.

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Jordan Lewis on SEN this morning was asked if Buckley goes from Collingwood who does he know who he thinks could take over. Straight off he said Yze then Sam Mitchell. What a nightmare. I've gone from revelling in the ever increasing debacle over there to suddenly hoping they start winning enough games (Queens Birthday excluded of course) so that they resign Buckley and don't go near our Ooze. Heats going to be on if that happens. Do we lose him to Collingwood or do we do something drastic to Goody just when he's got the place up and about. Maybe create a succession plan. He's familiar with them after all. That would be pretty unprecedented for a team that's becoming up and about. I suppose Collingwood did exactly that to Malthouse when they brought Buckley in. I must say Goody looks like somethings not quite right at the moment. Watching footage of him around the playing group at the end of the Tigers game he looked almost down instead of what you'd expect, beaming with satisfaction.

I was interested to revisit the Lever deal after there's been quite a lot of coverage about him this week and one article talked about us overpaying for him. I'll put my hand up and say I thought two first rounders was way over for him, however, you can't just look at the headline swap and not take into account the other picks. I've had a closer look at the deal. I won't go into all the incredibly complex deals around all the swaps etc but in effect this was the end result in players. We effectively got Lever, Petty and Sparrow. Sparrow included our 2018 pick 37 on top of the Lever deal. They effectively got Bryce Gibbs and I can't really work out what else. The two first rounder picks we gave up became :- 2017 pick 10 Carlton picked Lochie O'Brien 2018 pick 19 Carlton picked Liam Stocker. In the end it looks like an extremely good deal.

@Binman I rarely disagree with you but in this case I agree with BDA. I would look at the best team for the finals. Assuming BB is fit and in form he’s got to be in that team. He’s going to be a huge bonus with the change in rules. We’re playing a KPH short. You can’t compare Jacko to him as a FF. This next 4 games is the best run we’re going to have for the rest of the season. it’s the best chance there will be to build the synergy with him in the team. We won’t lose because he’s brought in. IMO it will be a big mistake not to do it now. The Doggies have growing injuries and have a short backline. He could make a massive difference. Imagine if we beat them. That lid will be wizzing into the stratosphere. Bring BB in. Just do it.

I have a feeling we're going to look back on this win as a watershed moment on the way finally to the Holy Grail. This is shaping as the best team since '64. The players proved t themselves last night that the game plan will stack up under immense finals pressure if they execute it. It was Dees of old for the first 15-20 minutes panicking under pressure and bombing the ball to contests where it just came back. We've seen this in so many key Dees games over the decades. Then after that first 20 minute barrage Salo showed the way by calmly spotting up short targets where we retained possession and quelled their momentum. The we started getting to contests in numbers so we had back up and off we went. I don't think we can underestimate how significant the growth in belief in the system will be. You've literally seen it growing game by game this year but this was the real test. The reigning Premier coming out and throwing their best at us. How snippy did they get when they realised their best wasn't good enough. Deepest list across the 22-26 since that golden era. (I feel confident virtually any player will be competitive and not outclassed) WE may have had some individuals that were better but not the whole team. Fittest. We've waited since the 3.5 rebuilds started at the end of 2007 to get a core group of players who've been in the system long enough to have the fitness and strength to compete with the best. Plus all credit to the Admin for getting Burgo, the best in the business. Coaching - system of play. I don't care who is responsible individually but as a group they've done wonders over one pre season. It wasn't even evident in the Doggies pre season game. It's the most sustainable system of play I've ever seen a Dees team executed since '64. This game showed it all. Strap in. Here we go.

I don't know enough to comment. Leighoak with Pokies was bringing in $1.5mill a year. It will be interesting to see what revenue source they come up with to replace it. Especially now that all the capital from the venue has been used up in the past 2 years to pay off debt.

Easy enough question to answer. Just have a look at how many memberships we have from there. I'm guessing it's a very small amount.

It would be pretty sensational to get off at Richmond station and drop in to an MFC base around Gosch's for maybe lunch or a drink. Chat with other MFC supporters. The Club could make sure someone from the FD or a couple of injured players were available every week to give a breakdown for the game coming up. Have a look around the 12 Premiership Cups and other Club memorabilia. Maybe an MFC museum. Go over to the game had home via the club facility fpr a post game club event. etc. Doesn't sound too shabby to me. Bit better than trying to do that in Glen Iris. On the other hand smarter more experienced people than me have to know the economics of how many people would use a facility like that. The Swans had one in the Cross. The President Richard Colless sunk millions of his own money into it. It was a very modern facility but was an absolute bust. They all did their dow. So you have to know how to make money from it. Perty already has that experience with the Pies facility at Olympic Park. I dont know what the answer is.

It's an interesting question who or what is Luke Jackson. When he was recruited I was very worried he was going to be an inbetweeny. Not tall enough to be a first ruckman, not good enough as a forward. When Jason Taylor talked about him pre draft he mentioned that he hadn't been playing long and his rate of development over the previous season had been phenomenal. Or words to that effect. The kids 19 and he's played 11 games. His rate or should I say speed of development has been nothing short of phenomenal. Not only his play but his physical development. After one season he is already able to compete physically against seasoned rucks like Blicavs and Stanely. He's already shown enough to me that I don't have doubts about him being a legitimate ruckman. His vertical leap more than makes up for his lack in height for a ruckman. His innate footy IQ is elite. You can't teach what he's got. It's a more complex argument about his performance as a key forward. If you base it just on scoring like Dr D then 1 goal 2 points is a fail. But lets be honest here the kid wasn't recruited as a key forward and he clearly won't be one in his career. He's going to be a hybrid ruck/midfielder/resting forward. He's 19 and because of injuries, in his 7th to 11th games has been forced to play as a KPF taking the first or second best key defender with virtually no physical backup as T Mac has played a lot up the ground. Even so he's played a very good role competing in the air, not letting defenders get easy marks and clearances, knocking it down to our smalls and providing follow up pressure. That's all been very valuable but ultimately he won't hold out our 2 genuine key forwards. The dilemma for Goody will be when to bring them in and how to shuffle the rest of the team. They are saying they are now both fully fit so do you disrupt the continuity of the team to bring 3 players back including Fritsch into the front 6 in the same game against the Premiers. There is a longterm benefit in getting games into them to learn to play together but in the short term you'd expect it is going to be quite disruptive. Tigers played Pickett in the ruck last week so you don't need a second ruckman. T Mac or Weid would be a win in the ruck. Maybe BBB could do with another week in the seconds. I can't see Weid being left out he's an obvious in for M Brown. If it wasn't for an argument about disruption I would be bringing Weid and BBB in and giving Jacko a rest just this week because of matchups but I don't think that will happen. I think the disruption argument will win out and it will just be Weid and Fritsch this week. I think there will be games this year Jacko is rested from to help team balance and to give him a rest and have him cherry ripe for the finals.

I’ve noticed in the last 2 weeks that his problem seems to be he is jumping a fraction too soon so he is getting to the flight of the ball but it’s just a fraction too high and hitting the top of his fingers. When not if he works that out and jumps a fraction later he will be unstoppable. Then he and Gawn need someone to teach them how to kick goals and the Dogger will have truly arrived. King brothers what King brothers.

Sorry to derail the thread for a minute. I was always a bit dark on Stan that as a reigning Captain of MFC he took off to chase a Premiership at North. I spoke to him at a coaching clinic some years ago and that wasn't what happened. Bobby Skilton was the coach in '76 and at the end of the season he said sorry Stan even though you're the Captain we are going to go with a youth policy from now on and you're going to have to retire. Stan was shocked and very disappointed and thought his career was over. To put that decision in perspective at the end of that year it was thought the Dees were very close to a new era. In the last round that year the Dees were on the cusp of the finals they just had to beat the Pies (who finished bottom but the next year drew a Grand Final) and Blues who were on top of the ladder had to beat Dogs who were not even in the 5. We beat the Pies and as the players were going off the ground the score for the Blues v Dogs came up on the scoreboard and it was a draw costing the Dees their place in the finals. As the Collingwood players came off the ground and saw that result they clapped and laughed. Thus was born my never swerving hatred of that Club. I fantasise about the one point Premiership win we will have against them with a kick after the siren. Anyhow back to Stan. During the preseason he got a call from Barassi who asked if he wanted to give it a go at North. By the end of that first season in '77 he'd become a Premiership player and was famously doing cartwheels on the members wing after the final siren. As a side note Skilton was gone as coach at the end of that year. Joining a long line of failed MFC coaches. Back to Lingers and Choco's magical kicking coaching. :)

Yep. Go to afl.com.au into the MFC matches and the player stats. It's there for every player for every game. ToG%. Makes for very interesting reading. I was checking it out last year and noticed how Viney's time was down compared to other midfielders. Bit the same this year. I suspect he's being managed for the rest of his career. His stat's are amazing when you see that he plays less game time than the other top midfielders. It also probably tells a bit of a story on how they are managing players loads week to week. For instance Lingers game time was down after the 100% Saints game. There's sure to be a lot of science around that stat.

Do you have any idea why. Was it an issue with players or coaches and what's changed. Would love to know.

Dr Smith maybe.

Would be an interesting situation if he did nominate us as an RFA. I know I'll get howled down for this. I realise it's probably a ridiculous statement but Dodoro might have learnt a bit of a lesson from the Daniher fiasco. I don't think Merritt is worth more than Daniher and in the end Dodoro accepted the compo pick for him. He'd probably get pretty much the same compo pick for Merritt or even a higher one as they'll probably finish even lower this year. It would probably be a top 5 pick for him. That's pretty fair. Hope and prey T Mac continues to play really well and we manage to offload his $750k that's the required salary cap space right there. Negotiate Merritt into a reasonable salary in return for being in a team heading to a flag. Done.

Hitouts v Cats. Blicavs 14, Jackson 12, Stanley 10. Clearances: Blicavs 1 Jackson 4 Stanley 3 Disposals: Blicavs 9 Jackson 10 Stanley 10 I was looking forward to him v Blicavs who is similar type of tall, athletic player who plays ruck and a key position. I thought physically he held his own against him in the stoppage ruck contests and didn't look physically overwhelmed at all. This is a huge step up for a 19 yr old tall. One of the pre draft worries about him was that he was an athlete first and a very raw, project footballer second. In fact, as these examples show, he's got elite footy IQ. Go Jacko.

That kick of Langdon's was the best i50 kick he's done. I didn't think he had that sort of low direct pass in him. If he can do that consistently it takes him to another level.

Brilliant. Thanks for doing this. Can you believe those two years. Can't imagine there was another recruiting era like it. 19 players who all played a significant amount of games in one of the best eras for the club. That '87 run to the finals is still my favourite. The legendary '87 Prelim then the shocker '88 Grand Final.

Theres a bunch of others to add in around that 1986/87. For instance Sean Wight, Jimmy Stynes. Also traded in Doug Koop, Dean Chiron '87. Garry Lyon, Ricky Jackson, Steven Stretch & Brett Lovett, Simon Eishold ( I know I know) debuted in 1986. Plus junior players that came up from our U19's to our Reserves to our 1sts care of RDB and Slug Jordan. They all debuted around 1986/7. Tony Campbell, , Stawbs O'Dwyer, Glenn Lovett, Rod Grinter (Honourable mention year b4 1985)

I don't think Jason Taylor would agree with you. I'm sure he'd be saying there was no luck involved just elite professional talent spotting and pick negotiating. Rivers was always going to be the litmus test for me for that draft. I was in the get Young at pick 3 at all costs camp because we so needed his elite kicking. But the hope was that once we got Jackson, Rivers could produce a similar output to Young, then Jackson becomes a bonus compared to getting Young at pick 3. As it's turned out Rivers has delivered in spades arguably out performing Young. He went at 100% DE against GWS. In my book it's hard to argue against 100% all some on here no doubt would

Actually we turned it into Langdon.

Thanks for both these explanations. I thought that was what you were getting at. It's probably a matter of semantics but I don't think with the dominance created by Gawn and our midfield beasts that there would ever be a plan to lose a stoppage. I think your example of that first centre bounce is possibly more a demonstration of a better game plan on how to clear the ball from a clearance to the outside instead of having too many players inside and none in an effective place outside which is what has been happening the past couple of years. The Doggies are masters of setting up outside clearances. The irony is that we were losing clearances with more players at the ball than we are with a better structure. From my observation so far this season the players are setting up better away from the ball so they are better at defending the first kick away from the clearance and also better at being in a position to receive the clearance in attack if we win it.

If T Mac keeps playing the way he has he will be valuable by the end of the season and will be expendable with all the other options we have. If he was traded to say the Pies that would release the money we need for a Kelly who would take the wing that Gus is on. Gus could potentially move on to play with his brother. One or both could be the solution to getting Kelly but he'd want to be playing better than last season and he'd have to be prepared to take a salary cut at least back to what Oliver and Trac will be getting.