Bonkers

In fairness the club did try off load him for pick 12 so I don't think we can really say the club is overly confident in his recovery. If they were confident I don't think he would have ever been on the table. They tried to get something for him while he still had a price that could help us build our list. At the moment his price would be zero due to his injury so the club may as well take a punt on his recovery as that scenario provides greater value to the club.

I can't remember who mentioned it on AFL360, but they were comparing Brett Kirk to Jack Viney. Roos believes they are similar in character & attributes. Different career paths obviously one from the rookie lost the other was an elite junior. The thing that stands out to me & obviously so many others is how hard at it he is. He may not be the most gifted in terms of skills, but I think he is a player you can build your team around like Hodge, Kirk & Selwood. Yesterday he was just as influential as Max Gawn & Bernie Vince, he may not have been heralded as the match winner but he definitely set the tone & was not willing to be beaten. It was an epic effort to destroy Selwood on his home turf. I hope it's the beginning of great things to come from Jack.

Over the last few weeks we have seen strides made by Toumpas, Watts, Gawn, Spencer, Viney & Vince as well as others I'm sure I've forgot to mention. They are all at different stages of their career & perhaps some in particular were circling the toilet bowl of their MFC careers just 3 months ago. Today's win amongst the last month of footy has shown genuine signs of development for not just these players but the whole group & perhaps as a club we have turned a corner today. It's fitting that our worst loss of the modern era against Geelong has now been somewhat erased by our best win in the same era. The win gives genuine belief in our progress as well as coaching & development structure. The likes of Roos & McCartney appear to be having a big influence on our younger players & they genuinely look to believe they belong at the highest level. Hopefully we can keep taking one step at a time to become the club we want to be.

Brainless club. Get numbers behind the ball. School boys could figure that out. Unfking believable !!!

Just done some reading on Gallucci, he is only 16 & has been in Metro's best in all their games so far. Looks like he will be a gun in the future.Clarke really stood out to me in the second quarter of the WA game. Ran hard, won his own ball & also got on the end of a few to kick a few goals. Possible a BOG performance. Looks like his draft range is mid first round depending on his TAC form.

Clark & Galucci(spelling?) look lively types for Vic metro. They would both compliment our list well as skilled hard running type players who also enjoy the contest. Does anyone have much background info on these two? Galucci is a bottom ager I believe.

The game plan was looking pretty good when we were 4 goals up in the 2nd quarter.

It doesn't really surprise me that Roos dropped him & isn't revealing the truth. What I will be surprised about is if Watts doesn't play again in the Red & Blue with 2/3 of the season remaining Watts has time to turn things around. There would have to be a very big disagreement as well as Watts holding deep resentment towards Roos for that to happen. From the outside looking in Roos has backed Watts in & protected him from the media scrutiny as much as possible up to this point in time.

With the players we have out & our current lack of depth the result was hardly a surprise. Whilst it was bad to watch, we haven't found out anything we didn't already know. There's still half a list to turn over & we desperately need a couple of true A grade midfielders & a dependable ruckman. My concern about the loss is more about how it effects the younger players belief & morale. From that perspective I can understand why Roos would give players time away from the club. The challenge for this group is to maintain belief in themselves & to continue to try execute what they have been trying to implement when they are up against it. After Garland coughed up the ball when we were two goals up & the Hawks kicked an easy goal the momentum switch was almost like an avalanche.

I would say in this instance they are a good indicator that Brayshaw relishes the physical contest & will not ever take a backward step. It is a measurement of an aspect of his game but not his performance in entirety you're correct there. But it's something that as a club we have lacked for quite some time. Personally I enjoy watching the likes of vandenBerg, Gus Brayshaw & Kent as they are prepared to fly the flag. You can build a team around these type of players & I'm glad that Roos values these types as you can anticipate that we will at least be competitive.Edit: Spelling

Not sure if you have mentioned this before DD36 regarding Toumpas. He had a team high 28 disposals yet wasn't in your best. Any particular knock on his game today ?Edit: spelling

This is my issue with Dawes at the moment. I realise he is providing an option to kick to when there is no other option. But if all he is providing is halving a contest I don't think that is good enough at this level. If he could ruck more effectively he would be a greater asset, but he is a limited footballer. I'm now beginning to see why Collingwood were happy to move him on, he doesn't have great skills & doesn't do much other than half a contest. How often does he win his position on the day? In the weeks since he has been included in our side our ball movement out of the backline has become more stagnant & that has to have something to do with what's happening up the field. Dawes for mine is a big part of that.

Out of interest how many does Dawes have?

Positives: -Attack on the ball & player when not in possession especially in the first quarter. -Pressure on the opposition coming out of their backline & creating goals from turnovers in the first quarter. -The game was faught out over four quarters Negatives: -Intensity drop off & loss of momentum after Watts dropped two marks. -Goals against from clearances -Ball movement down the boundary at times was terrible. Almost like watching a team coached by Neeld. -Losing possession of the ball in transition through failing to switch, lack of numbers providing options, poor work rate, poor disposal etc

Can anyone identify how we have been able to get the jump on opponents two weeks in a row & then capitulate after quarter time?

How do you explain the low numbers of inside 50's this week opposed to last week? Even when we were in front the inside 50s were level. Yes we were beaten in the midfield, maybe that was because we were out numbered, out worked & out run due to us having too many talls & not enough mids.

Over the last 10 years the game patterns have started to look a little like soccer. There has been flooding which is what many call parking the bus. Forward press where players push to pressure the opposition with the ball in their own half. To counter this they have counter attacking or sling shot football here where coaches try & get out the back of the press into space to create easier scoring chances. What we haven't seen happen too much is maintained possession football where a team will try to control the play & possess the ball so the other side doesn't score. To some degree we have tried this last year, but it was more sideways kicking & slow ball movement. In soccer the best teams will possess the ball to control the game. They will set up their team in a formation where the ball carrier always has two outlets to pass the ball to or triangles if you draw lines to link players from above. Perhaps Hawthorn is already implementing a form of this strategy with their ball movement I'm not sure, I think coaches could learn a lot from it though. In terms of the game yesterday we probably should have tried to get more men behind the ball when they had momentum to stem the tide & to start to get hands on the ball through possession. Other than that we needed to win more clearances which is pretty simple.

Our style of play was vastly different to last week. Our transition from defence to attack was slow & it didn't help create any momentum. We were exciting to watch last week because we didn't have a one focal point of attack, there were numerous outlets. Today it was a lot of kicking down the line instead of switching the ball or looking to run through the middle. I know this wouldn't have won us the clearances however it was a big part of the game.

Like Roos said last week you need players who can run for 4 quarters & players who can win their own ball. That aspect of football has never changed. The surprising thing for me is that he didn't take his own advice today & play enough running players. 4 tall forwards & 4 tall backs is too much in my opinion.

In my opinion we went in with too many talls today. The inside 50s were dramatically less than last week. We were over run through the midfield mid way through the 2nd quarter & were not able to lock the ball inside 50 to exert enough pressure. Dawes had a decent first qtr but after that he was not effective. I'd be tempted to go with the line up from round one for next week.

Hopefully the changes don't throw out the balance of the forward line from last week. I'm not that sold on Dawes inclusion, but I'll be happy to be wrong if we win on Saturday.

Mods feel welcome to put this comment & article in any of the other numerous jack watts threads. The article is by Garry Lyon, he discusses Watts & compares him to Gunston. http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hes-all-right-jack-why-demons-forward-should-follow-hawk-stars-lead-20150403-1me22o.html

Although they have listed Gorringe & Smith in their team so they have two specialist rucks named vs our 1 & part timer.

The quality sides like hawthorn only have two genuine Talls in their forward line. Having 3 can leave a team short of run & forward pressure. Hopefully Watts can play in a Gunston type role leaving the other small forwards to push up the ground & provide support to players moving out of the backline. As you said they probably trialled the tall set up vs small, if the game against Freo is anything to go by the small set up worked. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come on Saturday & they can display a similar performance for a full 4 qtrs.

Compared to the lineups from the nab challenge there are a lot less talls listed. I like it, however we may be stretched in the ruck with only Jamar & Frost. It will test Jamar taking the bulk of the ruck duties & so far Frost has been limited in the ruck. Perhaps Gawn will come in for Howe as another poster previously mentioned.