buck_nekkid

Good changes. Play Charlie closer to goal. Looks like we have a chance with this squad.

swear a lot less in the 24 hours after the game. I think I set a new record after the Swans game.

Given where our list is at, one or two 'A graders' shy of where we want to be, and knowing: We have seen considerable development in a number of players this year like Harmes, Salem etc. Spargo and Fritsch have had immediate impact Oscar Baker is developing at Casey, and could be an outside ball hero for us with the right development. We have some structural holes (back up ruck) that are screaming out for attention - will Bradtke be this?? How far away?? We have some players with large unfulfilled potential (Trac for example, Getting Viney on the park, Getting more from Hogan, etc etc) A few players are probably ready to be retired, or to shift back to Casey type roles Gaff looks like a good get, but do we want to join the bargain shoppers on this one? Somehow I doubt it. We make a reasonable offer regardless what North offer and stick to it. Our big get was Jake Lever last year. I don't know who else we would want that is available, and unless we are going to 'wiggle someone loose', we may have to give up more than we want to so that we can get what we want.

What really gets me is not only the discrepancy, but the where and when. Gifted frees to get them out of trouble from the back line, or even worse, cheapies one kick from goal. We will get a few 'marks as frees' (coulda paid the mark, but awarded a soft free instead), and some evener uppers on the wings. We wont be dealing with a 'Dangerwood/Dusty factor', but only crowd influence and expectation that the Eagles are #2 on the ladder. I expect them to get longer to dispose of the ball, have much bigger backs and longer necks, have the ability to handpass one handed and to make minimal illegal contact with Melbourne players. After square up, 26-14 in the frees. Costing us 3.1

If we don't make the finals, I will be bloody disappointed, and I'm sure the club will be, too. The failure will come because they haven't met 'expectation'. I will also be disappointed if we make the finals without winning any more games by a quirk of statistics or whatever. My expectation is that they should start to be a 'contender' and be able to beat all comers. We are close, but we are not there yet. I think they have shown a vast improvement this year, and the outcomes that they have achieved are well above anything I have seen from the group for a number of years. They are significantly better. I am not an apologist, I demand a lot from the group by virtue of the expectations I place on them. However, I can see the difference between failure to reach a nominal goal and the actual value of the outcomes achieved. The biggest failure will be our inability to finish off top ranked teams. This is a mixture of composure, skill and class. These three elements have not been hallmarks of Melbourne sides for a dozen years, so our essentially young group have to experience it, and learn it. If we don't find an opportunity to experience it in the last 2 games then how are we really going to learn it? This is where we will have failed - putting ourselves in situations where we could gain valuable (winning) experiences, and failing to capitalise. Once it is experienced, then it has to become a practiced habit. This is what every team on the rise has done - crack a big win, learn how to do it, and believe that they can. We have cracked an occasional win (Richmond and Hawks last year) but we have really learned nothing from it in terms of composure or skill.

B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis HB: Christian Salem, Sam Frost, James Harmes ? Alex Neal-Bullen, Clayton Oliver, Angus Brayshaw HF: Charlie Spargo, Sam Weideman, Aaron vandenBerg F: Michael Hibberd, Tom McDonald, Dom Tyson Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Christian Petracca I/C (from): Dean Kent, Jake Melksham, Mitch Hannan, Cameron Pedersen, Jay Kennedy Harris, Bayley Fritsch, Jeff Garlett, Josh Wagner In: Hibberd, Kent, Melksham, Hannan, Weideman, Wagner Out: Hogan (foot), Hunt (ankle)

A response: 1. Valuable, but there is a role to influence the actions of others as well as what you directly control. The missing part is what to focus on to drive performance, and what hinders it. 2. Ok, except this is only possible with lobotomy. A person needs to develop the skills to perform even when it is a grind, and get a job done. 3. Rubbish. You need to listen to all inputs and have a suitable strategy for determining what is realistic and valuable. If we only listen to yes men, we don’t get better. Criticism is valuable... when it is valuable. 4. Knowing when to give up and when not to is an important skill. Should Hogan have played on after he fractured his foot? Should we stick with a structure that doesn’t work, or should we change. these mantras are not always as helpful as they seem on first pass. Developing powerful cognitive skills is better than rah rah bathwater drinking. A good sports psychologist would help with this, though.

Business as usual, I’d say

I would prefer to use Weids, he can crash packs and bring the ball to ground, and will trouble defenders with his leads. Pedo has been down back as the intercept marker for most of the season, and I would think didnt do enough to show he can rotate hi/lo in the forward 50. Putting him in the square? We could keep Jesse in to do that.

Oh, so 1.15 per game, not one goal fifteen behinds... need a cup of coffee to get the brain on the rails. Still, not a great return. But he did take a key back.

Wow. Did not know this. Assume this means top 8 sides. That is putrid!

Worked well for Mitch Clark

It may be a blessing in disguise. It is a shame he is out, but it might focus the squad, change our f50 entry structure, invite others to step up, and encourage the opposition to overestimate our weakness. i hope the squad digs deep and sticks it up the Weagles.

Pedo out. I would run Weid and TMac in the forward half, supported by Melk, Fritsch, Hannan and Jeffy. ANB and VBD on connection to 50 duties. Back half, Hibbo definitely in. Hunt is out, and Pedo doesn't fit here either. Don't have a Bernie or a Smith to bring back, so we may need some creative thinking in getting this done. Kielty? What about DJ? Potentially I see Wagner as a reasonable fit that is not overly tall and reasonably athletic. You would think that they will struggle forward without Kennedy, it is really Captain Darling and Will he Rioli? Out big problems are not having the high connector with Hogan out, Maxy on one leg, and any number of players down from last week. My early changes: Out: Hogan, Pedo, Hunt, JKH In: Weid, Milky, Hibbo, Hannan

I think that is a fair call, but there are many raw nerves atm, so this is what people may see in the longer term. The year has been a radical improvement over the past, and if we win something in the next few years, this may be seen as our beach head season. However, in the short term, it’s ‘finals or fail’ in terms of the way this side will be graded by most.

DH might not pass the no DH test. on a serious note, just as we bought in Lewis, it could about bringing in leadership and traits. If Vince and maybe Lewis are done, and Jones is into the twilight era, maybe he serves a role as our otherwise very young team evolves. If you take out Lewis Vince and Jones, out average age is about 14. If Sydney will pay 20% and it wasn’t a huge contract, he would certainly be an upgrade on Balic. I would be careful re the high pick, hopefully that means 60ish and not 1st round...

Lewis: with ball in hand he is an elite decision maker and distributor. Without ball in hand he struggles to get to contests, he struggles to halve contests, and he gets run off. Depends what you are looking a5 in how you judge him. We have a place for him when everything else works. Also, Salem was great by foot, but got lost defensively far too often.

"Get in my Belly"

I think we can use the car analogy in a different way: Racecars: Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, TMAC, Hibbard, Melksham, Hogan Looks good in the showroom: Petracca, Hunt Up on the hoist: Lever, Stretch and Viney Clapped out and heading for the tip: Vince, Balic Modified for improved performance in 2018: Harmes, ANB, Fritsch, Salem, OMac, Still a few miles in the old girl: Jones, Pedo, Bugg, Kent, Tyson, Jeffy, AVB, Lewis Just running in: Spargo, Weidemann Still on the lot: Baker, Kielty, Petty One owner, only driven to church on Sundays.

I thought this was a topic about Stuart Dew!

Nah, Jesse is a keeper. He was waddling like a duck trying to warm up to come back on at one stage yesterday, and looked like spent a fair bit of time on the pine. Hope he gets back to some fitness and form. If we traded players based on yesterday's performance, there would not be enough teams to trade with.

We get found out at the G because we have to run back further and wider harder. We get cut to ribbons when opposition push into space and take oodles of uncontested marks. Swans moved it up the Southern side wing over and over by short passes to unmanned players. We didnt even make a basic contest of most of them. This included leaving players unmarked at the top of the 50 m arc for 10+ seconds, who can receive an easy uncontested mark and goal. I think it is our structure, the way we run our zone, and the fact that we drop off doing the core thing (making contests) that wins us games. On smaller grounds, we seem to cover back and across reasonable well. We often give up the first or second possie so we can cover off the 80-40m kick. However, we were woefully outrun across the width of the MCG ALL DAY, and had such poor footskills that we were caught out on our offensive plays as we ran off players - only to give them the ball and space to attack with. Our defensive system failed yesterday from half forward all the way up the park. Our disposal skills made things worse.

I would say on the chopping block: pedo, Hunt, JKH, avb spargo playing injured? Max and Hogan down but probably retain Jones, ANB, Garlett who could come up? kent, Bugg, Weids, Kielty, josh Wagner?? Back from injury? milky and hibbo We are easy to beat at big grounds. Spread harder, get lots of uncontested marks, find the player free because the lazy Melbourne player has not pushed back to cover. Fix this, everything changes

He can be as arrogant as he likes. Winners are grinners, we are just a sad bunch of losers

He was an absolute [censored] to us today