Lord Travis

Agree with this. Travis is about the only player on my lifetime who I’ve trusted with kick ins. Thankfully we’ve been better this year. We still just bomb to the flank where Gawn is too often for my liking, especially when he’s not marking it. The last few weeks Gawn has been hopeless around the ground and his one dominant contested marking has deserted him. We need to find other avenues for when he’s not playing well. We miss Jackson creating a contest IMO.

Give him an extra week preparation and make sure he’s fit for the match against the Dogs.

Chandler really struggled. Only 4 disposals, with 3 effective. Only 2 tackles and gave away 2 free kicks with those. He also had -2 meters gained lol. His job is to apply pressure and take opportunities. He did neither, and we essentially played a man down. I don’t like dropping kids after one game, but it was a very poor game and there are others like Sparrow banging the door down at Casey. I’d save Viney and Jackson another week if they’re fit. We have a short break off interstate trip before meeting the Dogs, so best to bring them in and have fresh legs. This week I’d drop Chandler and bring in Sparrow. He’s been the emergency or sub multiple times, missed multiple games as a result, and smashed VFL when playing there. It’s time he gets another game.

If Viney is fit, he can replace Chandler. If Jackson is fit, it’s a hard choice for his replacement. Weid is the most similar in terms of role, but Brown was the worst performing tall today. Otherwise no change needed unless someone is sore.

6 Salem 5 Lever 4 Oliver 3 TMac 2 Langdon 1 Hunt Apologies to Jordon

Max King will be a ripper if he can tidy up his set shots. Does everything else right and generates a heap of opportunity. Very promising youngster! Match had been poorly skilled tonight. Glad we beat both these teams already this year.

His 14 goals in 3 games are a big reason their percentage is 269. He’s second in the entire VFL goal kicking. His current goal kicking form in the VFL is better than any listed Melbourne forward in over a decade, including Hogan. Credit to him for putting in the hard work and outperforming his peers. I’m glad he’s finally got his chance at AFL where he’s already proved capable. He just needs to stay on the park at this point. Jackson will never be as effective as Weid as a forward. His value is playing ruck and midfield.

Trust takes time to build. We’ve been conditioned for over 50 years to expect the wheels to fall off. It takes more than 8 games in March and April to build trust again.

We should account for Carlton comfortably on the weekend. As Yze said in his interview this week, they’re a good attacking team when they’re on. They’re not great defensively however. We are currently the best defensive team going around, and have a good attack too. I felt this was a danger game coming into this week, as we’ve had some tight matches with them in recent times. Looking at gamestyles this year though it should be a comfortable win as long as we don’t revert to the Melbourne of old and gold under pressure. 9-0!

I can understand why. He wins the ball in contested situations and almost always handballs it off very quickly. Opposition fans often think he’s thrown it and crack the [censored] haha! When he’s playing poorly, he just plays hot potato and transfers the pressure to a mate carelessly. Thankfully he appears to be getting this out of his game now. He’s also not damaging in the same way midfielders like Trac are. He rarely kicks goals, his set shots are embarrassingly poor, and he’s not known for great kicking inside 50 like Trac or Bont. He’s got less score assists than other elite mids basically. Dont get me wrong, Clarry is my favorite player and one of the best midfielders I’ve ever seen pull on the red and blue. I can understand why he’s not rated as highly as other gun mids by oppo teams. It’s the same reason I think Cripps is vastly overrated; Not damaging or rounded enough as a midfielder to be classed as truly elite.

Nathan Jones has injured his hamstring. Just posted on Afl.com

We’re all excited by Jacksons potential, but it’s simply untrue to say he’s already showed more than Weid. Weid has already had 3 goal, 20+ disposal game in a final where he was near BOG. Sure he’s been inconsistent with form and fitness, but he’s also averaged 2+ goals as number 1 tall target, and showed he was capable as a second ruck. We all get excited when young guns start their careers, but let’s not make stuff up and say they’re already better than more proven players with better output. That said, we’ve looked better at centre bounces with Dogga in there as ruck. His ground ball follow up gives us more drive than when Gawn is rucking the bounces. We should be aiming to get Dogga back in ASAP once he’s healthy again.

He was poor. When the game was in the balance in the last quarter, his weak attempt at tackle nearly cost us the game. We were lucky they didn’t score when they burst forward. After his weak tackle attempt, he just dropped his head and gave up on the contest. Didn’t run and chase and they rebounded with no pressure. Was team killing stuff. I’d almost drop him for that poor effort alone. Will be interesting to see how the match committee handled selection this week with so many banging down the door in the VFL.

Disagree. The defensive side of his game has improved greatly. In previous years he was a liability defensively. This year he’s been much better in one on one contests. He’s now able to stop air balls coming in, and then mop up all by himself. It’s a thing of beauty to see his new confidence turning his own defending into attack. In previous years he needed to be fed the ball. Not anymore, and it shows in his stats. Offensively, he’s moving the ball quicker and taking riskier longer kicking options. This is probably the result of playing in a better team and options to kick to though. He’s having an awesome season. I’ve been critical of him in the past, as I though he was capable of more for a player his age, and he’s now producing what we’d all hoped for. He should be All Australian this year. Gun.

He was another top draft pick and is leading the Coleman at the moment. He’d command more money than Weid, and a first round pick we don’t have. Tricky situation with Weid at the moment. He’s clearly above VFL level and has already shown he’s up to AFL level as recently as last year. Hard to drop TMac or Brown though when they kick 4 and 3 goals each!

Spargo to put the clamps on Saad’s rebound and then try to expose him when attacking opportunities come. Williams tends to float through the middle now, so as long as our midfield is on their game I don’t think his influence will be huge. Could even run Harmes with him if needed. Always easier to tag running players than inside mids.

We’ve lacked a defensive sweeper or defensive stopper at centre bounces the past fortnight with Viney out. Petracca and Oliver push to get on the offensive, which is fine, but they don’t react quick enough to get back the other way. Guys like Jordan, Harmes, Pickett etc also weren’t paying another defensive respect to opponents as the third mid. Our third centre stoppage mid needs to be coached to be more defensive to allow Trac and Oliver to be attacking. If they don’t win it, third mid needs to lock it in. Recently, that hasn’t happened and guys like Cunnington have just waltzed out of centre bounces. The return of Viney will help immensely, but regardless our third mid needs to be repositioned and have their role altered. Both Goldstein and Hickey got on top of Gawn the last two matches and their follow up work was good too. Hickey had more clearances than most of our mids last night! We looked better with Jackson in the ruck because he’s less predictable with his taps than Max, and he follows up better at ground level too.

Probably not that much. He’s been average the past two seasons, wins less clearances and contested possessions than both Oliver and Petracca. He’s not a match winner either, and gets overrated by the media. Carlton have other more damaging players to worry about. Walsh is comfortably their best midfielder this year. We need to make sure he has strong pressure applied all day, as his disposal is poor when pressured. If he’s allowed to run then he’ll break lines and do damage though.

Kozzie is going great for a youngster, but to say he’s already better than Cyril is a bit silly. Cyril is a Norm Smith medalist and three time All Australian. Kozzie has a long way to go to be better than Cyril. That said he’s on track to become a star like Cyril was!

Any word on if Melksham will play since his wife just gave birth today? If he’s out, do we think Sparrow or Jones will be the late in?

Goodwin said in interview on club page a day or two ago that Petty will come in and TMac will remain forward.

Lever for mine. He’s been a leader from the beginning of his career. He’s also general out there on field, almost like an onfield coach. It’s a key reason why we brought him across from the Crows. Trac has definitely matured well the last few years, but I don’t see him as an organizer and coach out there. Best for him to lead by example, but not necessarily be captain.

He is performing. He’s averaging 5 goals a game and was performing better than Ben Brown at the same level, yet Brown was promoted ahead of him. Brown had less goals, less marks, less tackles - promoted ahead of him. Weid has right to feel hard done by as he’s performing better than those around him, yet not getting the same opportunities at the next level. If I was him I’d be leaving. Why be loyal to a workplace that isn’t loyal to you? Why put in the work and outperform others, only to watch them promoted unjustly ahead of you? We need to keep improving our culture and reward those performing well, not those with a bigger name or reputation.

Deserves to be playing in our AFL team on form at present and will rightfully look to leave at end of year. He’s too good for VFL, is in ripping form there, and would comfortably play a role in our forward line at present. At 23 years of age, he’s a key part of our future forward line. Brown, TMac, M Brown are all 29+ and near the end. Jackson is no good as a tall forward and projects as a ruckman and midfielder. If we lose Weid, our list demographic breaks.

Out: Tomlinson (inj), Baker, Jones In: Petty, Sparrow, Harmes