Lord Travis

I still have flashbacks to the mid 2000s when we were top of the ladder and somehow lost to bottom placed Carlton. It's a very Melbourne thing to do. If we lose this one then we may as well shut up shop. We SHOULD win by 30+. Just get it done Dees!

Embarrassing and not a surprise. It was infuriating to hear that interview with 3rd gamer Georgiadis last week saying he enjoyed running around against us with little pressure and being allowed free run to fly for marks. It just shows when we are not switched on we have bugger all intensity around the ground, to the point where even kids can gain confidence and dominate us. On the other end of the scale, we barely had a rising star nomination in 4-5 years. Not that it's the be all and end all, but it's a measure that shows our kids don't develop as well and take far longer to have an impact or make it. Player development is still the biggest weakness the club has had for decades IMO.

Here’s hoping. He’s an AFL premiership winning strategic coach, so probably better credentialed than most of our current coaching group!

Nice little write up by an ex poster! Robs seriously knows his football and already has a lot of coaching experience for someone his age. Hoping the club reaches out to him about a coaching position in future.... he's die hard red and blue! It does beggar belief that our problems are so obvious to even casual football watchers at this point. Headed for back to back bottom four finishes. Surely the coaching staff gets overhauled at the end of the year!

This is basically what I've been banging on about here for a few years now. We need more rounded players in our midfield. We have too many pure inside ball winning mids. Top teams mids are more versatile, and the balance in their midfield is more even. Richmond as the example here have Martin, Cotchin, Edwards, Lambert all play significant forward minutes. We need to do similar with Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes, Petracca. All four can contribute up forward, but are rarely played there (Trac aside). This is a basic strategy would should be adopting. Richmond, again as the example, often have Edwards, Lambert, Stack, Mcintosh, Rioli etc in at centre bounces to give them a point of difference and become less predictable. Though they're not a huge clearance team, when they do win clearances they're usually more damaging than the bang it long in hope type clearances we win en masse. They spread from the contest and use good decision making and disposal skills to either hit a target inside 50 or score. We just bomb it long without looking and watch it come right back out as quickly as it entered. The fact we have the best tap ruckman in the game feeding our mids for bugger all advantage is an indictment on the coaching staff and midfield. It should be quality of entires into 50, not quantity of entries. For me, I don't think we have the right players on the list to ultimately be successful. I've been vocal that we need to trade/cast some out to get in more rounded players so we can improve our midfield in all facets of the game. For the rest of this year, I'd like to see something similar to what Action Jackson mentioned. I do not want to see more than two inside mids at any given centre bounce. The others need to play forward or back and start contributing in other ways. The Petracca/Oliver/Viney/Brayshaw/Harmes centre bounce groups win lots of clearances and contested ball, but are ultimately ineffective in generating quality scoring opportunities and winning matches.

I agree our midfield needs to be rebalanced, but not sure the above is best. Dunkley likely isn't up to AFL standard. Decent mid at VFL level, but more suited to a forward flank. We have his type in abundace. Sparrow and Harmes could both play inside. Harmes has done this in the past. Sparrow is a natural inside mid, though very similar to Viney IMO. I wouldn't play them both in the guts together as they're too similar. Tomlinson is more suited to running roles, not inside roles. I'd be playing him off halfback line as a mobile CHB type. I believe that's where he's best suited. Jordan is potentially the best of the lot IMO. He has a more rounded skillset, showing he's capable inside in VFL second half of last year. He's got decent pace and good kicking skills, and started as half back flank. I'm actually surprised he hasn't debuted yet, as I rate him higher than some currently getting a game. None of Petracca, Oliver or Brayshaw are good enough kicks to be elite outside mids. Petraccas kicking is hit and miss. Sometimes it's low bullets, sometimes it's worst on ground efficiency. Brayshaw similar and he's currently failing in a wing/outside mid role. He's either inside or bust, potentially back flank as he had success there in his first season. Olivers kicking is horrendous, amongst the worst in the league. Playing him as an outside mid would be a poor coaching move if we're trying to win matches. He'd be better suited to a forward role, as his kicking for goals might not be as bad as his shoddy field kicking. He showed a bit when resting forward in 2018 as you mentioned. We don't have the right balance of players on our list. IMO we need to trade/draft in more rounded mids and cast off some of our one paced inside mids.

Serong is already having an impact on games this early into his career. Looks a future gun mid/forward. Another one missed *sigh*

Hahaha! I’d consider trading him... for Neale and a first rounder maybe No way we’d trade him. He’s not perfect, but he’s one of the best young inside midfielders the game has seen for decades.

It's a huge issue. Trac is our only midfielder who kicks goals consistently. Oliver and Brayshaw looked more likely in 2018 scoring 12 and 14 goals respectively, but have both regressed in scoring and impact on matches since. Harmes used to score 10-15 goals a year, but with role changes he doesn't score anymore. Langdon is the type of player who should hit the scoreboard. Our midfield needs to hit the scoreboard more, but so do our half forwards. The half forwards types like Neal-Bullen, Melksham, Hannan, have gone from 30+ goal a year types to bugger all. Coupled with massive drop off of tall forwards ( Hogan and Tmac both around 50 goals) and it's disaster. It all starts in the midfield, and ours is broken.

Quote from May in that interview, "not gonna win a game kicking down the line". Coaches, take note. Our entire kick-out and rebound plan is bomb long down the line to Max and hope he clunks it. Time to form some actual strategies!

For people who haven’t seen it, attached is the team heatmaps for the 2nd quarter last night. This is legitimate and not edited in any way. Port really [censored] us!

I've been saying since last year that our midfield is unbalanced and we need to trade one of Brayshaw or Viney and get in someone who is more rounded. We're got too many see ball get ball inside types, and lack rounded midfielders who can both win ball and use it well. We're now using Brayshaw on a wing like we did for Jones, Tyson, Lewis and other before him. It's not working. It hasn't worked for years now, yet the coaches keep trying to plug a round hole with a square peg. Supporters who believe this is the best list we've had are braindead. We're potentially going back to back bottom four and have one of the worst forward lines to take the field this century. Our list is average, and coaching group is rubbish. I'm all for trading Brayshaw or letting Viney go through free agency if we get a first rounder back. Look at how Port drafted two years back: Rozee, Butters, Duursma. All rounded players with skill, pace and hardness who have an impact in multiple positions. I believe we drafted poorly last year with the picks we had available in the first round. I was vocal about it at the time and am unfortunately being proven right. Time to start making bold list changes. We have a nucleus to build around so we don't need to go full rebuild mode, but we do need to make some strong calls on favorite players. That may mean trading Brayshaw.

Georgiades being interviewed now. Talking about how it’s easy when you get a free jump at it. How sad that a kid in his third game can play with such little pressure on him from the opposition.

Sparrow manned him for over three quarters. Hopefully he learnt something at least because he got pantsed.

Body is shot since the footy injury. He’s got the turning circle of the titanic. If it’s not a straight lead and chest mark in space, then he’s out of the contest. We took a big risk putting our stock in him being a dominant key forward. The gamble has not paid off.

[censored] abysmal. How long must we wait to support an average team, let alone a good one?

9 years ago. 2 full rebuilds since. 3 coaches since. Still a bottom four team. Disgrace.

Weid playing 1 vs 4... why kick to someone outnumbered that heavily?! That means there’s 3 free team mates elsewhere. Have a look you idiot!

Georgiades went 6 picks after Pickett in last years draft... and they say talls usually take longer!

Is Goodwin still at the ground? Has he been in the bog taking a [censored] for the last 90 minutes? What is going on?! Do something you pelican!

Our forward line is rat****. Pickett looks flashy, but ultimately is a non-contributor. Offers little offensively and defensively. Jackson isn’t a forward. Weid can’t handle wrestling with big defenders. TMac is slower and less agile than my grandmother. Fritsch is a specialist at shanking his kicks. Melksham doesn’t rock up half the time. Possibly the worst forward line since Brad Miller lead players like Pettard and Dawes into battle.

Coaches responsibility to motivate, inspire and lead the players. He’s clearly not able to do that consistently even after 4-5 years now.

That’s terrifying. 9 years, 2 rebuilds and 3 coaches later and we’re still a bottom team getting spanked. Us Melbourne supporters must be the most loyal people on earth to put up with this much disappointment.

We had the run of the umpires in the first quarter. No point complaining about them. We are simply nowhere near good enough.

Gawn and Petracca are basically the only thing saving us from certain bottom four at this point. The optimists here surely have to admit this team is going nowhere fast and needs significant list changes and coaching changes.