jnrmac

Credibility just went from below average to zero.

I don't believe that is right at all. He was injured a lot - that might explain his lack of games.

You don't have to wonder.....

Interesting that we are apprently interested in J Trengrove from Port. Not sure if this is as a back up for the Lever plan or additional to. If true it adds weight to the argument that we have a problem in defence that the club wants to fix. We'll see at the end of trade period I guess....

Is this a riddle? Its that time of year....

So he's on a par with Oscar according to some here....Straight swap anyone?

SEN Player Ratings Oscar McDonald. I'll just leave this here.... 2017 Season 1 StK Improved as day wore on as there was less pressure from St Kilda 5 2 Carl Still gives Dees fans the heebie-jeebies with ball in hand but also did some good things in back half. 5 3 Geel Surprisingly went to Hawkins but that didn’t last and was moved to Menzel who also fried hm. 2 4 VFL Okay down back without starring. Needs a few more weeks to totally regain his confidence. - 5 VFL Just fair in defence, but had less and less to do as the night wore on. - 6 Ess Steady enough on return to the team down back. Had Hooker for long periods and did a reasonable job. 6 7 Haw “Bottom bunk” McDonald mixed good and bad. Okay without getting fans overly aroused with his effort. 5 8 Adel Strong in defensive fifty and stopped Josh Jenkins from dominating. 7 9 NM If he threw a stick at the ground it would probably miss. Beaten defensively and butchered footy offensively. 2 10 GCS Dropped marks, turned the ball over for three quarters, then showed some physical intent late. Has to get better. 3 11 Bye. 12 Coll Panicky early on with ball in hand, then came of age in back half. Something to build a career on. 7 13 WB Backed up last week’s effort with another strong, assertive performance in defence. Used ball very well. 7 14 WCE Had his hands full defensively. The key forwards at West Coast were good. 4 15 Syd Led a merry dance early by Rohan out of goalsquare, but then settled. Fair, but down on recent weeks. 4 16 Carl Struggled at times down back but kept battling away. Like teammates Casboult’s marking troubled the Dee defence. 5 17 Adel When he has to play on an opponent with nous/movement, his slow reactions are shown up. Walker made him look silly at times. 2 18 Port Took plenty of intercept marks and got back to some better form after a poor one in Darwin. 6 19 NM Terrible defensively. Flogged by Brown when on him. Just so slow to react to his opponent’s movements. 1 20 GWS Watched the ball sail over his head with regularity in first term. But overall was okay down back. 7 21 StK Mixed and matched down back and generally did a solid job. Played with poise. 6 22 Bris Other than a couple of iffy kicks, was steady enough down back opposed to Close. 6 23 Coll Went to Cox and Grundy when they were resting in attack. Other than one turnover in attack, was far from the worst. 6

This. Remember he was coming back from the 'doping' scandal and had a point to prove but his run and ball use were outstanding. Is pretty tough as well. He is in the shadow of Kelly and others there so may want to step outside of that and get paid a bomb....

It doesn't change the argument for Lever. Our backline is presently a weakness and needs bolstering with a quality tall. Frost and OMac May not make it. A good player should be versatile enough that we can use them in other positions. A team needs a number of options for all spots because of injuries, form etc. It's too simplistic to say just because we signed Frost we must be after a mid.

The facts are we played our best football when we had the most injuries. Coaches and players rose to the challenge when we won 3 of the 4 games with 6 day breaks. We were innovative, unpredictable and the acid was on players to step up. I find it hard to believe we made a fundamental change to game style as suggested by BigMac Jnr. Not saying it didn't happen but it didn't look to me like we did and no-one here appeared to pick up on if we did (which would be unusual). The form of individual players dropped off which may have been related to injury or maybe related to fitness or not being able to keep up wit the game plan (both physically and mentally). It is beyond dispute that the coaching staff failed in the last round. For that team to run out and play as poorly as they did the first quarter is unforgivable. Particularly given our poor starts throughout the year. The fact is we lost 3 of our last 5 games - against lowly sides - and nearly lost a further one against the Lions after leading by 29 pts at the 15m mark of the last quarter. I don't believe this relates to game style being changed.

Yep. 9 more points and we would have been playing finals.

Well its clear then, if your mates have settled it. What exactly is the cause of our problem as you would see it? Because I know what I see and the simple stats in the OP make it irrefutable. We are terrible at one on ones in the defensive 50. The worst in the league in fact. Not even in dispute. Given Jetta and Hunt are excellent one on one defenders that doesn't leave too many does it? And when we get thrashed by the likes of Daniher, Brown, Grundy (when fwd), Cox, Walker and Buddy its pretty obvious where the problem is. Some here are trying to argue that our defence is great and its our midfield that is the problem. It doesn't hold water and our clearance stats are pretty good (we are 4th for overall clearances, 4th for centre clearances and 6th for stoppages). Some don't want to see that and their perogative. But its wrong. Its wrong with what we see week after week and its wrong with the stats that make it clear as day. As for this statement about OMac "I think he has improved remarkably and will be a star". I'm afraid you are delusional if you really think that. He has improved no doubt. No one I have read has denied that. But he is barely adequate as a defender and has no urgency or physical presence.

You haven't been listening OD...

How stupid would we look to have traded pick 2 and then pay $10m for Kelly a couple of years later. We have done some dumb deals but I'd be pretty sure this isnt going to be one of them.

You are re-writing history. Lewis came to us and said I want to play at Melbourne. No player of that calibre has come to melbourne in 25 years. It was a coup that he wanted to come to us. He has added to some steel and composure to our side. We didn't 'recruit' him per se to become a match winner for us. You are over egging the pud there.

Because the back six are working so well............

Same as Brent Prismall. A lot here were pretty unhappy when he wouldn't come to the Dees

Any tragics out there still trying to defend our defenders? Coll took 7 marks in their fwd 50 in the first quarter. Cox and Grundy smashed us.

Oops sorry..a posting problem!

He's better than both of those...

The managers get relatively little. 3% I believe. Its mandated from the AFL. That is a $3k a year diff. Hardly earth shattering.

He's better than both of those...

He's better than both of those...

Oooooohhhhh, I can't wait.....

I thought you had jumped off this hobby horse?