RalphiusMaximus

Our biggest issue is the kick into the forward 50. I have no doubt that this is a team rule given how often we see it happen. Petracca from the pocket yesterday was a classic example. He's a forward, he was 30m out, he should be taking the shot. Instead, he followed the team rule, kicked it to the Hot Spot and it was taken the length of the field for a Bombers goal. Goodwin's entire gameplan is based around weight of numbers. The ball is in dispute in the middle? Get more players to throw themselves in there than the opposition and you'll win it. Marking contest? Have more players fly for the mark and the opposition won't be able to mark it. Goals? The best place to score from is 10-30m out directly in front of goal, so let's keep putting the ball there and if we have more inside 50s than anybody else we'll score more goals. Last year that plan worked enough of the time because teams tried to play us at our own game. West Coast showed the entire competition the way to handle it. You concede the extra men around the ball and have your players waiting on the outside. You set up your defence to cover that zone 10-30m in front of goal exclusively. You send one person up to compete for the mark against three demons knowing that they'll get in each other's way and you have the advantage of more crumbers. You have pacey outside runners who break early to the space knowing that their defence have it covered and will get the ball out to them. We're going to see this from every team this year and unless Goodwin has a plan B hidden somewhere that none of the players have found yet it's going to get very ugly.

I'm liking the look of Brisbane. They have some really good young talls who are starting to get their act together and have drafted a raft of fast hard mids with good foot skills. Hipwood seems to have pulled his head out of his [censored], McInerny is standing up as the spare ruck/resting forward and Stef Martin is continuing his good form. Bringing in Fagan seems to have been a masterstroke.

I don't Trust Pert because of the way he left Collingwood. I don't trust Goodwin because his gameplan has glaring flaws of which he seems completely unaware. I REALLY don't trust our forward line coach because our forwards have no system, no particular structure and don't operate as a unit. I don't trust our backline coach because every single player in that unit has gone backwards over the break. I DO trust Rawlings. I think he's a bloody good coach and will be getting a senior gig sooner or later. It's not so much a trust or not trust thing with the players as I think we have a good list that needs better direction to be successful. If we had better coaching on gameday and a better structure/gameplan I think we have the list to go all the way. However what we have at the moment is one-dimensional and easy to pick apart. After last year every team in the competition has put the microscope on Melbourne and they have all seen what the Eagles saw last season. Every single side is going to try to do that to us and so far they are 3/3 for it working.

Reminds ME of the Daniher era. Up one year, down the next...

Free kick Geelong... This Umpiring is getting beyond a joke.

Sack Goodwin. Everything that's gone wrong was blindingly obvious last season and he did nothing to fix it.

FMD. Nev could have taken an uncontested mark, but he decided to stay back and let it bounce. I remember a time when he could play...

Another fumble. Goal Geelong...

How was that not Holding the ball?

Now I'm not saying that it wasn't a free, but why didn't he pay the hold on May by Hawkins?

God they're making it hard work. Trying to find new and creative ways to miss goals.

Weed Misses one from right in front... Looked like he got very close to the mark

FMD they're even Handpassing to the Hot Spot.

I have to say it. Jones is a liability. It has nothing to do with his skills or his body. It's all between his ears. He's playing stupid. He's making idiotic decisions repeatedly and it's costing us goals. I also have to take a shot at the umpires. There have been a few absolutely disgraceful decisions in there. The high contact free against Lockhart on Selwood when he tackled him around the waist was a particularly fine example. The multiple clear throws by players who were clearly in the umpires' line of sight also stand out to me, in particular the one inside our 50 which should have resulted in a shot on goal. And finally, why the Hell do our layers refuse to take shots? If you get hte ball on 50, FFS TAKE THE SHOT! Hitting up the hot spot is the same as turning around and kicking the ball towards the opposition's goal.

Not that i'm saying "I told you so" or anything, but our players keep fumbling, they are missing kicks and every time they hit up the "hot spot" they are outnumbered and Geelong take the ball out with ease.

I also have to say that over the entire round the umpiring has been really poor. I was reminded of that when I just saw a blatantly incorrect call for a throw against GWS. Even though the frees went our way against Port, there were far too many bad calls both eays and far too few for Gawn given the beating they gave him behind the ball.

GWS are showing their originalty before the game. Playing Hells Bells before the bounce...

Jones is Richie Vandenbeg. He's a leader, he's spent years setting the example for the kids in how to train and put in effort and he's fought a losing battle while trying to single-handedly carry the midflield. Now, though, those young kids he set an example for have moved past him. He's no longer the first choice in the guts and he lacks the weapons to really impact a game in any other position. Vandenberg stepped aside as captain because he was no longer providing real value to the team. I think Jones can still give value, but he needs to play smarter and recognise his limits. It's also probably time he let go of the captaincy and focused on his own game to get the most out his last few years. As for the game today, I fully accept that the teams that do well in finals are often a bit slower starting the season and then peak in the second half. I do wonder if we're not seeing another shift in the dominant tactics though. For a long time it's been the hard contested ball winning sides that dominated. Even before the AFL made their latest raft of unnecessary rule changes we were seeing a bit of a [censored] towards more pace and outside run again. The sides that have done really well this round have all embraced that style and worked really had to outrun their opponents (kind of like the side Dean Bailey was trying to put together). The two big questions are firstly whether this style will continue to pay off as the teams full of hard-nuts get their act together, and secondly whether Goodwin has the tactical versatility to come up with an effective counter to this style of play.

VERY impressed with that recruit they had paying HB. Great kicking on both sides, set up some goals with his precision, stopped a lot of our forward moves with his reading of the play and to to pit off he took on our three best forwards 1 v 3 and pantsed them. Watts his name again? ?

Not a terribly impressive analysis. I'm pretty sure I have three more concerning things: Poor kicking skills Fumbling in tight spaces Terrible plan for entering the forward 50 All much more worrying than individual players.

I should add to these comments that I said something very similar during the pre-season last year, and look how that turned out. I still think our ball-movement into the forward 50 is the worst in the competition and we score through weight of numbers rather than good play, but it can't be denied that we DID score more than any other team in the competition last year. Imagine what our scorelines would be if we attacked in a competent fashion.

Edit: oops. Didn't read properly. Thought you wanted the game AT Casey.

That was pretty terrible. The result doesn't worry me, but the way we played does. To summarise: Our disposal was horrible all game. Even short chip passes under no pressure were off-target; For a side that's supposed to be all about contested football we were badly shown up in those areas; We repeatedly saw players decline to give the obvious pass and go themselves, only to be caught; Even when passes hit their mark, we fumbled; We persist with pointless bombs to the hot spot; Brisbane worked much harder; Our tall forwards don't take contested marks. Theirs do; On the bright side, AVB, Brayshaw and Oliver are loking ok and we didn't miss the easy set shots as we used to. Also, JKH's injury looked nasty.

I am in qualified agreement. His kicking at the moment is really only reliable out to 30m or so. Within that range he is excellent. I don't consider this to be a concern though, so much as a work in progress. Jack Viney was similarly limited early in his career, but as he got fitter and stronger, he worked on his kicking and his range increased. Give Spargo a few more years and he will be nailing 50m goals.

Anyone else noticed some oddities in the replay on Melbournefc? Like the way the second quarter is actually the third quarter?