Adam The God

Maybe we can pinch back all the bandwagon jumpers from the 80s that were Melbourne supporters?

That's the most attacking combination. I loved it, because Kozzy can still defend and attack.

It took Collingwood about 10-15 rounds before the run and gun stuff clicked. It worked sometimes tonight, but it's still not quite instinctive to give the handball and move the ball quickly with overlap, ala Collingwood. It was a good start however and winning by 8 goals without Fritsch, Viney, May and Salem, and an incredibly fumbly first half, we showed how powerful and devastating we can be when we're clean at ground balls. Our game flows beautifully from there, and with our midfield, if we can start to roll in this quicker, more corridor orientated gear, I think we're going to be very difficult to beat. It was obvious we were trying to be more attacking, which resulted in some unusual turn over kicks in the defensive half. It's still a case of getting to know the right time to flick the switch and go, because I think ultimately Collingwood's model is all duck, no dinner, it's one style, on the whole time. If we're going to make to the GF, we need to be able to play fast when appropriate and conserve energy at other times. All in all though, a great team win.

How has no one fixed McKay's ridiculous kicking style yet?

Well, I'll be having the most vegetarian of vegetarian pies at probably a going rate of $15 in the MCC, having a soy cappuccino and hoping that May's injury doesn't set us back too much. Meanwhile, I'll be hoping that I can control my swearing and incessant commentary a little better in preparation for bringing my son along next year and not annoying my family too much. I have one year left before bozo attends and I'd rather he wasn't a nuffy like me.

He's depth. Just as Weideman had become depth. When Sam indicated to the club he wanted to move, we moved quickly for Schache. This is on the public record.

I'm pretty sure he was signed until the end of 2023, so it's a two year extension, not a renegotiated contract. But I'm sure @Lucifers Hero will be all over this.

Not sure I agree with this. He had the Bulldogs as his favourites for the entirety of 2021. He'd bang on about it every week on that stupid Fox show. He was on us in 2018, but was burnt. In place of? I'm not against it, just trying to picture who he comes in for. Because you'll also have a lot of teams playing fast from half back, so do we want pace on the forward flanks to defend that or do we want endurance to hold our structures?

I'd take 3 with this list and probably pull even with our arch enemies Collingwood on 15, 1 behind Carlton and Essendon. Love it. Let's hope so.

Love Trac, but Lever by quite some way.

I think the biggest concern is the small defender role. Bowey needs to be playing, but I see him as a more offensive kicker and mopper upperer. I don't see him taking the Papley's of the league. That's ultimately why Hibberd probably has a role most weeks, because at this stage I can't see who else can play that lock down role.

I think the game plan should play to the strengths of your elite players. And our elite players are at the stoppages and behind the ball. Our forwards just need to take their chances. That's not to say tweaks to ball movement shouldn't be pursued. I think the acquisition of Hunter, the selection of Bowey, Salem, even Howes will hopefully have a natural flow towards greater forward efficiency from the chances our mids can make from contest and the chances the backs can create on slingshot.

What's his MFC connection?

This was my thought upon seeing the thread title haha. Still one of the great bands.

I completely disagree with this, George. It's not at all attached to reality either. All businesses need co funding, whether it's subsidies, direct funding or debt financing. The latter option is a dangerous path in the austerity environment governments are in. IMO we need to bring multiple parties together to solve this financing puzzle, not splash our cash reserves all over the joint because it hasn't been solved 50 years earlier. I'd like it solved too and I'm not particularly impressed by our board at all, but I also don't want us to take all our cash reserves (which are nowhere near what would be required to get the facilities we need) and invest it in a home base. That to me is dumb. If it takes a little while longer, but we get co funding between governments (state and even federal), the AFL and the MCC (potentially even get one of our current sponsors to kick in some more money) to reduce our own liability and required investment, that is the sensible play. I don't however like the idea that some board members could use this to extend their time on the board.

I think Carlton are a big danger in 2023. If we look at their 2022 versus our 2017, missing at the death like that spurred us to a preliminary final in 2018. Huge pro Melbourme crowds in the first two finals clearly helped. Carlton would have a similar set up when they next make finals. If they get a good run with injury and improve their fitness, they could go all the way. I hope I'm hopelessly wide of the mark.

Petracca, surely you need Trac and not Gus in your profile picture?

Devo if this happens. Our greatest player by a long way IMO. Apologies to Daisy.

It's funny. As soon as his name was called out and they were playing his highlights, I said to myself, that's Charlie Curnow. Shifter then came on and said he plays like the King Brothers (not something that I really see) and then Jefferson comes on and says he compares himself to Charlie Curnow. When you've got that x factor in the air, it can compensate for a lack of physicality at ground level IMO.

I much prefer Fordy as a nickname for him.

He plays like Charlie Curnow to me. Has the leap, strong hands, is a few centimetres taller than Curnow. If he turns out half as exciting, he'll be another JT special. Just needs to add 15-20kgs.

None of them are good enough though. There's a reason we took Kozzy in the first round.

I saw Cal say somewhere earlier that one of the players plays like Weightman / Papley. Does anyone know who he was talking about, please? Another small x factor forward to complement Kozzy would be very high on my list.

How would that play out? No way we're able to flip two late future firsts for a top 10 pick. I like this idea of a top 5 pick and a start of second round early 20s pick for our three firsts.

I love the aggressive trading and I love that we seem to have put out there a net of at least 5 or 6 players "Melbourne are really interested in" to keep everyone guessing.