Adam The God

I have no animosity towards Jackson, but I hope he doesn't go to the next level. He doesn't play for Melbourne. We move on and hope our guys are better than everyone else's.

I don't mind either, I just think it's bizarre. Particularly, with how guarded the AFL are in terms of other codes. It's a huge advertisement for football (⚽️).

It's bizarre that they've pushed the game time for AFL for another sport.

I love 80s synth pop and New Wave, basically my favourite genre, and pretty much anything by Jim Steinman from the 80s and 90s, but if we're talking 90s cheese, I'm surprised by the lack of awesome that is La Bouche and just generally Euro house. Then there's anything by ATB... Sorry.... gotta duck back to Binners' office.

Lot of bandwagon Blues that come out of the wood work when they start to show something.

The last few weeks for us have been huge (our own results and others going our way), but this week is just as big. Beat Carlton, Collingwood, Brisbane and Port lose and we'll just about guarantee top 2. 🤞

Because North might go for Curtin before Reid as well... they are likely to have a CHB need.

Wrong thread mate? I am aroused though.

Ah well, we all have different bodies (and views).

I never knew that's why he had waffles in his avatar! Haha, brilliant.

Ask Stevie Wonder.

It's not really apt to compare pre Clarry with post Clarry. Pre Clarry we were going -1 at stoppage, post Clarry we've levelled up numbers at the stoppage and given Rivers free reign to play the intercept role (Brayshaw's 2022 role). One of the more interesting aspects of Clarry's return is whether we'll revert to the -1 at stoppage, so we can generate a tall interceptor behind the play, or whether we'll stick with even numbers at contest. My feeling is we'll stick with even numbers and with Grundy in the side, it actually gives us the chance (as @Abyssal writes) to play Max behind ball, which will automatically free up interceptors, as the opposition will be drawn to Max. But at the same time, we also lose nothing from the stoppage with Grundy's ruckwork replacing Max's. A great privilege to have.

I agree, although Melksham will basically play tall, because he'll almost certainly spend a large portion of the night on Weitering. That'll free up Grundy/Gawn and give JVR a lesser opponent like Marchbank.

This is your best post ever. Agree completely.

And surely Trac plays midfield minutes at some point, otherwise, I agree with all of this.

Did you watch the King's Birthday game? They can work together. We just need to bring the ball to ground and create a contest forward of centre, so the likes of Kozzy, Trac, Chandler and even ANB can get on the end of a few. Grundy's ruckwork is far less predictable to the opposition than Max's and Max's tap work in D50 still leaves a lot to be desired. I think they're both really good ruckmen though. Gawn's elite because of his around the ground ability, Grundy is elite because of his follow up work. Different styles of ruckmen, but they can be weapons in the same team too. Watch this space...

I think you'll find Grundy will work, just like he and Max did vs Collingwood. They'll both get looks at goal I reckon and need to nail their shots. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks again. I think Smith will start back, but if we feel we've got structure behind the ball, I could see them throwing him forward. I really don't like us playing only two defensive talls and it seems to rarely work, but maybe I need to accept that's the direction the game is going in? If that's the case going into next year, I think we need to find a good medium interceptor to support them. That's not really Hibbo's go, even if he goes around another year. And I don't rate Smith as a permanent intercepting defender.

He's always been a good bloke has Aker! 😆

If you missed it, you missed it, mate. I've got it for a year now. Grammatical error and all...

You couldn't do it without me, Binners.

Alternatively, use picks to trade for ready made at other clubs.

I've said this before, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that we are one of the sources muddying the waters RE Reid not wanting to leave Victoria. It is in our best interest to throw that stuff out there as it provides us leverage.

As you know, I'm for the third one.

Jefferson isn't supposed to be a JVR type. That's not to say he's ready, just that he's a different sort of player. I would suspect it's more about his tank, forward craft and body work than how many kgs he has. Think of Fritta. Still super skinny, but he's a great reader of the flight of the ball and uses his body well.

Far be it for me, a lowly PA, to question the top dog, but I think this point is far too overstated on Demonland. Name a game where the weather cost us? When it rained during Geelong, we dominated them - they came back into it when it stopped raining in the last. When it rained against Richmond, we piled on goals in the last and it was slippery in the third after rain at half time. When it rained against Port, we kicked 7 goals in a quarter in hostile territory. I don't think 'Melbourne are a poor wet weather footy team' stacks up to scrutiny. I've felt it was the case in the past too, but really it's down to whether we win ground ball or not, because we obviously intercept mark less. I think our evolution, I won't say change, in game style, has meant less reliance on May, Lever or the third tall intercept marking, which means we can still win provided we win ground ball and neutralise the opposition in the air. To me, groundball and intercept are the two best indicators of victory in modern footy.