Adam The God

Agreed. Very worried about this game.

We beat Richmond and Sydney in the rain. I reckon our guys love it now when it rains. They've said as much in the press. Previously, 2018 MFC would wilt in the rain, but 2021 MFC doesn't.

When is it worth it? Cripps is 26 already and has never played a final.

Interesting listening to Yze discuss the mentality of the midfield group and the philosophy and approach to our midfield work in this week's The Talking Points on the MFC website. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/934386/the-talking-points-adem-yze?videoId=934386&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1620721799001 In reference to maximising Max's influence, Yze said: "... because we don't want to be a team that just rolls the dice and when we win it, we look great and when they win it, they look great. So we want to be really measured in the way that we play." I think this greater focus on defence comes from the Clarkson school of thought. I could be reading into that bit, but I think it's clear Yze is a terrific asset to our coaching group and football club. I love that he has that strong connection to the club too. I liked his honesty and humbleness in this interview, around ensuring the plan he gives Max is realistic and sustainable. I wonder if Yze is also the ruck coach now that Stafford is forward coach? I had thought Greg was taking the forwards and the ruck, but maybe everything midfield is Yze now? My main impression from Adem is he's just a really humble guy as a coach. That has to rub off on our mids given the guy was not only a star as a player, but is close to our games record holder and has been there and done that with Hawthorn. Give it a watch, it's really interesting hearing him talk. Look forward to hearing from him more often. Another little side note is his son Noah is killing it down at Ashburton, so maybe Noah will be in the red and blue when his father eventually takes over the reins some day. ;)

I'd argue McDonald still suffers from this. He's been up for a few weeks now, but after starting well in 2021, he had that really poor game against GWS, and to me at least, his head seemed to really drop. But to be fair, he's looked a million dollars since. Let's just hope we keep winning a while longer and the players almost forget what losing feels like.

Good post as usual mate. The one thing I'd debate you on is this idea that Petracca runs kamikze-like through stoppages. I don't think that's what's happening. It's certainly not what happened versus Sydney anyway. I think Christian has a role to play, that, sure, is power-based and can be offensive, but he is also expected to defend. In the instance of those three centre clearances his opponent won against him in a row, he wasn't cheating and running forward of the play like some of the St Kilda players have been accused of this year. He was simply too slow to react to the situation unfolding in front of him and adhere to his defensive duties. I think kamikaze is implying he's given free reign to go for broke offensively and I don't think that's the case. I don't think that's how we play anymore. We're more defensive nowadays and that's the expectation. If you don't win it, make sure the opposition, as you say above, gets rushed ineffective clearances.

It doesn't really matter what we think. As @Yokozuna said, it'll be Jackson for Weideman. As for Daw as a solution, didn't someone at the club say Daw still has to build match fitness? I wouldn't want him rucking. It's much better to try and get Weideman into the side and see how it works, and then worry about where Jackson fits when he's fit again. I think Jackson might as a genuine mid if Weideman, Brown, McDonald and Fritsch work. Jackson had that mammoth aerobic game against GWS (?) earlier this year where he covered more kms than practically anyone on the ground. He has the tank to play permanent midfield and it also gives us a look at that dynamic.

I'd much prefer to have Casey as a summer training base and have our permanent base closer to the heartland.

Yep, never doubted it. Yoko is always on the money. Weideman in for Jackson. I wonder if we'll make any other changes. I'd say not.

Our Casey facilities are world class and match it with any of the big European football club training bases. As a stopgap, AAMI is fine.

That wasn't the suggestion. If he has another poor game, Weideman could well be the guy that replaces him. I don't think Fritsch will have another poor game this week though. He'll get his 2 or 3 goals. Hope you're right mate. This is the game I've had pencilled in for a while as the concern. I think they match up very well on us. Historically, Gawn has struggled in this game, Cripps has got ahold of us and they've got us on the outside. I don't think they'll get us on the outside unless we're 'off', but our lack of midfield connection, Gawn struggling, Walsh, Cripps and McKay, and I think it'll be closer. But I'd love nothing more than to smash Carlton and grind them into the dirt this weekend.

Longmire said in his press conference yesterday that he thinks statistically, it was the highest pressure game for the year. I'm so proud that our football team is involved in a heated contest like that. I think we probably should have won by a bit more. Gawn and Kozzie kick those goals near each other and I think we build a bit of steam up and Sydney potentially fold. We kept them in it and their pressure probably ramped up going into the last. We struggled in the first few minutes of the 4th, but got the game going back our way with that important Spargo goal. This year we have a knack of being able to answer with important goals later in games. I think he can play a role and really add an extra attacking dimension to our forwardline as a high half forward that plays between the arcs and then rotates deep occasionally. The only problem is I don't think we can have two of similar types, in Fritsch and Melksham, both playing high half forward if we want to maintain our frenetic forward defensive pressure that is so vital to stifling the opposition transition out of our forward half.

Could be. Interesting idea. It's not like Fritsch brings great ground level intensity. In fact, I'd argue that when Weideman is really switched on, he's actually a pretty ferocious tackler. It may well be Weideman for Fritsch if he has another down game. Fritsch could then get back in the side if a Melksham struggles in the high half forward role. That said, Melksham had limited midfield minutes, but did bring some reasonable ground level pressure that Fritsch couldn't, so Fritsch really needs to ensure his offence is so strong that it papers over his defensive and contested deficiencies. I'm enjoying your sass in this thread, Nash.

It wasn't. I counted it on the replay. I counted 11 steps. Was he though? Watching live, Rampe certainly didn't go to him or double team him and watching the replay, I didn't notice it either.

McLean is a good young player and has 7kgs on Petty.

What's this nonsense about Petty being shaky? Sure, he was a little shaky against Hawthorn, but he was solid the other night. May and Lever have also had their share of shaky moments this season too. It happens when you're playing in defence and the pressure comes or players infer pressure. I think Harry was out-marked twice up the ground and didn't quite hit the kick to McDonald that cost us an early goal - that play was a little unlucky, but sloppy. He did however take an important intercept mark when the Swans were coming and was never exposed deep. He also played our deepest anchor role at times (see First Crack and On The Couch). Petty will get better from here with more continuity and become an important cog in our team defence. The more he settles in now, the better he'll be, and the better our team defence will be, come the pointy end of the season.

Harmes has the flexibility to play the same role Viney was playing, which is high half forward and midfield rotation. I think we need Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Harmes and Jordon all in. Sparrow replaces Jordon when his form dips or he tires.

Fritsch was horrendous, but we can handle one down week. He'll be back next week.

Imagine us around the contest sans Viney and Petracca. They won't rest Petracca with a corky. We're not playing under 12s here. Players have to play through corkies.

How was Petty poor? Have you watched the replay? It can be good to watch the game when the emotion is taken out of it...

I'll play here. How would you play on the wing instead? I'd take Brayshaw over Baker every day of the week. Tom McDonald is playing too well forward to play him on a wing or could this be the week that we try McDonald on the wing and bring in Weideman?

Harmes is on the fringes after 31 disposals (21 of them contested), 7 tackles and 5 score involvements? His DE was a bit low at 61% and he started the game fumbly, but I think he'll be much better for the run. As I mentioned in another thread, I'd have him tagging Walsh this week.

I remember the North team well. They were full of experienced players who got the job done on some pretty weak teams in those first 9 rounds. You were just waiting for them to get found out. They had nothing of the defensive system that we have. Provided we continue bringing the work rate, our system will win finals. It's nothing like North's.

And I think the players taking on some more responsibility to get the job done is a big factor to the buy in. The players and Goodwin often talk about this being built off the back of the back half of 2020. No doubt Choco and Yze are having a massive influence though. Great quote mate. This is why I don't think we're peaking too early. Sort out our inconsistent midfield connection and get the most dynamic and complimentary forward set up, and look out.

Yep, completely concur and it was clear having tried to dissect every centre bounce against Sydney that when we have Oliver, Petracca and Jordon at the bounce, we are aiming for the most potent, effective clearance. It would be the same when Viney is in there. But there is some flexibility to this philosophy and it's partly situational (what's happening on the scoreboard and how deep into the game or quarter the play is) and partly personnel. For example, when ANB goes into a centre stoppage, he's happy to bang it on the boot if he gets a look at a clearance, but if it were Oliver or Petracca, they might look for a player in a more dangerous outside position to get most bang for buck from the clearance. I think our players have been taught to play within their limits. See ANB and think of the 'our game plan is simpler this year' type quotes we've heard from the players. I also think they've been told to take the game on whether it's taking on the tackler, which we still do a lot, or looking for that extra handball to get it to the outside of the contest. It's important to note this greater blend of contested and uncontested footy is relatively new to us. We only started getting it to click a bit with the arrival of Langdon last year, and have taken it to a new level by utilising Hunt's pace and receive role this year. We'll get better with time/experience at knowing when to go for the uncontested play and when to get it forward and take territory. I agree with what @It's Timeis saying (across this thread and the centre stoppage thread) in that we need to maximise our centre clearance work in order to take our game to the next level, but perhaps I disagree that it's necessary to do so in order to beat the likes of Port, Bulldogs or Brisbane. Despite their last quarter comeback, the Bulldogs are defensively vulnerable and the whole competition now knows it. If we play our way and bring the pressure game you talk about @binman, I think we strangle the Bulldogs. If we're on, I think our current defensive system will take care of anyone, irrespective of centre clearances. However, the value of around the ground clearances cannot be underestimated though. This is a fundamental mechanism of our team defence. Being able to take territory our way and taking pressure off our defence reverts the pressure back onto the opposition and allows us to set up behind the ball to intercept.