Adam The God

If Fritsch comes in, Melksham goes out. I'm not convinced both can play in the same team. Particularly, not a team that bases its game on forward half pressure. And Fritsch gets it more and has improved his defensive game.

He's got a holiday joint at Rye, as does Gawn. And yes, Goody lives in East Malvern.

So one less tackler? That leaves Kozzie, ANB and Viney for stints forward, with moments from Jordon. Sorry, not enough. Not many of our guys have Spargo's nous either. What exactly has he done wrong to warrant being dropped? He averages the same amount of tackles as Kozzie (3.6) and is 6th at Melbourne for score involvements (5.6) behind Petracca, Oliver, Kozzie, McDonald and Gawn (he'd be behind Fritsch if he'd played all games too).

Are you guys the same person? And no, Spargo should not be under pressure. He's the one that brings the pressure.

I disagree with this. I'd say they constantly kicked it in Max's direction. So much so that one of my mates, his cousin is a Hawthorn defender, and his mother was mocking him for a turnover that resulted in a Melbourne goal and he said "at least I didn't kick it to Gawn like half the team!" It just means we set our zone deeper to prevent it getting out the back. We've done a pretty good job of keeping the ball front and centre this year for our defensive mids to crumb, or for someone like Salem to sweep up behind the pack and redistribute. It's very Bulldogs 2016 actually. Teams have gone shorter against us a few times, but as long as we don't let them run and carry off that first short kick, which we don't, they can't kick over the zone. We simply shift it further towards centre wing. And we're no longer as aggressive with our defensive set up as we were in 2018 or 2019, so we don't necessarily get caught out even if it does get out the back. It's a bit like combining Richmond's pressure game with West Coast's aerial threat. If we can get the balance right with talls and pressure smalls at ground level, we will be very tough to beat given our ability to win clearance with one less at the around the ground stoppage. True, although due to Max's marking power, we have tried this one occasionally. The corridor kick is definitely more risky though. Does anyone have access to stats that show where our behinds have come from this year? Although we go to the pockets regularly, we get a lot of extremely gettable shots directly in front that we miss. It then heightens what appears to be our preference for pocket kicks, because we miss the easier ones and often kick the harder ones. A lot of our pocket kicks result in resets though.

If we go deep and start next year well, we'll get 55,000 easily IMO. We've probably got 100-150,000 supporters across the country and signed up almost 50,000 of them. Start winning flags/genuinely challenging and we'll start to convert more. It might take a flag for many of those still unsigned though.

It's another 7k given we just hit 45k.

I'd be happy with 52,000ish this season. If we can go deep and go on with the job next year we should be able to push for 55,000-60,000 in 2022.

Great news if true.

That's not what I said at all. I said I don't watch him in every contest and expect him to win it. For an outside player, he's reasonable on the inside, and he has improved his 1v1, but I've also watched him for 8 years and I wouldn't say he's infallible in 1v1 situations.

He'll be good, but I don't want him in against this Richmond team.

Interesting. So the address will either be watched by all with incredible momentum behind us having beaten Richmond. Or the address will be a pep up after an agonising loss.

I much prefer the overly positive and 'dreamer' like position than the weeks after a loss. Can we keep this up for a little while longer? :P Winning is fun.

They were a joke even half way through 2017. That loss on the siren to Freo, the media went them, and rightly so, for their soft underbelly. That same team has now won 3 flags. It can turn quickly. The great Geelong side were similarly flakey and unreliable in early 2007 and we know what happened after that. Given where we've been for almost 60 years, I would be very surprised if the vast majority of Melbourne people weren't humble if we went on a similar run. To be humble, I think, is one of the more important traits in life and in sport. It sounds like Richmond supporters have little of this, and for a club that failed to make the finals for almost 20 years and then when they eventually did get there, choked at the first asking, is pretty rich I reckon.

Spot on. Too many don't watch the game closely enough. Tomlinson is very very solid. Petty was shaky until midway through the third. It's a no brainer that he comes out for May. I rate Petty, but Tomlinson locks down and enables May and Lever to play intercept. Sure, converting our opportunities will be paramount, but when we played Richmond through 2017 and 2018, we'd completely dominate the territory battle for large chunks of the quarters and then get a bit defensively leaky at stages, as we'd press too high with little cover and had no ability to change gears or get it on the outside and create scores from a crowded forwardline. We're a very different defensive proposition this year. Providing May plays, I think we can really limit Richmond scores from inside 50s. This combined with our likely midfield dominance puts us in a very good place. I think it's all about our goal kicking at that end of the ground, rather than our forward entries. Get the job done like we haven't in the first 5 weeks and I think we can strangle them. Goal kick like we have in the first 5 weeks and I think it'll be tough to win. You can't bring out that much tackling pressure and not replace it. Pressure in the forward half and midfield is what's making our game work.

One of my mates is a Casey coach. He has huge wraps on our AFL boys, which is saying something as he's a massive Collingwood man. He says the facilities at Casey compare to what he's seen of the EPL clubs and their training facilities. Huge wraps. He also thinks we'll beat Richmond. Says we're playing exactly how we're training at the moment.

Interesting post, Mister Leg. I didn't see the Casey game as I was on the way into the Melbourne game, but Toby has always seemed a little slow for a small forward to me. I hope you're right and he has improved. His attributes looked fringe at best to me, so let's see.

Having met Salem before, he seems like a really genuine guy. I'd suggest that since the club has nursed him through some tough thyroid issues and he has friends at the club, he'll very likely be a one club player. His 1v1 game has improved, but I don't have the same confidence in him to win those that others do just yet, but hope I'll soon be on board.

... start to believe.

That's the side I'd go with too, @MadAsHell. I reckon we set Weideman and Brown for this game some weeks ago. Both are back much earlier than we thought and I suspect to temper expectations around this. In that team, Viney has to play 70% forward, 30% midfield.

Wouldn't be surprised if he wears a facial shield. Or at least strapping.

Sure, I just think he should probably play the role he's currently playing. With Brown and Weideman in the team, maybe he plays higher up the ground.

Those that are saying he's not a forward (including the poster who is most definitely not a doctor), watch the Hawthorn game again. If he's not a KPF, he does a pretty bloody good job of lead up marking across half forward and the wing, and almost always brings the ball to ground in the forwardline. That is what we want from an emerging KPF. In the meantime, his agility around the ground will eventually enable us to play Brown and Weideman as the key talls. It's clear the club has set McDonald for a similar role to Jackson once Brown and Weideman are fit. It could even be as early as this week. This is what a modern footy side looks like. Agile 195-200cm talls running defenders off their feet and outmarking them in the air or bringing it to ground for smalls to go to work.

That said, watching the 4th quarter now and ANB is having a cracking quarter.

Deep into the third quarter now and ANB has really struggled. I heard that on 360 and ANB might drive standards off the field, but his skill errors and poor tackling in the Hawthorn game should put him in the gun, particularly with the likes of Bedford banging the door down. I think ANB has done enough this year to earn another week, but we'll be in big trouble if he serves that up next week. Can't have any weak links against a side that has three flags in four years.