Adam The God

I'd take the Souva off their hands, but as he says he wants to repay North for selecting him when everyone else passed multiple times, I'll just settle for nicking the KPF from next week's opposition in Ben King. King, JVR and Gawn in 2024 with cameos from Jefferson would be very spicey. And the Suns don't seem to be getting any better, so I wonder what Mr King is thinking...?

That's the difference between Melbourne and Carlton. Our system creates big scores. Carlton rely on individual brilliance to create scores. I'd much rather be in our position. It must be scary for the comp looking at who was playing KPF for us (JVR, Schache and Max) and who kicked goals, and the fact that there wasn't a dominant KPF on the ground. Nevermind that it was against North, this makes us very difficult to plan against. You're not stopping one player, you're trying to stop a system.

I remember Schache being outmarked once by Ziebell, which I absolutely agree was too soft, but from my eye, Schache wasn't outmarked again for the rest of the night and brought the ball to ground every time. I reckon our FD would be relatively happy with his game, but it sounds like he still makes way for Petty, unless they give JVR a break. Which probably wouldn't be the worst idea...

I'm sorry (I'm not), but you don't understand modern footy.

And another thing, having Grundy is so bloody good. Sure, he's a good ruckman and elite at ground level for a big guy, but what makes his combination with Gawn so dangerous is that they're such different players and different ruckman. Teams tend to read Max's centre tap work much better than Grundy's, but when Max hits them pure, he's a cleaner tapper than Grundy. But their different approaches always give us options 'in game'. Brodie's follow up work has also added another dimension to our stoppage game. Not only do we have Oliver, Petracca and co at ground level, we have a 200cm+ giant in Grundy. If Gawndy can stay fit all the way through the year, we're going to be tough to beat.

So did Sparrow. I was critical of Tom last week when I probably shouldn't have been (felt he was very fumbly), tonight his defensive stuff was A+.

I thought we missed another small pressure forward in the A50. Chandler was really on tonight, he was great and ANB was his usual hard running self, but I still don't think the mix was quite right. Particularly, with Koz playing slightly higher up the ground. It's a tough balance though, because I thought JJ and Sparrow gave us really good outside run, as well as hard defensive running, but do you sacrifice JJ for another small forward? ie Spargo. Especially, if you want to play a territory game of locking the ball in. I reckon JJ will be the unlucky one. Schache as the more mobile option worked quite well though, with Max and JVR, and for the most part our talls did their jobs by not being outmarked. Schache is such a beautiful field kick. If we could get him the ball at 65m out 5-6 times a game, I think someone else would get 5-6 shots on goal. Anyway, I think these are ultimately good problems to have, because although the mix is probably a little bit off, we're comfortably the highest scoring team in the comp and don't have trouble scoring whatever our forward mix is.

And yet we managed 22 goals. Easily the most disappointing aspect of the night was the crowd, which I correctly predicted at quarter time (I'm brilliant) would be 29k. We need to be getting 30k ourselves, let alone the third lowest drawing crowd in North also bringing say 5k. Almost perfect Saturday night, at the G, 35k-40k should be the benchmark.

I'm excited by the fact we're in a no.lose situation with Josh. He either comes in ajd performs a role or he's a bust, but protects Jefferson's development and allows BB and Tmac time to gain form themselves. But there are a couple excellent posts on this thread that make me intrigued. I've always felt Schache gets pushed off contests far too easily, but Ben Brown does too. But BB and Schache are both excellent kicks and have a height advantage. The thing BB struggles with his ground level and agility, particularly at his age. Schache has him covered there. In tandem with JVR and Fritsch, with protection from Max/Grundy, Schache will hopefully be able to form a functional part of our system. And if he can, it's a stroke of genius recruiting. I also trust Mark Williams' development credentials to get the best out of him. Like @dazzledavey36, I hope they give him a bit of time / continuity.

Obviously I'd like us to kill them, but I'll be happy with any win and no injuries. Ideally, I'd like us to keep exploring this forward mix and getting some defensive cohesion at the back. May finding some form would be handy too.

And I don't want Brisbane winning any games either, so today is a tough one. I think they're definitely top 2 or certainly top 4 competitors with us.

Does packaging 16, 25 or 35 + a F1 get us another top 10 pick in 2023? On sheer points value, this package would easily be equivalent surely, but whether someone in the top 10 would do it, who knows...

It's all about whether we keep our powder dry on Kings Birthday and tag during finals or whether we try it earlier. I'm sure Collingwood will have plans for it, but you don't want to give them half the season to work out other ways around a Daicos tag. I genuinely think this is one of the most fascinating and pivotal questions of the 2023 season, because his uncontested work is so integral to how Collingwood move the ball.

Reckon he's been one of our better players this year. I'd have him in my top 3 or 4. Becoming really consistent in a very difficult position, but gives his all defensively and is really hitting the scoreboard these days.

Thanks mate. I don't want the physical membership card, just the scarf and thought I'd already selected that option.

This will sound strange, but having looked at the teams, I'm a little worried about this game. At the end of the day, if we can't beat North we should probably pack up shop for the year. That said, Geelong lost to the Suns, so who the hell knows what'll happen.

I'd say Richmond and Hawthorn are both the two biggest bandwagoners in the league, with the most fickle fan bases.

May is usually incredible 1v1, but when the ball hits the deck, he panics big time. He always has. His lack of calm in those moments usually flows onto his team mates. I think he's carrying an injury at the moment, because he's not great 1v1 and he's trying to zone off far too much. Part of this could actually be the move of Petty forward unsettling May and creating this psychological do I zone or play 1v1? I'd look at getting Turner into the team and keeping Petty forward. Turner will free up May and/or Lever.

He's apparently even more highly touted than JVR... @Pennant St Dee

Howe has had multiple pings at Melbourne since leaving and I hope he never wins a flag.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the fish bowl of WA mentality, which had Lobb being a traitor in the papers all week.

Absolutely no way.

Rivers did play midfield, but only 1 CBA and a little bit around the ground. Agree on Kozzy though, but without Spargo to play alongside ANB and Chandler, they probably thought the balance would be too off up forward without Kozzy. I think it could have got him into the match though. He was quite sluggish and only 10 pressure acts, which was just about our lowest.

I wonder if we should be rotating Fritsch and JVR as the deep forwards leading out from the square/deepest forward and the other playing from 40m to high half forward? We ideally need another tall as you say to play that link role (our game tends to breakdown onnthe slower plays without it) and leave Fritsch as a dangerous proposition on the 3rd or 4th best defender, but until Jefferson has more build and tank, and until TMac and BB are in form, we're probably better going with this set up. Very good signs. Got an amazing temperament. Gets angry with himself, which is fine, shows high expectations, which in turn feeds into his competitiveness, but has an ability to reset and go again. He's a beauty and I reckon JT has nailed this pick. Reminds me of Charlie Curnow. Less springy maybe, but good in the air, great follow up work on the ground. Give him a partner like Curnow has, and even Max could do for the moment, who draws the defenders, leaving the opposition not knowing who to put their time into, and possibly giving JVR the second best defender and we're away. He could very easily kick 30-40 goals this year, which would be an incredible return for a second year (first year) KPF.

What hasn't really been mentioned is that along with giving that silly goal away when May took the intercept mark, Cumberland kicked his three on McVee. When Hibberd went to Cumberland, he barely touched it.