Adam The God

He had 56% TOG. So much that he does is solid though. Have loved his start to the year. Only 4 touches today though, along with 5 tackles, may be given a rest next week. Sparrow only 39% TOG and had 5 tackles too, along with 9 touches. Maybe it's Sparrow for JJ?

Nope. Melksham has to go I reckon. He was terrible. Half our family is Geelong, so I hear a bit of the way they talk. Mostly anti-Chris Scott stuff, but this week's pearler was we should beat them because they're so undermanned. As for the Geelong supporters around us today, they were smashing a lot of their players and Scott.

Jeepers, I reckon all three are utter FIGJAMs.

If he kicks straight he is. If he misses sodas repeatedly from directly in front he could be a coach killer. I was not one, I don't believe, calling for him to be dropped though. Pies were not 3-0 going into it. Agree with all of this mate, except the Salem comment. I think you'll find Smith took him to the cleaners in the third. Otherwise, Salem was very assured. The way we came out at the start of the 4th and put the game to bed was very impressive wasn't it?

If Jetts gets done for his tackle, I'd bring in Hibbo. Rivers seems to be having second year blues to me, so maybe Hibbo for Rivers.

Thought he played a really selfless team game today and kept most of his possessions simple. Great tackle numbers and clearance numbers. Just needs to use the ball better entering 50. Yep, completely agree. I can't remember Hunt wasting a possession today. I don't think I've ever been able to say that about Jayden. If he keeps playing like that he's a dangerous and dynamic threat to the opposition. He and Langdon seem to link up constantly. As for my man Charlie, he should have had 3 goals today. Clean that up and he's a ripper. I reckon his ball use going inside 50 is now the best in the team. Didn't Robbo say at the end of the match that May will be fine for next week?

My son is 4 weeks old tomorrow. He's seen 4 from 4. This run is all him.

That was against GWS who have legitimately 5,000 supporters nationwide if they're lucky.

The way we are setting up defensively is outstanding. We are strangling teams and they have no answer. We need to start kicking straight because it will cost us eventually, but being 4-0 is brilliant! Terrific team performance. Viney, Oliver and Petracca in the midfield were tremendous. Lever and Tomlinson were great behind the ball. I felt our forward pressure was much more like it in the second half. We really lifted the intensity with Spargo, ANB and Kozi really ramped up the frontal pressure and it is vital to how we're strangling teams. Thought Tom McDonald provided a solid target up forward and up the ground. Really important game from him and could give our team another dimension when Brown and potentially Weideman put their hands up. Petracca needs to do less of the Hollywood knocks and taps when he could instead take a clean possession and impact the contest. As I said, he played a great game, but cost us a goal on transition when he tried a fancy little knock on. Did a couple dinky little taps like that as well. He's close to fulfilling that potential many saw in him. Looking forward to watching the replay, because my read on Oliver's game is that we started Oliver mostly forward to throw the tag and he got away from it, so they dropped the tag in the second half and Clarry was influential around stoppages as the game wore on. He and Selwood went head to head in the last and Oliver I thought beat him comfortably. The worst part of the day was the crowd again. 33,000 is pathetic. I know there were mostly Melbourne supporters there, but bloody hell. 40k should be the floor expectation for a game between two Victorian teams at the MCG. I know it was raining and cold, but that's a weak excuse. Lift, MFC supporters, we're 4 zip now, get behind us.

I mostly agree mate, although Port should have won by 3 or 4 goals had they kicked straight.

Yeah, completely agree. I don't think we're anywhere near the standard of those two teams. High intensity and some good team defence on show from both teams. It'd be interesting to see how we'd handle the tempo of a game like that. I think our midfield is equal to both teams, but the cleanness of the defences and the ability for both sides to get those ground balls off contested situations was very impressive. It looked like we were watching two of the top 4 teams this year IMO. I can't see us breaking into a top 4 consisting of Port, Richmond, Eagles and Bulldogs.

Thought Sydney looked very vulnerable against frontal pressure against their half backs. If they can't slingshot against you, they have trouble scoring. If we're on against them, it should play into our hands perfectly. This is the St Kilda formula from last year. Very beatable. They use the ball well, but if you can close down their space across half back and provide them no space to play the chip game that pulls players out of spaces and allows them to transition, they struggle. Essendon showed the way.

Clayton Oliver easily takes this one out. Salem is an important role player and ball user for us though.

This is brilliant. Good get. This says our midfield is working both ways a lot better too. I'm hoping he learns a bit off Ben and when Ben retires, he takes over his mantle. Brown is one of the best lead up forwards in the competition. Only West Coast's Kennedy would be stronger IMO or maybe Hawkins.

He's been tagged plenty of times and even by De Boer previously.

Completely disagree. Oliver went past Cripps two years ago at 21 years of age and is just as good as Neale and Shuey. He doesn't have the influence of Dangerfield yet, because he doesn't hit the scoreboard, but Dangerfield didn't start influencing games until his 5th season. Oliver's been influencing games since his first season. He bossed Callan Ward in his first ever game at 65% TOG. He's incredibly durable and since coming into the game, the first time we've won a game without Oliver pulling the strings in our midfield was literally last Sunday night. It's mind-blowing how so many Melbourne supporters fail to see how good Oliver is.

All the best mids get shut down with a hard tag. Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield, Neale etc etc. This says nothing about Oliver. A good tagger can still prevent ball winning, particularly if the mids are still learning to block for each other.

Oliver isn't just a dime a dozen inside mid, he's a generational talent. Terrible call this. Go after Merrett by all means, but you don't sell your best player to get another good player. Shockingly counter intuitive.

I thought Geelong looked pretty ordinary. Had Hawthorn had a real constant threat up forward and a bit of forward pressure, Geelong would have lost it. If we're on our game next week and Geelong play like they did today, I think we'll beat them.

West Coast are very tall too, but mobile. I'm liking Langdon and Gus on the wings. It was after the 186 game in 2011.

James Kelly... Agreed. I would have thought that was more his uncle. All I recall Long doing was lining up an unsuspecting Troy Simmonds.

Saying nothing about Greene's talent. I'm talking about May's body strength. He was off tonight. He should not be being beaten in the contest by a guy near 10cms shorter and 15 kgs lighter than him.

Yep, good post. Thought for the most part Rivers was ordinary and seems to be experiencing those second year blues. Some of those tackling efforts were not AFL standard. And how did May constantly get beaten for strength by little Toby Green? We structured up beautifully, but then made too many silly errors. Room for improvement.

There's no room for Tmac. Brown, Weid as the key talls, Jackson as the third tall/ruck. Fritsch and the smalls to compliment.

We've got our uncontested game sorted. Provided we bring the required work rate, the pace thing isn't an issue. It's speed of ball movement and skill execution. Get those things right, convert the scores we should and we're a real chance against most opposition.