Adam The God

We look so much better without Viney and Gawn in the middle. People will disagree, but it's so much harder to stop three mids, than just curve one dominant ruckman. Gawn's too good to leave out, so if he's fit, he should come back. But I reckon we need to do a lot more of what North did tonight and that is mix up our rucking. If Viney is going to play again, he needs to play pressure forward. Oliver, Gus and Petracca were brilliant as a combo and were able to defend and attack in equal measure. Oliver is an out and out star, and that ability to accelerate out of the contest is absolutely elite. Actually really liking the combo of Oliver, Gus, Petracca and Jackson. Super mobile, all have a great understanding between each other and are able to win the ball in tight and get it out on the outside. Love that we started targeting Petracca 1 out a bit, and Trac's body use is starting to really show. He's got a Martin-like ceiling. Keep going, mate. Goodwin naming Melksham as captain is pretty rich and shows a clear bias IMV. Melksham in 2018 was super important for our midfield-forward connection, but we now function without him touching it equally well. Tonight he didn't really get near it enough, nor did he bring enough forward pressure IMO. So he'll predictably stay in, but he needs to show a lot more intensity and hardness across half forward. Really liked Rivers' game. Thought Sparrow brought very little and looked lost. Jackson continues to excite. His ability to compete in the air and excel when the ball hits the ground is really promising. Spargo showed why I think he'll make it. He gets involved and is tidy and efficient with his disposal, usually connecting really well with the mids and the deeper forwards. Weideman should have had a night out. He must improve his kicking. He'll know that. He wasn't alone though, but he is the focal point and if he continually misses, he's not converting our hard work up the ground. I still want him to be consistently stronger in the contest, but he's starting to bring the ball to the ground most times, which is a big tick. I just want to see him clunk those big contested marks that he gets to, but grasses, and then convert those easy chances. Jones struggled, but there will still be those that champion his inclusion and disposal, and hardness and whatever else they allege he brings, but we can't carry him. We need to play proper wingers against Collingwood or they'll cut us up on the outside, so I hope we go with Tomlinson and Langdon on the wings. Langdon's run was again important all night. He's always there on the outside when one of our mids is in trouble. It's becoming second nature that the likes of Oliver looks for him too. Lever's game was excellent. One mistake early on gifted North a goal, otherwise he was always spot on, even when May was caught out of position a few times, Lever's cover was great. I agree with some. That was probably his most dominant game for the club. We'll need to be a lot better if we're going to beat Collingwood or anyone of note really, but a win's a win and it was a good percentage boost.

Completely unfair. Which game were you watching mate? Spargo was involved in pretty much every Melbourne scoring chain for the match. Just wow.

Clarry's pocket

Another shocker for Fritsch.

Fritsch has to be dropped. He's as soft as they come and if he's not kicking goals, we can't carry him. What a shocking kick that was.

This score can be directly attributed to Jones.

That's how you do it, Weid.

Vandenberg has been terrible tonight.

Healy has no idea. Spargo is the connection you dill.

I'm sorry but Weideman is killing us.

Hollywood again from Trac

I have no idea where we're playing Sparrow. Offers so little, meanwhile Harmes spuds it up at half back. Need to get him on the wing.

How was his kick that should have been spoiled over the line that Weid fortunately ended up marking and then his up and under to the North defender, instead of lowering his eyes. The guy is finished and should have retired at the end of 2018.

Oh calm down mate. The umpires are coming off a 4 day break.

Spargo has put just about all of Weideman's scores on a plate for him. Consistently helping our forward connection and being involved in scoring chains. Melksham and Fritsch however, just yuck. Neither lay tackles and the opposition know this. The opposition also has no respect for McDonald who is so slow it's laughable, so that's three forwards who don't tackle enough. Petracca is trying to be too fancy at times. Love his pressure around the ball though. Gus is great on the outside and that longer goal was a ripper and important psychologically given we'd dominated them. Good to finally show it on the scoreboard. Lever was brilliant that quarter. Needs to take the higher percentage spoil over the goal line sometimes, otherwise his intercepting was really important too. Kozzie drops some simple marks. He's dropped a few easy chest marks this year and for mine is a bit fancy, which is fine if the output is there. Let's hope he properly gets amongst it in the second half. Weid should have had 5 or 6 to half time. Simply has to improve his accuracy itherwise we will not win. I know this is a strange season but we seem so sloppy and have still not clicked in any phase of the game, other than our defensive zoning set ups. Forward connection to Sammy has been reasonable though.

10 scoring shots to 6.

What an utterly pathetic and disgraceful quarter. Our skills and decision making is laughable.

As per much of last week, Harmes was an utter disgrace that quarter. On the whole, really poor tackling efforts. Fritsch and Melksham numerous poor efforts and our kicking for goal is VFA standard. Petracca back to not being able to take set shots. We're totally still in the game, but a better side would have blown us off the park in that quarter. Our defence was setting up really nicely, but poor ball use going inside and an inability to convert simple, simple shots (Fritsch, Petracca and Kozzie) really hurt us. And despite what Healy said, McDonald's refusal to use Langdon on the outside and instead kick it to the advantage of the North defender, was a terrible decision and cost us a scoring opportunity from a clean clearance. Already a shocking decision to play McDonald. As slow as my old man.

Yeah, Tom absolutely seems like a replacement for Max, but who are Tomlinson, Lever and May going to play on? I don't think we need the extra tall. We've done this with selection before and sides smash us on the outside.

Pretty much agree with this, particularly your last point, but I think we need less guys competing for half back too. It means someone like Jones will probably play wing time and I don't know how many times that's proved to be a terrible idea. That's on top of the fact I think we have too many big guys.

The more I think about it, the more I reckon we're too top heavy here by bringing in McDonald.

It all comes down to fitness of Tmac and whether we try and swing him forward. I'm worried about his selection, but I don't think we should have played Preuss. The rest seems logical to me.

Do you believe in systems in sport, mate? All teams need role players. Spargo needs to improve on getting more of the ball and penetration in his kicking. Spargo is a kid too. I understand you don't like Spargo, but he showed a lot in his first year and had a dip, like many of our guys, last year - his second year. We have a dearth of pressure half forwards and have too many guys we're trying to run through half back at the moment. Adding Jordon at this stage seems a strange move to me.

It's not increasing his skillset. He played a lot of footy at half back to begin his career. He's played there before and he's much more damaging through the middle of the ground and forward of centre. His fumbling and poor kicking hasn't helped his cause across half back recently though. As for point 'c', that's Hibbo's job.

Yeah, cleverly done, mate. Viney and Langdon were the only two to show up that game. How about look at when our forwardline and forward half has functioned properly. Spargo was a big part of that.