Adam The God

Interesting... I'd probably do it, but jeepers we're losing a lot of guys that can roll through midfield. Merrett's elite, so I'd do it, but yeah, things could go pear shaped with an injury or two.

Now that we're not playing finals, I'm happy to write off whoever wins the premiership this year as 'not a legitimate flag'. ?

My read on this, which could be wrong, is that we're not sure if Salem's contest game and ability to win ball himself is good enough to play mid. As we know, a lot easier to play the half back role than win your own ball in the middle. I want him to utilise his kicking more than he does. If he ever pushes up to the 50m arc, he usually hits a leading target that results in a score. We need more of that from midfield. For this reason I think Fritsch and Melksham (if both are playing), should play high half forward, because their delivery is usually brilliant. Salem is another I'd like to try between centre wing and forward 50. The inflexibility of the midfield is absolutely a problem, which is why I'd play Viney in the forward pocket and be open to trading Gus if we could land an A grader (Merrett). I think if we land Saad he'll almost certainly move up the ground, but even without Saad, I'd like to see Rivers given more responsibility and even bring in Lockhart to play deeper and allow Rivers a bit of latitude to attack. If Salem played on a wing, I think you'd have to try and stretch him defensively (as an opposition), but I think playing at half back for as long as he has, he's a lot better defensively these days and often wingers are a bit on the softer side by nature, so tackle and run hard and use your kicking to set up scoring chains and you'll be doing your job. I'd like to see it tried. (and I'm not claiming Salem is inherently soft at the contest) If you let Salem get a look from just outside 50 he'll hit up a leading target or kick the goal himself. He could become a weapon.

Well, to be fair, Gus can play inside and if you look at their midfield, this is what they're desperately lacking. If we could convince Merrett to put in a trade request, I think they'd take a player of Gus' abilities. They might ask for a little sweetner, but I'd be reticent to pay more than Gus.

Have an ability to give us a kicker at stoppages ala Bontempelli. If he can play a Merrett like role, that will provide us with increased flexibility and diversity. So he can be moved from half back to a wing to the midfield and back again.

You can't push him out the door and then expect the world for him. Jesse may well be done.

Our ball use is directly impacted, IMV, by our stoppage set ups. They don't give our mids separation and instead make us predictable, leading too often, to rushed ball use that doesn't suit anyone.

Polec and Saad would fix this problem. Add a bit more pace in our forwardline and another marking target and I think things can turn quickly, provided we get the stoppage set ups right. Looking forward to seeing who we bring in to coach the midfield.

That tweet leaves out his elite ground ball gets too. As for clangers, he had the most in the comp, one more than Dusty and 9 more than Petracca. Dusty and Petracca played forward and Oliver spent the entire season in the guts, where turn overs will be a bigger thing. Essentially, the best mids are usually the biggest turnover merchants because they're in the hot stuff and getting it so often. I think there are a lot of Melbourne supporters who rate Oliver, but I'm staggered there are so many who continually rate him so harshly, yet he continues to improve his game and is now an elite player across multiple areas of our game. Take Oliver out of our midfield and we're [censored]. I reckon it's a case of MFC supporters not realising quite how extraordinary Oliver is. I've said it many times before, but he's the best player I've ever seen at Melbourne in my 33 years.

If Gus was up for the move, I'd definitely do Merrett for Gus. I'd keep Harmes, because I think he can play a more defensive role, which we lack in our midfield. So then you have three elite mids in Oliver, Petracca and Merrett, supported by Viney and Harmes, and if we can get our mid connection working, being tapped to by a x4 AA ruckman... that's very juicy.

Ben Brown or Jesse Hogan? Who do you go for? It sounds like both would come relatively cheaply.

Agree with all of that. I think if we can add Saad as well, all of a sudden there's quite a bit of leg speed there and ability to cover the ground with Langdon leading the way. It means we can use Salem further up the ground too if we want.

Given it seems we've signed Viney, you'd think it'd be difficult to fit Gus in if we're also looking at any other mids on the market/convincing them to pursue a trade with us.

What does that mean?

Good call mate, although Goldstein is 32 and Preuss is 25. So whoever gets Preuss will get more service out of him than Goldstein. That said, Goldstein is a much better ruckman - though is he finished?

True. But maybe he's told them he wants to go. Get the deal done and move on. They've already failed to dress it up and pushed him out the door, or that was his manager's doing, and so his value on the open market is low. They should be taking what they can get. In this case, they may view Tom as a swingman KPP. And if they want to tank, all they have to do is send Tom into the backline and make him the kicker.

Sure, all players can improve their game, but I'd argue if you get more separation at contests and spread properly from them, Oliver's hands become a weapon. That weapon can't be used if our mids fail to spread. I think there's a bit of everyone at fault here, including the midfield coach at stoppage set ups. Merrett and Oliver in the same side would be utterly devastating. Add Petracca or a stopper like Harmes and Viney, and it's a really well balanced midfield.

If they're looking at doing a bit of "list management" for the next 2-3 years, it makes perfect sense. Brown could win a game off his own boot. Polec would make them better. You want your list to be a bit rubbish so you can stock up on draft picks and rebuild with top 3 talent over the course of 2-3 years. I'd prefer we swap Tom with Polec. Then try and land a second rounder for Preuss which is on traded to Essendon for Saad. If they need more, chuck in a future second rounder too.

If say Tom is on $650k and Polac is on $800k, they pay $250k more and the rest is offset.

RIP, Richard Kiel. Was a lovely man. Absolutely. A wage dump offset at both clubs. Totally. I'd add Higgins to our midfield for another year with triggers for a second. Correct. As well as The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Agreed. No softer than Gaff and he fits in alright at the Eagles.

Disagree with the point on Oliver. His disposal is fine. He needs to work on continuing to accelerate from the contest and hit the scoreboard more. Judd, Dangerfield, Dusty etc all of them are very hit and miss by foot, but all of them the best players in the game. Petracca is also prone to regular turnovers. Look at his turn over stats. I agree with the rest though, although I think we could address the Weideman problem by getting him stronger support (ie a Ben Brown) to take the best defender away from him, so he can continue to develop. I think Fritsch needs to play at half forward with Melksham on the other flank. They should be used as ball users going inside and occasionally floating back inside 50 to mark themselves. But they should be connection players. This will hopefully take some of the pressure of Fritsch having to be the main man to hit the scoreboard up forward. Getting goals from a Brown, Kozzie, Jackson etc will also release this pressure.

I always like your outside of the box thinking @Pollyanna. I'd target Polec (as @rjay says), try Salem on a wing and keep Baker developing in the background and fighting for that open second wing spot. I think Hannan will be delisted, because as you say, we have too many medium sized forwards. This upcoming pre season is a massive one for Salem. I'd attach him to Langdon like we partnered Petracca with Oliver last pre season. Time for Salem to take the next step.

And more diversity in the midfield role he plays. Still maintain he could be better used as a stopper like Harmes. He's done it before anyhow. Both. Our stoppage set ups are ordinary and predictable. Knights at Geelong sets up the mids in a really interesting way. As does Kingsley at Richmond. We need a midfield coach like that, who is prepared to get the mix right and be unpredictable to opposition in the way we set up, but predictable internally to ensure the best connection between Gawn and the mids. I'd play Viney and Harmes as defensive mids alongside first possession mid in Oliver. Have Petracca rotating in and out of there too.

Who says we haven't already conducted an external review this year? This is way too big. The soft cap is being reduced, so you'll see a much leaner FD.

Particularly if you put it on here mate. The gronks in the AFL press will pick it up and claim it as their own source. What an interesting idea...