Adam The God

I don't think so. The long kicking to contests and crumbing is the Richmond style with pressure. We don't have enough leg speed. I want us to be bold and play to our strengths. (see below). I agree. That was playing to our strengths.

It's an interesting one this, because I think Saad is exactly the type of player that is only good if you want to play a certain system. I thought we were going for an Adelaide zone system (circa 2017), but we seem to have drifted away from this and more towards territory with a pressing zone. This makes sense given our stoppage and contest work, but I think we need more strings to our bow. I'd support us targeting Saad if the coaching team were convinced we wanted to play a complimentary style to his gun and run game.

I watched a quarter of the St Kilda game today and you could immediately see their brand, which was built off hard two way running and pressure. We haven't run hard two ways since the Hawthorn semi final in 2018 and even then struggled for much of 2018 to run both ways. It's all well and good to win the ball every now and then from the contest but if you can't defend opposition stoppages, you're going nowhere. In the first quarter against Carlton we locked the ball in and played territory like we hadn't since 2018, but I believe we try to play a system not suited to our forwardline (or our list), which is Richmond's successful blueprint. If you look at how Richmond enter forward 50, they go high and long to packs too, but they have fast crumbers on either side of the packs, something we don't have enough of on our list. I want us to be bold and innovative with our game style like we were across 2017-2018. It didn't always work, but when it did, it set us apart from the rest of the competition. I fear much of this innovation came from Jennings, so it'll be interesting to see what else Goodwin has.

It'll be interesting to see our brand tomorrow. We may not sustain whatever we bring for 4 quarters, but I want to see a recognisable brand.

I'm not interested in riding him for it, but it wasn't once, it was three times and all of them resulted in Carlton scores. Games played or not, Rivers worked it out in his first game. Joel's been on the list for 5 years now and really it's a pretty basic rule I would have thought. Understand who's around you, if it's your turn to go, then so be it. What worries me is it's either player, coaching or both. It's certainly been a problem at Melbourne for as long as I can remember. Joel's best game for the club has been forward. If he's got a crack at it, I reckon that might be his go. Pressure forward with a bit of x factor.

We'd also gain 20k bandwagoners like Hawthorn and Richmond now have, which is why I reckon we could get 70-80k one day, but it needs success.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Troy Chaplin, the Defensive coach... just wow. How can players still be leaping for the same ball? Rivers seemed to understand when to stay down and where to guard space, but Joel Smith after how ever many years he's been on the list, still hasn't worked it out. Smith, Chaplin and Goodwin really have to take some responsibility for this decision making. It shouldn't be happening with a player in his 3rd or 4th or whatever it is, season. Structurally though, the first half was solid from a defensive POV, but we still fail to do the basics well. Worried what Essendon will do next week even though they're a pretty ordinary team themselves. What's frustrating is that there are many, many average teams in the competition. If only we got anywhere near our 2018 form, we'd easily be top 4 or 6.

Explains a lot, mate. Thanks. ?

I don't want to be too negative here, but I haven't posted for a while, because to be honest, after how we performed in Round 1 off the back of 2019, I've been quite happy to see no football for a while. However, I think we can put out one of the best 'on paper sides' in the competition, certainly top 8 worthy. But where the negativity comes in for me is that not only does our talent drop away steeply after the best 22 (ie very little good depth), our coach who is ironically all about systems, hasn't fixed our systems that could enable plodders to be plug and plays in a well-oiled system. Without a decent system, it doesn't really matter how many good individual players we may have out there. I reckon Goodwin's goose is cooked unfortunately.

I mean this is the thing isn't it? Absolutely the difference between Collingwood finishing 13th however many seasons in a row and them leaping up the ladder the last three years. And on this two way running, WTF was wrong with Clarry yesterday? He seemed to be labouring 5 minutes in and slowly jogging about. Petracca failed to impact in the H&A season again too. One game, but some worry mental signs for mine.

I don't think it's so much about outrage mate, but more about what systems have they worked to improve all summer? Forwards were often failing to lead at the ball carrier, midfielders kicking sideways to 2 on 1s in our forward fifty. Looking at the team sheets going in to yesterday, you thought, right, we've noted their tall targets down back and we've picked a smaller side. Good thinking, so we'll try and keep the ball away from those guys, but all we did was bomb it long all day. Instead of outrage, I'd say there's reason for disappointment.

I thought Lockhart was excellent. So much cleaner for the most part, than the majority of his team mates. Kozzy is going to be a ripper and Viney stepped up and showed leadership. But Goodwin bangs on about system and you could see it up on the coaching board at one stage. "Protect the corridor", yet almost immediately after that restart, West Coast kicked to a practically unmarked West Coast player standing... in the corridor, who proceeded to then move it through... the corridor. Absolutely, the players have to shoulder much of the blame for not being able to perform their roles, but the coaching staff and the senior coach need to shoulder some of the blame too for not getting the players up. West Coast players had to deal with the strange circumstances too and they did. Weird day I know, but it was another embarrassing performance. It may not have been a 10 goal pounding, but West Coast were in cruise control most of the day and as others have said, this game mirrored most of our performances in 2019. Very disappointing.

Depends on the cost but surely we'd be looking at options to finance a development without State or Federal funding. It's tough out there, so I'm sure we'll be strategic about it.

It's great to take the home ground advantage away from the Methies. I hope it helps us get closer.

It's not a bad idea though. We need line breakers and gut runners off half back, which rules out Rivers and Jordon for the time being. That's part of the reason we seem to have thrown Harmes back there. We need a few options off half back, so having Hunt in form is important for depth and strategic flexibility this year.

He wasn't too bad last year as a pressure forward, but the year before that really struggled. He may get his chance with injuries, management of Pickett and if Bedford struggles to come on this year. It may well be Jayden's last though. Let's hope he can prove me wrong here. He's struggled under Goodwin.

Vandenberg is an interesting choice...

It's definitely having an economic impact isn't it?!

Good luck with the fundraising mate. I'm raising a million dollar budget for a social issue too at the moment and if you can empower and inspire those around you and hit a nerve, it can come together quite quickly. We've raised $100,000 in very little time at all and then I'll leverage that again.

This guy totally reminds me of Leopold from The Simpsons. He's a walking bloody cliche. Quite hilarious.

I've stayed away from Demonland and the official website for a bit and just caught up tonight. Watched the first three eps in a row. Not only are the production values excellent, the structure of the episodes are simple, but very well done. I could watch it for hours. Well done, MFC.

He wasn't there for much of 2018. He came back at the end of 2018 if I recall correctly.

You're in trouble mate when Adam Cooney is echoing your thoughts. He's an absolute gronk. There are 8 spots up for grabs because the [censored] season hasn't even started yet.

Massively important player for his pressure and tackling, but I've still never seen an AFL footballer struggle to hit handball targets like him. His kicking is very hit and miss too, so he has to get it done with his pressure game and his toughness can never be questioned.

I'd sign Bennell to a one year deal. No brainer really. So he's had a minor calf tear. If we get 2 or 3 games out of him come the end of the year, versus a VFL player, I'd still like his class off an interrupted pre season.