Adam The God

I think it'd be hilarious if Collingwood missed the finals from here. They won't but I'd love it. As long as they don't get the double chance...

We'll be able to cover him this week. However, against the good teams, and make no mistake, Sydney are still a good team, his ability to hit targets inside 50 when no one else can is his major asset. Given our deplorable efficiency inside 50 at times this year, without Melksham's kicking, a side like Sydney will make us pay. And if I've gone the hyperbolic route, let me adjust it to say without Melksham against Sydney, it will be very tough to beat them.

Was that Judd's grandmother, mate? ?

Actually, if you look at the importance of the missing players at Collingwood and compare them with ours, our injury list is very comparable. Collingwood's injuries have been played up greatly for a few years now and yet whenever anyone else has injuries, they're pretty much overlooked. Collingwood are thought to have great courage and system despite all their injuries and yet we played stretches of 2017 without both captains (one of whom was the equivalent of Treloar in Viney), our AA ruckman, our gun CHF and still won many games and were competitive in all. This year we've lost our most important KPB (the week before playing Collingwood who have only beaten us in the top 8 - we didn't have time to adjust our system to cater for Cox); another AA defender from last year is injured in Hibberd; arguably our most important midfielder in Viney has barely played any of the season; despite his form, Hunt's injury has crippled our running stocks; and now our leading half forward and the leading assister in the league, is injured. But we're chokers who haven't beaten anyone in the top 8 and Collingwood are a premiership threat who have lost to Richmond by the same margin we did, but done it twice. Both times, Collingwood were lauded for the way they played in comfortable Richmond victories. Yet when we played Richmond, we were without Tom McDonald who incredibly could still win the Coleman despite missing a quarter of the season, and is as vital to our structure as Riewoldt is to Richmond's. I think it's [censored]. Don't get sucked in by the media love for Collingwood. Buckley's been there for years and is only just starting to beat teams in the bottom half of the ladder that they should be beating. They still haven't beaten anyone else in the top 8. End rant.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Melksham is our most important player. He connects the good work of Max, Clarry and Gus with the rest of the forwardline and for some time has been the best assister in our team. He is also arguably our best shot at goal too. I'm very concerned by his loss. If he doesn't play against Sydney, we'll lose.

Why would Hannebery leave Sydney for St Kilda? Far more likely to come to Melbourne if he were to leave Sydney. St Kilda makes no sense.

I think we're not dangerous enough at ground level, so defenders can afford to peal off and double/triple team Jesse. The way the Richmond smalls pressure the ground balls in their forwardline is really something to behold. It means that Riewoldt or Moore can get a jump at the footy, because the second or third defender is held accountable to another on the ground. I like your general thesis though. In general, we need to get better at making the right selection going inside 50 and if we have more pace on the ground, I think we'd find our efficiency going up. We rarely crumb goals (Jeffy's the other night being the exception), so it means defenders can gamble a bit more and they're really not that worried about what our smalls can do at ground level. Certainly, not in the same way you'd be fearful as a defender in Richmond's forwardline. They create goal scoring chances purely out of inferred pressure. If we can couple that manic implied pressure with our clearance dominance (consistently), we'll win a premiership.

He's been a completely different player across 2017-2018. People were right to knock him prior to that. He was a turnover merchant with ball in hand, but a very hard running and good 1v1 defender. As a forward, he is an absolute star and you're right. He probably hasn't received the accolades for that, that he deserves.

I don't know how to interpret these posts unless they're put in a best 22. Mind knocking up one for us? Just don't put Jesse at CHF.

Langdon gets it a bit but he continues to be an untidy player. Reminds me of Harmes in his first few years.

Yeah, I said to my old man last night in the third that our performance was really reminiscent of the old Sydney. Grind it out and slowly work your way on top, despite not playing your best footy. It was a really mature performance in the second half and it's exciting. Clarry really stood up too.

Yep, we're not going to catch West Coast and if North lose this, they pretty much can't make it. We want West Coast comfortable when we play them, so we can catch them off guard. An Eagles win is better for mine.

Haha. I just call it how it is, mate. ?

Had a costly first half last week giving away 3 clear scoring shots (leading to 2.1). Did exactly the same thing last night, plus gifted (was it?) Jenkins that poster in the last quarter after dropping an uncontested mark in the goal square. Getting a bit overrated for mine. He's silk on the outside, but I think he's really struggled in 1v1 situations in the last fortnight or so.

I've read a couple of posts now saying Cheney was good. I thought he was very ordinary and had a hand in at least a few of our goals.

He loses his feet too often and doesn't lay enough consistent pressure for mine, but he was the one who won that 1v1 to get ANB the sealer. But he kicked that all important goal on the stroke of 3 quarter time and brought the ball to ground on a number of occasions last night, often against 2 or 3 Crows opponents. He is also 5th in the Coleman race. We forget how good he is I reckon.

Sorry, Jesse, you need to keep playing. You're too important to our structure to leave out. Particularly, when finals is not assured. He has a good record against Gold Coast, so he'll kick a few this coming week. If we can win 2 more games and keep the other two games tight, we should make finals. They said it on the commentary last night and I think it lacks understanding, just because we're a high scoring team doesn't mean we can take out a Hogan. Richmond can score heavily too but if they took out Riewoldt they wouldn't be. It's structural. If we get to the finals, Jesse will have a week off anyway.

Channel 7 always show the questioner. You're just not used to us being on 7.

I think you'll find Harmes played the final quarter on Gibbs.

Has always lacked polish. A solid B grader for mine. In the same class as Jones IMO.

I was doing the standing fist pump right near the TV when they cut to Goody doing the same thing. Loved his passion tonight.

His disposal and decision making is a real concern, but he's a trier, so he'll stay in the team and often get on the end of some goals out the back, due to his hard running. Still [censored] himself in the clinches though and did again tonight. However, did a bunch of really good things too.

It's good to feel like we lost the territory battle (for once), but won it on the scoreboard by hanging in there and being efficient once we went inside. It has so often gone the other way this season in that regard.

He was switched onto Gibbs in the last and really curtailed his influence. Gibbs had played loose at most of the stoppages for the night until the last. We finally manned him up with Harmes and he struggled. It was a great move, because Sloane played a more defensive role in Adelaide's midfield in the last. That suited us and allowed Harmes to drift onto the better user, in Gibbs. Made a couple of really good decisions with ball in hand tonight, did Harmes. I've been critical of him in the past and this is certainly an area of his game that has never been a strength, but he's showing some really nice maturity. Credit to him and the coaches. Harmes could become a real asset to our midfield once Viney returns, which will allow Jack to see ball, get ball, while Harmes plays the shutdown roles.

Yeah, our defensive running still needs a lot of work, but our offensive game from the clinches is A grade.