Adam The God

I like the idea too. Big yes from me.

If Anderson's as good as some say he is, I wouldn't be disappointed to land him, but getting King would really straighten us up. We already have a dominant Gawn feeding to the likes of Oliver, Harmes, Brayshaw, Viney, Petracca and even Salem. If we added King to McDonald, Melksham, Hannan, Fritsch, Petracca and a speedy natural crumber, we'd start to have a potent list of forward options. Then all we need to a game style that enables connection between midfield and forward.

I'd be starting Salem in the middle next year, alongside Oliver and Brayshaw. I'd have Brayshaw switching in and out of the middle and half forward with Harmes. Then Viney rotating with Salem across half forward and the midfield. His ball use from the midfield and across half forward, connecting midfield with forward half is something we desperately need. A fitter Melksham will help this delivery inside too. Fritsch should only play forward too. I'd love someone like Ben King to partner McDonald and compete with Weideman for the second KP forward spot. Salem needs to move up the ground though.

Mate, it's not 2005 and it's certainly not 1989. Get with the program and get with 2020.

I wonder if TGR delivers a message from the club. This thread is oddly timed and strangely lacks context.

Take a seat, Ross. You failed to win a flag multiple times.

Lyon's game plan is outdated and he has continually failed on the big stage. We need a coach whose game plan and style maximises our strengths and compensates for our weaknesses. If it were 2005, that may well be Ross Lyon, but in 2020 beyond, it's surely someone else with a similar philosophy. Leigh Tudor?

So what's the goss. Are the AFL going to give GCS PP1 at #2 or is Anderson a chance? I'd love to get King.

I'm stuck in an edit suite today locking picture on my current film, with my Collingwood-supporting editor. We're both sitting here with our scarves on and will be there in spirit. This is the first game in Melbourne that I've missed since 2007, so let's see how I go today. We might find ourselves turning on the TV in the background. Today should be revenge for Round 23 2017. Come on, redlegs.

Completely agree. I love Jack but I prefer Brayshaw in the guts. I'm wondering if Viney could play a more defensive role next year and play Clarry, Gus and Harmes in the middle. Clarry and Harmes are great tacklers and if Gus has a decent pre season, he'll bounce back. I'd try Jack 60-70% forwardline tackler and short bursts in the midfield. He won't be traded so we need to find a place for him that doesn't upset the balance of the midfield too much.

Absolutely would go for Richo. I reckon direct replacement for Macca. Head of Development.

Foot skills are overrated. It's the game style that enables players that have good enough foot skills (they were drafted AFL players afterall) to hit targets easier. Richmond's foot skills are okay, as are Geelong's, but only Hawthorn under Clarkson 7 or so years ago could say their kicking was above the rest. West Coast go nicely too, but I think people get foot skills wrong.

Patton won't work in the forward system we need to play. We already have a cumbersome, ordinary forward line that completely lacks pace and gets rebounded off week in and week out. Patton would contribute to this problem. A player like Himmelberg as some have noted is a really good example of a nimble forward that can take a big mark but get the job done on the ground too. Even Greenwood from Adelaide, Lever's best mate, would be an interesting idea to play forward. Quick, strong, a decent kick and a good mark. Could rotate between the midfield and deep forward. We need to radically change our set up, making us faster, unpredictable and harder to coach against. We need a fit Melksham, a fit Hannan, even a fit Vandenberg would help. Along with Petracca, a Greenwood-type, Caddy, Bolton and another quick (how's Bedford coming along?), this will drastically change our forwardline. Personally, I'd implement far more rotation and switching between deep forward, half forward and midfield than we do. I'd basically play a similar system to Liverpool in soccer. The front 3 or 4 attackers constantly rotate in and out of midfield, wide positions and attack. I'd look at making us dynamic as possible by making a lot of our positions agnostic and interchangeable. Patton doesn't won't work if we go down this sort of path.

Oliver is by far our best stoppage player, but in bursts, Petracca can be every bit as dangerous as a stoppage player (a bit like Degoey really).

You've got a blind spot here mate. Petracca's had a very consistent season. His work rate and intensity at ground level has been there all season.

I wouldn't trade Gus. Get his body right and challenge him to really improve his defensive game in 2020 and beyond.

1. Oliver 2. Lever 3. Gawn 4. Melksham 5. May It drops away after this but... 6. Harmes 7. Petracca 8. Salem 9. Viney or Brayshaw 10. Jetta (but is he finished?)

So he's a good kick and decision maker, and can take a mark, but not particularly quick?

Without knowing a thing about the next crop, what sort of player is Anderson? I know he's a mid but is he a big bodied mid? Silky? Quick? What?

I said last year and at the beginning of 2019 that Melksham is our most important player. I stand by that. The leading assister in the competition last year and constantly links our midfield with our forwardline. He was never fit this year and could barely kick 40m earlier on. A fit Melksham presenting with Fritsch playing forward and we're a much better forward entry team. I think we can turn the corner quickly with a new forward set up that makes it easier for our mids to distribute the ball forward of centre.

Absolutely no way we see Goodwin gone by the end of this season. Twaddle.

He wasn't the only one that missed a sitter in the first quarter, but for a player that has played over 300 games, how did Lewis not realise you needed to kick at the left goal post? Not only is this a personnel problem (baffling, as under 12s ask which way is the wind going when they take to the field), it is a coaching problem too. Our poor kicking in the first quarter, when we controlled the play, lost us the game. As simple as that.

Mate, people keep putting words in other people's mouths. No one has said one way or the other RE history repeating itself. Just you. And what happened prior to 2018 has very little impact on what happens now. There's no point talking about April 1973 or whatever other failure we had 40+ years ago. That's irrelevant. We need to deal with the last 12 months and factors for our current failure, not bang on about the distant past.

It's not up to me to come up with the reasons for our failure. We are not paid the big bucks and I don't have all the information. It would be folly. I can only comment on what I see during our matches. If there's something going on behind the scenes, we need to address that internally and that's up to the leadership within the club.

Agreed and it highlights for me the importance of confidence and getting early wins on the board. We talk about game style and structures a lot, but if you're getting beaten every week playing a certain way, you start to not believe in what you're doing and hope that changes come (ie a new pre season). It's a bit like when the figurative dam wall breaks in the fourth quarter of a game and a team knows they can't win, all of a sudden, a game that was close becomes a blow out. They start to go through the motions, knowing they can't win. That's where we've been for much of the season and it's why under Roos, getting as many pre season wins as possible to build momentum going into the season proper, was the rhetoric out of the FD at the time. With a softer draw next year, if we can build momentum early like Collingwood did up until the bye in 2018 (minus their first two games) and even we did through that 6 game stretch last year, anything can happen at the pointy end of a season with a bit luck, confidence and work rate. Just look at Brisbane.