Adam The God

I'm looking forward to playing Port. I reckon we both play a very similar style.

Of course, but weight of numbers would still suggest they're doing enough. Their W/L record could suggest their forwardline is too one dimensional as well, although Matera has been pretty good this year in the snippets that I've seen. It's also much efficient their opposition can be against them in transition and although they're winning a lot of the clearances, how's their defensive running? It'll be interesting to see and I'm sure our FD will have a way to exploit their midfield weaknesses.

So basically we'll be smashing it when Gawn returns, having learnt how to shark the taps of the opposition ruckman. I did read somewhere else that we were third. I just didn't expect Gold Coast to be #1 in the competition. I would have said they were an ordinary one-paced midfield (outside of Ablett), but 17.5 clearances per game says they're anything by ordinary. I wonder how much that is down to Witts.

I think it's just a matter of making certain players (with perhaps higher potential) earn their spots more. Unlike some, I've been pretty happy with the MC this year and probably for the last 2-3 years.

They are? That's bloody surprising.

If we move the ball properly, we'll take the defenders out of it.

Despite Daniher having a question over his kicking, I can't understand some people writing this kid off. I wish we had him, as frustrating as he may be on occasions. He is going to be one of the best forwards in the game. His mobility, combined with his height makes him potentially the next Buddy Franklin. He racks up scoring shots like a young Franklin too.

If all it took was our first rounder this year and next to get May or Lever to the club at the end of this year and Peter Wright the following year, I'd happily give up those picks. Besides, Taylor has shown an ability to pick deep into the draft. As long as we have some 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks to keep turning over areas of our list, I'd be happy with this as our list strategy for the next two draft periods. That said, can you trade two first rounders in consecutive years? Either way, the obvious holes in the list are a ready-to-go KPD, a forward/ruck and a skilful (preferably) pacey outside mid. I think we need to keep adding ball winning ability in our midfield too. Viney, Tyson, Oliver, Petracca, Salem and maybe Brayshaw are great, but when Lewis, Jones and Vince go (two of those will hang up the boots within three years), we'll need midfield reinforcements. We might back ourselves to be an attractive FA destination by the end of those three years, and hope to land a few mids to compliment the guys we already have and take over from the guys who will retire. Then it's about getting more games into our core elite group of Oliver, Petracca, Salem, Brayshaw, Hogan, Weideman, Hunt and even Frost.

The hype at this stage seems to be more linked to his draft selection, rather than output. He's shown no more than Weideman IMO.

I reckon we could get away with pick 10 and an upgrade of picks if we convinced Lever to come.

Adelaide would laugh at us if we tried to throw ANB in. He's a C grade youngster best.

Yep, I like all these changes and think this is the way we'll go. Harmes definitely deserves a shot ahead of Kent. They might feel Bugg did enough, but Stretch is a better player and has hopefully done enough at Casey to offer a better run and carry option ahead of Bugg. He does need to get more involved in the forward half though. And Wagner has been close to terrible since coming back. I'd play Melksham this week and get Wags (who I rate) to go back and work on that disposal of his. Fresh is never a bad thing either, especially given the Suns have had the week off. It'll be interesting to see who plays third defender this week.

Does Zak provide outside class though? Yeah, he's quick and breaks lines, but we already have Hunt and Frost who are both line breakers, but neither can kick. Is it worth going after another? If the price isn't too high I'd have a flutter, otherwise I'd look for someone who ticks all the boxes.

Garlett is definitely setting the benchmark for our forwards. His pressure has been great. It's why he can get 10 possessions every week and retain his spot.

Given IMO every other player in our 22 has improved in the last year, I'd say the problem is with Kent and not our development coaches.

He laid one tackle in that Geelong game. It was part of the reason he was dropped after the following week. He's a lazy downhill skier. Unless he turns his mental application around he won't play. As simple as that. He hasn't had a good game this year. Against Geelong he kicked two but was one of our main offenders kicking behinds, which lead to the loss. I'm close to writing him off after his entire season to date. Even when he went back to Casey the first time he was dropped, that first game he didn't seem interested. I hope he proves me wrong, but I doubt it at this point.

Questioned for years whether he'd make it. Seems like he won't. It may still click for him, but he'll need a drastic mental shift for it to happen at Melbourne.

I'd try trading our 2018 first rounder for him. And @goodwindees, no, we don't need to trade one of our 5 young mids (you need 8-10 decent mids to compete for a flag) to attract May. You convince May to come over and then you have the leverage. Picks will do the trick, but you don't touch our mids or our spine.

What a complete and utter [censored] disgrace! I would expect a please explain from the league. WTF is going on here? I'm not one for whinging constantly to the AFL, but if this was Collingwood or Hawthorn, they'd be asking questions and they'd make damn sure it wouldn't happen again. At least put the umpires and the MRP on notice. It really is mindbogglingly biased.

He's talking about the mids and forwards. Failing to crack in around the contest is directed at the mids and the run off half back is a result of that and our forwards' inability to lay tackles as well. I think this is an oversimplification, HH. We handball more when there's greater pressure on us and we're being beaten on the spread and in the work rate skates. So yes, our losses see us handball more in order to find the free player. That means our players aren't working hard enough to provide an outlet for the disposer to give it to. I'd prefer we over handball it though than simply kick it back to the opposition. And I'm sure Goody feels the same way.

He's been building nicely and has tidied up his disposal in the last fortnight. Just don't tell Steve. It's not our zone defence. It's our players' ability to work hard enough. The zone doesn't hold up if there's a weak link. That doesn't mean we give up because it's too hard though. We'll concede some soft goals over the back occasionally, but if we get our heads right and our work rate is there you'll barely notice it. The zone is the key to our attack and ball movement. And as we've seen, we can slice any team open if we want to. And more galling given his blokes didn't stop sniping all day. A typical Scott side. They played like their coach.

Oscar was ordinary yesterday, but our midfield was a lot more ordinary than any of our backs. They might be able to be applauded for their ability to go close in the clearances, but the lack of two-way running from our mids was staggering for the most part yesterday. North killed us on the spread and they're not a quick side. They were just more switched on. When the ball is coming down so easily from half back and out of the middle, our defenders have very little chance. Particularly, being undersized. But undersized isn't the problem. That would be to gloss over the deficiencies in the mids' performance yesterday. I recall vividly a play during the third term where North's transition was under 14's training drill stuff. We failed to cover space. We failed to chase our opponents. We failed to tackle and get body on our opponents. It was probably our worst play for the year. That said it all. I can't recall if North kicked a goal from that play, but they certainly scored. It was straight down the corridor. It wasn't clever use of space or the angles, or clever ball use. It was just our guys refusing to work. Unforgivable.

It's a boneheaded idea to trade Tyson. We get the May done with draft picks or players like Kent. Don't touch the midfield we're building. We still need another A grade or two in there. No point taking out the very good depth we have. Otherwise, we go a lot harder at Lever, who is much younger.

The other thing about Goffy's post is that it highlights how important someone like Brendan McCartney is to ensuring belief stays within the group. He's been there with Geelong. It took Bomber 7 years in charge before it clicked. I'm not saying it'll take that long, but it shows the importance of persistence and if Macca is happy with the development of our list, that says it all really.

Can we pin this to the top of every forum on Demonland please, Nash?