Adam The God

I think it's more likely Lewis stays back and Wagner replaces Vince, releasing him into the midfield permanently. But agree with the rest of this.

We ONLY need to win two flags to overtake Hawthorn's 13.

And on Scully, he's a good player in a good team. He doesn't win enough of the ball himself, so he relies on others to give it to him and he then uses his endurance to outrun others with his superior aerobic capacity. But if his mids run out of legs (as was the case last night) or struggle to get the ball to him, he can't get in the game and his kicking skills are shown up. I'd class him as a B grader personally.

Lol. Is that you Richo? We've well and truly past the Saints. Our depth of talent is quite a way ahead of them. It's unlikely that St Kilda will be in the 8 by the end of the weekend either. Further, it's laughable to suggest the 8 is almost set. It's becoming ever more even every week. This season is going to go down to the wire. It'll be about who can string a bunch of wins together. I'm tipping us to win 4 or 5 in a row later in the season. But right now, if results go our way this week, we could be as high as 6th, but more likely 7th.

Just need to do a Hawthorn in the next decade and win 4 flags to be equal top of the league for premierships. To be a powerhouse club again will only take 10 years.

This is gold. I'll have to show the missus this. "This is how cute Melbourne supporters are. Time to get on board".

Acres is their Harmes. He runs hard, can really rack them up, but his ball use can let him down. I rate him and reckon he'll turn into a solid B grader if he can fix his disposal. He'll be a bit in and out of the team until he improves this. He usually kills us, so I was glad to see him named as an emergency against us. Gresham is going to be a star though. The next Milne. Absolute gun. May well drift through the midfield at a point too. Jack Steven is a good player and he can hurt you on the outside, but he too is wasteful with his ball use (his efficiency is exactly the same as Tyson's - 66% DE). I look at the St Kilda list and in particular their midfield, and I see an aging Montagna, a 27 year old Steven, Ross (a ball magnet and hard runner, but limited by foot), Acres, Dunstan (a hard nut, but his disposal also lets him down), Steele (an okay player, but not sure he has a weapon), an almost 29 year old Armitage and Newnes (a solid mid). They're not a deeply talented midfield. They're workmanlike. Steven offers a bit of x-factor and pace to an otherwise one-paced midfield, but lets himself down with the aforementioned sloppy disposal. St Kilda's problem is, if they don't bring 100% pressure, they get well beaten. A bit like, I suspect Richmond and ultimately, I can't see them having enough talent to win a flag in the long run.

Got home late tonight, so I just watched the St Kilda / GWS replay. St Kilda brought some very good pressure, but, gee, if they didn't beat GWS tonight, they were never going to beat them. GWS had a man down from the first half and they completely ran out of legs in the final quarter. I have questions over the St Kilda game style too. Looks okay if the other team can't run out the game and St Kilda get a run on, but not sure they have the talent to make the 8 this year. Although, when you get some confidence up, you never know what could happen.

Showed terrific composure for a young bloke last year. Really liked his poise and he's a nice kick. Another bloke who straightens us up back there. Reads the play well in the air as well. Agree with you on Stretch over Bugg, but anyway, they obviously want to reward form in the VFL and give him a bit of a run at AFL level.

Stretch looked buggered in that Richmond game. Wouldn't be against him having another week off and coming in fresh against Adelaide next week.

Our list managers and entire FD have a massive role to play in the coming 5-10 years and our success is going to be built on our ability to keep this list together.

Yep, I agree, mate. The Stringer model. Oliver, Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw and Salem gives us plenty of elite talent to vie for starting mid positions once Jones, Lewis and Vince hang up the boots. Petracca, Hogan and Watts for bursts as well.

I'm surprised very little has been made of Oliver's stats in comparison to any other midfielder in the modern era. He has better stats than Greg Williams at this point...

Still remember that great contested grab in his first game against Ward. That's my favourite Clarry mark, but the Essendon one was a beauty too.

Nope. He didn't play again after that. I was at that game, but missed it "live" and then never saw the replay of the actual tunnelball. Wasn't going to go back and check the replay either. I gather it was a massive crumble though.

Noticed it was Merc Vans. I presume there's a difference in price, but still a good get. Helps if you win a flag though. Give PJ a flag and he'd land Merc too, particularly for our membership base.

I guess my point was we're more likely to play poorly against Hawthorn and better against Adelaide. Let's hope we can deliver both weeks. And I think they'll cheer him. He was effectively pushed out. He didn't walk.

No way Tyson goes out. Wasn't the point I was inferring.

I reckon we're more likely to struggle a bit this week and put out a really good performance against Adelaide. Can't wait for the Crows game. Or, heaven forbid, we back up a really good showing this weekend with another against Adelaide.

Why? Stretch already offers more than Trenners. Trenners is a lovely bloke, but the game has passed him by. Stretch will be in our top 10 players in 2-3 years time. He's a really good decision-maker, a good runner and adheres nicely to structures. Really important player for our game style too.

Particularly, off the back of last week's performance. Did a couple of nice things, but was too quiet for mine and will go out.

I find it interesting and have done so for a few weeks. It's clear to me that the FD think Dom needs to tidy up his disposal by foot. It also vindicates the thinking that although you get some coaches votes, it doesn't mean there aren't still flaws in your game.

Had missed that he was named on the ground, which means ANB is back to the 2's. That said, they can actually take someone out of the starting 18 and swap them with a player on the interchange...

I don't think Kent will play. They're [censored]-teasing him so he works hard this week IMO. Hogan is named in the starting 18 and I suspect Stretch will get the nod for JKH. Wagner might play for Oscar too. Be interesting to see.