Adam The God

The problem is the Gawn/Watts combination does take quite a bit from our forwardline. If Weideman comes on quicker than expected and provides Hogan the chop out when Watts doesn't because he's rucking, then I think it becomes one of the best combinations in the league. Right now though, Watts is too valuable for our forwardline and playing him in the ruck feels bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul. That said, I have been a massive fan of the move in general, as it gets Jack into the game and forces him to work on his physicality.

Saw my mate last night who is a development coach at Hawthorn. I told him I'd see him at the footy on Sunday and his response was "go deeeees". And I thought "right, looking forward to beating your mob, mate". Haha.

This is what my old man tells me too.

Or we want plug and plays now, as Oscar develops...

Yep, it resets every time there's a new coach.

He can't play in a zonal system. He's at his best with a man on man system. If a player doesn't suit your system and isn't adaptable, you go out and find someone who is.

And your point, mate? This is a supporter forum. We state our views. We have disagreements. That's all part of a healthy discussion and critique. We disagree and apparently I disagree with Goody too. Fantastic. Let's move on.

I'm not one to discount stats, but I did think they were misleading this week as he wasn't hard enough at it IMO. I'm not really sure what else I'm supposed to say, but agree to disagree. I thought he was much better the week before, but because he had to shoulder the ruck duties, he couldn't play majority minutes forward and therefore get on the scoreboard like he did this week. There is also a difference between work rate to get into position to receive or win the ball and intensity at the contest. But I'd prefer not to keep labouring the point, because it's being blown out of proportion the more we talk about it. It's as simple as this. I didn't think his intensity where where it should have been this week and you did. End of story.

I maintain I said it first. Haha.

Cannot understand a player of Fyfe's ilk being at all interested in going to St Kilda. St Kilda will not win a flag with their current list. It lacks deep enough midfield talent and has been propped up by a brilliant Riewoldt and Montagna for years. Even their other gun players like Stevens are getting on now. By the time they're ready to challenge, Stevens will be in the veteran category as well. I can't see Fyfe leaving and if he's coming to Melbourne, it'll be to a club with a strong midfield that has a flag chance in the next 2-3 years.

I originally said "from an intensity perspective, Jack Watts was very, very ordinary. He played from behind, failed to tackle stronger and probably went at about 10% all day. But he's a clever, skilful player and things went his way today". So I was only knocking his intensity. I didn't include him in my best players, because he wasn't in my best players, but I can understand why the coaches had him there, for his scoreboard impact.

We'll agree to disagree, mate. I didn't say Jack didn't have a huge impact on the game. My issue was with his intensity. And just because he gets votes, doesn't mean there aren't issues with his game. I'm looking at the grey and for me, he kicks 4 goals and was an integral part of our forwardline, but could he have played in front more? Yes. Could he have kept his feet more? Yes. Could he have shown greater tackling intensity? Yes. That's all I'm saying.

I'm intrigued about this game. What's our connection to the BCNA? Why are the MFC the common element of the BCNA games? One of my best friends works for the BCNA and I'm seeing her this weekend at the game, so I'll ask her, but in the meantime, does anyone else know? From memory, it's always been a game against the Bulldogs. Why has it changed to a match between us and Hawthorn?

My biggest knock on Jack in the first 5 games of 2017 has been his lack of explosiveness and this has impacted on his decision-making, because he's tried to play hero footy to get himself out of situations that his explosiveness would normally enable him to. If he's got it back, we're in for some exciting times with he, Oliver, Petracca and Tyson hitting some form together this year.

Yep, agreed, mate. And we have players that can tackle like he can't at the moment, so make him really earn his spot. A fit and firing, consistent Dean Kent (which we've never seen) would make our forwardline very dangerous. He has some tools to make him an exciting player, but does he have the mental application?

There will come a time where holding out for a bigger offer in the hope that getting top market value is worth waiting a little longer for, will only last a few more weeks before that idea becomes untenable. There will come a point where accepting a smaller deal sooner will make more sense than accepting a bigger deal later - if that makes sense...

Has Mills re-signed? I know it's a long shot, but a young leader, hard, great user off half back, will eventually be able to roll into the midfield. If he is available, I'd offer him a 5-6 year deal and maybe a first rounder or two. Though maybe we have more pressing needs such as composure in the KPB position...

I reckon we're still a shot at hitting 40k by Sunday. A few big nights on the phone this week ought to do it.

I wonder if he feels some guilt? He could well have been the one helping Jones hold up that midfield for years.

I think we have to get a flag to convert a lot of these remaining 'supporters'. Sustained success has to equal at least one flag, if not two or three. That's the only way we'll build ourselves up to where we need to be. And that is, up where Hawthorn have managed to build themselves to. If we can play a final this year, we'll go close to 45,000 members next year. If we can win a final this year, we'll get 45,000 members next year. If we can make the top 4 and do some damage in 2018, by 2019 we should be looking at 50,000 members, which would obviously be a terrific effort. Nothing is ever that straight forward, but I think it's entirely possible if we keeping tracking northwards. And to come from low 30,000s in 2013, to 50,000 by 2019, near doubling your membership in 6 years is incredible. Port-like really, but in a much tougher and more competitive Victorian market.

Ben Kennedy would really have to be thumping the door down at Casey for him to get a go ahead of Harmes, ANB, JKH and Hannan. I don't follow Casey too closely, but what have Kennedy's tackle numbers been like down there? I certainly haven't heard that he's been tackling the house down, week after week. That's what he'll need to do to get a game in our forwardline. I'm intrigued to see how Harmes goes again. He seems to have tidied up his glaring weakness - his decision making and disposal. If he can eradicate those sorts of errors, he becomes a really important player for us and almost best 22 for mine. He's certainly got the biggest upside out of he, ANB, JKH and probably even Hannan IMO. Harmes knows how to find the ball, runs all day, he's strong in the contest, a good mark and likes a goal. I hope he's learnt from his Freo mistakes, but I'm confident our coaches will be working with him on this. http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2017/6/ess-v-melb "Full-Time Stats" -> "Advanced Stats" Oscar had 14 1%ers. Tom, the next best with 7. Dea was the highest Bomber with 7 1%ers.

Kent needs to play 2, 3, maybe even 4 really solid games at Casey. It sounds like he's put one game together. He's laid 2 tackles in his two games at AFL level and is an absolute liability in our system as he currently plays. When he's playing well, he's tackling hard and pressurising the opposition defence and mids.

Stretch for JKH and maybe Bugg for Hogan, if he's back on deck. I'd also look at Harmes for ANB, who was quieter this week, but the FD have given a really good block of games to.

There were definitely 40,000+.

Yep. At the end of day, this is a discussion forum and most are pretty respectful, but it is a bit like this.