Adam The God

In fact, looking at these numbers again, I don't know where Maclure is getting any of his figures from. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-melbourne-demons--james-harmes

You're referring to Maclure's comments on our half forward tackle numbers. I don't recall him mentioning Harmes, particularly as Harmes is averaging 3.3 tackles per game.

Well, sounds like it might be a good time to replace Hibberd with Melksham. Fortunately, we have a coach who has empathy in a situation like this, having been through similar issues.

I think when you really know your brand and every player understands what is expected of them and what they have to do to complete their role for the team, weaknesses are a lot easier to counter and work on. If a player like Harmes can improved his DE (a statistic that I'm not fond of, but I think says something in the case of Harmes and Tyson), he becomes an invaluable contributor and another Jason Taylor genius pluck from nowhere. If we can get our 'system' up and running, I'll back Taylor's ability to give us 4 or 5 plug and plays almost every year. With the coaching team we currently have, I'm confident our guys are receiving the right advice to continually improve on their game. Just back on Harmes too. I suspect his ability to know his body is what's holding him back just at the minute. When he turned it over at one stage against Freo, that was after he'd covered a lot of ground running hard to get involved. Get his fitness right and an ability to know when to steady and ensure he hits his target (ie. experience), will make him a much, much better player. We will see and it's one of the reasons I'm finding the 2017 season so exciting. We're seeing incremental development across our entire list. So much so that when a player seems to be struggling, they stick out like a sore thumb (Tyson's DE% and Brayshaw's inability to find the footy).

So what we're saying is 5 tackles per game is an appropriate benchmark for a half forward?

I think we judge young players incredibly harshly these days. Especially, when you think of some of the greats of the game. Blokes like Judd and Ablett weren't tearing it up in their first seasons. It took them 5 and 6 years respectively before they reached even a good, consistent player status. KPPs take even longer, as we've seen on countless occasions and yet people get frustrated that these young guys aren't immediately delivering. Jesse Hogan is not the norm. Clayton Oliver is not the norm. I understand it's frustrating when you see Sam running around and struggling to impact on the game and I share your sentiments, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's due time down at Casey or that he'll never make it. He needs time at AFL level and a base level for Weed should be his Round 1 performance. As PD has said a few times, he averaged acceptable numbers alongside Hogan in the first two weeks. This is the base level that Sam must achieve each week, but we've seen how much a talent like Darcy Moore has struggled without the foil of Cloke beside him. The same could be said of Weideman minus Hogan over the past fortnight. Let's keep things in perspective here. And that goes for the knocks on Brayshaw as well.

Far be it for me to be an apologist, but the corkie was clearly hampering him, Red.

I think Harmes' ball use is a liability, but he runs hard, tackles and finds the ball. I think it's more likely that Hannan is in the gun this week to allow JKH to return. Melksham will be 'rested' in place of a returning Hibberd, they may well use the excuse that Melksham looked tired last weekend and that a week or two in the VFL to work on a few things is the way to go (ala Gus). It's likely Hogan comes in for Weideman, but if Weideman plays, Harmes may end up going at the expense of Jesse.

JKH isn't quick, but he demonstrated terrific agility in his first AFL season. I'm not sold on him, but excited that the FD clearly rate him so highly. The professionals clearly see something that I don't. He moves and kicks like a footballer. I guess my knock on him was his ability to have weapons at AFL level. Maybe it's work rate and an ability to use the ball cleanly? Certainly a trait we lacked last week.

Agreed. Can't see Oscar playing as well though. Unless we're trying to use our zone and angles to intercept with our talls, ahead of their mosquito fleet. Just can't see that working. We'd get killed at ground level. There's also not a match up for both Frost and Oscar IMO.

I'd rather a decent KPF than a small forward. Sorry.

I thought Range Rover loved Watts? Is this some other [censored]?

Is it possible with the Coopers controversy recently that we've held off announcing them as a sponsor until the heat dies down?

Further, pretty much every AFL media commentator has said Kelly isn't the guy they'd pay a mill for because although a great talent and a potential A grader, he's won't be an A+ grader, which is who you pay a million a year for. That you, Barrett?

Haha, you lost me with your first sentence. No one compares Kelly to Judd and if they do they're an idiot. Kelly is a silky outside mid with terrific skills. About the only similarity between he and Judd is pace.

All three have historically played well against Richmond too. Early scoreboard pressure is going to be vital against this mob. Bunch of downhill skiers, so if we can get them early I think we'll have them for the entire night. I agree to an extent about our supporters turning up to this game, but likewise, Richmond are quite well known for having supporters come out of the woodwork when they're playing well. My initial prediction was 70,000. You could well be right and we could get 75,000+. 28,000 against Freo at the G is almost staggeringly good. I was surprised by that number. I remember a game against Geelong in 2000 at the G that had 56,000 (the torch went around beforehand) and a game against West Coast in 2004 (?) when Ashley Sampi took 'that' mark that attracted 36,000, so when we're up and about we'll be able to attract some pretty decent crowds. Our supporters are amazing really. Resilient and loyal. We've probably got 30-35,000 rusted on supporters. It's really quite comparable to the 'big' clubs who have much larger memberships, but don't have as many what you'd call 'rusted on'. I remember Hawthorn got less than 20,000 to the G on a wet and rainy night against GWS in one of their premiership years (2015?). That same year they had over 70,000 members. How can you have 70,000 members and fail to get 20,000 of them along to the G? My theory on Hawthorn is that they're just massively fair weathered, mostly because they've gained so many followers due to their success in the 70's and 80's, so when things take a down turn, these bandwagoners stay away. 30,000 Melbourne people on Monday night are not beyond the realms of possibility though. Had we beaten Freo or Geelong, I'd say we'd get that and more, but it'll be interesting to see.

Two potential A graders for one potential A grader. Yeah, we came out on top of that. Tyson is maligned, but he'll get there and Salem just needs a run at it with his injuries. Tyson needs to lift his DE (61% at the moment), but after an interrupted pre-season is finding the ball, averaging 25 touches from midfield. All our youngsters (except Brayshaw) are finding the ball, which is what is so exciting and promising. Tyson, Salem, Oliver, Petracca, Stretch, Hunt and Viney are all averaging 20+ disposals this year. I'm not a fan, but even ANB is averaging 21.8 disposals - like Tyson, he needs to lift his efficiency as he's going at 62% DE. These stats show to me that we're dominating possession and almost playing keepings off the opposition at times. They're waiting for our turnovers, so guys like Tyson and ANB need to lift their DE.

Haha, I like how you played that info as your own, D3.

I agree on all but your selection here, Steve. I'd go Gus in for Hannan.

Thank you. That will remind me to heckle Rance all night.

I figure we'll get about 28,000 and they'll get about 40,000 along. Add in an extra 2,000 for the neutrals and we should get a crowd of approximately 70,000. Pity it's not our home game.

I completely agree. He's one that has never had me sold either. He has some great attributes, no doubt. He's fast, he's aggressive (when he wants to be), he's a penetrating kick (I won't say he's always an accurate kick) and he can kick goals. The problem is, as you've rightly pointed out, he doesn't do any of these things consistently enough. I know he's been injury riddled at times, but for a small forward, when I watch him, I see a player who is still very inconsistent and has a very narrow margin between his best and his worst. Bluntly, he can be a very lazy player. He's not the only one who failed to tackle enough on the weekend, but he can be a barometer for our half forwards. If he's on, invariably others are on. As a 50 game half forward, I think we should be demanding more of him. He has a good track record against Richmond and he also pulled his hamstring against them. I expect he'll be 'on' this weekend and I hope the coaching group turn up the heat on him big time. Hannan and ANB have less experience and are therefore more susceptible to inconsistency, but for me, effort and attack on the man is a prerequisite for any AFL player. A minimum of five tackles should be the benchmark and expectation of a Melbourne Football Club half forward. If they can't lay this, it tells me they're not working hard enough. It'll be interesting to see how our half forwards go this week.

For me, our ideal future midfield is Oliver, Salem, Petracca, with Brayshaw on a half back flank and rotating into the middle, as Petracca goes forward. That is some serious talent, good ball use and x-factor. They could be our Mitchell, Lewis and Hodge. If we can get another A grade mid from elsewhere that takes the pressure of these guys as they develop, we are going to have a seriously A grade midfield in 2-3 seasons.

I've read this sentiment a bit now and I just don't buy it. I'm sorry. Just because there's another player 'taking his touches', doesn't mean he should be down on touches. Has Selwood been down on possessions since Dangerfield arrived? I think it's a load of crap. We can keep making excuses or we can be honest about the situation. Jack is struggling. He might be playing a new role and doing his bit for the team, but there's no doubt he's not as dynamic as he was last year and Oliver has nothing to do with it. I watched Jack come back onto the ground at one stage on Saturday and I've no doubt he's carrying an injury or the remnants of his hip surgery is not allowing him to reach full flight. He could barely run in a straight line the other day. I'm surprised he was cleared to play, but I'm no doctor, so they obviously think he can play a role, despite not being at full capacity. I hope we get to see some of his 2016 form again this year, but it always seems to be an uphill battle for most players when they have those interrupted pre-season's.

Yeah, will reach 40k comfortably. I'd say 42,500 or thereabouts is about what we can expect from here on out. Seeing all those Demons signing up on Saturday, I'd expect the membership figure is actually quite a bit higher than what the website is currently saying. I'd expect this to be updated in the next 48 hours.