Adam The God

Good post as usual. Who are our top 6 and do we have enough star power to get the job done this September? Gawn, Oliver, Viney and then maybe Brayshaw? Hibberd? Petracca? Jetta? TMac? It's possible, but I don't think we have enough at this stage. We'd really have to play out of out skins for the next month.

Yeah, sorry. Hannan would be ahead of JKH and probably compete with Spargo.

Jetta Omac Hibberd Fritsch Frost Lever Salem Oliver Brayshaw Harmes Hogan Melksham Petracca TMac Weideman Gawn Viney Tyson Jones ANB Lewis Spargo Emergencies Hunt AVB JKH

I wouldn't be taking one of our biggest strengths (a 40+ goal CHF beast) and playing him in the middle unless we were trying to get him into the game. And even then, once he gets a few touches I'd be telling him to go forward.

None of those midfields were having the same dominance that we've had though. I reckon it'll work. Jason Taylor has been building to this since he arrived. Except, unless we could trade those two top 10 picks that'd be a terrible deal for us. Lose a young gun CHF for two kids that take years to develop, while we're inside our window. Dumb list management IMO.

Only a Melbourne supporter would put it this way. ?? I think the point about all three of them offering something slightly different is a great one. I also concur that we'll set up with three talls next year too. Players like Harmes and ANB, coupled with a new speedster or two at the feet of these guys will be pretty deadly. We may well be able to get away with not having speedsters and rather just hard runners, given the mobility of the three talls we have. Hogan and Tom need to start tackling more in the forward half though. Weideman, when switched on and confident, is really good at this. Particularly, as it allows me to develop and ultimately shine, by getting the third best defender. You beat me to it, mate. Spot on. If I were Melbourne I'd still be saying, look, Jesse, if you want to play in flags and dynasty's like Geelong and Hawthorn, they all took pay cuts to stay together, so you do the same.

Equally, it might be better to play more pressure smalls in that situation. It'll be interesting to see the rule changes and the evolution of the game from there.

I reckon we can play them all in the one forwardline and we showed this earlier in the year. Jesse switching from a wing, midfield, CHF and deep forward. Tom switching from ruck, CHF, CHB (this bit will happen, despite him not being a good defender) and deep forward. Weideman switching from ruck, CHF and deep forward. The beauty of all of them is that they are mobile beasts. Weideman is terrific below his knees as he demonstrated on multiple occasions against GWS and the other two have never had a question mark over them in this regard. In fact, it's probably their key asset. I think we'll look back on Jesse's injury at the end of 2018 and see that it enabled Weideman to gain some confidence at the top level. This will be invaluable for next year when all three play together. I'm pretty sure Goodwin would have kept playing all three together in the same forwardline had we not had injuries and Weideman struggle with form. Richmond changed the face of the modern forwardline last year out of necessity and it may well snag them another flag, but I think Goodwin and his set up will transform the modern game again. Our sheer weight of numbers as we win it at the contest infused with three mobile talls. It's Adelaide 2017 on steroids.

May well have played his breakout game today. Is building really nicely. Was always in front, brought the ball to the ground when he needed to and took some nice marks. Well done, Sammy.

Why would Hannebery leave Sydney for St Kilda? Far more likely to come to Melbourne if he were to leave Sydney. St Kilda makes no sense.

Paging our man @Chook in Perth. Heard anything around the traps, mate?

If only we could keep Viney out there, a midfield of Gawn, Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw is A grade if they can improve on their two-way defensive running.

Is that gronk Boomer Harvey in the media is he?

He deliberately pulled his kick because he looked up and saw Bulldogs all down the line. We were right behind it and saw what he saw. It was a deliberate skill error.

I'm confident that the club will have factored in Gus' rise. He's a top 3 pick. It's not like he's really come from the clouds. This was expected when we drafted him. He's finally starting to fulfil the potential he has and we've now invested time in him too. He'll sign and for a fair deal. This is a guy who we stuck by despite his career being on the edge of a precipice last year and even early this year. He'll sign a 2-3 year deal (it may be 3 to give himself a bit of security in case the head stuff flairs up again). As for Fritsch, he's another one who we gave a chance to through the Casey system and then backed him in through our AFL system. I can't see him playing us too hard either. As we've heard multiple times from the club since Roosy arrived, we have a no [censored] policy and good characters are sought. As long as Bayley is being paid fairly, he will not hold the club over a barrel. Which, leaves plenty of money for Gaff. The more talent we have in this side, the harder it is to fail. Gawn, Oliver and Brayshaw are starting to show some leadership, which coupled with Viney and Lever, means we have a terrific young leadership group to guide this talented side. And when Vince, Lewis and Jones go over the next 1-3 years, I'm starting to believe these guys will more than fill the void, they'll demonstrate the leadership we've been calling out for.

Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca, supported by Gaff and Salem, all being fed by Gawn. Drool.

I'd rather play me at full back. The bloke is so overrated. Big bloke but soft.

His name is Petty. Going to be a very good player. Oscar, Lever and Petty supported by Hibberd, Jetta and Hunt are plenty for a few years yet. In the meantime, we desperately need fleet of foot players who deliver the ball nicely inside 50. How anyone could be meh on Gaff, mate, just isn't watching the game closely enough. Exactly the player we want and need.

This is my last response as I really have no desire to derail this thread any further and I want to do you the courtesy of responding, but... Tyson has absolutely nothing to do with whether we should get Gaff or not.

What are you talking about? If you weren't allowed an opinion you would have been banned long ago and many of your posts deleted. I reckon I've read the same post from you over and over again in the past 5+ pages. You don't rate Gaff. Great. If you're going to post again, contribute something new or what's the point? (that's rhetorical)

Yeah, yeah, we got it. Stop banging on about it.

You certainly know how to unite everyone, Saty.

I can see a legitimate reason for keeping PJ out of it though. One man is not a club. I would have consulted him, but I suspect there are many who wouldn't in that situation. If you want to forge a new direction ahead, a fresh slate in the selection process makes enough sense. My one concern about the article is Barlett's ego. I'd much prefer him as a figurehead. But, as previously mentioned, I'll reserve judgement on Pert's appointment until a later date.

Nothing wrong with Wilson's article. But let's wait and see. She's in the business of breaking news and is trying to here. SWYL, you're happy to stick the boots in about our onfield performance, but then not open to the possibility that the Pert appointment is a bad decision. I'm on the fence as I've no inside details and he hasn't even started at the club, so I'll reserve judgement a while longer yet.

Good mixture really. OMac and Petty are nice kicks for big guys too. Jetts is a reliable kick. Salem is a beautiful kick. Lewis' ability to marshall is underrated, so he definitely needs to be in there, but I like all those guys mentioned. I find Smith a little heart-in-mouth with ball in hand, but hopefully he can gain my trust with a bit more football. The rest of those guys I'd feel comfortable getting the ball. It's great finally having a backline where we're unlikely to turn it over every second kick. In some respects, the backline has taken the longest time to come together with our list build and also been our biggest weakness, but in a way, the backline is the area of the ground that I'm most excited by. Maybe it's because of the 'potential' down there and the addition of Lever, but it actually looks good on paper and I'd back most in one-on-ones. It's all about developing together and learning that defensive system and all the tweaks that come with this.