Adam The God

Goodwin's mottos are also being "fearless" and "aggressive", so I think he could very well back in Gawn and Spencer for Round 1. The Gawn/Spencer duo is definitely going to backfire at some stage, unless we get our match ups spot on and pick and choose the right times to play them both. It could be a liability on a fast deck like Etihad, but if we move the ball quickly and win a greater share of the contest in the middle, we should be able to account for them.

It's a bit like saying though who's the better player out of Franklin or Mitchell. Very hard to say. Both superstars.

My favourite player already, alongside Tyson. But there a few guys that could join that list. Brayshaw, Hogan, Petracca. Clarry has the highest ceiling out of our mids though and I'd argue out of our players.

I agree almost wholeheartedly with this, except for the bit about being a defensive liability. I think Christian was simply not adept at playing defence, so yes, he would get caught on the wrong side or get his body positioning incorrect, but I think in years to come with greater experience, he'll be able to play at either end of the ground. But as LH says, we don't need him to now with Lewis, Jones, Hibberd and Melksham.

Carlton's biggest worry is their midfield. I say this to my Carlton mate continuously (and revel in it - he gave me quite a hard time during our dark years - always harder to take from a guy that goes once or twice a year, while I go every week). Anyway, they have Cripps. That's it. To build their midfield around. But if they continue to flail about at the bottom of the ladder, he may well look to greener pastures. Murphy is 29 and Gibbs is almost 28. Murphy is an okay player, but an ordinary leader and Gibbs wanted to leave at the end of last year. All we had were Jones and Viney at the end of 2013. We've then drafted and traded brilliantly since then, but with SOS at the helm, Carlton have no chance to building a half decent engine room. This is great.

It'd be a nice little platform for our men's team in 20017 too, if the women win the inaugural league cup.

I reckon well still go with the zone. We seem determined to play this way. At least, this is how we'll start, I believe. Depending on the area of the ground that Riewoldt is playing in, our players will take turns playing on him. I hope we've studied the tapes from last year though, because Riewoldt is a very smart player.

I've been saying for years that SOS is a rubbish list manager. I reckon I might have been able to pick the GWS blokes. Like shooting fish in a barrel a lot of the time. Then there's his crowning jewel. The first three picks in the 2012 draft. What a shocker. 2014 wasn't much better for SOS. Hilarious that people rate him. If what you say is true about the discontent, how long did that take them? Carlton reminds me very much of the old boys club that pervaded the MFC for so many years and got us into trouble. I've been saying to my Carlton mate for a little while now that they're at least 3-4 years behind us. I reckon they seem to be getting further and further away with every season. Hoping that they can get a couple more spoons over the next few years. They're not far off being worse than us in those days. Their drafting, I would argue, has been worse. I'd give Bolton another year or two max and then he'll be out. Can you tell I'm taking a certain sense of glee from Carlton's demise? :D

I reckon it's always better if you don't mention it. They'll be expecting it and so you get the entire night of them squirming in anticipation.

Interesting time this. I reckon they're trying to harden Watts, so I can't see him playing Round 1. Make him burst the door down at Casey before selecting him. So that leaves Pedersen for mine. I think we can play Hogan, Pedersen and Weideman in the same team against St Kilda. Hogan will probably rotate between the midfield and sneaking forward, as well as a permanent forward (with a great record against St Kilda at Etihad). I'd expect Gawn to ruck 95% of the match though and only be taken out if he's being beaten by Hickey or for a very occasional rest. It's Round 1. We can afford to push Gawn. I think it'll be about how he backs up against the Eagles. If he gets those fumbles out of his game and lifts his intensity, it shows he's learnt something about 100% intensity, 100% of the time. That moment where he was run down yesterday is simply not good enough, but if he learns from it as a young player and can put four quarters together (he managed 2 against the Dogs), he could play Round 1. He's a bit in the same boat as Weideman though. The more game time, the better. And I like the above comparison with OMac last year. Neither of them are quite there yet, but they need AFL minutes, not VFL minutes at this stage.

I thought it could be the right time to trade him, but I'm glad I was wrong. He, like as many of his team mates as possible, should play in multiple positions. We want to be unpredictable and really hard to counter. With this in mind, he should play mid, forward and back. He could be an asset off half back with his kicking, a danger in the forward half with his ability to execute and another strong midfield rotation option.

That may be, but it's also harder to set up a structure that stops this if we move it quick enough. I think the opposition will simply look to back themselves to win the game, rather than plan for their own turnovers and try to stop us on the rebound. I think this is where our midfield gives us a great weapon and why Goodwin keeps saying we're building from the contest out. If we win that midfield contest, we get inside 50s. If we lose the clearance, our zone defence nullifies the attack and repels immediately, catching the opposition off guard. Where we become predictable and manageable is when we slow the game down and the opposition has time to set up.

Good post, VP. I see Melksham as the one keeping Jetta out at this stage. The McDonald's, Hibberd, Lewis and even Jones are probably ahead. Jetta is a better defender, but Melksham is a better creator. If Jetta gets back in he has to provide more drive than he did last year. I think he improved as the year wore on in this respect, but obviously Goodwin is looking for more.

I'm not sure there is under Goodwin's game plan. I think it's on all the time. That also makes decision making easier, because if everyone knows you're going to go as soon as you get it, there should be support runners or kicking options.

Surely though, the coaches are telling him to back himself and not putting any limits on what would be a risky kick and what would be a safer kick. Though I agree with what you're saying, mate.

This has been the problem for years. The last two seasons the focus has been on lessening what I would call immature and silly mistakes. Whilst Tommy Mac does provide us great drive and looks to take the game on (something the coaches clearly encourage), a player of his experience still makes too many errors. Vince is the same. Now is it a bit like the Port Adelaide situation, where the plan is simply too high risk, high reward, or does the personnel have to either improve a lot more or change completely? I believe we can go deep into September if we can manage to minimise/eradicate these often laughable errors (mostly by foot). It may well take another year of getting used to this take it on at all costs game plan for it to click with many. A lot of it is about knowing where your teammates will be and then the skill execution becomes far easier. I wait with interest to see how Tommy Mac and Vince go in particular. My feeling is that Jones has improved his kicking again, which is great and for the most part, we have nothing to worry about with Lewis. OMac is still developing and I give him leeway, but the rest of them must attack and minimise their errors. It's a fine line, but doable if we're going to become a champion team. Having said all this, Tommy made some errors yesterday, but I felt he was reasonably solid in his decision making.

Hibberd O McDonald Melksham (if Frost had played any minutes this pre season, I'd have him in here against St Kilda) Hunt T McDonald Jones Lewis Viney Stretch Petracca Hogan Vandenberg (this is the position Watts has to win back - VDB lacks the skills, but he brings the endeavour - he'll almost certainly play Round 1) Weideman Pedersen Garlett Gawn Tyson Oliver Brayshaw Salem Vince Harmes (even though Harmes is a butcher, he's tough and he gets the ball - I'd play him Round 1 - waiting on Kent's return) This is the line up that I suspect they'll go with. I can't see the Essendon boys or the McDonald's being left out. Neither, Hunt nor captain Jones. Stretch's pace, like Hunt's, will be vital for Etihad. Lewis will bring much needed experience and Viney's toughness will set the minimum benchmark for attack at the ball and player. All certain starters. Petracca looks ready to explode and what better time to do it, than in front of the club that overlooked you for that #1 pick. He's a lock, as is Jesse. And the coaches clearly like what Vandenberg brings and whilst I don't think he has the skill-set to make it long term, he does bring a toughness and x factor when on song. The FF line is the toughest line to predict, but I reckon Pedersen will get the nod based on his experience - we can't afford to go too young here. The club will also want to get games into Weideman, so he plays, as does Garlett, if he's fit. We can never have too much speed and this is what Jeffy offers. Particularly against St Kilda and particularly at Etihad. Then the rucks pick themselves. And the bench provide us with midfield and forward minutes, along with Bernie as a defensive cog and Harmes with some hardness.

Agreed. Just thought it was worth pointing out he did struggle today. There has been a lot of praise and I think it shows he may well not be a lock for early 2017. But how was that leap near the end?!

Exactly, mate. I'd liken it to switching systems in football/soccer. Going from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 etc. We're a lot harder to predict then and this was being alluded to regularly by the commentators today. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, because I'd equally say that it'd be dangerous to play Gawn and Spencer in the same team against the Dogs in the season proper. They'd just as easily (as would GWS) run all over us off half back. It's the Collingwood's and Richmond's that I'd be open to trying the Gawn/Spencer play. It's certainly a risky one though. That said, as long as our ruckman, whoever that may be, gives our mids first use, we become really dangerous with Gawn or Spencer forward. Spencer needs to work on his kicking though. And finally, just on our mids getting first use, what I noticed today when we didn't win the clearance and we'd committed both our half backs to the contest that had been lost, was that our players gut-ran back into position to cover (if they had time) or the structure of our remaining zone defence held strong. Now, against really good ball users this structure may not hold up as well, but if it does and we can eradicate some of our silly immature errors, it means we can commit more defensive numbers to help out our already dominant midfield and ruckman. Things then bode well for our forwards. On this note, I'm quite happy for Watts to fight for his spot, because if he toughens up, he'll be an asset, if not, we can probably cover him.

Just on this, I felt Joel Smith struggled today. Did a couple of good things, but generally wasn't up with the pace of the game. Be interested to see how he goes with a slightly higher tempo at Domain.

Another definable element from Goodwin's template is the use of the raking backwards handball off half back if a mid is in trouble. Each player knows exactly where they should be and where their team mates will be. I think it'll do us really well this season.

Just RE: the debate on Jetta. I think what Goodwin and the FD have been building for a few years now is an ethos on versatility. We have multiple options for multiple positions at the moment. Depth is what the very best sides have and it's certainly what the Bulldogs showed they had last year. Jetta may well be left out Round 1, but he may well play against a team such as Adelaide or Port Adelaide, as he traditionally has the measure of their small forwards. It'll be a needs based selection process from now on, which given where we've been, is a terrific place to be in.

Just finished watching the replay as I rarely attend pre season games. On the whole I think we really used the ground to our advantage and stretched the opposition as wide as possible, allowing us to move the ball as we liked. Our ball movement was really impressive, but equally, the Blues were a shambles. We out worked them and looked hungry at most contests. Petracca, Oliver, Jones, Lewis, Hogan and even Melksham were stand outs for me. But a great all round team performance. A difficult one to judge though as the Blues are hopeless. Good to beat them though as they are somewhat of a bogey side. The Gawn/Spencer experiment continues to be intriguing, although I maintain the party line on that one. I'm not sure it'll be used too often in the season proper. I love that we take risks to move the ball on quickly at all costs. Shifting onto our opposite foot, handballing without touching the ground (ie Gawn), using the width of the ground to keep it moving. I've got enough out of the pre season comp. Now I'm ready for the season proper.

Vandenberg is also not good enough. Sink or swim.

Well, hang on, James Magner got games in the AFL. Nash is simply saying we can provide players a pathway in. When Magner was in the team, our 'alignment' was in a very different state too.