Adam The God

Again, what's this highly credentialed business background you talk of? You avoided my earlier question. Which business as Guerra run that is of the size of the Melbourne Football Club? A business lobby group is not apt...

Do you know this for a fact?

Sure. He's a lobbyist for businesses and that project is a forum... I hope his business connections can help us, because I'm not sure I understand any other skills and past experience that he's bringing to the role.

And members were promised 2025 was about securing permits and funding for 2027 and beyond. How can we possibly do that when they don't start until the back end of 2025?

He was approached a month ago. Saying he was headhunted makes it sound like he's a coup for the club. He certainly wasn't our first choice. Let's see if his business connections help with the home base, but surely we needed a CEO with a footy background. Not someone who tried to get on the Essendon board and couldn't manage that. As to his business acumen, which business has he run to the scale of the Melbourne Football Club?

How did the board not brief Guerra before going on Footy Classified last night? Either Caulfield has hit a major snag (read it's potentially over) and he was briefed on that, which is why he was non-committal on Caulfield, or he wasn't briefed and allowed Eddie and Hird to push Port Melbourne and even Waverley without major rebuttal. Think back to when PJ appeared on these shows. He'd immediately pit you at ease by calling a spade a spade and nipping the wrong messages in the bud.

Just listening to the podders now. As to your question about around the ground stoppage set ups and numbers @binman , to me it looked like we were actually playing +1 behind the ball and then sending up a half forward to the front of the stoppage. This leaves an outnumber forward of the ball, which works if you chain out of the stoppage by hand. Which is why if we can get better decision making from our midfield, they should be able to give hands to the +1 behind the ball. Ideally, this is someone like Windsor with leg-speed, but he needs to hit more targets. You might also be onto something about around the ground stoppage deficits the last fortnight with the defensive role Jack Viney is playing. I don't have a problem with losing around the ground stoppages per se, and it depends whether those stoppages are repeat pressure-building that eventually lead to scores or whether we can actually intercept them and prevent a score.

What will be will be. I think we need to add another two first rounders this year to our list. If we can get a first rounder for someone with elite goal sense but poor defensive accountability, we will be fine.

It sounds like it's more tied to Guerra's Vic Chamber commitments...

Where's the facepalm button when you need it? I presume this is more about Smith overseeing Guerra, and not Green?

@Lucifers Hero , can you please stop liking McVee for a while, at least pretend. Does it work the other way? If you really like opposition players, do we end up getting them? If so, can you start loving Butters? 🤣

You're not being a Debbie Downer, just exhibiting clear signs of MFCSS.

If JVR's KPIs are keeping the momentum up with our stoppages in the ruck whilst Max is off the ground, and perhaps a goal a game, that is far more manageable than having him as the number one key tall that is expected to carry the forwardline. The psychology is different. IMO JVR's go is KPF/second ruck and I think he could flourish in the role.

We tried this in Geelong in 2022 or 2023. It was raining and kept trying to chain via handball off half back and through the corridor. We weren't trying to play that style strictly throughout the year, but we did show glimpses. Geelong's pressure was good and our decision making poor. It didn't work that day. It depends how wet it is, but the GWS was wet in Round 1 from memory, so we can play it, but I think it's situational, as you imply with Pendlebury. I'd much prefer we use more short kicks than handballs. I'd be trying to play the same way in most situations and if West Coast manage to ratchet up the pressure, then go for territory.

I think we're fine for KPBs. I agree on Adams and Turner. We also have Lever for a few more seasons too. TMac could well play another two years if he keeps playing as he is.

So the AFL approved candidate was Keith Thomas? 🤦

So does that mean Rivers pushes into the midfield then?

Those people could be very wrong too, BB...

I assume Guerra is a property guy or has bosses who rely on that income. The only people whinging about office returns are the people that make money from it. My mate at CBRE has been banging on about it for years and even he only goes 2-3 days a week. Interesting news if true.

That's nice. Let's have this conversation when we have a few more losses...

We'll agree to disagree, @M_9 . I can't see AJ kicking 2 goals every 3 weeks.

Three of their first four goals...

So watching the build up to Liverpool v Spurs and they're tlaking about Liverpool's manager Arne Slot. He's about to win the Premier League in his first season. They said the sporting director chose Arne Slot to succeed Jurgen Klopp because they played a similar style, but Slot's injury record at his previous club was incredible and they said "that's why he's here [at Liverpool]". Just as it is in the AFL, being able to roll put your best players more often than not is a huge determinant of success. @binman and others have spoken about this for years, but the idea that a manager could have an amazing injury management record got me thinking about AFL and Goody. They talked about how Slot had Salah doing less defending (ie pressing) and being fresher when in attack. They also discussed the less ballistic style that Slot's team plays in comparison to Klopp's Liverpool, who were basically on all the time. Back to AFL and thinking of our brutal, contested stoppage and territory game that would grind sides down, this would have been a very taxing on the body, mentally and physically. With our shift to more uncontested possessions, less contact, we are protecting our bodies from that rigorous, combative football. I wonder if with this new game style, we'll eventually start to see less injuries and our team last longer than others, but also be more powerful when the time comes. They also mention the continuity in the team that Slot has played. There havenever been wholesale changes. So the players can build together. Interestingly though, they made the point that certain players would be allowed to play in a certain way that would protect them (Salah, Alexander-Arnold) because they offer something so good that their team mates would have to cover them/offset what Salah and Trent weren't offering the team. This has implications for me on players like Fritta, Kozzy and even Trac. Finally, they also said that Slot brought with him his sports scientist that would manage minutes, I really think this is where the AFL game is heading too, and probably already is with Burgo and now Selwyn. But science is now a huge factor in decision making. Liverpool have built this team based on player data points across all the top leagues in world football. They identify the right talent for them based on data and analytics. It's an incredible frontier for professional sports, and I hope we can start to tap into some of this stuff to get a competitive edge.

I've long been anti ruckmen. But I do think when the momentum is against you, having a ruckman that is competitive (and can take it out of the ruck) is gold.

Would this be a vote for playing Tom Campbell instead of Fullarton or JVR then?