Adam The God

From what I've heard about Eddie McGuire as a person and the whole Nicky Winmar history, wouldn't surprise me if it was Collingwood.

I'm intrigued to hear where you've pulled Crouch from, DD?

Mate, you're the only one using ghosts of the past. The majority of our inconsistency comes from our younger players.

Not at all costs, but agree he's super important.

For a bloke who can't kick, Greene looks good today and dobs another one.

I'm hoping Nev Jetta was the single indigenous player that felt he inspired the culture of his club. I hear he's brilliant internally.

Cannot wait to see Prestia in a Melbourne jumper.

Yeah, disgraceful. I'm producing a documentary series on the Sudanese community in Melbourne at the moment. It's the same sort of stuff. People want to say consistently that Australia isn't a racist country, but I'm not even sure some people realise when they're being racist.

A great read. Wow. Is more proof needed that racism in the stands and on the ground still exists? Shall we open up the Adam Goodes can of worms?

And there was angst down at Geelong under Thompson before their dynasty clicked. Inexperience shouldn't mean you can't beat anyone, but it will mean that inconsistency will occur. We almost have more wins than last year already. Win tomorrow and we're a victory away from levelling last year's return at the half way point of the season. I know many of our supporters are scarred and will take time to trust again. I get that. But the rest of the footy industry has woken up to our list and they realise we could be a really powerful force in the not to distant future. It's about patience, that many supporters probably feel have been expended already.

Jones, Dunn, Garland, Watts and Tom McDonald were the guys that 'wanted Roos as coach'. Watts has clearly improved his game and McDonald is getting used to the new systems - I'd argue he hasn't improved much, but is still young enough to do so. But Jones, Dunn and Garland don't know how to win. They haven't done it enough and also don't have the talent to consistently impact. Jones is ultimately a B grader and a terrific servant of our footy club, but is a bit like Cotchin in that he can get a lot of the ball, but doesn't win games off his own boot very often. As I said, I don't excuse our inconsistent 25+, but hopefully I've explained why they are mentally weaker than our B graders at say Carlton, who haven't sustained such a horror run of form as those guys have.

I understand the frustration, but IMO the entire list is a whole lot stronger than it was when Roosy first came in. But that means we've now got a very young team, meaning there will be major inconsistencies in performance in the short term. The guys I don't excuse from those inconsistencies are the 25+ players such as Jones, Vince, Dunn, Garland, Garlett, Lumumba etc. Compare those to Carlton's B grade leaders and they're getting a much greater output. However, people watching Carlton and lamenting our slow rise in comparison, simply don't understand football. If anyone thinks Carlton's list has remotely any chance of pushing into the top 4 in the next decade is kidding themselves. Sure, they've got a couple of B graders right now (in their late 20s) that are propping them up and winning them games, along with Bolton's systems, but they are going nowhere with that list. If people can't see what we're building down here, they may as well just put their glasses down for a few seasons and come back when we're consistently pushing for the top 4 in 3-4 years time. Midfields win premierships. No debating that. Shall we compare Carlton's under 25's? Cripps, Docherty (maybe). Horrible. Just a horrible, horrible list. And if they keep winning, they will deny themselves access to the country's top talent. Sure, they might be able to pick up an A grader here or there from the FA market in the next 5-6 years, but given SOS' build of GWS, I wouldn't trust him to rebuild their list from the draft anyway. They're ultimately building for a middle of the road result. In comparison, we're building for sustained success. Now I know we've been burnt by inexperienced and misguided FD's before, but let's do a conservative comparison with Melbourne's under 25 midfield. Viney, Tyson, Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw, along with elite talent like Salem. Not to mention an elite young CHF (tracking statistically stronger than the greats of the game) and another KPF in Weideman who is tracking on a similar trajectory to Hogan's first VFL season. But we're also not done building our midfield yet either. We'll add Prestia next year and another A grader in FA over the next 2-3 years and our midfield will compete in the top 4 with the only other sides that will remotely come close to our young midfield in GWS and the Bulldogs. If our systems click, we could surpass the Bulldogs in 18 months time. Who else competes with the access to top-end talent that we have had? It'll be GWS, Bulldogs and Melbourne, as the GCS implode and lose all their young stars in Prestia, Swallow and O'Meara. Melbourne's midfield will be the envy of the majority of the competition in 5 years time.

It's not about being fast, it's about speed of ball movement.

There's no spot for him in the 22. Who would he replace? And don't say one of our speedy half forwards, because he doesn't have the pace or the nouse. He's had 98 chances and has only shown he's not good enough. I'm sorry. He seems like a lovely, professional bloke, but his inability to break into the side only says good things about the direction of our playing list.

They're playing Brisbane...

I don't care either way to be honest. If we'd made the same mistakes in the past three years I'd remain [censored] off, but our recruiting has been brilliant since Roos walked in and Jason Taylor has nailed pretty much all his picks.

Let's move on, mate, shall we?

I can't see Vince not playing on Pendles.

There seems to be deftness to his tap work that I haven't noted before. Is this another tick for our man Stafford?

Not far off it. I'd like Brayshaw, Jeffy and Salem in there. Pedersen as well, but it's not far off it.

Well, this incarnation of the FD wasn't responsible for that.

It's their systems. It means they just need role players who can play four consistent quarters. Plug and play types. In other news, would anyone be interested in Lewis Taylor? Is he quick enough for that half forward role that we seem to be grooming a number of players for?

Gawn needs to find that consistency by the end of the year. Bridging the gap between our best and worst is what this season is about, both from a team perspective and an individual perspective.

I reckon we might be taking a bit of a risk with Viney. I hope it doesn't backfire. I'll trust the FD to know that he's right to play. I just know they've admitted a few mistakes already this year. Namely Brayshaw's inclusion earlier in the year.

I'll take any win on Monday, but if we were able to win big, there's a chance we could go as high as 9th if Carlton lose.