Adam The God

Agreed. I think this'd be a good idea. Need to give him a chop out and another bit of a motivator to bring it each week. Spencer breathing down his neck for the number one position ought to do it. Gawn is too dominant when playing well to leave out though, so I think they have to play together over the next few weeks.

Fringer unless he cleans up his disposal big time. I'd even have Harmes ahead of him at this stage. Good, solid depth.

Unders for Hogan will be a mill a year, but he'll sign.

Yeah, I meant we haven't played the Diamond Defence all year and certainly not the same guise, as you put it.

Who's to say that we aren't only implementing this as a tactic though? We certainly don't use it all the time.

Go to the thread. Someone suggested it might have something to do with his back.

Agreed, although there has been a bit of gifting.

Yeah, I'm not convinced by what Luke said here. If you write it out, I think it sounds very effusive, but I thought he was being more diplomatic. I sensed he felt it wasn't the right course, but he's a coach with his own philosophies, so I guess he wouldn't agree with it completely. Particularly as he beat us when we played it. Obviously, we're yet to see this system really click for us and it'll be interesting to see whether we can limit our turn overs against good sides. If we can do that, the Diamond Defence may well work this season, but the Bulldogs will back in their systems, we'll back in ours. At least we're being proactive and trying something relatively new. It'll be interesting to see how the FD tinkers with it across the year.

This might sound strange, but I'll be very surprised if we beat Port this week. The 6 day break worries me, as does Viney's potential injury and the thought of not playing Oliver. If both are fit to play I think we're a chance, otherwise if those two don't play we're very unlikely. I don't think it's adventurous to suggest that Viney and Oliver are as important to our side as Dangerfield and Selwood are to Geelong. Tyson back will be handy, but there's also Gawn's down turn in form that bothers me. If he can recapture it this week, then that'll be another factor that will go a long way to determining the result. If he doesn't, we'll have our work cut out for us. Having said all that, this is the new MFCSS type of game. Previously the Brisbane game would have given us the wobbles, but they were simply too undermanned for that to happen on Sunday. Whereas, the Port game is a real test, because a) we should win it if we play good footy b) Port are competing with us for 9th at the moment and possibly that final 8 spot if Adelaide slips up and c) they're a team we haven't beaten in a while. If we're going to win 12+ games this year, Port are the sort of team we need to account for.

It's interesting. I watched that final quarter against St Kilda from 2015 where we lost in the dying seconds. I'd forgotten how good Brayshaw was last year. He was really good in that final quarter. I'd have him off half back and have Vince off a wing. That is if Trenners is back by then. Otherwise, I agree with that team, P. Maybe Hunt instead of Garland too.

Can I just say, how exciting is that? Outside of Garlett, there are four MFC newbies who have played less than 50 games in the top 7. What an exciting future we have if we can keep them all together.

Get them all coming through at the same time. It's the Geelong model.

I've seen enough. Into the favourite players group.

I think what Hawthorn did though was bring in the Gibson's and the Lake's once they'd built a bit of momentum in the competition. Let's see who we can attract at the end of 2016 and at the end of 2017. I think you'll find (if we continue our upward trajectory as a club) that we'll be able to entice some A graders for the first time in years. And these won't be A graders on the back of merely money. These will be A graders that want to jump on board, because they see what we're building. Make finals or go close this year and follow it up again next year with a finals campaign and this will be a reality. I keep saying it, but we are building a scary midfield. Midfields win premierships.

I wonder if our original offer will still be the same. I just wonder whether he's decreasing his value in the eyes of our club at the moment. He's struggling to adjust to our new-look zone defence, something Goody is clearly keen on pursuing into the future. Tom might be 23 (24 in September), but he'll play his 100th game this year. I expect more, so should the club.

Yep, pretty ordinary.

I feel like I have to re-watch this game, because I agree. I was at the game and thought he made some errors but was pretty good.

Hogan at CHF and Weideman at FF with Watts as a smart third tall who can kick goals too... that's a scary proposition for opposition defences. Especially, when we'll have the likes of Viney, Oliver, Petracca, Tyson etc winning the ball out of the middle more times than not. Our list balance is almost becoming a little Hawthornesque. We're building a really strong midfield with depth, a powerful forwardline, but a weaker backline. Hawthorn's structures, team work at the back and good ball users is what enabled them to be so dominant. We don't have that yet, but that's the direction we're going in. Of course, down the track we'll look to add KPDs to our list just as Hawthorn did with Gibson (despite playing undersized), Lake and now Frawley. Let's keep adding to the midfield, sign a KPD in FA or Hurley and continue developing our young KPFs in Weideman and Hulett to support Jesse. I love that we're still flying under the radar and rightfully so, we're still horribly inconsistent, but if we can sign Hogan long term this year, heads might start to turn our way.

It's interesting, because I felt although he got it a lot the previous week, he turned it over quite a bit. But his game against Brisbane was brilliant. Obviously, the Bulldogs game provided him with a lot of confidence. I love how our FD is coaching our kids and even our older blokes (ie. look at Jetta's turn around - he is a Paul Roos special). They clearly really back our players and a lot of that is reflected in the philospohy of Paul Roos himself - give them continuity of games and they'll slowly chip away and their deficiencies. For a guy in just his second year, yesterday was a super exciting display from Billy. I hope he can back it up next week.

Easily. I mentioned this is another thread the other day, but Jetta is an A grader now. If he was at a big club he'd be in the same conversations as Alex Rance etc. This is a guy that wins contest after contest or at the very least usually neutralises them. What must be so pleasing for the FD is that now he's added a further string to his bow with his offensive ability off half back this year. He's an absolute gem. Can't speak highly enough of him.

Makes sense. Thanks mate.

I don't remember that, but thanks mate. Why was Vince's goal against Richmond never reviewed then? That was a metre and a half over the line, but was called touched and then never reviewed. The commentators didn't mention anything, so it wasn't even replayed. I was in a perfect position for that. It was well over.

He didn't use his body enough in the marking contests in the first half, but I think when he went into the ruck, he was more physical and he needed to be. I agree. I think it was one of his better games too.

I'd have Oliver ahead of him, but Oliver is the sort of player, like Sam Mitchell, that will go unnoticed for years. Can I just say that for a billion dollar organisation, they are absolute amateurs at times. How can you not send a memo out to the clubs if the umpires are going to start focusing on new procedures or interpretations? The new interpretation of the deliberate rushed behind and the goal review after every goal - since when? Clearly they've both started this week. No communication out of AFL House though. Hopeless.