Adam The God

Now don't bite my head off. This is merely a discussion point. If Tom refuses to sign a long term deal (note long term), does he become tradable at the end of this year? We need all hands on deck and as Healy says, we've shown the direction this club is going, show a bit of faith back the other way now, Tom.

Yep, 12 will be tough, but we're a chance if we can build some momentum. An average side like Carlton are showing that.

I wonder what their supporter base would do if they kicked up a fuss and jumped back into the court system again. They're the most delusional support base around, so I'm thinking their supporters would probably welcome it.

Not everyone apparently.

In 2014 Dion averaged 27.1 possessions for the year. In 2015 Dion averaged 27.1 possessions for the year. So far in a year where his team is being flogged most weeks, Dion is averaging 24.0 possessions a game. In Dom Tyson's break out season in 2014 he was averaging 23.7 disposals. As one of our better and more consistent performers this year, Dom is averaging 23.6. Oh and to put this into further context. Jones won his first two blueys with an average of 24.6 and 23.1 possessions a game. Treloar, another young gun, averaged 27.6 and 27.5 in his final two years at GWS. Prestia is in the same bracket as Treloar, but will have a lot more support than Treloar will in Collingwood's midfield. Prestia is an elite young talent whose output is down as he builds back up from injury, in a team that's a basketcase. His contract predicament might also be playing a part. There's no ifs about him, other than injury. Dom Tyson also had injury troubles at GWS and he's turning into a fine young player. You do your medical due diligence, but once he passes that, you race to sign him.

Right. Well, how I reply to your final line is that I think we'll layer our style and our structures, and player expectations will become more complex as the seasons roll on. We won't rest on the Diamond Defence. We'll tinker and try to improve it. We'll start to layer B Plans into our game play. But all of this will not suddenly happen over one year. Let's get the Diamond Defence right first. Once we do, we can then start to compliment it with B Plans and alterations on the same thing, making us unpredictable. Right now we are predictable to a well coached side, I agree, but the unpredictability will come.

I think you've always got to keep adapting your structures and game style, but if you find something that could work in modern footy and just requires tinkering, then I'm all for it. I'd much prefer us testing things out at this stage, because Goodwin won't have as much luxury.

I'm not, which as the week rolls on, is concerning me more so. Haha. I just look at their injury list and think as long as we bring our game, we should win easily, but if any club was to stumble at such a hurdle, it'd be Melbourne.

Yeah, I guess this is what you get when you've been so success-starved.

Whilst I agree we need to remain attractive, I think a decision will be made by the player(s) earlier than that. Prestia has implied he'll make his decision in the second half of the year. I also wouldn't be surprised if Melbourne's offer to Prestia last year is still pretty much on the table, awaiting his signature.

I've said it since last year. We'll win 10-12 games this year. This will work pretty much every second week, because our team is so wildly inconsistent. We've won 4. I reckon we'll win two in the next month that'll put us to 6 wins after 12 rounds and we'll win at least 4, 5 maybe 6 more in the second part of the year. I know we get down on ourselves after a loss, but stay the course. Things are finally starting to turn at Melbourne. Hip hip bloody hooray.

Helps that we are building proper foundations now and we have the cattle to implement plans like this. I'd argue there's still a bit of list work to be done to ensure this plan is a success going forward. But the idea of backing our players is a very Hawthorn idea. For example, Clarkson will rarely tag players, he'll simply back his own mids to win their position. I completely agree. It's a fantastic and earnest footballing philosophy. Completely agree on this as well. The strange feeling I took away from the game was that despite winning, the Dogs beat us in the work rate stakes and each player knew exactly what role they were meant to be playing in their system. Our guys have been playing this style for eight rounds. With experience playing to this system, I think we'll surpass teams like the Bulldogs on shear talent levels. They have a manic midfield, good decision makers and ball users, but I'm not sold on their forwardline and in time, I think our midfield will match them and our forwardline could be very scary to match up on.

I inferred this a couple of weeks ago after the St Kilda loss. Roos and co will back their systems in and trust the players to make the right adjustments during the match. This is a season where Roos can take all the flack if the team appears to 'fail', so what better time to attempt to implement a really vigorous form of this Diamond Defence and learn on the job. It'll probably work 40-50% of the time and in return we'll therefore win between 10-12 games for the season. I think most supporters would take that. Of course we'd prefer to be playing finals and we may, but I think the biggest focus this year is working on our scoring power. As the season progresses the team and coaches will make their adjustments and learn their way into this system. I'm sure the FD will then start to layer these systems with further tinkerings.

Sorry, DD, I should have been clearer. What I meant by experience was getting games into our younger brigade.

Except experience and a bit more outside pace and silk.

What I got sick of seeing is the predictability coming out of defence. We're certainly not the only team that does this, but our fall back plan is always to kick it on the head of Gawn or another KPP. The Dogs anticipated this and had numbers front and centre every time. I lost count of how many times this happened. If they didn't win the crumb, they'd press the Melbourne players until they turned it over. The Dogs players were then very clean and efficient by hand to set up their next attack.

Can't see Prestia going to Richmond or the Blues. Richmond are in for some pain and a rebuild. The Blues aren't going anywhere fast until they dramatically improve their list. I don't care that they've won four games this year. They're being held together by performing B graders and Bolton structures. Prestia will come to Melbourne. Bookmark it.

It says we're getting there and that this group persists until the very end.

Yep. He's a dinosaur. Has no idea these days.

Completely agree with this, mate, but I just love that we're trying new things here. When was the last time a Melbourne coach was truly innovative? I can't recall. We've seen guys like Clarkson come in and completely revolutionise the game, even Roos himself (with Ross Lyon's help). We need a Plan B, but I reckon that's going to be layered as time goes on. We're only just learning to implement this new defence. It's leaky and it's hit and miss, but once we get it right, it'll be a powerful weapon that we can use more often than not. That's when we'll also need a good Plan B.

Matthews' comments have to be taken in the context that he still sits on the Brisbane board, does he not? There's a bit of an agenda there.

Roos also mentioned in his presser something about turn overs getting you back quickly the other way. Essentially suggesting we're turning it over too often at half back and in the midfield. We do need better ball users coming off half back, but we also need to adjust to the game plan and learn to take the right option time and again. When we do this, it's a matter of having role players come in and perform. We don't want to become one dimensional or too easy to defend. All our defenders must attack as well as defend. This was another idea issued by Roos during his most recent presser.

I agree with your comments on the back 6, Steve, but can't entirely agree with your comments RE: the midfield. Our midfield is young and needs to both learn the required work rate needed for modern footy (gut-two-way-running) and they need to build their endurance bases. This leaves us struggling often (at the moment) and is not a result of leg speed, but a result of a lack of endurance. Also, contested ball will always be the gold in footy. Five, ten, fifteen years from now. That will never go away. But, you can ensure your team plays to the strengths of your list game plan-wise. Hawthorn's inside brigade isn't quick, but their game plan doesn't expose them and they've also managed to get a lot of good outside run to compliment this, as you imply we need. But that talent can be added later. The inside beasts are the building blocks. The foundation of any side. We now have those blocks in place. We also have a once in a generation CHF. That only makes things more exciting. Seriously though, we've built our list to perfection and the list build will continue to go on and as you imply, it isn't done yet.

Let's hope he can stay injury free to get a run at it. Touch wood.

I mentioned this in the game day thread yesterday. Jetta is an A grade defender now. He's been beating his opponent every week since the start of 2015. He holds our backline together and wins contests in the same way that Rance does. Given Rance is lauded as one of, if not, the best defender in the league, I'd say Jetta is not far behind. He is criminally underrated, at least in the media. This news appears to suggest internally opposition clubs rate him very highly. Well done, Nev. You're a star and I loved your high five down at Geelong last year. Oh and no fears Jets will leave. None whatsoever.