Adam The God

He's never struck me as quick, so is it the old Matthew Bate trick? Really fast in a straight line, but ordinary agility/from side to side? Surely Watts is quicker than both of them or Jeffy?

Hang on. Vanders is our equal fastest player? Have I been watching the same guy for the past year and a bit?

Saty obviously didn't go to one of our first games at Telstra Dome where the majority of the crowd was locked out until quarter time. It's a disgraceful and pathetic place, but it's no excuse not to turn up. I'm not saying you necessarily, MD, I just get sick of the attitude of so many Melbourne supporters that refuse to go to the ground. No wonder we have such a bad rep. It's in the Docklands FCS, not in Adelaide. It's a simple train ride. Having said all that, when we turn in pitiful performances like yesterday, I don't begrudge anyone for not going.

Reckon we might need some foot skills to come in if Salem is out. Unless they restrict Vince's minutes in the middle and put him across half back and put Oliver into the middle. I wonder if Trenners could be an option off half back as PG suggested? I suspect it's a week or two too early, but they may decide we lack enough polish off half back.

The gap between Tom's best and his worst is certainly far too wide. And he frustrates me almost more than any other Melbourne player. However, to suggest he's not still one of the best defenders in the competition on his day (which is usually say 10-15 games a year) is a fallacy. And saying Tom's market value is $400-450k is absolute bullocks. Particularly, if you're saying Hurley (who is solid and I would certainly take) is worth $850-900k.

I was looking at this earlier today. Meanwhile, Viney is 1st in the league for contested possessions, 2nd for clearances, 12th for overall disposals, 16th for tackles and 26th for score involvements (Hogan is 29th). Suffice to say he's having a bloody good season.

Riewoldt kicked 9 that day and we won by something like 8 or 9 goals. He's always played well against us and Hogan appears to like playing St Kilda. Nice post.

Not appropriate. The term is transgender or trans. And Collingwood arrogance doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

Well, we did the previous fortnight, but I think Harmes should come out. Too many weeks of middle of the road performances. When you've got guys knocking the door down at Casey, you eventually reward their form.

I'm getting worried by Gus and all these concussions. He's had three now hasn't he? Isn't five when they begin to recommend retirement?

I counted at least three soft tackles from Frost alone that didn't properly impede St Kilda players, that lead directly to three St Kilda goals. Not good enough. He's 200cm and probably 100kg - he should be retarding those opposition players.

And when we don't stick tackles playing an 18 man press it is devastating. All these guys out the back are then free to do as they please. I wouldn't call it cheating though. That's the basis for the gameplan. It's quite similar to ours really. You bank on your team mates winning the ball and get killed on the turnover if they don't.

I think there's a lot about this that is simply Roos and the FD taking the heat for our players' lack of work rate yesterday and against Essendon. He refused to drop them in it after both games. Gave them easy outs and took the heat. I think this is partly because the coaching team try to let the players work through game day situations (making minimal moves), so they're just as responsible for poor results as the players. But also, Roos has talked about the mental fragility still present in some members of this group. I don't think there's much more in this than that. There's absolutely no way selectors don't take the venue into consideration.

5. And from my memory they were all in the first half. He also had 5 to half time yesterday. That 5 from last year was his PB until yesterday. Likes to play St Kilda and yeah, I reckon the quick deck suits him. It means we can get it down to him quickly and defenders don't have time to get back in numbers.

For mine, this is what the "finding the balance between defence and attack" is all about. Knowing when it's the right time to go.

Looking forward to seeing how Truck goes next week. His debut wasn't as impressive as Clarry's, but his team mates also weren't working as hard as they did against GWS. Next week will see Viney, Oliver, Petracca and Tyson in at stoppages. That is the future and it's an exciting future. I expect Gawn to lift next week and I expect Tyson to lift as well. He played an A grade game last week and then was decidedly sketchy this week. Need you to lift again, Dom.

Because it's pretty much a completely different system to what we've played over the past two years. We've focused on contested possessions and keeping things congested. Now we're looking at spreading and backing our players to win the contested ball and convert this into uncontested possession from the strength of our spread. All we tried last year was a big of slingshot from half back, but tried to lock games down for pretty much the rest of play. There was a bit of a focus on improved uncontested possession, but there was certainly no 18 man press. It will take time to get used to the 18 man press and get a balance between offence and defence. That means more specifically, when to pull the trigger and when not to. I'm looking at you Tommy Mac.

Having arrived right on the bounce of play, we waited for a St Kilda player to line up for a shot at about the 15 minute mark of the first quarter, before racing up to Level 3 to get seats. When did Salem suffer this head injury? I completely missed this.

The bloke laid one tackle for the day and played as a winger. He was part of the reason we got sliced open today. He may have had it 21 times, but it's what he does with them. For starters, there's no point comparing Bugg with Hunt and Wagner. He's playing a completely different role. And as I mentioned, I'd keep both Hunt and Wagner in for next week. So it basically comes down to Kent (many know my thoughts on him), Frost or Bugg. Hogan, Watts and Garlett are safe. Even though he went in and out of the game, even Kennedy had more moments than Bugg for mine. Frost did a bit of rucking today, so as more strings than merely a pest. Frost missed a sitter, okay, but I'd probably have him before Bugg. Each to their own though.

I maintain Lumumba will look like a headless chook when his team mates don't work on the spread for him. He is also learning to play with the vast majority of them. He's looked the goods when we have brought the work rate this year. I also thought Salem was terrific in the first quarter and then unsighted afterwards. Did I read somewhere that he copped another concussion?

I don't rate Bugg. He's messy. He's like having a Tommy Mac on the wing. He can do the odd good thing, but ultimately his untidy play shoots us in the foot. Even his kick to Hogan today should have been to Hogan's advantage towards the square. Instead, Jesse was good enough to take a terrific contested mark against two, when it slid off the side of Bugg's boot. It's tough for spots. It happens. I'm not saying he will be dropped. I'm saying I'd prefer if he was.

Agree that Bugg should go out. I'd have him for Oliver for starters. OLIVER FOR BUGG. Frost was ordinary after a pretty decent start, but who was worse: Frost or Pedersen? Pedo's work rate at times was half decent, but his marking was off and when he doesn't mark, he's near useless. I'd say one of those two will be out. If Grimes comes in we're in big trouble. Fortunately, he won't. He's having enough trouble working out how to move the ball on quickly, let alone play a zone defence. I didn't think Hunt was that bad. He was caught out a few times on the break (as were the rest of the defence), but he'll learn. I'd play Hunt and Wagner again next week. I think Dunn stays to provide Tommy extra support for combatting Lynch. I'd be demanding more of Dunn. He was hopeless today. You have a week to redeem yourself, Lynden. Roos said Gus will have to put a solid block of footy together at Casey, so he won't be back. I reckon Harmes should go out for ANB though. ANB FOR HARMES. Kent will be another lucky one this week. But if he doesn't bring the required work rate again next week he should be dropped. I can't currently find a spot for Trenners. If he kills it tomorrow, then I'd consider bringing him in for Frost or Pedersen. Not like for like by any stretch of the imagination, but you find ways to get good players into the 22, as Roos noted during the week.

It hasn't needed arguing for the best part of a decade. It was a fact. But to argue it now is short-sighted. Rounds 3-5 showed me enough of what we're trying to do and that when it works, it works beautifully and is extremely exciting. When our consistency finally clicks, we'll be a very exciting team indeed.

Indeed and my plan for turning my Hawthorn-supporting fiancée into a Melbourne supporter (9 years in the making) may have had some momentum. But not to be this week.

And we beat GWS who beat Hawthorn by 75 points. What's your point?