Adam The God

Yeah, okay, but that doesn't mean Salem couldn't form part of our midfield rotation.

Agreed. Although since Ottens left Geelong, they have had ordinary ruckmen. Would love a good ruckman, but I'd be giving up less, than I would for a good mid.

I suspect it's because they look for Hogan almost every time. Sometimes it's warranted and other times it's one dimensional and lazy. I'd be kicking to Hogan though because you know 75% of the time he'll either halve the contest for you or pluck one.

If Dawes is your third tall, he kicks 1 to 2 goals a game. When he's your second tall, with limited, poor delivery, it's not surprising he's not getting a lot of it.

I can see why you want to sort our ruck stocks, mate, but midfield has to be the priority. It's still a C grade one at best. We need mids.

All day, every day.

You play someone out of form... it's a ridiculous idea. It sounds pretty trollish to me.

If Toumpas becomes a shut down player, it rare that those types are great users of the ball. I think with more confidence and exposure to AFL level he will only get better. I'm not as worried about Toumpas as I am about someone like Howe.

Didn't note Toumpas playing on McVeigh then either. If so, I'm impressed. Already felt Toumpas had a pass mark, perhaps his game was even better than that?

So much list clogging, huh. The two year contract for Terlich at the end of last year (around the time he was on the fringes of the 22), is probably the most baffling move the club has made under Roos. He was never going to get games this year. Why sign him for two years? And rightly so. Great move if true. Take him off the market it for the next five to six years. We really should be offering a long-term extension. The trade world is a funny place. Carlton and Richmond have repeatedly gone after our fringe players. I think if Grimes was up for trade, someone would take a punt with him. But as you note, Macca, they've got to take up his contract. I wonder what sort of money that might be. I wonder whether we'd look at paying half his contract, just to free up a bit of cap and list space. I certainly would. Even if we do pick up a star mid (unlikely) in FA or trading. He'll provide solid depth. Unfortunately, I believe, it's 100 games.

I don't think it's been our trading that has let us down in the past.

He also doesn't try to kick the cover off it, which is nice to see.

That sounds like Vanders to me. He just needs to improve his disposal.

He'd better get out on the training track and start practicing his set shot kicking again then, because his kicking was hopeless against Freo. Lent back on every one of them.

Because at least he is a half decent third up spoiler. In form, he's not a bad intercept marker either. Given we've got him for this season, I think he's best utilised down back. I'd prefer it if his half-arsed chasing efforts didn't have a chance to rub off on our forwards.

Yeah, I was particularly happy with our ability to compete in the centre clearances. This is no doubt due to Sydney's midfield slowness. They don't necessarily have a lot of guys that can burst out of the middle. However, it was our lack of spread from the contests around the ground that killed us. Yep, I recall his first involvement was one of those crunchers. It was a nice kick and loved how the boys got around him. The exciting thing about Jeffy is that he could have had bags in just about every game he's played so far. Therefore, there's lots of scope for improvement. But he's very dangerous around goal. I'm loving having a dangerous small forward again. It's been a couple of seasons.

We did not run and spread at all. A lot of our important tackles didn't stick either. That first half was abysmal. In fact, I'd argue the first three quarters.

Yeah. That's what rightfully frustrates our support base. Gives me the shits. We're a very tough club to follow. Those two clubs in particular have brilliant young midfields though. We're a year or two off seeing the result of our midfield drafting. Spencer made a few errors early on in the game, which I suspect were a result of being out of the game at AFL level for so long. But he adjusted well, I thought. If you were watching the game from where I was it became very obvious that our players weren't working hard enough and thus had no one to kick to when needed. This stifles your attacking play, obviously. Spencer made a few errors early on in the game, which I suspect were a result of being out of the game at AFL level for so long. But he adjusted well, I thought. If you were watching the game from where I was it became very obvious that our players weren't working hard enough and thus had no one to kick to when needed. This stifles your attacking play, obviously.

Thank you, BRFE. Someone else was watching the game I was. Agree with everything above. Loved Billy's first two tackles. Crunchers. Plays a lot tougher than his old man. We couldn't work out why the hell our mids didn't work out the boundary umpire was throwing in shallow throws all night. If we had, we might have won a few more clearances around the ground. I suspect the problem was multi-pronged: too opponent-focused, more concerned with minimisation than attack and a lack of leadership.

Agree with all of that but Spencer. Thought he competed really well. We may have been watching two different games. I'd also say (and you do touch on this, GOAG) our biggest problem last night was that we didn't work hard enough to present options for our team mates. This resulted in either turn overs or slow ball movement. If you don't move the ball quickly against a slow Swans side you'll get smashed. Thought it was probably his best game in MFC colours. People get so blindsided by their opinion of some players that their default position is to simply opine that the player delivered an ordinary performance. It's the reverse rose-coloured glasses.

Fair enough. I guess I'd prefer a longer term prospect.

What I love about this bloke is he doesn't just defend, he provides excellent rebound off half back. It's nice that in one-on-one he's almost unbeatable too. Add to that, he has amazing endurance and can run opponents off their feet. He's like Frawley at the peak of his powers (in 2010?), except he has a terrific tank. He's certainly worked on his decision making and kicking. Some of those passes last night were beautiful. Just one clanger kick last night, otherwise close to a flawless performance.

Agreed, except they haven't managed it with Howe for five years now. If we can get something decent for him at year's end, I'd jump at it.

Except, Josh has three years left (at best). Love him, but no thanks. The young blokes at GWS and GCS are the ones we should be chasing. Offer two long-term contracts: Hogan $1 mill and Shiel $1 mill. I'd pay Tommy Mac very well too. That would set us up.

Would agree that JKH has to sit next week out. Play in the 2's. Every time he got the ball, he spilt it straight away.