Adam The God

I think we actually need to go back to +1 at the contest. We've had a system that is determined to manufacture a +1 behind the ball and enabled our interceptors to take charge and our mids to play an extremely taxing game that still allows us territory with Max's dominance. But I want to share this clip from round 23, 2018. Not only is there a huge Melbourne crowd at the MCG against GWS (wouldn't that be nice again), look at the dare of ball movement. Not only do we try and use the corridor at all costs, we add numbers to stoppage to swarm (doesn't have to be bees to honey pot when we get it right) and we kick it to a predictable spot 30m out directly in front, where TMac or Weideman bring the ball to ground. We then have the likes of Spargo, Trac and our mids getting to the foot of that contest. Highlights: Melbourne v GWS https://www.afl.com.au/video/82285 I'm not saying we should play a forward half too stringently, but it does play to a similar Goody philosophy of playing the percentages. The overriding point is I think we need to back in our defensive 7 to win or halve their contests regularly enough, if we outnumber at stoppage and force enough post clearance pressure on op mids. So I'd be adding numbers to stoppage, and using McVee, Rivers and even Windsor and AMW like this. It's effectively what Collingwood did last year too, by adding numbers to the contest, which is vulnerable the other way, but if you play this game with our bulls like Clarry, Viney and Trac, it means their disposals are often handballs or short kicks to get it to the outside. With big pre seasons, Clarry and Viney can absolutely be those contested bulls with swarming support around them. The ball movement is then forced to be fast and chaotic, because you're committing numbers to the stoppage and leaving less behind the ball. But trust our defenders to deal with the slingshot if it tries to hurt us the other way. You can see the excitement this ball movement generates for the crowd in the above clip.

I actually think he's much better deeper anyway. Whenever he plays higher and when he played at half back in 2018, he'd consistently have his kicks intercepted, which is a strange one given he's a beautiful kick.

Nope, I think he'll move between wing, half back and midfield, but having Lingers signed up means one wing is sorted and maybe there's another wing for Howes or even Woey...

Another great thing about this re-signing is Windsor has a wing partner for the next 4 years and we can really plan around that. Brilliant.

Lingers! The best winger in the game. Love the 4 years. The guy is a freak and will be 32 by his final year of contract. No problem with that at all. He may even get another contract or two after that. Well done, Tim Lamb.

@Engorged Onion, I'd argue Goody started his coaching career by being extremely offensively minded, so much so that the players couldn't wait to release the Roos defensive shackles under Goody in 2017. We then saw the Demon Diamond defence, we had attacking half backs like Hunt screaming off the back of square to receive from centre stoppage before 666 scuttled that. In 2018, we had the third highest percentage of 131.4% in the league behind minor premier Richmond on 136.1% and 8th placed Geelong on 131.6%. But we scored 156 more points than the next best, Richmond, and way more than any other team in the top 4. We conceded the 9th most points though. I think we have much better personnel in 2024/2025 than we did in 2018. Think May and Lever versus Oscar McDonald (sorry @Slartibartfast) and Sam Frost. In a way, I hope we back a version of that game plan, given where the game is going. It was still a territory based game with a super high press. If we go back to that though, we need to sort out stoppage.

And @Chook in Perth.

Is PW the sort that could play that second ruck role @Pennant St Dee?

Yep. Me.

So in that set up JVR isn't playing 2nd ruck, the pinch hitting season ruck/forward is? I know he's a bit soft, but a Chol type would have been handy...

That's a very good call if that's the way we go.

Reckon we got it the third time.

I'd love Houston, but I'd love two first rounders this year. If we can manage that by trading 2025 and 2026 future 1sts, then great, otherwise two firsts is too much.

Who said we were loading?

He looks like he's fatiguing significantly in the last few weeks. Another pre season under his belt and Koz will be even better next year. If we get some young blokes from the first round of the draft, it might mean we only need Koz to occasionally pinch hit, but mostly stay forward.

Would a mid season draft pick been able to play serious mid minutes? I know guys like Newcombe have come in during season and slotted into an AFL midfield, but that was a bottom 3 team.

I thought DS meant as rhe season progressed whatdid we'd to add fresh legs. Koz' mid minutes have probably reduced as the season has progressed, right?

Really? We added ANB and Rivers to midfield. What do you mean we've done nothing to add fresh legs?

Reckon you could fit him into one of your 22s for us mate?

Bloody great post, please post more often. Just on 2 and 4. On high performance, I think this is arguably the trickiest season of AFL to plan a high performance program for in the history of the game. Two byes, multiple five day breaks, just weird fixturing and scheduling all round. Look at Sydney tonight. They lose by over 100 points. It's unprecedented for a premier or even a minor premier to lose a game by 100+ points. Yet this year, anything could happen, because this ridiculous fixture throws up these bizarre results. So high performance is a really difficult one to gauge this year. I really like your final point about potentially using the rest of the season as a build into the 2025 pre season. That definitely leads into point 6 of yours. If the players know this or get a sense of it, the mind could easily go into self preservation mode. On the midfield, I think losing Trac has given us an opportunity to experiment, and I think you're right, they don't know what our best midfield mix is. I would suggest (or hope) they're also experimenting with set ups and structures, because we have been nowhere near it for weeks now. Despite everything you've written here, had we got a bit of luck in those three games we lost by under kick, we'd have managed to be sitting inside the top 8 *and* be tinkering with things. The fact that we're not and we've fallen in a hole, suggests motivation *might* be lower, but there is more room for experimentation without hampering a potential finals run.

A quick one on Lingers. He's probably been our best player the last two weeks and really has had a great season. I'm very glad the MRO cleared him. Further, I think the emergence of Windsor has helped Lingers, and it's great that Caleb has older guys like Lingers to look up to and learn from.

I remember going to a game against Port at the 'G and I reckon we had 9k there. We were bloody loud though. Even that 16k last week sounded loud at times.

Just watched his highlights against the Allies. He seems a bit of a prototype JT pick in that he's hard at it and seems like a great tackler. Seems to read the play well too, is a nice relaxed kick, but what he offers that's maybe a little different to the rest of our mids except Trac, is he looks like he can go forward and finish in the forward half. So @ChaserJ, we reckon he could go outside the top 10? Interesting.

That's why I want two picks in the top 10-15 if we can manage it. Then we could pick the potential Dusty/Trac and another surer player.

I'll check out Sam Lalor. I know it's an annoying question, but who does he play like in your opinion mate?