Adam The God

This is your best post ever. Agree completely.

And surely Trac plays midfield minutes at some point, otherwise, I agree with all of this.

Did you watch the King's Birthday game? They can work together. We just need to bring the ball to ground and create a contest forward of centre, so the likes of Kozzy, Trac, Chandler and even ANB can get on the end of a few. Grundy's ruckwork is far less predictable to the opposition than Max's and Max's tap work in D50 still leaves a lot to be desired. I think they're both really good ruckmen though. Gawn's elite because of his around the ground ability, Grundy is elite because of his follow up work. Different styles of ruckmen, but they can be weapons in the same team too. Watch this space...

I think you'll find Grundy will work, just like he and Max did vs Collingwood. They'll both get looks at goal I reckon and need to nail their shots. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks again. I think Smith will start back, but if we feel we've got structure behind the ball, I could see them throwing him forward. I really don't like us playing only two defensive talls and it seems to rarely work, but maybe I need to accept that's the direction the game is going in? If that's the case going into next year, I think we need to find a good medium interceptor to support them. That's not really Hibbo's go, even if he goes around another year. And I don't rate Smith as a permanent intercepting defender.

He's always been a good bloke has Aker! 😆

If you missed it, you missed it, mate. I've got it for a year now. Grammatical error and all...

You couldn't do it without me, Binners.

Alternatively, use picks to trade for ready made at other clubs.

I've said this before, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that we are one of the sources muddying the waters RE Reid not wanting to leave Victoria. It is in our best interest to throw that stuff out there as it provides us leverage.

As you know, I'm for the third one.

Jefferson isn't supposed to be a JVR type. That's not to say he's ready, just that he's a different sort of player. I would suspect it's more about his tank, forward craft and body work than how many kgs he has. Think of Fritta. Still super skinny, but he's a great reader of the flight of the ball and uses his body well.

Far be it for me, a lowly PA, to question the top dog, but I think this point is far too overstated on Demonland. Name a game where the weather cost us? When it rained during Geelong, we dominated them - they came back into it when it stopped raining in the last. When it rained against Richmond, we piled on goals in the last and it was slippery in the third after rain at half time. When it rained against Port, we kicked 7 goals in a quarter in hostile territory. I don't think 'Melbourne are a poor wet weather footy team' stacks up to scrutiny. I've felt it was the case in the past too, but really it's down to whether we win ground ball or not, because we obviously intercept mark less. I think our evolution, I won't say change, in game style, has meant less reliance on May, Lever or the third tall intercept marking, which means we can still win provided we win ground ball and neutralise the opposition in the air. To me, groundball and intercept are the two best indicators of victory in modern footy.

It wouldn't allow me to register a new name with the apostrophe. Trust me, it made me cry.

I was anointed by the neggy one.

I didn't even find it awkward. He was actually better spoken than he normally is. I have absolutely no idea why people are squirming. He's very confident he'll play, but he needs to tick off the training session, which is exactly the same messaging as the FD gave...

Lol 😆 And the idea that you've ever been an AFL talent scout is just as cute mate.

So I missed this bit on 7 News. Did Richo actually say "season over", because if not, he's still in the frame, and it would be logical management to keep the press off our backs and Petty's if we simply said it was a bad injury.

If it's not Reid or Curtin, I hope it's McKercher. All three would fill needs for us.

And didn't you think Weideman was gonna be a star, Steve? Not sure you have the higher ground here...

The other obvious factor, which we won't know about until after this game, is how does Collingwood's ball movement look from back to front without Daicos collecting 30 touches? Who's their kicker? If their ball movement relies so much on these deep lying movements to cut a higher press apart, I wonder if Geelong can afford to hold their press higher up the field and seeing if Collingwood can get through them. Geelong play a lot of counter attack footy as well, because when Dangerfield isn't winning clearances, they essentially have to slingshot and give up centre clearances to counter attack. I think it's a fascinating match up, because without Daicos, Collingwood may have to play a less aggressive game from the back if they don't have that kicker. This will impact on their ability to move the ball, and I wonder if this simply goes too much against McRae's offensive ethos. Therefore, they might even go more aggressive with their kicking, but hold a more conservative shape at the back. If I didn't have a two year old, this is a neutral game I'd love to attend, because it won't be the same watching the structures on TV.

I agree that the Cats looked slow, but I still expect them to take it up to Collingwood. Their game earlier in the year saw Geelong at least 2 or 3 players down and Collingwood managed a 22 point win, but still conceded 103 points. I expect this game to be a harder slog for both sides and lower scoring than that affair. The fact Geelong need to win it to not only keep their season alive, but present the illusion that they can defend their title, will make them very tough to beat. Brisbane and Melbourne have shown teams how to beat Collingwood. Do the Pies have a plan B?

They're kidding themselves. You really don't want to find out at Round 21. You want to find out at Round 4 or 5 at the latest, and you've got to have a plan B that you can go to. So far, Collingwood haven't demonstrated any capacity in game or otherwise, to play a different way. They're only effective when they're attacking the game. Conversely, we've shown we can win in a hard defensive slog that relies on ground balls, CP and intercept, and we can also win in a stoppage-based, intercept slingshot shoot out.

His lack of ground pressure and follow up work would be the query though. Could get shown up majorly at the other end of the ground.

The answer to this is to draw bigger crowds in Melbourne.

I reckon you'd fit in nicely to the AFL media landscape Roosty...