Adam The God

This was my thinking a few weeks back, but given our turnaround in form (minus last week), I'm firmly in the makes finals and win a final camp.

And it's not black and white. I know @Engorged Onion was being facetious with the OP, but both are great re-signings.

It's funny how this shifts though, isn't it? I would have said that about Clarry 12 months ago too, but now that's all up in the air.

21 years for me as a full member now. My old man is a 50 year member. It used to be $50 for 50 year members, but that's gone up too. It's a disgrace.

It's going up too. MCC fees are absurd. Jumped by another $100 this year.

I think we'll finish in the 8. 😀

Which could make going after Cumming as well, a reality.

2021 is a bit of an outlier, because our system was set up for Salem. He was constantly our guy at the back of stoppage or loose ball situations that would get us out of trouble with short, precise kicks. 2022 saw some teams tagging him and 2023 saw us change the way we wanted to move the ball. These events have coincided with more fitness struggles that has meant continuity has been difficult. It's a tough one because I'm basically saying if he gets continuity, he'll have a role to play, but history also suggests this is unlikely over multiple years anyway.

This is fair. Agreed.

It might actually force Port to develop a defensive system. I think Hinkley is contracted for next year, but surely he's gone at the end of this year?

I don't recall Salo ever kicking much more than 45m. Most of his passes have always been in that 15-30m region. I think we'll see some more good footy from Salem. And for what we'd get ina trade and what he adds culturally, Ibe no idea what we'd be trying to do there.

It's not that he might not provide the MFC with good service going forward, but it's more that other clubs would rightly not trust his body. We've years of IP on how to handle his thyroid issue and we understand his body better than outsiders.

I hope we use the rest of this season as a platform for 2025. The one thing we've managed (except for 1 week when Petty was out) is to get continuity between JVR, Petty and Turner. Another 5 games together at least this year.

Yeah, I'm finding this woe is me MFCSS vis a vis Kalani really tedious. He's been around the club for years, is clearly a passionate Melbourne supporter, his father has played over 200+ games for us. Only a Melbourne supporter would worry he wouldn't commit to us.

Well, he's re-signed Petty and Windsor, so it's not all bad. Well done, TL. Link incoming. Source, MFC socials.

I thought he looked livid on the bench in the first half. Some of the younger players I know were scared of going back into the club after the West Coast performance. I reckon the players have had a few rockets this season. We need our onfield leaders to stand up. Missing Gus, Max and Trac has meant it's fallen all on Viney, May and Lever.

JVR might have a case, but I thought Petty constantly competed against the likes of Pearce and co, and Turner in particular struggled up the ground. JVR was great inside 50.

He was also easily our most competitive in the air today.

Kolt was terrible. Young player, hopefully he'll step up next time.

An embarrassing performance. We constantly allowed them to handball to back of stoppage uncontested, and do as they pleased. The scoreline flattered us. A lack of spread on defensive transition. It seemed all too hard. I'll hold fire on a couple of players, but gee whiz, it was tough to watch. Let's just say, given contest numbers went up in the second half, I'd point to psychological weakness in the first half. And you can't lose clearance by 31(!) and expect to be in the game. There's slingshot and then there's uncompetitive at the contest, and we were that for most of the day. Although there were some terrible moments forward of centre and in the back half from our defenders, the mids are responsible for today's capitulation.

I think it was a product of who we were playing against. The first time I noticed this was last week. But I think it helps us with Trac out, and we may not have tried it had he been in the team still. Our defenders are really great at reading when and where to drop off their opponents, and I think this enables us to generate 2v1s behind the ball.

Did you see the little piece in the HUN this morning? Since R13, we're: * 3rd for chain to score against. * 1st for score per inside 50 against. So I suspect those stats are skewed by Rounds 0-12. Such was our defence and the inability of teams to move the ball quickly against us. Makes sense. And is more reliant on scores from stoppage?

N Daicos, Quaynor and Hill are the only three Collingwood players I'd be interested in...

You could argue, a bit like West Coast in 2006, that sustained success was impossible given Collingwood's cultural problems. There were murmurs in 2022 (think De Goey), and now the other side of the 2023 flag, alleged cultural issues again.

Yet we win and we'll most likely be 4th ourselves. It's a strange season. It's Sydney and then the rest atm IMO.