Adam The God

What I love about AJ is he is providing the bar that JVR needs to clear to get back in the side. Competition for spots is so important.

2 goal assists and 2 score involvements.

Rarely loses a 1v1 contest does he? And reads the play quickly and has the agility to often get to those intercept plays by peeling off.

Courtesy of AFL.com.au: 7) The Dees of 2025 are tracking like the Lions of 2024 Eleven rounds into the 2024 season, eventual premier Brisbane was just finding its feet, with four wins and some burgeoning momentum. It came home with a wet sail to become simply unstoppable and this year, Narrm is treading that same path. Its emphatic 53-point win over Sydney on Sunday was its fifth of the season - from the past six games - and evidence of its damaging, difficult-to-defend fresh brand. Slick handballs, hardness at the contested ball, and an unwavering ruthlessness in its defensive actions, Narrm is back in a big way. Can they follow Brisbane's path and go deep into September? - Gemma Bastiani Thanks Gemma, couldn't have said it better myself. 👏 Anything can happen this year. The trajectory is upward and the new game style is taking shape. Well done, Goody and co. Blips will come, but we have to stay the course.

Walked in the door with Lord Edward in his Melbourne jumper singing the theme song and Hawthorn-supporting wifey says to me "now, I have something really weird to tell you and I don't want you to feel weird... I think I'm going to start supporting Melbourne". ❤️💙 Music to my ears. BOG, wifey. In other news, our transition is getting better, but still a lot of room for improvement, and the goalkicking 🫣 But we're starting to punish teams on turnover and in the second half went from 2 goals from stoppage to Sydney's 2 goals, to then scoring at least 6 goals from stoppage. I think JVR will straighten us up in AJs spot in time, though AJ did some handy things. Clarry almost back to his best, still a few fumbles. Trac dynamic out of stoppage, not far off his best. Max was Max. And 20 [censored] tackles inside 50. 🤯👏🎉

Roger, thanks.

Us too. Gross. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we had a suspected meth head slurring at us and telling us to "Go back to Melbourne!"

Ah, you mean we're not dead yet? 😉

Indeed. I was trying to be diplomatic. 🤣

I posted this in the Sydney pre game thread, but it's probably better in here. Just saw a clip from Jordan Lewis from On The Couch saying he doesn't believe Clarry and Viney should be in the middle at the same time. Whilst I agree to a large extent, I would add a caveat, unless Viney is playing a defensive role. But it's about allowing Rivers to provide something different to our midfield mix and given his best ever rated game against Brisbane, it's hard to disagree at this stage. I think Rivers is an excellent and dynamic half back, but if we're to continue to evolve our midfield, he probably needs to stay in the middle and then push out to half back when other mid rotations go through the middle. Which means more bench time for Clarry and more forward half time for Viney. You've also got Langford providing something different and hopefully in 2026, you've got Lindsay in there as well. Watching us try to achieve this midfield balance for the remainder of 2025 though is one of the big watches for me.

Just saw a clip from Jordan Lewis from On The Couch saying he doesn't believe Clarry and Viney should be in the middle at the same time. Whilst I agree to a large extent, I would add a caveat, unless Viney is playing a defensive role. But it's about allowing Rivers to provide something different to our midfield mix and given his best ever rated game against Brisbane, it's hard to disagree at this stage. I think Rivers is an excellent and dynamic half back, but if we're to continue to evolve our midfield, he probably needs to stay in the middle and then push out to half back when other mid rotations go through the middle. Which means more bench time for Clarry and more forward half time for Viney. You've also got Langford providing something different and hopefully in 2026, you've got Lindsay in there as well. Watching us try to achieve this midfield balance for the remainder of 2025 though is one of the big watches for me.

I care about the team and the club first and foremost. Would you rather Turner out at the expense of TMac? If so, you're not looking at the bigger picture. Lever straightens up our defence every time. As Jeff White's video showed, most fans don't understand the little things that most of iurplayers do to stay in the team. Spargo being one of them. Lever marshalls our defence and is best 22.

May's inability to move the ball on quickly in comparison to TMac and even Lever is stark IMV. I think these will be tough decisions.

TMac, Turner and Lever. Or Adams, Turner and Lever. Or TMac, Adams and Turner.

No offence taken. I'm sure in the not too distant future, we'll want Adams taking that "proper key forward". If not him, we'll trade someone in to do the job.

I'm on record saying that if we exponentially improve this year, May will be on the fringe of the 22. The same probably goes for Tom. I'm sure he was told prior to this year that his opportunities would be limited if the squad was fully fit. I'm fine with this decision and don't view it as mindboggling at all. I actually find it difficult to understand how some wouldn't see Lever's inclusion as making our backline too tall unless one of May or TMac was dropped. May's last outing was good, but had we not seen that performance, I'd have had May out for Lever. There is a changing of the guard happening in the next 12 months and we need to ensure we're not longer reliant on May or TMac from 2027 onwards, so I'd expect a few more surprises as the year goes on. I think these KPD roles are up for grabs, because it's integral to how we move the ball in transition. Turner is nimble and a good user. We need to keep getting the footy into motion as quickly as possible. Ironically, TMac is a much quicker user of the footy in comparison to May and Lever. It's why I think ultimately May will be on the outer if we improve our ball movement to a high enough degree. But they may prioritise his defensive capability over what he adds to ball movement. Meanwhile, TMac's form has been generally excellent, so it also enables us to rest him and May throughout the course of the year. Competition for spots is a good thing. We need a lot more of it! I hope Adams gets a chance soon and even Kentfield if he keeps improving.

Lord Edward and I will be there with the rest of the family. Can't wait!

They don't at all play the same roles, so then you get imbalance in the side.

Yep, JT was a big fan of Bergman's in his draft year wasn't he?

We had a bit of a selection dilemma with Viney's return. What to do with Clarry and lessening Rivers' midfield time after his best ever game. We can kick that can down the road another week.

Great post. Just regarding disposal and kick count, I think we'd like to get his kicks up. He had 19 disposals against Freo and 7 score involvements. That's where his level should be.

Ange has overseen a team that is one spot from regulation. Not really apt comparison given the EPL essentially doesn't have a salary cap.

Haha, he does actually use the phrase "kick off the line". But I agree with what you're saying.

I'd argue we can win in multiple ways. We're developing a few different approaches and a few different gear shifts. If we chip the ball around at the back, when the opposition presses, they open up space behind them for us to play into. If we go long down the line, we have Max. I'd be intrigued to hear what you think our game plan is and why you think it's any more susceptible to pressure than any other game plan in the league.

All teams struggle under pressure...