Dr. Gonzo

Whitfield would be worth targeting as well (no idea of his contract situation).

That was in 2000 but when he first came on the scene in 1990 his tackling was a key feature of his game.

If you take out the 3 losses against us our oppo are 2-4 then if you remove the games they've played against each other they're 0-2. Hardly a large enough sample size to draw anything from.

"Nibbler's dribbler" was a great way to get things started a minute into the game.

Weed doesn't get in at the moment. Brown in for TMac, Weid will only get a look in if Jackson or Fritsch have form/injury problems.

Kozzie ??? This kid is a gem, equal parts Davey, Cyril and, when he finally lands a screamer, Farmer. Dermie was right about one thing he also has a bit if Michael Long about him the way he runs through the middle and tackles.

Agreed although I actually think we settled our defensive structure about 15-20 minutes into the 1st quarter. We left about 5 goals on the table again by my count, really need to start nailing those chances (Oliver x2, Gawn x2, Spargo) but we are performing far better from a structural standpoint than any time in recent memory. Will be very interested to see how we perform over the next 3 weeks, will be telling as far as as our aspirations this season go. Won't it be great to see Jones notch his 300th on Anzac eve, fingers crossed he gets through the next two games unscathed.

https://imgur.com/ObTz8eg

You have to snuff these types of games out early. The longer it goes with GWS in the game the more confident they'll get of notching their first win for the season. If we are fair dinkum this should be a clinical win by 8+ goals with us putting the sword to them by midway through the 2nd quarter.

He either needs to start slotting the goals or looking to pass to a player in a better position. Letting teams off the hook with behinds will come back to hurt us against good sides.

The longer the weeks gone the less confident I've become. Will this be a new Melbourne or will we revert to type and lose the game we should win? Very interested to see how we follow up last week's game (which suddenly doesn't look as impressive as it did a week ago).

Saints were playing bruise free footy, 1 tackle in the first 20 minutes of the game, 1 tackle in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the 2nd q. Essendons kids were able to run rings around them, was like a training drill. Something not right down at Moorabbin..

The footy has been great this year. Kudos to the rules committee and the coaches for getting back to what we love about the game. Long may it last.

Wasn't just the Saints

There is only one Melbourne

Isn't he set to play a VFL praccy game next week?

I'm glad we have the Sun's and I'm glad North are still in Melbourne. Anyone wishing death or relocation on other teams should have a good hard look at themselves. What happened to Fitzroy (and almost us and Hawthorn) should never happen again. Remember North and Fitzroy wanted to merge but were blocked by the AFL and the other clubs.

Depends how they're used. Have a look at the great post earlier in the thread by I think @Axis of Bob a great example of how we might now be utilising Max's hitout dominance to our advantage to put the ball away from their +1 around the stoppage and maximising our midfielders strength to win contested possessions. This allows us an extra behind the ball in case we lose the stoppage or to have one on ones in our forward line if we win.

Unless you have someone like Max who utilises his strength to mark around the ground both intercept marks deep in defense and for get out kicks aroubd the centre. One stat I found fascinating was that Nic Nat averaged less than a mark a game in 2020 (0.8 compared to Gawn 4.5), I don't know why more rucks don't model themselves on what Maxy does.

Pretty sure he kicked something like 4 goals 10 behinds that day. Missed an absolute sitter from just outside the goalsquare then minutes later dobbed one from 50 out on the boundary.

Why did Petracca tell him to settle when he took that intercept mark in the 3rd and go back for a set shot? Hard to tell what was ahead on the tv but it looked as though he could've run in for a regulation shot at goal. Sometimes it's better to have a shot on the run instead of go back for a set shot as it's a more fluid action.

As soon as I saw him line up in the centre for the opening bounce against Freo I thought this is going to be a great move. He's obviously pinch hitting at the moment but we seem to use him for the opening bounce of most quarters before he moves forward. Gives us real x-factor around the ball to kick things off.

Max was drafted in 2009, how many years do you reckon he has left? How much money do you reckon moving LJ on would free up? It just makes no sense especially when others like Hibberd, Melksham, Jetta, AvB, Jones plus others like Baker, Bedford etc would all be primary candidates to be retired, traded or delisted at end of year. Hell I reckon we'd probably move on Weideman before LJ especially if Brown can string games together and TMac continues his early season form.

Came to post the exact same thing, great minds Ethan ?