Dr. Gonzo

I just couldn't imagine Smith getting a game after last week. He was murdered by Riewoldt (not his fault as Riewoldt is a class above and he should never have been put on him to begin with), made crucial turnovers and was beaten in the contest often. He's just not a footballer for mine, not yet anyway. Id rather see him play forward where at least he can use his leap and speed to get to the footy to create an option but I guess that might come later in the year. Good selections, I would have like to see Jones come in for Vandenberg as well but I guess 4 changes is a lot. With these selections Goodwin has flagged a return to a more traditional structure and has indicated that his "small ball" has been abandoned. Let's see how it plays out Interested to see who gets the other wing with Tomlinson out - I would like Salem there but it will probably be Brayshaw.

Haha should have kept reading - great minds

I noticed Viney slipped over a couple of times against the Cats. My question is who is the boot-studder and why has he been able to get away with this rubbish for so long??

Extension was fine. Extending for effectively 4 seasons was dumb, unless as you say there are get out clauses.

Incorrect https://www.sportingnews.com/au/afl/news/simon-goodwin-contract-extension-melbourne-demons-coach/qipt5ifkbf3x1o5m1vukuvu19

Have you watched Gold Coast this year? Their pressure around the contest is great, they have some elite users across the field and some quality up forward in King and Sexton. Collins will towel up TMac. I can't believe we are favourites, Gold Coast should win comfortably even without Rowell.

I really would like to see Salem given a go in the middle/wing/half forward. His kicks coming out of defence are nice but they would be better going inside 50. A starting midfield of Oliver, Petracca and Salem looks more balanced to me on paper than Oliver, Petracca, Viney. Viney and Harmes can rotate in there with Petracca resting forward when required.

Agree with all this except Hunt over Salem. Hunt has done nothing the last fortnight, far to irregular a performer for me and across half back he runs himself into trouble and is prone to turnovers via his kicking.

That's why he would never want to coach here ?

Leigh Mathews told the Lions players no sex in December so there would be no births in September.

Brereton is at the Saints isn't he? Helping out King mainly. We definitely need an experienced key forward to be able to teach positioning, leading patterns, making space etc - if not for TMac and Weid then at least for Jackson's sake.

We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for excuses now aren't we?

Which browser are you using? In my Mozilla browser in the settings you can tick box to "select desktop site" unticking gives you the mobile version

It's not necessarily the results, it's the way we've been playing.

Matthew Egan - Head of Development Max Rooke - Development coach These two have been around for several years now with not much to show for it

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-draft-2018-how-fatherson-and-academy-draft-picks-work-explaining-the-bidding-system/news-story/bb9ba1f8cd67a43acd15ac6415f1fc26 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-to-make-changes-to-academy-draft-rules-20190710-p525yi.html If a rival club was to bid for Green at No.5, based on current ladder positions the Giants would have to use picks 10 (which they received from Essendon as part of the Dylan Shiel deal) and 14. The leftover points from the latter pick would see them slide down to 17.

It's not just compromised due to covid it was already heavily compromised with about 20 father/son and academy selections tipped for selection

Green was always going to the Giants, we never had any chance to get him.

Nope that's not how you judge draft pick trades. You judge them based on what was known at the time not what is known 15 years down the track.

I posted this in another thread with some long-winded rationalisations In: Jetta Jones Weideman Bennell OMac/Brown Out: Viney/Brayshaw Smith Lockhart Vandenberg Hunt This is what I would do this week to try and address some of these issues; 1 An extra key forward into the side - whether that is Weid or Brown or even Jackson we need another big body down there to at least compete if not take the mark. I would go with Weid bur we have the option of playing both Weid and Brown, moving TMac to defense and dropping Smith 2 following on from 1, Joel Smith should be dropped. Simply not good enough especially in a key defensive post. Maybe as a 3rd tall but we already have Lever in that role. Smith should be injury insurance for Lever and nothing more. We can either move TMac into defense if we bring in 2 key forwards or drop Smith for OMac if we bring in only 1 key forward. 3 Bring in Bennell. I don't care if he's underdone or if he needs to work on his defensive efforts. Other small forwards get games with continual poor defensive efforts without offering anywhere near the upside Bennell brings. Whether he comes in for Hunt, VDB or Melksham, take your pick. I'd bring him in for Hunt at this stage, he did nothing the last 2 games 4 bring in Jones - for all his faults Jones does have some composure and is a relatively decent kick. He can come in for one of VDB or Melksham. Melksham has been rubbish so far but he offers more upside than VDB as he has the capacity to kick 3 or 4 goals. Therefore I'd being in Jones for VDB 5 start Harmes in the middle. He was unsighted on Sunday until moving into the middle in the last where he was one of the reasons we got going. Viney or Brayshaw can make way for him at the moment. Petracca is currently our best player and Oliver for all his faults can actually win the ball. Oliver is on thin ice too but he is preferred over Viney at this stage who has hit a wall 6 bring Jetta in - Harmes to the middle makes way for Jetta in defence. Similar to Jones he offers composure and a relatively decent kick coming out of defense. He doesn't have a laser kick by any means but he often makes the sensible choice which is why he has such a high DE% 7 - If Brayshaw plays over Viney give him more time in the middle - i haven't noticed Brayshaw much this year which could be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. I think he deserves an opportunity to at least show what he has, I think he's the type of player who thrives on the responsibility Another consideration is ANB in for Lockhart. I'm not wedded to this one though but if we are going to play Lockhart it needs to be forward of centre. I guess that means my squad would look like this FB Jetta May Lever CHB Salem TMac/OMac Hibberd C Tomlinson Petracca Langdon CHF Jones Brown/TMac Hannan FF Pickett Weideman Fritsch Foll Gawn Harmes Oliver I/C Melksham Bennell Viney/Brayshaw Rivers https://demonland.com/forums/topic/48397-garry-lyon-melbourne-supporters-are-gutted/?do=findComment&comment=1832077

Pert and Bartlett need to have a media presence right now. Bartlett did SEN last week and good on him but it needs to be more frequent, especially now when the supporters are ready to burn the place down. They may think they are being smart by not making media appearances unless they have a reason to spruik something but it is extremely poor leadership. Supporters need encouragement and to know that the club is in good hands, they need to know that the President and CEO have options and will make moves if things don't turnaround. Supporters are fuming at the moment and it will cost us another 5-10k memberships next year. Nevermind trying to raise another $700k this year

He COULD be a star

Agreed. The other thing about the see ball get ball types is they don't spread once we do win the footy - for all the praise we get for being a good contested side our structure around the stoppages is terrible. That's why we often handball to someone under the pump etc because they are running alongside the ball carrier instead of moving out 5 meytes to stretch the opposition defence around the contest. I think it was Good Coast who did this really well a few times on the weekend - they have players ready to go 5-10 metres off where the player who wins the ball is standing and they move it quickly with 2 or 3 handballs to get the kicker into space. Our guys handball 2 or 3 times within a phonebox and then bang it on the boot without looking because the kicker is still under pressure to get rid of the footy. This comes with composure and not manic "attack the footy" mentality.

No thank you

What changes were actually made? I'm sure some were but it was more shuffling deck chair. Rooke was moved from forward coach to a development coach? Rawlings, Jennings and McCartney are gone. Rooke, Mathews, Plapp, Chaplin, Egan and Mahoney are all still there. Richardson has been brought in to replace Macca and I am not sold on him. We were also meant to have Stafford and Lewis in development roles though they don't appear on the club's website so could be casualties of reduced expenses over the last few months. It seems not much has changed at all - all of our assistant coaches were there before last year's review and most have been there since 2016.