DeeSpencer

A nice pick up with a mid 2nd round pick. Why hasn’t Jason Taylor been given a serious chance with the rookie draft and a good deep haul of picks for years now? He can find more Harmes’ and Vanders but we won’t give him the picks. Instead it’s Mitch Brown’s #LetJTcook

That was about the peak of Green’s career. Should’ve gone on to become a Star mid/forward with multiple All Australians. Somehow became captain of the club in charge of the players having a strike at Geelong. Took a lot of big chest marks. Unfulfilled talent. Lacked killer instinct. Bruce, much the same. Not soft, but could’ve lifted a few more weights at some stage. And a professional footballer who couldn’t kick a drop punt is always a good one. The interesting thing about Bruce is he was a mature age pick up. That’s the kind of player we could find, even if it’s one in a thousand. If we turned over the list and backed our recruiting staff

So if the list is turning over so much next year then why not get a head start on looking for players to fill those spots now? The list didn’t turn over last year and now hasn’t this year. So for 2 years we’ve been kicking it down the road. If we didn’t keep the Wagnii we could’ve had a better replacement for them in hand. Free agents. More Tomlinson and Byrnes? Great! No first round pick either. I’m hardly a Hunt and I’m surprised we gave him 2 years, who else wanted him? But at least he has raw speed and age still on his side. If he did put it together he’d be a player. I’d rather gamble on upside that keep a player who won’t perform against good opposition and is a long way down the order.

I don't think that's a great opinion. The best teams are always defensively sound first and score on the back of the defensive system. Bonus points are drastically unfair and will favour teams who play in certain conditions - namely Docklands and multiple games against bad sides. The best thing coaches can do is develop talent. A very talented side will be good to watch no matter the score or style of the game. The AFL are suffering for putting profit ahead of quality by introducing 2 new teams. Add in the mockery they've made of the draft and how free agency benefits the few over a better more expansive system that could help all teams get the players they need and you've got a lot of sides with really ordinary talent levels. Our side is a good example. We have maybe a dozen proven quality players. When that number was close to 20+ we played some brilliant attacking footy.

SO WHY WAS HE DROPPED TWICE IN 3 GAMES!!!! Because he absolutely does not play to his role. Not at all. Why was he delisted from Essendon who have no fit quality key forwards? This is his 2019 for Essendon. 3 goals in 8 losses. The disposals, marks and goals all dry right up. Why? Because he doesn't do his job as a key forward and start his game with the basis of winning and halving contests and bringing his team mates in to the game. Instead he chases kicks up on the wing which he can find against bad teams, then goes completely missing against the good sides. He's everything we don't need as a Melbourne player. Yet he's the type of player we've seemed happy to keep around for 50 years probably. A non winner. The more non winners you keep around the club the more you become a non winner and we just live for that. We love it. Flat track Brad Green back on the board, I'm sure he loves Mitch Brown too. There's another forward who loved a chest mark rather than opening their body up for contact and loved dining out on bad teams.

He went back for a chest mark after 3/4’s of not getting his hands up to contest high kicks. If he won’t play a game then he is a waste. If he’s needed that means we’ve got 2 of B Brown, Weid and Jackson injured and cant cover with Petty who offers more and don’t want to cover with T Mc. We aren’t turning the list over and it’s just killing our 15-25 depth by not finding more guys. Instead we have these guys who are 30-35 battlers just wasting space.

Well you missed the 2 games he was dropped after for being non competitive in the air.

Dunn’s career best season was 2014 under Roos, he was fringe AA. 2015 he was good as well. He struggled when Goodwin changed the game plan to zone based in 2016 but that was a rough year for him personally and he was out of shape. Goodwin thought Oscar played the zone far better than Dunn. He was excellent for a year and half at Collingwood and if he got fit and got on board with Goody he would’ve absolutely helped us win games in 17/18. Ultimately he was injured from mid 2018 so it doesn’t really matter. It’s all hypothetical but would Oscar be better having to develop in the VFL behind Dunn in 17/18? I don’t think it would’ve changed but we’ll never know.

The most obviously link isn’t charitable at all but we should partner with Melbourne Girls Grammar to give them a proper sports facility.

Look at the floor plan and description on the Saints website. It’s a gym, lap pool, hydro pool and a few token consulting rooms that will probably be used by the clubs doctor and psychologist. Theyll bring some school groups through to tell them about mental health but it’s overwhelmingly a football facility. That’s not to discredit Spud in any way, he’s worth of a facility on football ability alone plus his mental health advocacy. But the Saints have built a footy facility then found a community angle for it

Disagree. He had an awful season due to personal issues and being out of shape. Bounced back and played really well for the Pies. We should’ve stuck with him, Oscar wasn’t ready and has shown to never be ready. Hardly a huge issue because Dunn ended up perennially injured and we needed a May type anyway but we discarded Dunn too early.

The saints have found a great angle naming their pool and gym after Spud and pretending it’s about mental health. What’s our angle? Jim Stynes centre for sun smart education? The Ox’s gamblers help. Norm Smith Institute for curses. Ronald D B building and it changes it colours multiple times?

He’s not a small forward tho. He plays the high half forward role where running is a premium, probably only equaled by the wingers. His job is to close down space and burst in to space, like an accordion. It’s more running than on ballers. He doesn’t have the smarts to play wing and he’s bad in close - lacks any power or step to get through traffic - which is why he’s not an on baller.

He played 1 good game against an Essendon team that had given up the ghost weeks ago. Maybe 2 ok games if you include the giants. That’s not afl footy. I’m interested in players who perform in games that matter and 30 year olds way down the depth chart aren’t it

The problems with interchange is teams will recruit ANB's and develop kick to kick game plans. It takes more running to attack than defend. The problem with zones is coaches will still want teams to flood back and flood forward, who gets the penalty for being out of place? I'm pro trials of 16 a side but that's still a gamble. There's 2 changes I truly believe will work: 1. PAY HOLDING THE MAN Just pay it. Pay it. Then pay it some more. Then pay it again. And after about 4 weeks the players approach to a loose ball will be completely different. The ball winner will have time and space to gather, evade and dispose. 2. Revert holding the ball to something like the 80's and 90's interpretation. Prior opportunity has to be a factor, but guess what, if you've got less holding the man you've got more players running free in space to begin with. Then once they are tackled it's a ball up or it's holding the ball - right away, immediately. No more attempts to dispose the ball or waiting to see if it spills out. A player tackled at all effectively is caught and done.

10 replies and all of them positive. You're all nuts. He was picked twice and dropped twice before he was picked a 3rd time and the season finished before he had time to be dropped again. He's soft. He doesn't do the number 1 non negotiable for any key forward which is to bring the ball to ground. He doesn't defend either. He will lead up and take nothing marks on the wing but that's not a key forwards job and it means he's not where we need a big man which is competing for long kicks. Ben Brown, Weid, Jackson and even Petty should all be ahead of him. Which means he's 5th in line, a position we could easily cover with Tom McDonald if things get that desperate, which is very unlikely. We'll get to the end of the season and he'll retire after maybe 2-5 meaningless games if we have a terrible run with injury and everyone will wonder why we don't have the right depth of outside runners or skilled flanker types. And this is why. We're just burning through list spots on nothing footballers rather than churning the list looking for that diamond in the rough.

She was certainly a [censored], but convenient and topical. The best thing for women's footy and for the AFL is long term sustainability at community level. The more girls who keep turning up to play the better the standard the AFLW will become. The short term boost of a renovated Punt road will do a lot less for the game than new rooms, hot showers and well maintained ovals at the local level. But you're right, it's easier to look at the nice new facilities as you drive down Punt road and see the investment returns.

When he was interviewed lately I think it was Pert (or GB) who mentioned our plans have a Docklands sized oval. That would be a major mistake. We have to barge out some extra room - be it from the facility, the roads/trees or the soccer/rugby fields - to create an MCG sized oval. Investing in anything less would be an awful compromise.

Very topical with The Crown, didn't Thatcher say "We know that there is no such thing as public money – there is only taxpayers’ money”? Millions and millions of dollars on facilities with the only clear need being female change rooms and maybe some public safety measures to allow crowds back in. You could build the Taj Mahal of female change rooms for 500k yet alone 15M. The men and women don't train or play at the same time anyway so I wonder how necessary the change rooms even are but if it makes it more professional then it's a good idea. VFL crowds haven't had any issues at Punt Road for a few years now either but maybe a few more toilets and somewhere warm to sit would be good too. But there's no way the spending matches the return when that same money could go on funding tafe, transport, local sporting clubs, hospitals etc. $15M for a few thousand in the crowd, that takes a long time to make back. Clubs aren't growing jobs either, they all just slashed their footy departments by 30%. Maybe it's not one or the other. The Vic Government seem determined to spend big on housing and transport as is, which is great. But I'd be looking at giving 1500 local footy teams across the state 10k each to bounce back next year before I gave 15M to Richmond.

The Age confirms we’ll be keeping Mitch Brown. Utterly stupid decision. A 5th string key forward who doesn’t compete in the air or pressure on the ground. Another wasted list spot. How are we ever going to improve if we don’t turn over the list? We’ve got to start taking some chances on youth and untested players. Even if the odds they succeed are low at least we’ve tried some options.

Crisp set of highlights here. Played alongside Port’s academy kid so they’ll be aware of him. North Launy is Jay Lockhart’s club too right (and Chris Fagan’s)? So every chance we’ve been tracking him https://www.ntnews.com.au/sport/afl/sanfl-highlights-rhyan-mansell/video/f63d628f06e1c84572c05824012869d4

Can ruck and play key back. I’d have him if we didn’t have Tom McDonald still on the list.

I'll email the club asking for a membership refund if they waste list spots on Mitch Brown and Oscar McDonald. I'd keep the young guys for a proper look at them under VFL conditions. Whether they go on the rookie list or even off the list entirely then back on as supplemental players once we retire KK might depend on draft picks and whether we find delisted players worth an immediate shot.

Really tough call but I'd probably just go Gowers over Wood because he has this local footy legend style about him I find endearing. Wood looks like he can run, jump, mark, kick and he showed a lot of promise up until Sydney offered him a big deal and from about that moment on he's lost the ability to do anything.

Goodes might be the best comparison. Never a true key forward. Too valuable to end up in the ruck long term - although LJ has a bit more height and leap. He broke out as a ruck then turned in to a superstar mid who could go forward. LJ probably ends up as a ruck but what's the best path to get him there? It's part of the reason I'm becoming more and more interested with the idea of giving LJ stints on the wing to get him involved in the game and around the ball more often. If we want to play 2 key forwards it will be hard to get him in the play. The wing could be the best solution.