Mad_Melbourne

I understand what you are saying, but it really has to be a case of horses for courses... and I don't think Bartram has the pace or agility to handle (or nullify) Nahas who is probably in career best form at the moment.

if he doesnt play on nahas, and jake king gets off his suspension it is the perfect match up.

having said that, there is going to be more than one small forward in their team, and if you dont think bartram can play on nahas then he will play on the other

I have exactly the same problem with Bartram, but it seems the football dept doesn't.

I guess I always take that into account when making my selections - I include an element of what I expect to realistically happen.

If it were up to me, Bartram would be dropped before Bennell.

bartram is a certain starter week in week out barring injury.

he is not selected for pin point precision kicking, but rather his awesome defensive aspects.

he is nearly the best small defender in the game.

his kicking is wayward sometimes, as is his decision making, but it is the same for most players, but he makes up for most of his mistakes, by saving goals aswell, with pressure acts, and putting his head over the ball.

A thread you have started ? Or was it just a post on a thread ?

I've looked using the advanced search of threads you have started and there is nothing like this present.

I'll keep looking though (ie. deleted posts)....

edit: You haven't had any posts of yours deleted in the last few days.

Did you just recently post it in the last two days, or was it something from a while back ?

edit:

It wasn't this thread I created which I found on page 3 of the forum was it ?? (it's been pushed back pretty quick from other threads) -Howe do we Cook with Watts & LJ - in it you give a descriptive opinion on the forward line.

nah i posted it as a new topic on monday, had some stats and stuff in it, posted it at like 10 ish and then after i got out of my exam at like 4.30 it had disappeared haha

Got your reply. What thread were you looking for ?

i wrote a thread on our forward game plan, had some stats in it and stuff it was up yesterday morning, then i cannot hunt it down anymore, just wondering if it got merged or something?

Martin - Jordy

Cotchin - Jones

Deledio - Morton or petterd.

Nahas - Bartram

Riedwolt - Garland

Vickery - Chip

Miller - Rivers

i think these are the matchups... i dont really see us being beat in many matchups on the field.

Martin is their most dangerous player, jordy will stop his fend off

cothcin and jones match up is perfect, as cotchin doesnt have that really blistering pace, jones will be able to out run him with his engine

morton has been playing that shut down role, killed shaw, so i can see him playing on deledio, but this match up could lead to deledio being pushed into the midfield, so maybe petterd will play on him

bartram will towel nahas, who is my most hated player, and bartam will rip him to shreds

the talls are the hardest, they will shuffle around a bit, but i think that this is how we want the match ups, chip is probably our best match up for riedwolt or vickery, but he will be more offensively damaging on vickery, and garland is a good match up for riedwolt too. swap could be garland on miller, rivers on vickery and chip on riedwolt.

either way i can see us toweling this wanna be mob, and showing that we really are still streets ahead of this team!

leigh brown and kurt tippet on the trade table, i need a defender/centre, preferably the dual position, anyone got any offers?

i think you mean, sylvia resting in the forward line and playing through the midfield? why would you want to remove nearly our best midfielder from the midfield? i want the ball in his hands as much as possible, and that involves him playing in the guts. But no doubt he can rest up forwards, and that you state the game hasnt changed, ridiculous!

Whem I read some of the posts I often wonder whether some posters a. actually watch the game b. are influenced by a substance when they do, Morton was one of our better players yesterday, you do no have to go crash bang, we have players to do that, Moloney, Jones, Sylvia....we also need players who look like they are playig the game at their own speed...getting space etc, creating space, spreading the play..enter Morton, he has gone back to Casey, listened and learnt and has ccome back in a better player

The same is with Strauss, he has ocme in and done his job, he is not noticed, as a defender that is a compliment because he is doing his job/role

We won with 22 players all playing their role to the best of their abilities....you think by some of the posts we had copped another whacking

agreed partially, strauss kept a clean sheet, and really should not be dropped, his kicking was again an asset this week, and was really good with the handball recieves.

morton is annoying, he shows how good he is and then he shows how poor he is, he is there for his classy disposal, as seen with his 50 m pass to stef martn in the first, but then his mistakes off the little chip kicks were as bad as some of the players who arent in the team for kicking. having said that he is an improving player and he just has to learn to play the percentages a little better i think

surely he will get the nod, but i wouldnt take anyone out of the leadership group either, he looks to have really matured over the last few seasons, and i hope that he can continue on with it, he is going to be a vital player for us, and is definitely a strong leader.

having said that, im not too fussed, i think all of the boys look up to him as it is and really doesnt matter whether or not he is in the leadership group as much

jurrah has been out of form, but i think he had an okay match on the weekend, most of it in the last quarter when bailey gave him a bit of a liscence to roam. having said that he had 3 tackles, and chased on numerous other occasions which ticks my main problem with him, and with only 14 touches he still kicked 2.2 and had 9 score involvements, his match wasnt as bad as people are making it out, and i for one think he was much improved than in his last few weeks, so i would definitely be keeping him in the team!

EVERY DAY by The Oracle

...

When the midfield is doing well and the forward structure is working, Melbourne looks so much better. Yesterday, apart from Green with his five goals, the Demons had Stef Martin spending more time up forward and kicking three goals, Max Gawn was up there competing and final scored his maiden goal in AFL and Jeremy Howe got two as well. It's a forward structure that gives many options when it works and against the Dockers, it worked!

Watching the replay yesterday, and hearing the commentators somewhat paying out on how we push all our forwards up the field, especially early on in the game, and how they were stating it is impossible to attack when we have no players in our forward line, and all our forwards are leading at the ball carrier. This is something that has really annoyed posters on here, but i cant help but think that it is a game plan that is going to work wonders and will, when implemented effectively set us apart from the pack and help us push throug the zones, but it also leaves us with an array of attacking options aswell. This is due to the hardest kick to defend is the one into the space in front of an attacker, so the hard leads back into our 50 gives us a pagans paddock sort of game style, but also when our forwards do a 180 and lead at the balll carrier we often have 2-3 m on the defender and make marking easier. This happened numerous times where we just had forwards in space and is highlighted by 20 marks inside our 50, if we can take 20 marks inside our 50 every week, then we are generally going to be having 20+ scoring shots, which if we kick effectively is the start to generating a winning score. The other thing that I think we do really well, and i cant find the stats anywhere else for earlier weeks, but today in the HUN we have a stat of 38.0% of goals once i50, and we had 39 scoring shots and 57 i50s, leaving us with 68.42% scoring when i50 which compared

Melb: Goal once i50 = 38.0% Scores once i50= 68.42%

Blues: 35% 59.5%

WC: 26.0% 43.86%

Geel: 27.0% 46.29%

Tigers: 30% 58.333%

couldnt be bothered tracking down yesterdays to see the stats, but we are well ahead on the other teams. and i am guessing with an avereage winning margin of 60 points, that this stat would prove when our forward set up works it works.

probably could have been put in a bailey thread, or a game plan thread, but i am interested to hear peoples thoughts on what is seen as a common problem by many posters, but could infact be the game plan that takes us to the next level.

cant wait to see jordie mckenzie run with dustin martin, will be an interesting match up, and i reckon the dont argue will be less effective when the takling machine is trying to grab a hold of him!

My midfield's so good that one of McKenzie and Boak won't get a game next week. My forward line features McGlynn and Garlett who have kicked 51 goals between them and Menzel who won the game for Geelong off his own boot, and Shane Mumford who was probably the second best ruck last year.

Don't mention my backline.

mumford is in trouble this week for a sling tackle i think...

if bartram gets dropped it is ridiculous, he made a few mistakes by foot sure, but he is rarely beaten in one on one contests, chases hard, tackles, applies pressure, and rarely gets beaten by his opponent.

he will play on nahas or king, and towel them up, if he doesnt play, no doubt we are weaker defensively, sure his kicking is off target at times, and these mistakes are always noticeable, but jordie mckenzie made 2 mistakes by foot aswell, towelled up pavlich, do we drop him because his kicking (when he did kick it) was off, god no.

there was a video on mfc site not long ago which said along the lines of, bartram is in the first few players picked to play the match, and no doubt he will play this week again!!

it irks me so much to see people hang on him for his offensive game, when his defensive game is the most important role for a defender.

Yes, Mad_Melbourne wins the little fella. If Buddy wasn't gonna get suspended i'd be a little happier. Either way, Watson is no slouch so i'll just take it as it is.

the way i see it

Ablett > Watson

Franklin > Walker

i felt it was a pretty equal trade, it took me a while to accept it because if franklin kicks straight he is the best player to have in a team, 25 touches 5 or 6 goals.

also on a side note, i am looking for a 20+ disposal defender, higgins, josh kennedy, cotchin all up for trade if i can get a suitale defender

I Made a trade offer to Mad_Melbourne a week ago and forgot about it. Came on to cancel and you've accepted. Well played by you sir, considering Buddy will get suspended. I lose out big time!

he wont get many weeks if any, but his annoying kicking made it bank for me, i thought i would give him the week to test it out, having said that i think it is a pretty even trade and i am just hoping that walker can keep his form but i have my doubts.

happy to call for a re swap if you want?

it is more how he gets the ball and what he does with it. he has made plenty more mistakes, and almost drops his head when we are being beaten, and in most matches this year he has been beaten by his opponent.

stats can lie, but it is a bit unfair on him seeing as everyone has such high expectations

my biggest pet peeve is he demands the all even when he is in a worse position and as he is the captain team mates automatically hand it off to him.

great title firstly!

secondly what i like the most about those 4 players in the make up of a foward line is that they are all versatile, in that they will be ale to play a multitude of roles in the forward half, which when they are all fully developed, will lead to the opposition having a very tough time. ideally Watts will and cook will play almost a dawes and cloke role, both being able to play deep and then swap up depending on opponents and play as hit up targets. jurrah is best suited to a roll where he is albe to crumb off these types of forwards or offer a secondary lead which is perfect seeing as his engine is questionale and definitely would struggle with repeat running through the centre. howe high leading forward, all reports say he has a massive engine, which is a little bit suprising seeing as he came from the tassie leagues after a year of injury, but pushing forward and running hard into 50 will be perfect for him.

but the fact is, we could effectively leave any one of these forwards one out, once they are fully developed and i would back them into winning the contest, which is going to be extremely dangerous in the future.

thirdly, they all use the ball so well, watts is nearly the best field kick in the team, and more often than not is very damaging with his kick, 1st quarter 2 goal assists to sylvia is a highlight to this. cook has been using it exceptionally in the vfl. jurrah has an awesome disposal more often than not and howe plays the percentages really well, this is another reason why i feel that the rotation throughout positions will work perfectly as if cook, watts, howe or jurrah get the ball outside 50 i can see them all hitting each other on the [censored] with pin point passes.

again though like you said, watts and jurrah deeper and cook and howe up forward, although i feel that watts with his massive engine aswell can do serious damage up the field, i am pretty sure that our fwd 50 will have heaps of rotations thus making it hard for opposition defenders to adjust aswell.

I'm the Melbourne of 2010.

i was thinking this exactly about my team

looking at trades anyone bar, watson and franklin is on the table.

in: petterd, dunn, garland

out: jetta, gawn, evans

dont want to see gawn or evans dropped but i am pretty sure it will happen,

wouldnt mind seeing cook get a gig, but i think dunn will be chosen ahead of him for sure, and i would like to see him play another good game, and i think howe will get another game.

Also

Good

Brent Moloney diving smother

Jack watts chase

morton playing on pavlich wouldnt work, due to massive mismatch in weight, pavlich would just move to full forward!

pet peeve, when he runs past for the handball, the player instinctively gives it to him as a) he is the captain and B) that is how they are taught to play...always does it, never on!

secondly his tackling was poor today and his marking on the lead.

sit him in the forward line, forward flank is his role!

having said that all reports from people at the club is he is a great leader, and is vital in training and morale, just wish he could produce some consistent footy!

having said that, sylvia for mine, should be in the leadership group and captain, bleeds for the club, always chases and tackles, and every week looks like he is giving as much as he can every time

watts chase on the Krakouer.

highlight

i saw this today, rivers got dragged to the goal square whoever he was playing on, having said that normally i would back him one on one and he did okay after the first half. this was a great tactic by collingwood dragging away our best reader of the play and best third man up!

THE GOOD:

Sylvia and Watts both looked like they were giving it a red hot crack

Mckenzies first half on pendles

howes second half, comprehensively beaten in the first.

THE BAD:

hit outs to advantage, almost zero, we had double collingwoods hit outs and couldnt get it out of the centre.

turn overs out of our defensive 50

wrong options

no running

UGLY:

the collingwood supporters yelling abuse over at the members.

our kick outs.

struggling to hit targets in our forward 50

our marking on the lead.

TACKLING, especially on that dalai lama loving harry obrien, just grab the f*&&^%% bloke!