Mad_Melbourne

I like the fact that you have completely changed your attitute towards the player from before the season started. Whilst im not being antagonisic, I remember a little debate with you where you rated him 40th on our list and said you couldn't see him being a viable option this year. whilst during pre season he looked a little lost, he has come into the side the last two weeks and really been much more than competitive, started to show the ability to change lanes and break lines throughout the Richmond game and I can only see him improving from here.

I'm not sure when Pederson gave away the shepherding free kick in the marking contest but this could have been from his comments to the umpire creating awareness. Finally looking like a side on the up, list management and playing style seems to have been impressive of late. Hard to find the 4-5 players that would be delisted at this stage apart from maybe 1 or 2, and I really am loving it. Heritier Lumumba has shown in the last two weeks how pivotal he is for the next couple of years, his speed both offensively and defensively are pivotal to the back 6 and his ability to compete in the air for the most part has been pretty exceptional.

I made a bet for a rather excessive amount of money with a richmond supporting mate, roughly 10 years ago, that we would make a grand final before they did. In the last 2 years he has been telling me that i better have it ready for him and i keep responding that Richmond are in the process of a fake rise and really need to look at their list as a whole and start pretty much from scratch. Nothing sweeter than beating Richmond and further highlighting to him that at this stage in both lists development I am more likely to see one than he is.

Whilst he hasn't had much of the football in terms of stats, his kicking from kick outs has been a stand out for the most part and his defensive work has vastly improved. I think he doesn't get in position enough to receive the hands and when he does he will be getting 20+ disposals

anyone know how much game time he played, anything around 50-60% makes these numbers rather impressive (obviously minus the 0 tackles part)

Yeh interesting, I do wonder where he will play mainly, can't see him playing backline as it will make us too slow and I think we will have one too many talls up forward. That being said, Frost and Watts can both play more of a flank role

Often it is a more adaptable/mid sized tall who can play this role, but i dont see us bringing in an extra tall defender for this specific reason, in fact it would actually be quite stupid. It would completely slow down our backline and ball movement but the reliance of one v one matchups is a thing of the past, especially when considering a first gamer who whilst has a decent athletic ability will unlikely continually be foun in one v one contests and the third man up will often be able to cause spoils if our backline is working efficiently. Moore, Cloke and Cox/Grundy are less dangerous than Petrie, Brown/Goldstein and Waite so we will not need to add an extra tall to the mix. H will play third tall and provide run, Dunn hopefully to Cloke and T-Mac to Moore. Simple as that

grossly underselling the value of Vince, regardless in the context of the statement i like it.

Okay, well I'm going to say I have been informed of this and I'd be fairly certain it's a reliable source

Well played, heard it here second. im going to say I am 100% he will play haha!

I have a feeling we will see a debutant this week in Jayden Hunt. It will good to see it after toiling through rehab and stringing some good football together Edit: you will have heard it here first

I like the Royal across the road from the G. Always something interesting to watch if melbourne are stinking it up

I can see why people think he would work better as a defender, considering he would have immense closing speed and he is a big fella, but his attributes point towards him developing well as a forward and the only way he can do this is by being given time to improve in the role. With the way football is being played the defenders need to be able to use the ball really well, make sound decisions by hand and foot or be exceptional in their ability to intercept mark and negate. Frost moving into a key defensive post would mean we would be relying on him only to defend and the problem with this is that he becomes a liability down back. Whilst people have their issues with our defenders, Frosts deficiencies in his game will be found out much more in our back half than in our front half. As one of the better athletes at our club, with great speed and being able to compete well in the air he can have a positive impact in our forward half in numerous ways. Firstly with pressure, as we keep setting up to create earlier turnovers, pressure from the forward half needs to be strong in order to prevent the ball going out the back, thus his speed plays an important role. He can compete well in the air and with much better smalls at the fall of the ball if he doesnt mark which is likely if it spills we can maintain possession and also prevent the intercept mark which is often a catalyst for attack. Finally with the side looking to take advantage of the turnover, his speed will provide him with the ability to get out the back of the opposition, which I think can result in him actually being an offensive threat. He will learn to play this role better as he gets more time on the field and can be a long term option down there with Weideman, Hogan, Watts and Frost.

I can see why people think he would work better as a defender, considering he would have immense closing speed and he is a big fella, but his attributes point towards him developing well as a forward and the only way he can do this is by being given time to improve in the role. With the way football is being played the defenders need to be able to use the ball really well, make sound decisions by hand and foot or be exceptional in their ability to intercept mark and negate. Frost moving into a key defensive post would mean we would be relying on him only to defend and the problem with this is that he becomes a liability down back. Whilst people have their issues with our defenders, Frosts deficiencies in his game will be found out much more in our back half than in our front half. As one of the better athletes at our club, with great speed and being able to compete well in the air he can have a positive impact in our forward half in numerous ways. Firstly with pressure, as we keep setting up to create earlier turnovers, pressure from the forward half needs to be strong in order to prevent the ball going out the back, thus his speed plays an important role. He can compete well in the air and with much better smalls at the fall of the ball if he doesnt mark which is likely if it spills we can maintain possession and also prevent the intercept mark which is often a catalyst for attack. Finally with the side looking to take advantage of the turnover, his speed will provide him with the ability to get out the back of the opposition, which I think can result in him actually being an offensive threat. He will learn to play this role better as he gets more time on the field and can be a long term option down there with Wiedman, Hogan, Watts and Frost.

Dunn, Lumumba and Brayshaw are all pretty much locks in our best 22 and are all ready for the call up, yet I personally can't see us pulling the trigger on 3 changes especially giving the result. Dunn for OMac is the only change I can see being made, with Lumumba and Brayshaw to get a few more minutes in the VFL and obviously dominate and push for their spot the following round. That being said, is Brayshaw or Lumumba at that stage where they are automatically picked, i know most will say Lumumba is definitely not, but im more intrigued about Brayshaw, he did play 21/22 last year so it would make sense that he is a walk up inclusion if fit.

I wasn't the big idea around Frost is that he will be able to get out of the back of defences due to his pace, this combined with his ability to put pressure on in the forward half is why he will be used there. I can see him having a 3-4 goal game, not due to his disposal being well, but more so because when we are able to get those goals over the top of the press he will be one who can take advantage of it. That said, his set shot was a lot better than Pedersons.... Watts was good, the thing i like most is that he was willing his team mates on. 24-25 is usually when taller players come on and the fact that he was 17 on the list was never going to help his development, heres hoping he can keep this form up but also can't wait for the standard boots to come out if/when he has a lapse in form.

i also think alot of this was to do with Gawn spending most of his minutes on the bench during the 3rd quarter, Pederson was comprehensively beaten in the ruck by mumford and this meant for control in the stoppages to GWS. Not underselling Clarries performance, it was probably the best first half debut i have seen of any player at the MFC and his ability to hit the ball drop at speed and be clean is outstanding.

Go to games, support my team and have faith, it's not that I am worried that we will lose as in most cases the result is already completed. But rather I think it's a stupid way to ruin singing the song at the end of the game and the Melbourne chants and applause are more than adequate until the final siren goes and we are able to sing the song.

Nothing I hate more than this, makes me sick when our cheer squad starts singing the song before the end of the game.

i think if it was not fed to him it would have been a more flat bat answer. I think the media team would have got on the google and looked that up for him and prepared him with a bit of a response, cant see him googling and putting too much thought into the comments made in the media, regardless of whether or not he was a Melbourne legend.

imagine any other response he could make to that statement "yeh i cant really kick for goal Ox is right" "even if my kicking was poor this year, i will still get massive contract offers, so Ox should shut up" "i have no statement to make in relation to the oxs comments" so bloody stupid, it was a perfectly considered response with the right amount of tongue in cheek, not to mention that the line would have been fed to him from our media team, as it was always going to be an obvious question to be asked.

lol, life must be moving pretty sweet for you in order to note posters who disagree with you on a forum down. I am not following you around, I enjoy reading your opinion as it is often different and like to try and draw a debate and explanation out of you, or possibly allow you to view things from a different perspective. I agree, the issue with his kicking on the weekend was the ball drop, he has always had an awkward ball drop, all I am saying is that i disagree with most of the conception on here that his run up effects his kicking, when he could be doing six backflips and rolling on the ground as long as his last 4 steps were straight and fluent it wouldn't matter. But again, fixing issues such as ball drop and kicking motion are nearly impossible if not addressed early (talking 16s) other wise muscle memory is pretty tough to overcome. (Side note: January 2014 would probably be Jack Watts threads, im guessing as your opinion on him is very contrast to mine)

It just depends what you think is necessary to put it to bed, im guessing that in your opinion it will be to change his run up completely? In order to put these issues to bed, he needs to go back to what he was doing last year (which still includes the stutter step) and ensure that his set shot performance is equally as good/ if not better.

Yeh, I was more just debating the issue, I think his highlight is that he moves his arms above the tackle more often than not allowing him to get it out to space, but this can lead to it being intercepted once or twice. Is really raw and will iron out the kinks, but I can't even think now of a player in the afl I have seen handball so well (albeit from 3 nab games) when they are in their first season.

I think you are wrong, Jetta would have been immediately under pressure and the handball was likely to be cut off. Salem was by far the best option of the lot a player in space who has the time to make the right decision, can either clear the ball or as he did spot up and find the right target. Technique issues on handballs and kicking are always debatable the fact that he can handball the ball so comfortable from above chest height is a real asset as he will continue to get his hands free in the clinches.