binman

Snap

Lever is having an all time mare.

Good thing Billings is such an accurate kick at goal - one goal down now

Luker!!!!!

Easy. Take my approach today - do stuff all.

Sticky hands - excellent mark on the lead

Ricky Mentha the only player looking a class above. Positive signs.

Good lord, our kicking is just appalling. Forget not VFL standard it's nor even local footy D grade standard.

I'm the opposite. I'm actually really confident about how well go today. We'll be as fresh as we're ever going to be given we're coming of our bye. Conversely, the AFL has done us a solid as the Suns are off a six day break and travel. And the suns gws game, which I watched, was a very intense, high pressure game with lots of arc to arc running so will be no easy thing to back up from. In terms of our method, we match up well against the suns I reckon. They have a leg speed advantage but i think our selection has in part looked to negate that advantage. I agree they will be desperate to win after 3 losses on the trot, but as you note so will we and I'm not convinced beng desperate to win nessarily translates to doing so (the Suns were desperate to win last week). Dees by 17.

I'm having strong flashbacks of my Melbourne high footy career, such as it was: very early game, hours before the ones strut their stuff absolutely woeful standard

Sorry, I keep forgetting the eye test and the vibe trumps data.

Thanks to @roy11 for that article by the by - they posted it in the stats file thread. My reply, which is relevant here, was: As ive noted on the pod a few times, we are implementing a new method based on fast transition (ie the modern game plan). And contrary to the views of some we are implementing that method, or at least the all important ball movement part of it, very effectively. As montagna notes (in the article) our issue is how we enter inside 50, and of course our woeful accuracy. Improve those aspects of our game and the gap between us and the very best teams closes significantly. Which is worth considering when assessing where we are at vis a vis the conversation on another thread about how woeful we supposedly are.

You want quicker movement of the half back hey. Being the second quickest in the AFL behind the cats not good enough for you? You think we should be number one? AFL 2025 SPEED OF BALL NUMBERS AFTER ROUND 15 (Fastest to slowest) 1. Geelong: Speed 114, Time 115, Distance 109, DTG 103 2. Melbourne: Speed 114, Time 123, Distance 113, DTG 100 3. Western Bulldogs: Speed 109, Time 108, Distance 101, DTG 109 Fox SportsAFL’s newest and most important stat: Speed of Ball expla...Truth in Pies shock as AFL’s fastest... and slowest teams revealed: Every club ranked 1-18

I hope Bergman is OK given he'll be a dee next year

I can. As ive noted on the pod a few times, we are implementing a new method based on fast transition (ie the modern game plan). And contrary to the views of some we are implementing that method, or at least the all important ball movement part of it, very effectively. As montagna notes our issue is how we enter inside 50, and of courseour woeful accuracy. Improve those aspects of our game and the gap between us and the very best teams closes significantly. Which is worth considering when assessing where we are at vis a vis the conversation on another thread about how woeful we supposedly are.

Pay that.

I hope so. And if we get him, whenever he plays well I can post this:

I wouldn't go anywhere near McKay. Too expensive and tall forwards are new rucks circa the mid 2010s - overated in terms of impact. It's all about how the ball is delivered to forwards and inside 50 now as opposed to dominant tall forwards being difference makers. Which of course Is not to say gun key forwards are not important but they are now icing not the cake. And I'd argue that small to medium forwards are now more important. Ah Chee, Long, Elliot, McCluggage, are the type of players I'm thinking of. If it were me I'd target Bergman as our real need is utility types who have elite foot skills. Bergman is exactly what we need - an elite kick who can play hb and wing and can run and carry. Would free up Windsor to go back to the wing and Langford could go into the middle, where he is sure to end up anyway. He can also play forward if need be. I'm not sure of his contract status but I'd also try and get the Long from the Suns if at all possible. A gun who kicks straight and is a nightmare matchup as he can play small and tall.

That's my Saturday sorted.

Vefy much reflectsup my thoughts on both players. I'd add about Jefferson that his second efforts have really improved in the last few weeks, and we're good again last night. Still dont look instinctive, perhaps because they're not, but he's clearly working hard in that area, and on his contested work, and I love that (ie players working hard to address weaknesses and making good progress) He is a genuine old school forward who reads the ball super well, knows where the drop zone is and uses his body deftly. It was great to hear Ben Brown's comments about Jeffo, in particular that he has been working on his aeriel contest work, the implication being he needed to, in particular halving contests and getting the ball to ground (which brown noted is critical for key forwards). Jeffo was better in that regard, but still needs to improve. That should come though as he gets physically stronger.

I don't want to get into a back and forth kev, but I would argue the evidence contradicts the idea we are fractured club. The most compellingu evidence is how many players have resigned their contracts in the last 12 months, several of whom, like koz, did not need have to do so as their contract had not yet finished. In addition to the young players I listed above, Lever, Maxy, Viney, Langdon and now Koz have all resigned or extended their contracts. That's more than a quarter of the list recommitted to the club in the ladt 12 months. in fact only one player chose to leave in that time - nibbla, who left for family reasons and was at pains to say at the BF how much he loved the club. Theres just no way that many players recommit if there is fractures or the environment isn't supportive and positive. As for long contracts not serving us well again I respectively disagree, foe reasons I've already articulated. But we will of course see. But leaving aside tbe debate about koz's contract, I think we can.both agree just how awesome it is that he is staying at the club. I was, and remain so, just so stoked when I heard the news. I felt like a kid again. Love it

So that a good thing in Kozz's case then -another club cant turn his head with a big offer. Certainly was in traccs scenario - the $ we are paying tracc couldn't be matched by other clubs and, as I argued at the time, that made it extremely unlikely that a trade would/could be done - even if tracc really wanted out And now we have tracc playing great footy, in a great headspace and showing great energy and leadership- so much so that fir the first time in his career people are talking about him being our next captain. Moral of the story- long contracts of gun players are a net positive for club and player.

You are contradicting yourself kev. If contracts are meaningless then why do yiy have a problem with the length of Kozzie's contract. Sure it's great to not blindly buy into the consensus view. A handful of posters, me included, pushed back on the seeming consensus on DL last October and November that our culture was terrible, we were a rabble, that it was a fait accompli we would lose trac, Oliver and after the 2025 season koz too. The minority view proved to be the correct one. But often the consensus view is in fact the correct you one, and imo it is in this case - the koz deal is a total winner for the MFC. And ironically the Tracc example provides one reason how long contracts can benefit a club by giving us the goal whip hand in any negotiations. Some might argue clarry's situation provides a counter argument because it makes harder for us to trade him. But I don't give credence to that argue because it presupposes we want to trade him. Why on earth would we want to trade him, particularly if we can't get top end draft picks in return? By any measure he has been one of our best players this season and whilst still a ways of his best he iis clearly getting there.

I thought so, but could be wrong.

They didn't jump kev. More likely they were pushed. The tigers knew they had a one in a generation opportunity to go to the draft with an unprecedented number of high end draft picks. And they took that opportunity. They won their 3 flags. They weren't going to win another with the list they had. And in trading our baker, bolton and rioli they made out like bandits and are setting themselves for the next tilt at a flag. On your point about other clubs comimg after our 'up and coming players', the following such players have all extended their contracts in the last 12 months (meaning the koz contract won't impact our efforts to balance our cap for several years - ie these players are all locked in): Turner JVR Windsor Howes Kolt McVee Jefferson That doesn't leave many up and coming players for other teams to target.