binman

I'm pretty sure Neeldy was misquoted. What he actually said was that he wanted Melbourne to be the hardest team to watch play. He left when he achieved his goal.

I reckon j Smith will make it.

That's good to know. I'm sitting in Q29 sat night.

Some really good analysis in that lot. Interesting comment about their midfield.

Absolutely. I doubt nay player in the league surpasses Ed's work rate. You might have misread my comment though. I meant to say that no one currently NOT IN the seniors could match his work rate. So we lose something if he was dropped.

The top deck of the ponsford is great. The key though is not going above AA. Its too high

The tigers are making a case for being the best team of the last 50 years. The proof is in the pudding in terms of their game plan. A great strength of it is that it thrives on pressure. By that i mean a key to beating any game plan is pressure around rhe ground and in particular the ball carrier. This sort of pressure is super effective on game plans like the one the Eagles employ - maintain possession, precise kicking, clinical transition. And ones like the swans game plan, which involves fast ball movement. Of course if you don't apply pressure to the rigers they will carve you up the way they did to the saints. But their game plan is also resistant to pressure. Arguably even sometimes helps it. Under pressure or not under pressure they are a forward half territory team. As are we. Our ace in the pack is our defensive system. We are incredibly hard to score against. Harder even than the tigers. In fact I think we are tbe hardest team to score against. And are intercepting and reboundimg better than any other team atm. And we have Max. Lets see if that systems holds up under Tiger pressure.

Not in terms of how we might tactically respond. By that I mean we won't make any tactical changes. We will back our system. They will back theirs. Whilst there are some tactical differences (primarily our defensive set up and use of max) i reckon the dees have the closest game plan to the tigers. Should be a great game.

On Nibbler, his stats pro vision is well worth a look a: https://www.afl.com.au/stats/stats-pro#/Discover/CD_I296420/Neal-Bullen-Alex I've noted before but it is fascinating way to look at players game and appears to be completely accessible to all now (previously you need AFL live pass) Some reflections on his involvements: Not big number of involvements across the board, Very quiet in the first half Had a big 3rd quarter Got most of his involvements on the half back line But also in the centre, HF and deep forward A running machine On the above point i doubt he covers as much ground as many of his teammates, but the running he does is often high intensity sprints Often spent when he gets the ball - hence the signature nibbler inhale face Really important to our defensive structure A junkyard dog

By a long way. Last year his comparative advantage in terms of fitness was offset by the short quarters. Nonetheless he was still important. With longer quarters, more games at the g, fewer rotations and a taxing game plan he us even more important.

ANB is a very important player in our team in terms of both the forward pressure role but as importantly the distance he covers and his defensive and offensive spread. He is incredibly fit and works super hard all game. His run and work rate is critical to our game plan working. With his work rate he is almost always redlining. And no one out of the team comes close to being able to matching that work rate. AnB is a best 22 lock.

What do you think will happen kc? Conferences?

Fair points. There is no doubt rhe team with extra recovery time gets an advantage. Particularly when one team only has a six day break. Hopefully that disadvantage is mitigated somewhat by our seemingly superior fitness. And the fact up to four changes are possible, With may and fritter avaible and weed making it hard not to pick him, that's three. And perhaps they will manage jordon who must be feeling the pinch

My thoughts exactly.

Going to be a star.

it is crazy. How much does the stupd website cost. Erase it and spend that money on promoting the VFL. It's doubly crazy given a number of AFL clubs have a side in the VFL, so there is a connection that didn't exist 20 years ago.

Jordon will play. Goody said as much in a mid week presser

Failed to ignite?

Why?

Apparently the covid vaccine also protects against getting sick from MFCSS. Can still get it. Just protects you from predicting losses to cellar dwellers.

They have who can run the slowest races at athletic carnivals? If so does that mean Jones finished behind seleood?

It's crazy. The AFL should be promoting the hell out of the VFL. A strong, popular VFL can only help footy

I fully acknowledge my confirmation bias with melksham. I might go watch his afl pro vision to see all his involvements. By the by, for some reason thus far this season you don't seem to need an afl live pass to watch relays or the afl pro vision on afl.com. I assume it is related to tbe kayo deal. Hopefully it will continue.

I see your point. But for the sake of argument lets count Melksham as a tall (as you have with Fritter). Our line up this week is then three talls - Jackson and Tmac being the other two. A player like Sparrow can replace Melksham as a medium. In the future i think Brown is a lock. I have no doubt Jackson is a lock (though they might 'manage' him at some stage). But Weed isn't. For me its Tmac or Weed. At the moment i'd go with Tmac. In that scenario the forward line would be Brown, Jackson, Tmac and Fritter. To that mix you have to add Kozzie, Spargo and ANB rotating though the forward half and bench. Hard then to see where Melksham fits, though many would say that it one tall too many. So lets say Tmac comes out. That frees up a spot. But i reckon those four talls can work as Jackson can play as a medium on the high half forward, such is his athleticism and mobility. Also in this context its worth keeping in mind Tmac trained a winger in the preseason. And has almost played as one this season, with many of possessions up the ground. So he could also play at high half forward.

You're preaching to the converted OD. But we aint Goody. And he clearly has him in his best 22. And really with his talent he should be.