binman

Reminds me a lot of Kennedy from the swans. Always good but then at a certain point went up a level to the very top echelon of players. At the moment I reckon he us the best mid, perhaps player, in the game.

I reckon a big problem with rotating players is that with all its zones, patterns and structures team synergy is critical in footy circa 2020. You mess with team chemistry at your place peril. Rotating players risks increasing the chanced of osing games in this block and disrupting the chemistry going forward, increasing the chances of losses in the next block. Even with a fitter, rested team. And in any case we need wins now.

Apparently it is a place, similar to a ye olde tavern of yore, where shockingly people gather in large numbers, in close proximity to imbibe dangerous liquor. You can but laugh at such a concept.

Good post Rjay. Agree with all the points made. The last para is interesting. I think the manic, gun and run style we played in his frts couple of years would not have helped him develop a good balance between handball and kicking, with its emphasis on quick handballs/throws. We are looking to play a bit more tempo footy which i think helps him. Totally agree he has got more upside, which is actually pretty rare for mids at his age, even the really god ones. By his age and stage most (bit not all - Neale has gone up a level for example) have just about hit their ceiling, olie wines for example. I'm probably guilty of getting ahead of myself with Tracc after his game last week. That said that game is now his benchmark. But its funny you mention the Suns game. He actually had a pretty good game but yes his kicking was poor. But the big take away for me - and the reason i am so excited about Traccs future - is when it mattered he stood up, took all the responsibility and kicked a clutch, game winning goal from outside 50. He is a game winner who can change the course of a match through sheer force of will. I'd love to see Oliver become a game winner too, and he has the potential to. What was really awesome about traccs goal was that it was Oliver who set it up. After lowering his eyes, assessing the options and taking the smart (but tricky) option. It was like seeing the future!

He's be a better kick than vanders

opinion or fact?

C'mon doc now you are just being silly. Surely as a doctor you are not so naive as to equate his public persona to how he is with his players? He has never been a good media performer, he clearly hates it. He often appears on edge. It is not his go, like say Paul 'Hollywood Roos. In fact it is more than possible that part of his challenge in his media work is keeping his emotions, particularly frustration, in check. You see it all the time in work settings and people doing media (eg politicians) - fighting to hide emotions (anger, frustration, sadness, disdain etc etc). The skilled performers hide it well. The not so skilled performers either lose their composure and their emotion is clear or find other strategies to hide it. Like going the other way and showing little emotion.

All really good points deanox. Those stats for this season are impressive. Love that he is kicking more As you say he is an elite extractor, a skill that perhaps can be underrated and is certainly less flashy and obvious than say brilliant kicking. I've noticed too that this year he often goes to the opposition's best mid at stoppages, as he did with Cripps. Doesn't mind getting into them either. In 2018 I backed him to win the brownlow (after the home and away season ) as his numbers were crazy good. Couldn't believe how few votes he got (or conversely how many Gus got). I concluded he doesn't get votes because umpires miss his key skill - that ability to extract and they don't like that he is lippy and likes to scrap. It is a joke award

I have been super impressed with club's comms and media this year. Just terrific. And Ben Gibson has been a key part of that. Love how invested he is in the club. Has settled, got his confidence and is now a good performer behind the camera. Knows his stuff, players etc respect and like him.and he asks good questions. Though for me he missed the obvious one. What made him angry in that ladt quarter?

And in fact that is exactly what the club did. Not only news not fragmented, fans not worried ('a broken face - he'll be our till next year!), story quiet and actually good news as 2 weeks us fine. This from article posted last night 6pm (at the same time as the club interview with goody that his quote is from): MELBOURNE will be without Aaron vandenBerg for its next two matches, after the midfielder underwent surgery on Tuesday evening. vandenBerg suffered a fractured cheekbone during his side’s 43-point victory over the Hawks in Round 7, and is already on the mend. While it’s an unfortunate setback for the 27-year-old, who has played just 39 career games due to ongoing foot troubles, Simon Goodwin says he should make a quick recovery. “He got a pretty heavy knock in the first quarter and fractured a cheekbone,” Goodwin said on this week’s episode of The Talking Points.

Neale is key. A total A Grader. Harmes seems the obvious go to option.

Kicked 12 in 2018. Four last year. None so far this year.

May played on him last year I think and i would not be shocked if he does so again. If they can shut down the space he can lead into, may can negate his marking strength, which a small can struggle to do.

I'm not sure fair comes into the equation. If the question is who is the better player, the answer depends on your metrics. For me tracc is a better at this point of time because he is more damaging and has more impact. But impact is my chosen metric. Others will have different metrics and therefore a different answer. But dont get me wrong Oliver is a star.And unlike say a Ollie wines has not hit his ceiling. Loved how he played on Sunday. Had reak impact because he was getting the ball forward and kicking more. Id love to see him kick some goals. That would add anorher element to his game.

I thought the same actually. Nearly 60 years ago.

Some distance from the match in guessing. People have watched the replays so not looking for how it happened. The footy shows have done their reviews and not focused on his or his injury. Only keen dee fans follow injury reports and it wouldn't register with other clubs fans a low profile player like avb got hurt. Noise managed

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.

Why is that?

Because it can serve a purpose. I'm struggling to see what the benefit here was. Maybe goody not wanting to bring the vibe down. But burgess?

I have no doubts that is true. Given that why do you think goody said no injury problems in his post match presser as did burgess yesterday?

Top work goodwindees. Two weeks would best case scenario you'd think given. Negatives: will really miss his aggression, tackling and perhaps most of all the perceived pressure he creates. All will be missed against two very good, but pretty young teams. And both games are super important. Positives: can still do aerobic work, so can continue to build fitness. Wont have to travel and can help look after the kids back at the hub. Not his foot. Won't miss his woeful kicking in the last few games. Will be fresh When He comes back.

I deocoded your message. Good work. It did make me wonder if Petracca was too long

Good point.He's in the same conversation for sure. Stringer was too at one point i guess. At least for a short time. Not now though.

Good question. I meant now actually and personally, like you id take tracc - though by some margin. At 18? Not so sure. The percentage call would be Oliver. And perhaps i should cool my jets a bit with tracc given i've still got the post Hawks game glow on. It would depend a bit of course of what the needs of my hypothetical list was but i'd like to think i'd still pick Tracc because of his unique combination of power, size and skills. And a unique combination of power, size and skills is exactly why i loved the selection of Jackson. He was not the percentage pick. The percentage pick would have been an outside mid or winger with elite foot skills as that is what we sorely lack (and the sort of i think we should target next draft by the by) not ruck given we have gawn and recruited Preuss as back up. But Jackson has got what few do. In addition to his rare physical attributes he, like Tracc, has the X factor gene. There were some curious things about Tracc's draft. One was Brayshaw and Trac are good examples of a gun mid and a player with x factor. The discussion pre draft was that Tracc was a very good chance at going at number 1 and i don't recall gus being in that conversation. In the end it didn't matter because we had picks 2 and 3, and perhaps i'm reading too much into it but it was instructive i think they chose trac at 2 and Brayshaw at 3. The other thing curious thing (and ultimately sad) thing that the Saints ended up taking McMartin because really good big forwards are rare as hens teeth in the draft, they needed one and even though he had unique attributes tracc would never be key forward. The only winners were us really. (McMartin - such terrible luck. I really hope he can play again, if he wants to)

Even right now? It would be an interesting question to ask all 17 other coaches. I suspect most, bit not ll would take tracc. right now. Two years ago probably Oliver as Tracc would have been more of a gamble and din't have the same commitment to training But how good is it we have both!