Little Richard

I think May changes it up a bit more than he's given credit for though. The second kick in he goes straight up the middle to Max and we take possession but lose the ball at half forward, through sloppy hand balling, which then results in the ball coming back for a Richmond goal.

First kick out of the Richmond game May runs out of the goal square, hits up a short target in Hibberd and we quickly slingshot forward. Melksham goals.

I can't seem to find anything specifically on kick ins but his kicking efficiency rating is 83.7%. Doesn't help a lot.

Fair point. I do think one of the key elements that makes our connect between the backline and the middle a little better is the fact that May is often taking the kick outs and often hits a target.

Nicely summed up in one sentence: "What I'm seeing is three different strategies, one for each line and they just don't connect". Though I'd argue that the disconnect between the forward third and the middle is far greater than that between our backs and the middle.

Unfortunately a lot of his hard running and receiving work is undone when the ball comes back the other way almost immediately, due to his poor kicking skills.

That might be cash donations only, not including jumper purchases?

More useful than kicking it straight to the opposition!

It's true that he's more slight than a lot of players of his height, but he has an additional 5cm and 8kg on Joel Smith, who hovers in that no mans land of being undersized for a key defence slot and not agile enough to lockdown the smalls. I think at least trying Brown at CHB will straighten us up plenty and hopefully allow Lever to play his natural game, while May handles the number one forward. The fact that he can go forward when required and if match ups allow, would be a huge bonus IMO. At the moment we just don't have enough talls in the side to even think about swinging one back or forward.

He's quite mobile and seems to position himself well in contests so I feel we could do much worse. As Demon3 said, it's the best time to try a different approach.

According to the scratch match report he played down back for a bit, so maybe we'll see him come in and play a kind of swing man role. Maybe he and Weideman both will come in this week.

Couldn't help myself so I had a look at the North supporters discussion over on BigFooty. Sure we're in a trash position at the moment with this years draft but their arrogance for a club arguably more insignificant than us, knows no bounds. https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/2020-death-riding-melbourne-nmfc-owns-mfcs-1st-4th-2020-picks-keep-your-eye-on-the-red-and-the-blue.1230744/page-44

Living up to your display name with that post! Good points though.

Sorry mate, missed this post on Sunday. Judging by the way they both played they need to come into the firsts right away and will certainly make us a better side. Harley's work rate didn't look a problem at all. He was moving better than any of the other players, which is great considering it was such an open running game. As for Dunkley he was starting in the middle at virtually all of the bounces I saw. Used it cleanly and made smart decisions.

This bodes well. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/739113?fbclid=IwAR3Qo4keI3UN9C4g826HV4MqH-TQLvsDXV2j-OmxSj4JgvvtQ5Ds5Jf3I78

I mentioned it in the scratch match thread but when watching the second half I saw him kick at least two goals and he presented nicely throughout. Was one of the standouts for sure.

He WAS a genuine star in 2018, is currently languishing, but COULD be a star once more.

Can we throw everything we've got at Jeremy Cameron? Or has he re-signed?

Can we even afford him?

He definitely brings a physicality that virtually no one else in the team has. He's strong and loves to throw his weight around. One particular highlight from yesterday's game was his tackle on Martin, which I doubt many others on our team could have executed. However, as you say, his disposal is pretty poor and there isn't a lot to his game at the present time.

Bit rough there, that gives me flashbacks to American History X. I'm so happy with how Trac has come on this year. I also get the feeling that he's a Dees lad through and through. Although there's no doubt he'll be in high demand I couldn't see him leaving.

Simpletons at the Hun, you can always bank on errors in their articles.

And that's how you picked your favourite child.

I agree that there's more to the problem than just kicking, yes. The difference between us playing fast and Richmond playing fast is that they have players that can kick, and kick well, especially around half forward. They're also much more creative with their ball use and delivery inside 50. Sadly we're miles off that level right now. To me Bennell is a player that is going to be absolutely essential around half forward (as long as he stays fit). He's a smart decision maker and a sublime kick - essentially he could be doing what Melksham was doing so well for us in 2018. I think the way Nev plays is crucial to when teams do slow it down. He's a cool head who isn't going to blaze away out of the backline and instead will take a safer option, not coughing it up straight back to the opposition. I know that bring these players into the side won't solve our problems but it's a step in the right direction IMO. In terms of struggling against teams who play slow, hold onto the ball kind of footy, we do look lost. You only need to look at the Geelong game to see how hard we found it to get the ball back or hold onto it. Is the answer playing man on man when this is the case? And then when we did struggle as you say, we simply bomb it long to Max which doesn't work much of the time. Better kicks in this situation would allow us to retain the footy ourselves though and therefore set the tempo, so I think it does play a big part in solving some of our woes.

If we had the luxury of another solid key defender playing well, then I'd be for it, but to move him forward will leave us horribly exposed.