Ouch!

Whilst I get that people see TMac playing on a wing and touting the benefits, I'm concerned that we are trying to squeeze him in just cos it's TMac. He's not in good form atm, and Jackson took the opportunity last week and deserves to play ahead of TMac this week. We have a very fit list to chose from, Jones isn't being gifted a spot in the 18, and nor should TMac. That sends the wrong message to the list. Further to that point, if we want a tall wing option, lets use the one we recruited for that purpose, who trained the whole preseason there, and has all of the attributes and is more mobile than TMac, in Tomlinson, who has the same elite endurance, strength and similar height... and I don't see many people saying Tomlinson should be in this week, so why shoehorn TMac in to the team under the same premise. Last thing to add here is that last week I noticed for the first time in a long time, our forwards appeared mindful of each other's space to lead and move around. I'm not saying this is Tom's fault, and could be a result of form, but he doesn't seem to be making space, he takes up space and looks like he wants the ball dropped on top of him rather than in front or behind to lead into... I might be a little harsh perhaps, I don't know.

I think I agree, but I will say that TMac hasn't been helped by our selectors, being left one out as the key forward for some time. But seeing how the forward line is functioning without him looks exciting and more unpredictable and therefore harder to match up against.

Maybe not at the moment, thats true, but Weid is playing the more conventional leading forward that crashes the pack and gets the ball to ground. TMac has been getting lost underneath the ball when leading forward, and IMO pushes too far up the ground too often (which frustrated me when we only had one true key forward playing!) Jackson roams the forward half of the ground and rucks more effectively than TMac, and Weid plays the typical key forward roll more effectively and rucks better than TMac. So,... for me unless we decide to play 3 talls, I'd stick with the two that are making the most of their opportunity to play.

I disagree that the easy selection is no change, and your points above actually support that. The harder decision would be no change I think and keeping Jackson and Weid as the forwards again I'm not convinced TMac is "currently" in our best side for 2020, sure he will attract a good defender, but so will the other talls. Luke Jackson showed more value to our side and excited me a lot more this week than what I have seen for the last 12 months with TMac, I have been waiting for him to re-capture that 2018 form, but it hasn't happened. Admittedly not playing 2 talls doesn't help him, but injury can be ruthless if the player who comes in plays well. Weid is playing the role that we expect TMac to play, and he's doing it better job of it, and on form Harris Andrews is likely to go to Weid on form, rather than TMac... Also of the opinion that Jones is unlikely to get many gigs playing off half back, His remaining future would be a role in the team is as a half forward with some brief stints in the midfield.

Based on that win, you would be hard pressed to drop any of our players based on performances in the last couple of games. I also think we match up fairly well v Brisbane I think, and any changes should be due to opposition match up, with an obvious rider that they would be closely keeping an eye (sorry TMac) on Bennell and AVB and managing their fitness.

Thats the thing though.... if TMac is our key forward then he should not be seeking the ball so far out given that we don't have another forward..... the fact that we *should* put another one in the team doesn't come into it. Team balance and selection of another tall is probably something that most agree needs to occur, which might allow TMac to roam. I don't think he is reading the play that well at the moment, and is trying to hunt the ball rather than create structure in the forward 50 which is what he needs to be doing as the sole key forward. Players like Melk, Fritsch and Hannan are mid sized forwards they are not there to bring the ball to ground as a KPP

The first graphic which is the player ratings is showing how they are performing in 19-20 compared to 2018, which we both agree on But that is all still relative, as it is comparing players to other players in the competition, this rating is relative to all of the other players in the AFL It's not individual stats as an absolute. If we were saying that the number of kicks per game or total handballs, then you would be correct, what the graphic is saying is that relative to other players in the AFL, Fritsch has had a slide of 78% player points relative to other players.

This begs the question though.... why is TMac coming so far up the ground? We have enough i50s to allow him to stay our key forward, ... we have wings in Langdon and Tomlinson for this purpose. Is TMac playing the right role by doing this?

No you wouldn't .... because ALL players across the comp are playing 20% less, so it's all relative to each other.... statistically shouldn't make an impact.

I recall Nathan Jones in the early part of his career was worse than Viney and Oliver in terms of just throwing the ball onto his boot, bombing it and turning it over. Younger players, especially those in inside mid roles appear to panic more and don't realise the amount of time they have, or look for making more space, or raise their eyes to look for different options. Oliver is a little different in that he is aware of options around him, but doesn't appear to recognise whether that option is actually better than disposing it by foot, the number of handballs he dishes off that go to another mid who isn't ready for the ball or has an opponent still frustrates me. Teams are also now reading off Gawn rather than their own ruck given his dominance now too, which means our mids have more pressure as he feeds the ball out Personally I feel our gamestyle is capable of work when coupled with good disposal,... but lets be honest that's a given for all teams. However our manic style of play is fairly predictable in countering from a defensive perspective when it's not working. I think there is much about our gamestyle that does work well, essentially the biggest flaw is the final point of execution inside 50. I don't know if that is just disposal... or forward patterns, or mids with blinkers on in a red haze... likely a bit of all of that. How we go from the highest scoring team to one of the lowest in 18 months is beyond me!!! how did it break that fast?

Changes for me: Bennell for AVB Jetta for Hunt (With Salem to play HFF, one of the few players that can hit a target in our team.) Weideman for Melksham. Special instructions for Oliver to focus on his disposal and understand that getting disposals that put team mates under more pressure than him will see him dropped. Similar to the comparison between the Crouch brothers and Hugh Greenwood, I'd rather see effective disposal and a team role than high numbers that are borderline useless. Open to considering a swing in roles in game between Smith and TMac if Smith continues in the backline as he is... He is more suited to a lever like role than a key back. Lacking a 2nd key back to help May at the moment...

Agree that 16 a side makes wings and people who can run, carry & deliver more valuable. Another indirect benefit might be if they drop players on the ground, the lists could be reduced opening the way for an expanded comp without compromising player depth across the comp itself

http://www.population.net.au/population-of-tasmania/ you must have lived here a couple of decades ago!

You have to wonder if that is because the experiment with playing Fritsch in defence is over, and whether they are viewed similarly in terms of the role that they would play in the team.

He didn't come to us fit, got injured... I haven't heard any reports to suggest that the work they are putting into him is to change his role, it sounds like they just want him fit to play out the season! ... don't think that does anything to ease the fears you have though Old Dee. Still could be a pup at the end of the day if it fails, but I'm happy to give the new conditioning team a bit of leeway.

Guess the main thing with Gus is that he did the 3km time trial on Friday, there could be an issue since then, but prior to today he's been in most of the sessions according to the other training watchers.

TBH, I am just glad we are targeting some RFA and UFAs. It seems to be an area that as a club we haven't exploited, and other than the cap space to get these players to the club, it costs very little else to secure these players. A trade period that could potentially land Tomlinson, Langdon and Elliott does make the list stronger, but identifies the club still as a destination club, rather than one subjected to having our best players poached.

... when does burgess start?

Actually nup, ... and no one is slighting you here, but it's still just training. Regardless of whether he completes it and does it at full speed. Call it 'form' or 100% trust in his body after an injury, but the notion of playing injured still likely has an element of mental preparedness attached to it. Hannan doesn't look quite right playing, Jetta didn't look quite right last week either. Jack Viney really only looks right since the bye if you ask me.

Just quietly DeeSpencer said CHB, not CHF. Might have misread that ?

Posted on a different thread about this same Data fromt he AFL site.... interesting that the move to half back has seen Nathan Jones actually become the most effective kick (using this same stat) in the team for those players who have kicked more than 100 times this season. That's ahead of Salem and Fritsch who we all know have good skills. I know that Viney and Clarry both play inside mid and they typically throw the ball onto their boot and that impacts this stat somewhat, but they need to work on executing kicks better under pressure, and often they seem to have more time than they realise...

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-07-16/stats-files-where-has-it-all-gone-wrong-for-the-demons This article is interesting... depends how much you put an emphasis on stats though. "As an interesting aside, Melbourne's expected hit rate with its field kicks (excluding kick-ins and shots at goal) of 51.5 per cent is the fourth-hardest in the AFL, so it's attempting to play a bold style." Shows also that our midfield group only Harmes and Brayshaw are slightly better than 'expected' given the kick and the expected chance of success of a kick hitting a target. Oliver not great, but Viney has been horrid (-11%). Our best performers in the team (for those with a minimum of 100 kicks) are Jones, Salem and Fritsch in that order Without knowing our stats in this area from last year.... are our players being asked to execute a level of difficulty in the game plan that they are not capable of? Our contested ball and clearance stats haven't really changed since last year, just our ability to execute kicking, especially when connecting i50. Also our players also seem to have taken the 'we'll all eventually get our lick of the icecream' concept too far in my opinion when inside 50, and instead of taking responsibility for the shot at goal, they are trying to give the ball to another player, and without the skill to execute it results in a horrid fail.

The teams in China get the advantage of having their bye immediately in the week afterwards. I wish the NT game for us had the same scheduling.... Instead we have the Queens Birthday game immediately after playing in Darwin in the heat.

I don't particularly have a problem with us being involved with the NT, my issue is more that the fixture that the AFL provides to us ensures that it's only WA or SA clubs that we play there. that means that we don't get a 'Home ground' advantage (or crowd backing) Perhaps if we got the NSW or QLD teams in Darwin it might be more advantageous from a footy perspective. Don't we also have our academy zone up in the NT?

That’s bull. Clubs should not be able to pull a player out for ‘general soreness’ to create a mismatch. People can say Goodwin has had the wool pulled over his eyes, bollocks! WCE should get fined the same as a club staying to pull a player in from outside the emergency listed players. Surprised we didn’t play Pruess, but that’s not the point!