Melb-A-Toast

5 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

There are some big ifs and buts, but if the cards fell right, I'd love to play WC in an elimination final and bundle them out.  Hate those [censored].

Yes indeed. Same goes for Geelong

5 hours ago, deanox said:

One thing that jumped out at me this week was how our 6 forwards (Weid, Pickett, Spargo, Brown, Hannan, Melksham) combined for only 43 disposals of our 287, and 3 goals. They were our 6 lowest disposal winners. They are also the bottom 4 and 6 of the bottom 9 in your scoring. 

But then we only had 30 inside 50s (vs 46!). From the heat maps it looked like a of the game was played very deep for us.

 

I know disposals aren't a great measure, or comparable across positions, by it has a big effect here. We won with 12 scoring shots vs geelongs 22: that's a lot more points available for score involvements for example. 3 of Geelongs 6 named forwards are in their top 7 with scores above 3. 

I'm not sure if this is saying "our forwards did enough with what they had" or "our forward line is still a massive problem. It's probably a bit of both.

I think it was influenced by the high volume of turnovers from both teams in the midfield and our half back-line. The ball stayed in that area for too much of the game.

4 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

How's the 7 News promo, talking about a goal line blunder in our game... ?‍♂️

Yes. Absolute BS. 

54 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

Im note sure anyone including the ARC could say it was clearly touched. There was no deviation form the ball, no finger bent backwards etc.  You cant state it was clearly touched from a 2D image and the angles that they had. The fact the ARC said it was clearly touched baffled me and I almost put the remote into the TV at the time.

I think we are both saying that the right decision was made. 

The third umpire stated that it was clearly touched but could clear declare that it was touched before or after the goal line. 

From the angles I saw on the TV, it was pretty close, and the right call was made.

... next sensational story please...

The ladder must be wrong. 

That was supposed to be an 8 point game yet the AFL only gave us 4...

12 hours ago, FritschyBusiness said:

Could I ask you instead? I don't have Dale's number and would like to know what you are referring too

That may be when Lewis said that a large percentage of players were using drugs. 

He was lambasted and then ostracised by nearly all. 

Later of course the many Eagles' issues came to the fore, and then it was a question of how far and deep was this issue

4 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Obviously, I can't answer the question, but for those wondering why the 'vanden' is in lower case and one word, it relates to the origins of the name. Lower case and one word probably means that he is of Belgian origin and not Dutch. The Dutch tend to use a capital V and a capital D. So Van Den Burg.

Van in Dutch means 'from' or 'of' while den is 'the' and burg or berg is mountain or slope. So the name literally means from the mountain. 

The only exception to this is if the name was Anglicised for reasons we don't know!

Good info. And I think pronunciation is more like fun rather than van in caravan

22 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Don't want the club paying Jones another 350K next year just so he gets to 300.

Robbie Flower played 287. 
Kicked 5 goals in an Elim and 4 goals in a Semi before Dippa cracked his shoulder in the prelim.
Then retired.
If any-one should have been carried to 300 it was him.

Just a note. I think Robert Flower played 272 games, so that would have required 2 additional seasons

1 hour ago, Forest Demon said:

That is actually crazy! Wonder how many after the siren shots to win we have missed over the years? It was only last year Weid missed against Adelaide for one.

Melbourne have lost 6 after the siren though

29 minutes ago, Forest Demon said:

That is actually crazy! Wonder how many after the siren shots to win we have missed over the years? It was only last year Weid missed against Adelaide for one.

Melbourne have lost 6 after the siren though

Just now, leave it to deever said:

There was a goal in each you Rhode 

Yes also true, but it was in their favour. Also I believe the correct form is Rhodes

1 minute ago, leave it to deever said:

If we had beaten cats and lions we would be 2nd.

Happy your happy but just saying we were only thumped once.

Go Dees.

Just so. If we had some eggs, we could have had bacon & eggs, if we had some bacon... ?

Woo hoo!

Just now, A F said:

This is possiblely one of the biggest quarters of the year. Not only can we imcrease our own percentage, but smash Collingwood's percentage.

Yes

Run them off their legs... please

My view is that the FD did commit to Weideman, playing him either round 1 or early for 2018 and 2019.

In both season starts his form was not great and seemed to deteriorate. I would guess that the FD pursued until they saw him losing confidence. They then allowed him to rebuild his confidence and came good towards the end of each season.

This year they changed tack and made sure that he was consistently doin the right things before selecting him.

Kudos to the FD and Weideman

I wonder if the quality/skills of new players is better than 1st generation. Assumption is that key development years of teenagers now have structured programmes with AFL/VFL as a clear goal.  The generation before did have the same.  Maybe Melbourne are well positioned to get a new and exciting next generation players (I hope)...

He is averaging 2.0 goals per game (7th best in league). He has missed a few doddles in last few games, but he is presenting well, making contests bringing ball to ground. He is becoming a good forward. He is a good kick, so that will be corrected soon.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

No, I did mean more team midfield.

I think Jack often takes on too much to the detriment of the team.

Jack always goes at the ball and there are times when he should block rather than go.

Leave it to a teammate in a better position.

Jack also often tries to barge through opponents when his better option is to give off to a player out and running.

If he and we learn to use his strengths to our advantage we will be a lot better off.

Interesting analysis. I will look at his game style from that viewpoint. Thank you

9 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Yes needs a big boost. Form has desserted him. I’d give him a Pendlebury or Sidebottom assignment this week. Maybe play on Sidebottom on the wing opposite to Langdon.  

Ice cream or blancmange? ?

2 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Re the Viney vs Brayshaw in the middle.

For me it is not who is the better mid (both are) but the game plan we want at centre stoppages. 

• Viney is such a bull; he hunts the ball, takes the first possession from the tap (as does Oliver), but likes to take ops on.  We all love that about him.  But unlike Petracca he isn't strong enough to fend them off (or he chooses not to).  So when Viney takes first possession it is often HTB, another ball up or a  turnover (if he can't get on to his left side).  No spread or clearance for us.
• Gus takes the second possession after the tap, gets to the outside for a clean clearance.  Its a bit like how we played in 2018 with players at the back of the square for centre bounces.   Gus is less of a bull but has a bit more class and finesse to his game.

So I would suggest it is Viney, Oliver and Petracca that are most alike with Gus having attributes the others don't have as much. 

And, it looks to me Viney's style is interfering with Oliver's role (who gets first possession) as much as keeping Gus out.  When Viney is in the middle we rely on one of the wingmen to take the second possession but it takes too long for them to get there and meanwhile one of the op mids has taken possession of there is another stoppage.

For a while our clearances haven't matched Max's ruck dominance.  imv it is that the mids roles aren't clearly defined or they are not following orders.

So is the discussion Viney vs Oliver rather than Viney vs Brayshaw?

In a nutshell we spread much better with Gus in there. 

I have noticed in the last few games Oliver has waited after the the first tap on a ball up, going in hard and at pace for the second contest. There are lots of 2nd and 3rd contests after a ball up. This approach by Oliver has enabled him to use his pace to leave the contest and get a good possession opportunity.

11 hours ago, Nasher said:

Jackson was awesome. McDonald did his job but goes for Gawn next week. Spargo quiet but popped up a couple of times in the last when we ran away.

Just from observation, without supporting data, Spargo was good throughout the game. Defensive forward pressure very good. Was delivering inside 50s and part of scoring chains. 

5 minutes ago, bingers said:

Is it too pedantic to point out that the correct word is "precedent" rather than "precedence" ?

No. That is appropriate

I would love it if this could be the chant from the crowd (when they return in strength) after each goal, and when victory is assured. The collective woo-hoo would be delightful