Macca

So here's a question How can a player be seen as a player who often turns the ball over yet at the same time somehow has an elite Disposal Efficiency rating? That's Brayshaw Rarely gets votes in the 'land award. Barely gets mentioned unless he plays an outstanding game Is it because he came 3rd in the Brownlow and now gets measured against that outlier season? I mean I wouldn't have had him 3rd in the Brownlow that year but I don't hold it against him

I'm sticking up for a player (Brayshaw) who is much maligned on this site Is that somehow against the sites code of conduct? Blinkered & triggered? I've seen you speak in exactly the same way about any number of players over the years You should be on my side as most of the needless arguments on this site are caused by the unfair criticisms of 1 or 2 players (often when the whole team has been at fault) In effect, I'm hosing down the fire and pulling people into line. Takes a while but it does work Eventually the knockers are subdued

So what did you think of their 3rd quarter against Geelong? They jumped out of the way and went fully bruise free. No one to show the way They actually now need to bring in 3 or 4 experienced players just to be competitive. But I could care less. I hope they struggle for the next decade

Coming for him? Who is the one making the inflammatory comments? What the hell does he expect?

Most of the team hey? But at the time you only mentioned Brayshaw. See there's where people like you continually get it wrong You are biased and because of that, hopelessly compromised. You have a screaming need to have someone in the gun. Which is unintelligent Besides all that, Brayshaw played well against the Eagles (when he was needed)

And @DeeSpencer You've got to own your words ... half way through the first quarter against the Eagles you wanted Brayshaw subbed off As it turned out he wasn't needed much as we swamped the Eagles. No errors for Gus, no clangers and 17 possessions in a game where he was hardly called upon And you wanted him subbed off halfway through the first quarter? Why?

No you were wrong on Lewis. Hawks loss was our gain Experience, know-how & showing the way is often not seen by many. It's not all about the stats. We needed him right to the end Look at the Hawks now. No real experience to show the way and they are doing a 'Melbourne' circa '07 - '13 One of the first things Roos did when he got here was bring in some experience. Quite a bit of it actually. And Lewis was part of that experience The Hawks will struggle for years in my view. Another insane, over-the-top youth policy. I would have thought that Mitchell might have known differently

The wings could be crowded with Langdon & Hunter both playing as wingmen When Salem returns we'll find a role for Gus ... he's the Mr.Fixit in this team. Can play tall too Brayshaw is a link player when he has the ball in hand ... sets up players heading goalwards so his disposals aren't necessarily going to be gaining a lot of distance But the next disposal or 2 will gain distance and ultimately, scoring opportunities. Oliver uses the ball the same way but they go about it differently Oliver's fortè is the release handball where as Gus's go is the short kick to a player (who is often not under pressure) As stated earlier, Gus is a coaches dream and he is severely underapprecuated here Rarely attracts votes as he is unobtrusive

Don't forget his DE rating which you've been highly critical of in the past. 2nd in the club behind only May and ahead of every other regular But of course any timy error gets magnified 10-fold by many here. Exaggeration comes to the fore And he doesn't play entire games as a backman minding a flanker. Often he plays as part of the zone or in the hole or often as a kick behind play You're blinkered and triggered on Gus as you often are with certain players. Lewis was another where you couldn't see his value and it took ages for you to see the value of T-Mac up forward It doesn't pay to individualise too much in a team sport. For instance, many of our backmen copped undue criticism back in the day when the real fault was further afield The end result has a cause & effect factor

The end of an era at the Packers Aaron Rodgers departs after a stellar career. And the right time too as the team needs to reset Been fantastic to watch with that amazing arm and he'll do well at the J.E.T.S ... @Dr. Gonzo and @beelzebub will be well pleased!! Super Bowls are hard to win and to get one is a real achievement. Many teams never taste that ultimate success But I can't help but think that with a great coach like Belichick the Packers could have won 3+ with Aaron at the helm Been saying for years that the club needed to build a better overall game to compliment Rodgers fantastic passing ability But without Rodgers building a decent playoff team might take some time Interested in the thoughts of others And the AFC East just got really interesting with Buffalo up and running along with Belichick still about

Trump

That's a good point ... earlier in this thread I made mention as to how our KPF's became, by default, decoys Both created contests (a fair bit of the time) which brought the crumbers & medium sized players into the play. 2 goals out of 22 for the 3 key talls (when we include Gawn) is unusual. Although Grundy kicked 2 goals But it was North Melbourne and from an overall perspective, they didn't provide the pressure that the good sides will provide The opposition also didn't provide intercept marks from their defence nor did they have many easy passages from our forward line We had an easy time of it but the pleasing thing was how switched on we were from the first minute

But here's the thing Every game we need to bring our best and be suitably switched on And the match-day plan has to be spot on every time. We cannot be outcoached in the match-ups (e.g. the ruck situation vs Bombers) Complacency brings the wake-up call and we've had 2 instances this season ... yet here we are sitting on top of the ladder with an excellent percentage and a half-decent schedule

It's a far cry from yesteryear when we wanted more than a dozen replaced when the cupboard was bare And as good as the Northey and Daniher teams were, our depth is quite something these days A concerted plan to have at least 30 AFL standard players with at least half that number being B+ or better. The management has been first class I like it, I like it a lot (can you supply the gif layz?!!)

How about Brayshaw? You've usually got lots to say about Gus Even faint praise or a back-handed compliment will do DS haha

Maybe, but we don't often bring in a player for just the one match (sometimes we do and have done) And it was his first game for the club ... he looked a bit overawed to be honest But if Petty is good to go and/or Brown or T-Mac put their hand up, he'll be lucky to stay in Petty was playing that harder role reasonably well around the CHF area prior to his concussion

The MC will have known all along that the competition for places up forward as a KPF was going to be hot this year The acquisition of Schache and Grundy (who is shouldering most of the ruckwork with Gawn up forward) along with Petty used as a tall forward has meant that we've got 5 talls for 2 or 3 spots Matching the midfield depth that we now have So competion within the ranks answers the questions. Brown & T-Mac will need to impress in order to come under the selectors eyes. We'll find a spot for Petty when he becomes available And those in the team (Schache & van Rooyen) will both need to do enough (or more than enough) to stay And we might want to rotate anyway with a squad mentality as the focus If Brown and/or T-Mac impress today we will have a nice problem at the selection table

He also likes to fly from behind a little too often and the coach won't be happy with that ... thus, he very nearly got dragged last week. Looks exciting to us but not a great percentage play Weideman did the same nearly all the time and most forwards who ultimately don't make it usually have the same fault But van Rooyen has enormous potential and he is learning on the job. But he is far from the finished article Running under the ball is just a rookie mistake and a timing issue. And these days, playing as a key forward is infinitely harder than it was back in the day My expectations aren't huge so he doesn't have to be a gun footballer anytime soon. Just play his role and adhere to team rules He's progressing well and will most likely stay in the team for the foreseeable future. Schache is first out if Brown or T-Mac can regain form

Well that's not how I read it on certain threads ... your's and others views on Brayshaw were scathing but your appraisal was wrong anyway. You intimated that he should be playing 2nds But his disposal efficiency rating is elite and has been all season In relation to other team members he's in front of most if not all (Counting the regulars only ... May 86, Brayshaw 84, Lever 83) So he's 2nd in the club The criticisms look completely out of whack and quite frankly, weird

No, he's not that good (yet) ... as a forward, he has a requirement to get to the front position whenever applicable This he doesn't do consistently yet but that's not to say he won't be a success. He has a long way to go if the aim is B+ or A grade Even the A graders are disciplined enough to know that playing in front increases a players chances of getting the ball immeasurably. For instance, it's damn near impossible to win a free kick playing from behind in a marking contest We've got the goal sneaks like Kozzie & Fritsch to play the different roles up forward Key forwards need to be able to cop lots of punishment in order to be successful It should be noted that the coach nearly dragged him last week By the way, do you still want to see Brayshaw in the 2nds? Because that's what you intimated just a few weeks ago. Played another excellent game tonight. In fact, he's played well all season despite the utterings from the naysayers 29 possessions at 100% disposal efficiency Mind you, he'll probably get acknowledged with a 'clanger' when the Demon teammate he kicked it to one time during the game fell over in a marking attempt So the stats are questionable as well

Not exactly a starry starry night More like a training run/circle work. North provided the witches hats (mind you, we were once like them ... '08, '09, '12, '13, '14 ugh)

Yes, an absolute nightmare for opposition coaches. 1 out they (and we) are vulnerable (see Essendon clash) but as a pair, virtually impossible to curtail As long as they can both remain fresh and ready for the big games, we're in a great spot But is it time to give Grundy a week off against GC? He's shouldered a lot of work for 7 games. And if we don't manage him next week, will we at all? If Schache stays for another week surely he can ruck for 20% of the game against the Suns? Bring the game we brought tonight and we will obliterate GC

Brown takes up the front position on a constant basis (when in form) and that's a very physical thing to do at any level of footy. Takes a lot of courage to do so consistently (the front position) Can Schache do that? Not tonight but again, we need to see a bigger sample size. JVR played from behind tonight as well

Schache will possibly/probably get another chance against GC but at their best, Brown or T-Mac would be a better bet Schache didn't do a lot tonight but it's only one game But if Brown and/or T-Mac turn it on tomorrow they might force the selectors hand Mind you, JVR didn't do a lot either but we had numerous other scoring avenues against bog-average opposition so neither key forward was needed apart from creating contests or being used as decoys The knock on Schache is that he isn't a physical player and in September, that stuff is a requirement It's early doors, all the same. Need a bigger sample size

Yes the Geordies will be well pleased with that big win over Spurs But the big clash is upon us tomorrow morning at 5.00am Arsenal @ Man City For what it's worth my pick is a 3-1 victory for Man City but any kind of scoreline wouldn't surprise (aside from a 3-0 or 4-0 victory for the Gunners) Man City should score 1 or 2 goals you'd imagine. Not sure Arsenal will play for a draw and if they go all out for victory then fortune might favour the brave But they've got Haaland to contend with ... along with De Bruyne Should be some sort of game