dtrinh

I agree with what you've mentioned however Wagner to Day is a matchup that Gold Coast will thrive on. Imagine clearing out the forward line to leave Wagner on Day- he will have a field day. Our main problem is our third tall- OMac to one of Wright, Lynch and Day is similar to Wagner. Although OMac has height, he is no match up on those key forwards in terms of strength experience and game awareness. Our problem is we don't have a proper backup. Dunn is probably the only logical replacement but he too is coming back from injury and is probably too slow on the lead.

Thoughts on replacing OMac with Pedo? Pedo has played in defence before and he would be a welcome big body in our defence. If not, what about playing chris dawes in defence? He always creates a contest and is a big body?

I think a big issue that we have, is our defensive structure and each players understanding of their role in the zone. When we turn the ball over and our players don't know which space to cover, the opposition usually cuts through our zone too easily. Compare this to the good teams such as Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney. Once they turn the ball over, the players spread quickly and to specific areas on the ground to cover space, thus locking the ball in. When Melbourne set up their zone well, we can be a difficult team to score against. However, a lot of the time our players don't know where to go and in the end our backman have to make up the difference and gradually cover opposition players further up the ground. Too often, we see two or three Melbourne players try and tackle one opposition player which then gives them the extra just out of the contest. If our players aren't able to lock the ball in then it's just a matter of the opposition picking out the free players as we rush to cover them. Unfortunately, a lot of the time this results in an 'over the top' goal where the player is running into fifty alone or a difficult one on one usually with OMac being the last defender.

Tom is definitely a great defender no doubt but I think the emphasis placed on his attacking side of the game has probably gone over the top. If Tom can concentrate on defending as his number one priority and when ball in hand look to go for a 'safe' option then I think his game will improve significantly. If we look at Hawks and Frawley. He is not a great kick and user of the ball, he seems to be directed to either look to kick it long down the line or to find a short kick or disposal to one of the better kicks. You often see him kicking it to a Gibson, Burgoyne etc. I think with the other tall backs, I think Frost can develop into a second key defensive post, until Omac gains more weight we will have to wait and see. If we can get a KP player through the trade period it would be ideal. Imagine if Hurley and Hibberd both came to the Dees! Now that would be a strong backline

Hard to see what changes we would make for next week. In general the team played fairly well with the usual suspects making costly turnovers. Oscar McDonald: I guess there isn't anyone else to take his position. He gets pushed off the ball too easily. Garland would be the only one to replace him but after Garlands start to the season I'm not sure he's the one. Hopefully McDonald can develop and gain some mass very quickly Tom McDonald: defensively was pretty good taking contested marks in the backline but his kicking going forward was ridiculous. Must have kicked it into the man on the mark at least 3 times. I think one or two turned into direct goals. I guess he's not getting dropped. Dawes: Creates some contests and I guess when he plays he does create some structure to our forward line. Only person I see replacing him is Pedo but he hasn't played for a while. I think the others are pretty safe at this stage. Brayshaw probably needs a few more weeks. I think Matt Jones did enough to keep Grimes out. I think Kent/ Harmes/ Kennedy did enough to stay in the team.

I thought perhaps Ben Ken for Dean Kent. I like what Kent brings to the table with his speed and defensive pressure inside 50 but at this stage he is too inconsistent. Last week even though he kicked two goals, one of them a gimme, he didn't seem to do enough inside 50. Harmes at least plays forward/ wing/ mid so has a bit more flexibility.

I'm concerned about the lack of height in our backline. Tom McDonald hasn't been in excellent form so we don't have a back up if one of the talls gets off the hook. Colin Garland had a very poor start to the season, so it's putting a lot of pressure on two out of form players to try and stop arguably one of the top two in form tall forwards in the competition. I at least thought this was a sign to move Frost to the backline.

We all know that Salem is a great kick, this year though we haven't seen the penetration that we know he has coming out of the backline. He is very reliable and strong at the contest but we haven't seen him use his weapon. Playing him on the wing/ midfield and rotating off half back like Vince may give him more confidence and potentially provide us with that penetration going forward into the forward 50. We are relying on specific players and sometimes Watts leading a bit higher up the ground to provide us with that effective inside 50. Imagine Salem with the ball finding Watts, Pedo and Hoges.

With the emergence of Wagner and bringing back H to the defensive group, what are peoples thoughts on moving Salem into the wing/ midfield. I think with natural progression he will end up there and having his ball use moving forwards and toughness around the ball would be a great inclusion. I think a role where Vince and Salem swap between midfield and half back roles would be great for Salem's development and also provide us with that flexibility.

Can't even compare Garland to Gibson on any level. In relation to his natural ability we get told about Garland's athleticism. I fail to see him use it to the best of his ability. A few years ago when he came second in the B and F he looked quick and had a good leap which meant he was quite versatile because he could play tall and small. Ever since that season though, maybe due to injuries it seems he's lost a lot of speed and spring. His disposal is average at best, most of his balls coming from defence are just long high bombs down the line. Gibson is not only a great reader of the play- he is probably the best third man up in the game, but he takes contested marks, has great disposal coming out of defence and due to his big body even though he is undersized still can play on those big talls. Garland always had potential but a bit disappointed that he hasn't taken his game to the next level. I think it's time to develop the next lot of tall defenders. Playing Frost down back would be great as he not only has height but also size. He'd be able to help TMac out on playing on the tall forwards.

Geez those turn overs in the first quarter really hurt. Surprising though, Round 1 Tmac made some good decision making and didn't have as many clangers. Last week was terrible and what makes it worse is his turnovers in the back half directly turn into goals against. I still reckon he should be looking to dish off either an easy short pass to a Salem or Vince etc or long down the line.

Who has told you that the players prefer playing for goodwin over roos? yeah we won three NAB cup games with Goodwin in the box. I'm pretty sure there were a few teams in the NAB cup that gave the reigns to their assistant coaches and won games. When you listen to the coaches talk... you hear them talk about the 'coaching group' and 'we' want them to play this way etc. Goodwin matthews and Rawlings would all be on the same page when it comes to the game plan. I think Roos 100% should coach until the end of the season before handing the reigns over to Goodwin.

How can we put Jones and Vince predominantly half back? They might be able to rotate through there when they are resting or through rotations but you can't take them both out of the midfield.

Not sure about peoples obsession with dropping Pedo instead of Frost. I was there at the game and apart from that one tap in the goal square that set up the goal and another spoil in the forward line, I'm not too sure what Frost offered us on the weekend. He looked lost, didn't lead to the right spots and didn't even get close to looking dangerous as a forward. They said at the start he would play that second forward/ruck but on the weekend he didn't go in the ruck at all. Pedo took a few marks, played second fiddle in the ruck and was able to move to the backline when Omac went down. If Dunn is still underdone, it could be a good time to put Frost into the backline where he was recruited to play. I guess it puts a lot of pressure on him because apart from TMac he'd be the only other tall defender. If he doesn't have a good game then I guess we could swap him and Pedo.

Don't think Tyson deserves to be dropped, yeah he had a few turnovers but if you saw in the last quarter at the centre bounces the coaching group knew we needed our best midfielders in there. They rotated Tyson, Viney, Vince, Jones, Oliver through there. No chance they would drop Tyson. O mac definitely showed he is not ready for AFL footy yet. I don't think he added much at all as a tall defender. Once he got injured and they pushed Pederson back our defence seemed more stable. Dunn has to come in, he must have been a bit underdone for them to choose Omac over Dunn. Seems like a few are saying drop Bugg. Even though Bugg didn't get a heap of it, he brings that real aggression and competitiveness around the contest. He played really well during the NAB challenge matches. I don't think we will be dropping him yet. None of our emergencies or players coming back from injury like Gus, Lumumba etc have played heaps of full match practice games at vfl level- last week was a 1hr intra-club 'practice match' I'm not sure if we will be rushing those players back yet.

Totally agree. From what Goody said in his post-match interview he talks about the game style as the way the 'coaching group' wants to play. This talk about not getting a consistent message when Roos takes over the box again during the home and away season is ridiculous. The coaching group develops the game plan and coaches to the game plan. It's not as if Roos takes the reigns and the whole message changes and we change the way we play. David King is way off when it comes to this. From the players feedback over the preseason they talk about how Goody is more hands on and has really brought the attacking side to the game plan. That's not because Goody is the only one that knows how to coach the offence, more so because that's probably what his job was during the preseason. Also helps with his development as the next senior coach.

Totally agree. From what Goody said in his post-match interview he talks about the game style as the way the 'coaching group' wants to play. This talk about not getting a consistent message when Roos takes over the box again during the home and away season is ridiculous. The coaching group develops the game plan and coaches to the game plan. It's not as if Roos takes the reigns and the whole message changes and we change the way we play. David King is way off when it comes to this. From the players feedback over the preseason they talk about how Goody is more hands on and has really brought the attacking side to the game plan. That's not because Goody is the only one that knows how to coach the offence, more so because that's probably what his job was during the preseason. Also helps with his development as the next senior coach.

Agree here with the comparison of Frawley with McDonald. At Melbourne, Frawley was actually pushed to take the game on and run the ball out of the backline. It does sound like the coaches are trying to take advantage of the same thing with McDonald's athletic and running ability. However as you mentioned, at Hawthorn, Frawley is really just told to either kick it long down the line or find a short pass to a player with a better kick. I think this should be used with McDonald too. With the likes of Dunn, Jetta, Salem, hopefully White, he's got numerous options to find a player to help generate that attack from the backline. As mentioned, he should know his limitations and play to them. It is good to work on his deficiencies, but slowly and at times where his kick will turn into a direct goal, happened too many times last year. I think the ability to have efficient passages of attacking play from our backline has always been a limiting factor. With McDonald, Garland and Grimes in the past having the responsibilities to start the ball movement from defence, no wonder we were never a good transitioning team. It seems like the coaches are trying to rectify this by brining in specific types of players into the backline. White seems to have a very good left boot. Wagner was recognised as a decent kick coming out of the NEAFL. Having salem there, vince running through the backline also helps.

Interesting that we haven't named our leadership group yet or a captain for today's game?

There really hasn't been much talk about any of the kids we drafted this year, even Clayton. He seems like he's the most likely to break into the team, however does not seem like he's starring at training at all?

Even though Kent could be a very strong small forward what are peoples thoughts on him moving into the midfield more. As a junior he played in the midfield and has that toughness and speed around the contest. At this stage I think his tank would not allow him to do so, however I think a high half forward that rotates through the midfield.

I think it will be a shame if our game plan stays too similar. I agree it is important to be more aggressive and move the ball quicker, however we saw last year that when we get into trouble, especially when the other team has some momentum, we usually end up becoming stagnated, switching the ball in our backline and end up turning the ball over down the line. I think we need to add another dimension moving forwards though, if that means either more run and carry or trying to vary our forward movements with balls down the line and through the corridor. I remember seeing Jack Watts attempting this centring ball numerous times last year. When it worked, it really opened the fat side and gave our forward movement more space and options. However, it seemed like Watts was the only one willing to have a crack at this and when he turned it over once or twice he lost confidence.

Yeah from the sounds of the match simulation a bit disappointed. Even though it is fairly early into the year, you would expect that the match simulation would be a good indication of how we will play during the upcoming season. You would have hoped for a greater improvement in skills coming into this season which doesn't sound like it with a 'scrappy' session. Also was interested to hear if there were any changes in the game plan. For the players to still be switching in the back line and then bombing it long down the line... can't see how we have changed from last year. Hopefully we add a few layers to our ball movement in the next few weeks. I was getting excited with all the talk from the boys, but I think I will have to be realistic.

Interesting to see what position he may play if he does return to fitness. Anyone think he would be a good candidate to play off a half back flank? We know he works hard and generally used to use the ball well and make good decisions. I think playing him off the back flank will take some pressure off him compared to joining the midfield rotations.

how can you compare parish to scully? Scully was considered a No.1 pick because of his running capacity, ability to find the ball and leadership. They knew there were deficiencies in his ability to kick. Parish is not known for his running capacity- he tested poorly throughout the whole draft camp. He shows he has very good to elite decision making and kicking efficiency. Body type was he has to put on a lot of weight but football wise he definitely has a high football IQ.