Nascent

Would be quite happy to see JvR in but only if he's playing as the second key forward next to BBB or Weid. Can't put a 19yr old debutant as a sole key forward, that just sets him up for failure.

Maybe recency bias but considering our form and with finals nearby but this was just about our best win of the year. Our full ground defence looked every bit as good as last years finals run and from the opening bounce there was zero doubt from me that we would be winning this game. Can't wait to smash Collingwood next week.

👆 Occam's razor

Disappointing tonight in very poor conditions for a key forward. He seems to approach a lot of contests from the side or tries to move around his opponents rather than crashing through. You would think this would he remedied by coaching and confidence yet there doesn't seem to be any improvement. Also seems to get lost on the ground and is often just in the wrong spot to be used. I actually think he would benefit from being the 2nd key forward and not having the oppositions best defender, but would have think time has just about run out for him and doesnt excuse his sub par attack on the ball. Injury may keep him in the team but when BBB is ready he will take his place with JvR soon to overtake him as well. I've wanted him to make it just about more than anyone else on our list but sadly just can't see it happening now. But as long as he keeps pulling on the demons jumper, or Casey's even, I'll be cheering him on and hoping he improves.

Bit premature with Casey yet to play but I'd go with Out: Weid, AnB In: BBB, Harmes Melksham playing a decent game in the wet but don't think he's best 22 come finals. If we revert to a 2x KPF foreward line set-up I think he makes way and we bring in JvR.

Good to see freemantle improving their draft hand over the last month for us

Weid!!!! Sign him up for another 5

Our only key forward starting on the bench... weird.

I'm glad Gus signed for 6 years. It was really bugging me that there was a gap for 2028. Just need to sign someone until 2027 now. Hopefully Kozzie.

This thread is on a bullet train to 200+ pages. What did the Hogan one get up to?

Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' July ranking - https://www.afl.com.au/news/807032

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/2022/07/21/marquee-matchups-aaron-cadman-vs-matthew-jefferson/

Kicked 5.1 from 24 disposals against the western jets. Really want us to draft this kid if Jacko goes and gives us decent draft capital. Is probably firming as a top 10 selection.

Could be from training. It's also possible that whatever incident caused a delayed concussion simply escaped the attention of the medical team during the game. Something like a stray elbow at the bottom of a pack could easily go undetected, particularly if the player feels fine immediately afterwards and shows no signs of distress. Guess we'll find out later in the week.

Delayed concussion symptoms the most likely answer to that one.

Appreciate you sharing your intel mate, please don't be deterred by a doubter. Yourself and posters like @Demon3 and @goodwindees (among others) are half the reason I keep coming back everyday to hopefully get some insight into all things Melbourne. Shame about Jackson but the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Simply must get the best compensation possible. Silver lining is getting the opportunity to access high end draft talent and salary cap space to go after a quality free agent in the next year or two.

Highlights from last week's game against WA down at Geelong.

We'll win at least 3 out of the next 4.

I maybe wrong but was this around the same time we lost to GWS before reverting to a two tall forward structure, debuting Bowey and going on a 7 game winning streak. Can we do that again please.

Apart from Lever and Brown in (goody didn't seem overly confident on Brown) I'm not sure what we do here. Think we need two tall forwards but wouldn't surprise to see Weideman out despite kicking 3 if Brown is good to go. Would like to see Hunt back in the team.

We may get multiple first round picks for Freo. Unless he shoots up into top 3 calculations I wouldn't rule him out yet.

Yep, Cadman would be perfect for us in my view.

This is half the reason I want us to recruit Cadman at the end of the year. Gun key forwards are exceptionally rare and difficult to obtain. We haven't had a proper one since Neitz and have had to do with average NQRs since. 15 years of having the likes of Michael Newton, Jack Watts, Chris Dawes, Mitch Clarke, Ben Brown, Tom McDonald (the best and worst of him) and Weideman "spearheading" our forward line. Now Taylor will have more of an idea of Cadman is the quality I hope him to be, and JvR shows promise who will need a partner in crime, but unless we're exceptionally lucky we will have to draft and grow our own.

But with Jackson one foot out the door, we will have a budgeted 600-800k per year freed up. We allegedly could fit both in our cap earlier in the year and now we can't fit either? Doesn't sound right.

Hopefully not because of h&s protocols.