Nascent

I reckon Jordon might be a good fit for a wing. Can play defensively but also seems to link up on the outside well. Sparrow to come in and play JJ's current role.

6. Oliver 5. Rivers 4. Brayshaw 3. Harmes 2. Lever 1. Petracca Apologies to May and Fritsch

Very happy with Petty's game as well. Developing nicely.

Happy for the kid. Confidence should be up now.

Brayshaw has been huge

Cordy carrying on after the free is paid over the mark, surely 50?

I love you Max but if you could stop dropping marks inside defensive 50 that would be great.

Players privacy rights would be reason most likely.

Has freeman actually lost his pace? Haven't seen any of him since he was delisted.

I'm with Jaded. Aerially it would be a great match up but Daniels would carve us up if Fritsch was minding him. He creates so much of their play off the back half that we need to look at a defensive forward to sit on him.

I wish I shared your optimism. I reckon we'll drop the next two, lose a chunk of percentage and then get over the pies to go into the by 10-3. 10-3 isn't bad but we'll be back in amongst the pack fighting it out for top 4. Will the real Melbourne please stand up (hopefully the real Melbourne is good).

Umps got the decision wrong and is now officially recognised as such. Only just had the masochistic urge to watch the final few minutes of that game again. What I found peculiar from our players was that hardly any of them pleaded to the umpire for the decision. No arms outstretched or other gesticulations, they just turned around and prepared for the throw in. Now the umpire should pay the free regardless, but I can't help but wonder if that had a minor influence on the umpire, perhaps reaffirming his thoughts that it wasn't deliberate? Moot point now I guess.

In: Salem, Sparrow Out: Jetta, Melksham (inj) Viney comes in if fit, Jordon out (unlucky but had a shocker and could do with a rest perhaps) For the dangerous player he can be, Fritsch has become a massive liability defensively. Perhaps a statement will be made here?

Might seem a tad reactionary to one point loss but I think tonight's game highlighted our lack of depth in the mid/small defender department. Jetta and Hibberd, while I love both of them and what they've given us over their journey, are past their prime and both now have significant flaws to their game. The sooner they are relegated to Casey by reliable defenders the better. Lockhart and Hore have had a long time out and both unproven in my view. Bowey and Smith developing as first year players. Hunt has had an impressive resurgence this year in the back half but is also prone to significant form drops and unreliable kicking. At this stage I only trust Salem and Rivers as consistent quality small/medium defenders. I hope we target a solid half back or small lockdown defender this off-season.

6. Oliver 5. Oliver 4. Oliver 3. Oliver 2. Langdon 1. Petracca

Long way to go yet but Cal Twomey has Mac Andrew in his rolling nab league team of the year and mentions him as a top 10 draft bolter. We all saw Tom Green continually rated as a top 1/2 pick before being nominated and subsequently matched at pick 10. That and being a project ruckman should work in our favour to push outside the first 20 picks and avoid us being a victim of the AFLs new academy/nga rule change. https://www.afl.com.au/news/616802/twomey-s-draft-team-of-the-year-top-10-bolters-mid-season-chances-snare-spots

Well Adelaide won't exactly be a black diamond run so Melksham should thrive in the conditions.

@Mach5 might have some insight here. The rumours going around seem to relate to his off-fiield standards/professionalism needing improvement. No idea how accurate that is. Looked a serious talent in his debut year.

My comments were what I would like to see as a theoretical change to the rules, not how they stand as now. And I have made an amendment to my original comments in a later post. There's room to keep prior opportunity and also penalise players for not disposing of the ball correctly in my view.

I'll back peddle a little bit on this one and say prior opportunity should come into play. My main gripe is players dropping the ball not being penalised as well as those not executing legal handballs or kicks. The Hunt/parks tackle being a good example. Since when did "he tried to get rid of it" suffice for a valid reason for not doing so legally? If you try and fail, you have illegally disposed of the ball and its a free kick in my view. If you've been tackled immediately and the ball spills out then prior opportunity can come into play then. It's a hard rule, but at the moment there are too many incorrect disposals and just plain dropping of the ball, sometimes deliberately, that escapes penalty. Probably too harsh to penalise players for a ball being dislodged after immediately being tackled and I'm not advocating for a stoppage free or less contested game.

I"m not sure we can fully trust those graphics. Glad to hear Bowey escaped serious injury and will play this week. Also pleasing to hear Laurie will get back into training, presumably non-contact, and will be fit for VFL in the second half of the season.

In my view that's how it should be, the current interpretation has players getting away with it. But otherwise yes, you are correct and players are making a fine art of dropping the ball immediately when tackled then falling forwards and usually getting a free kick for push in the back. The Hayward/Lever tackle still sticks strongly in my mind.

If its pinned to the body with no prior opportunity then its a ball up, same as now. If you had prior opportunity and its pinned to the body then its holding the ball. If you pick up the ball, get tackled and you attempt to kick or handpass but fail to legally execute those skills then its holding the ball via incorrect disposal. If you get tackled and drop the ball immediately then its holding the ball via incorrect disposal. Yes we want to reward the person attacking the ball but too many of the above scenarios are let go under the guise of no prior opportunity.

All they need to do is start paying incorrect disposals properly. If you get tackled immediately but it comes out without a legal handpass or kick then that should be holding the ball. With or without prior. Hunt had Mathew Parks dead to rights and umpired called play on because he "attempted to kick it." Even all the players around the tackle stopped and expected a free kick to be paid. Start rewarding those then that solves a lot of issues in my opinion.

I have a vivid recollection of Shane being in a Melbourne corporate box area wearing a demons scarf with other past players a decade or more ago. Think it was during the Stynes administration. Shame if that was only a one off and the club didn't try to bring him back into the fold further. Perhaps it was a grand final reunion.