Young Blood

Maybe I was reading too much into this or they were just particularly average last night but I was watching both teams warm up before the game. There was such a big difference between confidence kicking for goal and general ball movement. Richmond looked really self assured when moving the ball and kicking for goal, every player had their head over the ball and trusted one another. A lot of Melbourne players were very casual often leaning back too much with kicks and a lot of miss kicks when passing to each other. I watched guys like Petracca miss about 5 drop punts from 30m in a row. I get that players try to stay loose and calm before the game but I couldn't help but notice it seemed to translate over into the game. Players were very fumbly and there were very few kicks over 20m to advantage for us. I wonder if there is genuinely too much focus on handballing because that was one facet of the game we did OK with last night in terms of ball movement.

Who are we resting?

Did Smith play? I think you can if you play limited game time but not sure if that was the case

I like the Stretch inclusion. I think he has the potential to be a ready steady consistent player. I want him to become part of the young core of mid/wings (Trac, Brayshaw, Oliver, Salem) that really lift eachother each week and perform to a high standard. Long way to go still obviously.

Shocking turnover. I wonder if its just that he's not used to playing that far up the ground? or?

Yeah he definitely would have played through some pain. I've played a game with a fractured hand. When its cold and wet your hands are generally a bit more numb so it might have felt more minor. Hopefully he didn't do a lot more damage playing out the game.

touche

oh of course he did my bad. he was ok then.

I too expect Bugg to play. Did he stuff up his opportunities? yes. But he is always heavily involved in our forward entries as a pest who draws free kicks, an opportunist crumber or makes a genuine contest in the air for his smaller size. I definitely can't say the same of Melksham. I hope he gets replaced with Hannan who can have a greater impact up forwards

This is a blow to me. Yep he had a shocker last week but he's been one our more consistent players at impacting the game early in the season. His ball use is still so much better then a lot of our young players. He more often then not at least makes the right decision by foot even if he misqueues occasionally. On the big stage in a heated game its always useful to have cool calm heads who use the ball effectively off half back. A steadier down back that will miss a chance next Wednesday to bounce back after a terrible game.

Yeah I agree with this. I don't think the demons are kicking long to contests more often then not for no reason. Most of the time teams now plug up the areas forwards lead into. Like binman mentioned you only really get that opportunity if there is a scramble at half foward and players become loose able to lead freely into holes OR of course if the defense slacks off. I think when the ball stops either with a free kick or mark on half forward, opposition teams get back and fill the backline leaving leads pretty difficult sometimes. If you miss kick to a lead the opposition can rebound so much quicker and effectively then if you send a high long ball in which gives us more time to set up across half forward to lock it in? maybe?

That'll work. You don't lose that much pace and gain some height and better impact in marking contests. I think Hunt has been getting lost in the first two games. Was better on the weekend but needs to really work on his new role further up the ground especially his positioning. North are a good marking side. Really hope we're not found out again this week with that being a major issue.

It's a tough one because Garlett plays a lot deeper where Hannan leads up to provide marking contests across half forward. For that reason they might give him another go. But he will have to work a lot harder pressure wise because I watched him trail off after missed marks/leads and fail to put pressure back on the opposition. Of course that goes for all our forwards especially if we're going to stay relatively small while T-Mac is out.

I agree with others that we had way to many small/medium forwards: Melksham, Fritsch, Garlett and Hannan. You could also count ANB and Harmes who run through the midfield but spend what looks like most of their time across half forward I thought Hannan was way down on the intensity he showed most of last season. He bobbed up in the second half with a few timely goals which is obviously his role as a small forward but I thought he was one of a few forwards that let Geeling rebound the ball far too easily with non pressured kicks to set up their corridor attack. It certainly didn't help when he was one of the only marking options in our forward fifty being surrounded by 2-3 Geelong players every time. For me its: In: Brayshaw, Tyson, Bugg, Frost Out: Wagner, Maynard, Hannan and one more. Would like it to be Melksham but Goody loves him and he did have a great preseason. Besides Melksham I thought the other major under performer was Salem. I think he only needs 15-20 touches to be effective with his kicking ability but his positioning on the weekend was terrible. Will get another chance this weekend but must lift.

I think this is spot on. I think people have thought that Billy has backtracked in his development because of less opportunities in the senior side. He has been very consistent at VFL level and I think he is tracking along perfectly to be in our best 22 if not this year then the following for sure.

Gee I hope AVB can have an uninterupted preseason. He's looking a bit top heavy. Those legs are looking pretty thin. If he can get his body right I hope he can really push for the third tall option fwd replacing Watts. Doesn't have Jack's foot skills/accuracy or maybe decision making but he can mark reasonably well and his work rate is A+ with excellent tackling.

Mitch King. Our backup ruckman for 2018

Hopefully if all goes well I think with big preseasons from the likes of J. Smith, AVB and Maynard: B: Jetta Omac Frost HB: Lewis Lever Hibberd C: Gus Tyson Hunt HF: ANB Tmac Petracca F: Garlett Hogan Harmes Fol: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Jones, Maynard, AVB, J. Smith - I really hope guys like Salem and J.Smith push to force older guys like Vince and Melksham to be depth players. - I think Harmes at this stage is better then Hannan around the contest. He just adds a little bit more then Hannan who is a better loose HF. Better tackling and pressure and doesn't get knocked off the ball as much. I hope these two really battle to try to better one another for this spot.

Rance is something like 7 years older. I think Lever has a natural build but will take more time to build the strength to be able to be a better one on one defender. His level of concentration and timing is pretty outstanding. If he can be as good as Josh Gibson or Rance he could anchor our backline for many years.

I'm really surprised they kept JKH over Kennedy. Both play very similar roles. I just think Kennedy seemed to have more pace and intensity then Jay. I know Ben's disposal was poor and an issue for him playing VFL this year which may have impacted his chances of staying. JKH just hasn't shown any key attributes that he can bring to the top level. He started to find a lot more of the football in the VFL but in the games I watched, his possessions did not amount to much. I think ANB showed really consistent contested football at VFL and obviously worked on his disposal and decision making to lift himself into the seniors and carve a roll at HF. and Hunt showed terrific competitiveness around the contest in the air and at ground level early on to go along with elite speed. He was breaking the lines early on which is a skill we don't have much of at Melbourne. Jay is sort of stuck in between these two types of players IMO,

If Watts does in fact leave and we don't bring in another forward I can see Bernie spending more time in the forward half. We don't have too many players that can use the ball well across half forward who have some size. I always remember him being a solid mark back in Adelaide and his first season at Melbourne. I know he doesn't have the pace but link up player across half forward with (the good bernie) decision making would be good to fill the void.

I used to go to school with Dave Mackay. Would go to the footy with him often. Was a hardcore dees fan. He's been a steady performer for them for a while now being a jack of all trades master of none. Not sure he has much value anymore for a new club.

Depends on how versatile your key forwards are. Even though they didn't win on Saturday, the crows were pretty successful playing Tex, Jenkins and their even more versatile types like McGoven and Lynch further up the ground. It opens their forward line right up giving more space to Cameron and Betts to do their thing. I would be disappointed to see Watts go. I think he is a genuine lead up forward who can link and create much like Lynch does for Adelaide. I just don't know who else in that team can play that role? Maybe Weid eventually but Hogan and Tmac are far better deeper in the forward line then they are further up the ground.

@AkumMy brother is friends with a really close friend of Jack. Said that Jack has been told a Port trade is possibly in play. I know I know, he said she said but was just wondering what a trade to PA would look like.

Just out of curiosity if we were to trade Watts to Port Adelaide what might we get back? Would their pick 29 work?