poita

I don't care what happened decades ago. I care that we made a preliminary final in 2018; have since added May, Lever, Langdon and Tomlinson; have a full list to pick from and are currently as bad as we have been at any stage in the past ten years. How can this board, this coach and this playing group have taken us so far backwards in the space of less than two years?

Yep, I'd hate to have one of those, hey Dan?

As I expected we lost that game at the selection table. Lockhart, Hibberd, Hannan and Vandenberg did sweet FA between them. It is laughable that Bennell wasn't considered fit enough, but Hannan and Vandenberg both were. We won't win another game until we bring in another tall forward. Salem and Melksham were both awful again and should be next to feel the axe. Salem should have been traded two years ago when he had some value - now he has none. I was wrong about Melksham delivering a half-decent game every few weeks - he has been terrible this year. None of our players want to take responsibility for taking the game on and trying to make things happen. Instead we'd rather go backwards or sideways, rather than taking a shot at goal. Instead of our forwards being able to compete one out, they end up competing one v three by the time the ball arrives. Salem's effort was abysmal, and Tomlinson didn't make any effort to line up the goals either. Six goals in a game of football in perfect conditions, thus making seven in our last six quarters. No wonder we sit last on a combined ladder of seasons 2019 and 2020. Goodwin has taken us backwards at a rapid rate, but his job is safe because the board that gave him a ludicrous contract extension is still in charge. Once again I ask, what is one thing that Goodwin did to change the course of this match?

Another five unforced changes, 12 in two games - absolutely ridiculous. Yet, some people reckon everything is peachy. These selectors have absolutely no idea.

Harmes was fantastic in the second half of 2018, but surely we didn't give him a 5 year contract to wander around the backline looking lost. Put him back in the middle where he belongs, running with the opposition's best midfielder, starting with Dangerfield this week.

I sincerely wish that this thing would never happen, but are you better to focus on the 1% of small minded, miserable people who are seeking some attention and purpose in their pathetic lives, or on the 99% of people who try their best to do the right thing and get along with everyone? I don't think that you'll ever change some people, so it is much better and healthier to find the positives where possible (unless laws are clearly being broken). (That said, I avoid twitter and instagram like the plague, because these are where such people thrive.)

Another inept selection performance by Goodwin & co. Minimum 31 players used in 3 games; at least 9 but probably more changes in 2 weeks, none of which are due to injury. That suggests to me that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing and are making it up as they go along. How about picking a sensible, well-structured side and giving it a few weeks to come together, rather than throwing everything in the air each week? Hannan, Fritsch and Melksham in the same forward line? Have any of them ever laid a tackle or taken a contested mark?

People are really whining about travelling to a neutral venue to play a winless team? I guess they'd rather play Freo at the MCG with no crowd, and have an extra away game later in the year. All it means is that we will have a run of games at the MCG later in the season, possibly against the big Victorian teams, and hopefully in front of crowds. If so, there is a fair chance that we get some prime time coverage if we win some games in the meantime.

The only way Spargo makes it as an AFL player is as Jetta's replacement. Some of his skill errors under no pressure are astonishing for a player who offers nothing in the way of goals, tackles or speed.

I hate the idea of drafting future picks and I'm still not convinced that giving up our 2020 draft pick was a smart move. I'm not saying that we have to use a high draft pick each year, but you have so much more flexibility to orchestrate trades when you have a full complement of picks available. Yes, it is a highly compromised draft, but there are still quality players likely to be available at the top end and there is a reasonable chance that our (North's) first selection is going to be quite early indeed. I'm not sold on Jackson and, if we were so desperate to get Pickett, I would have preferred us to split pick 3 into two later first round picks. That would have given us Pickett plus one more last year, and let us keep our pick for this year.

We are years away from seriously contending. We are weak in all key positions and have little depth across the ground. Our list is seriously unbalanced with far too many mid-sized forwards, and few developing midfielders or talls. We don't turn over the list often enough and carry too many injury prone players. The lack of quality draft picks from 2016 - 2018 will hurt us for years to come. We lack leadership and star quality, and hence we don't perform at a consistently high level across games either as individuals or as a team. Our coach rarely looks capable of swinging games in our favour. We rarely get selection right either. I keep reading that we are a young team, and in some respects we are, but Gawn, McDonald and May are all 28 or older before the end of this season. These guys are our three most important players. All will be 30 plus by the time we challenge again and there are no replacements in the wings. This is a weird season and maybe we could fluke a finals spot with a lot of luck, but really it would be a false dawn.

There is nothing wrong with playing a smaller forward line, as Richmond showed in 2017 especially. The issue is that the delivery to small forwards has to be spot on. Richmond's foot skills are infinitely better than ours, so they were able to find their targets. We have not shown this ability in the past 18 months.

I'm pretty sure that there isn't a player on our list (other than Pickett in his one game) who averages a goal a game. On that basis Brown's 0.96 is pretty bloody good and it is hard to believe he isn't in the side. As for Weideman, he should clearly be playing ahead of Jackson. I fully expect him to be at another club next year - if we're lucky we'll get a pick in the 50s for him. Every week he doesn't play drops his value further.

Another woefully compiled team. Do our selectors even consider who goes on the team sheet, or do they just throw darts at the wall? One badly out of form key forward, plus a developing ruck / forward who is miles off having an AFL body. We get smashed in the ruck every time Gawn leaves the ground, and smashed up forward because nobody can take a contested mark or bring the ball to ground. One genuine key defender, plus a bloke who is key position size but can't defend like one. How many times does Goodwin need to see Lever & May play together before he decides it is not the answer? One slow as treacle small defender to match up on Essendon's multiple quick small forwards. We all love Jetta but Fantasia & Tippa loom as massive threats. But hey at least we've got ten medium sized forwards in the squad. One of them is bound to kick a couple of goals surely?

Don't care about Riccuito's opinion on this or any other subject, but the Lever trade has been a disaster for Melbourne. I never liked the deal from the start and Lever has been a passenger since he got to the club. A 195cm defender on $700K plus a year minding small forwards because he doesn't have the strength to take key forwards - only at Melbourne. But hey, at least he can point well. However you want to frame the deal, we gave up two first round draft picks, one in 2017 and one in 2018. Later picks are immaterial and irrelevant because they hold so little value. The opportunity cost of giving up two first round picks is massive, either viewed in terms of young talent we didn't take or other experienced players we couldn't bring to the club. I don't like his salary or the length of his deal, but it is no more stupid than the contracts given to Kolodjashnij, Vandenberg or Goodwin in recent times. It is about time we started equating contracts with performance.

What happened to Preuss? Was meant to be missing 10 weeks with a knee injury, and has rolled straight into an achilles injury?

Melksham is the same player he's always been - out of every eight games he'll give you one where he is brilliant, two where he is good, and five where he is lazy, selfish and completely disinterested. We've seen two of the latter category so far this year, so he should be due for one of the good ones this week. For an experienced player, there is far too big a gap between his best and worst football.

That's why he gets paid the big bucks - he's full of great ideas, our Simon is. Pity he didn't do anything between the first quarter and the last two minutes though.

How so? We've shown time and time again that we can't make money from football operations. We need reliable sources of income that are not dependant on on-field success. It is that exact reason that Collingwood and Hawthorn are the two biggest clubs in town. Get those things right and then you have a constant stream of money to put back into the football program.

Agree with this. As soon as Pittonet negated Gawn's impact, our central midfielders stopped getting an armchair ride and didn't do anything about it. The stats may have been even across the game, but we were smashed in the clearances and contested possessions from midway through the second quarter. That's what happens when your tall forwards have no physical presence and can't take a contested mark to save their lives. McDonald is great as a number three forward, not a number one. Jackson is three years off having an AFL body, and will probably never be a key forward anyway. We desperately need three talls up forward, particularly if one will be rucking for part of the time.

Given that our current progress is backwards at a rapid rate, setting the club back a number of years would be a good thing. Or have you forgotten that we played in a preliminary final two years ago? Remind me again what positional moves or tactical changes Goodwin made to change the course of the game when Carlton had sixteen more scoring shots than us in the last 2.5 quarters on Saturday. That said, I don't think he'll be sacked either, mainly because the board would have to admit that they were so comprehensively wrong in extending his contract.

All anybody needs to know about Jake Lever's contribution to this side is that this was the first win he played in since 2 June 2018. Yes he was injured for part of that time, but he was on a nine game losing streak until Saturday. He should be embarrassed to be standing Betts or Cunningham whilst Jetta repeatedly had to go up against McKay. Whatever Lever's skills may be, they don't work in the context of our defensive structure.

Weideman is our Liam Jones. I don't think he'll make it as a forward - he is just not hungry enough for the contest. The question is whether he can move to defence as successfully as Jones did. Will it be us that asks the question, or his next employer?

On the back of playing one of the worst, most unbalanced sides we have ever seen in round 1, here might be one that is even worse. We are clearly missing a genuine key defender, a genuine key forward and a crumbing forward. If seven unforced changes isn't a clear admission by the selectors that they got it completely wrong in round 1, I don't know what is. The disconnect between the side that is being selected each week and the game plan that Goodwin wants to use is hugely concerning. Is he not getting the side he wants, or does he simply have no idea how to construct a football side? Neither Lever or Smith is a key position defender, and Lever rarely wants to be in the same postcode as his opponent at the best of times. Any opposition coach worth is his pay packet will use May's opponent to drag him out of the play (as Kennedy did in round 1), and use other targets. McKay will have a field day with Cripps slamming the ball down his throat all day. Hopefully Goodwin puts Harmes back in the midfield, because a half back line with both he and Salem ball watching will be a disaster. The forward line looks more of the same. Nobody who can take a contested mark. No big bodies to bring the ball to ground. Just a bunch of mid-sized leading players who will all get in each other's way. Why you would go from having 4 crumbers to 1 crumber in the space of a week is mind boggling. Good luck to Jackson having to provide an entire forward line's worth of physical presence in his first game. If our midfield doesn't dominate we will lose this game, and comfortably. The likes of Langdon and Oliver have to lower their eyes and find a target, because more indiscriminate bombing into the forward line will not end well, even against poor opposition.

Sparrow and Petty will never be moved on. They are two of the very few young players on our list with the potential to be very good long term players. The delist column will be much longer if the AFL are able to reduce list sizes. Not sure why either Chandler or Dunkley would get a third year on the rookie list.