deelusions from afar

Don't normally rate Ross Lyon's analysis but did find his segment on us and Sydney Footy Classified quite interesting. He highlighted some of Sydney's inside 50s. We were well setup for most of them and yet they managed to fake kicking long and pull the kick at the last moment which caught us off guard. Admittedly we might not have many players in the team that could pull some of them off. I don't know if we practice this sort of thing (regular track watchers would know) but if we don't, I hope we add this in for next season. It is a valuable skill that Sydney seem to be the masters of.

I'm keen to get Meek if Jackson goes (compared to the price tag, age and injury risk of Grundy who admittedly has a high ceiling). But @Damo makes a good point re two big immobile ruckman. I find it interesting that Mason Cox in recent weeks only plays as the second ruck and is not given time up forward. Mason Cox is not a natural forward but has managed to take us apart a number of times and we all remember the richmond 2018 prelim. Clearly McCrae see Cox as too much of a liability to their forwardline once the ball hits the ground. I think we have noticed this with Gawn and Brown in the same forward line. I guess that's the argument against getting someone like Meek in to play with Gawn. If Tmac/JVR can force Brown out of the team next year maybe this is less of an issue.

Looks great but the volume is minimal

If Jackson is leaving, I'd much rather take a punt on him and use the picks / cap space to attract the best key forward we can. And if we can't get one, at least bring in some talented youngsters - ideally a young key forward and maybe some outside class for the midfield.

Pretty sure he debuted against us Round 1 last year and surprisingly gave Gawn a bit of trouble. From that and the WAFL highlights (I know) someone posted on here a few months back I think he could be a bit of a diamond in the rough. People seem to forget that you can only play max two ruckmen and so if there is more than that on a list then some won't get a chance to prove themselves. There was a period there where we had Jamar and the backup was a topup between Spencer, Martin and Gawn. Gawn was not really a standout until that game against Geelong. With the success our ruckmen have had at other clubs, we should know this better than most.

Would be interested to know Kozzie's stats here - I think they only include players with 50 kicks inside 50. But I suspect his % mark rate would be close to Spargo. If the ball is in their hands, we generally score.

One thing that I find interesting is that from our kick outs, we tend to kick to the left hand side of the player kicking in. And yet at the same time Langdon is always on the far side and the defensive winger on the near side. So tactically, whether we kick out to the defensive winger side or the fat side (Langdon wing) is dictated by which quarter we are in. To me this is odd - you would think that we would kick to one (the defensive side) and allow the fat side to be used more on turnover / when the switch is on.

Maybe... but i actually don't think that was the case for our wins in the second half of the year. If you look at how we were going halfway through the 3rd quarter in the GF, we looked just as impotent and vulnerable as we did on Friday - we were going slow up the line and Brown, TMac and Gawn were not able to mark. Harmes gets through a stoppage to Fritsch and then we get two centre bounce goals in a row. Brayshaw gets his out of nothing and Petracca from the boundary and then two more centre bounce goals. The game was done. But none of that came from attacking centre corridor play moving the ball from our defence. As good as we were that day - this issue we were having in the GF has still plagued us this year - particularly against the good sides. I heard an interview with a swans player (maybe Mills?) post game. He said Melbourne are really dangerous in that once they get a goal they can pile on a few very quickly from the centre bounce. During the week they talked about ways they could nullify these repeat goals. So long as they slow us down in general play, we won't be a threat for the rest of the match. Other than the start of the third, they executed perfectly.

Have no idea about how good Stafford is as a coach. But as others have said I think this is more about the game plan / strategy. There's three phases of the game: when we have the ball, when they have the ball and when it's in dispute. We're very good at 2/3. But when the ball is in hand we are boring and safe. Whoever is in charge of ball movement / strategy needs to do a lot of work over summer. Can't blame them as it worked last year but the game has evolved. We need to as well.

I know it's going to be a light week on the track, but if they did any match simulation at training this week, I would like to see: Team A: - First choice midfield - Second choice defence (eg Tomlinson, Smith, Disco, Bowey etc) - Forward line with Kozzie, Fritsch, Petracca, ANB, Spargo and Chandler / Bedford (i.e. no talls). Team B: - 2nd choice midfield - first choice defence - rest of best 44 forwards. I would like to see our midfield practice moving the ball without bombing it long (as Team A doesn't have anyone can compete v May /Lever / Petty in the air). If they know they can't do this, they'll start to come up with strategies and systems that favour the forwards. Every other decent team can do this. We might not have the skills of Sydney / Collingwood but we're not that far behind. We just haven't practiced it. We've practiced playing "boring". I think back to some of our wins early last year - eg our breakout match v the Tigers. We outworked them and moved the ball by handballing and running our way up the field. While other teams now know not to have their defenders follow our forwards up the ground, this doesn't mean we can't try a bit more run and carry. We have the players and the team to do it - we've just forgotten how. Maybe it's too late in season to be working on this, but it should be the focus over summer.

Love trac but... why didn't they sub him out on the weekend. We was clearly playing hampered.

I would have Smith as the sub (or TMac if he were match fit or JVR if he had got some senior experience). It seems to be our key position players that go down and we have midfield depth with ANB, Petracca, Sparrow spending time forward, Brayshaw able to play back. If May / Lever / Petty / Brown go down we don't have a logical backup. This is our Achilles heel - which is even more apparent with playing only one tall forward (and a resting ruck).

Re-watched our match with them and actually feel more confident now. The things that stood out for me: * we played better than I remembered and really should have won. * obviously umpiring decisions can go either way but fairly sure their first two goals (to Reid) and their last two came from questionable free kicks. * We missed some absolute sitters - Jackson, Gawn and Fritsch near the end that they would normally kick. * May was out (so was Buddy) and Petty was on and off the ground with a bunch of knocks. Our backline competed better than I remembered but definitely got caught out a few times which potentially could be attributed to some players getting caught out of position. * Rowbottom tagged Clarry from the start with a hard tag at every stoppage. He clearly impacted Clarry's influence (I think they will do this again) but as the game went on Clarry seemed to outwork him. *Kozzie and Spargo were critical - just get the ball in their hands and we usually score.

Also don't think it would be wise to trade both Chandler and Bedford. The minute we do that we'll have multiple injuries to Spargo, Kozzie and ANB. I have a feeling Bedford will leave and Chandler will want one last shot at the Dees - he hasn't got the chance to have a string of games like Bedford has.

While I like the creative thinking, in addition to the comments others have made, would be surprised if Freo let Treacy go. I think he's rated highly by Freo supporters (and I assume therefore their FD too).

Wouldn't worry about the SEN trade reports - most of them would be way off the mark.

It's interesting how this is playing out. It seems like the board and influential people have split into factions. The fact that Xavier and Madden have gone today means Josh Mahoney is running out of allies. Unless Sheedy, Dodoro and co go as well, they are growing in power and may be able to put their boy (Hird) back on the throne. Sycophants (Robbo, Corcoran etc) are saying this is needed to unite the club but it will do the opposite - already big names such as Watson (x2) and Lloyd are saying this is not the way to go. With the North President getting advice from Peter Jackson and her CEO apparently in the gun, I wonder if Josh Mahoney could jump ship to North given he was PJ's anointed successor (until Bartlett went for his own choice). Hope he does - always liked Josh and thought he was pivotal in our turn around. Essendon look to be going through cycles of more dysfunction for a while yet.

Yeah I guess this makes sense - with Trac spending more time forward (with Brayshaw on ball) then he could effectively take Sparrow's midfield minutes. Would be very rough for Sparrow and Jordon to miss but if TMac is in that seems to be the only way.

But no ones ever building a list from scratch. When we drafted Kozzie people said we were crazy as he's just a forward pocket / pressure forward. But he is incredibly important to our team / structure / system as he filled a need we are crying out for.

Interesting someone said in this thread that a bunch of Carlton players took paycuts to fit him in. That's all good and well if you're in the window but to do that and not make finals would hurt! They must be in for some salary cap pain as they have improved out of sight and probably injuries cost them from a finals berth. Would be throwing the Jackson $$ (if he doesn't stay) at De Konig who was replaced by Pittonet at the end of the season - and because the blues have multiple tall forwards, he can't rest there.

It's a big call - he seems lightly built at the moment. And to get in the Melbourne team (especially on the wing) you need elite fitness (tank) and discipline to implement the game plan. Would hope he gets there but would be surprised if its Rd 1 next year.

Since we were one of the clubs linked to him earlier in the year I've tried to watch him closely whenever I see a Port match. I've obviously been watching the wrong matches but he hasn't been the classy player that everyone talks about - in fact I mostly have seen him turn it over / bomb it long. I know I've obviously not seen his best but... do we really want him? I guess as a free agent it costs nothing. I would rather the salary go to a key forward or ruck / forward though i think

Put $40 on him in the preseason @ 9.00. Cash out or hold?

TMac to play?

Agree 100% Especially when you consider this - Top 8 record v Top 8 sides in 2022 We've had by far the hardest run of any team (followed by the dogs who just scraped in). A number of our losses happened in our flat patch in the middle of the season (Freo, Swans, Pies) when May was out and we were battling injuries etc. All teams have flat spots so it's not like we can discount them. But to have played 3 or 4 more matches against the top 8 than almost everyone else and still finish 2nd is a pretty bloody brilliant effort! I think this is especially so when you consider our tough finish to the season and we look to be finding our form / touch. It's all coming together. Compare this to the Cats / Tigers last month and they might get a shock in September!