deelusions from afar

You'd hope that the likes of Lever and May would take less money in their follow up contract despite now being All Australians and Premiership players. It's going to take cuts from them, Gawn, Harmes, Brayshaw, Tmac etc to keep our up and coming stars.

I think Viney's role often is to curb the influence of the opposition's most effective centre square players. He is the most defensive of our centre square mids which allows the others to be more attacking and get off the chain. I think he is the preference as a stoppage tagger / cooler as bringing harmes in sends one of our first choice away from the action. Interestingly following the grand final, Goody mentioned that Clarry took it upon himself to shut out the influence of the Bont in the second half. I've tried to look for this when watching the replay and other than a couple of plays it doesn't seem particularly obvious - but I guess it could have been about when Bont drifted forward, Clarry went with him to ensure he didn't get any marks inside 50 like in the first half. Certainly in that interview (pretty sure it was Goody) they said it was instrumental to our dominance. And of course bont was off when the first of our 3rd quarter barrage began. I think if our (potentially) best ever pure midfielder is prepared to sacrifice part of his game to curb the influence of the opposition's best player, it shows exactly what the team was preaching in terms of selflessness / sacrifice.

It's interesting, the way they play, the way our gameplan works and the way the umpires tend to notice the midfielders, if they stay injury free and at the top of their game, they're both likely to poll 30 votes. We should win 15+ games again. That gets them to 21 votes each (if they're the best on) and this not taking into account 2 and 1 votes or losses. I can't see too many other players stealing votes off them in the team. I think Gawn and Jackson will share the load more which means one will have to play a blinder to get a look in. Defenders don't get votes (maybe Lever / Salem) and forwards have to kick 6+ or have a stack of possessions to have a chance. Doesn't happen much in our team. I can't see many of the other midfielders getting more recognition from the umpires than Trac and Clarry. I would love to see them both win it - imagine if it happened in the same year! Melbourne's 2021 Brownlow Medal Final Leaderboard 3rd Clayton Oliver – 31 votes = 9th Christian Petracca – 23 votes = 17th Max Gawn – 16 votes = 40th Tom McDonald – 8 votes = 68th Jake Lever – 5 votes = 98th Bayley Fritsch – 3 votes = 98th Luke Jackson – 3 votes = 98th Jack Viney – 3 votes = 132nd Kysaiah Pickett – 2 votes = 160th Steven May – 1 vote = 160th Christian Salem - 1 vote

I think Essendon are forced to play a few kids this week which could be why Howes may be under consideration. But I'd say it would be incredibly unlikely. 1st year players would have to knock down the door to break into the side. I've heard positive things about all our draftees from last year but nothing to suggest any of them will get a look in for the first half of the season (unless we have significant injuries).

Agree with all that's being said here. in addition I think he speaks incredibly well as seen by his interview / press conference in the last few days. While you don't have to be a solid media performer to be a good player, it helps to have a few good communicators in the side. Was very impressive I thought.

Thanks for this. It's an interesting stat and one that dees supporters are very aware of as we smashed the record last year. But I don't remember hearing people talk about it much prior to last year? I hope the bombers stay at that percentage this week and we kick straight!

Schwarz has been quoted in the hun saying he's a million a year player. While that is probably true it doesn't help the media speculation and can only drive his price up further. Schwarz bleeds red and blue so definitely not questioning his loyalty... but has done enough media work to know how it works - why add fuel to the fire? Ironically, Jackson is quickly becoming the sort of player that we thought Schwarz might become (obviously with the added ability of playing in the ruck). I still remember Schwarz taking hold of sides in late '94 and thought we missed a once in a generation player with his injuries. Amazingly Schwarz was 22 in 1994. Scary to think where Jacko will be when he gets to 22 at the rate he is going!

LH I don't think we can really say it's from the Melbourne playbook can we? Most teams would do it if they had the fitness and talent. Teams like Geelong and West Coast have been the outliers in recent years in having relative success with a chip / keepings off style. I do remember early last season seeing Geelong go all out attack in a couple of games - they looked scarily good when they moved the ball quickly (I'll wash my mouth out now!). I wondered why they didn't do it more often - esp when you have Hawkins, Cameron and Danger as targets. I figured with their finals record Scott didn't want to burnout his "experienced" team but would look to flick the switch in finals. But he never flicked the switch! Surely they couldn't sustain this style all year?

But does it look any better if he said they saw it coming but were unable to do anything about it? I think it's more about how they perform this week - if they don't get a bounce it will be a bit of a concern. Although they did go 0-2 last year and something like 2-6 in their first 8 games last year and made finals so who knows. I found the change in the cats style interesting. I've always thought they looked dangerous when they moved the ball fast in previous years but they only did that when they were behind and in striking distance. I thought that's because Scott thinks they don't have the cattle to run out games for a full season playing this way. I hope this is the case - would love to see them fail in finals after getting their supporters hopes up in the H&A again!

I would have thought Hunt

Definitely will be interesting going forward. And realistically we are not going to have everyone injury free so the adaptability and flexibility they've all shown is really positive. There are 7 positions in defence (6 plus 1 on interchange). This is how I think we would select: 1. Full back / lock down - May (if injured next choice Tomlinson / Petty) 2. Interceptor - Lever. (If injured, next choice Petty - May and Hibbo and Tmac? can also play this role) 3. Third Tall - Petty (if injured Smith next choice then Tomlinson and Hibbo at a stretch) 4. 4th tall / capable of playing small - Smith (if injured Hibbo and if both injured then Tomlinson could come in and May / Lever play on a smaller player) 5. High half-back / distributor - Salem (if injured Rivers, Bowey, Hunt and Brayshaw) 6. Small defender - Rivers (if injured Bowey / Hunt) 7. Interchange - one of Bowey or Hunt. It's obviously going to depend on matchups as well eg sometimes Lever plays on a smaller player and sometimes on a tall - not sure if this is dictated by who else is in the backline or if the player they want him on dictates who's selected.

Yeah I think that is correct. Normally it would be decided by which is a player's preferred foot but seemingly that doesn't cause problems for Langdon

Understand where you're coming from but they might both have been passed (doesn't mean they can't recover). I think if any of our defender's come back this week it will be Tomlinson out. Hunt will stay in until all our smaller defenders are back (Rivers, Salem and arguably Hibbo). Then it comes a question of whether we prefer Hunt's pace or Bowey's precise kicking. As harsh as it is for Tomlinson, he offers less flexibility to Smith / Petty. Clearly the coaching staff love Smith and the fact he could play tall and then switch to small (when TMac went back) shows why he's very handy. The way the players (eg Gus and Gawny) talk of Petty, it seems he is now an automatic selection if fit. He can also play forward and is comfortable leaving his man to impact the contest and playing the sweeper. Like TMac, Tomlinson's elite endurance is a weapon but they're not able to capitalise on it at the moment as his skills / speed seem to suit playing deeper in defence. He has come back from a serious knee injury so he might have a bit of improvement left in him this year but he's no longer best 22 for mine.

Journalists love talking about TMac going back. But the reality is he has only done that under Goody when we've had injuries in game to defenders. I think against North last year it was similar when Tomlinson got injured. Would be very surprised if TMac started there this week.

Some interesting / bizarre calls in this thread. Clearly we all see it very differently. If one of Lever / Rivers is back this week, then it will be Tomlinson that's dropped IMO. The coaches love Smith and want him in the team - remember he only left the team in the finals due to injury. His form against the dogs justified his selection. Tomlinson is outside best 22 atm for mine (but it is a long season) whereas Smith is battling for his position with Hibbo / Petty (depending on the makeup of our back 7 / matchups etc). Unless there are multiple ins, I think Bedford will get another game. Can't see them opting for the likes of Dunstan or Weid (even if Tmac plays back again). Bedford did enough to justify a full game this week. But given a number of players will be back in the short term, he'll have to play out of his skin to hold his spot. The player most at risk on form for mine is Harmes - as Gawny wrote in his book, he's a confidence player. Let's hope his last quarter goal has given him a bit. If Dunstan performs at VFL level I think Harmes will be the one most at risk.

I may well be proven wrong but from what I've seen and what Goody has previously said, TMac back is very much an option of last resort. In my view, we won't start him back in almost any circumstances. Smith back there allows us to play an extra tall (as he can play on either) but ideally it would have been a smaller defender replacing Salem - but with Gus already back there we didn't have any other options. I Imagine that one of the 5 that were out will be back next game which means TMac will have no reason to be in defence (unless injuries strike again!).

No love here? Any thoughts?

Unless there's lots of injuries in the midfield, I think one of Oliver, Viney or Trac would have to be out and Dunstan in great form in the VFL. I think it's unlikely he would come in to play a wing or flank so he would have to be ahead of Sparrow, Jordon and Harmes as an inside midfielder to get a gig. Unless he's absolutely dominating in the VFL, I'd say it's very unlikely he plays in the first 6 rounds

You've got TMac in the backline. Yes he was moved there last match and did well but take it to the bank that he won't start there next week. edit: changed side to backline

You might be right. But I think TMac fell away towards the end of the season. Brown and Jacko will be better this year and Fritsch has now announced himself as one of the top forwards in the game. I think we're in a different place to the start of last year. We showed last night that if we move the ball quickly Brown / Jackson and Fritsch is enough. I'm certain the coaching staff will experiment with an extra small / pressure forward. Ultimately they might settle on what we have - but they can't stand still... they have to keep trying to gain an edge.

I feel like people are forgetting that it's not easy to come in and play as a small forward role player. Spargo, Kozzie and ANB took a while to get settled so Toby deserves a decent crack before people write him off. I know this is about Toby but I think a few will be eating their words when Chandler gets a proper go at it. For mine he doesn't quite have the pace that Toby has but has better skills, tricks and hardness (and he's not slow). Also yet to have a chance to settle at senior level. An injury to one of Kozzie, Spargo or ANB last year and we would probably be talking about Bedford or Chandler as premiership players.

Smith is the fastest player on the list over 20m. He can play tall and small. His main flaw / weakness is that he sometimes gets a bit lost / lacks awareness - which is how most of our defenders look initially when they come into the team. Just you watch if he can stay injury free and gets a good run at it. TMac will not be staying in defence. Held up well last night but that was out of necessity. To me it shows that with Brown, Fritsch and Gawn/Jackson we made not need Tmac forward this year. If you have another pressure forward eg Chandler / Bedford / Laurie / AMW this will do more to lock the ball in our forward line. Obviously things will change throughout the season but I can only see Weed come in now if Brown or Jacko get injured.

This is obviously related to the changes for next week thread but more about going forward for the rest of the year. We are obviously very unlucky to have all our injuries in one area of the ground. 5 of our 7 premiership defenders! Smith, Hunt, Tomlinson in, Brayshaw to come back from the wing (Jordon to take his wing) and when Salem went down TMac goes back and Smith goes from a tall to a small. While TMac did an incredible job, I think most supporters would remember why he has moved forward in the first place - which is the reason why he is not a permanent fix down there. So if not TMac, who goes back if we had the same number of injuries in defence? Who would be next cab off the rank? I'm thinking maybe Melksham? Or would Deakyn Smith be ready? Hopefully we won't have to worry about this with a bunch of them back next week.

That makes sense to me - Brayshaw has trained in defence for this very situation and Jordon showed last year he is able to do the job on the wing. Harmes got tried there a few seasons back - never again. Is a very handy second string midfielder!

I have a sneaking suspicion that the dogs will be hungrier than us for this one.