deelusions from afar

Anyone with too much time on their hands, the game day thread for the tigers is pretty funny reading. https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/round-6-2021-richmond-vs-melbourne-mcg-7-25pm.1264478/page-8 E.g seeing these sorts of comments when you know it's about to come crashing down for them: pretty sloppy start, but a nice mark from Lynch is good early damn, nice stuff Rioli Do you reckon lever still has nightmares about jacob townsend fu** we look sharp, zero fumbles. Dees [censored] themselves That's a poor free, nice to get one our way for once though Jack and tom look switched on we're on early Great start from everyone We have entered “raise the fight” mode This is QF 2017 pressure! Haha Lever is Richmond's batch. Geez we look hot Also shows how well the tigers started - and how well we did to turn it around!

Justified at the moment - but I wonder if Goody ever gives votes to the opposition!

The King interview was with Whately on the radio but I'm sure he will say it again when he gets the chance on 360. I actually don't mind King - a lot of his opinions are garbage but I prefer that to most of the ex-players in the media that just go along with the basic group think - he's looking for new trends (often that aren't there) so at least he offers something different. He's also been burnt a few times (by us and the tigers coming good) so i think that affects his opinions. And given where the tigers were for much of last season, I think it would be brave for anyone to write them off until about round 18. I agree the extra handballs doesn't mean we've changed the way we play - but I thought it did feel a bit different to our other wins in the way we moved the ball. Incidentally, I also don't think its a problem if we did change the way we play. If you have a team stocked with talented (like ours) that is prepared to adapt / tweak things slightly to tailor the game plan to the opponent I think that makes us more scary for an opposition. Haven't gone back to watch the replay but my sense (might be incorrect) was that we weren't looking to go inboard as much (particularly early) but move the ball wide by handballs up the wings. I figured that its more a case of playing safer footy in slippery conditions. Agree on the comment about the tigers inside 50s. I feel like a few teams are getting a bit of their own medicine - I've heard a number of people say they still got x inside 50s and so were unlucky not to score more. Well any dees fan knows that inside 50s count for zilch as a measurement on its own - we have dominated that stat for years. I'm sure Hardwick knows it - but he's trying to sell a positive message (and many in the media have bought it). As for the Tigers pressure - I thought it dropped away after the first quarter but not sure how this can be measured - certainly hope you're right that it was up and they barely laid a scratch on us!

Things can turn quickly but I think it says a lot about our fitness / conditioning staff that we've really only had collision injuries so far this season (a few other injuries preseason). Where other coaches are saying the games are too long / the preseasons been too short etc, I feel like the players have supreme confidence in their fitness (and we've obviously had some luck too)

Agree - although with that particular poster he has form. Wouldn't bother with anything be puts down

Prior to the game (following Casey's win) I thought, it's only a matter of time before Bedford or Chandler comes in for him but he's not getting dropped after performances like that!

Our last 4 drafts - starting to look very good (as anyone's will after winning 6 straight). Other than due to injury, very few wasted picks (Dunkley is no longer with us and I feel Baker's chance might have passed him). Obviously last years kids are yet to get a taste of senior level but all have shown promising signs so far and unless there's significant injuries / form issues are unlikely to be needed to be called upon at senior level with so many others knocking down the door at Casey. We all know things can change quickly but this is pretty impressive as it stands. Melbourne Demons AFL Draft Picks at the end of Season 2017 2017 AFL Draft Summary Type Round Pick Player Current Team Games Since Drafted * National 2 29 Charlie Spargo Melbourne 40 National 2 31 Bayley Fritsch Melbourne 66 National 2 37 Harrison Petty Melbourne 12 National 3 48 Oskar Baker Melbourne 12 Melbourne Demons AFL Draft Picks at the end of Season 2018 2018 AFL Draft Summary Type Round Pick Player Current Team Games Since Drafted * Midyear 1 3 Kyle Dunkley 5 National 2 27 Tom Sparrow Melbourne 11 National 2 33 James Jordan Melbourne 6 National 3 53 Aaron Nietschke Melbourne 0 National 4 56 Marty Hore Melbourne 14 National 5 75 Toby Bedford A Melbourne 2 Rookie 1 15 Kade Chandler Melbourne 1 Melbourne Demons AFL Draft Picks at the end of Season 2019 2019 AFL Draft Summary Type Round Pick Player Current Team Games Since Drafted * National 1 3 Luke Jackson Melbourne 12 National 1 12 Kysaiah Pickett Melbourne 20 National 2 32 Trent Rivers Melbourne 15 Melbourne Demons AFL Draft Picks at the end of Season 2020 2020 AFL Draft Summary Type Round Pick Player Current Team Games Since Drafted * National 1 21 Jake Bowey Melbourne 0 National 1 22 Bailey Laurie Melbourne 0 National 2 34 Fraser Rosman Melbourne 0

Interesting hearing David King putting an asterisk against Melbourne in his review of the game in that he said we changed the way we played against the Tigers and suggested that if it were in september, their pressure would be up and they would likely break down the handball game. He used handball stats to illustrate his point. I'm not too phased about his opinion (he has a different one every week) but it was an interesting observation from a statistical point of view. I think he used handballs in the back half or something - not sure where to find that stat but this year we've averaged 157 handballs a game whereas against the Tigers it was 226. King asserted we used more handballs so that when we turned it over we would still have numbers around the ball that would provide coverage. Part of me thought that it's because it was a wet night - although often this encourages teams to kick more. What showed out for me was that we backed ourselves in in terms of fitness - there would be a string of handballs and then we would finally get someone free who had run harder than their opponent. Interested to hear others thoughts

My sense is that you and others on here who closely follow what's going on are going to be far more reliable that Fox Footy's 'selection whispers'

I think the credit should go to Mark Neeld - he said he wanted Melbourne to be the hardest team to play against. Finally his master plan is coming into fruition!

I love how Jackson is developing - it will be interesting when we have our 1st choice key forwards in the team how they use him - and whether Gawn will still rest forward from time to time.

Agree. Goody loves Melksham and given he kicked 3 and did a number of passes to setup shots on goal that probably no one else in the team could execute to me says he'll stay in. It's all good problems to have - just don't know how we will keep the manic forward pressure if we don't keep all of ANB, Kozzie and Spargo (or Bedford, Chandler if there's injuries) in the team. On form it seems likely that Jones won't stay in the team much longer - but if Tmac is moved to the wing then Brayshaw takes the spot...and then we still have most of Jordon, Sparrow, Harmes etc (players that rotate mid / forward) out of the team. I think much of this year will be about trying to find the best combination - and injuries will occur as well. It'll be an interesting ride and I suspect we might lose some games almost at the selection table - but the luxury of starting 5-0 is we get to experiment a bit to find our best mix that is capable of troubling the best in the comp.

That's quite amazing isn't it - it goes against the stereotype or myth around Brown playing out of the goalsquare - unless on that day he had 20 shots on goal and half of it was covered in his runnup! I remember in 2018 Goodwin was wanting to use the tanks of Hogan and TMac to exploit teams - the fact that Weid, TMac and Brown can run those numbers makes me think he will try it again. Certainly worth a shot.

I'm a big Petty fan and think he doesn't deserve to be dropped but no way Tomlinson goes out ahead of him. Tommy Mac stays in - he is in very good form. Whether he can keep it up and stay in the team once the others are back will be interesting. But with the longer quarters and our home ground as the MCG, there's a lot of reasons why he will.

Agree. When Viney is in the team, he tends to be the player that's called upon to do a role on one of the opposition's prime movers. Though it seems like Goody likes to back our system first and then put the clamps on in someone is getting away from us - pretty sure this is what they did with Selwood a few weeks ago.

Great article thanks! Interested to know how much our style is dictated by who plays on the wing. Would we be doing things differently if we had recruited Isaac Smith in the off season? If TMac is given a run there, what happens?

bumping 'cause I'm needy but mostly as I'm interested in knowing a bit more about how this works - and the collective demonland brains trust is pretty knowledgeable about modern trends and tactics.

Interestingly Goody referred to the 'leaders' driving the selfless culture at the club - he named most of the usual suspects such as Gawn, Viney, May, Lever (I think) and then added Neal-Bullen. It is quite an inexperienced forward line but if Goody is naming him as the first forward that's driving the culture change then he's not likely to be dropped on current form. Beyond this week, Jones position must be in jeopardy based on output.

This isn't so much a thread about who should be playing on the wing with the perennial debate about who is best to join Langdon as the other wing raging elsewhere. It's more about understanding the tactics and the role of the modern winger and kick ins / ball movement. For example, on the weekend, Langdon was on the fat side of the ground - the side of the ground that we never kick to when kicking in from a point. The fact that we always kick to the same side (which no surprise is also the side Gawn is on), is that simply because of the dominance of Gawn? If we had two recognised wingers (eg had we got Smith in the trade period) would this approach be any different? I.e. having Brayshaw on the side where the ball is moved slower is no coincidence but how would you maximise two wingers if you had them? Is there a problem with always kicking the same side - being predictable? I haven't watched the other top sides close enough to know but I suspect they would be similar. At the same time I feel like if you were an opposition coach our predictability could be exploited by stacking the Gawn side. Obviously we're prepared to switch to Langdon's side but most of the time we don't look to do this - we certainly haven't kicked out to the Langdon side any time I can remember this year. Is the possibility of having TMac and Jackson (in addition to Gawn) roaming up the ground change how we would approach this? Looking forward to hearing people's thoughts

That's true - but if you have a number of tall key forwards around him who are also finishers, Melksham is going to need to do his bit in this area to stay in the side. This is in the same way that they've asked Kozzie, Spargo and ANB - none of whom are heavy. Interestingly, both McDonald and Fritsch have noticeably improved this area of their game this year - both with much higher tackle numbers than previously. For Jake I suspect it's more about the willingness to run both ways - to chase and close down space. If the pressure for spots forces Melk to lift his game in this area, then we will go up another gear we didn't know we had!

I agree - it could become a real weapon. Where I think we are a bit different is that we also play Fritsch forward (who plays like a key forward) and Melksham (who has never been a good defensive pressure player). Maybe (what I'm hoping) is that we can still find a way to make it work due to Jackson's ability to play anywhere and TMac's incredible endurance which allows them both to play further up the field.

It could end up happening but there's no way that will happen at the moment. I rate Petty as a key defender but Tomlinson has done a good job down there and built good chemistry with the other defenders. If anyone, it's TMac that will get a go on the wing - but I suspect they won't try that against the tigers but the following week v the roos.

I don't think Melksham had necessarily earnt his place in the team after his output in 2019 and 2020, but now that he's in the team, it will be hard for him to go out - all those saying he will be dropped for Fritsch, I wouldn't be so sure. Goodwin is clearly a big fan of his and at his best he is an automatic selection - I think Goody will be keen to give him a few weeks (more than ppl here would give) to allow him to get back to that. I don't think he's got the capacity to put the defensive pressure on we need (if we're playing Brown / Tmac, Weid, Fritsch and Jackson in the same team) but rightly or wrongly I think match committee will drop others ahead of Jake

I'm not his biggest fan but think he is playing his role. Clearly his running capacity makes him a real asset to the team. I think he has also tidied up his disposal which was the main thing that used to frustrate me about him eg the perfectly weighted pass to Brown in the last quarter. Having said that, if they can match him with the running, Bedford / Chandler might offer a bit more.

I think it is going to be really interesting when we come up against some really good rucks that get on top of Jackson - I'm thinking West Coast, the dogs, etc Gawn is dangerous when not in the ruck... Jackson not as much (yet)