deelusions from afar

So is your prediction Jnr! I hope it can continue - I'm a little bit of a sceptic though. I think part of the reason why he got moved from the backline was that after 2016/2017 other teams did their homework on him. Obviously part of this related to his kicks that didn't necessarily hit targets... but I think they also worked out ways to lessen his impact. After his injury in the 70m torp game against the crows (i think) he seemed to also lose confidence when he returned. However, this year, he's looking confident, the rules suit him, he's improved his kicking reliability significantly and hopefully has enough other talented teammates that attract as much of the opposition's attention (if he keeps playing the way he is, it will come). Definitely an asset to the side - it's amazing that once you have him, Langdon and Kozzie in the side, outsiders talk us up as a "fast" team. It's a nice change!

I'll give it a go Jetta May Lever Rivers Tomlinson Salem Brayshaw Oliver Langdon Pickett TMac ANB Fritsch Brown Spargo Gawn Petracca Viney Hunt Jordon Melksham Jackson Em: Weid Harmes Sparrow Hibberd A lot of tough calls to be made - most likely we will have a few injuries along the way so the depth will be needed. If Petty comes in for May, it will be interesting if he comes in and we don't miss a beat down back (which I think is possible - I rate Petty). TMac deserves to be in the side on form - at the start of the season I would have had Weid there. Can TMac play the wing as he trained for over summer? If so, where does Brayshaw go? Back? But who of the back 7 go out? And is Brown, Weid, Jacko, Tmac too tall in a team with Gawn and Fritsch (plus the key defenders)? Amazing to think that the likes of Harmes and Hibberd aren't in my best 22 - although if they manage to break into the side through the season I think there's a good chance they'll stay in. We seem to be in great shape with options to fill every position - would love to see the draftees get a taste but it's going to be tough to get them in if the team keeps playing how they are. I guess having them develop at Casey is not the worst thing!

So how does this work - if he doesn't go in the top 20, we just have to have enough points to cover wherever he is bid on? And if no one bids we can take him with our last pick?

It might be a weekly exercise as clearly we both see this differently but I feel like you use every opportunity to kick goody - if we lose you'll say it's his fault and if we win it's thanks to Williams and Yze. Last year was the same game plan - its just being executed better. So sure - this is partly to do with the impact of Williams and Yze, but there a myriad of other factors (unrelated to Williams and Yze) that have contributed to our improvement this year. eg Fitness - last year we trained for one thing (to be fitter than everyone else) and then the parametres changed with Covid. We have a number of endurance specialists (Langdon, ANB, TMac, Tomlinson etc) who are all playing big roles this year. I don't think this is a coincidence. We have competition for spots - this is a combination of a solid pre-season, low number of injuries and development of younger players. In previous years Hibberd would not be spending so many weeks in the VFL - he would be straight in. Our personnel gives us greater flexibility - Jackson was growing in confidence last year and then went down with an injury. Having him fit allows Gawn to cover forward or back when needed. Similarly the likes of likes of Spargo and Kozzie are stronger, fitter and able to provide the manic forward half pressure and good ball use consistently - we were crying out for this last year. I've been critical of Goodwin like many on here but hate it when people take pot shots and back it up with things they can't possibly know. What I did notice last year was that the players (surprisingly) love Goody and play for him - this is evident particularly in longer interviews where the players talk about all the extra things he is doing to ensure they are better players and better people. So Williams and Yze might be providing a lot of the difference - I imagine the players would listen when they have something to say (much more than some of our previous assistants). But to me this year we are building on what we were doing last year - same game plan with a fitter, more experienced and confidence group of players.

Poor guy. My vote is for Petty

Best start since '94... surely this must do wonders for membership. If we are able to get over the Hawks we will head in to the ANZAC eve match against the premiers 5-0, Jonesy's 300th with a likely return for Ben Brown. Marketers dream!

I think I'll hold fire on the Melksham decision until after the game. Think its harsh on Sparrow but a fit and firing Melksham (2018 version) gives us another weapon that the opposition have to put time into. He's quick, capable of great ball use that most in our side are not and a goal kicker. He hasn't had to fight for his spot the last 2 years but if plays how he has in 2019-2020 then I can't see him staying in the side. Will be interesting to see how he approaches this. The fact that its wet today doesn't bother me - often the highly skilled players skills stand out in the wet.

It's a nice change to read these stories and think "wow what a good player he'd be here" rather than "yeah but he wouldn't be the same player if he had of been drafted to us" which always used to be said about players we previously decide not to pick (Nik Nat, Martin, Fyfe etc)

Partly right.... but it is interesting to note that high drawing teams like Collingwood, Carlton and Hawthorn don't have any Fri or Sat night games. The league does appear to be giving better coverage to the teams in the 8. If we keep winning, we'll get more prime time opportunities.

Interesting - my take on this was that either: (a) - Geelong are not fit / know their players are not suited to the fast footy played at the moment. (b) - Geelong are conscious of how taxing the game is and so are about conserving energy as much as possible while banking wins so that they can go up a gear when the whips are cracking. Scott said on FC that they tried to go quicker vs the crows and got burnt which is why they've gone back to what they know. But if we think a coach like Scott is going to publicly give people an idea of their game plan / strategy then we are absolute fools - he wouldn't give people an inch. My sense is that the cats looked cooked - even with some quality to come back into the side, it looks like age is catching up with them. But my fear is that it is more option b - and even if we knock them over now they are all about timing their run. Having said that, the fact we have so many players fit and ready to come into the side is going to make a huge difference from the middle of the season onwards.

Some good observations here. A little bit off topic - but I think it will be interesting going forward. The extra running and scoring leads to more injuries (so far not us touch wood) and more blowouts. I hear channel 7 are already nervous about the number of big blowouts this early in the season. This could all work in our favour: - Burgess seems to have us very fit with a number of best 22 players on the fringe or due back in the side in the next month. - we keep winning / being competitive and we will be requested in the prime time slots. Kozzie doesn't do us any harm there either. I think last years top 4 are all suffering from being behind the rest in terms of preseason by about a month. And I think coaches will get better at shutting down the free flow football that's seen in most games - so banking the early wins is so important!

Nah I agree - (I think) I see it the same way as you. Everyone seems to be playing their role which is all you can ask of them. There's always a diversity of opinions on here and ultimately we all want the team to keep winning - so (sadly) its probably only natural that when things aren't going well, supporters will be looking for someone to blame. So I agree with what you're saying... but I don't know if others on here will have a similar view when a loss comes.

I agree with the jist of what you're saying... but I think you'll find any time we win three on the trot there will be talk of minimal changes. But as soon as we drop one (it won't be far away) watch the knives come out for the whipping boys (currently Jones, Sparrow, TMac, Jetta, Brayshaw).

So the HS must've written an article giving it to Melbourne about our trading our first round pick with North to get Kozzie in. I think we can be confident that Caro will regularly bring up Melbourne's shrewd trading - because every time she does she can give the HS a wack for getting it wrong.

I agree that if all were fit he would be behind Brown and probably Weid to... but in the meantime, competing in the air and on the ground is exactly what he has to do to stay in the team. I don't think he'll ever get back to his 2018 form but he has still been very useful this year and would benefit greatly from another target in attack (hence why Gawn is up there a bit).

I wonder whether they'd look to bring one in for the Anzac eve match

Agree with all of this other than you clearly mean Sparrow and not Swallow! Unless Melksham has trained as a winger over summer (don't remember hearing that in training reports) or played there in the practice matches at Casey, they won't bring him in for that role. I agree that he would most likely take Sparrow or Jones spot but both are doing their jobs at the moment.

I think there is a good chance that if Jackson is managing the ruck duties, then Gawn can go forward and stretch the cats defence. This will free TMac up a bit (he always plays better when he's not the no.1 forward target) and on the G his running ability should be an asset. We seem to look much more dangerous with Max forward too.

Hate Geelong with a passion - not sure why exactly (if I think about it there's too many reasons!). But would love to see them go down to the Hawks today!

I feel he's a little way off a "breakout" game but these games are critical as he's clearly growing in confidence and composure. It's also massive for the team in that it is allowing Gawn to go forward which takes the pressure off TMac. Having said that, we're yet to play against a team with an experienced recognised ruckman so will be interesting to see how he and Gawn go when that happens. Hopefully they can keep it up and Jackson can keep progressing.

If he keeps up this form he is going to start getting a lot of off the ball attention. As we've seen with the likes of Oliver and Gawn, the umpires will pay free kicks from time to time but most of the time players are good at doing this without being seen. Like Oliver, it will be important for Kozzie to change positions for the days when he's getting tagged out of the match.

I find it quite laughable some of the calls being made here regarding players that should be dropped - whether it be Jetta, Jones, Sparrow etc We all know there's a lot happening on the ground that is never caught on TV - and seemingly most people here weren't at the ground. I'd be surprised if Jetta and Jones are in the side at the end of the year but they are both doing their job at the moment. Yes Toby Greene kicked a bag of goals but not many of these can be directly attributed to Jetta. Our whole backline was rattled by him which is why we had the situation of having multiple players fly for the ball and he was the only one stay down. There was a goal he kicked in the last that Jetta had out positioned him and was in line to take the mark only for Lever to fly for the ball and not complete the mark. If anything it's probably a communication issue but people on here seem to forget that even the good teams make mistakes and it is important that players are encouraged to take risks to play at their best. I thought Jones had a number of important touches last night as did Sparrow. In theory, having someone like Melkshem come in for one of them sounds great - but I'm not convinced he will do the hard two way running, the tackling, chasing, the selfless acts that are critical for the team like you know you will get from Jones and Sparrow. I've got no doubt that he will be told that that is what he has to do to get back in the team - clearly his one on one marking, kicking and speed would be an asset to the team if he isn't a liability defensively. Given the VFL side didn't play this week, I'd be very surprised if they made any changes.

I agree I think the game started to turn further up the field. Which is why I found it interesting for the opposition coach to single out Kozzie as the one that changed it. Maybe it's an easier message to send to supporters than we got outworked in the midfield / by the melbourne defenders.

Interesting - just noticed this. Anyone know anything about it? <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Superb opportunity for PhD scholarship in a high performance environment including <a href="https://twitter.com/selwynosteo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@selwynosteo</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveWattsau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DaveWattsau</a> and myself at <a href="https://twitter.com/melbournefc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@melbournefc</a> along side <a href="https://twitter.com/ShonaHalson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShonaHalson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ryan_timmins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ryan_timmins</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/richjohnston88?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@richjohnston88</a> from <a href="https://twitter.com/SPRINT_ACU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SPRINT_ACU</a>. <a href="https://t.co/5VuYivEv6e">https://t.co/5VuYivEv6e</a> <a href="https://t.co/blZAVGQ9x6">pic.twitter.com/blZAVGQ9x6</a></p>&mdash; Darren Burgess (@darrenburgess25) <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenburgess25/status/1372391373618352129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Edit: Not sure how to embed a twitter post but it's from Darren Burgess a few weeks back and says: Superb opportunity for PhD scholarship in a high performance environment including @selwynosteo, @DaveWattsau and myself at @melbournefc along side @ShonaHalson, @ryan_timmins, @richjohnston88 from @SPRINT_ACU . https://acu.edu.au/research/become-a-research-candidate/research-scholarships

Genuinely think it's because he's a ranga.