Ted Lasso

Well we know it's at least Salem in, you'd imagine for Jetta. and i don't mind backing Weid in for another week. but if he has another down week, he's leaving himself open if either of the Browns play well.

I would have thought Harmes goes to McRae, he gets big numbers, but he's one of the elite mids when he's given time and space to use the ball, if you watch their games he sets up so many goals. Backing Oliver/Petracca to offset the output of Bont/Hunter and Libba and Viney to cancel each other out. we really just need to keep their mids under control and back in our defence to hold up better than theirs if it's even everywhere else

you back in the umpires decision either way, but the crows bloke isn't going to handball it towards the boundary line if last touch is a rule, they're going to hack kick it back out, keeps the ball moving, and keeps it in play and prevents repeat F50 stoppages. so imo the net good, would outweight the teething issues that'd come with it. You're probably right about the fact it would be a Crows free, but that would IMV be because of the crowd, not due to any "Cheating" i think a lot of people underestimate the stress that would come on a person with 60k angry crows supporters screaming at them.

It is certainly a problem that needs a solution, i feel for the umpire on a human level, but if the crowd is impacting you so much incorrect decisions are deciding games, maybe it's not the right profession for you? I also think the AFL needs to be able to do more. the high likelyhood is we at least level the scores with not enough time for the Crows to score again, so not sure why they can't make the result a draw if they can acknowledge the decision was a mistake

to be clear, that doesn't mean i don't think they're good, but they're getting talked up as unbeatable. they've had one seriously good win and that's it. to be fair, so have we. but i think beating the Tigers at the G on Anzac day eve is more significant than beating a very inconsistent Port Adelaide

This is a pretty defining week for the MFC i think, in my time watching footy when we have been a good side, we've lacked the ruthless edge to stamp ourselves as the best side and own that tag. when we win this weekend it's going to be an incredibly significant win in the history of the MFC

Melksham has demonstrated for a while that just because he doesn't deserve his spot in the team, he'll likely still get it.

Not too sure of the Doggies match ups in our backline. my guess is May on Bruce Petty on Naughton Lever on resting ruck/intercepting but the taller players at both ends are going to be a handful. Naughton is an absolute freak.

His kicking has improved out of sight, not only is he kicking the ball more which is great, he's becoming one of our better kicks imo. he's a very special player.

Melksham has shown a capacity to mind playmakers, and probably has the capacity to match Daniel on the ground/should beat him 1v1

I really rated Freeman pre draft, but unfortunately i think the game has moved past one paced inside mids now. and we're really seeing that play out with the poor form of St Kilda, and the individuals like Cripps. I'd like to see us target another small pressure forward, and otherwise the best ball users we could possibly find

Honestly mate i just think the umpires need to simplify the rules as much as possible, make it hard for mistakes to happen. Like for example, i would support last touch in both 50's and only do throw ins on the wings, that way, in that situation, it'd be insane for the player to even attempt what he did. make the player HAVE to keep it in play, and forward 50 stoppages ususally cause a lot of congestion as well. with regards to holding the ball i think it's pretty simple. either eliminate prior opportunity completely, or simplify it so there is no margin for error. and with ducking/staging, i'd pay a free against, so if Joel Selwood does his thing and gets hit high, pay it to the tackler, because we want to eliminate staging from the game.

Need to try and isolate whoever plays on Caleb Daniel. chances are he's going to end up on a Fritsch or Kozzie.

Feel for the umpire a bit to be honest, it's clear he [censored] himself due to the moment and the crows crowd. hopefully the AFL is providing some support. honestly there are definitely umpires who dislike the MFC and tend to award free kicks accordingly, but i didn't see that in this game, to me this was a case of an umpire caught in a big moment and didn't handle it

Sometimes imo these things are used to cover up something they'd prefer not to go public, for example a personal situation, breakup in a relationship for example. it's a good way to keep the media from digging into it and buy the player a bit of space. Not saying that's the case with Christian but potentially it could be given the situation.

The Bulldogs are nowhere near as good as people seem to think they are. honestly i think they're flat track bullies a little bit. really looking forward to seeing how we test them out. i am backing us in to get over the line

Definitely agree, my predictions for our remaining games is as follows in the event we lose to all the other contenders, reality is we should beat some of those and my drop 1-2 we don't expect to as well. but Dogs Lose Lions Lose Pies Win Bombers Win Giants Win Power Lose Hawks Win Suns Win Dogs Lose Eagles Lose Crows Win Cats Lose this would give us a record of 15-7 which i think should give us a very good chance of Top 4, in saying that i think we're capable of winning 75-80% of our remaining games, acknowledging that it is a harder draw than our first 10 games. Bottom line is, we're going to feature in the finals this season, and we're a very good chance to finish top 4. I predict the Tigers coming home with a wet sail as well, so that will through a spanner into the works for the other contenders.

I think it's definitely the latter, to my mind our absolute best 22 includes both Ben Brown and Jack Viney, we haven't been great in clearances all year, but we've fallen away significantly without Viney, not only because of his output, but the referred pressure. Depth is everything in the AFL, when Viney is in there it takes pressure off everyone. Harmes becomes the 4th mid, Jordan the 5th etc. I don't know what the right mix is forward of the ball, but i do know that, if the dogs have a weakness, it's against tall forwards, and we know Jackson and Tmac will play, so it's down to who Goodwin and co think is the better player as of right now of Weideman and Brown, as to who is going to be better suited to exposing that weakness. I also think the form of Max Gawn dropping away slightly has made a huge difference, we rely so heavily on Max still for his marking around the ground and it's been undeniable he's not quite at his best.

Nailed it. Ben Brown and McDonald are different enough to function together with Jackson imo, the only other alternative is going high pressure and smaller with just McDonald and Jackson. Fritsch is effectively another tall, so we need a better balance of talls and pressure players Melkshams selections is genuinely baffling, and i know people don't like the suggestion that he's a coaches favourite player, but outside that i geneuinely don't get it

I think it'll be Hibberd that gets the job. i don't know that we match up all that well on the dogs forwards generally so we will be relying on pressure up the field

Does show how important Salem is to our team, we looked lost without him setting up the play

6 is fair enough, but i think it's fair to say based on our form in the first 10 games, we're almost certain to make finals, and we'd be very unlikely to fall away so badly we don't make top 4. But our goal, i'm sure is and should be a top 2 spot, and if we get that, we're a very real chance to make the Grand final. and i think any team would find us really hard to beat on the MCG.

Defense wins championships, this is a universal fact in all team sports, and we have the best defense in the AFL. yes there are areas to work on, but we're 9-1 we probably only need to win 1-2 more games to lock up finals and 4-5 to lock in top 4. we've got time. we are a massive chance to win the premiership, and we're up against our biggest competition on Friday night on their home deck. I'm expecting a strong response to the Crows loss and our 10th win.

some of his turn overs are down to his in ability to control his long kicks imv, which i'm not super worried about, i don't think he's a bad kick as such, but he's not and never will be a christian Salem by foot

Viney and Salem in Jetta and Melksham out Would also seriously consider BBB