Ted Lasso

The Patches plan to beat the dogs. Max Dominates English and gives our mids first look, win it out of the middle. Melksham plays as a defensive forward on Daniel. drags him to FF at every opportunity. his kicking sets up the play for them James Harmes completes a hard tag on Jackson McRae, he's struggled with tags and is very damaging in 2020 Isolate the Bulldogs undersized key backs. our big forwards have generally done well against the doggies. Keep defending as well as we have been. Make Naughton compete 1v1 with May. he's dangerous on a lead where he can run and jump. every time Bont gets the footy, SMASH HIM the Giants have used this tactic effectively, he starts worrying about contact. don't mind giving a free or two away to get inside his head.

Yes, i believe Tami came in semi regularly and did sessions with the boys.

the other thing that is no doubt hurting Gus is the shorter quarters ultimately means the best side in the coaches mind can spend a higher % of the game in their preffered positions without the need to rotate In saying that if we don't change the rotations to give GUS a look in, he'd be silly not to look elsewhere, he'd play his position every week at the blues and probably get paid significantly better to do it.

He's played literally 1 game with the same minutes of those two in his strongest position and he had 29 touches, a pile of contested and kicked a goal. in 2018 he played there consistently and finished 3rd in the brownlow. the kid can definitely play, and he's being played out of position by a stubborn coach in my humble opinion. Brayshaws game on the weekend was comfortably better than anything Sparrow has produced for the club, and certainly up there with the good footy of the other mids.

So frustrating. how about rewarding the bloke who stepped into that role and immediately dominated. Gus dominated the game without Gawn winning the taps. he's genuinely as good as Petracca or Oliver in that position, we're insane if we don't at least increase his time in the guts. I'd rather see Petracca/ oliver spend slightly more time forward to afford Gus more time than Gus be pushed out

I think Viney could spend a bit more time Wing/forward to allow Brayshaw more minutes in the guts and give the team a better overall balance

the Brayshaw vs Viney comparison urks me a bit to be honest, and i know you're just making a point on out and out quality. Jack really, is competing with oliver, not Brayshaw. Gus is more the inside/outside spreader, he adds something to the contest that Jack Doesn't. Viney and Oliver are both out and out inside bulls. i think the arguement is really between them, and if the coaches assumptions that both can play in the same team are correct.

I think you're missing the bigger picture, Our midfield functions better without Viney in it. he may be a fabric player culturally but there is a reality to his role in the team that requires either a change in game style, a change in role or a change of team for Jack. it's no coincidence we functioned well in the middle without him there, even without Max. Gus, Oliver, Track is our best starting 3 mids in terms of a midfield unit.

I'd be calling Tom Hawkins and offering him a deal/transition into coaching. it would help the development of Weideman, improve our best 22, provide another tall target and provide some on field experience/leadership especially if we as we're hoping push for a flag in the next 2-3 seasons. I'm less worried about our lack of pace than i am about our lack of polish so i'd be looking for really good ball users who can't quite crack a game at their clubs. I can't see us getting a big fish this year unfortunately but we may be able to find some more than handy role players to add some icing to the cake. Tom Papley would be a really great additon if the Swans are still keen on TMAC maybe we can work out a package, but i think it's unlikely

The scary thing is i think Gawn could be much more impactful if we could get the connection with his taps right

North Melbourne W Collingwood L Western Bulldogs L Essendon W Fremantle W GWS Giants L St Kilda L Sydney w 8/9 for the season sees us probably just miss finals. we probably need to win 2 of the 4 losses to make the 8

Reality is that we're a better side without Viney in the guts. so i feel we need to trial some things. the split Brayshaw and Viney have could be reversed and give Viney more time on the wing, ultimately though we're a better side with Gus, Petracca and Oliver at the bounces. even without Gawn there.

Weid has always had the marking, it's always been his big weapon but i think it's only probably been the last 6 weeks or so that he's really started to understand how hard a key forward has to work in the modern game. last night he outworked Robbie Tarrant at times, and that's something not many people do. really pleased for him, he's a lovely guy.

Ironically i feel like Watts has the attributes to really add to a team like Port. they've got the quality to cover his deficiencies and i can see him playing a role come finals

that's the real challenge, find a role that suits Viney where he doesn't impact that as much. i wouldn't be against trialing him on a wing. i think he's got a pretty good turn of speed

Going against consensus probably but i thought overall we were quite poor. Defensively we looked sound against a team that wasn't really capable of asking too many questions. we had multiple opportunities to put that game away much earlier and more bad skill errors cost us. i thought we gave away a few cheap free kicks. Not sure that performance beats many sides. Positives, Luke Jackson coming along nicely, think Gus is showing some signs things are starting to turn, Oliver back to his best. i thought Viney played a better team game. Harmes seems to be working a bit harder and May pushing hard to be included in the AA conversation

I have the same feeling unfortunately. zero confidence in us winning this one If Goody thinks he's under the pump now, it'll be 1000% worse if we lose this game

I wouldn't even trade Oliver for picks 1,2 and 3 in this years draft. it would take something very special to even consider it. Maybe if the Suns offered Noah Anderson and Ben King?

I reckon we should seriously think about letting Viney walk via free agency, and allow Brayshaw to play in his actual position.

Definitely, and it would be extremely bold. but MFC historically haven't been the club to lead the pack, we've generally followed so i can't see us making a move like this. Steve Johnson up at the swans is a guy renowned for his game day tactical side, reading of the play etc. he wouldn't be ready for a senior coaching job as it currently is, but a reduced role with a really strong GM of footy, someone like that begins to become the more ideal coaching target. Not suggesting we get Steve Johnson as senior coach mind you, but i am a big advocate for getting the best possible GM we can, and adjusting the roles around that person to streamline the football department. Right now we have quite a large coaching group. i genuinely believe we could cut that group in half without losing a significant amount, and potentially less voices might even help the players.

Absolutely! even the Lions now got that position right and they're flying. it's so important. and as far as assistants go i think the sweet spot is 3 Offence, defense and clearance/stoppage. with a brilliant tactical senior coach and a gun GM of footy who can track the players progress and development. if you speak to any current AFL player it's pretty consistently felt accross the board that there are too many voices, too many meetings and it takes away from them just being able to play the game naturally, within a game plan, and makes them think too much about it. Richmond are brilliant at being much more laid back and it's paying off with premierships.

I personally feel like footy is about to take a bit of a shift in the way football departments are structured, and become more like the NBA with a lot more of the power going to the GM of footy and the senior coach effectively only focusing on coaching the team and game day tactics. I feel like the role of a senior coach has become so broad that it's really difficult to find someone capable of being good enough in enough areas that it covers the area's they aren't as strong. if i were in charge i'd be looking for the absolute best GM of footy avaliable. and then seeing how Goody (or someone else) goes in a significantly reduced senior coaching role.

I tend to agree. i think we need to head hunt an experienced GM of footy with a proven record. we've seen from the great clubs how vital that position is.

An external review? no. Josh Mahoney conducted the review of a department he oversees which to me is mind boggling.

I agree mate, i was shocked the football department was allowed to conduct it's own kangaroo court review on last season. should have been a full external review. it does to me show that the board obviously bought the injuries excuse as satisfactory for what was going on. but i do think this is a lot bigger than unsuccessful seasons and senior coaches. i feel personally the rest of this season could have a huge bearing on the MFC's future. I don't believe all 18 clubs will survive COVID 19 and if we're suddenly back to where we were pre- Roos or even potentially financially worse off. we're in deep trouble and at serious risk of facing Merger or just ceasing to exist totally. If the club is not 100% sure Goodwin is capable of leading the MFC to a premiership in the next 5 years it's time to move him on and find someone who is.