spirit of norm smith

May is in career best form ... undeniably. Definitely should be AA this year. Back to the Tmac subject. He is now about to turn 28. He has certainly deteriorated in form and it might be time to offer him up in a trade. He might represent some value for a club looking at depth in a key position back or forward. Unfortunately his $$$ ask might scare some clubs away. What would we get? Not much I’d imagine.

I think they tried to turn a fast rebounding half back into an opportunist forward. It worked on occasion but should never have been the permanent switch. Hunt can still play a key role for us with his pace. Often we bemoan our lack of pace and we corner this bloke in the forward pocket. I would definitely like to see him return to a half back or wing role. He was a fast rebounding defender. His 2016 and 2017 years were excellent.

Agree. Need Weid or Fritsch or Kozzy to light it up and kick a bag. (ie. In modern day footy in 2020, 4 goals or more is a bag).

I think we all agree. He has the talent. It’s his intensity that can lift, improved goalkicking accuracy will help, and he needs to play smart footy starting with getting in front. I’d like to see him get a 3 or 4 goal game this week.

He’s not really a Smokey pick but I’d love to see grab Angus Baker as a late pick. 22yo ex Swans academy player who had a great season for Canberra in the NEAFL. Was the leagues best player and played very well against the AFL clubs aligned reserves teams. Tough running skilled half back. 189cms 83 kgs. Would take mid sized defender and probably fit into Hibberds role. I know we have Rivers but Baker also would be handy. One to consider.

Probably the most frustrating bloke this year. Real talent. Real absences. His goalkicking accuracy ? 19.20 this year is not good enough. Should be 26.13 with some of his poor misses. I went to the Bulldogs game and prior to the start, Fritsch must have had at least 30 shots at goal in 15 minute warm up. He nailed virtually everyone. I think he missed 1 out of 30. Shots were all roughly 30-35 metres out on 45degree angle left and right and straight in front. Only remember one snap close in a pocket about 10 metres out at the end. No one on the mark. No running shots or pickup running burst kick. In the actual game he missed shots under pressure. 1goal 2behinds 2onthefull The problem 1- his kicks are not always nice 30m out in front. There’s angles and sometimes in the pocket or pressure or a man on the mark. He needs to simulate match like Goalkicking. 2- he is so laconic. He missed a chance v giants to take off after one mark when his opponent had fallen over. His lack of urgency or intensity or slowness to kick or handball means turnovers. 3- his marking is very good BUT HE IS OFTEN BEHIND HIS OPPONENT AND SHOWS LAZINESS. He twice went for speccys v Haynes and then finally played the percentage shoulder into body move and mark in the space out the back. Result!! Fritsch can be good and a real danger up forward but he needs a rocket up him. He needs intensity. His skills are generally good. He needs to play the smart way. His kicking must be firm and direct , and not layback style.

What a joke!! Quaynor. 1- Rivers kicks the winning goal in a tough elimination finals type game and he misses out. Rivers kicks two crucial goals. Even Rivers spoil in the last 15 seconds showed his heart and toughness to match his skill and run. 2- Quaynor got 17 possessions against Rivers 16 possessions. Often running past for a handball. Trent Rivers got 8 contested possessions compared to Quaynor 4 contested. 3- Sexton kicks 3 goals in the first quarter on Quaynor who gets moved. Somehow that must have been missed !! There is bias in the decision. Just my opinion.

Exactly. We are not a premiership threat yet

I am always most nervous when we are clear favourites. For some reason we don’t win when we absolutely should. That’s why the bombers game is so vital. Remember 2017. We had it in the bag and blew it. Hope history doesn’t curse us again. If we beat the bombers I’ll be satisfied but still shake my head and groan at how we lost to Freo and the Swans !

Good call. The top 1st rounders are predominately a lock for good players. About 80-85% success rate now each year. Oliver was a lock for us by the September of his year. It’s the players in 30s and 40s (25-50) that can lift you up (Anb, Sparrow, Spargo, Fritsch, Hannan, Perry, Jordon) or be a bust. These blokes are okay but definitely on the fringe. Our your rookies like Harmes, Vberg, Lockhart, Wagners). Our blend of trade pickups has been excellent imo (May, Langdon, Melksham, Hibberd, Tomlinson, Lever). Trent Rivers was a great get at #32 (hard to see why others skipped him as he was expected around the 18-22 mark) and we jumped when he was still available. ?? I do like our no DHs policy. I didn’t care about missing on players like Charlie Curnow, Jordan Degoey or Sydney Stack. Good players but hard to manage. But I also am not quite after choirboys like Grgic, Morton and Weid. They have talent but no raw aggression and competitive streak to win. Martin Dangerfield and even Cripps have the ability but that desire to rip in and win it. Trac is showing signs of having the intensity to win and that’s the next step (I still laugh at the Saints picking McCartin. That was never going to go well and he lacked fitness and desire even before his unfortunate head knocks with concussion). 2020 has some good youngsters and we trust in JT despite a lack of picks (Only one) below 57.

Dons have nothing to play for. But we don’t do well in games that we should win. Pies in 2017 still haunts me. That was a shocker. Freo and Swans this year. It’s ridiculous. If we had won either game, then we’d have our destiny in our own hands.

Absolutely May ahead of Andrews. He takes the best forward every week and restricts them. He gets 15-20 possessions mainly contested every week. He spoils and inspires the defence. He is our defensive captain.

Agree. Brown did a very good job. At the ground you could see he was getting to contests and presenting. He’s not slow like Tmac. Jackson is not quite ready and 5 weeks away without match fitness wouldn’t help. Brown would like to show the bombers that he is still AFL standard.

That’s ridiculous really. Gabba will be preferred by the Vic clubs. Week 1 should see Power v cats - Adelaide Oval Thurs night 7:10 CST 7:40AEST Lions v Tigers - Gabba Fri night 7:40AEST Eagles v Dogs / Demons - Optus Stadium Sat afternoon 4.30AEST 2.30WST Pies v Saints - Gabba - Sat night 7:40AEST

Agree. Played a good first game. So over hyped. Then done zero since. Frustrating type who loves a trick shot but no pressure or hard running !!!

Agree. Holman was a tool. 3 metres out !!!

Hey watch out for the Suns in years to come. ?? Still over exaggerating their talent imo

Score review???? Really. Umps all were in good position. De Goey should have said “I didn’t kick it”. Game is a joke.

Ben King. Should be a star but he is very soft right now. Falls over and misses the ball a lot. Just not tonight but also on dry days. I agree he needs the gym work but fails the basics. Actually very happy with May trade.

Just to correct Langdon was drafted by Freo at pick 54 in 2014. JT passed him up on picks 40, 42 and 53 (Anb, Stretch and OMac). JT has a great record with the low picks. And yes we all love the new Riv.

Mumford is a lump of &&$)&@)!%#^. (self censored)

Good half forward type AFL player. Definitely shows talent and will get drafted. We have plenty of similar type players.

Lots of green ticks for JT. He is very very good. If only he’d been at MFC for 2007-12. I have every confidence in him getting us more and more quality kids. The only strange one is 2018 and I’d love to have a beer with him to discuss it We’d lost to the Eagles and had shown problems in pace and run. I remember losing to the Saints in 2018 and thought we needed more young outside mids and wingers. I think JT was hoping for Xavier Duursma or perhaps Sam Sturt to be available but both were gone by our pick. Tom Sparrow at 27. He’s a good kid and will be good but unsure how he fits our midfield structure as we had 5-6 inside mids already proven on the books and needed the outside run and pace. Most draft watchers had him in the 45-60 range. Will Hamill from Stingrays had been ranked early 20s and I thought we were ready to pounce. Hamill went to Crows at 30 James Jordan at 33. Another young inside mid who can play outside and has skill. Was ranked about 60-rookie range so a big call at 33. Again not sure he was our need. Bailey Williams was the big agile ruckman who dropped from top 15 range to be available. Maybe because we had traded in Preuss was why we skipped on Williams. Eagles stole him at 35. Sure we got Jackson as the next gen young ruckman but only because of a horrible MFC 2019.

Kozzzzzy

Ins. Harmes Lockhart consider if fit - Sparrow Hibberd Outs. Neale-Bullen ? Jetta (shoulder?) on the edge - Hunt J. Smith bombers dangers are 1- mids Shiel. Merrett. Smith. Parish. Need to tag Shiel 2- forwards. Daniher stringer and mcg-tip-wuti. May gets Daniher and probably put Tomlinson on stringer 3- backs. Saad for his run and Ridleys marking. Need Melksham to “tag” Saad and have someone contest with Ridley across marking half back as he has the most defensive marks across the last month. Assume Hooker and Heppell miss again. Have to win it no matter what the Dogs do