TGR

Slow one-paced midfields (Syd 2005, Melb 2015/16/17/18) surely prefer congestion at the source.

Wasn't being a smart ass to jnrmac here at all. I just added it in-case my theory (that foot-speed and line-breaking ability correlated in some way with ball movement speed) was absolutely incorrect.

True. Keeping width and trusting your tackler. But Goody probably tried it, and we might have got opened up. We don't know. With the Roos/Sydney gameplan, Malthouse, Neeld, Rossy Lyon Mark I game-styles, you could control...go for stoppage...be boundary philic back and centre....you didn't need quick ball movement. Roos' swans rarely came back from 4 goals down, except for 2005 SCG final when Nick Davis probably played the best quarter of finals football in the history of the game, to get them up with 3 seconds to go. The game has changed. Quick ball movement gets you one-on-ones at worst in your forward half.

It is a factor surely. If you have guys with outside speed that can break lines, get the ball out of congestion or press and develop overlap, then ball movement can only be enhanced. I probably need to listen to SEN more.

On radio today, some stats guru pointed this stat out. Interesting, as the Roos mantra of "instant offence" on transition, got us playing a brand of footy in 2016 and some parts of 2017, that were breathtakingly quick from half-back. We had AA Hibberd who was recruit of the year with his metres gained. We had the impressive emerging Hunt. We had Jetta who was unlucky not to be AA. Yet despite this rebound guns, we were still slowest for ball movement. So if this stat is correct, the next question is why. My biased reason is what I have been banging on about for 2-3 years. One-paced, one-geared rotating mids like Trenners, Trac, Vince, Tyson, Jones?, Lewis, Brayshaw, Salem,ANB...... Trac is OK because of his point-of-difference (clean one touch, strong, great overhead), but FCS the last type we need in this draft is another one-paced one-geared rotating mid. Even if there is another Jordan Lewis, 3 years younger, on low wage, with leadership of Michael Voss; FCS Melbourne fill our void, don't over-stock on what we have in abundance. Our play-on handball did get a bit predictable, especially when teams pressed up and closed our space at half-back and wing. The handball receiver would get sucked close to the player with the ball, and not maintain width. What is your reason for our sluggish ball movement? pTGR

If Howe felt Roos didn't value him (1 point of his 25 points), then I don't blame Howe for wanting to go. Our supporters on here certainly didn't value Jeremy Howe.

His middle name is Aliir too.

Would be an interesting sliding doors, but imagine no Lewis in 2017; but we kept Howe. A guess, but Howe would have commanded 35% more of Lewis' wage. Yes we wouldn't have had Lewis' leadership, which is overrated. If our boys had any steel and thirst intrinsically, we would have finished 5th, not 9th. Lewis' last month was pretty good, but I still maintain he gets a lot of cheap handball receives that inflate his stats. Oppositions realise he can't run with it, won't break a line, and hence zone off him on to potential targets. When they have the ball, they know that he'll make a hail-mary contest and lose his feet, and if he doesn't, can easily be run off. Howe had a lot of detractors on coincidenceland. Could never understand it. But I had faith in Roos, as players that he has attracted (Richards, Jolly, Ball, Joey Kennedy, Hally, McGlynn, Cross Vince etc...) over the journey have been mostly ticks; and he hasn't let go of many that would be regretted later. Howe might be his first stuff-up. Intercept marks at half-back (McGovern, Howe etc...) are vital in the modern game. Howe was unlucky not to be AA this year. Could have replaced Docherty easily. BTW, Howe single-handedly spooked us in the first quarter with the obvious directive of not going long and direct. But there was something in Howe that Roos didn't rate. Workrate? Tackling pressure? Surely, it is on par or better than Wattsy. I think bypassing Kelly (or Roos now says Billings) for Tyson, Salem & Hunt was OK, in view of the fact that Neeld depleted our list with B-grade trash (Gillies, Couch, etc....). If Melbourne were fair-dinkum, Lewis should join Montagna, Rooey, Hodge, Mitchell, Jobe and Co.... right now. If we think we need Jordan Lewis to make finals, we don't deserve to be there in the first place. Petracca should play on-ball next year, so JL is destined to play loosey in defence.

Clayton Oliver is going as Brienne of Tarth, I understand.

Yeh. Lets get another one-paced, one-geared mid (looking for superannuation).

I am not saying MFC fans won't turn up. Read what I said dingbat.

Pretty easy read. Most interesting parts of the book are: - Roos' 25 points that he wrote down when he retired as a player, in the event that he ever coached, he always wanted to remember from a player's perspective. - Roos' powerpoint presentation to the Sydney board while Wallet was lurking. - Drills that he brought back from the NBA and used extensively at Sydney primarily. 2v1 attack; 4v4 Mids; 2v1 attack. - Rationale for Jolly and pick 15 which was used on Lyn Dunn Dunn. - Petracca might have ADD in the gym. Issues over the journey with fooling around. - Asked Watts if he wanted to be traded at the end of 2015 (forget if it is common-knowledge).

Revenge? Bulldust. Win round 1 by 10 goals in 2018. Great. Doesn't do a single thing to eradicate the last round in 2017. About time this club, and its supporters stop looking at external irrelevant factors like curses, luck, and seeking artificial fleeting feel-good moments like 'revenge'. Yes, we didn't have continuity with injury. But we stuffed up from an on-field viewpoint (North, Freo etc..) and I reckon it wasn't our best year from a medical point-of-view either. Viney's return in 2 weeks post-surgery was heroic, but I wouldn't call it smart.

One of Roosy's 25 points is to not comment when you are hurt/burning. The vitriol against the McDonalds....I can't fathom. Tom has been the best swing man in the AFL; and Oscar is a baby in KPP terms. Our glaring weakness has been there for some time, and would have been there if we snuck in to the 8. Too many one-paced one-geared mids; without points-of-difference. pTGR

Jeremy Howe?

Quick multi-dimensional mobile talls grow on trees. Are we still celebrating Stef Martin's departure? We let Frost go, we have rocks in our head.

Good points about peak pace being similar to old-man pace when the player is slow to begin with anyway. I think MFC needed Cross at the time more than we need Lewis in 17/18/19. Cross though never chose when to go in his superannuant years. Cross's hands were elite, whereas I would say Jordie's kicking has been good in 17. Cross's decision-making was elite at his time in Melbourne. Wouldn't say the same for JL. If you go through Melbourne's list, and some commentators pointed to this during our lean stretch in the past month, we are over-stocked with one-paced players that are not brilliant on the outside. I wouldn't swap Petracca for the world, but he aint lightning. Brayshaw's game surprised me, but he aint lightning. Ditto Vince, Jones, Tyson, Salem, Trengove, ANB and the list goes on. Stretch's and JKH (not super quick anway) slow progress doesn't help this situation. The emergence of Hunt and the cheap get of Garlett has saved our hide to some degree. Lewis was the last player type I would have salivated over in November 2016. His going to ground to a make one hail mary at a contest, rather than staying in the contest, will cost us in September. Do some of us really think he is on par (capable and productive) than many of his contemporaries that have announced they are retiring now. The AFL have purposefully taken congestion out of the game with certain rules being implemented and highlighted. The game is getting quicker, in a different way.

His form over the past month has been good as VP said; but I don't think he was instrumental in resetting us when the saints got close. They should have got in front, and would have gone on with it if they had IMO. I think he gets a lot of cheap handball-receives from Gawn and Co. Like Montagna, he sprints for an easy HR. That no doubt has inflated his stats over the winter. I still think the biggest winners of the 3-year deal will be Al Clarkson and Jordie Lewis. Great thing about the game and these forums are that time will tell and it will be hard to hide.

Agree with the dropping. JW has everything bar the eye-of-the-tiger. It is not in his DNA. It has be to somewhat injected in to him. Injections don't last so the best we might ever get is a month to 6 weeks of good footy at a time. As long as he can produce in September, which is what we deserve, and more importantly, he deserves.

My problem is the +1 down back (Jetta), versus the Roos at the death when we had to score.

A year ago, who would have predicted Tom McDonald would be playing AA footy... as a forward? Probably as important to our defense as Rance for Richmond. But when a guy can just go forward and play the way he has, in a year where Hogan has stagnated, and Kent has gone backwards; we have no choice to bank on McDonald forward. Those stats don't surprise. North took a risk by playing 3 tall forwards. They don't clunk it, then defenders run it out easy. They gambled. They won. We just need to stick fat with Frost (who should keep taking them on) and Oscar. If Watts doesn't impact forward, he will be the next one thrown back IMO.

One of the worst 34 possession games I have seen. Didn't like him berating a few teammates when his decision-making and positioning was questionable. His kick in-board to Hogan was puzzling. His shepherd for McDonald on Preust was great. Watts had a shocker, but I prefer him to play the easiest gig in town (plus one in D50); especially when he aint firing a shot up forward. At least he can compete in the air. Talking about the "+1". Why was Jetta loose in defence in the last 2 minutes when we needed to go all out attack.

Gee wiz. Engineer a couple meaningless losses for Judd and Hodge (for example) instead of a Luke Ball, and surely most of us would be up for it. We had a losing culture anyway. That is what most simpletons conveniently dismiss. The carrot was there. This was always a Demetriou AFL system problem, not an MFC intent issue....IMO.

Don't think unbelievably is the word I would use. The real keyboard warrior goes to ground when they have egg on their face.

Read my thread starter. She could do anything. Soccer...cricket...lawn bowls. Give her 5 minutes and she'll know more than Robbo and Sarah Jones combined.