Straight Sets Simon

Melksham playing on is just dumb.

The last thing I want to do is get offended by a banner, but singling out an opposition player lacks class.

I like that we have three genuine marking forward options.

Who will take home the Kent Kingsley today?

Scoring has dried up in the past few weeks.

No, that wasn’t the trade. I just couldn’t think of or find any recent Melbourne players that went to Essendon but now as a write this I remember Jamar and Magner went to the Bombers.

And Harmes.

Yes, Melbourne are going to bring out a jumper from four years ago last minute. It's clearly the royal blue one.

This week the two teams will be playing for the 2002 Pick 10-Moorcroft Medal.

During the first quarter when the scores were close I wrote "this could get ugly" based purely on the way the team was playing, including all the small issues previously mentioned. It had nothing to do with the score, it was simply a matter of time before Richmond ran over us based on the way we were playing.

Richmond still managed to get the ball away cleanly when we tackled them. That's the problem, they can and we can't.

I think we get too many players around the ball, we need to have some players hold off around the contest and not to sucked in.

Richmond just do the little things so much better than us. Put aside the fact that our structure is all wrong and we are stagnant with our ball movement, it's the way they work for each other, break tackles, make tackles, clear the ball form contested situations and spread compared to us that had me most concerned.

That percentage...

Our midfield depth is poor, lots of flankers who go through the middle but very few genuine midfielders.

Totally agree. We need multiple targets, the current structure isn’t working.

I’d say he’s a 99% chance of getting dropped. This medium size forward line isn’t working.

Collingwood are good, they’ve been building all year.

I knew it. Exact same spot too.

I’m pretty sure that twice now ANB has tried to kick the ball off the ground in the Members’ pocket only for it to go out on the full.

We have an energy sapping game style.

What?

Clearly what we are doing now isn’t working so we need to shake-up the structure. Our inability to convert forward 50 entries is a huge concern, less medium forwards and more marking targets with Hogan, Pedersen and Weideman. Salem back to the backline to replace Vince. Petracca predominantly forward. Garlett on his last chance. Frost in for his ability to take the game on, we were so stagnant last night. Hibberd up the ground to get him involved more. JKH probably a lucky inclusion. Out: Stretch, ANB, Harmes, Vince, Kent (injured) In: Frost, Hannan, Fritsch, Pedersen, JKH FB: Jetta O. McDonald Salem HB: Hunt Lever Frost C: Brayshaw Oliver Hibberd HF: Petracca Hogan Fritsch FF: Pedersen Weideman Melksham Foll: Gawn Jones Tyson Int: Wagner Garlett JKH Hannan

Whenever Richmond players had the ball in close they looked to take a few quick steps or a shimmy to create space before disposing. Whenever we had the ball in close we simply looked to throw the ball on the boot or just handpass straight away without first creating space. When tackled, Richmond retained the ball and managed to almost always get their hands free to pass the ball off, especially over their heads to a teammate. When we are trackled we just let the ball fall out or cough it up to the opposition without first trying to get our hands free.

Correct. Early on I said that “this could get ugly” and that’s when there was only a couple of goals in it. The fumbles, missed tackles, lack of composure and overall apparent lack of a game plan was they for all to see last night.