Changes vs Richmond ANZAC Day eve - Deck chairs shuffled - 5 changes.

[Tulip]

Speaking of leadership, I've been fortunate enough to attend all four of our losses this season, and we have very little of it. Gawny has gone to water, TMac is on Interpol's missing person list, and Jones and particularly Viney show absolutely no on-field leadership whatsoever. Jones is a quiet country boy that has become okay at firing the boys up, without being great at it, but Viney has shocked me with how little influence he actually seems to have. I'm not sure I've seen him revving the boys up once this year, and all the footage of our pre-game huddles seems to show Jones doing all the shouting. The bloke was meant to be a born leader, what the **** happened? Literally no point having two captains that lead by example, may as well have just stuck with Jones - a guy who will never go down on an all-time leaders list with the likes of Hodge, Selwood, Hurn etc,

 

[Topkent]

I'm usually up for criticising the players, but I don't think any of them are in particularly bad form. Even Frost was good on the weekend. .

I'd dispute this.
Omac is
Jetta
Hibberd
Gawn
Viney
Oliver
Tmac
Weid
Melksham

They are all down on last year. If it was just one or 2 then no problem but none of them would say they are matching their 2nd half of the season

 

[Tulip]

I'd dispute this.
Omac is
Jetta
Hibberd
Gawn
Viney
Oliver
Tmac
Weid
Melksham

They are all down on last year. If it was just one or 2 then no problem but none of them would say they are matching their 2nd half of the season

Fair call on the McDonald brothers, Hibberd and Jetta. But the others just look a bit lost in whatever system we're trying to play.

 

[Topkent]

Fair call on the McDonald brothers, Hibberd and Jetta. But the others just look a bit lost in whatever system we're trying to play.

Maybe, but even last year when we were struggling you could argue that Jetta, Gawn and Oliver were in the AA side and Melk and Tmac later on. Individually I don't think anyone is even close.

Salem looks to have properly broken out, Harmes and Brayshaw are keeping on. Everyone else is either alot or a little down on last year unfortunately

 

[Topkent]

Speaking of leadership, I've been fortunate enough to attend all four of our losses this season, and we have very little of it. Gawny has gone to water, TMac is on Interpol's missing person list, and Jones and particularly Viney show absolutely no on-field leadership whatsoever. Jones is a quiet country boy that has become okay at firing the boys up, without being great at it, but Viney has shocked me with how little influence he actually seems to have. I'm not sure I've seen him revving the boys up once this year, and all the footage of our pre-game huddles seems to show Jones doing all the shouting. The bloke was meant to be a born leader, what the **** happened? Literally no point having two captains that lead by example, may as well have just stuck with Jones - a guy who will never go down on an all-time leaders list with the likes of Hodge, Selwood, Hurn etc,

From my comfy spot on the couch Viney looks like a man who knows he's hardly contributing to the team and is solely focused on that. I really wonder if he's a 'leader' or if they confused that with being the ultimate professional. Jake Lever looks like the next young leader if he can stay fit

 

[Tempy Tiger]

I’d be happy with 22 guys who had done a full pre-season. Anyone carrying injuries needs to be rested.
This season has shown that you can not afford to have half your list miss pre-season. And it was compounded by the already late start to our pre-season due to us making the prelim.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Um what

Overall agree, but even he had some head scratching moments the other day. One time he had the ball and some space to work with as he approached our offensive 50 and he got the kick all wrong. Amazingly the ball came back to him almost immediately and he somehow got kick #2 even more wrong.

 

[Topkent]

Overall agree, but even he had some head scratching moments the other day. One time he had the ball and some space to work with as he approached our offensive 50 and he got the kick all wrong. Amazingly the ball came back to him almost immediately and he somehow got kick #2 even more wrong.

Can't say I remember that

 

[Topkent]

One thing I do know is Harmes is not even close to being dropped. Been in our top few this season.

 

[Topkent]

Jesus this is grim, just realised Melksham with 9 is the only player in our side with more than 5 goals. Rubbish season so far.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Just went back and looked. The sequence starts with about 10:20 on the clock in quarter 2.

He was actually running through midfield on the right side with a lot of space in front of him. He kicked a ground ball that Tmac was able to gather and get back to him before an even worse kick on attempt two.

Honestly not sure why he even kicked the first one- seemed like had nothing but open space in from of him.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Just went back and looked. The sequence starts with about 10:20 on the clock in quarter 2.

He was actually running through midfield on the right side with a lot of space in front of him. He kicked a ground ball that Tmac was able to gather and get back to him before an even worse kick on attempt two.

Honestly not sure why he even kicked the first one- seemed like had nothing but open space in from of him.

Obviously anyone can have an occasional miscue, and I realize he’s one of our best players.

 

[mrmonkey]

We've had virtually 4 goalless quarters this year from 5 games. Our forward line is broken. The frustrating thing is we are giving opposition luxuries we don't get ourselves. It's pagans paddock in our backline. To be honest if we're going to continue on the path of goalless quarters then let's at least make it difficult for the opposition to score. We need to get out defense right first.

 

[Topkent]

Just went back and looked. The sequence starts with about 10:20 on the clock in quarter 2.

He was actually running through midfield on the right side with a lot of space in front of him. He kicked a ground ball that Tmac was able to gather and get back to him before an even worse kick on attempt two.

Honestly not sure why he even kicked the first one- seemed like had nothing but open space in from of him.

Ok I just watched it.. wasn't that bad mate lol

First one was because he collected the ball in the back 50 and was then the only midfielder who worked up to the wing to continue the chain. He kicked it just in front of McDonald on a lead up which is a perfectly fine kick, got the 1-2 and then tried to hit Jones inside 50 but was but off by a saints bloke. If he hits Jones it's probably the best piece of a play by a dees player all day due to the work rate.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Ok I just watched it.. wasn't that bad mate lol

First one was because he collected the ball in the back 50 and was then the only midfielder who worked up to the wing to continue the chain. He kicked it just in front of McDonald on a lead up which is a perfectly fine kick, got the 1-2 and then tried to hit Jones inside 50 but was but off by a saints bloke. If he hits Jones it's probably the best piece of a play by a dees player all day due to the work rate.

You would know better. Looked like a disastrous end to a very positive position we were in.

 

[Topkent]

You would know better. Looked like a disastrous end to a very positive position we were in.

Yeah but it came about because he basically single handedly got the ball from the back 50 to the forward 50 then a skill error on the final kick but you don't go blokes for that especially when no one else in our side works between the 50s

 

[Topkent]

I was listening to Rodney Eade on MMM and he was talking about Melbourne and he used what I thought was a spot on analogy.
He said we were a One day side, not a test side.
Basically he said that we love to just go the tonk for a session, and if someone scores against us our first thought is all good we will just score when we get it. They score 2, we think all good back to the middle and we will try score 3.
He said we cant play like a test team, we cant realise that it not working for us this session and keep it tight outside off or in footy parlance just shut it down and have a goalless 15 minutes, it like we are too arrogant to concede a side might be beating us and just try and nullify. He said instead we just try and bowl more yorkers and hit more sixes.

It is very evident that we just dont have an ability to concede things arent working and changing them, Plan B seems to be do Plan A better.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Yeah but it came about because he basically single handedly got the ball from the back 50 to the forward 50 then a skill error on the final kick but you don't go blokes for that especially when no one else in our side works between the 50s

If you say the first kick was fine I’ll take your word for it. I don’t see why you would willingly kick the ball to ground though. It’s an oblong pointy thing, and Tmac is rather tall, but it did work out

But why not continue running the ball inside 50 there? He still had lots of space.

 

[Topkent]

If you say the first kick was fine I’ll take your word for it. I don’t see why you would willingly kick the ball to ground though. It’s an oblong point thing, and Tmac is rather tall, but it did work out

But why not continue running the ball inside 50 there? He still had lots of space.

There was a bloke a metre in front of him mate.

 

[Cannon82]

Our midfield is pretty terrible

I'd like to see Oliver go forward more or start on a wing. Try and break his game up. His hurt factor from his disposal is about a 1-10 at the moment. He has 2 modes of using it atm. 2m handball or bomb it long.

Jack Viney isn't that good at footy, he's just kinda crazy. His use of the ball is as bad as anyone in the side and when he knows clearing the ball like an animal I'm not sure what he's doing.

Brayshaw has probably been the best of these 3 but my god is he bad by foot. Reckon he went 50/50 left right on the weekend when he should learn how to kick on his right first.

Quietly Harmes has easily been our best midfielder this year. He's got the perfect balance going yet people still don't rate him because he gets 25 not 35

Definitely agree re: Oliver. He's played a bit in the forward line, otherwise his entire career has been spent on the ball thus far. Would even consider throwing him in the backline for a bit so he can experience the joy of having loose men everywhere and opposition midfielders having all the time in the world to pick their passes. Gives players a bit of perspective on how it feels trying to pick up the pieces when other players on the park only run one way.

Harmes has been okay. Done an okay tagging job, kicked a few goals, racked up a few possessions, etc. He's generally been good enough (which at the moment puts him in our top 5 players for the year) but he also makes mistakes and is sloppy by foot. Think he gets a bit of a pass for this sort of thing because people have lower expectations of him.

 

[AmericanAFL]

There was a bloke a metre in front of him mate. View attachment 659455

Isn’t that on kick two?

 

[Topkent]

Isn’t that on kick two?

He made the right choice to honour the lead on the first kick.

 

[Topkent]

Definitely agree re: Oliver. He's played a bit in the forward line, otherwise his entire career has been spent on the ball thus far. Would even consider throwing him in the backline for a bit so he can experience the joy of having loose men everywhere and opposition midfielders having all the time in the world to pick their passes. Gives players a bit of perspective on how it feels trying to pick up the pieces when other players on the park only run one way.

Harmes has been okay. Done an okay tagging job, kicked a few goals, racked up a few possessions, etc. He's generally been good enough (which at the moment puts him in our top 5 players for the year) but he also makes mistakes and is sloppy by foot. Think he gets a bit of a pass for this sort of thing because people have lower expectations of him.

Yeah hes developed this attitude that once he wins a clearance his job is done, would be hands down one of the lazier blokes in the game once the balls out of his area. Its pretty easy to say the AA has gotten to his head but hes playing well within himself. Also goalless for the season so hes not doing anything outside clearance work.


Re Harmes- Im not trying to say he's in AA form or anything, I just think of all of our midfielders he has the balance best between being inside and also getting on his bike and getting forward. His foot skills are hit and miss aswell but I think of all of our midfielders he tries to atleast lower the eyes and hit targets. Im less mad when a bloke misses a target when hes trying to hit a lead than when they just kick it to no one in particular.

 

[markm106]

One thing I do know is Harmes is not even close to being dropped. Been in our top few this season.

Harmes has been quiet good. Also using the ball pretty well. Can’t be said for all our mids.

 

[AmericanAFL]

He made the right choice to honour the lead on the first kick.

Don’t know what this means mate.