Melbourne: what do we make of them

[Blackas87]

April Premiers

 

[CarnTheScray]

How's the numpty Basil Zemp not even allowing Goodwin to speak to the crowd.

I would be livid if that happened to us. Goody should told him to nick off and give him the mic.

 

[billyboutsis]

You meant 2017, yeah? You genuinely think your list is in better shape than the eventual premiers from that season? Holy moly.

Martin > Petracca
Prestia > Viney
Grimes > Lever
Rance > May
Vlastuin > Hibberd
Houli > Hunt
Riewoldt > Brown
Lambert > Fritsch
Rioli > Spargo
Caddy > Melksham
Astbury > Tomlinson
Edwards > Brayshaw
Butler > Pickett

I’ll give you:
Gawn > Nankervis
Langdon > McIntosh
Oliver > Cotchin
Salem > Ellis (I’m being kind here, they’re both cats)

The rest is essentially depth and our bottom six/role players are by far the best in the league and are widely recognised as such.

And I’ve provided ten better wingers than Langdon. Read the thread.

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

Goodluck to them did well don't forget there past through.They 100% tanked it bigtime in the past coach and I think a player admitted it yet the afl didn't take no draft picks , but a fine of 500k lool and kept tanking for years typical mediocrity from the afl .Got Roos for nothing basically from the afl and kept getting handouts from the afl $$ .

Well, I think we know who Tom Browne posts as on here now.

 

[Tulip]

Butler > Pickett

 

[db26]

Well, I think we know who Tom Browne posts as on here now.

Settle down one flag since 1964 ! congratulations great effort this year got that extra gear like the Tigers had.

 

[adogsfan5]

Defence and work rate is ridiculous. Every time we kicked it inside 50 they’d have their numbers there to assist.

 

[markm106]

Interesting reading back through some of this. Some were flat out it’s Melbourne’s to lose. Some stayed true to the Melbourne having beaten anyone. Or they only played good teams when they got injuries. Some including many Melbourne supporters just refused to believe. Deep down they did. But we were so used to disappointment we couldn’t believe it.
So what do we make of Melbourne? They’re premiers now. We did it!

 

[demondavey]

How's the numpty Basil Zemp not even allowing Goodwin to speak to the crowd.

Basil is an absolute liability. Needs to see himself out.

 

[footyfan1978]

The blueprint to beat them is there for everyone to see now. Win the clearance which you can do alot of the time as they generally have one less at the stoppage and kick it where May and Lever are not when going forward. Don't allow Tmac off the chain up forward and force them wide when attacking and you're just about home.

Can't see them winning a prelim if they even make it that far.

So far off...ha ha

 

[footyfan1978]

Interesting reading back through some of this. Some were flat out it’s Melbourne’s to lose. Some stayed true to the Melbourne having beaten anyone. Or they only played good teams when they got injuries. Some including many Melbourne supporters just refused to believe. Deep down they did. But we were so used to disappointment we couldn’t believe it.
So what do we make of Melbourne? They’re premiers now. We did it!

and some of us just said hand them the flag, months ago...he he

 

[elbarton]

They are going to be hard to knock off for the next 5 years. Very strong echoes of the Geelong era.

 

[demondavey]

They are going to be hard to knock off for the next 5 years. Very strong echoes of the Geelong era.

I like the Hawthorn one better before the cliff comes into view

 

[RichLeMonde]

They are going to be hard to knock off for the next 5 years. Very strong echoes of the Geelong era.

To be fair even though they flogged the Dogs I don’t think the Dogs are actually that far off them.

under the new rules when a good team gets on top they can pile on goals and make the other team look silly. It’s hard to stay in touch on the scoreboard just through grit and nous, like teams used to be able to do, which can make the gap between 2 teams look bigger than it really is. I think the Dogs have the personnel to go with them, just need a few structural adjustments, even though Dees will start next year as red hot faves

 

[lumpinee]

t took oppo coaches 10 weeks to finally figure out what was a very good system make no mistake
the end result is in the outcome of friday nights loss and highlighted just how much work has gone into halting and curtailing Melbourne's
system which has been/could be very effective.
the observations i have made and are making a difference imo are:

1/ defence was playing thru Langdon and/or Brayshaw on the wings and these 2,especially Langdon, were carving teams up with pure
running power,now theyre tagged and checked every week and both been affected by the close attention,using Johannisen being a fine
example of like for like,not every team has the class of winger such as johannisen or smith or hunter who are equal to if not better than
Brayshaw & Langdon

2/ if Tom McDonald

25

Tom Mcdonald

Age

31

Ht

195cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.7

4star

M

5.6

5star

T

1.9

4star

MG

261.8

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

0.6

1star

MG

135.6

2star

D

13.8

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

7.0

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.4

4star

continues to be down on confidence Melbourne will not even make a Prelim imo,this guy is so crucial to a mostly dysfunctional
Fwd line,if he cant pick himself up they have no hope

3/ the young guys who are talented, Jackson,Rivers,Jordan etc, look spent,i think they need a freshener,problem is they need a 3-4 week rest in the 2's
which is risky because they may just tail off altogether,in saying that i think theyve tailed off as it is and may not be able to muster the energy
required again this year ?? the jurys out on this

4/ finally Christian Salem

3

Christian Salem

Age

28

Ht

184cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.9

5star

K

12.4

5star

HB

6.5

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

3.1

5star

MG

350.6

5star

D

18.1

4star

K

12.0

5star

HB

6.1

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.1

3star

MG

285.7

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

6.2

3star

HB

1.8

2star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.0

4star

getting caught out by clever fwds making him accountable,a couple of goals,the earlier the better from his opponent
really puts his mind in doubt about running around loose and becoming that driver outta the backline,good sides have allocated theyre dangerous
small to Salem and hes's been paying the price,unlike those first 10 weeks

i think its accepted amongst oppos that Petracca and Oliver are just going to accumulate regardless and the goal would be to keep the effeciency
of those possesions around or below 60% if it can be helped ...fact is both are AA certainties this year and virtually cannot be stoped

Jul 27, 2021

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[Sphynx]

They are going to be hard to knock off for the next 5 years. Very strong echoes of the Geelong era.

Yep, I think the Dogs will be a stronger side than they are now in 3-4 years and eventually knock them off once Smith/Naughton/JUH/Darcy all get close to their peaks and Bont is in his late 20's.

Can't see too many road blocks for them in the next 1-3 years though unless they have some injury cruelled years (a possibility obviously)

Not sure Port/Bris/Gee/Rich have that level in them.

Might legitimately win multiples until the Syd/Ess/NM/Ade/GC(?!) group start contending imo.

 

[lumpinee]

Yep, I think the Dogs will be a stronger side than they are now in 3-4 years and eventually knock them off once Smith/Naughton/JUH/Darcy all get close to their peaks and Bont is in his late 20's.

Can't see too many road blocks for them in the next 1-3 years though unless they have some injury cruelled years (a possibility obviously)

Not sure Port/Bris/Gee/Rich have that level in them.

Might legitimately win multiples until the Syd/Ess/NM/Ade/GC(?!) group start contending imo.

it wont be in 3-4 yrs years,they'll be contending for top 4 in 9 months time(16 games),they'll need a back up ruck and a tall back tho to take it out
if they can trade in one of those and then pick up an outlier from the state leagues they're a big show
they could do well to trade out Cordy/Gardiner,Lipinski, Johannisen, West and Wood will probably call it a day
What are they gonna do with Lewis Young ?

 

[Sphynx]

it wont be in 3-4 yrs years,they'll be contending for top 4 in 9 months time(16 games),they'll need a back up ruck and a tall back tho to take it out
if they can trade in one of those and then pick up an outlier from the state leagues they're a big show

Of course the Dogs will continue to contend for the last 3-4 years.

My point being, I don't think their true peak is going to be for 3-4 years.

When the Bont/Macrae/Libba group intersects with JUH/Darcy/Naughton/Smith's group becoming key best 22 players.

 

[BG32]

Peaked in September, won't win a game for several months now.

 

[00Stinger]

Peaked in September, won't win a game for several months now.

Will not win a game in the next 6 weeks

Bookmark it!

 

[master bate]

Of course the Dogs will continue to contend for the last 3-4 years.

My point being, I don't think their true peak is going to be for 3-4 years.

When the Bont/Macrae/Libba group intersects with JUH/Darcy/Naughton/Smith's group becoming key best 22 players.

It's interesting that they won a flag in 2016 with their core mids being super young, have now made a grand final with them being in their prime and are set up to continue at a high level but also reach even higher levels due to the young talls and Smith.

I'm not as convinced Libba, Hunter and Treloar will be high level players in a few years time and Macrae will always be solid but probably less impactful. Toby McLean is a forgotten man though and Dunkley might have another gear if he gets healthy. It's still a fantastic midfield core that's a long way from done.

Ideally they find a partner that allows him to share the job but I think English might just put it together as a ruck in the next couple of years too. He stemmed the tide in the Brisbane final. For most of his career he's been a forward/midfielder who is reluctant in the ruck contests but at some stage the penny drops that he's 205cm and can start winning contests in there.

 

[master bate]

Melbourne definitely had issues throughout the year:

- ground ball defending against teams with zippy smalls
- falling in to bad centre clearance habits (Geel game 2nd quarter, Swans game at the G)
- teams chipping around and finding gaps in the zone when it was too lax (GWS and Coll losses)
- inside 50 entries (a lot of the year!)
- goal kicking

Coaches absolutely attacked a lot of the game plan from early in the year. But the advantage the Dees had was they had the time to fix some issues and they had plenty of answers.

They needed some ground ball composure in the backline particularly as teams were playing Lever very defensively - they bought in Bowey.
Opposition avoiding May and Lever with long bombs - ok, we'll zone up and flood your backline
Teams were aggressively negating Gawn in the middle - use Jackson to jump at the ball and create chaos.
Forward entries were stale - put Ben Brown

50

Ben Brown

Age

31

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.7

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.2

3star

G

2.2

5star

D

7.9

2star

K

6.3

3star

HB

1.6

1star

M

3.7

4star

T

0.9

2star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

3.4

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.2

4star

through a mini preseason then use him and Fritsch both deep and creating their own space

 

[footyfan1978]

They are going to be hard to knock off for the next 5 years. Very strong echoes of the Geelong era.

I think strongest case of back to back since the Essendon premiership team of 1984. Think it going to take a power of stopping Demons win two in a row.

 

[KickLongTackleHard]

September champions.

Only lost 4 games for the year.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Worst April premiers ever Crimson Azure