Absolutely they should be and Crippa, Harry and Fog should be embarrassed but ....

And momentum killers.

I'm with you Bondi.......if you can't hit targets, miss goals, fumble the ball, drop marks, can't lay a tackle, then you have the spotlight directly on you, that is not coaching, that is basic AFL skills.

The only forwards I trust to kick a goal when it is their turn, are Hayward, Ainsworth and Byrne...............that says a lot about our forward line.
Even McLovin and Pitto are kicking them, I'm half sold on them but I still have some scars.

In the Richmond game they had 15 marks inside 50 to our 7.
We have a new forward line coach, a new midfield coach, a new stoppages and structure coach and a new leadership coach and we still can't hit targets inside F50.
At some point in time commonsense has to prevail and you have to ask, can our current players deliver.
Jagga is a shining example of this, he's already becoming one of, if not our best midfielders in his second game.

A lot of questions, but I'll admit it is still early.

Assuming Haynes Newman Saad Cerra Wilson Evans are all fit for selection.

IN: Haynes Derksen Newman Cerra Saad Boyd
OUT: Dean Cowan O'Keefe Chesser Fogarty Ollie

Melbourne have a Giant 207cm ruckman in Gawn. He starts the play for them.
Only Pitto can go with him...and hurt him. Pitto plays a very physical game and can only play 60% these days.
I prefer Young to give the chop out vs Gawn for 10 mins per quarter.

Melbourne have Petty as their tallest KP forward or back, so we dont really need a big KPD, we need more mobile talls, and Derksen haynes Kemp and Gov give us that.

B: Boyd Weitering Haynes
HB: Florent Derksen Saad ......Newman

R: Pittonet Walsh Smith...........Cerra Lord Hewett
C: Carroll Cripps E.Hollands

HF: Hayward McKay Ainsworth
F: Williams McGovern Kemp......Young

Want more speed and better kicking from backline.

Williams and Ainsworth mix it up with mids.

Was 50-50 bringing back Acres on the wing for Elijah, but Acres hasnt played many minutes this preseason.

Byrne isn't running out VFL games let alone AFL, so need to build him up his emgine before he comes into the team.
If he was a 3 qtr player I'm sure he would have been selected ahead of Fogarty, and spend 30 minutes on the bench.

Dropped Cowan for his constant kicking long bombs to a pack rather than running the ball out using his pace; his asset

I love Ollie's pace and stamina but he is another who needs to take his kicking more serious.
Message is you are an AFL footballer, but you must concentrate more on your kicking. Work on that in the VFL.

Actually its a toss up for me between Lord and Ollie because Lord was bombing it in 2nd half too, as he tired? and Hewett is ahead of Lord as an inside mid.
I'll give the nod to a midfielder. If Williams spent more time as a midfielder, I'd pick a goal kicker in Evans ahead of Ollie and Lord for this game.

Chesser may have been fatigued from a lot of running, hence looked a bit slow a couple times as his opponent closed down space in the chase, but went with Elijah in the hope he finally shakes the cobwebs and shows some consistency with his field kicking, and kicks a goal or two. I don't expect goals from Chesser.

Go Blues

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

....but if Cripps cant kick straight and is a pure inside mid, then he should be waxing on the bench imo. I'm finding it too difficult to squeeze him elsewhere. Lord and Hewett are also inside mids and a tad more nimble. If Crippa is fading in the 2nd halves and we are losing contested ball, then he should be shown the bench. I'm sure that'll spark him up...or he plays 2nd ruck/ inside mid/ bench....IMO

.... our second half fade outs with contested ball is in its 3rd year now. That has to change. Must shine the torch on all inside mids, or just torch them. I don't blame game plan or Voss for 2nd half fade outs and losing contested ball. I see something between players ears fading out. If they really want the ball, they are good enough to get ball, if not.....door / bench is over there

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I bet me dropping Ollie came as a shock to you.
I didnt think he was as bad as he's been in the first 2 games.
Almost too casual

I think its an indictment we are relying on 29yo battered Pitto and 32yo hasbeen Gov to be our goalkickers.

I'm sure everyone at TC could see what we could see at the ground, players with ball ignoring the 45 degree leads and choosing to bomb it instead. not in the first, but long bombs started creeping in dueng the 2nd quarter and increased as the game went on. In the last Qtr, it looked like we were happy to give it back to them in the hop that enough airtime hang would kill time. Ridiculous.

Energy creates energy, and energy perpetuated momentum...as for momentum killers.....Acres, Ollie, Kemp, Cuppa, Fog, Motlop, Harry...we keep one....Harry.

And players like Weitering, Elijah and Lord have to hit targets on the full to enable a player to mark and keep possession. Elementary stuff. Hopefully players will remember the ridicule in the preseason of their skills.

Come on Baggers. You're better than that, and better than the Dees....fkn CLICK wouldja

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

This idea of Crippa playing second ruck is intriguing.

I just don't know if it's a bigger risk of him getting injured or not?

Having a centre bounce lineup of Crippa, Hewett/Lord, Jagga and then rotating between Walsh/Cerra/Williams/Lij/Carroll? would be so much more dynamic.

It still wouldn't be anywhere near the fastest midfield in footy, but it'd be a hell of a lot nimbler than what we have now.

The other option is having him rest down back. Could he take the 2nd or 3rd best tall forward, at least sometimes, depending on the matchup? Rather than put the pressure on him to kick goals, he might be better suited to stopping them?

Instead of trying to turn him into Bont, make him the Anti-Bont.

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The Artist Formerly Known As BamBam7

Like you, trying to find a spot for him.

I agree Crippa aint the man for CB.
Gone are the days where a short ruck would suffice at the CB.
Would have to play mids one on one, and Cripps would have to clobber a TDK to stop him attacking the losoe ball.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Other teams have the bye. Annoying they haven't organised a praccy much, but I guess they have their reasons

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#DonTheStash

I did see that Bondi.
Don't get me wrong, I really want all our kids to be stars, but Ollie is not helping himself as the more 'senior' kid with his poor kicking style and resulting poor disposals by foot.
And aside from him not sticking more of his tackles the rest of his game is great, although a little slow for my liking.
It really is up to him to sort this out, he should be the player that owns his position outright now and the team can rely on him playing his role.
But I still feel his best position is in the back pocket, IMO he has played his best football there to date.

I agree, maybe pre-training we need to show them the video.
Then again, we could just compile the fumbles, missed targets, missed angles, missed tackles, missed shots on goals each week and show it to them with Benny Hill music, repeated for at least a half a game at this stage.
Not sure how positive of a culture that would be though.
But something has to change and it has to be at player level, they need to take ownership.

Coach should take charge. Needs to drop on of Cripps, Lord or Hewett and rotate the other 2 off the bench. Stand up and deliver or F#$% off and let someone else coach this team.

Our game plan is the issue. Players can't compete a contested style for 4 quarters when others have plenty of petrol in the tank by playing wide and loose. We need to wake up and join the party. Make the changes needed to the team and game plan and move forward for FFS.

Watching the 1st half the Hawthorn v Sydney game and see how open the game is played. 11 goals and we aren't even into the 2nd half the 2nd quarter.
Our guys would have wasted all the petrol by now closing down the game or trying too and then either team will have a field day in the second half against us.
It's no wonder we drop our heads as well. The players know they are done and have nothing left compared to the opposition. It's not that hard to follow.

Have him play ruck at the centre bounce and not compete, so it becomes 4 midfielders to three sharking the ball.