It’s fairly self explanatory.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

For academic purposes, here's Melbourne's backline last night:

Harrison Petty - 197cm (21)
Jake Lever - 194 cm (25)
Steven May - 190 cm (29)
Trent Rivers - 188 cm (20)
Michael Hibberd - 186 cm (31)
Christian Salem - 185 cm (26)
Jake Bowey - 176 cm (18)

Backline can only be as good as the midfield same goes with forward line.

Grand final will be about two dynamic and powerful midfield groups. Other parts of the ground are not A++

Yep agree on this. We need a strong midfield, otherwise there is no way we are contending. We haven’t really put any focus in the midfield for years. And when we do get a midfielder we play them back or forward with midfield stints.

I still think Fisher and SPS would made good full time midfielders. Not part time ones as its a confidence wrecker.

Agree, imagine how much better Jones and Weitering would be if they had a midfield that allowed them both to play like Aliir Aliir.

Let's see how our midfield performs under a decent coach.
Instead of pushing a player back spare in defence, let's play a more balanced game style and allow our midfield to contest against equal numbers.
It's not as dire as some posters would lead you to believe.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

SPS doesn't do enough without the ball.
Fisher is unreliable and too many injuries maybe AFL is too vigorous for him.

We really only have two midfielders Walsh and Cripps and Cripps has been playing sub average.

Hopefully Cerra can become our Mcrae but still need to find a Libba-Viney and two wings.

Curnow is our most reliable midfielder apart from Walsh.

I often wonder how many people have watched Cerra play and the role he performs?

..and that's sad. He is a machine and a good role model but kicks the ball blindly too much a turn over merchant if there ever was one and had a crap year along with Cripps.

His tackling count has halved from 2018-2019. he is basically an average player in the competition and need better quality.

Theyre all fine just most of them are young and inconsistent.

When you look at the better teams in the comp the thing to look at is how good their good is vs how bad their bad is.

When the gap between them is too large the main issue is usually about conditioning and experience. The younger players spend a lot of fuel tickets for minimum impact. Over time they work this out (this is what makes walsh remarkable).

The more time in the system the better they usually perform.

The gap between best and worst shrinks and you see their better footy more frequently.

The bad days can happen to anyone and eventually you run into an opposition side in red hot form at the wrong moment and wooshka.

Most of our sos draftees are still working this part of their game out, and most of them have had at least one significant set back that has pushed them back a little.

It also helps if you don't have glaring weaknesses in the tram whilst they're coming on too. For most of the last 10 years we have had significant holes in key positions and just as we've worked out our backs and forwards our ruck division has gone a bit flaky.

I agree.

I value Curnow in our side. He is a great role model, works hard and does a good job every week. But I do agree his disposal is not always to our advantage. Usually it is because he is often under great pressure in the middle of a pack and has to rush. A savvy coach would have been able to remedy this by a game plan that had teammates running to positions to support Ed and be in a position to receive a handball.

I was really impressed with the team efforts of both prelim finals. Teammates gave the ball carrier heaps of options when in trouble. On the other hand I cannot count the number of times I screamed at my TV during the season for our players to run to positions to support our player in possession and provide options for a handball or footpass.

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“Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile a way and you have their shoes."

Me too ! didn't back each other up . It was like some of those blokes didn't like each other . Like certain players ignoring each other ( e.g. Dow ) . it was like there was a team within a team ............. So yeah , i see where you are coming from .

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All my dangerous friends

Watching the Geel Melb game, I saw 3 Melb mids pretty much in their D15 helping out the backs on the last line. They didn't need to be elite... they just needed to be there offering an option, a spoil, a tackle, a smother, a shepherd, an outlet etc. etc. (stuff you teach kids in U14s)

This midfield excuse is bs. Yes, we need to bat deeper, but we need their mindset totally re-programmed so that they run up and down the field as their DEFAULT actions

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

mids mids and quick ,run ,support ,help in defence this is why we should trade sps,setters,just plodders kennedy slow cripps slow curnow fitness fantastic but slow and disposable poor . i just hope dow and cunners can stand up 2022.

Unfortunately there has been senior players at the club for the past 15 years (no longer there) whose default actions have not been THAT and that their behaviour has been modelled and ingrained in the following playing group - going to need a very strong new coaching philosophy to get that out of our DNA.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

It would be good to get a Jackson Macrae in the guts winning plenty of ball.
He is listed at 191 but I think he's actually 193, and is a great inside mid with great break away speed from the centre for a big boy.
Maybe Cerra can be that player.

Cerra like Dow is 187cm and both born in Oct 1999, so not small, not too young, but Cerra has really nice skills and balance and similar pace to Dow; maybe Dow maybe more explosive.
Next year, they will both be 22 going on to 23 so its time Dow stepped up, and stop teasing.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

i'M 100% in agreeance with his. Not quick enough. All one paced. Disposal questionable. SPS can kick long and short though. There's never a long option for him to show it off...I know his kicking for goal was abysmal towards the end this year. Anyway, he's 50-50 as he stands right this minute. How much of that is Teague? I can't put it all on the coach.

Dow and Cunners crucial...unfortunately, Cunners not available till midseason, if rehab goes well, even then he will not be at his best.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue