Titus speaks:

for your edification

Melbourne v North Melbourne (MCG) 3.20pm

Jesse Hogan’s illness put’s footy in perspective this week, and thankfully it appears Jesse’s outlook is bright. He’s certainly had a terrible time of late, and I hope at some point he has a corresponding period that is as positive as this has been negative.

Last week, Melbourne were so good they’ve given me an unrealistic sense of how good they are. I’m being set up for an enormous disappointment this week, aren’t I?

I just get nervous when people use ‘season-defining win’ and ‘Melbourne’ in the same sentence. It usually means a ‘season defining loss’ is just around the corner.

Melbourne have a good track record against the Roos though, having defeated them as recently as 2006.

Letting North win the past 15 contests has lulled the Roos into a false sense of security and the trap is ready to slam shut on Sunday night. Suckers!

The Kangaroos do get Jarrad Waite back after suspension. He must certainly be due an injury if his history is any guide.

Melbourne to win.

- See more at: https://titusoreily.com/afl/highly-unhelpful-guide-round-nine#sthash.Y6mXCYPz.dpuf

Lots of people in the media tipping against Melbourne on the basis they "they will get ahead of themselves." For the love of god, please prove them wrong Melbourne.

Lots of folk in the media couldn't tip a cow !!

2 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Melbourne have a good track record against the Roos though, having defeated them as recently as 2006.

 

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Melbourne have a good track record against the Roos though, having defeated them as recently as 2006.

Yep.  Gold!  Liked the next line, too...

Letting North win the past 15 contests has lulled the Roos into a false sense of security and the trap is ready to slam shut on Sunday night. Suckers!

1 hour ago, beelzebub said:

Lots of folk in the media couldn't tip a cow !!

Is it hard to tip a cow?

50 minutes ago, binman said:

Is it hard to tip a cow?

Personally I've never found it hard to tip the Adelaide Cows - just hated doing it. Having lived in Adelaide for a number of years I found a majority of their fans were arrogant & ignorant.

14 minutes ago, CanberraDemon said:

Personally I've never found it hard to tip the Adelaide Cows - just hated doing it. Having lived in Adelaide for a number of years I found a majority of their fans were arrogant & ignorant.

Not to mention belligerent and non cognisant.

3 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Not to mention belligerent and non cognisant.

You mean Richard Craniums,

On 17/05/2017 at 2:13 PM, Demonland said:

They haven't beaten North Melbourne for a while - not since Nathan Jones' career was in its infancy back in 2006. John Howard was the Prime Minister back then, Sexyback by Justin Timberlake was the number one song in the country and a Japanese horse named Delta Blues was being prepared to win the Melbourne Cup. A little freckle-faced kid called Clayton Oliver was in grade two.

I don't believe that Clarrie was ever small enough to be in grade two.

Reckon we will get an extended bench that includes Harmes, Melksham, Stretch and Neal-Bullen with no one out yet.  I still think Hunt will get up for the game and we may well go in with no change.

Melksham, Harmes and ANB added to squad. No outs as yet.

3 hours ago, binman said:

Is it hard to tip a cow?

Nup

My mate who grew up in Tongala on a dairy farm, used to sneak up on cows and bump into them....they went down like skittles

Sad, I know.....

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to Frosty running hard off Big Red Ben and setting up attacks from the back line

Looks as though Melksham in for Wagner will be the only change. Don't entirely agree with that considering Melky has had a week off due to suspension even though he had leather poisoning the week prior.

 

1 minute ago, McQueen said:

Looks as though Melksham in for Wagner will be the only change. Don't entirely agree with that considering Melky has had a week off due to suspension even though he had leather poisoning the week prior.

 

How did you come up with that, Steve?  Both are named on the extended interchange bench which doesn't give a whole lot away.  I'd wager that if Hunt is right to go we may go in with no change.

I know that the announced team line up doesn't mean a lot but showing Tom Mc as the ruckman will give Brad Scott something to mull over or lose sleep over

Unpredictability is one of our greatest weapons right now. 

Great to see that Hunt is well enough to play (altho he could still be a late out).

Edited May 18, 20178 yr by Lucifer's Hero

1 minute ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I know that the announced team line up doesn't mean a lot but showing Tom Mc as the ruckman will give Brad Scott something to mull over or lose sleep over

Unpredictability is one of our greatest weapons right now. 

I reckon Todd Goldstein is wondering how he is going to defend one of the leagues best endurance athletes, the only advantage he as is the hit outs and we saw what Jacobs did with 70 odd last week 

At risk of talking yourself out of the win on Sunday, I'd avoid the North forum on bigfooty.

They are supremely confident of beating us on Sunday. A few samplers:

"They don't have a ruck"

" they have a bunch of midgets up fwd and down back"

"Break even in the middle and we win. Simple."

1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

At risk of talking yourself out of the win on Sunday, I'd avoid the North forum on bigfooty.

They are supremely confident of beating us on Sunday. A few samplers:

"They don't have a ruck"

" they have a bunch of midgets up fwd and down back"

"Break even in the middle and we win. Simple."

Would have sounded like something similar on the Adelaide board last week, and we know how well that worked out for them.

In my pre season unusual predictions for the Dees, I suggested we would [censored] either or both of Saints and North. We didn't  " [censored] " the Saints so ........ we will [censored] North. 

I reckon Melksham is listed simply as back up for Hunt if he doesn't get up.

I'm surprised about Hannan though. I would have brought in Harmes for Hannan. Bugg did enough last week, so rightly keeps his spot in the 18 this week.

Perhaps, they want to play Hannan more in the midfield this week. He only had it 9 times last week, but I like his pace and his ability to snag a goal or two. Harmes had chances last year to cement his spot and now it's Hannan's time.

What I'm hoping is that Harmes has improved his kicking and decision making so much that when he finally gets his chance again, he is a real weapon as a utility, either off half back, in the midfield or as a pressure half forward. The exciting thing about Harmes is his ability to consistently win the ball and gut run late in games.

So I think it'll be an unchanged line up unless Hunt fails to get up. Real pity about Jesse not being available as he plays well against the Roos. Just glad he sounds like he's recovering well from his op though.

Edited May 18, 20178 yr by A F

20 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Looks as though Melksham in for Wagner will be the only change. Don't entirely agree with that considering Melky has had a week off due to suspension even though he had leather poisoning the week prior.

 

The interchange bench is listed in numerical order. It doesn't mean necessarily that Melksham gets a gig - if that's where you're coming from.

17 minutes ago, Abe said:

I reckon Todd Goldstein is wondering how he is going to defend one of the leagues best endurance athletes, the only advantage he as is the hit outs and we saw what Jacobs did with 70 odd last week 

I doubt he'll play ruck full time, but given Goldstein's 5 goals last year, I reckon a Tom McDonald match up could be brilliant. Play him in the ruck, go back and defend when Goldstein moves forward and go forward himself when the right time arises (making Goldstein accountable). 

Edited May 18, 20178 yr by A F

22 minutes ago, A F said:

I doubt he'll play ruck full time, but given Goldstein's 5 goals last year, I reckon a Tom McDonald match up could be brilliant. Play him in the ruck, go back and defend when Goldstein moves forward and go forward himself when the right time arises (making Goldstein accountable). 

I think that's what the plan with be for both pedo and tmac, run him around and provide an option 

8 hours ago, beelzebub said:

 

The Kangaroos do get Jarrad Waite back after suspension. He must certainly be due an injury

At least Titus plagiarises from the best.