2 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

He has the skills. I think he may be one of better players today despite as you say any evidence for this.

Anyhow if he doesnt the upside is, there are plenty of players who will be ready to replace him.

This for me is quite simply a make or break game for him where nothing but a big performance is required. 

Sadly he keeps getting games in spite of how he plays. 

2 hours ago, DubDee said:

Our confidence is up and different to other years we playing a solid system and playing for each other as a team. 

we’ll win by 50pts plus 

It's too early to be drinking, smoking or other things DD. MFC teams don't do that, we play at the other teams level and then if lucky we win by a couple of goals. Look at the first 4 games we should have won each by 5 goals more. The dogs play at their own level and take poor teams to the cleaners.

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by old dee

I remember a few years back i was in the Daulton bar in StKilda minding my own business when a group of ppl came up with this loudmouth psychopath wearing a Hawks scarf about 20 years younger than me and about 3 feet taller than anyone else, asked me who i barracked for? I said Melbourne and he then proceeded to laugh as loud as he could and bang on and on about how pathetic we were and we stood for nothing most shtful club in history irrelevant etc etc for a solid 5 mins....i absorbed what i could and said a few things back but he was having none of it and wanted to pick a fight right then and there in the bar......so i exited through the nearest door to find a beer somewhere else.....the unbridled arrogance of this suburban fool was just unbelievable. Even his friends told him to calm down several times....

So its days like this that i look forward to with a wry smile and hope this guy is sitting there watching every minute.

So heres to you little bigman.....KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE RED AND THE BLUE !

2 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Despite the Naysayers, I believe Tmac has been in great form excluding one game.

If he turns it on today we will win comfortably.

One of the things I think T Mac has been doing, which has gone fairly unnoticed and unacknowledged is when he takes the ball around the wing, turns and is able to deliver the ball deep into an open forward 50m because he has a powerful, penetrating kick.  Fritta was often the beneficiary of these kicks and I wouldn't mind betting it was a bit of a set play.  I'd be looking for either M Brown or Jackson to be getting on the end of those today.

24 minutes ago, Wadda We Sing said:

I remember a few years back i was in the Daulton bar in StKilda minding my own business when a group of ppl came up with this loudmouth psychopath wearing a Hawks scarf about 20 years younger than me and about 3 feet taller than anyone else, asked me who i barracked for? I said Melbourne and he then proceeded to laugh as loud as he could and bang on and on about how pathetic we were and we stood for nothing most shtful club in history irrelevant etc etc for a solid 5 mins....i absorbed what i could and said a few things back but he was having none of it and wanted to pick a fight right then and there in the bar......so i exited through the nearest door to find a beer somewhere else.....the unbridled arrogance of this suburban fool was just unbelievable. Even his friends told him to calm down several times....

So its days like this that i look forward to with a wry smile and hope this guy is sitting there watching every minute.

So heres to you little bigman.....KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE RED AND THE BLUE !

That could characterise a huge portion of the Hawthorn fan base (I wouldn't credit them with being actual supporters), but just watch them evaporate and scurry off like the filthy little cockroaches they are after a few more seasons of irrelevance from a washed up and poorly managed Hawthorn list.  Really looking forward to Hawthorn having a long, stuttering and painful rebuild and era of poor performances.

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

13 minutes ago, old dee said:

It's too early to be drinking, smoking or other things DD. MFC teams don't do that, we play at the other teams level and then if lucky we win by a couple of goals. Look at the first 4 games we should have won each by 5 goals more. The dogs play at their own level and take poor teams to the cleaners.

We are second with a % of 138. We beat last years grand finalist by 4 goals. We have been leading for majority of each game so far and the results have never really been in doubt. We haven’t played a bottom 6 team from last year yet. The dogs have and have beaten up on them

22 minutes ago, old dee said:

It's too early to be drinking, smoking or other things DD. MFC teams don't do that, we play at the other teams level and then if lucky we win by a couple of goals. Look at the first 4 games we should have won each by 5 goals more. The dogs play at their own level and take poor teams to the cleaners.

This is just pessimistic rubbish. We monstered teams in 2018, triple figure wins against the Crows and Blues as well as drubbings of the Dogs and others. Last year we belted Hawks and Pies in shorter games. Even in the Bailey years we racked up significant victories.

I'm waiting with baited breath for today's game just like every other Melbourne supporter but to say we can't put teams away is plain wrong. Kick straight in our games this year and we would've won all of them by 40+.

Edited April 18, 20214 yr by Dr. Gonzo

One thing that Fritta has done brilliantly this year is clunking marks inside 50 off strong leads. This allows 30 seconds for the team to setup defensively behind the ball and lock it in should he miss the set shot.

I fear we won't mark the ball as frequently in the forward line without him (hope I'm wrong) and that the ball will come out quicker (esp. with CJ). Hopefully with our midfield pressure we can keep the ball forward of centre and others can provide the great leads and strong contested marks that Fritta has brought to the team.

Good luck to Petty and Hibbo for their first games this yr. Important in the context of our next 2-3 weeks.

It's April, all you want at the moment is to bank wins. The Dogs can not keep that level of play up all season. 

I have no confidence at all. We don't have a forward line. Pickett is the only genuine item down there but he is young so you won't know what sort of performance you will get out of him. Their midfield is not too bad either. I suppose the best consilation we have is their forward line which isn't too good. Lets hope Melbourne won't be Melbourne with this sort of game.

We have beaten them the last 3 times.

The last time they beat us was the catalyst for us surging to the finals. They played keepings off and we didn't know how to deal with it.

Geelong tried to do the same last week and we beat them

We are a better side than 2018 and we have Yze

 

Dees by 36

 

 

 

On paper we should win and win well. However this is the first week the media have started to respect the Dees and talk us up. This and a combo of playing an alleged lower side with a marquee game next week would be the typical let down game from MFC pre 2021. You just need to watch Port and the Dogs who I think aside from Tigers are the contenders they just get these games done and done early and well.  I go into this more nervous than any game this year as if we win this one I will start to believe we may be the real deal and in with a shake with those mentioned. 

 If we bring the same pressure as previous weeks we will win this comfortably.

 

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

This is just pessimistic rubbish. We monstered teams in 2018, triple figure wins against the Crows and Blues as well as drubbings of the Dogs and others. Last year we belted Hawks and Pies in shorter games. Even in the Bailey years we racked up significant victories.

I'm waiting with baited breath for today's game just like every other Melbourne supporter but to say we can't put teams away is plain wrong. Kick straight in our games this year and we would've won all of them by 40+.

But that's the point we don't kick straight. If you follow your line we are playing the second bottom team today then we should win by 8- 10 goals. Is that correct?

2 minutes ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

On paper we should win and win well. However this is the first week the media have started to respect the Dees and talk us up. This and a combo of playing an alleged lower side with a marquee game next week would be the typical let down game from MFC pre 2021. You just need to watch Port and the Dogs who I think aside from Tigers are the contenders they just get these games done and done early and well.  I go into this more nervous than any game this year as if we win this one I will start to believe we may be the real deal and in with a shake with those mentioned. 

Agree brfe. Let's see us put the second last team away by half time. We should be 6 in front by then.

35 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

One of the things I think T Mac has been doing, which has gone fairly unnoticed and unacknowledged is when he takes the ball around the wing, turns and is able to deliver the ball deep into an open forward 50m because he has a powerful, penetrating kick.  Fritta was often the beneficiary of these kicks and I wouldn't mind betting it was a bit of a set play.  I'd be looking for either M Brown or Jackson to be getting on the end of those today.

Yep agree, I think it would be a mistake to play him deep.

He's much better up the field running his opponent into the ground and clunking marks.

Who on earth thought it would be good for him to bulk up last year?

Mitch Brown. Today is your day, if you want to be an AFL Player today is the day to perform. The MFC need you to do a serious job

50 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

Yea last week was an underrated game for him, I said it game day thread he is a bit almost with his marking but he never gets a chopping the arms free when he should get 5 a game.

We are now into his second season of " almost" Cards. I hope it all falls into place today because we have been carry him for a long time.

1 minute ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Mitch Brown. Today is your day, if you want to be an AFL Player today is the day to perform. The MFC need you to do a serious job

All he has to do is replicate his last outing with 20 possessions, 13 marks and 2 Brownlow votes and we will be very happy.

1 hour ago, Wadda We Sing said:

I remember a few years back i was in the Daulton bar in StKilda minding my own business when a group of ppl came up with this loudmouth psychopath wearing a Hawks scarf about 20 years younger than me and about 3 feet taller than anyone else, asked me who i barracked for? I said Melbourne and he then proceeded to laugh as loud as he could and bang on and on about how pathetic we were and we stood for nothing most shtful club in history irrelevant etc etc for a solid 5 mins....i absorbed what i could and said a few things back but he was having none of it and wanted to pick a fight right then and there in the bar......so i exited through the nearest door to find a beer somewhere else.....the unbridled arrogance of this suburban fool was just unbelievable. Even his friends told him to calm down several times....

So its days like this that i look forward to with a wry smile and hope this guy is sitting there watching every minute.

So heres to you little bigman.....KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE RED AND THE BLUE !

Stood next a bunch of Hawthorn flogs in the 2018 final, when we got ahead in the last quarter, they turned as started bagging me- saying how pathetic us supporters are and we don’t even know how it feels to win. Besides Richmond one of the worst supporter bases. 

Dont forget we have a spare forward in Max who can kick goals from inside the centre square !!

6 minutes ago, SPC said:

Stood next a bunch of Hawthorn flogs in the 2018 final, when we got ahead in the last quarter, they turned as started bagging me- saying how pathetic us supporters are and we don’t even know how it feels to win. Besides Richmond one of the worst supporter bases. 

Whorethorn 

1 hour ago, In Harmes Way said:

One thing that Fritta has done brilliantly this year is clunking marks inside 50 off strong leads. This allows 30 seconds for the team to setup defensively behind the ball and lock it in should he miss the set shot.

I fear we won't mark the ball as frequently in the forward line without him (hope I'm wrong) and that the ball will come out quicker (esp. with CJ). Hopefully with our midfield pressure we can keep the ball forward of centre and others can provide the great leads and strong contested marks that Fritta has brought to the team.

Good luck to Petty and Hibbo for their first games this yr. Important in the context of our next 2-3 weeks.

It a good point but I think we’ve been pretty good at bringing the ball to ground (LJ in particular doesn’t get beaten in the marking contest) for spargs, kozzie and nibbler to apply their pressure. Hopefully Tmac, Mitch and LJ can clunk a few so compensate for the loss of Fritta.

Who's already had a drink?

 

Be honest...

1 hour ago, dl4e said:

I have no confidence at all. We don't have a forward line. Pickett is the only genuine item down there but he is young so you won't know what sort of performance you will get out of him. Their midfield is not too bad either. I suppose the best consilation we have is their forward line which isn't too good. Lets hope Melbourne won't be Melbourne with this sort of game.

Jeez, the MFCSS has really gotten a hold of you today.

The Hawks are competitive but don’t have much class. The cats were there for the taking on Easter Monday and they couldn’t get the job done

I don’t for second think we will be complacent. We’ve lost 2 key players so that should keep our feet on the ground and minds on the job. I’d be more worried if we’d been playing like Sydney and everyone was telling us we were the second coming but that’s not the case. The first 4 rounds we’ve brought consistent pressure and application and I expect the same today.

We could have a bad day forward of centre and the Hawks might play out of their skin, convert all their set shots but it’s unlikely. I expect a tough game but we have more quality across the field. I’m confident we’ll win.