We now have the stars and a very even spread of very good team oriented players who are prepared to work their butts of to help the team in every way possible. Max what a star, Tmac, Salem, Clarry, Tracc ,Ed, Jake, Hibbo, Kozzie, Trent, Jack & Gus you ground them down then finished them off with such ease I just loved those 15 minutes of mayhem in the last. Go Dee’s. !!!!!!!

Need any proof that AFL Player Ratings are rubbish?

4 minutes ago, bush demon said:

I think you'll find we were about 8-0 in 1971 under Tiddles Ridley. In a fact I'm going to look it up now.

Damn, we were beaten by Collingwood after sitting 5-0. Len Thompson slit us up. I always thought that was about 8th round. So we can win next weekend and go back into a time portal.

47 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

LJ VERY good today indeed

It is just around the corner when he will take a game by the "you know whats" and announce himself big time. Not far away my demon friends.

2 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

I appreciate your loyalty as you obviously appreciate Chunks.

If he plays poorly and we lose will it have been worth it.

Cant we wait until the game after that is all Im saying?

 

Have you played footy before? If he is dropped this week, I reckon that will be that. He deserves to play his 300th on the biggest of stages and redeem himself - there is no ‘drop him and then bring him back a week later’ scenario here; that is just an immature way to select teams.

So maybe we will do it...

12 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Need any proof that AFL Player Ratings are rubbish?

That may be but Melksham played his role again today and was part of our brutal last qtr.

2 hours ago, Deestroy All said:

That went how I feared it would, until it didn’t. 
 

Gawn and Lever were outstanding all day. I think we’d have been in a bit of trouble if Lever didn’t repel everything. 
 

Langdon is incredible. Not sure I even knew what a decent wingman was until he came. 
 

Jones is a problem. I love him, I hate our recent history of [censored] over captains, but he’s a class below what we’re trying to do, he’s off the pace, and I don’t think he deserves a spot. But he does deserve 300. Glad I’m not making that decision. 
 

How we’ve gone from no forward line to an embarrassment of riches is brilliant!

 

Kozzie ?

Put him on Cotchin, plays old and slow (relative to younger players) as well. At least Jone's rarely gets like Cotchin does all the time now.

13 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Need any proof that AFL Player Ratings are rubbish?

He registered 9 score involvements, kicked 3 goals and only played 69% TOG - only ANB played less. 

Sometimes I think it must cause people physical pain to acknowledge when he has a good game.

3 minutes ago, Nasher said:

He registered 9 score involvements, kicked 3 goals and only played 69% TOG - only ANB played less. 

Sometimes I think it must cause people physical pain to acknowledge when he has a good game.

Agree Nasher. No way he gets the flick. Only player that can pass on both feet to players in better positions. He is doing his role and stays.

We seem to be a lot tougher mentally this year aside from some of the special talent we have at our disposal.

I think this group think they are ready and want to achieve greatness.

9 minutes ago, Nasher said:

He registered 9 score involvements, kicked 3 goals and only played 69% TOG - only ANB played less. 

Sometimes I think it must cause people physical pain to acknowledge when he has a good game.

I thought Melksham was average. He made really good use of it when he had it, but I felt he was lucky to get it, if that makes sense. He didn't appear to work really hard to get to those positions, he didn't win his own ball, etc.

I didn't watch him purposely all game, so maybe he was working really hard and that's why he ended up in those spots, but I didn't see it.

12 minutes ago, Nasher said:

He registered 9 score involvements, kicked 3 goals and only played 69% TOG - only ANB played less. 

Sometimes I think it must cause people physical pain to acknowledge when he has a good game.

As good as Gawn who played one of the best of his career?

14 minutes ago, rpfc said:

That may be but Melksham played his role again today and was part of our brutal last qtr.

I wouldn’t equate “played his role” to the compete dominance of Gawn, that’s the point.

4 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

As good as Gawn who played one of the best of his career?

Fair point. May have let the sea of “drop Melksham” posts scattered about the place colour my interpretation of your post.

Got home late after having a celebratory burger in the CBD after the match....never thought we were in any danger of losing you could see the boys worked over Hawthorn who were ready to crack by the last qtr...Max what a titan I can’t remember a more dominant Melbourne player in my 40 years as a supporter

21 minutes ago, Nasher said:

He registered 9 score involvements, kicked 3 goals and only played 69% TOG - only ANB played less. 

Sometimes I think it must cause people physical pain to acknowledge when he has a good game.

He was ok today, but come on, Gawn was instrumental and played 4 sensational quarters against a good opponent. Gawn > Melksham today, tomorrow and twice on Sunday. 

9 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I wouldn’t equate “played his role” to the compete dominance of Gawn, that’s the point.

I take your point, he was nowhere near Gawn but “complete dominance” is a bit rich.

2 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

So your argument he has some kind of Mascot and lucky charm about him.

Saying its important is not an argument.. .Its because its important at 5 zip.. I put it out there. 

The point I was making which I think you actually overlooked is quite simple..

IS he our best 22?

Yea sure he has heart. Symbolism..lost me there.

I just want us to be 6 zero thats the symbolism i want.

On his current form I dont think he has been in the best 22 for a while.

Is it important for the big 300. YES.

Whats the rush is the point Mr Mullet?

 

Jones isn't getting dropped

2 hours ago, FlashInThePan said:

I agree with most of this, I just don’t think we were flat and listless though. Our defensive structures were broken in the first quarter and better but with fumbles in the second. Probably not surprising when we lose both may and Jetta but it wasn’t just the back 6, we weren’t folding back quickly enough and they were able to link and kick without a lot of pressure.

Hawthorn's pressure was immense, they'd set themselves for a real crack today. It wasn't sustainable though with their young guys tiring by the last which is when we ran all over them. We had no run off half back, it was all static and when we did play on they were right up in our face. We wrestled back control over quarters 2 and 3 and blitzed them in the last.

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

Hibberd played at a level I thought was behind him today too. I’d almost forgotten how good his best footy was.

Amazing what happens when there is competition for spots. 

1 hour ago, Cheesy D. Pun said:

Crumbing is just a bonus.

It's a lack of pressure that worries me. Our whole game is based around forward pressure. Having Kozzy, Spargo and ANB in there is super important.

As an aside, I thought Toby Bedford was sensational in the VFL today and is ready to step up should we feel the need to rest one of the guys mentioned above.

I thought Bedford was great too. He seems to love hurting people and tackled like a machine. 

Our forward pressure was missing for the first half and I reckon he'd be awesome in the forward line with Pickett and Spargs.

I'd love to see Ben Brown back in but Weid played the better game and would tackle more than BB.

Jones has to play next week.

I think Jordan is ready for a rest and I still think Melksham is a skier.

 

Bit of an odd win in the end, being only 4 points up 5 minutes into the last quarter but winning by 50. But as @bing181 said, we started turning the game around from quarter time. We only lost one quarter, the first, and from then on we got better at most things. And we did it without 3-4 best 22 players.

We are going to lose a game at some point this year through inaccurate goalkicking. It's inevitable IMO.

Lever kept us together early. Petty struggled all day but Lever was just fantastic. He's taken his game to a really high level this year and although he's still prone to a dropped mark or clanger kick here or there, overall he is just integral to our improvement.

Thought Rivers had a shocking first quarter but then rebounded back excellently. Hibberd also got back to 2018 form. I reckon at least part of the reason we brought him in for Jetta was to replace some of May's rebounding, as we'd otherwise have Petty and Jetta who are both pretty dour.

TMac is showing us what is role is going to be when B Brown and Weideman are ready to come back. He'll push higher up the ground, give us an option that isn't Gawn when coming out of defensive 50, and be a general aerial threat for opposition mids. 

Poor old Jones had a mare. He'll get his 300th next week but with the pressure of May, Fritsch, B Brown and Weideman all getting ready to return, spots are tight.

Banking these early wins is just critical if we want to have a serious crack at it this year. We've still got the Dogs x 2, Richmond, Port in Adelaide, West Coast in Perth, Geelong in Geelong and Sydney. We're not going to win them all, but with these five wins we're allowing ourselves to have those bad games during the season and, hopefully, not completely fall apart.

3 hours ago, Salems Lot said:

Save yourself some pain OD and watch second half only

I watched the whole lot SL. I have to say I have canned milkshake a lot but he played well today. He made three passes to players out of the corner of his that were perfect and then bobbed up with three goals. A good effort. 

Just now, old dee said:

I watched the whole lot SL. I have to say I have canned milkshake a lot but he played well today. He made three passes to players out of the corner of his that were perfect and then bobbed up with three goals. A good effort. 

I am currently working through Casey v Box Hill at the moment on 7Plus.  Love this technology thing.  A lot to like at the moment, a lot to like. 

57 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Fair point. May have let the sea of “drop Melksham” posts scattered about the place colour my interpretation of your post.

I have canned him Nasher  but he played well today, his kicking today was 100%. It’s delivery like that that wins tough games. 

Edited April 18, 20213 yr by old dee