39 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Crap if Buddy and Rampe are back I fear this game may prove to be our first loss of the season. I suppose we are due. 

It just has that feeling doesn’t it.

Sydney $4.20 at Sportsbet - get on!

1 minute ago, Pollyanna said:

Sydney $4.20 at Sportsbet - get on!

I have pretty heavy money, maybe I should get on them to ensure we get a win!

God I hope they don't brink back franklin. I think they should save him the travel and keep him on ice until the week after when they play collingwood at home. 

2 hours ago, Dr.D said:

Matthew Lloyd just said on 'AFL Access All Areas' that based on what he saw on the weekend he doesn't believe that Ben Brown should be in our team come the finals due to his lack of mobility and being unable to create separation from his opponent. He also stated that he would leave Tom McDonald forward. He must be reading my posts on demonland! 

What would an all time great forward know about forward craft. lol. You lot! You call yourself supporters but then say stuff like 'Tom Mcdonald should play back'. How many years of turnovers and bad decisions will it take to realise that he is a forward? or was 2018 not enough?. 

Thanks Lloydy

Yes write off BB after first game with new club, him getting used to their delivery and them getting used to how he leads/plays.

All the while, he was being manhandled on every occasion,  without the offenders being penalized, except on one occasion.

He kicked 2 goals, often had 2 on him and this allowed Fritta more unmanned time, netting him 6.

Matthew Lloyd was a great full forward, but not everything he says about footy is correct.

Actually I think he was one of those who said we should get rid of Tom Mac.

8 minutes ago, Pollyanna said:

Sydney $4.20 at Sportsbet - get on!

Surely not, that’s insane.

45 minutes ago, TRIGON said:

Chin up Jaded, it's a good test; got to be able to combat champions if we're going to be premiers.

It’s the truth of it. We know we’re a good side. But  If we’re going to really challenge we can’t be worried about the opposition being at full strength. We’re on top and we are officially the hunted. Hopefully the boys will be up fr the big challenge of 1 v 4 on the ladder. The dees are back on the big stage and all these types of pressure games are great experiences for the younger players. 

17 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

It just has that feeling doesn’t it.

We will smack the Swans like we did to Richmond.

The game that scares me more is Carlton the following Sunday.

9 hours ago, Pates said:

And bring in Mitch Brown on top of that! Must be taking the p!55 surely.

Did you watch the game, he looked slow, dropped easy marks, hardly got a touch

M Brown one game was alot better v B Brown one game

This might be our first loss for the season "I hope not" . But our biggest test is not when we lose but how we respond to it. 

22 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Surely not, that’s insane.

I thought this was massive overs too.  I got them at $4.33 for 1-39.  We struggled against North and they rolled the cats who were coming off a 100 point thumping of the Eagles.

It’s a glass half full game IMO.

On the one hand when a Melbourne team has failed to turn up like that in the past we have usually failed to get back (see Sydney and Freo last year) so to get the win, a comfortable 30 point win is a great result.

Having said that, we can’t bring that first half form in against basically any other side and expect to stay in the game. Particularly not this week against Sydney. 
 

On changes one thing that seems to be getting missed is that the major change, that saw us return to our best in the second half was returning to only two big forwards (Brown + Jacko/Gawn) by sending TMac back. While there is no doubt we also lifted in the contest our forwardline looks so much better with two talls being supported by Kozzie, Spargo, ANB, and Fritta. It’s no coincidence they all came into the game more after this move, also our backline looks so much better with a tall taking the first/second forward to free up Lever and May. 

I get that we have good talls all in form but our best team structure is a two tall + Fritsch forwardline and I don’t think we can continue the three talls experiment against Sydney, particularly given what it looked like in the first half against North. 

I also like that the club is excited about Petty and what he offers but his first half against the Hawks was not AFL standard and Tom’s second half against North was excellent, including some great field kicking which would’ve been the knock on him. Baker’s pressure and disposal weren’t up to it, gee we miss Viney’s intensity when he’s not there. Melksham was worst on ground in the first half. For those reasons I would have:

Out: Tomlinson ??, Baker, Melksham

In : Sparrow, Chandler, Harmes (with TMac to go back, Sparrow to play Viney/Bakers role, Chandler to play Jones’ role and Harmes to replace Melksham although Harmesy hasn’t set the world on fire either so this may not happen, Jones to stay medical sub).

I’d be tempted to replace B Brown with Weideman too on form but I suspect we will back Ben in and rightly so given his career to date. He’d want to have a good game though.

Edited May 3, 20213 yr by deejammin'

1 hour ago, Pollyanna said:

Sydney $4.20 at Sportsbet - get on!

Why? Your losing your money.

Sydney played like [censored] Geelong lost that game more so than Sydney winning. 

They were 

-26 in i50

-80 in disposals

-33 in contested posessions

-8 in scoring shots 

They should have lost that game by 5 goals. 

 

Don't get some of the posts here. Jones and Baker were emergencies, and can go back to being emergencies. That doesn't mean that they're dropped, as they weren't named in the 22 in the first place.

From that team, we've lost two: Viney and Tomlinson. For the latter, obviously either Petty, or Tom Mac goes back and Weed comes in. For the former obvious choice is Sparrow, has been doing well in the VFL. Less obvious and left-field choice is Jetta, who has been playing that bullocking inside role in the VFL very well for the last couple of weeks.

Petty to replace Thommo. He is next in line and has trained for this role. TMac goes forward to partner BB

Sparrow comes in for Viney. Not sure about Harmes, sounds like he was well off the pace in the VFL. Baker goes back to being emergency. 

See how Jones pulls up. Might be time to manage him. Preference is keep him in as I don't want too many changes.

Weid comes in for Fritta if he is rubbed out. If Fritta cleared to play then the Weid will have to bide his time.

BB needs game time to find his form. Whats the point in dropping our boom recruit, our spearhead, after one game? And we did kick our highest goal tally of the year.

15 hours ago, Garbo said:

Ben Brown if he is to play fwd in place of Tmac (on the the assumption he is going back) needs to get up the ground more and be a link man, the real strength of tmac this year was his work round the ground not the goals he kicked. He gets a pass today being his first week in but going forward he needs to contribute more. The same for Weid when he gets his chance. Unless they can kick 3-4 a week the talls need to do more in other ways. 2 goals and 5 touches won’t cut it

Agree that giving BB a one week settling in period is acceptable, but another “performance” like that would be unacceptable. 

3 hours ago, D Rev said:

 

A few random comments ...

May will play on Franklin, Hibbert to Papley.

The Club clearly see Petty as a long term key defender. So, despite Tmac being a better short term option, it's important to get games into Petty.

Despite the love for Weid, realistically he's had very few good matches. I'm surprised the club hasn't tried him as a backman. They're obviously not going to do it now!!

As if BBB will be dropped after one match. Apart from the fact that he has plenty of runs on the board, the club pretty much has a policy of not dropping players after one match.

I don't think that Baker will make the grade. Hope I'm wrong.

The team really missed Viney's grunt at the start of the match v Norf. Apparently Sparrow is a similar type of player. If so, he should probably come into the side.

I think ANB will hold his place. 

Harmes is pretty much on the outer. (I know he's coming back from injury.) 

Poor Jetts is pretty much cooked, and I doubt that he will get too many more games. Same with Vanders, and Smith. 

I don't think Bradke will make the grade. Hope i'm wrong.

I doubt that Daw will play more than one or two AFL games for the season, unless Max goes down with injury.

Gus won't be dropped anytime soon. 

Jones ... hmm, not sure. 

Is anyone still reading this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think they'll begrudgingly play T-Mac in replace of Tomlinson as that'll allow them the easy way out to get Weid in.

Then between T Mac and Petty for the key defender spot after we see McDonald there for a couple weeks.

Edited May 3, 20213 yr by adonski

I would like to see the talls who play come up and down the ground and take the marks on the wing. I understand the concern about Brown being slow and out of touch but I think the way they worked at Casey v Box Hill could be replicated.

Brown was quite good around the ground when weid kicked the goals.

I don't think the plan is for anyone to stay entirely in the 50. I think that just clogs up the space for koz, spargo and fritsch

Edited May 3, 20213 yr by defuture15
Spelling

No Fritsch, we lost Tomlinson, Viney injured. 

I really can't see us winning this if they get Buddy and Rampe back.

 

Important against the Swans to bring in a defensive mid, so Sparrow is a must for me. Baker out. 

Petty for Tommo

Weideman for Fritsch, as Fritsch plays as a tall anyway. 

Melksham gets a reprieve as we won't make 4 changes when 3 are forced.

Jones or Melksham medical sub. 

Weid is definitely playing now thanks to the corrupt MRP rubbing out Fritsch.

5 hours ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

 P2J's final call

IN  -     Sam Weideman, Tom Sparrow

Out  -   Oskar Baker, Adam Tomlinson (knee)

 

Tom McDonald to move to CHB with Sam Weideman to come into the team after well and truly earning a spot.

For all the fuss about T Mac's start hes only kicked 9 goals in the 7 games.  The Weid must come in or we risk losing him to another club.

You may now lock the thread.

 

 P2J's final call 2.0

IN  -     Sam Weideman, Tom Sparrow, Kade Chandler

Out  -   Oskar Baker, Adam Tomlinson (knee),   Bayley Fritsch (sacrificed by the corrupt MRP and low IQ dumb [censored] Michael Christian)

21 hours ago, don cordner said:

ANB is a spud, he played ok against Richmond, 2 weeks ago against the Hawks he did nothing, had about 10 clangers in a row, today he was usless, he’s horrible 

Is spud really that bad of an insult ? I could think of worse :)

3 hours ago, Dr.D said:

Goodwin hasn't proved anything yet. 

And if he puts Mcdonald back, it just proves that. Mcdonald failed as a backman for 7 years before trialled forward. Surely enough is enough. Unfortunately Petty is also a superior forward than a backman.

No, he hasn't.

Presumably you'll continue to say this unless and until we win the flag. Which means that, unless we win the flag, you'll be right.

Which appears to be your complex. You need to be right, all the time.

2 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

It just has that feeling doesn’t it.

Agree, but I'm telling myself we had our down week this week, and got away with it.

Don't forget Geelong were on most measures on top in general play against Sydney, who struggled to win it at the coal face (-33 in CPs, -3 clearances), allowed Geelong to spread (-68 in UPs, -17 uncontested marks), and let the ball spend a fair amount of time down in Geelong's half (-26 inside 50s). They also kicked very straight so won despite have 8 fewer scoring shots (14.6 to 12.16).

Had we won that game, we'd be self-criticising and downplaying that win given those stats.

Edited May 3, 20213 yr by titan_uranus

It looks like our good fortune might have ended with our recent injuries and suspension whilst Sydney look to bring back Franklin and Rampe for our game. 

I'm in the leave T-Mac in the forward line camp. Harry Petty has trained all summer to work in the backline and should now get his opportunity. Tom may well be the next in line should anyone else go down during the season but for now I prefer him up front. 

Tom Sparrow would be my choice to fill the gap left by Viney in the midfield but I'm a little less sure that Weids is the best replacement for Fritta this week. Particularly if the forecast is for wet weather. I would place Gus back on the wing which would see Sauce go back to Casey most likely.