3 hours ago, Pates said:

Hard to look past any Geelong win this year as they were all critical at the time. First win declared us as a strong player, second win got us the minor premiership (after the siren), final win dismantled them on prime time telly and got us into our first granny in 20 years. 

I can’t stand Geelong, their arrogance from players to supporters is only bettered by Essendon. 

And for Max his breakout game was at Kardinia Park when he took a swag of contested marks back in 2015??

6 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

I agree he's very good. Just that there's plenty of those types around. Oliver/Trac are on another planet  impact-wise which was my point. 

14 Brownlow votes is about right.

Mcrae kicked 6 goals for the season.
Oliver 11.
Petracca 29.

Bont .... 31.

Edited December 15, 20213 yr by Fork 'em

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

OK maybe he's not better. But I don't really rate Treloar. Had a good granny no doubt. But to my mind he is another accumulator that doesn't really damage teams.

Harmes was better in playing his role as the 4th mid than Treloar was.  Any dog who was in every centre clearance for the last 8 minutes of the 3rd qtr did not have a good game. Harmes was 4th for us in pressure acts (equal with Kossie).

On 12/14/2021 at 3:07 PM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

This 'Melbourne aren't really that good' talk coming out from certain quarters is both obtuse and infuriating.

If we had pulled off a miracle and won either '88 or '00, I would have accepted it. Because in both those years, we were a good team, but we weren't in a bull's roar of being premiership caliber. There was a distinct lack of genuine class across lines and a lot of self made triers. 

As much as I would have hated to admit it at the time, we really would have pinched it in either of those years. Now I have seen a modern Melbourne premiership side, if either of '88 or '00 rolled up against the 2021 version on GF day, they would have received a similar type of pantsing that they received against Hawthorn or Essendon.

@Clint Bizkit went through the stats earlier so it doesn't bear repeating. I would add that we now have 3 of the top ten best players in the league (Max, Clarry, Tracc) along with others who easily fit into the top 30 (May, Lever, Salem and Viney potentially) to what he said. In the Northey and Daniher years, we had one or two A graders, some pretty decent B+ players and some C graders who played above themselves. 

Anyone who thinks this is the 'same old Melbourne' is kidding themselves. We fully deserved last year and anyone who thinks otherwise can set forth and fornicate.

We these people up on the moon last year and have no access to Tv or the internet?

We are streets ahead of the comp now, just have to maintain the strong standards that have been set.

10 hours ago, Watson11 said:

Harmes was better in playing his role as the 4th mid than Treloar was.  Any dog who was in every centre clearance for the last 8 minutes of the 3rd qtr did not have a good game. Harmes was 4th for us in pressure acts (equal with Kossie).

Very good point. As much as Treloar kicked 3 goals and was their 2nd best on ground. He (and Bont) were one of the 4 in the middle who lost it for them in the length of time it takes to take a whizz.

11 hours ago, Watson11 said:

Harmes was better in playing his role as the 4th mid than Treloar was.  Any dog who was in every centre clearance for the last 8 minutes of the 3rd qtr did not have a good game. Harmes was 4th for us in pressure acts (equal with Kossie).

Not to mention being responsible for the brilliant passage of play that turned the game in our favour.  Sensational one handed gather at pace, through traffic and perfect delivery into space for Fritsch.

On 12/13/2021 at 8:20 PM, adonski said:

Bailey Smith has superstar type of upside given his athletic traits, but at the moment he is trending to be Dylan Shiel 2.0

He's still a kid. What was Petracca doing at 21?

On the other hand, Petracca has fantastic game sense (possibly due to his confidence in the abilities and choices of his team mates) whereas Smith possibly has some room to grow in that regard.

Anyway, about that Gawn fella........ 

5 hours ago, Chook said:

Very good point. As much as Treloar kicked 3 goals and was their 2nd best on ground. He (and Bont) were one of the 4 in the middle who lost it for them in the length of time it takes to take a whizz.

In round 1 it wouldn't surprise me if the Bulldogs mids set up a wall at centre bounces like soccer teams do just to stop us moving it forward

20 hours ago, monoccular said:

,.,I guess Hawkins thought that he had seen the signs many times before ... just got the wrong side this time. 🤔

To be fair, I had half a thought that we would too. We've got history

6 hours ago, faultydet said:

He's still a kid. What was Petracca doing at 21?

On the other hand, Petracca has fantastic game sense (possibly due to his confidence in the abilities and choices of his team mates) whereas Smith possibly has some room to grow in that regard.

Anyway, about that Gawn fella........ 

Petracca’s development was negatively impacted by not playing him in his natural position 

6 hours ago, Wrecker46 said:

In round 1 it wouldn't surprise me if the Bulldogs mids set up a wall at centre bounces like soccer teams do just to stop us moving it forward

Can't play all of your mids on the defensive side. Would make it impossible to contest a backwards tap by our ruckman and leave them free to simply take the ball out the back of the pack with no pressure.

They need to man up where possible, and play a fast mid out the back to cover for a front of centre clearance.

The 6-6-6 rule works well for us currently.

35 minutes ago, faultydet said:

Can't play all of your mids on the defensive side. Would make it impossible to contest a backwards tap by our ruckman and leave them free to simply take the ball out the back of the pack with no pressure.

They need to man up where possible, and play a fast mid out the back to cover for a front of centre clearance.

The 6-6-6 rule works well for us currently.

I was having a bit of a joke but the Bulldogs would have to go ultra defensive in round 1 after the GF. If we just stream out of the centre questions will be asked about Bevo

15 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

We these people up on the moon last year and have no access to Tv or the internet?

We are streets ahead of the comp now, just have to maintain the strong standards that have been set.

To be fair, they are mostly trolls or boofheads of the BomberBlitz variety.

The same kind of pillocks online who credit our progressive rise from 2014 onwards to tanking. 

On 12/14/2021 at 9:46 PM, dee-tox said:

Understand after winning a granny we are all prone to hyperbolic statements but I find it difficult to agree with this.

Treloar in the GF had 27 possesions and 3 goals. Harmes, if we look at it objectively, had one great kick to Fritsch, four other kicks and quite a few stuff ups.

Agreed.

Harmes is a good honest player in a very very good side. Treloar has plenty on him, especially when it comes to ball use. 
I wouldn't be surprised if Harmes finds himself struggling to make the 22, if Sparrow continues to develop as I suspect, along with JJ. 

 

On 12/15/2021 at 1:02 AM, MoeSyzlak said:

Source?

I went to an event a couple of weeks back and Gawn was one of the guest speakers (along with Jonesy). 

Are we going to see more of Luke in the middle in 22 and if so will Max go forward or back or bench?

I'm pretty sure the first is a yes but perhaps the other two depend on opponents. It's a strange thing to take the comps best ruck out of position but a great luxury to have and it shook up the dogs just in time. Given Max's prelim efforts one would be more inclined these days to " rest " him up forward. 

On 12/15/2021 at 9:37 AM, Fork 'em said:

That's the thing with Grand Finals.
Unless you win your heroic deeds don't really count.
Nathan Buckleys Norm Smith for eg.

But love Harmesy.
Melbourne supporting kid who went and won himself the flag he/we always wanted.
Forken Legend.

As I recall the votes were cast about 15 minutes before the end, after which Voss went crazy and should have won the Normie hands down. 

16 hours ago, Hatchman said:

To be fair, I had half a thought that we would too. We've got history

Had history of choking late in games / quarters … not any more (Adelaide away game maybe excepted)

Edited December 16, 20213 yr by monoccular

Rather off topic but it is a Max thread...

Our Captain is a master of understatement. In his 2021 diary, his caption for Tom Sparrow's kick for goal in 'that 32 seconds' is "Tom Sparrow gets the ball away". And  for Clayton Oliver's post-goal glory arc it's "Clayton Oliver celebrates a goal".

LOL. Really.