I'm really confident we win this because thankfully the out's seem to be more around the edges players the fact our midfield, backline, and forward line have remained mainly in tact is great. 

I think it'll be similar to our previous games, the Hawks will fight pretty hard but at some point we will have  5-6 minute patch where we put the foot down and kick 4-5 goals quickly and that'll be the game. 

  On 30/04/2022 at 00:41, binman said:

The Corner Hotel if you are coming from the Richmond side

That brings back memories.  The family would gather there in the 70's for a counter lunch before the game.

Relax folks. My glove is ironed and ready to go. After years of espionage at the Hawks, I am ready to direct us to another Goodwin in Simon's absence. Go Dees

  On 30/04/2022 at 01:15, Nasher said:

I will never understand why some Melbourne supporters actively hate Melbourne players.

I think " hate" is too strong a word. 

milkshake loves playing against the hawks

that goal from the centre square clearance in the final in 2018 is seared into my brain

  On 29/04/2022 at 23:32, Jaded No More said:

There is no doubt this is a danger game. 

Yeah our seventh danger game this year

I’m not a fan of Melksham, BUT when a player knows they are facing a rare and golden ticket to getting back into the side in the twilight of their career, they will do their outmost to play their best football. 
Melksham must have a lot of jealously and regret watching Hibbo with a premiership medal. He knows he will have to put a blinder in to stay in the side and he might just do that. 

He is a quality kick and has a great football brain. The knocks on him have always been his poor two way running. He knows now it’s not negotiable if he’s to press for a best 22 spot. Let’s see what he does. 

We beat last years Grand Finalists missing 5 Premiership Defenders

With Nibbler's addition to the covid list I now admit to being a tad concerned about today. If our defensive game is up to scratch however I expect we'll do enough up front to leave the G with 4 points. The sooner in the game we get beyond the 70 point barrier the more relaxed I'll be. 

As long as I don't see a "Is Yze the right guy thread" tonight I be fine.

Seems no tests are required before game day, so unless someone is obviously showing symptoms there won’t be any changes 

  On 30/04/2022 at 02:36, Mr Steve said:

As long as I don't see a "Is Yze the right guy thread" tonight I be fine.

You might like to sit down...

The equivalent thread was started this week 😑

 

  On 30/04/2022 at 02:18, radar said:

We beat last years Grand Finalists missing 5 Premiership Defenders

Ah ambiguity....

Since we previously won  a GF in 1964 we are missing 6 defenders

or

the only defender left from the Doggies 2016 win was Easton Wood, who got absolutely flogged...

Not sure what this has to do with anything, up there with my neice having covid multiple times, in Paris.....

My poor - in R 1 this year, with MFC  missing 5 premiership defenders, they chased down and beat  2021 #2 team 

Ok, we are going in with a side that includes Gawn, Trac, Oliver, Viney, BBB, Lever, May, Langdon, Fritta, Brayshaw,  Rivers, Spargo, Tmac,  Bowey, Harmes, JJ, etc. Need to keep reminding myself of this to keep the nail-biting at bay.

Edited April 30, 20223 yr by gs77

Our game will be won:

in the contest and post clearance work

two way running 

meters gained per midfield possession. (They love going nowhere from clearance)

defensive system stopping corridor use, driving turnover

locking it in forward half and blocking exits

intercept marking in back 75m

 

they seem to be emotional team - stop the fast start, grind them down and we will run past them.  

 

4:35 PM

7:00 PM

When its a 6 day break vs a 5 day break, the 6 day break team always wins. Plus we are heaps better. 26 point win coming up.

As long as Jake Bowie doesn’t get Covid…..

We win.

5 outs, I should be worried but am actually very confident of winning today 

Pickett and ANB out is a hit to our forward pressure, but the stats wonks have been recently noting that we're getting much more of our turnover and scoring from the back half this year compared to last. Conceded, the pressure acts of the aforementioned pair probably help with up the ground turnovers, but to my amateur television-watching eye, there does seem to have been a deliberate tweak to set up the wall further back (possibly forced through the early absence of key defenders).

Watching the opposition get to their defensive 50 and then have no idea what to do with it is a treat. Forced to kick up the line to a contest, or take on a higher risk option, or failing that waste their energy on a futile switch. I think we'll be alright. We've been cruising but stood up to every challenge last year - a few players out will give us an excuse to play with a backs-to-the-wall mentality. It presents as our first real challenge since the round one grand final replay. 

Melksham simply has to play well, he may not get another chance. 
it’s tough to get a game at The MFC

This may be a rare instance of our selection committee hoping our inclusions don't all play blinders. What then? Whose most at risk of not coming back in if Melksham, Bedford and Tmac all kick four apiece and tick all the other boxes along with Tomlinson? 

  On 30/04/2022 at 01:15, Nasher said:

I will never understand why some Melbourne supporters actively hate Melbourne players.

 

  On 30/04/2022 at 01:44, Redleg said:

I think " hate" is too strong a word. 

I’m glad someone has brought this up. The very first thing I noticed when I joined DL was how much some posters hate Melks. And no, Redleg, hate isn’t too strong a word. In fact, I was so disappointed that I mentioned him in my bio under the favourite players bit.  Feel free to have a look. 🙂 It’s remained unchanged since Day One. ❤️💙

With Kozzie and Nibbler out that is a big hole in our forward pressure department. Hopefully Bedford comes in like a man possessed, and Melksham has great memories of games vs the Hawks so fingers crossed he can turn back the clock. 

Thankfully our COVID H&S changes are all of players that while valuable aren’t the core key players of our team. 

Will make this a tougher assignment though.