Jump to content

Featured Replies

Posted

I'm hoping our capitulation against Geelong is just a by product of the bye with so many teams struggling first game back ( not that ours was as long as it should be). It was a tough slog and they rarely lose down there.

But we have a number of players way down on form or carrying niggles. 

Max - worst game for nearly a decade and was missing for large chunks. Does not look as mobile as normal and dropping under 12 marks.

JV - The man is a beast and finds a way through pain but that shoulder he reached for is not the one Stewart hits and is the same one as his 'stinger' from against Pies.

May - hasn't looked right all year bar one or 2 games. Runs like he has a back injury.

Clarry - say no more

Grundy - walked to the rooms mid match, played on but looks sore.

Petty- just back from long injury but was clearly not ready.

Hibberd - needs to be managed.

TMac and BBB - banged up for years.

Kozi- terribly out of form, hopefully not an injury but why is he not getting more midfield time?

Our injury list is short but I'm pretty sure it was last year as well late in the season only to find out how sore we were which was evident in our last QTR fade outs.

Hope I'm wrong and history is not about to repeat itself. Our best is as good as anyone but can we bring it??

 

 
39 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

I'm hoping our capitulation against Geelong is just a by product of the bye with so many teams struggling first game back ( not that ours was as long as it should be). It was a tough slog and they rarely lose down there.

But we have a number of players way down on form or carrying niggles. 

Max - worst game for nearly a decade and was missing for large chunks. Does not look as mobile as normal and dropping under 12 marks.

JV - The man is a beast and finds a way through pain but that shoulder he reached for is not the one Stewart hits and is the same one as his 'stinger' from against Pies.

May - hasn't looked right all year bar one or 2 games. Runs like he has a back injury.

Clarry - say no more

Grundy - walked to the rooms mid match, played on but looks sore.

Petty- just back from long injury but was clearly not ready.

Hibberd - needs to be managed.

TMac and BBB - banged up for years.

Kozi- terribly out of form, hopefully not an injury but why is he not getting more midfield time?

Our injury list is short but I'm pretty sure it was last year as well late in the season only to find out how sore we were which was evident in our last QTR fade outs.

Hope I'm wrong and history is not about to repeat itself. Our best is as good as anyone but can we bring it??

 

May is playing well.

Max will atone.

BBB ran freely last night and imo will be back soon.

Grundy had a head knock.

Kozzie imo has had the flair coached out of him and is now trying to imitate ANB and do nothing but pressure.

He is often in the wrong position and has caught ANB’s fumbles.

He should be set alight and told while pressure is important, so is his flair, other than trying to take mark of the century.

He at least kicked a couple this week and that will give some confidence.

Next game in the Alice could start his revival.

Edited by Redleg

42 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

I'm hoping our capitulation against Geelong is just a by product of the bye with so many teams struggling first game back ( not that ours was as long as it should be). It was a tough slog and they rarely lose down there.

But we have a number of players way down on form or carrying niggles. 

Max - worst game for nearly a decade and was missing for large chunks. Does not look as mobile as normal and dropping under 12 marks.

JV - The man is a beast and finds a way through pain but that shoulder he reached for is not the one Stewart hits and is the same one as his 'stinger' from against Pies.

May - hasn't looked right all year bar one or 2 games. Runs like he has a back injury.

Clarry - say no more

Grundy - walked to the rooms mid match, played on but looks sore.

Petty- just back from long injury but was clearly not ready.

Hibberd - needs to be managed.

TMac and BBB - banged up for years.

Kozi- terribly out of form, hopefully not an injury but why is he not getting more midfield time?

Our injury list is short but I'm pretty sure it was last year as well late in the season only to find out how sore we were which was evident in our last QTR fade outs.

Hope I'm wrong and history is not about to repeat itself. Our best is as good as anyone but can we bring it??

 

JVR nowhere near ready

 
4 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Kozzie imo has had the flair coached out of him and is now trying to imitate ANB and do nothing but pressure.

I think that our obsession with system at both VFL and AFL level has impacted a number of young players. Rarely if ever do you see any of the youngsters playing the occasional "blinder" of a game

4 minutes ago, picket fence said:

JVR nowhere near ready

Maybe, but we are not helping him.

BBB back will help a bit.


  • Author
8 minutes ago, picket fence said:

JVR nowhere near ready

 

2 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Maybe, but we are not helping him.

BBB back will help a bit.

Agree. But in relation to being banged up he is actually not. He will be before long as he attacks the footy so well and crashes packs. 

If BBB is ready I wonder if we give JVR a spell?

I think we need to give Smith a few more weeks. Faded 2nd half like many others but was our highest ranked player at half time and I'm liking what he brings. 

When you rush in a completely underdone Harrison Petty off a 6 week injury with zero match fitness over a fit, healthy and in form Adam Tomlinson then all it shows is our coaching staff have not learnt a single thing from last year.

Viney is a machine but you can tell his body is copping a hammering. Do we bring in Dunstan to try and ease the load a little on him?

Hibberd is cooked. People getting sucked in by a few good performance here and there need to accept the reality is that the fact we have to manage him with a week off every few weeks so his body is slowly breaking down. Got greatly exposed by Rohan on Thursday night which was sad to watch. He's been a warrior over the year but the club will tap him on the shoulder at years end.

It's definitely catching up to Max. It was always going to come. I think it's purely an age and his body just starting to catch up with him.

We have zero protection for JVR. He's literally taking the first defender as was his starting match up with De Koning on Friday night who's a bloody good up and coming defender. 

Watched the full Casey game last night and Benny Brown was moving around freely. Time to bite the bullet and just bring him. JVR needs an extra senior body to take the brunt of the number 1 defender. This should have been done weeks ago.

Now that Kozzie has signed his contract he's just turned to crud. One of the best games I've seen him play was round 1 against the doggies where he was playing high midfield minutes and resting up forward

We heard it all summer that he's been training with the mids and has bulked up etc. Hasn't played a single minute in the midfield for a number of weeks. Looks bereft of confidence and doesn't seem to be enjoying his footy. 

Why Goodwin has gone away from this experiment is completely bizarre. Not only has it taken the unpredictability of our midfield set up but the flair and speed in there. 

 

1 hour ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

I'm hoping our capitulation against Geelong is just a by product of the bye with so many teams struggling first game back ( not that ours was as long as it should be). It was a tough slog and they rarely lose down there.

But we have a number of players way down on form or carrying niggles. 

Max - worst game for nearly a decade and was missing for large chunks. Does not look as mobile as normal and dropping under 12 marks.

JV - The man is a beast and finds a way through pain but that shoulder he reached for is not the one Stewart hits and is the same one as his 'stinger' from against Pies.

May - hasn't looked right all year bar one or 2 games. Runs like he has a back injury.

Clarry - say no more

Grundy - walked to the rooms mid match, played on but looks sore.

Petty- just back from long injury but was clearly not ready.

Hibberd - needs to be managed.

TMac and BBB - banged up for years.

Kozi- terribly out of form, hopefully not an injury but why is he not getting more midfield time?

Our injury list is short but I'm pretty sure it was last year as well late in the season only to find out how sore we were which was evident in our last QTR fade outs.

Hope I'm wrong and history is not about to repeat itself. Our best is as good as anyone but can we bring it??

 

Chill out, it was a frustrating loss but lets not forget: We dominated Collingwood 2 weeks ago (Score doesn't reflect our dominance), we are coming off a bye (which does have an impact), playing Geelong in Geelong is always tough, and it was Scott's 300.

 

Apart from stated injuries I'd say no.

4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

When you rush in a completely underdone Harrison Petty off a 6 week injury with zero match fitness over a fit, healthy and in form Adam Tomlinson then all it shows is our coaching staff have not learnt a single thing from last year.

Viney is a machine but you can tell his body is copping a hammering. Do we bring in Dunstan to try and ease the load a little on him?

Hibberd is cooked. People getting sucked in by a few good performance here and there need to accept the reality is that the fact we have to manage him with a week off every few weeks so his body is slowly breaking down. Got greatly exposed by Rohan on Thursday night which was sad to watch. He's been a warrior over the year but the club will tap him on the shoulder at years end.

It's definitely catching up to Max. It was always going to come. I think it's purely an age and his body just starting to catch up with him.

We have zero protection for JVR. He's literally taking the first defender as was his starting match up with De Koning on Friday night who's a bloody good up and coming defender. 

Watched the full Casey game last night and Benny Brown was moving around freely. Time to bite the bullet and just bring him. JVR needs an extra senior body to take the brunt of the number 1 defender. This should have been done weeks ago.

Now that Kozzie has signed his contract he's just turned to crud. One of the best games I've seen him play was round 1 against the doggies where he was playing high midfield minutes and resting up forward

We heard it all summer that he's been training with the mids and has bulked up etc. Hasn't played a single minute in the midfield for a number of weeks. Looks bereft of confidence and doesn't seem to be enjoying his footy. 

Why Goodwin has gone away from this experiment is completely bizarre. Not only has it taken the unpredictability of our midfield set up but the flair and speed in there. 

 

If you watched Dunstan yesterday and his terrible disposal, you could not add him to our already poor disposal.

Kicked it straight to a Cats player on several occasions. Gets the pill, but turns it over constantly.


29 minutes ago, Redleg said:

If you watched Dunstan yesterday and his terrible disposal, you could not add him to our already poor disposal.

Kicked it straight to a Cats player on several occasions. Gets the pill, but turns it over constantly.

So no different to the rest of our midfield in the seniors?

Personally I didn't think it was that bad at all? Really do think it gets overblown with his disposal.

Petracca for instance is one of our biggest ball butchers in our team but doesn't get called out for it because he's good at other things that make him stand out. His ball use on Thursday night was horrifically bad for a player of his calibre. 

Edited by dazzledavey36

47 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

When you rush in a completely underdone Harrison Petty off a 6 week injury with zero match fitness over a fit, healthy and in form Adam Tomlinson then all it shows is our coaching staff have not learnt a single thing from last year.

 

This.

You can forgive a player for making a mistake in the heat of the moment.

No excuses for the coaching staff that took 2 or 3 days to make one of the most stupidest selection decision I can remember under Goodwin.

4 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

This.

You can forgive a player for making a mistake in the heat of the moment.

No excuses for the coaching staff that took 2 or 3 days to make one of the most stupidest selection decision I can remember under Goodwin.

Certainly right up there in my time under Goodwin 

lets not forget Max had 15 disposals, 4 tackles and 23 HO, whilst he wasn't taking marks he still had an OK game.  not exactly the best weather for a 200+cm player.

Were not banged up at all, we are in a good spot i believe.  BBB i think they are managing and he will soon return to the side. JVR is 19, might need a break leading into finals but he will benefit from playing next to BBB.

Lets just hope we don't have to many games in the wet!! we just cannot play in very slippery conditions. 

32 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

This.

You can forgive a player for making a mistake in the heat of the moment.

No excuses for the coaching staff that took 2 or 3 days to make one of the most stupidest selection decision I can remember under Goodwin.

It was a very bad selection decision and never felt right. 


2 hours ago, picket fence said:

JVR nowhere near ready

disagree, he's playing like a 19 year old key forward. I think he's doing just fine.

Just now, Roost it far said:

disagree, he's playing like a 19 year old key forward. I think he's doing just fine.

yup, needs help in the forward line though

On Tomlinson, a few weeks back we were calling for his head, then he played a decoy role on McKay and a good game against the Pies. Just calm the farm. I think he has a spot down back with petty up forward. I think we need to bench the resting ruckman for awhile and get them fresh for Sept. The loading may or may not be finished but the next few weeks will show. All tracking well in my opinion.

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Now that Kozzie has signed his contract he's just turned to crud. One of the best games I've seen him play was round 1 against the doggies where he was playing high midfield minutes and resting up forward

We heard it all summer that he's been training with the mids and has bulked up etc. Hasn't played a single minute in the midfield for a number of weeks. Looks bereft of confidence and doesn't seem to be enjoying his footy. 

Why Goodwin has gone away from this experiment is completely bizarre. Not only has it taken the unpredictability of our midfield set up but the flair and speed in there. 

 

I don't understand this one either...perhaps (I hope) it's something we plan to launch again in the back end of the season.

 

1 minute ago, rjay said:

I don't understand this one either...perhaps (I hope) it's something we plan to launch again in the back end of the season.

 

Well time is ticking now, not the back end of the season. (Not having a crack at you, just frustrated with this)


1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

When you rush in a completely underdone Harrison Petty off a 6 week injury with zero match fitness over a fit, healthy and in form Adam Tomlinson then all it shows is our coaching staff have not learnt a single thing from last year.

I think it was to play on Cameron.

Tomo couldn't play this role.

As it turns out Cameron didn't feature but who was to know.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Well time is ticking now, not the back end of the season. (Not having a crack at you, just frustrated with this)

I am with this one too 'dazz'

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

This.

You can forgive a player for making a mistake in the heat of the moment.

No excuses for the coaching staff that took 2 or 3 days to make one of the most stupidest selection decision I can remember under Goodwin.

And then compounded it by not moving him forward onto Stewart, when Cameron went down.

Who is responsible for match ups, surely not Goody on the ground?

 

Why do we have to have Hyperbole after every loss

Review

Petty in possibly a blunder, but he was selected to go with Cameron 

Failing to do better with forward 50 entries and all I can say is that especially in the 4th is a failure to be desperate at ground level, their second rebound goal in the 4th Fritta has an opportunity to attack the ground ball, doesn’t Geelong defender soccer’s it outside 50 and they slingshot forward. Kozzie toepokes a ball on the edge of our F50, when he could have attacked the ground ball to draw high contact or at worst create a stoppage. They exit easily again. Smith giving up front position to Stewart allows easy intercept marks.

Not moving Petty forward when Stewart is controlling the rebound and the mids getting beaten at the stoppages early in the fourth 

Theres the game we set ourselves up to win it but failed but no someone comes up with us being banged up.

FCS watch the game 

3 hours ago, Hawny for Gawny said:

Chill out, it was a frustrating loss but lets not forget: We dominated Collingwood 2 weeks ago (Score doesn't reflect our dominance), we are coming off a bye (which does have an impact), playing Geelong in Geelong is always tough, and it was Scott's 300.

I was chatting quite a while ago to Ken Melville (Best and Fairest in our 1955 Premiership team) and he said that even in  its many premiership years, Melbourne rarely won in Geelong. So nothing new here. What really irks me is that almost every year we are forced to travel to the cattery unlike Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and couple of other AFL pampered teams. Grrr! End of rant. PS For those who don't remember Ken, he was a minister of religion, played as an amateur, and received some scripture books for winning the B&F. How times have changed.


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • GAMEDAY: West Coast

    It's Game Day and the Demons have a chance to notch up their third consecutive win — something they haven’t done since Round 5, 2024. But to do it, they’ll need to exorcise the Demons of last year’s disastrous trip out West. Can the Dees continue their momentum, right the wrongs of that fateful clash, and take another step up the ladder on the road to redemption?

      • Thumb Down
      • Haha
    • 33 replies
    Demonland
  • FEATURE: 1925

    A hundred years ago today, on 2 May 1925, Melbourne kicked off the new season with a 47 point victory over St Kilda to take top place on the VFL ladder after the opening round of the new season.  Top place was a relatively unknown position for the team then known as the “Fuchsias.” They had finished last in 1923 and rose by only one place in the following year although the final home and away round heralded a promise of things to come when they surprised the eventual premiers Essendon. That victory set the stage for more improvement and it came rapidly. In this series, I will tell the story of how the 1925 season unfolded for the Melbourne Football Club and how it made the VFL finals for the first time in a decade on the way to the ultimate triumph a year later.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PREVIEW: West Coast

    Saturday’s election night game in Perth between the West Coast Eagles and Melbourne represents 18th vs 15th which makes it a tough decision as to which party to favour. The Eagles have yet to break the ice under their new coach in Andrew McQualter who is the second understudy in a row to confront Demon Coach Simon Goodwin who was also winless until a fortnight ago. On that basis, many punters might be considering to go with the donkey vote but I’ve been assigned with the task of helping readers to come to a considered opinion on this matter of vital importance across the nation. It was almost a year ago that I wrote a preview here of the Demons’ away game against the Eagles (under the name William from Waalitj because it was Indigenous Round).  I issued a warning that it was a danger game, based on my local knowledge that the home team were no longer easybeats and that they possessed a wunderkind generational player in Harley Reid who was capable of producing stellar performances playing among men a decade and more older than he.  At the time, the Eagles already had two wins off the back of a couple of the young man’s masterclasses and they had recently given the Bombers a scare straight after their Anzac Day blockbuster draw against the then reigning premiers.

      • Haha
    • 1 reply
    Demonland
  • NON-MFC: Round 08

    Round 08 of the 2025 AFL Season kicks off on Thursday with a must-win game for the Bombers to stay in touch with the top eight, while the struggling Roos seek a morale-boosting upset. Friday sees the Saints desperate for a win as well if they are to stay in finals contention and their opponents the Dockers will be eager to crack in to the Top 8 with a win on the road. Saturday kicks off with a pivotal clash for both sides asthe Bulldogs look to solidify their top-eight spot, while Port seeks to shake their pretender tag. Then the Crows will be looking to steady their topsy turvy season against a resurgent Blues looking to make it 4 wins on the trot. On Election Night a Blockbuster will see the ladder-leading Pies take on the Cats, who are keen to bounce back after a narrow loss. On Sunday the Sydney Derby promises fireworks as the Giants aim to cement their top-eight status, while the Swans fight to keep their season alive. The Hawks, celebrating their centenary, will be looking to easily account for the Tigers who are desperate to halt their slide. The Round concludes on Sunday Night with a top end of the table QClash with significant ladder implications; both Queensland teams are in scintillating form. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons?

      • Like
    • 153 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: West Coast

    The Demons hit the road in Round 8, heading to Perth to face the West Coast Eagles at Optus Stadium. With momentum building, the Dees will be aiming for a third straight victory to keep their season revival on course. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 563 replies
    Demonland
  • REPORT: Richmond

    The fans who turned up to the MCG for Melbourne’s Anzac Day Eve clash against Richmond would have been disappointed if they turned up to see a great spectacle. As much as this was a night for the 71,635 in attendance to commemorate heroes of the nation’s past wars, it was also a time for the Melbourne Football Club to consolidate upon its first win after a horrific start to the 2025 season. On this basis, despite the fact that it was an uninspiring and dour struggle for most of its 100 minutes, the night will be one for the fans to remember. They certainly got value out of the pre match activity honouring those who fought for their country. The MCG and the lights of the city as backdrop was made for nights such as these and, in my view, we received a more inspirational ceremony of Anzac culture than others both here and elsewhere around the country. 

    • 0 replies
    Demonland