44 minutes ago, Return to Glory said:

I know he did Jontee but he was pretty poor today. It was his mistake that led to the first goal and he just wasn't on at all (and I'm a big fan)

Trac was way off it. Twice he was streaming inside 50 and had grass ahead and chose to overdo the handball and cooked us. He missed targets in the field and missed goals he should have kicked. Very fumbly and trying to overcomplicate things. 

3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

The Crows were without Laird, Doedee, Rachele and we put a lead on them 3 different times on our home deck, with an 8 day break and 3 times let them come back in to it.

We couldn’t consistently stop their run and we had large period making really dumb unforced mistakes.

Thats not what good teams do.

There’s less and less evidence that Fritsch - unless cherry ripe - actually makes us better than a Melk/Petracca combination. He can’t contest like Melk so would have to be added, which means Tracc on ball which is good, but not if it’s the turnover and lazy defensive running midfield Tracc.

Oliver certainly does make us better but the contested ball and drive he gives the midfield has to come with at least not terrible kicking. Too many of his games this year were incredibly wasteful.

There’s still no solution to:
- Tall forwards
- Half forwards with genuine pace, skill, ability to halve a contest
- Midfield and wing run and skill 
- Getting consistent run and carry out of a backline that the default setting is slow and safe and the change up setting is whatever May did today.

No team is ever perfect but this Melbourne side look short on polish and confidence to stick to the right tempo required.

The fact is we’ve just beaten Collingwood and Brisbane and just lost to Port away and in dreadful conditions.

Since mid way through the Season we’ve a 5:2 win loss record , with a small loss to Geelong away and a 2 point loss to an in form GWS at Alice Springs in wet weather .

Im far from despondent about that state of affairs.

Seriosly some supporters would only be less than critical if we won every game by 100 points plus ! Fantasy stuff. This is AFL and opposing teams are mostly very talented, professional and hungry to win.

 

4 minutes ago, von said:

Not all mid table sides are equal. Some are sliding some are growing. Adelaide aren’t far from being a top 4 team, whilst still being young and prone to dips in form as a result. They have a scary forward line and clearly fancy themselves for a dip against the better teams, where they have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Exactly. 

I think they will  beat Port next week, and so also think the 18 point line is well overs.

41 minutes ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Who's spot does Spargo take if Chin stays in?

Woey.

Viney was awesome in the last. Great game. 

Tomlinson played well too. Would like to see both him and Petty in the same side but not sure how that is possible unfortunately. I would definitely let Petty rest for a couple more games though. 

6 minutes ago, binman said:

There were at least 6 or 7 games in the first half of the season where Chandler, Kozzy, Nibbler and Spargs all played - and there would have been more if not for Kozzie's suspension. Not sure why it is suddenly a problem.

Woey is not best 22 and will make way for Spargo in the next 2, 3 games tops. And the band will be back together. 

With the 4 smalls we don’t have a 3rd winger and it’s suboptimally small. Workable but not ideal.

ANB has to rotate on the wing which takes away our best two way half forward. 

Collingwood have some big back flankers, Port too. Cats are monsters.

I agree Taj is just finding his way at half forward but I think we need a bit more size. He took one great mark and dropped another, he’s solid overhead. 

Of course there’s ways to change the mix. If Fritsch can fill in on a wing for 20%. Or Kosi can genuinely play on ball for more than 1 minute a quarter we open up more ways to get smalls in the side without being too small. 

2 hours ago, Stiff Arm said:

There's s difference between winning a close game being well ahead and winning coming from behind like last week. Today was underwhelming 

I'd much prefer to win the close games that we lead all day than do what Collingwood do every week, which is get outplayed and outscored for 3 quarters and then play a great 4th quarter. It's unsustainable and you wouldn't want to be relying on it in finals too often.

We both had 9 shots on goal in the last quarter. 
They nailed theirs. We didn’t. We kick straight and we smash them. 

27 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

PS. Met a couple of Demonlanders today and , as you would expect, complete lunatics.

Gotta love this place !!!!!

You could not possibly me talking about me?

We’ve seen a quite a few Melb teams wilt over the years when an opposition gets 4-5 quick ones to open the last like the Crows did today. With this current team I’ll just enjoy the wins any way they come. 

Edited July 23, 20231 yr by Dee Zephyr

2 minutes ago, Demonland said:

You could not possibly me talking about me?

err ...arrgh .... well ....

I don't normally admire much about American society ..... but they do have something called " The Fifth Amendment "

Winning ugly still banks the 4 points and I'll gladly take them any given Sunday.

Viney was huge. Welcome back Chin. I really like Thomo. Had a fantastic first quarter.

One of those games where you keep feeling were one goal away from putting the game out of reach then end up having to save it. 

Perhaps in Joel Smith we've found our David Fairclough. 

Just rewatched the game after only being able to catch some on the radio and reading through some of the Demonland reviews.

Have to say it feels like poor BBB really does not get the reward for effort he puts in, or the recognition of that from DL. He lead at everything he should have including high up the ground as our exit so many times, and he competed up our F50 end perpetually with two opponents and STILL managed to bring it to ground every time, which would unfortunately be collected by that spare Crows player.  

The commentators on both the radio and replay all recognised the unrewarded, stat free work he was doing playing a role. 

We’ve looked better and straighter with him in the team no matter what he’s adding to the scoreboard or the stats sheet.  I’m hoping we persist and BBB and DL get the reward we saw in his first three games of 2023 before injury.

Edited July 23, 20231 yr by Juk3b0x

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

Would have helped given May had an absolute stinker. He. Was. Putrid. 

I still think he's carrying an injury.

He looks quite impeded and off the pace the last couple of weeks. But I've only got a TV screen to judge by.

I think it could be a major worry for us if he's not fully fit.

Happy to take the 4pts with no injuries and move on.

2 hours ago, Hawny for Gawny said:

How do you see them playing in the same team? I personally don't see Kozzie or ANB being dropped so it seems to be one or the other. 

Woey...

2 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

How do Chandler and Spargo play in the same side from here? Does ANB get dropped? Or are you assuming Pickett plays more midfield? And if so, who gets dropped from today’s side? Woey?

Clearly Woey...

Woey was even taking some wing minutes today as Spargo does. We are getting some games into young Woey and making Charlie earn his spot. 

All healthy outcomes.

2 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Joel Smith is the perfect sub. He can play forward or back and make a really strong impact in limited game time. My choice for the sub role in September.

Yep, he's a really handy 1 or 2 quarter player. I don't mean to be too hard on him, but he does tend to fade after the first half in full games.

Was a really great sub today. I think we've found our super sub. He's so versatile too.

2 hours ago, IRW said:

Not giving the opposition a sniff after them being 5 goals down maybe

You mean like Collingwood in Round 15, who were 6 goals up just prior to half time? And on the same page you claim Collingwood as premiers. Big braining posting. 👌

3 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Thank god for Tomlinson, he should dominate for Casey next week.

Clint I hope u are taking the Pizzz but I thought Tommo was great for most of the game. HE PLAYS IN ONES NEXT WEEK!

3 minutes ago, Juk3b0x said:

Just rewatched the game after only being able to catch some on the radio and reading through some of the Demonland reviews.

Have to say it feels like poor BBB really does not get the reward for effort he puts in, or the recognition of that from DL. He lead at everything he should have including high up the ground as our exit so many times, and he competed up our F50 end perpetually with two opponents and STILL managed to bring it to ground every time, which would unfortunately be collected by that spare Crows player.  

The commentators on both the radio and replay all recognised the unrewarded, stat free work he was doing playing a role. 

We’ve looked better and straighter with him in the team no matter what he’s adding to the scoreboard or the stats sheet.  I’m hoping we persist and BBB and DL get the reward we saw in his first three games of 2023 before injury.

Ben Brown is one of the smartest players in our team. If he wasn’t playing without a kneecap, he would be doing a Tax Walker right now. 

15 minutes ago, binman said:

Woey.

Why would  play Spargo over a rapidly improving Woey with more upside. WONT HAPPEN... BOOKMARK IT!

Umpire Nicholls really does not like us. Loathed to pay us a free kick.

A win is a win. Adelaide were pretty good though. We seem to be having too many highs and lows during the game. Just look at the second quarter. We really miss Oliver and Fritta. Would prefer to see trac spend more time in forward line than today but we need Oliver back for that.

Lever did some silly/undisciplined acts which cost us goals.

The deliberate out of bounds was clear, gotta be smarter than that.

Then the downfield in the last cost another goal.

Then May and Lever beaten by Tex, who kicks another goal.

Gotta tidy this stuff up.

Unconvincing win, but as others have said, we are at least competitive week in week out.

Bring on Tigers.

21 minutes ago, A F said:

I'd much prefer to win the close games that we lead all day than do what Collingwood do every week, which is get outplayed and outscored for 3 quarters and then play a great 4th quarter. It's unsustainable and you wouldn't want to be relying on it in finals too often.

I'd rather neither, which is why today was underwhelming 

7 minutes ago, Deeminion said:

Umpire Nicholls really does not like us. Loathed to pay us a free kick.

Melb 21 frees, Adelaide 12 frees