I'm really curious about what happened to Gawn in the final quarter? There was a 15 minute spell where AJ was taking all the ruck contests and Gawn simply wasn't on the ground. There was some early talk by the commentators about getting a bang on the nose but not a peep about Gawn's extended absence while they were going on and on about Callghan having an obviously scheduled rest.

Can anyone enlighten me? Had his nose opened up and they could get him on because of the blood rule, maybe?

Solid chance it tipped the game - he was the best on ground even though he missed that chunk of time and could surely have influenced some of the crucial ruck contests where we had only AJ available.

2 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

To everyone having a crack at JVR, he was on Taylor who had almost no impact on the game. Time to learn modern footy

U are kidding are u saying our major forward was playing a defensive role against a defender,??? PAAARK ME IF THAT IS MODERN FOOTY ITS PAAARKED Hudson, Mc Kenna, et all would beg to disagree. FORWARDS ARE THERE TO KICK GOALS!  

1 minute ago, At Least I Saw a Flag said:

My only reservation is the level of foot skills among the team.

A few times we were 'on', but a miskick (usually overkicking) across the ground led to costly turnovers.

Yep, GWS outskilled us 

But we probably all knew that going into the game

But the script wasn't much different ... we kick into a crowded forward line and the opposition move the ball rapidly into an open forward line

It's why teams like the Pies have our measure

17 minutes ago, Macca said:

We were too top heavy up forward especially on a day not suited for high marking.  We should have had another late withdrawal and given Langford a full game (take your pick on a sub) 

I don’t agree, I thought there was very little about Langford’s game that indicated we would’ve been better off with him playing from the start.

The game got wetter than expected in the 3rd but otherwise wasn’t all that wet for large stints.

We needed someone with speed, forward craft and pressure, ideally not a tall but I thought Jeffo did better than a shorter player for the sake of it.

They were right not to rush Spargo again but hopefully he’s available soon. All the rest of the one paced options -  Langford, Laurie, Billings wouldn’t have helped us. If there was anyone to pick it was probably Kynan Brown, at least as sub. 

1 hour ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

We did not loose the game because of fitness, one less game that GW$, the kids, the umpires, yadda, yadda, yadda . . .

We lost because:

• there was ZERO on-field leadership during the last 100 seconds of the game, and
• the off-field catastrophy of 2024 most definitely, probably, cost us Houston.

So utterly *&%#ing Melbourne.

Why worry about missing out on Houston. If we had got him we wouldn’t have drafted XL. 

Just now, picket fence said:

FORWARDS ARE THERE TO KICK GOALS!  

Or bring the ball to the ground for our small brigade,  but it did not come in to him properly at all, 

52 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

My Fifteen year old daughter who's a Demon but never been a massive fan said, and I quote "I get it now, let's go every week" .

This makes me smile. 

I think second guessing about selection today is a bad idea. 

The guys we had out there had a crack and more of them did well than not. It sucks to lose a game of football this way but what can you do? Build on from this performance.

3 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

This makes me smile. 

It made me happy. She’s excellent at reports as well. 

29 minutes ago, Macca said:

We were too top heavy up forward especially on a day not suited for high marking.  We should have had another late withdrawal and given Langford a full game (take your pick on a sub) 

If AJ stays in as the 2nd ruck I can't see a spot for Jefferson.  Nor did I think that Jefferson was particularly hard at the contest or chased with intent

Kicked a couple of handy goals but apart from that, he did very little

And JVR is not a proven KPF (yet) so to be effectively playing 3 rookie talls up forward is at least 1 too many.  Poor selections

We probably need to recruit in a KPF from elsewhere if we are looking for B+ or A grade

In the meantime, one of AJ or Jeffo plays but not both.  We could get away with it against teams like North but against the Pies, Lions, Sydney or GWS and the like? 

I don't think so

It's JVR & AJ for mine with Fritsch as the 3rd tall ... Turner or Jeffo as replacements if AJ doesn't fire (JVR can ruck for 5 minutes per quarter)

Petracca & Kozzy up forward so we end up medium/tall.  Melksham? 

A. J Handy and busted his guts, Jeffo is class and a natural forward with smarts, moving forward Jeffo is the one who needs games!!! Should play all games this season

1 minute ago, DeeSpencer said:

I don’t agree, I thought there was very little about Langford’s game that indicated we would’ve been better off with him playing from the start.

 

We were at least one runner short and the match was lost at the selection table.  

JVR, AJ, Jeffo & Fritsch in the one forward line on a day where rain was forecast?  

Being top heavy allowed the opposition to run the ball out of our forward line far too easily.  Our defensive forward line pressure just wasn't up to it

If you are going to go that tall in the forward line then fast corridor entries are needed so as to catch the opposition out.  But instead of kicking to 1 on 1's in the hot spot, the ball (once again) ends up being kicked to packs near the boundary line

 

Watching the replay 11:37 left in the first quarter. Dwayne Russell “It’s their home, but it’s not really their home. They live in a shed really. In fact they don’t get to be on this lounge room floor all that often”

Pretty sure he is just making things up as he goes and saying whatever weird stuff comes into his head. 

Edited March 16Mar 16 by Bonkers

19 minutes ago, Demondan75 said:

Will AJ get looked at for the tackle on Brown?

I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a week. Brown got up and was fine by the looks of it. But being first game they might set the precedence unfortunately. Shouldn't be more then a free kick but they really come down hard on these careless tackles especially early in season to try to deter players (never seems to work much anyway).

1 minute ago, picket fence said:

A. J Handy and busted his guts, Jeffo is class and a natural forward with smarts, moving forward Jeffo is the one who needs games!!! Should play all games this season

The issue surrounding Jeffo's selection is the 2nd ruck duties

If AJ is needed in the ruck (if we don't want to use JVR) then can we play JVR, AJ & Jeffo every week?  

None of the 3 are proven forwards (although, JVR can make it to that level)

Just now, Roost it far said:

It made me happy. She’s excellent at reports as well. 

She’s only just today decided she likes footy, and you’re pencilling her in for reports??!

#CuttingSomeone’sGrassMuch?

7 minutes ago, picket fence said:

U are kidding are u saying our major forward was playing a defensive role against a defender,??? PAAARK ME IF THAT IS MODERN FOOTY ITS PAAARKED Hudson, Mc Kenna, et all would beg to disagree. FORWARDS ARE THERE TO KICK GOALS!  

Yes and no. A recent AFL term is "defensive forward". Honestly if you're helping your team kick goals or you're stopping the opposition doing that you've had a good day. And if a forward's efforts mean a top defender or defence bring about way less opposition scoring chains or inside 50s as well as being excused for not scoring his day could be lauded.

I think Adam Kingsleys post match interview should get a watch from a few of our “supporters” 

I haven’t watched the game yet but he thinks we are going to be a very good team - I think his assessment is probably more accurate than some of those who seem very glass half empty atm 

Yep really disappointed in a loss but seriously didn’t think we’d get that close having watched GWS live the week before 

Truth is we could put in a few stinkers and then you’d be entitled to be negative but not after today as this game was ours until the last minute 

Work to be done but a really decent effort from a team with more new blood than we’ve seen for a very long time 

 

4 minutes ago, Macca said:

  Our defensive forward line pressure just wasn't up to it

Agree with that, don’t agree swapping Jeffo for a slow player just because they’re shorter would’ve made a big impact.

Need Pickett, Spargo and Kolt back, just hard to fill gaps down 3 guys in one role 

54 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Something that cost us was not having someone on the goal line.  They got 3-4 scappy goal as a result - at least 2 from Cogniglio could have been stopped had we had someone behind the pack.

I was ropeable with those two goals. Both times he was unmarked. Three goals to cognilio. That's the game right there.

3 minutes ago, binman said:

I was ropeable with those two goals. Both times he was unmarked. Three goals to cognilio. That's the game right there.

They hurt, we were aghast that no one was on the goal line with the ball pinging around like it was. 

That goal from Windsor was a delight to the eyes btw

goodwin has just done a quick post-game ahead of 4.5 hours of coding

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1733798/simons-sign-off-round-1?videoId=1733798&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1742120670001

the change to his media persona is striking

definitely going down the reverend style of opening up in his coaching journey

 

Edited March 16Mar 16 by whatwhat say what

Just now, DeeSpencer said:

Agree with that, don’t agree swapping Jeffo for a slow player

Swapping Jeffo for a slow player?  I didn't say that and besides which, who is slower than Jeffo anyway?  Jeffo is not exactly Gout Gout

We could have played Langford or Billings as another runner (or both if we wanted to match GWS' running ability)

Prior to the season there was hardly anyone here advocating playing Jeffo, JVR & AJ in the one team so I'm not sure why suddenly that can be a workable plan

Maybe down the track where the actual output from all 3 is more than adequate but right now?  It's like we're playing 1 or 2 short

3 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

Agree. The fluffed kicks, taking the wrong option, Johnson sprays his kick, GWS clean, untouched to Keeffe who hammers it over the goal umpires head. So typically Melbourne. Our skills are sub standard, we are a mile off it.

And this week's hyperbole award goes to...

For those that haven’t watch Kingsley’s presser.