On 17/03/2025 at 02:38, fr_ap said:

What? Ive never expressed an interest in Travaglia. I said Lalor would be far and away the best player in this draft and everyone now knows why. 

Knew XL would bring composure and good outside running. Hadn't appreciated how good his footy IQ was.

Still hold concerns for the contested part of his game....wasnt hugely tested on it on the weekend as stayed very outside. Not talking about his backing into packs btw...moreso his ability to win a hard ball or win 1v1s preventing him having the scope to be a mid rather than a winger. 

Time will tell - but was a fantastic debut. 

You weren’t watching. Lindsay put his body on the line at least 3 times right in front of me, copped some hits and got straight up. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 00:25, Damo said:

 Those enjoying Aj'S forceful attack in the forward line and wanting Fritch dropped need to understand the balance needed up forward.

Having natural talent is more valuable than simply putting in a lot of effort.

I too wish Fritta would put in better efforts but we need to keep playing skilled footballers. He is very talanted when on song.

HWBT = Hard Work Beats Talent. 
 

Not may saying but resonates with me. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 03:59, Mouseymoo said:

Was anyone else [censored] at the amount of times BT bought up the fact that Bowey motioned the ball was touched? [censored] wanted that overturned.. 

Stupid Dwayne was crapping on about it on Fox too. I have always had a feeling that the commentators are more of an influence to MRO and contentious decisions than we think. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 03:07, waynewussell said:

We'll just ignore that he remained our leading goal kicker last year! You call that liability??? Yes he can improve on his weaknesses, who can't? Constantly calling for him to be dropped is childish. He will be dropped if the coaches think he failed to play his role on Sunday. I would give it another try in better conditions. There may be a chorus of supporters baying for his blood, Im not one of them.

Refresh my memory about "constantly calling for him to be dropped"?

Its a team game. You pull your weight.

You get some leeway on past performances. But at some point you get called out.

  On 17/03/2025 at 04:35, DeeSince73 said:

Stupid Dwayne was crapping on about it on Fox too. I have always had a feeling that the commentators are more of an influence to MRO and contentious decisions than we think. 

What about the Petty handball to Langdon that went astray and hit the behind post. Paid as a deliberate.

Garbage

  On 17/03/2025 at 04:54, jnrmac said:

What about the Petty handball to Langdon that went astray and hit the behind post. Paid as a deliberate.

Garbage

Entirely correct decision and bad manning up by Melbourne.

The non deliberate against the Giants player who kicked it straight sideways in the 3rd quarter was a shocker tho. Lucky we got a make up call at the next stoppage 

  On 17/03/2025 at 03:01, waynewussell said:

I don't think moving Fritsch upfield is a good idea, short term. Short term, I want the sneaky 2 or 3 he seems to conjure from minimum disposals. Long term, I think the coaching panel are attempting to make him a better player! That is why I don't think they are going to revert on Fritsch after one game.

Correct and nor should they. 

Teams cover deep forwards so well these days, it’s getting harder for the deep guys to score and the half forwards are proving the danger.

Im perhaps Fritsch’s biggest critic but I thought he actually had a dip at the contest and defensively yesterday. He also had a couple of balls spoiled from him by elite defenders in the last quarter when he’d got first hands on and might’ve held on in the dry.

By the way I’m disappointed we missed out on the Grill’d burger because of Keefe (of all people) kicking the last goal 🫤

  On 17/03/2025 at 03:11, titan_uranus said:

A few on radio have said that Trac went to the midfield huddle prior to that bounce but looked to call an audible and put himself in the forward line. I didn't notice it at the ground but did anyone else? i.e. it might not have been Goodwin/the coaches' decision.

My recollection – this was not shown on the replay – is that there was quite a huddle of our midfield group, outside the centre Square, taking an unusually long time to discuss tactics. I suspect the speculation about the audible is correct.

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:34, DeeSpencer said:

Correct and nor should they. 

Teams cover deep forwards so well these days, it’s getting harder for the deep guys to score and the half forwards are proving the danger.

Im perhaps Fritsch’s biggest critic but I thought he actually had a dip at the contest and defensively yesterday. He also had a couple of balls spoiled from him by elite defenders in the last quarter when he’d got first hands on and might’ve held on in the dry.

This post answers a lot of the criticism of Fritta in earlier posts. He has been a deep forward, and yes, not only a deep forwards being covered better, but other teams are well aware of his capacity. Which is why he has been less effective over recent years, but it is not to blame him.

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:38, #11-TonyAnderson said:

By the way I’m disappointed we missed out on the Grill’d burger because of Keefe (of all people) kicking the last goal 🫤

Lachie Thief 

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:38, #11-TonyAnderson said:

By the way I’m disappointed we missed out on the Grill’d burger because of Keefe (of all people) kicking the last goal 🫤

ended up at grill'd for lunch and all the people before me were claiming free burgers and I was hit with a second wave of sadness. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 04:54, jnrmac said:

What about the Petty handball to Langdon that went astray and hit the behind post. Paid as a deliberate.

Garbage

But that is a law of the game it's stiff but that's the way it goes.

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:38, #11-TonyAnderson said:

By the way I’m disappointed we missed out on the Grill’d burger because of Keefe (of all people) kicking the last goal 🫤

He's the sort of bloke that you assumed retired in about 2017 and yet keeps re-appearing.

  On 16/03/2025 at 14:06, Pennant St Dee said:

There was still never an opportunity to punch the footy at any stage, Sparrow is covering off the kick over the top of one of our players (possibly Fritsch) on the 50m arc members side wing, which is where the kicker heads, he’s also within striking distance of Kelly if the kicker try’s to hit Kelly with a clean kick he can press up and stand the mark to force Kelly to step back and allow players to move up into position which we did well for most of the day., if you rewatch the game you will see this continuously.
 
We have actually covered off quite well but the scrubbed kick came off and Sparrow is boundary side.

Henderson may have been better served to give away a professional free and take Callaghan’s legs out but it is what it is

Wet weather footy @Pennant St Dee 1.45 minutes on the clock from a kick in you play close to your man.

Kill the game and ball from chaos ensuing.

It's virtually man on man in the front half in this situation. Would love to take screenshots and place the pics up but it's not allowing me to upload.

Sparrow sagged off too much and was on the wrong side of his man.

You need to be goalside in these scenarios and in closing distance, we need to be better.

Even Clarry was ball watching when Jones recieved the initial handball from Kelly and left a vacant Callaghan vacant in the corridor.

If he Sparrow was switched on he would have at the very least got a hand in and prevented clean possession of the ball.

Hence the call and need to fist or get something on it toward boundary line when your in game saving mode.

I just hope we learn from the last 2 minutes of play.

  On 17/03/2025 at 04:54, jnrmac said:

What about the Petty handball to Langdon that went astray and hit the behind post. Paid as a deliberate.

Garbage

He need just to fumbled it through, it was a shocking decision to handball it so close to the point post.

He was under pressure he can knock it through.

  On 17/03/2025 at 02:55, Pennant St Dee said:

Yep maybe in hindsight but in modern footy, they set up in layers and I guess Clarry pushes up to lock it in but it doesn’t happen. 
 

All in all though good performance and it’s these small margins that make such a difference 

Man on Man in tight game scenarios.

It cost us. @Pennant St Dee

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:54, Ollie fan said:

This post answers a lot of the criticism of Fritta in earlier posts. He has been a deep forward, and yes, not only a deep forwards being covered better, but other teams are well aware of his capacity. Which is why he has been less effective over recent years, but it is not to blame him.

I’ve never blamed him for lack of goals or possession, just lack of defensive effort and attack at the contest. Some of that is because he’s pushed hardest deep forward, but other times he’s just been very poor. Some are saying hidden injuries which could be partially true.

I thought he was up for the contest yesterday, keen to see more. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 06:32, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Man on Man in tight game scenarios.

It cost us. @Pennant St Dee

It doesn’t work that way anymore otherwise you isolate the poor match ups via leg speed or height/weight.

Its why they defend to impact the next layer not just their direct opponent.

Dont think this doesn’t happen several times during a game.

Its just amplified in the last few minutes 

.

Edited March 17Mar 17 by Redleg

Our match sim practice vs NMFC where we defended a lead for 3 minutes didn't seem to help.

It's my turn to put up a VFL player for selection!

What about pup?

Windsor for Langdon in the last centre bounce. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 08:01, 48 Year Now said:

Windsor for Langdon in the last centre bounce. 

I reckon if they had their time again they’d go with the big 4 at the bounce. 

  On 17/03/2025 at 04:07, Roost it far said:

You weren’t watching. Lindsay put his body on the line at least 3 times right in front of me, copped some hits and got straight up. 

And you arent reading. I didn't say he couldn't take a hit. We all saw him back into packs. 

I'm not questioning his courage or application - but the one area of his game I have a question mark is whether he can win physical 1v1 battles. Langdon wins more than his fair share for his size and it's a critical, underrated part of wingplay and also a key determinant of whether he has midfield scope at AFL level. 

Now he's a kid and he's played one game - and for 3 years will likely lose more 1v1s than he wins until he's physically developed. So as I said, time will tell.