I recently watched the match v dorks from late 2023. Three things stood out.

One. Angus Brayshaw was there where he was needed. Just got to the right spots. His loss (to the thuggish attack) in the first minutes of the first game of the finals was probably far more significant than we understood at the time. He was indirectly worth goals in every match he played especially when we lost two finals by small margins to inferior teams. A great loss to the team and, in my view, was the most compelling reason we failed to win the flag in 2023.

Two. Alex Neal-Bullen. Understudy to Angus and played in similar fashion - he was there where he was needed to win possession or retain possession. Also a great loss to the team.

Three. Maxie was leaping in ruck contests, not wrestling with the unworthies who are sent to negate him. Get his bounce back and instruct him to avoid wrestling. If he leaps he will outreach and defeat any opponent.

Lose all of the above, and our performances fall off. Helps to explain 2025.

Not an answer to the question but that was an underrated win in a danger game. Hawks had beaten Brisbane, Collingwood and had just knocked off the Dogs in a big upset.

Agree that ANB's been a bad loss. You convince yourself over summer that he won't be a loss but you end up kidding yourself.

If you watch the mini replays of the early 2024 games, you'll notice ANB feature in so many goal involvements. Whether it be centre clearances, 1% ers by way of knock ons, tackles or kicking goals himself.

Without going into details for those that know, was his request to SA genuinely warranted?

1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Not an answer to the question but that was an underrated win in a danger game. Hawks had beaten Brisbane, Collingwood and had just knocked off the Dogs in a big upset.

Agree that ANB's been a bad loss. You convince yourself over summer that he won't be a loss but you end up kidding yourself.

If you watch the mini replays of the early 2024 games, you'll notice ANB feature in so many goal involvements. Whether it be centre clearances, 1% ers by way of knock ons, tackles or kicking goals himself.

Without going into details for those that know, was his request to SA genuinely warranted?

Pretty sure he had a baby last year and his partner wanted to be closer to family. Just reading between the lines it's not unlikely she was experiencing some PPD.

Nibbler, Brayshaw and even Harmes were fit bodies who turned up when needed. Different qualities, but all low-key achievers who oppositions had to take seriously.

When you combine their loss with a fitness dip from our first-rate midfielders Petracca and Oliver, you get a LOT of time and space not covered. Viney and a couple of other veterans trying to cover the responsibility and then running out of steam late in quarters and games is a symptom which then cascades to even more time and space needing to be covered by younger and less experienced players.

Even the so far incremental return of Spargo adds to that issue; he never got the stats but gee he was good at being in places that force the opposition to either go around when attacking, or to cover the risk when defending.

I feel a bit like we need to just accept the fact that we cannot cover the ground in full until the kids get fitter and the veterans regain full fitness. We need to adapt our strategy to simply not require so much running. Allow great big open spaces in our attacking half with highly isolated forwards, and instead of all rushing into attack we let small 'assault' teams try to cut a path.

We preserve our fatigue, and set up our counter to the rebound, while watching the other team collectively run an additional kilometre each way as they try to affect an attack which, one way or another, will be over before they arrive.

Stay-at-home forwards create a permanent menace which the whole opposition must react to. Assault detachments move to create dominance in just one place in just one time, only long enough to get the ball through the big sticks. Not one more square meter or one more second is needed.

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Without going into details for those that know, was his request to SA genuinely warranted?

Yes, it was. Nibs didn’t want to leave the MFC but he had to live in Adelaide which left him no choice but to leave our club, hence his comment about wishing he could pick up the MFC and place it into Adelaide.

I'm reminded of the story of a few blind men touching an elephant at different spots and all being convinced they've worked out what an elephant is. The players mentioned here are probably part of the problem but probably many other theories DL people have are also (partially) true. Unfortunately the only people who can either see the whole elephant or (stretching the analogy too far) improve it are the club. But so far even they don't know how .....

It's hard enough being a Melbourne supporter. Imagine how much harder it is right now for people at the club genuinely invested turning our fortunes round.

6 hours ago, Go Ds said:

It's hard enough being a Melbourne supporter. Imagine how much harder it is right now for people at the club genuinely invested turning our fortunes round.

Give me a break. I’m invested about an hour a day, at no cost to the club. Those “genuinely invested” are full time employees being paid a considerable sum. They must be [censored] themselves they are going to lose their jobs. As they should be.

I think the loss of nibbler and Gus impacted leadership and culture around the club and playing group much more than on field.

No disrespect but nibbler was a limited footballer who played his role very well. Gus played his role also but far from irreplaceable from a playing perspective.

19 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Not an answer to the question but that was an underrated win in a danger game. Hawks had beaten Brisbane, Collingwood and had just knocked off the Dogs in a big upset.

Agree that ANB's been a bad loss. You convince yourself over summer that he won't be a loss but you end up kidding yourself.

If you watch the mini replays of the early 2024 games, you'll notice ANB feature in so many goal involvements. Whether it be centre clearances, 1% ers by way of knock ons, tackles or kicking goals himself.

Without going into details for those that know, was his request to SA genuinely warranted?

I was really nervous going into that game as we hadn't sewn up top 4 and I really thought we were flag bound.

Looks very similar to the dark times pre Roos and Jackson. The older players just look defeated. We have been able to mask our skill inefficiencies by pressure and contested ball, worked for a few seasons but the game evolved to a possession game and we just cant keep the footy.

Our back 6 was the best in the comp, now the ball is coming in so fast they are being exposed.

Unfortunately a lot more pain coming, May and Gawn are looking like players that are coming to the end, Petracca wont hang around, Kossie the same.

All good runs come to an end, Richmond, West Coast and now Melbourne, shame we couldn't win another flag with this group.

2 hours ago, Roost it far said:

I was really nervous going into that game as we hadn't sewn up top 4 and I really thought we were flag bound.

Hope is dangerous.

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Hope is dangerous.

Losing Melksham and Gus and before that Petty didn't help our chances.

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Hope is dangerous.

Hope is everything. Without hope, why bother with anything.