If only …

McVee. May. Turner.

Salem. Tmcd. Bowey.

Langdon. Rivers. Windsor.

Chandler. Petty. Langford.

Kozzzzzy. AJ.  Melksham.

Gawn. Petracca.  Oliver.

Sparrow. Sharp. Lindsay.  Howes

Sub. Laurie.

Ins. Petty. Melksham. Howes. AJ. Laurie.

Outs. JVR. Jeffo. Kolt. Spargo. Fritsch.

1 hour ago, junk said:

How is no tackle Fritsch still getting a game? We pick half Fullarton and I don't want to be there Oliver. It is about time Sestan, Adams and K.Brown get a game, as we have nothing to lose.

We are going to get smashed like an Avacado.

Um yep but brings the coach further into focus!

Win by 1 point: Goodwin won it at election.

Lose by 1 point: Goodwin lost it at selection.

Ugh seriously how is fritta playing?

It's making me mad.

Why bring in van rooyen for a game then drop him? I get he dropped a couple of chances but he puts in more effort than fritsch.

The young kids confidence will be 0.

41 minutes ago, Vineytime said:

Based off VFL form Jefferson should not have been selected.

Happy they have dropped Roo and kept him accountable rather than gifting games.

They have just lost me completely.

JVR at least did some decent ruck work.

And is part of our future (as is Kolt).

Fritta, once one of my favorites should not be playing - an absolute passenger. Needs 4 games at Casey, which given that it is VFL may take a couple of months. He did nothing when last dropped and nothing since his return.

3 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

C

I'm having high school report card flashbacks...

24 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Ugh seriously how is fritta playing?

It's making me mad.

Why bring in van rooyen for a game then drop him? I get he dropped a couple of chances but he puts in more effort than fritsch.

The young kids confidence will be 0.

How many on match selection committee are scratching their heads wondering why the younger players aren’t developing as well as they used to?

5 minutes ago, praha said:

I'm having high school report card flashbacks...

That's about three grades higher than our performance so far this year Praha.

Even if it was accidental

3 hours ago, Garbo said:

Just realised we have 100% win rate this year without JVR and 100% loss rate with him

We're undefeated with Fullarton in the side aren't we? 😃

24 minutes ago, monoccular said:

They have just lost me completely.

JVR at least did some decent ruck work.

And is part of our future (as is Kolt).

Fritta, once one of my favorites should not be playing - an absolute passenger. Needs 4 games at Casey, which given that it is VFL may take a couple of months. He did nothing when last dropped and nothing since his return.

The cupboard is bare mono. Shuffling the deck chairs.

Lever & Vines the last cabs to bring back and hopefully we aren't rushing lever back.

If Rick and May can find some form and Rick hits the ground running plus no more significant injuries or losing the likes of May, Rick, Gawn Melk / Kozzy etc.

We just might win a few more than expected.

I'm not sure there's a place for Fritta or Spargo in the 22 medium to long term.

Consider AJ & Brown Dog for those two even if it's a minor upgrade and just to give them a chance to see if they can bring something to the table.

Unlikely they're the answer either but who knows. They might bring a bit more energy, zip and pressure. Every little bit helps at this level.

We simply have to play Turner as a forward from here and just let him ply his craft there for the remainder of the season.

Don't see him as a 1st stringer tall forward but amazingly he is now our highest rated TF in 2025 (so far).

Madness to play him down back, especially now Petty's back in.

Edited Thursday at 12:594 days by Demon Dynasty

JVR only came in as Petty was concussed.

But agree with others Fritta must have photos of Goody.

3 hours ago, Pickettup said:

Can anyone please confirm which end is the away end at the Gabba? Cheers. Go Dees.

The Demon Army will be in Section 213 in the Eastern Stand, next to The Verandah area.

3 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

I have to say that Fritsch and Spargo are now being gifted matches.

Fritsch missed crucial shots last week. He is defensively very weak. Zero tackles. Zero chasing.

Spargo is below average in most categories. He’s not wasteful because he only kicks it 15 metres. For a small forward, one goal for the year is a very sub standard performance. He’s been very very low on player ratings for weeks. He misses too many tackles.

Fritsch, 4 possessions

Simply a liability. Better off with one of those steel men on the mark they use at training

Complete joke how he remains in the team

1 hour ago, dees189227 said:

Ugh seriously how is fritta playing?

It's making me mad.

Why bring in van rooyen for a game then drop him? I get he dropped a couple of chances but he puts in more effort than fritsch.

The young kids confidence will be 0.

I thought JVR did very well in the ruck, and several good tap-ons around the ground. It’s not fair to judge him solely on his forward play. He’s way better than Tom Fullarton.

Disco, Petts, X & Chin on the pine with Bill as our sub? Cream visiting family on the AFL's coin?

Edited Thursday at 20:243 days by Rab D Nesbitt

11 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

At least he brings elite hair to his game 😝

Seriously though, how do we expect JVR, MJ or Kolt to get good at the level, if they don’t get a decent run in the seniors? Meanwhile the likes of Sparrow, Spargo, Fritsch and even Salem get free passes to the next round.

The best way to set them up for success at AFL level is by them showing the required levels of consistent impact at VFL level. Kolt was brought in with no VFL games which was ludicrous and MJ no form post injury and off a last game with 7 touches where he played most of it in defence. Neither approach is setting developing players up for any form of success at the next level.

Edited Thursday at 21:333 days by Lil_red_fire_engine

6 potential inclusions and I would be happy to never see 5 of them wearing a MFC jumper again (Petty the exception). Our depth, as has been obvious for two years, is abysmal.

I don't understand the point of cycling through our tall forwards every second week. We need to have a run of games with Van Rooyen and Petty playing together and see what they can do. Fullarton and Johnson aren't AFL standard and we're wasting our time giving them games. Jefferson is probably in the same bracket if he doesn't have excellent VFL form behind him.

I'm glad Tholstrup has been sent back to Casey. He looks miles off the level to me, and playing him without VFL games was ridiculous. To date his strongest attribute seems to be his uncanny knack of being where the ball isn't. I'd be playing him 60% mid / 40% fwd at Casey and telling him he come back to the AFL side when he has picked up 30 possessions 3 weeks in a row.

And finally I'd love for someone to tell me what Charlie Spargo's KPIs are that make him a guaranteed selection each week. They clearly don't involve kicking or creating goals, which I thought would be a prerequisite for a small forward.

6 minutes ago, poita said:

I'm glad Tholstrup has been sent back to Casey. He looks miles off the level to me, and playing him without VFL games was ridiculous. To date his strongest attribute seems to be his uncanny knack of being where the ball isn't. I'd be playing him 60% mid / 40% fwd at Casey and telling him he come back to the AFL side when he has picked up 30 possessions 3 weeks in a row.

I have no idea why he was rushed into the seniors after a very long stint on the sidelines.

You're giving his development an absolute disservice and he should have been given a month at Casey.

10 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

The cupboard is bare mono. Shuffling the deck chairs.

Lever & Vines the last cabs to bring back and hopefully we aren't rushing lever back.

Club website has Lever as likely to return for the Sydney game. 🙄

4 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I have no idea why he was rushed into the seniors after a very long stint on the sidelines.

You're giving his development an absolute disservice and he should have been given a month at Casey.

Part of the trouble is the state of the VFL competition. The AFL really need to sort it. Get it back to the same 18 teams who play AFL and match the draw. I agree on Tholstrup though, I’m not seeing but he’s got time and his preseason lay off with injury didn’t help.

On 14/05/2025 at 18:18, Ghostwriter said:

This week’s banner will say…

GIVE IT YOUR ALL

WITHOUT REGRET

ANOTHER TRIP

WE WON’T FORGET

80s/90s-style banner snark. Love it.

10 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

The cupboard is bare mono. Shuffling the deck chairs.

Lever & Vines the last cabs to bring back and hopefully we aren't rushing lever back.

If Rick and May can find some form and Rick hits the ground running plus no more significant injuries or losing the likes of May, Rick, Gawn Melk / Kozzy etc.

We just might win a few more than expected.

I'm not sure there's a place for Fritta or Spargo in the 22 medium to long term.

Consider AJ & Brown Dog for those two even if it's a minor upgrade and just to give them a chance to see if they can bring something to the table.

Unlikely they're the answer either but who knows. They might bring a bit more energy, zip and pressure. Every little bit helps at this level.

We simply have to play Turner as a forward from here and just let him ply his craft there for the remainder of the season.

Don't see him as a 1st stringer tall forward but amazingly he is now our highest rated TF in 2025 (so far).

Madness to play him down back, especially now Petty's back in.

I think there's a long term problem now with our backline too.

May is getting sorer and a bit slower every year.

I don't think Jake's body will last much longer either.

So, by the end of this year, we could be looking to replace our backbone.

It's quite a challenge with the likes of Petty going forward to try and prop up our forward line.

It's great that disco can swing forward or back but for mine, he's better as a forward and should be Fritschs replacement.

We're lucky Tmacs is having a stellar season. He's really bounced back this year.

Our young forward line isnt working while our backline is ageing fast.

It must be incredibly hard for some of the younger blokes to find their rhythm with positional changes and no clear cohesion in game plans right now.

I feel for the likes of Kolt and JVR going in and out of the side while Fritsch seems to get a free ride.

Let's hope we can continue to run and tackle hard like last week and lower our eyes and kick straight this week.

We follow a perplexing team of perplexed players

Edited Thursday at 23:283 days by Brownie

2 minutes ago, Brownie said:

I think there's a long term problem now with our backline too.

May is getting sorer and a bit slower every year.

I don't think Jake's body will last much longer either.

So, by the end of this year, we could be looking to replace our backbone.

It's quite a challenge with the likes of Petty going forward to try and prop up our forward line.

It's great that disco can swing forward or back but for mine, he's better as a forward and should be Fritschs replacement.

We're lucky Tmacs is having a stellar season. He's really bounced back this year.

Our young forward line isnt working while our backline is ageing fast.

It must be incredibly hard for some of the younger blokes to find their rhythm with positional changes and no clear cohesion in game plans right now.

I feel for the likes of Kolt and JVR going in and out of the side while Fritsch seems to get a free ride.

Let's hope we can continue to run and tackle hard like last week and lower our eyes and kick straight this week.

We follow a perplexing team of perplexed players

We don't have a big bodied white line fever backman to replace May that is honing his craft at Casey. That's a poor recruiting position to be in as we will have to pay up to get one.

Okay i agree Fritsch is horribly out of form but can we stop the no tackles name tag?

last week he actually tackled unlike other weeks.

he had 4 including 2 inside 50 tackles so if he is finally starting to do what the coaches ask….

**Positive Post Warning**

FB Bowey May Salem

HB McVee McDonald Rivers

C Windsor Petracca Langdon

HF Melksham Turner Sparrow

FF Chandler Petty Pickett

R Gawn Oliver Langford

Int Fritsch Spargo Sharp Lindsay sub Laurie

Actually not a bad starting 18 (*I've selected from the 26 picked)

Main issues (aside from kicking straight) are McVee out of form and a lack of defensive talls, assuming Turner starts fwd. Rivers could be tried as intercept defender? Or Turner plays back and AJ comes in to ruck to leave Petty fwd. We need a stay at home tall fwd.

Hopefully Viney, Lever, and in form Kolt and JVR can come in soon to increase the quality of our bench and we won't be an easy game for any team