EDIT—looks I missed that someone had already posted an update on this but:

Tom Sparrow was up and walking and talking in the rooms after the game.

Edited July 13Jul 13 by The Cult of Disco Turner

2 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Xerri’s hit was definitely deliberate. Commentators were staunchly defending it though.

This absolutely makes me lose my mind. I have been around long enough to have witnessed a lot of this stuff.

Almost every time a Melbourne player gets injured during play, the commentators downplay it in favour of the offending player. And to top it off whenever we do something remotely similar our player is made out to be the world's worst. It does my head in and it's been happening for years.

It's not me seeing the game through red and blue glasses there is definite media bias.

But, it's not as if anything is gonna come of it. Just our usual whack, all part and parcel of being a Demon.

It’s a bit of an indictment that it came against North but I thought the last quarter today was the first time in weeks we started to tackle with some genuine intent.

Oliver especially was dishing it out and others went with him.

We have to find a way to do it more consistently

2 hours ago, FabDemon said:

Fair analysis but let’s not get too excited.

We don’t have to take FabDemon’s advice, everyone. Let’s go ahead and get too excited!!! 😃

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Tmac was close to BOG for me. Please dont drop him Goody..

Tom doesn’t deserve to be dropped but I won’t be critical if he is. There’s a greater good at play here and dropping Lever again would be a story.

3 hours ago, Pennant St Dee said:

@dazzledavey36 hope your young fella enjoyed his first trip to the G today

Thank you mate.

Whole experience was great for him and thats all that mattered whether we won or lost today.

Great to get back on the winners list. We ran over the Kangas in the 2nd half as well we should.

35k turnout was decent I thought, only our 2nd game in Melbourne for almost two months 😧

I was seriously struggling to figure out what our "new game plan" is supposed to be. Most of our ball movement was stifled, kick/mark and long down the line stuff to stagnant forwards/players upfield. Roo one of the few players who actually leads towards the kicker, it does your head in.

Winning always beats the alternative but I found little to get enthused about today. Langford continued his excellent debut season but other than that I thought we looked old and slow against an undermanned Roos side who haven't exactly set the world on fire. Our ball movement continues to be a massive concern though it seemed to be slightly better in the last quarter. Where is the running, the overlap handball, the pressure etc Yes it's a dead rubber but the team should be aiming to bed down the gameplan and end the year on a high.

Clarko’s response to Spaz being knocked out:

“It is pretty hard going from competing in the ruck with big Max to then trying to lay a tackle within a split second. It’s unfortunate for Tom, but injuries happen”. Then mentioned LDU knocked out last week, and said “It swings in roundabouts,” what!?

What a grub. WHAT tackle?!!!! Swing his arm out, just one arm to the face. Thats a tackle?

4 weeks. Minimum.

43 minutes ago, DeeSince73 said:

This absolutely makes me lose my mind. I have been around long enough to have witnessed a lot of this stuff.

Almost every time a Melbourne player gets injured during play, the commentators downplay it in favour of the offending player. And to top it off whenever we do something remotely similar our player is made out to be the world's worst. It does my head in and it's been happening for years.

It's not me seeing the game through red and blue glasses there is definite media bias.

But, it's not as if anything is gonna come of it. Just our usual whack, all part and parcel of being a Demon.

This isn’t a comment on the Xerri incident but a broader observation that the club doesn’t defend the club/point this stuff out on public. Sometimes that is what is needed. What would Jeff Kennett say? Or Eddie?

3 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

This isn’t a comment on the Xerri incident but a broader observation that the club doesn’t defend the club/point this stuff out on public. Sometimes that is what is needed. What would Jeff Kennett say? Or Eddie?

Slightly sideways on this, but I thought this incident was coming about 5 mins before when Xerri had a swing at Jeffo in our forward pocket. This was right after the grapple involving Kolt broke out. The players were getting aggro and the umpires did nothing to get the game (or tempers) under control. I'll admit that the tempers are the players responsibilities, but pausing the game to get it under control would have restored some order.

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

With thanks to the statistician Swamp, Melksham is the first Melbourne player since David Neitz in 2006 to kick 4+ goals in three straight games. That's a long time!

And considering he is 35, a lot on here wanted him gone 2-3 years ago. He is playing as well now as in any time in his career.

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

You would be giving Melksham and TMac another 12 months on todays Performance.

Lever is now a serious liability, Playing him in such a crucial position has to be looked at long and hard

If Lever isn't right physically, then it's well time to rest him and/or get him operated on and get him right for next year.

He doesn't need more exposure at AFL level to be a great player.

Give the opportunity to those that need it (Adams) or those that deserve it (T Mac).

If he's just out of form, then he needs to suck up a few weeks at Casey like anyone else. He's always been painted as a great leader, so that really shouldn't be beyond him. If it is, then trade him for someone with real leadership qualities (but I don't think that's the case).

5 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

This isn’t a comment on the Xerri incident but a broader observation that the club doesn’t defend the club/point this stuff out on public. Sometimes that is what is needed. What would Jeff Kennett say? Or Eddie?

We would never hear the end of it if Jeff or Eddie were defending their club. We have always been meek.

Seeing Spaz lying motionless and unconscious like that brought back awful memories of the Gussy incident. You could feel it around the ground. It was eerie. I don’t know about other North supporters but those near us were respectful, unlike the disgusting Collingwood fans on that fateful day.

Cam Mooney and those commentators trying to justify this are [censored]. Xerri was well past Sparrow when he connected so I’m not sure he was trying to punch the ball out. Nor was he in a position to tackle. Call it what it is. A clumsily disguised bit of thuggery. The [censored] deserves at least 3 weeks.

5 minutes ago, D Rev said:

Slightly sideways on this, but I thought this incident was coming about 5 mins before when Xerri had a swing at Jeffo in our forward pocket. This was right after the grapple involving Kolt broke out. The players were getting aggro and the umpires did nothing to get the game (or tempers) under control. I'll admit that the tempers are the players responsibilities, but pausing the game to get it under control would have restored some order.

Agree. Xerri was super frustrated. Gawn was absolutely dominant and Xerri had next to no impact at all. Just checking Wheelo's ratings, Xerri scored 4.9 for the game which is by far his lowest rated game of the season. Gawn was third highest rated on the ground with 17.3 which is actually his 6th highest rated game for the season. Xerri was losing it before he dropped Sparrow.

Today I went to particularly watch 2 players. Lever and Jefferson.

Lever played his worst game I have watched since his arrival. Why we have been playing him instead of TMac the last few weeks is dumb founding. If May is back next week we should drop lever and keep Tmac.

At Half time I was unimpressed with Jefferson. Time after time he was just not in the play

Quite often had his back to the play, looked to be somewhere else. The second half was much better. He all of a sudden looked interested. Could easily have kicked 3 goals. One was a tight one from 40 metres out. He still looks to skinny to me. He was manavoured out of position a few time and edged under the ball. No weight or power to hold his position. Having said all that he deserves a game next week there were others who played worse games. Speaking of worse games I am not sure who was the worse in the backline Turner or Lever.

Of the two I concentrated on Lever poor, Jefferson a pass this week.

3 minutes ago, old dee said:

Speaking of worse games I am not sure who was the worse in the backline Turner or Lever.

Huh?!!!

6 minutes ago, Swooper1987 said:

Agree. Xerri was super frustrated. Gawn was absolutely dominant and Xerri had next to no impact at all. Just checking Wheelo's ratings, Xerri scored 4.9 for the game which is by far his lowest rated game of the season. Gawn was third highest rated on the ground with 17.3 which is actually his 6th highest rated game for the season. Xerri was losing it before he dropped Sparrow.

Do you reckon Xerri wants to be known as the best ruck in the AFL and can't hack that he isn't?

Edited July 13Jul 13 by Chook

The thing with xerri was he was so focused & distracted on max he forgot to play his own game which worked well for us.

7 disposals & 1 mark is all he did.

My highlight was just after the sparrow incident viney was fighting with xerri. He was hanging off him. Just love how viney sticks up for his teamates but I do wonder if sometimes he suffers from small man syndrome

1 minute ago, Chook said:

Do you reckon Xerri wants to be known as the best ruck in the AFL and can't hack that he isn't?

He went ok till the last quarter. Max, Kossie and Petracca took the north centres apart in the last quarter.

Xerri shouldn’t have even played today and the Sparrow incident would’ve been avoided.

Last week against the Dogs in the last quarter, he looked like a punch drunk boxer as he stumbled on his feet after a head contact incident. Basically every player who’s been unsteady on their feet after a head knock over the last couple of years has entered concussion protocols- no ifs, buts or maybes.

Disappointing IMO.

Just watched the incident again. Xerri was no more trying to tackle than Maynard was trying to smother.

He had the open arm & not an action of someone wanting to lay a tackle.

19 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Seeing Spaz lying motionless and unconscious like that brought back awful memories of the Gussy incident. You could feel it around the ground. It was eerie. I don’t know about other North supporters but those near us were respectful, unlike the disgusting Collingwood fans on that fateful day.

I will take that memory to the grave gw. They were chanting Collingwood Collingwood. What's the betting that he has no case to answer but a player who name calls gets 4 weeks. I thought the head was a protected area.

3 hours ago, seventyfour said:

If Tmac plays every game he finishes on 249 games. Shame.

And this is all down to Goody and Match committee