On 06/04/2026 at 11:31, Redleg said:

Nathan Williamson Umpire Number 22 clearly doesn't like us.

Funny incidents with him from yesterday.

First, he calls a mark to Lombard and then gets overruled by an umpire further away, who saw it hit the ground, while Lombard is telling his Dees opponent to shoosh and obviously don't tell anyone it wasn't a mark.

Second he refuses to review an "on the full" when Ed is pleading for him to do it and he can be heard saying "NO" on his mike and then the arc overrules him.

I would love to see an analysis of his games with Melbourne.

Yesterday the callers about 10 times said that a Dees free was missed and yet only said it once about the Suns.

Is that just bad luck?

I’d come to the conclusion that he has a dislike of the MFC, years ago at a game in Canberra. However, having said that, despite all of the hue and cry of a number of posters on the game day thread, I do not believe that the umpires had it in for us, and in fact, I saw as many dodgy decisions and missed calls in our favour as I did against us.

If you think you can do better, why not apply to wherever you need to apply to, and, assuming you’re young and fit and not an old aged curmudgeon like myself, get in there and become the first mistake free, non partisan umpire in the history of the game 😉

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by hardtack

1 hour ago, VNightCityLegend said:

If you ever feel useless, just remember bellends like this exists:

He’s not alone Tim Gossage tipped us for the spoon although after the Saints game did try to retract that

Who were the tipsters who had us 0 and 6?

13 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

He's absolutely good enough to get a game on merit, but assuming he does and isn't a mile off the pace he needs to be kept in or even brought back in to the side through some ups and downs as most young players are - especially key forwards. That's not gifting games, it's just not overreacting to week to week output.

That’s fine. I made the same argument for Latrelle after Rd 2, but the larger point about ‘having to’ get games into speculative kids is not where we are at. We can have defined development of very good young talent in a competitive team that would only be adversely impacted if more kids are thrown in there.

Tholstrup, Turner, Sharp, Langford, Culley, Howes, Pickett, Lindsay, and Windsor is more than a third of the team. That’s is a great many young talents to bring in and give a role to thrive in.

On 07/04/2026 at 11:37, Harvey Wallbanger said:

Based on the practice matches it was pretty clear that King was going to play Kentfield as a forward and second ruck option for Max. In his absence we have adjusted to the ad hoc - on Sunday Petty had 3 CBAs and JVR had 2 when Max rested. King seems to be quite clear that he will only bring Heath in later in the year when the "tracks are not so fast and the game slows down a little". Our game plan relies upon pace, speed of ball movement and pressure. Another ruckman in the 23 would take away from that at the moment. If Kentfield plays - then TMac comes out and Petty and JVR don't have to do any CBAs or around the ground rucking whilst Max rests.

Kentfield cannot come in at the expense of a running player. Match Committee might decide that the current amended plan is working and might make no change, except of course if Fritta is available. No idea about what is going on with Rivers....

PS Heath is definitely doing his best to stay in consideration. Given Heath's progress and the plan for Kentfield I would expect that big TC can quietly retire mid-season and open up a list spot for a mid-season draft pick.

Interesting. What's the verdict (from the admittedly very small sample) about whether Heath can be damaging if resting forward?

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by The Taciturn Demon

Brad Scott has a 86.67% win percentage against Melbourne

15 games, 13 wins.

I can see us losing this. Similar feel to when they beat us with a team of replacements in Round 2, 2016.

35 minutes ago, hardtack said:

I’d come to the conclusion that he has a dislike of the MFC, years ago at a game in Canberra. However, having said that, despite all of the hue and cry of a number of posters on the game day thread, I do not believe that the umpires had it in for us, and in fact, I saw as many dodgy decisions and missed calls in our favour as I did against us.

If you think you can do better, why not apply to wherever you need to apply to, and, assuming you’re young and fit and not an old aged curmudgeon like myself, get in there and become the first mistake free, non partisan umpire in the history of the game 😉

Do they accept new umpires in their 70's?

2 minutes ago, wheaters31 said:

Brad Scott has a 86.67% win percentage against Melbourne

15 games, 13 wins.

I can see us losing this. Similar feel to when they beat us with a team of replacements in Round 2, 2016.

I think the big game changer is that we have a new coach. We’ll see what happens this time round.

12 hours ago, DubDee said:

I don’t understand people that watch our games and think Petty is a chance to be dropped

He is such a competitor. Strong mark. Frustrates his opponents. Good tank.

I love T Mac, but he is nowhere near as good as Petty right now

The problem is many posters here are actually clueless & post their dreams & wishes as evidence.

Many are still having naughty dreams about Kentfied & Jeffo. The idea that they would replace Petty is ludicrous.

On 05/04/2026 at 22:50, The Cult of Disco Turner said:

I know he’s not a star at either end but I thought Petty was solid enough as relief ruck today to keep playing that role going forward.

You are dead right IMV

29 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

Interesting. What's the verdict (from the admittedly very small sample) about whether Heath can be damaging if resting forward?

Next week Max faces a huge task v Brisbane with 2 powerful rucks. I’d be inclined to rest him this week and give Heath a run. Heath must be much fitter than Lukey

13 hours ago, picket fence said:

Except for game 1 JVR has been almost unsighted! Um Jeffo won't play his career out at Casey, will play in the ones and do well, sooner than later!

He was average against Freo (as were many), but was impactful against Carlton in a different role - playing ruck relief...to say he has been almost 'unsighted' IMO is far off the mark - Should've kicked two goals against the Suns, had 14 disposals + look at the contests he was involved with - the last goal we kicked was a perfect example of a non stat impact play...similar to mihocek in the second half, his effort and contest directly imacted the creation of that goal but wont appear on the stat sheet. You HAVE to watch more than the stat sheet & the ball and look for what happens around the contest; impact can happen all over the ground that isn't as visible...

1 hour ago, hardtack said:

I’d come to the conclusion that he has a dislike of the MFC, years ago at a game in Canberra. However, having said that, despite all of the hue and cry of a number of posters on the game day thread, I do not believe that the umpires had it in for us, and in fact, I saw as many dodgy decisions and missed calls in our favour as I did against us.

If you think you can do better, why not apply to wherever you need to apply to, and, assuming you’re young and fit and not an old aged curmudgeon like myself, get in there and become the first mistake free, non partisan umpire in the history of the game 😉

With sentiments like that @hardtack, you may find your membership of 'Land suspending before long.

We’re making this weekend’s banner this afternoon, and yesterday in our WhatsApp chat we were tossing around ideas for the wording. It will say JAKE MELKSHAM 250 GAMES and there were suggestions for what should follow that. Folks were suggesting AGING LIKE FINE WINE and STILL FLYING HIGH, eg. Someone said YOUR LOSS, ESSENDON purely for a joke but I jumped on it and begged for this one. I got a huge bunch of NOPE but ima fight tooth and nail, so if you see the banner on Saturday and that’s what it says you’ll know I won the battle. 😁

51 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Many are still having naughty dreams about Kentfied & Jeffo. The idea that they would replace Petty is ludicrous.

I'm a Petty fan and thought he was serviceable and played a role in the weekend - a thankless one at that.

And I can't see him being dropped any time soon, in large part because in the absence of May, and Tmac not being great one on one, Pettys's strength in marking contests and ability to take the oppo big key forward (and his ability to go forward) make him an important player.

But jeez, there's some serious gilding of the lily going on about his performance against the Suns.

Yes, not everybody thinks the Champion Data player rating points is much chop, and yes, it disadvantages defenders (though Petts played forward and rucked in the second half and both roles are advantaged under the CD player ratings system).

But be that as it may, bottom line, 22 demon players had a higher rating than Petts against the Suns - or put another way, Petty our lowest rated player.

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	TOG	Ball Win.	Ball Use
Harrison Petty	−1.0	−0.3	3.4	−0.4	1.6	82%	4.8

I liked Petty in the ruck, he is a good contested mark sometimes which is always a nice surprise...he seems to be clunking those "down the line" kicks more often lately which I like.

1 hour ago, binman said:

I'm a Petty fan and thought he was serviceable and played a role in the weekend - a thankless one at that.

And I can't see him being dropped any time soon, in large part because in the absence of May, and Tmac not being great one on one, Pettys's strength in marking contests and ability to take the oppo big key forward (and his ability to go forward) make him an important player.

But jeez, there's some serious gilding of the lily going on about his performance against the Suns.

Yes, not everybody thinks the Champion Data player rating points is much chop, and yes, it disadvantages defenders (though Petts played forward and rucked in the second half and both roles are advantaged under the CD player ratings system).

But be that as it may, bottom line, 22 demon players had a higher rating than Petts against the Suns - or put another way, Petty our lowest rated player.

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	TOG	Ball Win.	Ball Use
Harrison Petty	−1.0	−0.3	3.4	−0.4	1.6	82%	4.8

Thanks Binman

While stats aren't everything they can be very useful in revealing a trend and/or comparative measure.

I'm willing to cut Petty some slack simply because we tried for three odd years to turn him into a power forward. Let's see how he's going at the mid season bye at which time he will have had a decent period to merge with the rest of the backline. Going forward he's a key team member as we have little if anyone else to replace him.

I have the sense that this game against Essendon is pivotal in our season. We have played mostly good footy so far and receiving good feedback from everywhere. If we go down to Essendon, it will be a sizeable loss given our efforts so far, and Essendons current form. No guarantees but we should go into this game like its a final and take no prisoners.

I'm glad the pressure and spotlight is off the Bombers this week as they had such a great result last week (only lost by 6 goals, lol).

The reason I am so confident going into this game, aside from their pathetic list, is our new attitude of freedom and flair. I feel like our old style of structure and contest and playing roles was more conducive to over-thinking and feeling pressure.

On 07/04/2026 at 15:25, Roost it far said:

I doubt Melksham will play every game even if not injured. I reckon the club will manage him in the hope he’s cherry ripe come September. A fit Melksham is a must come finals.

Already bullish about our finals chances?

I was more than happy with 9 or 10 wins this season.

16 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Already bullish about our finals chances?

I was more than happy with 9 or 10 wins this season.

I wasn’t overly bullish about this season but having watched the first month I see no reason we can’t finish between 4 and 7 and have a crack.

23 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

milkshake confirmed to play his 250th against his old mob <3

https://youtu.be/H70INyylBSg

I wish MilkShake would change his post-goal song to: and I would be the lead singer in the cheer squad!

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Anti-Saint
I wanted to be funny

I think this is one of our danger games.

I think it’s easy to underestimate Essendon as they have quite poor form.

But they have our number based off past years.

Essendon coming off an ok loss and they’ll be having some confidence.

Hopefully the boys go out there and tear them a new one for our first gather round win.

On 05/04/2026 at 19:13, DeeSpencer said:

I’m not sure a mystery Fritsch injury heals in one week, lots on here said 6.

I thought the Petty 23rd man role gave us something really interesting. I’d be tempted to keep that for one more week so Luker and Jeffo are cherry ripe chasing that spot (which might come with Petty back, T Mc out).

Rivers in, Kolt forward, Laurie out but only if Riv is training the house down.

Those saying 6 weeks have no idea, if you are going on the arm chair experts, on demonland you would believe anything

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

I'm glad the pressure and spotlight is off the Bombers this week as they had such a great result last week (only lost by 6 goals, lol).

The reason I am so confident going into this game, aside from their pathetic list, is our new attitude of freedom and flair. I feel like our old style of structure and contest and playing roles was more conducive to over-thinking and feeling pressure.

2 Problems

Firstly Essendon have pantsed us in Adelaide on 2 occasions when we were favourites to win.

Secondly they are on a 17 game losing streak & will be totally desperate.