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Say what you like about Garland being scarred or not being able to overcome the mental demons of the past few years. He played 3 quarters of footy with a broken hand! That is commitment and takes some serious mental strength to be able to do that.

Never seen Sandi jump either. His asset is his strength, though he can be knocked off balance surprisingly easily if an opponent does what Jamar did once or twice and gets low and pushes up. Gawn has to get down low, especially at throw-ins, to stop an opponent getting low on him & knocking him off balance. He was getting held a lot too, until he ran out of steam. So he not only needs to build aerobic fitness, but also core strength, because that's what opponents will do to try to stop him, and he won't get the armchair ride from umps that Sandi gets. It was really interesting what Buckley said about Gawn in his presser. They expected to beat us by smashing us around stoppages, but he said they got "nutted" at stoppages because Grundy got "absolutely nutted" by Gawn in the 2nd & 3rd quarters and we got "a lot of taps to advantage". He then reeled off our clearance stats - "Jones & Vince 8 each, Viney 6, Watts 4 off a wing, Toumpas 4 off a wing". We've all missed this, even if Buckley didn't. Our mediocre midfield beat one of the best "stoppage" midfields in recent years largely on the back of Gawn's taps to advantage.

Final bench: Grimes, Michie, Neal-Bullen and Riley for mine based on that extended bench.

Just a reminder of our injuries: Salem, Kent, JKH, Frost, Dawes, vandenBerg, Garland. All of them besides Dawes and JKH have to be in our best 22. That's after significant time without Tyson, Viney and Jetta. Throw in long term injuries to Trengove and 'Trac. Brutal season so far.

I may be cynical but I see Hirds motivation, as it has always been, and he has Little in his corner as Little may be in the [censored] as well, as being about legally protecting himself. If the players are banned, if they were injected with banned or unknown substances, then all board members and people in positions of responsibility (the coach) may well face many years of civil, if not criminal, proceedings. For this reason Hird and the club as a whole have not acted in the interests of the players, they are acting to protect themselves, and to do so they need to get the players off the charges. If they were acting in the players interests then they would be chasing Dank for the records as that is the only way to answer what they were given. The fact they have not done this speaks volumes!

Thanks for the lecture. I'm one of many regular posters on the site that watch from interstate. Like others, such as McQueen, Ethan Tremblay, rpfc, Goodvibes, Billy2803 (sorry if I got the numbers wrong), Little Goffy, Pennant St Dee, grazman and Clint Bizkit, all of whom I consider to be knowledgeable and intelligent posters, I pay my membership and watch from afar and attend when I can.

Why have you never mentioned this before?

If we lose this then it will be very hard to say we have improved over the last 18 months IMO. It's a must win. I don't care it's at Etihad and the players shouldn't either. Enough is enough, for the love of god stand up and show something Melbourne.

this could be big. a wise elder, a minister of the cloth and a long dead novelist.

Having cut 1/4 of the list in the past two years, Roos may prefer to avoid disrupting the list to such an extent leading up to his last year in charge. Our midfield in particular still isn't what you'd call settled. It needs to function as a machine, when every mid has a sense of what his fellow mids do, where they like to get the ball, what they like to do with it once they get it, and just run to the right spot without thinking. But that only happens when the same mids play together for 2 or 3 seasons. The midfield has been disrupted this year by injuries (Tyson, Viney, Salem, JKH, Kent, and even Jones looked hampered for a couple of games), but also by some new players really stepping up (most prominently Brayshaw & VDB, plus Garlett who's spent time as a mid). It's also possible that Riley, Michie, and perhaps Lumumba may have a role in the eventual midfield but it's not yet clear what it might be. I really doubt that we'll go for any more fringe mids who may or may not step up (the likes of Newton, Michie etc). We'll be looking for blue chip mids only, via trade or draft, and look to add only 2 or 3 (given that we have potential blue-chips in Petracca & hopefully Trengove as new mids already for R1 2016). So if we finish this season with a midfield of Jones, Vince, Tyson, Brayshaw, Viney, Cross, Vandenberg and Salem, that's a great foundation to build on with Petracca, a blue-chip trade (Prestia? Coniglio?) and a top-rated draftee, plus whoever steps up into the big time out of Kent, ANB, Trengove, Stretch, JKH, Toumpas. You get the idea. We don't need to cut a swathe thru that midfield this time.

After my initial excitement when he came onto the list, I had almost given up on Gawn. That changed in a big way on Monday. I thought his ruck work was brilliant and one of the main reason the midfield performed so well. It was also done against a reasonable ruckman. As others have indicated, Grundy became an important influence in the final quarter and there are better tap ruckmen for him to compete against. While he gave the sort of advantage Nik Nat is giving Eagles midfield, he is going to have to take a lot more marks than Nik Nat does if he cant compete all day. He is certainlycapable of this. Spencer's best game was against Cordy who is the worst tap ruckman in the league (since dropped). Although I enjoy watching his endeavour and some of his kicking, I dont believe he will ever be able to compete, even adequately against the top line rucks. His courage last year in the first few rounds when he played injured as he was the only ruck left was exemplary. I dont even think he could play as a second ruck due to his skill limitations when not on the ball. I enjoyed Jamar's game against Richmond when he had a real influence (I enjoyed the whole game against Richmond). At the moment he is probably the most likely of the three to nulify the top league ruckmen although I understand he was monstered against Mumford. However, while the other two are fit, I think they should be played in preference to him. I am looking forward to watching Gawn this Sunday against opposition who are not (yet) in the top line. The narrower ground at Etihad may help him to last out the game better. I also note that Watts has been on occassion third man in every game this year I have seen. He does this extremely well, normally giving clear advantage.

Mr Roos and players. Sunday is a huge opportunity to make a statement. A line in the sand moment. Absolutely no excuse will be accepted. Dare I say it is essentially a club defining game. This ground hoodoo must stop this weekend. No excuses.

Do you realise that we have played 7 top 8 sides in our 10 games thus far? Do you realise that we have had about an average of 8 unavailable players for most of the year? Do you realise we have actually won 3 and performed well in 2 losses against good sides? I don't understand why people are acting like we are dead last getting pillored every week, we are going OK. Without all the injuries and a horrific draw so far we may well be much better than OK

King in the seniors!

What was the point of dropping Grimes last week, only to bring him back in after staying down in Casey for only 1 week? These are some of the selection calls that contradicts the very thing Roos himself 'says' he is trying to achieve, yet his actions clearly state otherwise. Very confusing indeed. And if it is confusing the supporters, then it would have to be confusing the players.

there's a bit both ways being at the game certainly gives you a wider perspective than the tv. you can also track certain players, watch interchanges, structures and match ups easier tv gives you the detail better and the close ups you miss at the game, specially when the play is distant. you also notice the "invisible" players better. i like being there and soaking up the atmosphere then watching he replays on tv

ANB deserves a spot on his form. Vs the saints is a good team to debut against, quite young like us. I'd have him play this week.

When a guy like Cloke kicks four in the first quarter, we were locked in to play a spare man in defence for the rest of the game. No one can beat him when he is firing. Oxley's impact was fairly neutral until the last quarter when we visibly tired. Up to then we maintained scoreboard pressure. One of our best scoring runs for the season. Old bugbears like poor delivery and lack of forward pressure undid a lot of improvements elsewhere. I do not think it was a coaching mistake to play that way. Their better ball movement would have killed us going the other way if we did not play a spare.

I'm with you Ethan. For us to have any credibility in terms of improvement (or hope ) we need to put this one away.

Can't pick Spencer, we're tall enough as it is. Terlich's done nothing to deserve a call up and we've seen enough of him at AFL level to be past the point where we need to 'check him out one more time'. That leaves Stretch, ANB, Riley, Michie and Grimes. Can't see us picking both of Stretch and ANB. Assuming one gets a game (and that they both don't miss in favour of Spencer or Terlich), I expect they'll either be the sub, or be subbed off and Riley will be the sub. I hope Grimes does well. Shouldn't have been dropped in the first place.

If Terlich plays then we are tanking.

You can host me Ernest and I love a good single Malt

Lance you are rational, sensible, balanced and able to articulate your view without rancour. One question, however, are you really an Essendon supporter? If so, we would welcome you aboard the good ship, Melbourne at any time. Can I host you to a game? As long as you like a good single malt

We will go for Aish. Mark my word

not sure why you're surprised, it's no different to anything I've posted here or elsewhere. I'm not an idiot, I understand the implications of some of the evidence that's come out, and nor am I so one eyed I would blindly support. If you keep digging back beyond February you'll also find posts where I argue that we should ditch James Hird and go with Thompson. There's all sorts of nuanced viewpoints for you in my work. Also, Bruce Francis is a [censored] idiot an a complete embarrassment. That tweet, wtf? He is completely bonkers.

When he got the first one straight in front 15 out I told my mates we were screwed. Cloke is a confidence player, and getting a gimme or two at the start sets him up for a big day.

might be just me but even when at the ground I often end up needing the replay up on the screen to figure out some of the close in play stuff...lol

So eye gouging, sorry "pressure points", and the chicken wing incident on defenseless players were not cowardly acts?

Twitdoc by name, and twitdoc by nature. Of all the nonsense I've had to read over the almost three years of this saga, this crap just about takes the cake. It is wrong in al most every line. I couldn't help thinking while I was reading it: "God we have some d**kheads in this country". No doubt it will incent WADA to act with haste, since we clearly are incapable of doing it ourselves!

Agree with others as I would have Whitfield over Kelly but wouldn't say no to either at the right price. Also would be keen on Carlisle if the asking price wasn't to great but it will be due to the fact KPT'S are a rare commodity and Bombers aren't the easiest to deal with. I would be looking at Carlisle as a defender as opposed to forward, think with he at CHB and TMac at FB we would have a nice backline in the years ahead

Watts was good as the third man up up the weekend.

Rapt to see Garland getting some overdue recognition. He has the odd bad game but overall has been a good servant of the club. With regards to ANB, I can't see how his position is any different to Stretch or Brayshaw who already have debuted. While there should be no hurry if he's ready, he's ready and sometimes giving a kid a sniff of the big time is an important part of their development. Happy to trust the Football dept to make the call.

Definitely propped!

In: Tyson, Grimes Out: Garland, vandenBerg I see no need for any more than two changes, and since there are two forced ones, I'd leave it at that. No hurry on ANB. If he keeps up his VFL form, his time will come. Would drop Newton before Matt Jones personally. Both survive this week.

Wow, I only just opened this thread now, and I'm truly surprised by the amount of angst against a champion of the game that has retired injured. Pleasantly surprised. Great read.

Jesus I'm sick of this rubbish. Firstly, it's not one game. Secondly, Brayshaw played early and has retained his spot. What makes ANB any different? Both have shown they can compete against senior bodies. If Roos deems him not ready then so be it, but don't paint it as some over anxiousness to play young players. The issue is YOUR paranoia about ruining young players by exposing them too early because of the past. Entertain the notion that maybe a player like Neal-Bullen will benefit from the experience.

The love between him and Jonesy makes me smile. I love that Brayshaw, who is already blessed with talent and has the desire, has the likes of Jones, Vince and Cross to learn from. There's a lot of guts, skill, determination and professionalism to sponge up there. It used to be Moloney and Sylvia... Brayshaw is and will be a ripper. I don't really see the Cotchin thing at all, maybe the balance, I hope I never see hunched over dinky little safe kicks 10 times a game. Brayshaw, Salem and Hogan. All have proven they can play, they're all hard as [censored] and all have plenty of skill. Good times.

Guys, ANB won't play - Roos said as much in his presser, and I was pleased to hear it. Seems our supporters have this obsession with promoting new draftees as soon as they have a game where they've had 30 touches - have we not heeded the lessons of years past?! Let him develop for a while and continue to build consistent form at Casey so that he's well and truly ready later in the year.

That's fine. By the end of 2017, we should be well and truly amongst it and ready to lure him again. Only this time, we'll be in a much stronger position. Let's turn our attention to Prestia. Perfect time to strike. His value has been lowered due to injury, but he's still an A grader. Upon a fitness test, I'd give up Howe or a first rounder. Maybe I just have Prestia blinkers on again.

Well, that does it... if he had a go at Whitlam, then there's no way I would want him having anything to do with our club!!

100% Roos's fault. He came into a great club, now look what he has done!

WTF do runners do if they aren't passing on basic messages?

Mentioned in Roos views. He didn't rule him out, in fact reading between the lines probably ruled him in as a starter this week. Along the lines of would prefer him to play more games at Casey, then mentioned the injury toll and looking to select best team they can etc.

Garland, vandeburg and Salem all a month out?! Fark me. Col is tough as nails playing with a broken hand

Dion prestia is gettable. Seriously considered our offer last time, we are much better now and the suns culture seems to be struggling.

His name is Lumumba and it has been mentioned.

DREAM IS OVER BOYS...MOVE ONTO THE NEXT PROSPECT WHO WE CAN SALIVATE OVER BUT NEVER HAVE A CHANCE OF OBTAINING: Dylan Shiel has re-signed with the GWS Giants until the end of 2017. Source: Rohan Kelly / News Corp Australia DYLAN Shiel has resisted lucrative offers from Victorian clubs to re-sign with the GWS Giants. The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Shiel has signed a two-year contract extension that will tie him to the club until the end of 2017. “It’s a relief to get it all done,” Shiel told the Daily Telegraph. “Now I can focus on building on this season with the club.”

Martin. Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Your Toumpas bias is getting tedious.