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I'm nervous because I have newfound confidence in this side....

Just received a call from my father today. Dad is in his nineties and has been a longtime MFC member until he finally let it lapse this year because he is not steady enough on his feet to battle through the crowds from Richmond station. Last Sunday my brother picked him up in a cab and took him to the Dees vs Pies game and he had a ball. Imagine his surprise today when he received a MFC membership package in the mail recognising his many years of membership and telling him that a MFC staff member had paid his renewal on his behalf. Thank you Melbourne Football Club!

If the Essendon game knocks every last skerrick of cockiness out of us for the rest of the season ... it's worth the loss of 4 points.

BUMP. This bloke has 77 games under his belt, is 26 and is becoming more reliable each outing. Loving his output each week, has a professional approach to his preparation and Roos I think has given him the confidence and belief. His tackling and accountability is a real plus for this team - so too his experience! Proves pivotal on tough matchups against fleet footed opposition and isn't scared to match it with taller, larger opponents.

The kid's played 26 games, without being able to string many together because of injury. He isn't yet 21, and is our key kicker outer from the goal square. Give him a chance to build on his role over a season, which I reckon he is doing, and very nicely thank you. What he does as the years go by is anybody's guess, but natural footballers like Salem need to be allowed to mature with games experience in a defined role. Halfback is perfect for him.

just keep floating under the radar.....

If you get the don't argue - argue back..

One player who is definitely still not getting the recognition he deserves is Matt Jones. The work he has done to go from frustrating turnover king to dependable and reliable contributor is a credit to himself and the coaches. For the record, he's averaging 20 touches, 3 tackles, 5 score involvements, 2 rebound 50s and 2 inside 50s at 75% disposal efficiency. Terrific numbers for a wingman/flanker. People still calling for him to get dropped need to see that he is not the same player of years gone by, but he is also in very comsistent form.

Is in talks with the club about a new contract as well, should be done in the next few weeks.

This post would not look out of place pre-Essendon game.

They have thrown in the towel already on Bigfooty. I'm not nervous because I have newfound confidence in this side and if they do what they did on the weekend they will win and win well. But we're favourites and it's two in a row. So I'm wary.

Bit explicit.

Il get stick for this but i like Caro. Much more informed and usually has her info correct unlike Robbo and Damo..

Hilariously opened up this thread thinking it might be Cotchin related.

I am hoping the shame of losing to Essendrug galvanizes the ENTIRE CLUB to make sure we never drop the guard or disrespect any opponent again We have the talent to beat Richmond if we play 4 quarters of hard nosed football Start well and keep going do not give them a sniff and the heads will drop We used to know all about that.

I'd add the Harmes pass to Hogan. It wasn't through traffic, but it was a perfect low hard pass that gave the defence no chance at all of stopping the mark.

Great work by Melbourne to put up a video of all the Casey goals on the club website and to include the name and number of the player who kicks each goal.

I'm no mathematical genius, but I'd reckon based on this that if we put Ron Barassi into the guts, then we could play a grand final this year?

During the Essendrug game that I watched on Fox with My daughter and grand daughter I was complaining bitterly and my Grand daughter said we are disgusting Pa. From that moment on my day brightened substantially. WE !

Hope he took him to dinner first. Just to show some chivalry.

Just to get you even more excited for Petracca. I texted my mate who plays for the Collingwood VFL side and obviously played against him on the weekend, asking how is he to play against and this was his reply: "honestly, he is a beast of a human. He could play inside mid and a mid forward as he was taking pack marks and also getting clearances. Honestly he is something you should be very excited about, he is very hard to play against." For the record, that last Melbourne player he played against that he sent me a text message like that about was none other than Jesse Hogan. Not long now boys and gals.

stuie having a problem with another poster....now who'd have thunk that?

I'm not buying that you're cultured enough to use Latin, next you'll have us believe you own pants and use cutlery Picket

Bring it on. 150 hit outs to advantage and Dusty with knee imprints where his head should be.

It's a long season, players will tire and get injured. ANB will get his chance, just needs to keep playing as he is to ensure he remains at the head of the queue.

Everyone gets the correlation between success and age wrong. Good players will still be playing at 27. Poor players won't be. So sides with lots of old players have lots of good players.ala Hawthorn, Geelong, North ( at the moment) That is not to say you can't have a good team of young players ( like ourselves, we hope), because it just means those good players will be around for a long time to come. What it does say is that if you have a team of young players year after year then you will not find success. In that case all you are doing is replacing poor players.

That was fantastic, absolutely hammered Mav Weller. Whoever made this surreal clip out of it is a God:

Viney grabbed the arm brilliantly once against St Kilda. Completely nullifies it

A draw for me.

Salem, McDonald, Dunn and Jetta I hardly notice now. They are forming such a reliable defensive unit whereby the likes of Lumumba, Wagner and even Hunt can come in and play their roles knowing that the others will take much of the burden.

Key to me - If you look at our back six on Sunday - Hunt, Wagner, Dunn, Tmac, Jetta and H - of those there was one only (Dunn) who was did not spread and run and try and create. I know he polarises but I like Dunn - usually makes good decisions and he is the one to go the gorilla's who don't move. The way the game has evolved ( even more so this season) you need attack from defense. You can probably afford one non attack defender in Dunn ( and whilst he doesnt't run, his kicking can be an attacking weapon) that is about it. Garland needs to bring some hard running in his game and quick offense. On Grimes - I like his attack on the ball but as a defender he does suffer from what Garland suffers from - that is slow ball movement when he has the ball in hand. On Lumumba - watched the game again - he will stuff up but he was responsible for setting up at least three goals. Gets the ball and goes - and his game looked good to me as our forwards know what everyone knows - he will get the ball and go -and when got the ball our players got on their bikes and moved - but the players this week gave him long options AND short options and he took a few options shorter options this week - two passes on the chest to Hogan and Watts 40m out - when i was expecting a bomb to the goalsquare. A good game from him.

There was something I'd previously become unfamiliar with in this game, I asked someone what it was and they told me it was kicks hitting targets. But there were 3 absolute beauties in this game amongst the generally good standard. First the Brayshaw kick on his left to the advantage of Tyson who marked and kicked the goal. Just class, confidence and smarts. The absolute rocket that Dunn fired down the centre of the ground that Pedo clunked at half forward. And Jonsey's left footer to Brayshaw for his goal. Another bullet from someone not scared to use their non-preferred. I don't what the official stats are but it was one of the most pleasing games by foot I can remember. I still held my breath with every kick as I've become accustomed to, but there was far less swearing when I exhaled.

Yes, I would rather knock the player who lied to a dying President and Club great, when asked in confidence if he was leaving, as was verified in writing, by the said now deceased great's widow. The player then continued to lie to his club and supporters. The player then lied even at Sydney airport, when he said he was just having a look around and then signed the next day with his new club, which immediately had ready advertising material which had been done weeks earlier. No I don't blame him for going for the money, I blame him for his continual lying. Jeremy Howe was forced out of Melbourne, because the club wouldn't agree to the contract he wanted, even after he reduced the amount sought, after his 7 years with us. He was being shopped by us to the Suns and other clubs. He chose the Pies for less money but because they were his team of support and he idolized the Coach as a player. I know who I'd rather knock.

It's simple. Kennedy is a competitor. Howe isn't. That should tell us all we need to know.

i can see that both the action and outcome should be considered with a bit of common sense applied.......but who'd trust the mrp with common sense

Should really be next GOAL wins. Winning a grand final from a rushed behind would be quite the anti-climax.

I was certain we were going to drop the Essendon match, an absolute certainty- was down the whole week leading into it. With that said, I agree with some of the sentiments expressed here; that that match could and should be a catalyst to ensure that it doesn't happen again. We've matched up very well on Richmond for a few years now - I'm confident going into this round. (In regards to the op - I've read thousands of more absurd posts on Demonland than that one from the Tiges supporters)

He's slotted those in the past to be fair. I was actually shocked that he missed it.

The Essendon game should serve as a reminder to the guys that a four quarter effort is required every week, or we'll get done. I'm confident they're both in form as a team and playing for each other (loved Viney and Kent having a go at Toovey after he dumped Tyson in the 4th quarter as he kicked the goal). The only thing they need to be is switched on....I'm sure a valuable lesson was learned in Round 2.

Oh please... He did what thousand other footballers do and slipped over while trying to give a decent chass.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-19/team-of-the-week-round-four

Caro more than anyone put the blowtorch on Hird and Essendon and continues to do so, and for that I thank her.

Richmond hand out free beer to kids so it might be worth the experience. As long as you don't step on a syringe or touch any open wounds you should be ok. Have a rabies/tetanus shot before you go in just to be on the safe side.

Watching it for a third time, Brayshaw might not have got a heap of it but 2 direct assists in first qtr and goal in second. He looked good in first half.

Newton scored a goal that I saw, so not sure if these stats have been lifted from official stats. And yes, he was on limited game time as was Max King, who was also playing his first competitive match for the season. Thus Kielty took most of the ruckwork when he wasnt in the rooms getting patched up from 2 separate knocks in first and second quarters. So to lose Oscar Mac very early, and have two players playing their first hitout at any level for the year means our last quarter demolition is all the more credible. That's 21 goals in our two 4th quarters this year, fitness levels are evidently good. Garland after a slowish start was fantastic, he was running out of defence with confidence we havent seen from him for a while, and he also took several telling marks from long bombs in. After a slow first quarter and a bit, Trengove really got into the thick of the action, he's still a tremendous tackler, and very good in close. Speaking of in-close, Neal-Bullen is too good for this level. His awareness by hand in the packs is first class, as is his ability if the situation arises to quickly get boot to ball to clear it. If only Tyson had his smarts Dom would be a Brownlow contender. Terlich was easily BOG. I know it's not the thing people want to hear, but he was seriously in everything all day. Made 1 maybe 2 errors all day, so his ball use and awareness of teammates positioning has definitely picked up. White is a more skilled version of him, but finds it harder to find the pill with the regularity that Terlich does. Michie was our best midfielder for the whole 4 quarters, continually racked up stats, but needs to kick the ball longer, some of his short kicks were found wanting. Grimes was outstanding on the opposite wing to Trengove. he found plenty of the ball, and used his smarts to get forward and create and score goals. Petracca was very good, first time I've seen him in the flesh. His workrate is first class, he dropped back across half back a couple of times when we were kicking against the breeze to intercept and create scoring chains. His sheer size is frightening, he monstered a couple of Collingwood players with tackles, and his sheer presence coming at them forced turnovers also. As mentioned in another thread, his field kicking is still a work in progress, he tried to be too precise with flat,fast passes that missed targets on at least 4 or 5 occasions but he's clearly still a class above this level. Weeds was decent, a few of good leads were ignored or the ball kicked too high for him, workrate and fierceness at the contest well founded. Got most of his goals later in the contest, you can see there's a really good key position forward in him, just needs some more time in the gym. A couple of late season games a la Oscar Mac would be a good appetiser I think. Hulett only flashed in and out of the game, he's still a long way off but is a good size and led to the pockets well for his two goals. Not sure what role they have him pencilled in for long term but clearly he'll have this whole year to find his niche at Casey. First time I've also seen Joel Smith in the flesh, he seems to have pretty good footy smarts and doesnt mind a dash out of defence also. Went for a couple of leaps that had me having flashbacks to #29 in his prime, alas he got nowhere near the footy. Look forward to seeing his gradual improvement this year. Of the Casey players was very impressed with Pattison as a small backman, Rutherford continues to improve and impress, and you can see why Kielty is on the radar of recruiters, he's undersize for the role he's playing but really attacks the contest well. Munro is also a very good VFL onballer/half forward.

Hail Bernie!

You forgot Frost's inboard pass to Oliver I think it was that led up to one of our goals in the 2nd term. It was a super dangerous kick but nailed it perfectly, reminded me of TJ in in his pomp.

I don't know, I reckon the young fella might enjoy telling the ferals to eat a bag of you know whats as they're leaving (early in the 3rd quarter)

Howe certainly was 'armless yesterday.