Leaderboard

I don't think some of you can think clearly when it comes to Watts. Three months of good form is erased in 3 weeks of poor form. Idelogues have no place in Match Committee - unless the players see him as as egregiously 'soft' that some of you here claim so vehemently - he should come back in if he shows the right habits in the VFL. We have a great opportunity this year and I think Watts is best 22 and I hope he gets back to the form of the first 3 months. Sue me.

How could you tell it had been about 10 years? I wear my 'traditional' scarf because I like it better than the modern ones and have been a Redlegs member for about 20 years so have plenty of members scarves to choose from! And no one wearing red and blue should be called a [censored]. We need all the supporters we can get.

and your authorized to judge why? just be happy they turned up

A big shout out to Milkshake who's not had the easiest of years, but not once, but twice received the ball and just about on one step went bang and kicked two great goals from around fifty meters out. Impressive yesterday.

Salem at anywhere close to his best easily gets a starting 18 spot. Gussy will hopefully move up to a wing and rotate forward.

Posted this in the "3 word" thread, but more relevant here... I didn't think Petracca was that bad yesterday. His ability to go at the loose ball in a 2 or 3 on 1 situation and either come away with it, or knock it to the advantage of a team mate is unreal, and he did that several times yesterday. Also, how good would that goal have been in the first if not for the smother? He is not smashing it in the eyes of the statisticians, but then neither are guys like Hannan, but what they do off the ball and/or to help others get the ball shouldn't be ignored.

So what? Not everybody could afford to go to every home game, others have family commitments on the weekends as it's the only time they have available, others come from country areas or interstate... there are so many valid reasons that people aren't able to be regular attendees. I and my son get to just a couple of games each year because a) We live in Sydney, and b) having no regular income (having been made redundant at the ripe old age of 63) makes it a financial stretch. I still pay mine and my son's memberships every year as do probably many of those you are deriding in your post. But it does beg the question... how do you even know that they aren't regulars?

So seeing the other ruling from the AFL today, the correction that Max needs to make to his technique is to lead with a straight leg, roundhouse kick to the head, that being well within the rules.

Every opposition team is terrified of the damage CP5 can do if he's given space They sit on him and swarm to negate his effectiveness He'll learn to run harder, cover more of the ground and break pack tags

I hated Oscar at the beginning of the year. Believe in player development.

Mitch Hannan wasn't the most outstanding player on the ground, but I swear after those 2 clutch goals in the last quarter I had a "get him up here, I wanna boof him" moment. I would have let him do anything to my body at that moment in time. I disgust myself.

Last year, when it looked like we were are real chance of making finals, facing Carlton in round 22, we lost the free kick count 5/20. Yeah... 400%. No team can overcome that. "No finals for you!" I unhappily predict that Collingwood in round 23 will get as many free kicks as they need to beat us. Why? Because Melbourne don't generate strong television ratings. "AFL" is a corporation selling an entertainment product. A few years ago (Hinkley's first year, i think) Port Adelaide were red hot and every chance to grab the flag. When they beat Collingwood in their first final, Gil said "that cost us a million dollars". The next week Port were put out by Hawthorn on the back of some truly outrageous umpiring (anyone remember those last few minutes? i do). I was a Juventus fan when Serie A exploded. It shocked me deeply. I denounced my team and fairly quickly lost interest in Football. It is well worth noting that the Serie A referees who were done for match fixing would never have gone as far as AFL umpires go week in week out. Our game has become deeply corrupted by its too-close relationships with television and gambling corporations. It's not hard to see... if you care to look.

The umpiring was horrendous and one sided today. We were legitamitely smashing St Kilda in the first half yet they had the rub of the green on free kicks and had a few questionable ones get them goals. Then the 3rd quarter was totally baffling and some of the most biased, one sided umpiring I've ever seen. The Max Gawn decisions weren't just a weird rule of the week thing, they were a weird rule of the week, only being enforced in one game, against one player thing. Not only do the AFL have to stop this tinkering with the rules mid-season that leaves players, fans and clearly umpires confused, but they need to explain better to the players BEFORE the game what the new focus is and how it will be enforced. Clearly Gawn and Longer had no idea what frees were getting paid for, but bizarrely Longer could shove Max in the front or face for no penalty, whereas if Max put an arm up to protect himself when Longer jumped on him it was a free. It was totally pathetic and the only reason St Kilda got back in the game. 5 easy centre clearances is what it gifted the Saints and that is massive in modern footy. As for the general umpiring the reason missed decisions hurt us so badly is our contested style. We rely on winning the ball honestly in the contest, or winning it back from tackling (HTB), incorrect disposal or turnover. When umpires constantly miss HTB, drops, throws or players holding the man at stoppage it allows teams to get on the outside and pull apart our structure. Numerous times today we nailed holding or dropping the ball in a tackle only to see it illegally get out to St Kildas runners and let them go forward. We were held, jumped on high and in the back all day for no free We also had numerous times where we won the contest but had wrong free kicks gave the ball back to St Kilda. This hurts us far more than teams who slingshot from the back and rely on intercept and turnover for obvious reasons. It's the main reason why bad adjudication kills us for playing a good game style and must be fixed! Some of my favourite terrible decisions were: All the Max ones, just complete trash The Jetta one, so so wrong. In the third Petracca nailed a tackle on Geary who dropped the ball yet was awarded holding the man as we streamed into goal. Then a minute later Bradshaw was clearly held in their forward line without the ball, no free, nails a tackle and the player tries to kick and fails to in the tackle, no free, St Kilda goal. Umpires need to be full time, highly paid and only focussed on umpiring all week, with strong performance review and thethreat of being dropped if they fail to meet performance criteria. We have players, coaches, administrators who all live by the sword with their performances but the people who hold the integrity of the sport's rules within their grasp are part time moonlighters with no culpability. It's baffling!

Couldn't disagree more, though I didn't see today's game, the way that the Weed attacks the ball in the air says that they have very different temperaments at the same age. I am very confident that he will develop into a very good player

Not worried in the slightest about him in the long run. I've said it before that he's shown he's capable of every facet of the game, in different games. And the way our forward line functions is rubbish, even when we're flying. How many times do we ever hit a key forward on the lead? It's not the easiest of gigs for him to step in to.

What I don't get is how Gawn can block with an extended arm in the ruck and give away a free kick, but Greene blocks with studded boots and nothing. Please explain?

One can dream

I'd play Trac at Full Forward for the first half against Brisbane and see how he goes. One-on-one he is an extremely dangerous player and it'd allow him to at least get a break from the kilometers a mid/half forward clock up. Isolate him in the square, play Garlett at high half forward to get him into the game early. Weideman or Watts can play a lead-up CHF depending on who is played. I think it's important to do some shuffling. Harmes won't have another day-out like that as impressive as his first quarter was. Trac is a much more dangerous deep option. Sometimes positional change is needed to give players a spark in form. Harmes and Brayshaw were proof of that on the weekend.

But given the "Crunch" games ahead and possible finals Jack Watts MUST COME IN I still believe Weeds WILL make it but needs to hit gym and believe!

He's playing in a tough spot on the ground. Although he's not getting a lot of clean ball, I don't think he's travelling that badly. He's working hard and moving ok, so I just think we persist and his time will come.

Because of the percentage gap to Port and Sydney, for us to overtake either of them and get a home final, one of them would need to drop both of their remaining games. In round 23 Port play GC and Sydney play Carlton, so it's hard to see either scenario eventuating. Realistically, seventh is the best we can aim for. Of those two, I'd MUCH rather play Port in the first week than Sydney, so if the Swans do lose to the Crows on Friday night, we need to be barracking for the Dogs to beat Port on Saturday, otherwise Port move to 5th, Sydney drops to 6th, and we're (likely) off to the SCG. That's contingent, of course, on us winning both of our remaining games. The absolute best case scenario would be if us, the Swans and Port all win in the last two rounds, and Richmond drop one (they've got Freo over there and the Saints at the MCG). In that scenario, Richmond are 6th and we're 7th, and the stage is set for a blockbuster MCG elimination final. Given the abysmal form of the Dockers and Saints, I doubt it would happen, but it's Richmond, so you never know.

Good thing this peanut isn't a selector.

And even if you put all that aside... And just focus on game day and what it means going forward... you still have to work hard to be glum... How many sides in the comp would love to have 22 that showed the effort we did today. There's only a few that wouldn't be envious of how hard we go at it based off this weekend. We're talking Swans, GWS, Cats... The rest see guys like Jetta, Jordie, Hibberd, Pedo... they're not supposed to be stars... and especially Braysh who was flat out inspirational... and they drool at the effort level they bring. I wish you could just have a special button next to the "like" button that is something along the lines of "you don't get to have everything your way all the time. This is football." Yes the team will have lapses. Some mistakes will be made. Drawing season-ending conclusions because Jordie flubbed a handball is just daft. The squad played better for more of the game than the opposition. The Saints are a decent team and have enough talent to threaten us and we smashed them. Sometimes it really can be that simple.

Ran hard, chased, tackled, flew at the contests He will be a player

Absolute rubbish jackaub. Have a look at his emotions when we kick an important goal. He is usually the first to congratulate the scorer.He encourages and urges his teammates too. He is a demon mate, true and true. Forgotten the crucial goal after a gut bursting run against Collingwood? Have a look at his form before injury.

Why is Watts required to have a "blinder" for Casey before being considered for selection? Nobody else has that requirement. Surely all he needs to do is demonstrate a willingness to contest most of the time which is what he was dropped for.

FFS watts in???? What the actual [censored]!! And if he plays soft? Recall Weidman and the cycle continues? Watts did did nothing for an AFL player playing VFL and people want him back, what message does that send? Makes Watts earn it, weeds atleast goes hard.

Gawn - cruelled by maggots

I post on this thread about once a fortnight. Basically I repeat myself because nothing happens to change my opinion. In fact it is reinforced. The MRP is a bowl of bullshite.

Surely Greene was either incidental, no penalty, or at best reckless, high contact, high impact - 4-3! A fine to someone on 10K a week is nothing. And of course it is the AFL's own pet team and finals are approaching - can't have such a key player in their premiership campaign out at the pointy end of the season And Wines is (i) in the Downlow race, maybe, and (ii) a key part of another interstate team' campaign. Nothing corrupt at AFL HQ ????

Unrelated to what you guys were saying but......He was great in that 2nd quarter i think when a saints player inside 50 passed it sideways and it looked to go about 7m, and Max was laughing at the umpire holding out his arms as if to measure the distance.....classic. He was right too!

looked more crude than cruel, and perhaps more clumsy than crude unlucky that it knocked the bluebagger out, but it would seem judging by their medical reports that a strong gust of wind knocks the majority of their players out

would be hand to have both Salem and Brayshaw coming out of half back. would add a new dimension. Both had good games on the weekend so why not for the pies game.

According to Plapp Watts did what he had to do. He is so far ahead of Weid at this stage it is a no brainer. Weid may be good in time, but at the moment he is a liability. They may also bring in Frost as Lions have a number of talls and he adds pace as well as height, not to mention unpredictability.

Have a look at what Chris Scott, Hardwick or Buckley and numerous other coaches do when a player is reported. They support their player through the media and push to try and get the best result - regardless of the players actions. Richmond even went as far as getting references from Wally Aly and tried to manufacture one from the Prime Minister. We did nothing except throw him to the wolves. At the very least our club could have come out and said "Bugg has apologised", "it was a reflex action", "Mills initiated contact first" etc Instead they came out and said "it's clearly not how we want to be seen as a footy club" "we'll cop what we get" etc. The Club's advocate Ian Findlay basically threw himself at the mercy of the MRP and basically didn't try to argue a case for getting a suspension no longer than Houli's. The hearing lasted 9 minuts. He said "He comes here tonight not to try to get the charge downgraded, not to waste your time." The fact that the incident happened the week after Houli meant their was a frenzy of media coverage about Bugg. At the very least they should have been saying "Its no worse than Bacher Houli" It may not have worked but he deserved that possibility. Instead he was left to front the media by himself with no club representative there when he made his statement to the media. Hung out to dry.

Thank Heavens the game is at the G and not at some God- forsaken backwater. Gives us a much better chance of winning.

lewis is a ripper how anyone can i question is worth i cannot fathom

I still wear the scarf I've had since I was about 6. Probably time to wash it...

Here is the problem in a nutshell. Read the rules. They are so badly worded that "interpretations" are required to fill in the gaps. Not just the media, even the umpires department (!) have bought into the idea that there are "interpretations" and even that the "interpretations" can change over time. It doesn't seem to occur to them that "interpretations" of rules are a bad thing (leading to all the things being complained about in this thread) and highlight the slackness and carelessness of the AFL in this area. (Example: they are quick to bring in "blurcam" on the goalposts when there's a bad goal ump call and someone cries out that "this could cost someone a premiership!!!" But turn a blind eye to the larger and more endemic problem that may have already cost several flags over the journey, most recent example: last year.) How about .... blueskying here ... rewrite the rules so they are clear and unambiguous? I realise that's not 100% possible but hey AFL .... give it a try? Maybe improve on the permanent shambles that you currently have, and which is getting worse? There are rules that "everyone knows" but are not actually in the rule book. There are rules in the rule book that get ignored. The "guidelines" on how rules will be "interpreted" that the AFL put out before each season has a useful lifetime that doesn't stretch much past the pre season comp. Not to mention the "rule of the week", "rule of the quarter", or even "rule of umpire no. XYZ". The AFL see all this and happily buy into it. Their lack of action shows that they don't have a problem with any of it. For all their big noting, they are a joke. If not for the MFC and countless hours of hope and dreams foolishly invested in them over many years, I would have given up on AFL altogether.

There was a big contingent of very confused looking students at the top of the Olympic - some with a distinctive eastern European accents - trying to figure out what they needed to do, where to sit, deciphering what the food offerings were... etc. Beneficiaries of the free tickets methinks, and a few of them had brand new merch on! Hope they liked what they saw yesterday and come back!

Not sure that is much of a qualification. it is a bit like saying I go to every court case in Melbourne so that makes me a Judge. Just be happy we won, finals are in sight and there where lots of MFC fans there.

Carlisle had a field day on the Weeds, in fact aside from umpires he was what got them back in the game. Weed has a good endeavour at times however it is blatantly obvious that he isn't fit enough for AFL. The kid can't even run out a quarter let alone a game at the moment. He needs a brutal pre season otherwise we will see more of the same next year

No surprise. The guy is a champ and we're getting to pointy end. His incredibly brave acts in final qtr alone have hopefully put to bed some ridiculous commentary on here about him not going in hard enough. Arguably our best performer over the last month.

Weed is going to be a good player for us. However I still say it was crazy to bring him in now. Surely if Goodwin wants to make a statement to Jack he should find another way. Last week Jack had 10 touches and 1 goal in AFL (including goal assists). Sam had 9 touches and 1 goal in the VFL. How that was ever going to be a receipe for success is beyond me. Its one thing to look at a player and say he is not performing to the required level and its another thing to say who could do better. Oh that's right at the moment we don't have anyone who will be better. Hulett is even further from being ready..

Harmes - Captain Planets haircut.

Maybe if that tiny tiny little turd of an umpire could bounce the fucken thing, that would be awesome.

Surley not both Garletts