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Props to Salem who is quietly becoming one of our best players. 26 disposals at 92% efficiency. 11 score involvements second only to Hogan and Oliver. There are some players I get nervous about when the ball is in their vicinity. He isn’t one of them.

If there's a single lesson to be learned from this round so far, it's that you should never rely on the results of other games. You have to get the job done yourself.

Went along today to see a very impressive Casey performance. I had a few, but here's my take on how the Melbourne players went; Mitch Hannan: Was very active in the 1st term and involved in several of our forward frays. Spent his time betweeen half forward & the midfield. Attempted to take mark of the year a few times to no avail. Did enough to keep his name in contention. Cameron Pedersen: BOG for me today. Marked everything that came his way and defended strongly. Has had a great year at VFL level. Sam Weideman: Kicked a couple of goals and played a really good first half and took some strong marks. Spent a little bit more time in the ruck in the 2nd half after King went off and kept himself involved in the game. Still tracking encouragingly. Jayden Hunt: First game back since Queens Birthday weekend and he did a few nice things without dominating. Good launching pad for a potential return to the senior team before finals. Tom Bugg: Pretty quiet game from buggy I thought. He may have got more of it in & under then I realized, but was otherwise a pretty unnoticeable game. Oskar Baker: Was playing another solid game, showing good pace, pressure and kicking a goal. Looked to do his hamstring late in the 3rd term, however spotted him on the bench running lines and trying to get back on, but looked to get ordered out of the game by the coaches. Think/hope it was only a strain or bad cramp and we'll see him back next week or the week after. Mitch King: Competed ok, but I'm still yet to see anything from him that makes me think he'll make it. To make matters worse, he then either done a MCL or Meniscus Injury to end his day, potentially season and potentially Melbourne career. Harrison Petty: Hasn't quite hit the heights of his early season form since his AFL debut, but he defended dourly and played his role in a strong defensive unit. Dion Johnston: I've liked his move to defence and he played another solid game. Think Nev's mentorship is paying off and a new 1 year deal should be put on the table for Dion. Tim Smith: Not a huge game for the Bull. He competed as he always does and played as the main ruck after King went off. Like many on our list today, played his role without having a huge day himself. Pat McKenna: Barely noticed him in the first half, but he worked his way into the game in the 2nd kicking a goal. Given the injuries he's had to overcome, it's great that he's just out there playing again. 1 year deal for me, so Guy Walker has someone to bowl to in the nets. Josh Wagner: Controlled things across half back and was assured with his ball use and always seemed to have time & space. Declan Keilty: After Pedersen I thought he was the best of the Melbourne players. Kicked a few, took some strong marks and provided a real target. Has had a great year at VFL level and unlucky not to have received a senior opportunity. He's developing well! Lachlan Filipovic: Gone for mine. Even when King went off, it was Smith & Weideman who were asked to compete in the ruck. Limited impact and doesn't get involved enough. Thought I should add, that after Pedersen I thought the next three best were all Casey listed players in Jay Lockhart, Corey Wagner & Cory Machaya. Lockhart in particular is someone we should look to draft. Nice kick, good pace and run, exactly the type we could do with. Watch this space!

Pretty out of character for Gaff, shows where his head is at. Gone. Welcome to the MFC.

I wont have to see my therapist this week...

Not much of a mention for Brayshaw so far but I thought some of his work in the middle was outstanding today. He's evolving in a way I didn't expect. Nimble in traffic. And is also developing a good rapport with Clarry.

I think Bernie is on thin ice once players come back from injury. He was way off the pace today.

Percentage is officially not a factor for us now. We have taken care of that which killed us last season. Now we just need enough wins.

Outside of the Joel Smith injury, this was the perfect win IMO. Just look at the maturity of the players in the last term and the way in which they continued to hunt the opposition with crunching tackles and hard running. It was fantastic to watch and further proof of how far this side had come. I know many will talk about the Gold Coast injuries, and you can't argue they fielded a very poor side today, but we are still missing Lever, Viney, Hibberd and Melksham, four very important players for us and it shows how good our depth is that, even with those guys out, we can still smash a side by 16 goals. So much to like about our performance as a whole, and to come out and put the Suns to the sword in the first term was very satisfying to watch. You could name 15 players who had a major impact, and everyone played their role. Enjoy it all, as this Melbourne side has the ability to go somewhere special this year. The last 3 games, to me, are all extremely winnable and I see no reason why we can't finish in the Top 4 at the end of Round 23. Demons!

Would that be the first time a reserves team beats their seniors team?

where would one start: Carlton..2016 Collingwood ...2017 St Kilda ... 2018

Almost any regular reader of this forum actually.....

Who would have thought, just a few years ago, that we would find something to complain about when we win by 96 points.

Petty then.

Salem was class.

Vanders doing his best to deny us a welcome back celebration.

In 30 years of supporting this great club I have never seen a MFC player as talented as Clayton Oliver. He could become one of the greatest players to ever play the game!

If the team hasn't learned that lesson after the Round 23 debacle last season it will be so deflating for the supporters. Finals are non negotiable from here. We will find out in the next 4 games if we have finally taken the next step. The biggest month of footy for this club in a long, long time. It all starts today.

Look there is no doubt this isn’t a usual act for Gaff. I can’t even remember him being suspended recently. It was highly uncharacteristic. But that doesn’t make it right. He should get a nice long holiday. Brayshaw is having surgery. On a broken jaw and 4 displaced teeth. That’s not a light love tap. That’s a serious assault. Do I want Gaff hung for life? No. Should he come play for the Dees? Sure. Does he deserve 6 weeks? 100%!

??? Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!

Great game and always, it is fantastic to have a win - and one so convincing as this game against the Suns. However, we must all wish Joel a complete, speedy recovery from a 'dangerous tackle' slinging him to the ground. His game, today, was the best he has played for the MFC with some great intercepts and running pick-ups, good disposals and coverage of his opponents. Well done - best wishes with the recovery.

Meh. I suppose 9-1 will have to do.

Disagree. There is one team that worries me. Melbourne.

It has been an incredible round. One that should make the dopes running the AFL think twice about radical changes, such as an 18 metre goal square.

The way some of you are carrying on indicates you’ve never played a game of footy in your life. If you think Gaff aimed for Brayshaws head with that punch then you’re mistaken. I’m not condoning the action at all but I can understand how these things can happen in an instant. Gaff was clearly mortified by what he did and again I’m not condoning it - he deserves to go for weeks but I strongly believe the blow was not an intentional one directed to Brayshaws head. Gaff isn’t a thug in my opinion but today he committed a very poorly timed hit that resulted in a terrible outcome of injuries for young Brayshaw. I still want him at the MFC next year because he’s a great player of very good character. What happened today was a combination of a brain fade and unfortunate timings.

Worst , most clueless poster ever to contribute to these boards. Would do more damage to our club than the forced retirement of Jnr McDonald. There's a saying you should take to heart, "it's better to stay silent and appear a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt."

The professionally aggrieved will be out in force. It's their time to shine. Very out of character for Gaff. He'll probably cop 5. Love him at the Dees next year.

I reckon we just saved ~$200k p.a.

UNLEASH. THE. PED.

Clayton Oliver is that good! Would say it was a Dusty/Dangerfield display... but it was a Clayton Oliver display.

Salem flies under the radar a bit but he is having a great year. Harmes most improved for mine.

A sloppy 96 point win if such a thing exists. I’m already thinking about next week and I suspect some of the players were too. Bag the percentage and onto the Swans.

I also thought Vanders had a good, solid return. He didn't do anything special but you can see that, with more game time, he could be very, very handy with finals around the corner. You could almost expect him to keep his spot when Melksham returns, as I feel like he brings a little more to the table than someone like JKH. Having said that, it goes to show that we had good depth and there will be some fierce competition for spots in the next three weeks.

[censored] me Clarry is just going to have to put Vanders on his back and carry him to the goal square to get a goal

Disappointed. Not that we didn't score more, but we got lazy in our structure/ defensive transition, and too cute with disposal. I don't care about the margin, but expect us to execute in the areas that have let us down when under pressure.

Even my little girl is relaxed with this scoreline, been a while.

Having seen others quote you I had to unignore you to respond to this gem. You must have a special kind of hatred for Nathan Jones to inflict more pain on him at this stage of his career. Not happy with him finally starting to enjoy the fruits of his labour, and maybe even a flag, you want to send him to the AFL's biggest basketcase for him to spend his remaining years wallowing once again at the foot of the ladder. For someone to either hate someone else so much, or to be so totally unaware of what you're wanting to inflict on another human being, you have my undying admiration. No-one could either be so cruel, or so stupid. Well done.

Gold Coast is Gold Coast. Win. Sydney couldn't win a clearance to save themselves. We dominate teams out of the centre. Win. West Coast will be missing Kennedy by all reports and are a soft contested side. We dominate contested ball. Win. GWS is a massive test but it's at our home ground and they'll likely have 3rd sewn up. We'll be playing for top 4 and redemption after last year. Win.

4th and 132.8%

Hey., not everyone is equipped to drive the reality bus.... Some people make good navigators..

Jones for May? [censored] me I wish i was this stupid, life must be blissful. For starters, do you think the players would like to see their Captain shafted to Gold Coast for an average KPD? Don’t answer that. Go to the toilet, stick your head in the bowl and take a dump.

Every kid deserves a ribbon.

With 3 rounds to go there won't be a team below us who is within 20 goals of our percentage (assuming we win by 5 goals or more today). That leaves 3 games for either Collingwood, Hawthorn, or Geelong to close a 20 goal gap. To play finals we'll need to win at least one of our remaining 3, so in all likelihood we cancel out one of the other teams 3 games. An injury depleted Collingwood will need to catch up 30 goals in their remaining 3 games. Hawthorn will need to catch up 20 goals and they play Geelong and Sydney in Sydney. Geelong will need to catch up 27 goals in their 3 games, including a game against arch foe Hawthorn. You make a valid point, however, I'm very comfortable suggesting that no team below us after today's game will have a hope in Haiti of catching our percentage.

For the life of me I can't fathom why anyone would be concerned by a winning margin when it comes to the Dees. Other than the St Kilda game we've pretty much smashed who we should have. You do realise we've got the second best percentage in the league ? You do realise we're the only team in the league to average 100+ points per game in 2018 ? If we win by 100 points or 40 points I won't think any differently about Melbourne come 7pm tonight. The fact that you will I find extraordinary. Our last 3 games will tell me much. This game won't tell me anything.

This thread is already sounding the same as the game day thread prior to every game we should have won by ten goals but managed to loose in typical Melbourne fashion! Having said that, am taking my 5yo to the game with the expectation that her flag waving arm will get tired from the 25+ goals we will kick and the most nervous I will get at 3/4 time will be wondering if we will win by 15 or 20 goals ??

Really like what Chris Fagan is building up there in Brisbane and loved the footage of him consoling Rayner after their loss to Nth. Their playing list now seems genuinely invested in the club and they’ve moved miles ahead of Carlton who were at a similar stage on their rebuild.

Tough luck Port. I don’t recall Hinkley complaining about the unjustness of it all when the maggots gifted them the game against us.

Look it’s hard for me not to be biased but I really think he can. I’ve seen him play on experienced AFL listed guys (to be fair not superstars or anything) and dominate them. He was all over Casboult today, he f’d up Buzza last week, he’s beat McKernan, T.Boyd and other good KPFs in the past. If he had played v the Saints over Petty we would’ve won I reckon I just hope he gets his chance and we can see for sure if he has what it takes at that level.