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I have no life and a forgiving boss.

Still cant believe all the work that goes into this website. Where do you find the time? Ive looked at some of the other sites, Bomberblitz for example. The are just so bad, boring and drab and you can hardly even read them. Well done @Demonland

A sharp skills session with no drill lasting longer than 5 minutes All walking wounded not sighted and Spargo So Neitschke, Lever, Lewis, May, JKH, AVB, Hannan and Walker Crossy gave Jeff Garlett's shoulders a work out with a tackling drill, Jeff did whole session Squad still upbeat, no cloud of doom over Goschs, only bright sunshine

Since you’re bringing up Garlett, Ben Guthrie tweeting Jeffy is close to playing. Joined full training this morning after some testing of the shoulder.

Not if we throw Marty Hore on him. Perfect matchup!

I think the time has come to try anything...

I'll be hiding under my bed if we can't win this.

Absolute hatred of the Drug Cheats...

Yes OMac was the problem....not! By the time the sling shots got down his end he was either out numbered or the ball was flying over his head. We are not dealing with the deficiecies of individuals but rather a big game plan problem in my opinion. This is a rerun of last season where we played dumb footy, I likened us at the time in boxing terms as Rocky Balboa trying to slug our way to victory. It intimidated some of the bottom teams by sheer force but we got taken apart by teams that had a bit of talent and a sophisticated, adaptable game plan, e.g. boxing ability. Example early on the Hawks and Swans worked us over big time. Somehow we worked through this to become a force. It seems to me we have regressed to last year for some reason.

One guy I'm not worried about in the slightest.

I had a miserable time at Kardinia Park last Saturday night. Not only did I sit in the rain for two hours watching my team being humiliated, I was "egged" (a victim of an egg thrown at me from a passing car), on my way back to my car(which I had trouble finding!) It reminded me of the abject despair I felt after round 12, 1998, when we were down 15 goals to one at half time against Geelong, and ended up losing by 95, on the MCG! We improved the next week, only losing by 85 pts in torrential rain to St Kilda, again on the MCG. BUT........ later that year, we won two finals, beating the eventual premiers(Adelaide) by 48 pts in the qual final. We should have been premiers, despite morale earlier having been at absolute rock-bottom, as it is at present. No-one could have guessed we'd do so well after round 13, when a lot of membership cards ended up in microwaves! I feel confident we can turn it around soon. The guys tried their guts out on Saturday, but NOTHING went right. Their confidence dropped as Geelong's rose. Our best players showed some form(except TMAC...but it wasn't a key forward's night.....even that grinning visigoth, Hawkins didn't kick a bag in an 80 pt win.) Don't give up, Dees fans. Let's get started by pumping the pharmacists on Friday night.

Our home game They can wear pajamas.

Did it only rain when we had the ball? Didn't seem to bother Geelong.

Shaun Higgins is the type of player we should target. Strong, quick, accumulator, elite foot skills, wins his own ball and not expensive.

So far it’s not been a good start for May. At 27 he doesn’t have a decade of chances ahead of him. I understand that injuries can’t be helped, but keeping himself in top condition over pre season and not getting suspended for silly stuff is within his control. Very disappointing.

Oh please, if we think Garlett is the answer to our present woes, we seriously are delusional

Let’s have some last year of contract Jeffy magic! he is worth a punt for sure

He may not be in form currently, but Tom McDonald possesses the right attributes too

Did it for a second time in September trying to come back for finals. The 2 injuries in short succession mandated the long lay off. Was in the rehab group all summer until Feb/March as they slowly built him back up and has only played 2 or 3? Casey games. He also appears more of a speed athlete than a natural endurance runner so putting him in on a wing at anything less than peak fitness would be setting him up to fail. Kolodjashnij, who has a bigger natural tank and AFL experience was awful after an interrupted prep, I don’t want to see that for Baker.

Hawthorn took a scalp in round 1. Defeating Adelaide, a team who should have had a home-ground and fitness advantage given they had a longer pre-season. Hawthorn were knocked out a week earlier than us in finals. We lost to Port at the G who were playing four kids and had a number of senior players missing. Then we lost to Geelong by 80 points. You mightn't like him. But he's not wrong.

I don't mind if they wear their home strip, once they have to wear white lab coats over them, courtesy of Dank Enterprises

I reckon we'll either win or lose this one

Anyone calling for Frost to be dropped has got rocks in their head as far as I'm concerned. Whilst I haven't watched the game again with a completely calm mind since Saturday, I thought he was our best key position back by a long way. Was good one on one, picked his times well when to leave his man to make another contest, provided good run without over extending himself (and getting caught) and played within his capability to hit good targets by foot. He also applied some good spoils on the last lines of defense. Comparitively I found Steven May somewhat underwhelming, even before he came off injured (was May carrying something all along? Who knows). I'm sure there were some times when Frost got caught out in no-mans-land, but I don't think he can be responsible for that when we played such poor team defense. Our mids had a feild day offensively and in tight, but our two way running was woeful. I forget how many times we were outnumbered 2 or 3 to 4 or 5 - that goal Tomahawk handballed back was the epitome of that.

When I first saw your Demonland name, I thought you must be a Flintstones fan.

For the love of .... just get rid of Oscar McDonald Also put Preuss in the team.

Part of me hopes we lose on Friday night. If we do I'll return to that familiar place of despair to wit I've become so accustomed. The MFC institutionalized me long ago and last year became almost uncomfortable as expectations rose. A loss on Friday night returns me to a comfort zone I've come to rely on. Like an old friend, I find a warmness in the familiarity of abject misery. Either way, I'm a winner this Friday.

Re: Jeffy

The Hawks & Clarkson have the runs on the board. Unfortunately we are going to be a target until we win a flag or two. We've done nothing yet...

Essendon playing like [censored]. What could go wrong?

Sorry AF, I am still reeling from our losses. I observed Geelong with better ball handling and disposal where ours was often substandard. I assumed you were being generous to our players allowing an out by way of the rain. I cannot understand why our players in the first 2 rounds fall over so much and fumble the ball more than our opponents. A few good wins (pun intended) will make me less cranky. Cheers

The better question, which we know will remain unanswered, is why?

Doesn't matter this year. Under done players are fine

Would love to hear Cornes go after the Hawks for 'seeking clarification' for 3 dubious free kicks: Unhappy Hawks who waste no time going to the AFL (remember the Clarkson coffee with Gil last year) even tho in the past they had a lot of leeway for their 'unsociable' football.

Keilty and Billy could not do any worse than May last week and ANB both weeks and at this stage Corey Wagner is a better player than Sparrow, so if you were correct that would be an improvement. Keilty would give Max a chop out and could also go forward or back and at the same time would allow Tom and Sam to stay forward. Billy's pace and disposal is far superior to ANB's. I noticed that last week not only did he have 3 effective possies, but his tackles didn't stick and he was involved in many of our turnovers. KK and Trac will improve with game time, both coming off injuries.

Agree, i though Frost was good, for all the reasons you note. Omac was solid enough as well, though Frost was much better. Their bigs didn't cause us issues. It was their medium and small forwards that caused us grief, in part because Hibberd and Jetts were poor. Though the real issue for our defence was initially the woeful contested possessions, and once that was resolved our inability to stop the Cats clear it with ease from our forward half then transition it up the ground quickly. The fact we couldn't get any meaningful centre clearance, despite having the the best mid, didn't help either. I also agree May was underwhelming. His first kick for the club was a shocking turnover that gifted their first goal (IIRC). He didn't get much better from there. Instructive he didn't get one of their two bigs. On on the couch last night it was noted that he came back after his break over weight and was by far our worst runner in pre season. I wonder if that has anything to do with his injury? if you consider his stupidity to cop a eek and miss out firts game then you have to say it has been a pretty [censored] poor start to his time at anew club. Particularly one that is supposedly a leader.

Just watched the highlights of his game on the club website. The boy is quick. It was very noticeable. Hes so bloody exciting.

If this is their 100% then we can make a spot on the wall for another wooden spoon.

Don’t they have to give 110%?

2020 has a nice ring to it. As in, Melbourne won the Premiership in 2020. Good even number.

It's straight up delusional to think that Petracca is getting dropped. Not saying that I agree with him getting a game at the moment, but it's just the reality of where we're at

Spargo had no standout VFL games pre selection and adapted to AFL standard immediately. Why would we expect any different from an outside mid/wing who's not going to be near the ball enough to command selection with a standout BOG. Throw em in the deep end (if fit) and see how they swim.

Oskar Baker is slowly gathering the fitness he needs to compete and run hard as he gains the match practice. Has had 3 game now and cross fingers has pulled up well. A season ending hammy in 2018 and a hammy to his opposite leg as well finished him off that season and missed finals at Casey. I think it won't be long before we see him playing for Melbourne sooner rather than later in the season. Oskar has speed to burn and is a tough fiery fella imo would be an asset can find the ball.

It's the complete opposite of what you were saying mate. You implied a bunch of our supporter base has a lack of mental resilience if we have a problem with the loss. PD was saying something very different.

This is BS for several reasons. Not your analysis, the concept of your chances based on two rounds. What is the difference between losing rounds 1-2 or rounds 3-4 or 5-6? Nothing in general, poor teams lose games so this obviously skews the numbers many finals teams would lose two games in a row throughout the season. It’s not the end of the world... yet.

Oliver is very good.. freakish in some respects. Has a bit of a way to go yet to pass Tulip. He might You obviously never saw Flower play

Give Keilty a go. Make him ruck 1/2 a quarter and have Max in the forward line.

We need Lewis back in the side for his leadership down back. We need Garlett back in the side so that we have a genuine crumbing forward. We need AVB and Hannan back as they're better half-forwards than the ones we're playing right now. And we need Lever back so that we don't have to keep playing both of Frost and Oscar. But none of that is happening this week, so any changes we make are just bottom 6 players for bottom 6 players. As we did last year, we need to turn our fortunes around with the overwhelming majority of the 22 who played last night. Longer term, we have to think long and hard about where Jones, Petracca, OMac and ANB are at in their careers.

of the players out of contract this year, here's some names that stand out: hugh greenwood (crows) - sort of their equivalent of harmes, i guess riley knight (crows) - he most plays outside mid, has some pace daniel mcstay (bears) - very good tall defender, not sure we need another brayden sier (pies) - tough inside ballwinner, has some defensive liabilities tom phillips (pies) - jet wingman, would love him; no way they're losing him darcy parish (peptides) - a slightly better version of stretch...pass ed langdon (freo) - pace to burn, we've gone after him a couple of times nakia cockatoo (cats) - has skills but his body has let him down peter wright (gc17) - another key forward who doesn't seem to read the play that well adam tomlinson (gw$) - free agent, not sure what role he's play with us given kk and fritsh play def wingmen jacob hopper (gw$) - another inside mid, might be able to get him if he's squeezed out cos... josh kelly (gw$) - ...stays at the franchise, and so too does... steve coniglio (gw$) - ...this bloke brandon ellis (tiggas) - turnover merchant, but has pace jack billings (aints) - so we have someone else other than petracca to complain about harry cunningham (swans) - another rfa, a bit limited as a wingman, occasional rotating inside mid zak jones (swans) - all the brothers! josh dunkley (dogs) - another inside-outside mid-forward combo player, big bodied of that lot my preference in order would be a top five of coniglio, kelly, dunkley, billings, jones and then of the more likely lads langdon, tomlinson, hopper

only about 328,011,559, not counting illegals ?

I’m in Perth.