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I love footy. I still love all of you. I'll be back another day, but don't be a [censored] - just enjoy a win. No matter how bad it is. I'd rather a W than an L. Cheers.

I'm happy with the win, even if most on here will be negative. 3 down on the bench for the whole last quarter and we fought out a win. Wasn't pretty, but too show that heart says something about the group

Garbage. We absolutely deserved it because we were the better team and were limped home in the last quarter through grit. Weak assessment.

Staggering response on here as always. We had one on the bench in the last quarter, with the casualty list including TMac who had absolutely slayed them before the injury. It still amazes me that people don’t adjust their expectations despite the glaring evidence in front of them. As soon as I learned TMac was out, I knew it would be game on. But nah, everyone go on expecting greatness from an already struggling team now dead on their feet. I thought it was a really enjoyable gritty win. Glad there’s a few on here who agree.

To all the haters and advocates of “the worst game ever”, you obviously didn’t follow the Dees in the 70’s. I went back and watched the last 15 minutes of today’s game a couple of times - what guts and poise and character was shown by those fit enough to still be on the ground. I note all the whinging this year about lack of “character” and “leadership” - well go back and look that last 15 minutes. I do not care how bad the opposition were or how far we “should” have been ahead, a win is a win. And a win in extreme adversity makes it even sweeter. A diabolical year no doubt, but give give me this winning feeling any day. Go Dees.

Two things I learned today: 1) The umps gave us a stellar run in the first half and then proceeded to do the same for Carlton in the second half. They must manufacture a nice even free kick ledger at the end of the game at all costs. 2) The crowd at a Carlton game perfectly mirrors the Carlton supporters I know in real life. They are absolutely clueless about the rules of the game. Even I couldn’t bring myself to scream “Ball” or “50” at some of the crap they do.

Sorry mate, this falls under the mandatory reporting guidelines for child abuse. DCP are on their way.

Seems some on here would like us to go 0-22 every year. We won. Beats losing every time. By a mile.

How important was Preuss in the ruck 44 HO 14 poss 5 marks a great replacement for Gawn. How good to have both of them playing together ? With Preuss's performance today he might have cemented a spot in the side for a number of weeks ahead. Goody would have been rapt with his performance as he outpointed Kreuzer.

So for all those that said Preuss is a dud, i say to you, you clearly have no idea. Well done to the big fella and I hope like hell he plays every game for the rest of the year in combo with Gawn when he is fit to play again.

The big fella had 425m gained today, only second behind Fritta. Thought he was great shouldering the ruck on his own. Crash and bash.

I haven't seen the game, but I don't need to have seen it to have known this would be how this thread would go. This was a lose-lose game for us. A thrashing would have resulted in "where has that been all year" and/or "it was only Carlton less Cripps/Curnow/Mackay/Docherty". A comeback would have been "we were lucky" or "they stopped" or "it was only Carlton less Cripps/Curnow/Mackay/Docherty". A loss would have been, well, obvious. Reality is we were a side without Gawn, Lever, Melksham, Jetta, down to one player on the bench (including Fritsch who was dominating until injured, and TMac, also dominating until injured) up against a side in their season-best form, coming off a win in Perth without any of the aforementioned missing players, having three times this year taken the lead after being 6 goals down. I'm certain we made horrendous mistakes like we've been seeing all year, and I'm confident based on the statistical dominance and how 2019 has gone so far that we should have been far more than 30 points up at three quarter time, but is it really any surprise that they fought back in the last given the above? I'm far more interested in seeing TMac come back to form (the injury is just awful news), our midfield stand up despite no Gawn, Preuss do his role well, and the defence settle despite losing Hore early. I'm looking forward to watching the replay, errors and all, because FFS we've only won 5 games this year so at least enjoy the ones we get when we get them.

All votes should go to the fans who sat through that [censored]

The only thing I'm certain of is that we're the weirdest team in the AFL. By a mile.

Have to ask, what was with the awful centre bounces not being called back? At least 3 times Carlton won easy clearances because they were pretty much handed the ball.

Preuss did well. Should have been in the team weeks ago.

That is the direct opposite of what premiership-winning coach and former Melbourne coach Paul Roos had to say about him. I know whose opinion I'd listen to.

Carlton supporters live in the past. They were spoiled by ill gotten successes and feel entitled. They can't understand why they are not super successful again. Just like Essendon supporters, they blame the AFL for punishing them unjustly, even though they were caught red handed. Whingers of the finest order.

Was wondering where you had been wise, hope you are well! HOW GOOD WAS THAT?!!! Don’t underestimate how hard that was going to be with 3 down on the bench, enjoy the win and don’t forget to smile once in a while everyone.

Frees ended 26-26 Operation Evenerupper by the umps ends as Mission Accomplished!

Tried that. Lets work with what he's good at

I don't understand the negative focus on Weidemann. If I were a forward playing for Melbourne the way it's currently playing I'd spend most of my time cursing the way the ball has come in. You don't reap silk from cows' ears... The other thing I find interesting is why 'supporters' need to spend so much time denigrating a young player who is obviously dedicated to becoming a good player for the Melbourne Footy club. I still recall how long it took Tom Hawkins to come good. Ditto Darcy Moore, ditto the latest Daniher at Essendon. Some of you may have read or heard he gets pretty low after becoming acquainted with the negativity displayed by some 'fans'. Fer crissake, get a grip and stop being so pessimistic and negative.

Thank god we don't support a team that dines out on past glories hey?

To the posters - or is it singular? - around here think the team 'didn't deserve' to win...Tell that to the players...preferably to their face. Contemptible garbage.

Is Clayton Oliver the worst umpired footballer in the history of the game? First it was calling his lightning handballs throws, and now he's held at every contest, rarely wins a free kick. I dare say he doesn't have much chance of ever winning a Brownlow.

Was a very hard game to watch but apart from Hunts goal in the last thought Tracs evasive skills were terrific especially when he avoided 4 blues in either the 3rd or 4th quarter. He is finally looking like being in some sort of form. Now he just needs to be consistent.

How many watching from home stood up from their couches and urged the Hannan kick to at least touch the post at the end? Kind of sums up the season, yeah, yeah, yeah then just ploop!

That win is a metaphor for this year in some ways, particularly in terms of supporters not understanding the impact of injury. We were out on our feet with 2 players in Hore and Petty out for all of the second half and TMac out from halfway through the third. This interview with Hunt is interesting in terms of understanding the impact of not being able to rotate players, both physically but also in terms of having to move players around the ground to get a chop out (something Goody noted in his presser eg having to move Lewis off Murphy). He notes he had to play wing for that last quarter and Jones didn't come off for the second half, despite playing high half back which Hunty says is tough position. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-07-07/hunt-enjoys-final-quarter-heroics But hey what would he know

Not sure a narrow win against one of the spoon favourites with a caretaker coach (and short on the bench also) correlates to 'expecting greatness' for a team in the top 4 last year. My guess is people have just expected an improvement in skills, structure and game plan, and we didn't see much of that today at all. The fans have a right to still be disappointed in how we performed even though we won.

I was at the game - we completely dominated Carlton for 3 quarters. By half time, the game should have been over - instead, our inaccurate kicking and inability to stop them scoring immediately after our goals, kept them in it. In the end, it was a relief to get over the line, but we deserved the win. I wasn’t aware that we were 3 rotations down in the last - only knew that TMac hadn’t returned - but some of our boys looked cooked, which would have helped Carlton’s momentum. Our forward line without TMac tried hard, but really missed some grunt - Weid doesn’t seem close to dominating yet. It’ll be interesting to see if they keep Preuss in with Gawn as a resting forward: he did some good stuff today. I noticed that we are starting to spread the ball much more now - maybe a change to the game plan? Otherwise, some great stuff, some terrible stuff: story of our season, really. Still - deserved the 4 points, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

3 rotations down in the last Quarter and to trail for the first time after being as much as 38 points up 20 odd minutes in and it looked as though we were dead and buried. We found something and scratched away picked ourselves up and fought back as it was an amazing last 5 mins. To see the faces of the devastated Blues supporters was something. That could easily have been me and worse.

Totally Plonk him at Full Forward and give the defense a question as to who mans him up. Then rotate Max forward occasionally

WHen you consider it we gutsed it out in the last quarter even though I feel we were out on our feet. Sensational effort from Oliver, In just about every contest. Preuss was pretty handy actually

Thank God for Oliver's poise to hit up Hunt...

Don't know the last time I saw a ball sit on the goal line. Too funny.

Indeed Ethan. Imagine if Melbourne win and the poor child becomes a Dees supporter. A lifetime of misery awaits.

I suspect Spargo is suffering from the dreaded second year blues. Was quiet a handy player at times last year at AFL level. Talk of delisting him fairly premature.

Ha ha, I wouldn't go that far my friend. It's nice to pop back in, and nice to know I've been missed, but a quick scan of this thread is all the evidence I need as to why I didn't log in for a month. I'll be around, though. Hope you, and everyone else, is well. ?

Well at 3/4 time when I saw Tom, on crutches and we were 3 down I thought they are going to run over us. When they got close I thought either it will be a draw or we will lose. We had only 9 rotations in that final term and Jones apparently didn't come off once in the final term. It's a good effort by the boys to keep going. My god the crowd, it was so loud and when Carlton were coming back it just got louder. Hunt well done on kicking the goal, taking your time and having composure. Also well done to Clayton for the composure and the pass. It's a win. Tomorrow we wake up feel good go to work and talk about our footy team winning. I must say though it is one of the strangest games I've sat through.

Was at the game. Team was out on its feet. Kudos to getting over the line. Oliver was nothing short of heroic

I'm with you Nasher. Loved it. Thanks to kayo i watched the game from about 3:45 as i was away. Totally stoked to win. I knew though that when i looked at Demonland the vibe would be generally negative. I was right. We were cooked and running up and done on the spot. We could only make 9 rotations in the last. Nine. And our ruck man was completely gassed. Loved his effort but big Preussy is slow and not fit enough to ruck solo all day. Loved the composure to get a shot on goal after falling behind and love that Hunt slotted it after making 3 critical errors in the preceding 15 minutes. My daughter asked if i thought he would kick it and i said no. Loved the fact he did. A win is a win. Our kicking remains a huge issue (hello to those posters who said Friiter covered the loss of Watts in terms of kicking skills) and out injury curse is real. But we won. And i for one will take that.

Bloody. Oath! We won that thing against all odds. All Demon haters can get stuffed.

Not bad, not terrible. Just needed to slot the easy goal and hold a couple he got hands to. Searching for the body is a phase young forwards go through. I’d still love to play him down back for a while to get him some simple touches but he also gets that in the ruck. He isn’t as natural as we want but he has all the skills to be a good player. Stick with it

It makes you wonder what some people actually see at a game Mr Shadow. I thought he was one of our better players.

Read it again and consider the relative injury impact on both teams. I couldn’t give a flying fig about ladder position. We were the better team of the two on the day. Entitlement is thinking its deserved before the game’s been played. Stick to your irrational anger though, I’m sure it works wonders.

Get a grip!

Should have been 10 goals up. The stats showed we absolutely dominated - doubling their possessions - yet were only 20 pts up. Watched Weed closely today. Absolutely useless when trying to body his opponent. He is a lead up fwd only. Carlton supporters are among the worst I have come across

That kick was the perfect summation of our season. Absolute joke. (Was a good kick don’t get me wrong, but how it just stopped on the line?!)

Do not want to lose to a team like Carlton. EVER.

Even though we won, I'm still disgusted. That was a pyrrhic victory.