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T Mac? Get real. Shouldn't get a look in for a while with Weid and Jackson in good form. Would be madness to select him.

So happy to hear Simon Goodwin stick up for Max. Has fired shots at the umpires for not looking after him behind play. It is very obvious that he gets belted behind play and in marking contests and never gets rewarded with free kicks. I tip my hat to Mr Goodwin for taking a stance on behalf of our skipper

He fumbled a lot tonight but his positioning and run is critical. He does so much good work for us. He can improve on the fumbles, and by jeepers I'd like him to kick a bloody goal next time he gets a shot, but you're a long way off it if you think he should be dropped.

And he's a real leader. The times he took Lockhart under his wing last night and looked out for him which was something special. We got exactly what we needed. A backline leader and gun full back.

Unrelated to the win but very happy with how the Demonland server has held up post match the past 3 weeks. Changes made have been ?. Not missing a beat. Barely a lag under a heavy post match load.

Interesting to hear the commentators go on and on about AVB’s push and how it needs to be stamped out of the game, but when the little guy from Adelaide charges and bumps May well after the ball goes out of bounds they celebrate it. Kinda sums up the commentary all night really. I think they wanted blood and were very disappointed Melbourne won.

Gawn managed when we've got Goldstein and then Grundy. He should have been managed this week.

Luke Jackson is coming on well and is showing his skills in the big time as an 18 yo. Played his part in the Ruck with 14 HO and kicked two goals when playing deep forward. Laced one out to I think it was Melksham in the last Quarter for a goal. He certainly has class written all over him. I know it was Adelaide however once you cross the white line you are there to showcase your skills and play for the jumper and do your best. For an 18 yo that is what he did. That is part of our future.

He makes some interesting comments about Salem. He likes how Melb put the ball into his hands as he is our best user. And that Jade Rawlings knows his game and North will come after Salem to minimise his impact. And he said watch out if they go after Salem dees players will come out swinging as they absolutely love that guy! Just shows how much we don't know about the value of a player within club land and behind the scenes stuff. Maybe we should look more closely at how much attention Salem gets as he tends to go under the radar for fans and not appreciated for what he does.

The moment of the game for mine was Steven May in the third. Caught laird when Adelaide were out, and delivered a beautiful i50 to Fritsch, for a Harley goal. May was immense, and kept us in it until the 4th.

I don't know what to make of this game. We all said it had to be an 8 goal win, which is exactly what we did. But by God, did we stink it up for three quarters before we turned it on big time at the end. However, what we can't overlook is the fact that we beat up a very young side that hasn't won a game all season. If this was a Richmond, then you would be fist pumping. As it's Adelaide, it's more a sigh of relief. Oliver, Viney and Trac all stood up for us when we needed it most. In that last term when we would have been a bit nervous and the confidence still dodgy, they worked their backsides off to kill off the contest and get us over the line. And a special mention to Gus for his second half - where has that been? He was terrific and looked better than he has all season. But if those mids won it, then it was our backline that kept us in it during the first three quarters. May was fantastic and is showing exactly why we wanted to get him to the club. He made Walker look like a joke, he spoiled and took contested marks and backed up all the boys with some real aggression. Keeping them to five goals, and 1 in the second half, is a great effort even though it was against the bottom side. You still have to do it. We still have problems. Skills and decision making is a worry, as always, and we still have a few passengers. ANB and AVB gave us little, while outside of a class goal, Bennell couldn't get near it. We got smashed around the clearances in the first half and we are lucky we had our backline to save us. Umpiring was the worst I've ever seen, too. Just atrocious. But you know what? We are 4-5, which is almost hard to believe. Win this weekend and we are 5-5 with a game in hand, which is almost incredible. Enjoy the win and lets smash the Kangas on Sunday! P.S - Plus we need to persist with Weid and Jackson. Five goals, plenty of contests and some class from Jacko as well. They make a good combo!

A strong finish made it a convincing win. Some of the worst umpiring I have ever seen. A real coming of age game from Jackson and a gutsy effort from a clearly unfit Max. Let's take the 4 points and see where can go from here. PS the fox commentary was equally as bad as the umpiring PPS Clayton Oliver FMD !!!!

You mean the world that lets Burgoyne get away with a fine? Twice. 1st Offence 2nd Offence

AVB can be excused for his poor night considering the knock he took early in the game.

Loved seeing him give it to Crocker, who was trying to give it to Lockhart. It's something that unfortunately is pretty rare at our club. We don't even really stick up for our captain when he's being smacked.

Oh my god how much did it look like it transformed his game instead of his dinky [censored] handpasses? I hope he takes that in his stride and continues to do that, he has genuine pace his first 10m.

Gees Jackson is exciting. Some of the things he did tonight - diving for a half volley and then fishing a handball out, jumping at marks, and then when he carried the ball forward and spotted up a lead in the fwd line. Seriously when's the last time you saw a ruckman do that in his 5th game of AFL! Amazing.

I usually don't mind King but he annoyed me with the post game comments: 1. He said Goodwin shouldn't have mentioned the lack of umpire protection for Max. What BS! Hardwick carries on about it (was it Cotchin?). Ratten recently talked about protecting the ball carrier (can't recall who) and Carlton are all fussed about lack of protection for Cripps. All are valid but King says nothing about those but tries to put the heat on us. Rubbish comments. On this it was good to hear Goodwin say the club had talked to the powers to be (I assume he means umpires) about lack of protection for Max. Handled the right way, behind closed doors. Because nothing is happening he took it to the press conf. Very happy about that. 2. That the AFL need to make a statement about sling tackles and give ANB 3 or 4 weeks. Yeah right. Its always Melbourne when the AFL need to 'make a statement'.

Going against consensus probably but i thought overall we were quite poor. Defensively we looked sound against a team that wasn't really capable of asking too many questions. we had multiple opportunities to put that game away much earlier and more bad skill errors cost us. i thought we gave away a few cheap free kicks. Not sure that performance beats many sides. Positives, Luke Jackson coming along nicely, think Gus is showing some signs things are starting to turn, Oliver back to his best. i thought Viney played a better team game. Harmes seems to be working a bit harder and May pushing hard to be included in the AA conversation

I have to agree with this post. I noticed in many of our earlier games, Gawn seemed to ruck 90% of the match. He seemed to spend more time off and down forward tonight. Another note I made during the match was he was not used at all really as the long kick out option from a behind.

Apart from that nonchalant and classy goal Benell just couldn't get into the game. I reckon we have to take the risk and play him regularly to let him work into form

He didn't play a minute in the midfield in the first half. Was very good as soon as he went into the middle. It's no coincidence that we wiped the floor with them when we played Oliver, Gus and Petracca from stoppages in the last quarter.

AVB has been cleared of bone damage, however, that head clash early in the first quarter required 15 stitches above the eye on the same side as the cheekbone damage. Unbelievably tough.

With the sling tackle the AFL want it both ways. on one hand, this season (and last night) a player can be fairly tackled spun 360 degrees without disposing of it and NOT called for holding the ball. But the tackler is now expected to manage the safety of the player they tackle while they contort to either dispose to advantage, look like trying (when they’re not) or simply deal with their momentum. It’s become unrealistic for the tackler. example with the Nibbler sling, tackles him properly through 180’, then Crow player tried to dispose (to kick) throwing his body into the sling and exposing his head to a concussion... yet the tackler is held responsible. In my opinion, if the AFL wants to reduce slings, they should reduce the time a tacked player has before the umpire decides a free or ball up.

Really liked Sam's game. His confidence is growing by the week. He is using his body more in contests, making good positions and loved the confident snap at goal. He may have some up and down games but he has only played 36! And I like the strut he is showing.

Don't even get me started on this. You had Derm become one of the biggest hypocrites in football about how this behaviour needs to be taken out of the game, while he was quite happy to belt blokes and stomp on their heads. No one pulled him up on it, either. The commentary box wanted the Crows to win pretty badly and I was pretty content to see our club stick it right up their clacker with the win!

unbearable having to listen to McGuire and Brere Rabbiton...I watched with the mute on. Jackson's contentious free kick in front of goal....ruck block.......we know how many times Max was penalised for the same thing.....just extending his arm at centre bounces,

The yippee guy was back for Melbourne in the last quarter. It was a nice counter to the booing of the rabid crows fans. Love his work.

Those suggesting Bennell be dropped, bear in mind he has played a handful of games in 3 years and still coming to grips with his confidence after those terrible calf issues. He is the class act in our forward line and should be persisted with. Rested, maybe. Omitted, no.

And Jack has lived up to his word like always. Lost the captaincy and didnt sulk but instead took his game to another level. He bleeds for this club. What a great season he is having.

Nothing much to add other than can we please resist the temptation of bringing TMac back in for any non-emergency reason.

Out: Chris Donlon, Hayden Gavine, Paul Rebeschini In: Anyone not on work experience

I can't believe the hide of Brereton to sit there unchallenged passing judgement on the relatively tame actions (compared to what he has done in the past) and just lie about having respect for opponents and never doing that sort of thing. It's a sick joke. Plus he wouldn't make the same comments if it was a Hawthorn player. It just makes me so mad. The quality of commentators is getting worse every year.

I don't see a problem with complaining in public if you have brought it up with the AFL and nothing changes. It's not just Gawn, but anything Gawn-related. As I and others have mentione elsewhere another standard tactic used to curb Gawn's dominance is to start tackling our mid-field players before the ball arrives. Happens all the time and rarely is a free paid.

Goodwin has simply stated what most of us have observed for a number of years. No doubt there have been advances made to the relevant authorities over some time and I think the last couple of weeks it has reached new levels. Port continually held Gawn back in contests (Westhoff repeatedly held onto his arm), Brisbane were blocking his run frequently, Adelaide did sit him on his backside a couple of times and credit to the umpire who picked one of the blocks up and awarded a free, albeit actually behind play and not forward of it. Aside from that, he puts himself into positions where he does frequently get smashed into. There was a particularly crude effort last night where he was hit flush in the back of the head - no free, just play on! David King's old coach would regularly come out with the "just give Wayne a go" call, often around August in the lead up to finals. Pagan was a master of it. I'm actually pleased Goodwin has found his voice.

I think the crows came out to be ‘tough guys’. We responded in kind (and got in the umpires bad books). Some of their he-man efforts were poor. I loved May looking out for Lockhart - shows what a leader and a champ he is. So many of their off the ball shenanigans not penalised until the last. When Oliver wasn’t being held, he just cut them apart. I think the crows ran out of angry-juice and that was essentially all they had. They are an absolute rabble. Pulled us down to their level for the first three quarters (not all that hard to do) but we had enough to break it open and turn the last into a training drill.

Should confidence in his calves stop him from putting his body on the line? There were a few one hand in efforts last night that a calf should not excuse.

ANB the annual 'make an example of' suspension now that the rich clubs players have got off on technicalities.

Has been our most consistent mid for mine. His attack on the ball each week is faultless. His kicking is hit and miss but he’s been getting better at lowering his eyes going forward. Considering he has a newborn, which we all know means little sleep, especially with two hub changes, I think he’s done remarkably well.

We planned around TMac. We got it wrong - but other than the hindsight heroes on here there's not a lot of blame to pass around. He looked the goods up forward. Got foot injuries, structure changed, is spent earlier than expected. The best and only thing we can do now is continually play Weid and Jacko and develop them into our one-two up-front combo. TMac goes to pasture. It's unfortunate but necessary. Edit: Or we recruit a forward.

I thought he came across pretty agitated. I was glad to hear him stick up for Max as well. From recollection he also made the point that our on ballers had been copping unfair treatment as well. Hopefully Goodwin keeps raising it as it goes unnoticed most weeks and clearly hampers players like Oliver, who knows the effect it has on the results of games.

I have to say it again Lever, ball falls through his two hands, bounces up off his chest, and is grabbed by Himellberg... Paid a mark.... WTcF is going on out there

Been waiting a while to see Clarry burst 5 or 6 steps before offloading. Hopefully the start of things to come. he was much better in the 2nd half when the Umps paid him a couple of frees for being held. Crouch didn't hold him after that funnily enough and he ran rampant

A watershed game for Oliver. The start of becoming not just a star but elite. That was a very damaging performance. He played like an angry lad; 22 of his 34 disposals were contested. And it was great to see him burst out of the packs and to kick a goal. It will be huge for his confidence. Commentators saying that is Danger like aren't giving Oliver enough credit. Danger wasn't playing like Oliver when he was 22. Portend of great things to come.

Just a reminder that Luke Jackson is 18 years old. Have a great day and go Demons.

Maybe the Dees and North match committees could "come to an understanding" and not play either of their no.1 rucks!

Vanders has been playing on the wing since half time in the Richmond game. He's not a forward pressure player he can't find the ball or the man when forward, what he does do is seal the edges on the wings and make teams think twice about going quick to their wingers. Langdon struggles to do that on taller wingers for obvious reasons. Tomlinson (when on the wing) struggles to do it on anyone with pace. Jones just flat out struggles. Vanders also seals the stoppages in a similar way. Teams don't want to take it out the front when he's waiting there. Defenders close so quickly on ball carriers these days there's no way Oliver could've just strolled to 50 and bombed it home and an equal chance the guy he handballed too would cop the same fate. He had a clear lead coming to him and just duffed the kick. It was the right decision, just the next step in his development. The most important thing is he got the ball running forward and bursting out of stoppages like we all hoped he could do.

With all their changes and with one man down early, we were always going to be safe going into the last quarter, but there's one thing we got right in the last quarter in particular. We got the midfield set up right. Instead of having Viney run into Petracca every second stoppage, we had the right mix of Oliver, Gus and Petracca in the middle for most of the last quarter. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Gus played a single minute in the midfield in the first half. As soon as Viney went into stoppages in the final quarter, our set up was decidedly less effectively than having Oliver as the first ball stoppage winner. Jack had a good first half, but his goal in the final quarter is what he'll need to do IMO. He needs to spend significant time forward, with occasional midfield bursts. That was not Oliver's best game, but he was best afield by quite some stretch. It was against very ordinary opposition, but he can do that against the best too. Posters calling for him to play forward are totally misguided IMV. The most talented player we've had at the club in my 33 years. People expect the world from him, when he's already won 2 BnFs and AA rep at the age of 23. The guy is a star and elite most weeks. The other guy I wanted to talk about is Jackson. Really excited by his nous. I liked the idea of throwing him into the ruck in the second quarter and it worked to throw out O'Brien's dominance of Gawn. He's also a smart player around stoppages, when the ball is on the deck and positionally in the forward half. I really liked the interplay between Weideman and Jackson tonight and our forwardline looks immediately less congested without McDonald. I thought AVB and ANB's pressure was good tonight, because Bennell looks like he's trying to get through games and avoid contact, and Fritsch looks to avoid contact where possible too. Against good sides we would have struggled tonight, but hopefully that last quarter restores a bit of the confidence we seemed to have built going into the Brisbane game.

Anyone notice the way Jackson does those cute over the shoulder handballs into space? Whens the last time you've seen a ruckman look so fluid and mobile the way he does. No wonder why we rated him so highly. He's an extra midfielder everytime we play him in the ruck. Will be elite, watch this space.

Jacko is the real deal. Will be very exciting when he starts taking a few more contested grabs.