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Hearing the commentators raving about Darcy Moore being the best defender in the AFL as Mckay kicks his 4th on him a minute later. Steven May is the best defender in the league you cretins.

2017, which is also the last time we won in roud one at all. Prior to that you have to go back to 2005. Record in first two rounds between 2006-2016 (inclusive) = 2 wins, 1 draw, 17 losses. Coincidentally, St Kilda featured in 2017 pair of wins as well as ending the 3-game winning run to start 2015 when I believe it was Brent Guerra drove Cameron Bruce's shoulder into the ground at the first bounce with a late spear tackle that would get you about 14 weeks suspension now and was clearly done on coaches instructions. Hard to believe but Bruce was the absolute in-form player of the AFL at the start of 2005, and we were the in-form team. 53 goals in three games. Mind blowing Oh, I'm fired up for the game now.

I’m surprised by the lack of love for Jones. There was a period in the last quarter, where it looked as though Freo were going to challenge us and we threw Jones into the middle. He won the ball and rather than stuffing around with it , like Oliver, he drove it deep inside 50 to advantage. A couple minutes later he was instrumental in another goal ... he still has a bit to offer

You're on record saying Lever and May won the game for us on the weekend and that Langdon is a great pick-up, but you think our list management is no good? If you wanted to see a massive player exit - you would have if Roos had stayed on in 2017. Brayshaw was good on the wing against the Dockers - Yze has brought some new ideas to the midfield and it appears that Goodwin is give him plenty of rope to try them.

Guy Walker signed a Victorian State cricket contract at 17 but swapped codes to become a Melbourne footballer (category B rookie). However, by the age of 24, injuries forced him into retirement without playing a game with the Demons. This is his inspirational story.

Out: 10 of Oliver's unnecessary handballs. In: 10 of Oliver's quality kicks. Out: Harmes trying to break tackles and getting caught. In: Viney trying to break tackles and getting caught.

Good luck. Got howled down last year when I said that Oliver was 100% assessing his options and the Carlton talk was real. We're Melbourne going to trade him if he requested a trade? No.. its laughable how many refuse to take the red and blue glasses off Oliver at the time was impatient and wants finals success and missing last year was nearly the final nail in the coffin. It a took a Goodwin and Yze chat to bring him back down a level. Having known Oliver since working with him at the Bushies, you start to make great connections with his family and close friends and that's where you hear the noise. I am not sure whether he is any close to re-signing or not, but if we get to the mid year bye and we aren't in the top 8 and he hasn't signed on then I'll be worried.

It was a board member who said it. With a huge smile on their face I might add. I don’t think he’s seen as someone who oversteps the mark. I think he brings such a different view point and is so strong willed that he creates discussions that some aren’t used to. Which I think is a great thing. I must admit to not really liking his hire initially but little bits of information like that have turned me around.

This bloke has lost touch with reality with his on trial for murder remarks. Is he serious? Does he expect sympathy? Did he watch the story about the suffering of Shane Tuck and the damage hits to the head did to his brain before his tragic death? No, I suppose he did not. Silly me, He is always only thinking about himself.

3 marks inside 50 for 2 goals one behind, and 6 score involvements (behind only Oliver). Would seem he is precisely doing his job. Fry a different Fritta.

Big Carl was an absolute classic. I loved watching him play at Melbourne. I remember in 1979 we got done by Fitzroy I think by about 190 points at waverley when Carl wasn't playing and the next week he was in the side and we beat Essendon at the G. One of the biggest turn arounds I have seen especially because the dons did us by about 70 odd points earlier in the year. His last game against the filth was a belter as well. Just went out and hit every piece of filth he could get his hands on.

Yes and no Jacko. The reason why Jones is playing is because no one at VFL is exactly banging down the door to replace him. You don't want players playing just for the sake that they're younger and need games. I'd rather our players earning their spot instead of being gifted just for the sake of it. I would like to think the likes of Laurie, Bedford, Bowey can really play some significant football down at Casey to the point where they overtake Jones in the senior side.

I thought Brayshaw was very good on his wing on Saturday. He had 6 intercept possessions and 5 score involvements, which indicates that he's played a strong role structurally. Langdon had 5 SI and 5 Int, so the impact was similar from a structural point of view. If Brayshaw can continue to hold his position on the field and do his job defensively then he'll keep helping us win. He's a much stronger ball winner than most wings and his overhead marking will allow him to keep drifting forward to impact the scoreboard too. Having two winning wings was one of the reasons why we won the structural battle and never really looked threatened.

I still think a list management trick was missed and there’s a danger of Dom Tyson-ing Brayshaw as I don’t think wing suits his best qualities and could end up destroying any trade value and also Brayshaw’s engagement. Taking emotion out of it, I thought one of Viney or Brayshaw should’ve gone at the end of last year as we have one too many frontline quality inside midfielders. Yes there is injury history with Viney and Brayshaw, but with Sparrow and Jordon waiting in the wings surely there was enough depth to let the surplus player that could get good value in return and try to use that value to fill a more immediate need.

His best position is inside, and while I love Viney’s attack I think Gus does it cleaner. I can’t work out why we wouldn’t throw him in there for periods against Freo when we were getting smashed in clearances.

I am a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy. I find that it has helped me a lot over the years being a Demon supporter. I have seen so much ‘potential’ in our younger players turn into false dawns; I have seen so many potential champions had their time at the Dees ruined by injury that I even ask myself how I can maintain my rose-coloured outlook. The answer is simple….. The alternative offers despair, depression and madness. Which brings me firstly to the reactions of some supporters to the win last week against Freo. We win a Round 1 encounter for the first time in years and it is almost as if the ‘Half Empties’ are offended that we won. Amazing! We have 4 premiership points in the bank, a win on the board and are better placed that half of the competition. It makes me dizzy to think of what the future holds. And so, to the Round 2 encounter with St. Kilda Saturday night at Marvel Stadium. Is it just me or do others look at the fixtures when they come out and think the Saints fixture is pencilled in as a win? For some reason I just do not take them seriously. Yeah, they have had some excellent players and some reasonable teams, but St. Kilda????? Nah. The facts: We are coming off a rusty win with an extra day of recovery while the Saints had a close slog in the wet interstate. Advantage us. We were not very good. Advantage them. The Saints last week were on the wrong side of every team stat but kicked accurately. Advantage them Problem areas of the game for us: Defence…. I know, I know … our defence last week were great. May, Lever and to a lesser extent Tomlinson and Rivers marked everything that was kicked into their space and Jetta won his game as a small defender. For me those strengths last week may be our weakness this week. The Saints forwards are a big step up from what they faced last week and if they compete in the air against our tall defenders and bring the ball to ground, we may find a fleet of small Saints forwards ready to make hay. Jetta, Rivers, Hunt and Salem do not inspire confidence to be able to defend in close and personal against an experienced small forward crew. Saints had 4 multi pule goal scorers last week with Membury kicking three. This is my biggest concern in the game. The midfield will need to sort out the problems of last week with their cohesion with Max and each other. I am not asking for perfect, just an improvement. If they can exert proper pressure in the midfield and get some ascendancy, then that will greatly help defence. I also want to see them shut down any run through the corridor. Time and time again last week Freo ran down the corridor seemingly unopposed. We need to ensure that out transition from attack to defence in the midfield is much sharper. I think our midfield man for man are better than the Saints but we need them to work together and for each other more. Now let us turn our attention to our forwards. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. The bad; it was not that many goals. The ugly; the bad kicking for goal. 1-6 in the last quarter. We have to forget about who is not there and look at what we do have available. TMac looks to have better form that he has shown in the last couple of years. Fristch is doing his thing which is presenting and kicking a couple. Max, Jackson and Petracca rotate through there at different times with varying effect. Spargo and Kossie are performing, running, tackling and snagging the odd goal. All you can ask really. I think for this game we need one more really good defensive forward to help lock it in. Not sure that Jones or Melksham are the answer to that question. Jones is a half a pace too slow, and I cannot remember the last time Melksham made a tackle that stuck. So, after all this insightful analysis and deep thought, who is going to win and why? My rose coloured glass is half full at least so the Dees will win a hard fought encounter by our mids stepping up from last week, our forward expressing their confidence built up from last week and by outrunning the Saints in the last. Dees by 4 goals, 2-0 and 8 premiership points in the bank come late Saturday night and a pleasant Sunday.

If Jamie Elliot wasn’t so unfortunate with injuries he’d be talked about as one of the best small forwards. Great hands and reliable kick for goal. Hopefully the injury not too serious. He deserves some luck.

No Oscar no Carlton.

Be positive - one of those clubs will finish the game deeply miserable, while the other will be given false hope and fail to address their deficiencies. Personally, I think Carlton do false hope and failure to address deficiencies much more enthusiastically than Collingwood. Plus, Collingwood are back on their long slow slide while Carlton really could be a menace in finals over the next few years... if... they stay humble enough to work on their problems instead of getting to finals and then sacking their coach because some other 'star' coach insisted he could take the (actually quite deficient) list to a premiership. So; misery for Collingwood and complacency for Carlton is definitely the best result.

I agree with all those posters stating that Brayshaw should be played in the midfield. Unfortunately his development and effectiveness has been hindered by injury, both concussion and foot. You also get the feeling that these injuries will remain a hindrance to his game. I thought he was serviceable on Sat. However, he plays like someone who is not sure where he should be, in other words, uncertain of his role. At times, this appears on the field as a player not fully committed to the contest. Just my take. I fear that unless he plays in the midfield, his game will suffer and his effectiveness will decline. He may remain serviceable but he will not be the star that we hoped for. I like him but I would like to watch the player he could be.

Great post. To me, it seems we're a season or two behind making the right list management calls both to keep up with the changing game and to compliment and add to our strengths. The fact that we've seen more meaningful change at a coaching and FD level, with little return in onfield performance since our exciting 2018 finals is concerning to say the least. And now, everyone is questioning Goodwin's worth. Including players. Players like Oliver, who if decides to leave, will be catastrophic from a Melbourne branding pov. Roos must be rolling his eyes at some of the list management and positional change decisions Goodwin is making. Angus Brayshaw is an inside midfielder who came third in a [censored] brownlow after a year of playing there. What the hell is going on? As far as I'm concerned, Brayshaw, Viney and Oliver should be our starting mids with Trac and Kosi starting forward and rolling through the middle. The wing position is more important than ever this year with the new man on the mark rule. Langdon has been huge for us and I simply can't understand why we haven't brought another one in or at the very least given Oscar Baker the chance to make it his own. Baker was no worse than Harmes or Jones in the practice game against the dogs and I actually thought he was really good against Richmond. What have we got to lose? Gus simply has to be playing in the guts. He is being absolutely wasted on a wing. Unbelievable.

I haven’t followed all of round 1, but does anyone have info on how many injury subs were used, and if any of those subbed out appear to have had “miracle recoveries” in time for round 2? If anyone subbed out plays this week the rule is a farce. Further than 12 days, if this is to be taken as a serious injury issue then the ruling should be a subbed out player is ineligible for the club’s next game.

If we are relying on making the finals by beating the weaker teams, some of them twice and maybe pinching the odd game against a potential top eight side we might as well shut up shop now. The next four rounds being Saints, GWS, Geelong and Hawthorn are all very winnable games, we could be going into Anzac eve 5 & 0. From memory we gave Brisbane a good run for two and a half quarters last year, can’t remember what happened against the dogs.

We’ll win 16 games, possibly 18 Wins Freo GWS Geelong Hawks North Swans Carlton Adelaide Collingwood Essendon Giants Port Hawks GC West Coast Adelaide Geelong I’ve listed 17 and I reckon we’ll roll the Doggies once We’ll finish third and go on to win the Premiership

If he was playing in the middle we would all see that he is better than Andrew.

Gonna turn on ABC now to hear how salty Maclure is

i actually think it's their mids that is the biggest issue - they don't defend

Again just complete overkill by the dictators running this state.

Yes, I can see that it's a problem for you when the facts don't suit your narrative ... Since Goodwin took over we brought in: 2016: Lewis, Hibberd 2017: Lever 2018: May 2019: Langdon, Tomlinson 2020: B.Brown In the meantime we drafted Jackson and Pickett. You were on about not picking up Tom Phillips - but at 4 x $600k maybe we prioritised Brown and re-signing Oliver and Petracca over him? Where I see a doughnut, you see the hole, that's the difference between us. Anyway there's one thing we agree on - we have to play and win finals this year.

We should only pick veterans as the sub , cant afford to have kids wasting away and not playing at all. They missed all of last season already.

May Carlton & Collingwood inflict vicious injuries upon each other That is all that counts. The result is evil and disgusting whichever way it falls

Because he was a fringe player at Richmond, and like 17 other clubs we didn't have that amazing crystal ball you seem to have at your disposal.

A fascinating round for 3 of last year's finalists and who will make it this year.. Pies, Cats and LIons are 0-1. Cats play Lions this week so one of them will go 0-2.. Pies play Carlton and if they lose they will also go 0-2. If Carlton loose and go 0-2 it snuffs out their chances of finals. In the last 10 years 58 teams have started 0-2 but only 5 have gone on to play finals. And in the history of the game only 2 poor starters (0-2) have subsequently won a premiership. So two of Pies, Cats, Lions and Blues will each have less than 10% chance of making finals. Even if Pies win and go 1-1, imv they have little chance of making finals. On my reckoning that is two final 8 spots for the taking! Now, let's beat the Saints, Dees.

The true reason for Saturday's low attendance has been revealed! Come on, fess up now. Which one of you is behind this?

Google doesn't have access to your imagination.

Clayton Oliver has been genuinely questioning his future. I've heard it personally from connections and it was well documented over the off-season. Keep living under a rock if you don't believe it. We've had our talent influx, they've developed, we're meant to be competing for top 4. We were sold this by Roos, we were literally given a clean slate and all the foundation in the world on a silver platter. This is completely on Goodwin now and post season 2018, he hasn't convinced any of us. If young players who are hitting their prime are sold something from a coach which isn't working, naturally they'll question where they want to be moving forward. And given the magnitude of our drop off from 2018-19, it is as much to do with Goodwin's program as our injury crisis. I don't think enough of the happy-go-luckies understand what exactly is riding on this season. Unfortunately it ain't just a win/loss season anymore. It will be more than a loss on the ladder column if this season is a failure. We will begin to see stars wanting to go elsewhere.

One on One against a little boy in Bobby Hill on a good track at the G is a far different proposition to chasing Butler, Gresham or Higgins around a lightning fast track at Docklands. Would love to see the Club have the courage to select “horses for courses” and bring in some real leg speed for Docklands. Out = Harmes, Jones & Jetta

Was mentioned on Saturday that he has challenged the coaches constantly causing a level of discomfort that is seen as a massive positive within the footy dept. After the rumours of the assistant coaches acting as a bunch of ‘yes men’ to Goodwin in the bubble, this is an excellent development for the head coach and players alike.

I would prefer if the subbed out player is made to sit out of the game for 12 days irrespective of the injury. There has be a price to be paid for using the concussion sub rule for other purposes.

What do we reckon 13 wins for finals? Good to have one knocked off and 12 to go if that is the case. Looking at our draw - and the performance of Adelaide last weekend doesn't fill with me a high amount of confidence about banking those two wins. So that leaves me with the following split at this very early stage: Probables North in Tas - Round 7 Essendon - MCG - Round 15 GC - Metricon - Round 19 Possibles St Kilda Round 2 Hawks Round 5 GWS - ACT - Round 3 Swans MCG - Round 8 Adelaide - SA - Round 10 Collingwood - Round 13 Giants - Round 16 Hawks - Round 18 Adelaide - Round 22 Unlikely Richmond Round 6 Geelong - Round 4 Carlton - MCG - Round 9 Doggies - Round 11 Brisbane - Round 12 Port Adelaide - Round 17 Doggies - Round 20 West Coast - Round 21 Geelong - Round 23 Based on the above, i've applied a 50% win rate to the Possibles, and a 25% win rate for the Unlikely section. This leaves our potential win count at: 3 probables, 4 possibles (rounding down), and 2 unlikely wins (again round down). That leaves us with 9 wins - or typically around 10th in a 23 round season. I've highlighted in ORANGE the possibles I think are most likely to be the 4 wins, and then in RED the possibles which shape as big swing games (ie getting our win rate above the 50% and potentially into the 8). Notably this week's St Kilda game shapes as one of those in my opinion. I've also highlighted in PURPLE in the probables the game I think is the biggest banana skin for the club thats the North Melbourne game in Tasmania. In the Unlikely Section - i've highlighted in ORANGE the two games I think we could get unlikely wins in - and in RED again a game we might be able to win to get us into the 8. You'll see I quite like the look of the NT fixture with Brisbane - and we have had Carlton's measure last few years - but gee they looked better than us against a much better opposition. I think we could steal one of the Geelong fixtures - probably not the GMHBA fixture in round 23, because, well we know how this team performs under finals pressure at the end of the season. Round 4 with Danger still out looms as a big game for the MFC. So, long story short, I don't think we've got the wins to get there this year. But, if we can beat Geelong in Rd 4, and St Kilda next round, we may give ourselves a fighting chance.

I believe the AFL has said that if Franklin follows his "natual arch" it will be called "play on". What I haven't seen is the media picking up this point which is clearly an admission from the AFL that it was a mistake to allow Franklin his "natural arch" in the first place.

Exactly the problem with this “quick fix”: it requires umpires to act instantly (and impartially). We got lucky this time but in a crucial very close game this will decide games, one way or the other.

Oath, the only way this way this team progresses to finals is by having a solid block somewhere throughout the year of winning several games in a row. If we can't do that, Goodwin has failed in my view. We are in that prime age spot with most of our top tier talent. As Bombay says, we should be giving absolutely everything to this first month so we can gather some momentum. If we're fair dinkum we're either 4-1 or 5-0 by round five. All of those games are winnable. And we should be putting everything into them.

Hammer them Mark, bloody hammer that message home each and every single day you are a Dees man. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/03/23/how-choco-williams-is-demanding-perfection-at-melbourne/

I’m backing Gus in. Got the skill and talent to play a role. Mid. Outside. Half forward. Not on the trade table imv.

I thought he played very well, used it well and put on some big tackles. I think in the end he had 2-3 holding the ball decisions. In listening to the Gus and Gawny podcast it seems the wing will be his position this year. It seems he is excited about the opportunity to partner Langdon which may have the missing ingredient previously.

Yes until it’s Petracca subbed out of a prelim but fit and good to go for a GF