Leaderboard

And my son didn't give me nearly enough praise for this pearler from me when the commentator said "Kossie is playing his own brand of football out there today" I turned to him and said "he's playing Kossie Rules Football" I'm still pretty proud of myself for that one....

Guys take it to the Maths Forum

Not pretty! But we did the job as a good team does. Emerging superstars - Kozzi and LJ !!

Unbelievably negative comments per se. Came off an incredible win against the Tigers, played on a ground some have never seen. A hard fought win, great second half, top of the ladder, yet so much negativity. Really don’t know how supporters can be so critical. Feel happy and positive , please.

OUT: Melksham As said the last few changes threads

If Kozzie and Jackson played in the snow they wouldn’t leave any footprints. Such balance and silk.

You would not be able to get a kite airborne in Hobart at the moment. Hopefully it stays that way.

Super excited to watch the Dees today! As a Taswegian, it's my first live game since R23 2019. The BB fairytale - playing first game in home state - just makes it all that much sweeter!

I think our devious plan all along was to play North into form so they can beat the pies next week. I hope we succeeded.

Norf can play against Brown better than anyone. He would have trained on their defenders for 10 pre seasons. It’s little wonder May smashed Lynch last week. But Brown was always going to take time to get into the swing of things and for us to work out a structure around him. It’s exactly why we didn’t bring him in last week against Richmond. Our delivery inside 50 in the first half was not helping him, and he looked shaky on the lead. He hasn’t played senior footy in almost a year. This was always going to be a slow start. I don’t think we should judge him on today.

Well, we were looking for a percentage boosting win, and we go it. North went from 45.9 to 49.2

I don't normally quote myself -but when I do, I do it with smugness... ....and relief.

Interesting footage of his run up. Still think it’s too long

All things considered, I’ll take it. Can we never play there again please. I’ve never seen so many hack miskicks hit a target, I was convinced luck was against us. Heartbroken for Tomlinson. Leave Tomald back there. Kozzie and Fritsch kept us in it. Couple of cool customers. Jackson outstanding. Gawn possibly drunk. That’s about all I got out of it. Regroup, structure up, move on. Tomlinson ?

“Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.“ Sun Tzu - The Art of War

The main thing keeping my MFCSS settled a bit is how terrible North are. They haven’t had a sustained 4 quarter effort yet and their morale would be in the toilet. Even if we’re off today, I still can’t see them beating us. I hope. Anyway, sitting out in the sun enjoying my morning coffee. It’s already got a hint of warmth, and there’s not a cloud in the sky nor the slightest breath of wind. Weather is going to be perfect. Can’t wait to head over the river in a couple of hours!

I think we really missed Viney, especially in the first half. He would’ve made Cunnington much more accountable. I hope the toe is not a long term problem

Horrible first half But kicked 10 goals to 2 in the second And we’re still undefeated and atop the ladder Let’s do better next week Dee’s

Has a 2nd year ruck EVER done this?

Gutsy win. Norf threw everything at us early. Just an aside what a player Cunnington is. What Jackson and Kozzie did in the third was amazing. Jackson was much more effective than Max. Fritta is all class. Watch the media string him up for his fend. Langdon is some sort of player. Consistently consistent. TMac back worked well in second half. We missed Viney especially in first half.

I will take credit for this win. Wore a different MFC polo shirt today, thought I might mix it up a little. Changed back to my lucky MFC polo at half time and veiola!! You are welcome. ?

My 9 year old daughter’s birthday and she’s got 3 friends sleeping over. Told the parents to pick their kids up no later than 11am tomorrow morning (Perf time) or you’ll find them waiting outside in the street. ??

I actually think losing Viney will hurt us more than Tommo. Our clearance work is super dependent on Viney playing as a defensive mid and today we took a long time to adjust without him. Jackson winning his own ball sure helped. He is a gun. Kosi is spectacular but Jacko is just insane to be doing what he’s doing at his age and his height.

Sitting in the stand today, you could tell in the first couple of minutes that we were off. Unsure around the ball and not running hard enough to cut off their outlet kicks.. We were lucky to only be 4 goals down at half time. The extra handball we kept giving was poor, and mixing it up in the midfield didn't stop us getting flogged in the middle. After half time, our running improved and our skills improved. North did drop off though, and we can't play like that against top 8 teams.. Kozzie live is amazing, and Fritta with his tail up is almost as good. I never watch us live on TV, and today wasn't enjoyable up until the last 5 minutes when I was confident we weren't going to throw it away.. nice to win at Bellerive, sick of losing there by under a kick..

AnB probably has a pretty big vault of bad games, but that was one of his worst in a long time.

Long time no post. Great win - kept running when they ran out of gas. Quality sides do this and we're now a quality side!

Good sides find a way. The gulf was evident in the end. Shout out to Dr D for telling me I was “the problem” for predicting at halftime that we would still win given North have a history of dropping away in the second half. Which is exactly what happened. Keep up the stellar work Doc. Today was a celebration of Dogga and Kozzie. What a draft that has already turned out to be. Both are stars rapidly on the rise and today we needed them to be. Especially with Gawn having a rare down day. Fritta probably best on. Hopefully doesn’t miss too many weeks. Clarry lifted when really needed. I’m choosing to focus on the positive aspects in that we were challenged and ended up winning by 5 goals. Onwards and upwards.

Yeah, it was ugly... very ugly. Winning ugly is one of the things we needed to learn to do, and this is certainly a start. 7-zip is beyond most 'Landers wildest dreams before the season started. That alone is a huge positive from todays result. Lets just enjoy the view from the top for as long as we can. Thoughts are with Thommo.

I think we will win but the game will be a different type of challenge as Paul Roos is their coach's mentor and may well be sitting in their coaches box today. He knows the weaknesses of our best players and will know how to exploit them and/or neutralise their strengths. So we need to be alert to any left field tactics they might bring. A bit more nervous about this game than the ladder suggests. As an aside, loved seeing Roos seek out Jetta on the field after the VFL game the other evening. Jetta's revival under Roos is one of our best and endearing success stories.

I’ve learnt a few things today 1. Never get ahead of yourself when it comes to the Dees 2. Never underestimate North in Hobart 3. How percentage works Over and out

Fine. I knew my post would draw a response and I am happy not to agree on everything. But while we’re at it, there is a lot of bias on this forum that is not backed up by facts. People don’t like Melksham and actively look for things he does wrong or doesn’t do at all. So, some facts from today’s game: Spargo 10 disposals, 2 tackles and 7 pressure acts. Jones 14 disposals, 2 tackles, 11 pressure acts. Melksham 17 disposals, 3 tackles and 18 pressure acts.

So far this season we’ve had a charmed run with injury / charmed run that our injured players haven’t impacted our performance. Today feels like we are no longer charmed, and on level pegging with the rest of the comp on the injury front. It’s amazing how quickly things can change and I’m actually really happy that we managed to show some ticker and get over the line in the second half. That would not have happened in seasons past. This is a reality check and in a way, a fantastic reminder to the group that there isn’t a team in the comp that we can relax against. Thankfully we have Petty to come in, or Tmac to go back and Weid to play forward. Our depth is now being tested with Viney out as well. The Richmond game felt like we had arrived, today’s game feels like despite being 7-0, we have plenty of work to do. AFL is as much a mental battle as it is physical, and we will undoubtedly have bad days and losses, when we least expect them. Right now though, a third of the way through the season, being on top of the ladder is an amazing effort. Start again next week and back in our system. Go Dees!

Can’t believe the calls for brown to be dropped, zero chance that happens was his 1st game fir a new club will take him a few games to gel with his teammates

So long as we are on the “right side” of MCG finals it doesn’t matter. If finishing 4th means we end up playing Port in Adelaide, then I rather finish 1st.

Ben Brown's thoughts on his debut (watch for a little cameo from Christian Petracca at the end there):

Tyson - Was rarely sighted ;)

Gawny, in the first quarter, copped three free haymakers from behind from North, each on the right temple of his head. Two in a pack mark where one North player went for the ball, the other behind Gawn not going for the ball at all - just to provide a fist to the head to interfere with that play (Gawn about to outmark the bloke in front) and to initiate or establish a 'weakened' Gawn game for the rest of the match. Another two were also delivered to ensure Gawn was kept quiet by non-footballing means in that same quarter; one on the ground scramble with the umpire well behind / out of vision and another, in a recovery from a Gawn/Goldstein ruck duel. Again, by these blows were deliberate, appeared planned and delivered by a non-participant in the contest coming in from the side. It almost seems as if the umpires require some prescription spectacles when it comes to Max Gawn. It also seems to be a coaching directive, in more ways than one, from more and more clubs that we play. All OK, obviously, say the snot goblins with the power of the whistle and the ineptitude of the incorrect decision. How, and when, are the umpires/AFL going to reduce this blight on the game. Mongrel is about winning the footy by using footy protocols and maintaining such an effort. It is not about surreptitious attempts to maim.

Blessed are they that grind out a five goal win, for they shall inherit the 4 points. Go Dees!

Jones added composure while his teammates floundered. He should never have been dropped this week and shouldn’t be dropped next week.

Just setting off on the ferry. 10 dees to every norf supporter. Hope that is a good omen

'Every successful summit is built on three foundation stones - hard work, preparation and planning. But there is a fourth, more elusive element - good luck. And it is an element, that unlike its evil twin bad luck, will only appear with the three foundation stones in place' Old Tibetan saying as told to and translated by Sir Edmund Hilary. We have the foundation stones in place. And we are having some good luck - eg opponents having injuries and suspension and/or having tough games before us, us having a good run with injuries jones' 300 falling on Anzac eve Tgis week we have another little bit of luck. It would be easy and perhaps understandable for the players intensity to drop a bit this week. But there is a rare prize for a win - the top of the ladder after seven rounds (By the by i made that quote up)

Incredible that some Demonlanders would have been un-concerned if Clayton was traded out. He has developed beyond our wildest dreams since hitting the ground running in his first season. I doubt i will see another inside mid this good in the Red and Blue in my lifetime. The way he feeds the ball to others is just.... wow. Love this kid.

There were two main changes that got us back into it in the second half: 1 - a clear lift in pressure and intensity 2 - the move of TMac back to defence which allowed our usual defensive shape to get setup in Tomlinson’s absence It wasn’t great, but we move on and use it as a reminder that you have to be on your game pressure wise or you will pay, regardless of the opponent. Also to the supporters writing off the doggies because of a bad half against the reigning premiers. Today shows no team should be judged on their worst half. No team is perfect.

Fritta is our best forward for sure. What an effort. Six goals. You star.