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One of the “symptoms” of how we’re travelling is that we have the best full back in the league and we’re barely talking about it. I’d say Steven May is in even better form than last year. He’s just an absolute monster. Obviously he’s fast, strong and tough, but he’s also smart and skilled. For the number of contests he gets in, he hardly ever gives away a free kick. I’m seriously in awe.

Without getting off topic if Max received the same protection as the St. Kilda forwards yesterday he would have had about 5 extra free kicks.

Hard to hate the perf sides now, after the way they embraced us for the Grand Final. Actually, I lied. [censored] the eagles. Lets keep the bastards goalless all day.

Good point Dazzle. Great to see his role being recognised for what it is - defence first, not the run & carry of his early years. In Goodwin's post-match presser he confirmed that Hunt had been trained for the small forward defence. I'd never have thought he'd be a likely candidate but he's taken on Nev's old job & he's making a fine fist of it to date.

Can see Goody getting a hard tag too on the bench soon.

Disagree. Jackson into No. 1 ruck spot, Weid into the forward/ruck position. Jackson to ruck 80%

Scroll down on this page as there is a short interview video with Max. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl He says he woke up feeling fine this morning. General issues not PCL. He will be pushing to get ok to play WCE this week. A relief to hear all that even if he doesn't go to Perth.

How tough is Sparrow! Does plenty of the unsung inside work. He is what we had hoped Tapscott to be

Side note I was at the game and really felt like the saints made him earn it. He's often sat on/collapsed on after coming to ground post marking contest but I noticed it happening a little more often yesterday and a few of them you could see him looking slow and sore to get up. Would like to see a bit more protection for him in marking contests. A lot of the time because of his size he is often the only one to go up against two opponents with everyone else staying down. He will either mark or half the contest giving us a spare for crumbing, a strategy thats worked incredibly well and a credit to Max. However I would like to see more players attempting to bump his man or opposition off their line/run towards contested marking contests. I feel he could be supported better with that unnecessary extra physicality in the air at times, especially early on this season. At 30 yrs old now the way he plays, the physical toll will become more evident and recovery will be harder.

Only seen the stats sheet that James Harmes kicked two goals today and was listed amoung the best players again. Continues his trend of solid, consistent good form this season. Really glad this bloke has been able to lift himself back to playing his best footy again and cement himself a position in the team at the moment, when he looked to be a bit on the margins a few years ago. Melbourne supporter who has had to battle work really hard to get where he is. Well done Harmsy, champion Demon through and through.

If I were a dockers fan, there's no way I'd miss this - a chance to see the benchmark in the flesh and a chance to see my most hated arch-rivals get torn limb from limb.

Thanks

Thought it was his best negating game for the year. Closed the space down for Higgins and their other smaller forwards instantly. They were never able to get clean looks at goal and Hunty was a big part of that.

We play to defend leads, not to put our feet down and win by 80. In the last we knew they would come, that they would take more risks and try to attack the corridor. Our set up was all about negating that and taking the heat out of the game. We have been doing it for a while. I suspect it will come back to bite us one day but I can see why they are doing it

I just watched the replay and aside from the fact we are a very good side I love seeing Jack Viney play footy these days. He’s very comfortable with his role, and he seems genuinely happy and relaxed on field. It’s so great to see after what he’s been through.

Certainly not worth taking the risk to Perth the Weid can come in to give Jacko a hand in the ruck

I thought we were outstanding in the first half. The pressure was off the charts, little drop off in the second but we had our structure so dialed in that it really didn’t matter what the Saints were doing. And to be fair the Saints were doing everything they could, they had high pressure themselves and found some fortune with taking the game on more and using Hill off half back but in the end they were just not able to put it in the right place to get decent looks at goal, not enough anyway. This team has now played a quality opposition and brushed them aside. Highly touted weapons this year Max King and Jack Higgins had 3 goals between them with two of those being pretty bloopy decisions, they didn’t really get near it. This is the thing about this Melbourne side, we will take your best weapons away from you and make you beat us with your worst weapons. Not to mention running, spreading, all round pressure. We just do it that little bit better. I personally thought Gus was BOG. His workrate to get to every single contest was on display as he took 13 marks with so much courage. Quite often these were on St Kilda counter attacks that could have helped them back into the game. Ed Langdon take a bow son, not only did he get the leather poisoning with his 39 possesions but every time it was his turn to go, he went. Put his body on the line for the team and was sensational. I do wonder if Brett Ratten was emailed the answers to the exam but actually filed the email in the trash after we saw what Hawthorn did last week by tagging Langdon and forcing him back inwards. Ed was allowed to patrol down the wing freely with no-one checking his runs, he was often involved in plays that started at defensive 50 and then he’d pushed up to forward 50 unmarked. Clarry was consistent again, great contested game across 4 quarters. Trac put in another great shift and probably should have had a goal. Viney and Sparrow chipped in to make this a very good all round midfield effort. When you see Kozzie Pickett start a game the way he did yesterday, you know he’s going to be pretty hard to stop for the rest of the game. He’s the kind of player you just can’t afford to give any space to, even that extra inch is too much. All good goals from him, onya Kozzie! How about Charlie Spargo? He’s really the AFL version of ‘Rudy’. You can just see him at junior footy level constantly hearing “You’re too short, you’re too short” but his work rate is higher than the best kid in the team. He never gives up on a contest, even when he’s outnumbered he knows if he can just lay a tackle good enough to slow them down or force a scruffy kick he’s done his job. Thought Harry Petty played a good game, couple of errors here and there but I thought he had his eye in and really pressed the contest. He’s only going to get better. Steven May, well let’s just say Max King might as well have been standing next to a bulldozer. King wanted the Saints mids to kick it on top of his head and his this character leaning on him all game not allowing him to get a clean jump at it. King’s biggest strength was taken away from him. Across the board it was a huge team effort. Benny Brown and T-mac providing the targets up front, I don’t know what this means for Weid in the next few weeks now as it would have been good to see him get his confidence up against some battling teams. I do think Clarry puts a little mayonnaise on things too often. The Jones tunnelling incident was ordinary but I don't think Clarry needed to go down like that, come in and fly the flag for sure but you're too good to be doing that stuff. Great win Dees, hope all the mums had a great mothers day! Off to the west on Sun and hopefully lightening isn’t on the forecast this time!

How Robbo has managed to reach the levels he has in the AFL media is one of life's great mysteries.

He is that far ahead of all other defenders this year it’s a joke he isn’t being spoken about more. It is truly a pleasure to watch this man play live. My favourite thing about watching him live is his leadership. He often calls the backs together for a chat after we concede a goal and calmly (well not really, it is May after all) talks them through positioning. Has held up the backline superbly with the continuous disruptions down there due to injuries and Covid. Just a gun. Second best thing about yesterday, win aside, was Trac coming to the bench in the second quarter, massive smile on his face, woo-hooing. It’s so nice to see how happy our team is. They worked so hard to be in a position to enjoy their footy and it’s only making them better.

I vote we belt all four!

Great observation! I think his greatest issue of the past was trying to do much, but that’s Jack. Champion player. His playing within his means and does more with less.

Kind of crazy to watch First Crack and look at Kingy's "Top 5". Four of the top five players in the league at the moment according to him play for us: Trac, Clarry, Gawn and May. Cripps is deservedly at 1. Before you say "It's just Kingy!"- Ross Lyon rattled off the exact same names in the exact same discussion last Sunday on Triple M. Unprecedented times we are living in. Make the most of them.

Mate I’ve had a couple of cones tonight and even that didn’t make this thought enter my head. What you got bro?

Perfect time to rest him and hope it does the trick

Harmes also super reliable winning ball tackling and kicking goals Ihave never seen him run so much contest to contest Brilliant game

I have a theory that Melbourne nearly prefer opposition to have the ball. Obviously that's ridiculous but they are so comfortable in their roles without the ball that's it's like the default. The attacking is far less structured. I'm not sure how you beat a team that is most comfortable without the ball 🤷🏽‍♂️

LMFAO!! Wow, Robbos football knowledge knows no depths. So only one attacking mid at any stoppage, with Viney, Sparrow and Harmes for company. Only one attacking wing and you’re playing the best Defense in the comp. Yeah, Melbourne would be really scared, not to mention our ruck’s ability to get clearance themselves, and Trac and Clarry’s ability to break tackles and get the ball out from contested situations to our advantage. I hope a team tries this.

A simple answer is the relationship of the person to the experience and the trauma that has occurred. I think as a society, we need to move beyond having a time frame on 'dealing' with things. Recently, it took me 35 years to start to acknowledge my own trauma, that I am currently processing. And I'm a pretty well adjusted person that functions mostly well in society.

Going on Goody's presser, your eye test got a big tick of approval. Goody made a point of noting our forward pressure was better, implying it wasn't where it needed to be. On a related note, I am loving Goody's post match pressers this season He is really honest, happy to be himself and often gives real insight into tactical and other related elements of our game.

So Assume or don't assume?

Well that was a fun game to watch. So much to like and once we flexed our muscles in the 2nd quarter we just never looked like losing. Some individuals performance. McDonald: Congratulations on your 200th Tmac.. you've gone through the absolute pits of hell to now a premiership player. Today he played a fantastic game and stamped himself into the team for the next month at least. Hunt: Time to start recognising this bloke on what a wonderful negating player he is. Completely shut down Shai Bolton few weeks back and then destroyed Jack Higgins today who's been in rare form. Important cog to our backline. Sparrow: An absolute brute who has genuine power to accelerate from stoppages but also tackle with such intent. All the hype is Petracca, Oliver and Gawn as the 3 that opposition will put time into but soon enough opposition clubs will be paying extra attention to Sparrow. Loving his development. Pickett: Little master. His left foot snap deep in the pocket was elite. May and Petty: Stopped everything that came their way. Petty particular gave away some questionable free kicks but he's seriously becoming a serious defender of the competition. His intercept marking and poise with the ball is impressive. Just needs good continuity now. Langdon: 2022 All Australian wingman. Enough said. Glad we smoked St Kilda. Cannot stand them one bit and I put them right next to the Western Bulldogs as little irrelevant clubs that are all huff and puff but are mentally soft when the heat gets turned up. Always trying to talk up a big game but they just fail year after year.

We’ll win both by 30 points and then demonlanders will complain that we didn’t play well because we didn’t beat them by 900 points.

Slim pickings this week: Bigfooty: Little hope, less enthusiasm Daunting proposition this game. If ever a mercy rule should be allowed it's this game. Very strong possibility we have our biggest loss of the year and kick our lowest score. Which is scary given we've had a 109 point loss to Richmond and scored only 30pts against the Lions. Still somewhat hopeful that we play a young & enthusiastic group who put the effort in, so we can look past the final score. Any chance we can kick more than 4 goals this week ?? …against Brisbane in the wet wasn't a record breaking lost but this week could be. Melbourne look scary good with fast run and carry. The opposite to what we have. Slow stop start style with no one to run with any sort of pace except Ryan and Jones. This will be very ugly. Dee's have around 10+ players that are very fast. Nothing we can do when we have Cripps Foley Gaff Darling Barrass and co chasing them all day. Any chance for some rain again to save us. If not I'm seeing 150+ margin Love how we are working hard to avoid any close losses in order to minimise the risk of being called out for tanking. We are going to be walloped… Gawn might be out so that's a positive We're still a chance! My favourite: There isn't one, all fairly unimaginative. Their Eagles fan forum hasn't started a thread yet. Will add to this when they do.

Felt like Brayshaw was our best watching at the game. His courage to go back with the flight or put is head over the ball is next level. I’d really like to see him stay back even after Salem comes back

Would love to keep them scoreless/goalless like they did us in our 2018 prelim till 3qt Tis the season of revenge

Daw was brought to the club as insurance if Max went down. From what I've seen, Daw has dominated at Casey, so if fit, deserves his chance. He'd be up against WAFL standard ruckmen, and I believe he'd dominate. Daw could be spend 60% game time as no.1 ruck, and no time resting up forward. Jackson would spend 40% as a ruckman, and 30% time as 2nd ruck/forward. I hate flirting with form, and I don't think that the Brown, T. Mac, Weid forward line works, even with Weid playing backup ruckman.

One of the interviews after the GF with Petracca he was saying that when he kicked his dribbler in the 3rd the word come from the bench to ice the rest of the qtr. The mids looked at each other, decided "Fork that we're hot, let's get another one." Then blasted another 2 in 30seconds and made freakin' legends out of themselves. But your definitely right. The plan seems be to get the lead and then defend it rather than keep attacking.

Want the big man cherry ripe for September to hold the cup up again If he is to travel to Perth, at least get him a private jet fitted out with a king sized bed

Give him a few weeks to recover fully, play Majak

AFL WEBSITE - St Kilda's second half against Melbourne was the real deal “the Saints should be heartened by their effort against the reigning premiers. After trailing by nine goals to one, the Saints restricted the Dees to just five more goals for the game, while adding seven of their own.” Wow. We know we’re a top team when we beat up the opposition by 6 goals and they get all the praise.

59,681

Robbo's plan could equally be called play "man-on-man" instead of zone defence. It won't work because our 22 men, overall, will be better than any opponent's best 22.

It would just mean that other players would stand up. There is no way all 3 could be hard tagged all day. back to sleep Slobbo

Poor research and shallow thinking by commentators. Covid is a massive smoke screen for a multitude of problems of WCE's player and club own making. The very little bit of sympathy I had last week evaporated when a stack of their players went clubbing and at least one brought it back to the club. Don't care if they tank; they are in a world of pain.

Harmes in my view in the top 3 never stopped running never stopped tackling and presenting Best game i have seen from him this year Seriously underrated

Angus Brayshaw played a magnificent game against the Saints. Probably one of his best ever games for the Demons. Fingers crossed Angus Brayshaw signs up with us soon! 🤞

99.9% of D'landers thinking about the next two weeks.... Werridee...

I reckon there has to be something in our approach to our loads and how we play in the H and A. It seems we have no interest in burying teams because it’s not worth the potential injury / exhaustion for a couple of %. If we get the Ws with 4-6 goal margins the overall % takes care of itself. It allows us to switch on the nitrous oxide in the finals without cracking the head gasket.

Thought it was a brilliant move to play Gus on Hill. Gus ran around by himself for almost 4 quarters, exploited Hill's unaccountability. I think Gus at half back is working so well it may change the way Salem plays when he comes back. Or Hunt goes out and we lose a bit of pace back there. Our mob completely outclassed Ratten and co in the coaches box though. Some really bizarre coaching from St Kilda. Sure, they only brought a quarter and a half of pressure, but Hill at half back, no real moves with King to play him up the ground or into the ruck to get him involved. We didn't allow him to jump, but surely the coaching instruction needed to be don't grapple with May. Lead up to CHF. I went with a St Kilda mate who was pulling his hair out at the coaching and the St Kilda play in general. It was interesting to hear someone be so critical of their team as I am watching us live. But he was right. They were dreadful in the first half. It really was training drill type stuff for us. The lack of accountability, intensity and intent was marked. I actually thought St Kilda's first half was as bad as we were in the Neeld years. Truly insipid. Guys not chasing, us easily breaking tackles, no blocks being put on, rushed disposal under little pressure etc. Then you could see their energy in the third quarter. We were fumbly all day, but we fumbled more when their pressure came across our half back line in that third. Fortunately, they missed some very gettable shots. I suspect our set up behind the ball simply spooked St Kilda who repeatedly slammed it on the boot from the contest and the slingshot situation, to our set up behind the ball in the first half. Gresham was a major culprit. Given this it was weird to note late in the last, they'd had more intercept possessions than us. It's great leaving a game and going 'we can play so much better but we just beat someone who was in the top 4 at the start of the round by 6+ goals, and we're on top'. Incredible time to be alive.

Can you also do one on apostrophe's?