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I was told by someone who would know.

Game 50 for kozzie this weekend.

A couple of days to process this and also time to grieve for Liverpool's defeat in the Champions League Final. Let’s get back to business. Did Freo come up with the blueprint on how to beat Melbourne? I don’t believe so, they brought so much effort and work rate that they absolutely deserved this win but there were also a series of circumstances that allowed this to happen and to Justin Longmuir’s credit he pounced of them, great coaching. I watched all the shows, I knew they were going to deep dive on this game and a story like this is like xmas day for footy analysts so I wanted to see what everyone had to say and graded their performances. First crack showed Freo bringing so much pressure and double or even triple teaming Melb ball carriers at centre clearances, although the footage was very well edited and impressive I could not help but think this would be tough to replicate and surprisingly David King agreed. Petracca banged up and Oliver being sat on by Aish allowed them to do this but on another day I can see Freo or another team for that matter bringing 2 or 3 to the ball carrier and us handballing over the top to the open man. Speaking of Aish, a brilliant job he did but Oliver still ended up with 36 possessions. Nullified him for sure and played his part in the big win but on more days than not a day like that from Clarry contributes to a Melb win. I’m not trying to downplay Freo at all and what they did but I do believe sometimes when you’re down at half time in a game like that, you throw a few things into the mix that you wouldn’t usually do. I do wonder if Freo would have sacrificed in midfield had the game been level at half time. Sometimes it’s the unpredictable stuff that gets you, could Melbourne have done more to stem the bleeding? I’d have to watch again but it didn’t seem like we were prepared to match the running and defensive work rate of Freo once they got the head of steam up. Individual brilliance from their small forwards Frederick and Shultz, if you’ve got some small forwards who can kick goals like these you’re in with a show. If there is one secret sauce it is moving the ball quick against us. Injuries never an excuse but Ed Langdon’s ability to not only help with ball carrying attacks down his wing but his ability to track back almost like a sweeper when the backline pushes up. Missed it badly. Then there is May, losing him is equal to losing Virgil Van Dijk for Liverpool (apologies Soccer haters), the marshalling he does as the backline commander is underappreciated. A dozen times when there was a Freo kick to the point of the goal square you were just expecting that big fist but without him roles down back weren’t as defined. I see this more as a pivot moment for us and the rest of the comp, a sliding doors moment if you will. Everyone takes stock and the road map changes slightly or dramatically, time will tell. Freo capitalised in the best possible fashion you could, they are an excellent unit and match up well on us, can’t wait for the return match at Optus that will be a ripper. What does it mean for Melbourne? All things considered it is more likely to have a positive effect than negative. The winning streak to me was becoming a side show and frankly quite annoying. I said last week that I believed this team needed to lose as we were controlling games but also bringing a little too much Hollywood to the picture, honestly I don’t blame them. It’s hard to stay as motivated and hungry to improve when you are in this position, I’d even say it’s impossible to not get a little ahead of yourself. It also goes to show that no team is perfect and no team can run hard for 4 quarters, for 22 games a season. You do not need to be great for all of the season, you need to be great where it counts. I didn’t give a stuff about records, I care about what gives us the best chance for another shot at it all. The magnifying glass will come out this week no doubt about it and these guys know what they need to do. Losing games is a part of following this sport and I know all of you will be confident we can get this back on track.

Bigfooty Before our Freo loss We go in with absolutely ZERO expectations of a win so should be no pressure on us. Look at it this way: We lose: we get a better draft pick via our first. We win: we get a better draft pick via Melbourne’s first. Happy days. I'm low key confident we'll win this game. It'll be the first game where we put in a 4 quarter performance. As for this game, it really comes down to Melbourne. ..it is only natural they're due to drop their intensity and lose a game. It is just a matter of whether they do it this week against Freo or next week against us. They are due a stupid loss, and I would love it to be us but I reckon it would take a full four quarter effort with very few brain fades. Gonna win this by under a goal and the post game thread celebrations will be going for a while May out helps but if they drop freo they will destroy us Mommy I'm scared After our Freo Loss I had a feeling either Freo or Swans would break Melbourne's win streak, I guess Freo got there first. Is back-to-back losses too much to ask Unfortunately for us, Melbourne couldn't wait one more half of footy before putting the cue in the rack. We now face the best team in the comp with the added spice of having a point to prove. Anything within a 30 point loss will be a respectable outcome for us. Melbourne will come out absolutely firing next week to dispel what happened last night. We just gotta go with them, not saying we win , but think against the best we usually bring from full effort and fire up Sure, they'll re-group & plan for a game without May - but I do sense we're catching Melbourne at a reasonable time. I reckon Warner will be like a cat on a hot tin roof this week. Saturday night at the g, against the best team in the comp with the 2 best bulls in the game playing in his position. He would be frothing at the mouth to get out there this week... ...I guarantee he will be looking for a moment to put either tracca or clarry on their [censored] this week to really announce himself Dees loss to Freo has done us zero favours. Hard to see Petracca having another shocker. Can we just forfeit, will be a massacre. The matchup I’m really keen to see but unsure if will happen due to injury is the flying Ed Langdon v Jmac. I still think Jmac is not full speed from his knee injury but would love to see them go at it streaming down the wing of the G. Can see the former 400m runner Jmac reeling him in. Just hit them hard from the get go pressure and intent goes a long way to winning any game. Swans are 1 and 3 against the current top 8. That’s not finals calibre. July 16. Freo at Optus. The stuff of nightmares. By comparison, this week is a walk in the park. Of course Melbourne get back Salem, McDonald, Harmes and Langdon this week. You just knew this would happen. I honestly don't elevate Melbourne to these lofty heights that some have. They're a good side. No doubt. However they have their weaknesses. They were exposed and out coached against Freo on the weekend. Trac is carrying something and coming off a bad bout of the flu, I'm not too scared of him this week. After Buddy’s Appeal Announced. If he gets off it will be because he's Buddy. It's worth doing. I'm genuinely terrified of what Gawn, Oliver & Petracca will do to us if we have our usual 20-40 minutes of nap-time. We have any lapses against that trio and we can forget about any comeback as they'll put it out of reach, something that Carlton, Brisbane, Richmond etc. all failed to do. Watching it again just now on 360, not sure how we're going to argue it though when the second had a much bigger follow through so can't really be argued as the same action as the first lol. It's a different Melbourne team this week: Harmes, Langdon, Salem, McDonald, a healthierPetracca. Freo didn't have to deal with them. If you head butted me, I'd ******* punch you in the face too My favourite Buddy challenge is interesting. Wonder what the hell they can actually argue... ..that cotchin is a [censored]. LH note: The DL censor has spoilt the joke. Censored word is a translation of: Richard Cranium.

As if Goodwin or any of the players are going to say half the team was ill! They respect the opps and Freo deserved to be respected. Longmuir saw that Petracca and Petty were hampered, that May was off. He made all the right moves at half time to take advantage of them. A lesser coach may not have made the right moves. Goodwin is no Chris Scott who bleated illness after the Prelim. While true, we annihilated them and he came across as a sour grapes, sore loser. Not sure he gave us any credit in the post game press conf either. We deserved more respect. I'm pleased the club has kept the illness close.

Postponed till tomorrow , swans still looking for the deep fake video

So what is his use on the list now? because it is not as a Key Forward, and that was why he was drafted

You'd keep him until either he no longer has a use on the list, he requests a trade for more opportunity or a better option is available. IMO he's never going to be a gun forward, he's never going to 'break out' and will never live up to his initial draft order, so people are just going to continue to get over the top frustrated about him until they realize that.

I agree, and said as much last night on the podcast. I was really surprised goody didn't seem to try and respond to their midfield dominance in the second half of the third q or in the last, for example by as you say at least one extra to stoppages. It felt really similar to the round 17 game against the dogs. They also had two extras at stoppages and smashed us. And goody never brought am extra up, which he had done earlier in tbe season against I think the swans. I'm sure he didn't because he was keeping his tactical powder dry that day, confident that when whips started cracking come finals trac, viney and Oliver would cover the extra. It felt thst a way a bit on Saturday. That feeling was reinforced by how much ruck tome Jackson, who was struggling (training loads? He struggled at exactly the same point last year) was given in the last quarter. Not saying goody played possum, but my gut feel is once they got their lead he was happy to leave the players to their own devices and try and dig themselves out of tbe hole they were in. (Weed back was as much about how ineffectual he was up forward as it was to try and stop their aeriel dominance I reckon).

Both great marks! It seems the loss has caused us to gloss over these achievements. moty-demon-duo-nominated-for-high-flying-efforts Vote for our guys: https://www.afl.com.au/mark-of-the-year The other contender this week is Goldstein. One of Sam's best contested marks. Loved seeing Charlie flying high. Well done guys.

Most of the team was unwell on Saturday night. Explains why they were run over in the 2nd half.

Having prepared the 'What they are saying...' threads for a few months, I'm surprised how decent opp fans have been. There has been the odd but rare nasty poster, which I don't bother including. The most common sentiments are: respect, fear, awe. This probably wasn't always the case. tbh there are more nasty posts on DL toward our opps and their fans in the pre and post game related threads. Shall see myself out...

Luke Jackson 21 v 22 12.8 Disposals 14.8 3.0 Marks 3.4 2.0 Tackles 2.8 10.6 Hitouts 9.7 1.2 Inside 50s 2.0 0.3 Goal Assists 0.4 1.0 Frees For 1.7 0.5 Frees Against 0.8 6.5 Contested Possessions 8.0 6.6 Uncontested Possessions 7.5 9.8 Effective Disposals 12.2 76.6% Disposal Efficiency % 82.4% 1.0 Contested Marks 1.2 0.9 Marks Inside 50 0.4 1.5 Clearances 2.5 0.3 Rebound 50s 0.5 1.5 One Percenters 2.1 0.6 Centre Clearances 1.1 0.9 Stoppage Clearances 1.4 4.6 Score Involvements 4.8 120.0 Metres Gained 138.1 2.1 Turnovers 1.3 All signs point to a year of growth.. the slows on him are unbelievable.. he is improving.. think people thought he should be winning a brownlow this year. After Round 11 last year he had 4 goals.. he has 5 this year.

I'd be flabbergasted if Salem plays. For one, he's been tracking behind in his rehab for the last month. For another, he hasn't played footy at any level for 11 weeks. I'd prefer to see him get a half game at Casey first before we throw him into a block of really tough and important games. Tomlinson for May. Then Langdon, Harmes and TMac all straight back in for Melksham, Dunstan and Weideman. Bedford back to the sub role, which is harsh but we can't play all of Pickett, ANB, Spargo and Bedford. I won't lose much sleep if Brown gets dropped instead of Weideman but I don't think Weid deserves the spot any more than Brown, and Brown in my view is more likely to win us a game if he turns his form around than Weideman.

Welcome home Saty.

If Buddy gets off, the message from the AFL is that it is acceptable to deliberately clip opponents in the face, provided the force used is not excessive, or to claim that the slap or punch was just misdirected. Is this the message the AFL wants to send to the hundreds of thousands of kids playing the game?

It's been a few weeks but below is an update of the defensive stats. I have also added the 2021 numbers for comparison. If you look at 2021, Brisbane were #2 defensively (scores from oppo i50s) and miles behind us (5.2% worse). And Brisbane's mids don't defend well which shows up as in their #11 ranking for i50s conceded this year (#11 last year so they have not fixed the issue). Freo's improvement this year is ridiculously good defensively. It has clicked for them. They are #1 for conceding i50s, #1 for conceding scores from i50s, and #1 for field position of turnovers (closer to goal). We are #1 for intercepts (Freo are #3) but the difference is small. Last year we were #1 by miles. This year our intercepting has been based on structure, not pressure on the ball carrier like last year. Freo are intercepting with both pressure and structure and that's a dangerous combination. IMO Freo are the biggest threat to us come finals and I'm still calling a Freo v Melb GF.

Can't have someone in the side who's a habitual non performer and FYI the comments people are making aren't just based on the weekends performance

How could Mitch Brown be worse than Weideman. At the least he has a bit of presence.

He's hard to replace, in no small part because he's like having an extra assistant coach as well. BUT... Let's keep in mind that about the same time last year (rounds 10-16) we lost 3 out of 6 games as many Demonlanders noted that the combination of seeming flat during games and Burgess' history of 'loading' possibly added up to us gearing our fitness towards finals. That worked out ok hey?

Some people just don’t have the killer instinct and I believe Sam is one of them. Don’t think it can be coached into someone.

MMA Hall of Famer Bas Rutten was famous for using "Palm Strikes" on opponents. Just as devastating without the risk of broken hands using a closed fist. All the open hand talk is irrelevant .... Or should be.

The Oliver tag wouldn’t have had an impact if Trac was at 100%

Feel for Joel Smith - he'd be a walk up right now.

Just finished listened to this and it was an amazing interview. I highly recommend anyone who hasn't listened to Dyl & Friends before go and find this podcast. It got me emotional at times.

Ha laughed when he said I don't think Steven may has realised he can't play next week and he isn't going to tell him. Jack viney was also on ch9 & said he'd be surprised if buddy got off, said he did the same thing and did not get off. Said Jake bowey was a bit disheveled after the loss but has bounced back

No media coverage in the past 2 months because it’s boring that we keep winning. We lose an AA FB our other AA midfielder is firing on 1 cylinder (V8) and we lose a game - admittedly with a 10 goal swing - and every footy show and analyst is now finally talking about us. How pathetic.

‘After an exhaustive search where we flew to 8 different countries, on 4 private jets, and stayed at some of the finest St Regis hotels across the globe, we made the the very considered decision to employ one of the guys who happened to be in the room when we were briefed.’

I'm not convinced we really gave up much against Freo. In the second half we were playing -2 at stoppages, so we could get +2 behind the footy (to cover May and Petty), but then we were hopeless once the ball hit the ground. If you don't win contested footy, you don't really get a chance to expose any defence. I'm not saying Freo aren't extremely good, they are now, but I'm looking forward to the rematch at Optus, even with Fyfe. We're usually happy to give up -1 at stoppage as a rule, but rarely -2. We were completely disorganised around stoppage in the second half. It's a different game if our mids break even and Freo's set up behind the ball can be better tested.

Of course a USA company would have more knowledge of the game and its needs and the local candidates. Then again an Australian Company was paid to come up with Gill, Cook and Gale last time. Everyone knew Gill was past the post. What a waste of more footy money.

I totally agree on freo. In my opinion they are the biggest threat, with the saints, who have really improved their all team defence, not too far behind. Leaving aside the issues we had in the second half (may out, trac struggling, langers role not adequately covered etc) we got a good look at how difficult freo are to score against when on. We got a real taste of our own medicine. Once we fell behind we couldn't find a way to generate scoring opportunities and resorted to high risk kicks to the corridor. That might work against the lions, as it did in round 12 last year after half time (after being nearly four goals down), but we can't afford to get 3 plus goals down against freo. The lions and the blues are not strong enough defensively to be a real contender in my opinion. As I posted in another thread, I'm amazed the lions did not retool their defensive system over the preseason and move to a model similar to ours and freos. Their old school defensive system won't cut it in 2022.

Sam's was a solid grab, but Spargo's was an absolute ripper

I commented after the Hawthorn game how annoying some Melbourne supporters had become at the ground. If it wasn’t ‘perfect’ they got upset. On the weekend it was eerily quite after halftime because we really didn’t fire a shot. I honestly think if we kicked the first goal of the last quarter it would have brought the crowd into it. Instead there was nothing to cheer. We got smashed all over the ground, and nobody stood up and tried to change momentum. Had Viney or Pickett ruffled some feathers the crowd would have brought in. The players looked so flat - so the supporters became really quite. I don’t think that will happen again this year. I think if a team is coming at us Jack, Koz and Harmesy will scrap. Plenty of learnings there. Bring the crowd into the game - especially at home.

Now you are making stuff up. Please tell me where I quoted his draft order? I also never said he was a 'spud or star'. Just tells me you can't see the wood for the trees. I commented on his attributes and his performance but you haven't addressed either of those as it doesn't suit your narrative, And I would rather have Majak or M Brown or JVR if you must know.

It's interesting to read oppo posts which are vastly different to the sentiment expressed here, especially since the Freo loss. Oppo supporters tend to respect us more than we do our own when things go inevitably wrong ...

I've thought for a number of years that he would make a good half-back

The Sad thing is Sam is not even good back up, because when he does get an opportunity he doesn’t stamp any authority on his position. Yes he has helped in Goal Assists and some Ruck Work, but he was drafted as a Key Forward and at VFL Level he is every bit that. But at AFL Level we cannot trust him to do the job. We have given him EVERY Chance.

You can't see the wood for the trees on this. He was drafted in 2015 hence is in his 7th year of AFL. He has played 1 good game - a final no less against Geelong - and being generous say 3 other serviceable games. That is a bust in anyone's language. He is a 2 grab mark and an unreliable set shot. I'd trade him in a heart beat.

To look at it on paper that is exactly right, he is a depth forward and that is a fair assessment. But for where we took him in the draft and the resources we've put into him is it also fair to have expected a bit more at this stage from him Nev?

Mitch Brown is streets ahead of Sam

The over reactions to every single performance Weid gives that doesn't mean Demonlanders expectations is pathetic. He's a depth forward on a small and short contract and should be judged as such. But all that is beside the point that we lost due to centre clearances and an injured defence. Not because of Weideman.

Lord Nev must be the greatest face Palmer on Demonland. Any player criticism is met with a face palm. Make a comment or go away LN.

You speak of Mitch Brown like he’s Nat Fyfe. He’s Mitch Brown. He’s played solely as a forward his entire time with us. Won’t play defence, and sure as [censored] won’t play small.

Expand on this. In what way was Goodwin “terrible”? We lost to a top 4 team with 5 premiership players out, May done after 10 minutes, Petracca sick and Petty limping. You think that’s one of Goodwin’s worst performances? You remember we finished 17th in 2019, right?

Hipwood should not have come back in the ones. 11 weeks is a long time out. A game in the 2's to get the rust out won't do him any harm.

Weidy is not the right guy?

Couldn't disagree more. We've always made noise far louder than our numbers. The 2018 finals is a great example, but it's always happened. I did notice on Saturday that the Melbourne crowd overall was quieter, but I think a lot of it was shock. The crowd just wasn't prepared for us to fall apart and there wasn't enough for us to get around before it was too late. I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I couldn't agree more on it. I've said it before, the single worst thing to happen to football is "fan activations". People who are wholly disconnected from football making decisions about what fans want, almost always tied to music/video/demonstrations, rather than the actual [censored] game itself.

On SEN Goodwin just talked very confidently about Jackson staying.

Yes all fair comments and there are multiple avenues around the AFL rules or that they would be satisfied with. Another posted highlighted the rolling first round pick requirements is designed around protecting clubs from trading away their future. As Jackson is a young 20-21yr old key position player that has a premiership and rising star award to his name, it shouldn't be hard to argue to the AFL that he would kick start their rebuild rather than hinder it. As an aside, its interesting to note that only one team has multiple first round picks in this draft (so far) being the swans. As it stands they have pick 12 and pick 18, which of course came from us originally. For Jackson, I would want at least one top 3-5 pick and another in the top 10. Even then I wouldn't be happy and would rather keep Jackson.