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If Jackson wants to go home, that's WA. I have zero interest in helping him get to Freo, because after 3 years at the club, where we made him a rising star, premiership player and worthy of a million dollar contract, we frankly owe him absolutely nothing. We certainly don't owe making him a premiership player at Freo, who is our direct competitor. We have done nothing but right by him, and if he chooses to screw us on the way out (and yes that is a big if), then I hope we play hardball and make him go to West Coast or he can end up at North. Our club can't afford to stuff around during this premiership window, as it might not come around again for a long long time.

Disagree. We won that game by 80 odd points. He was in the mix of our players but had he not been there it’s very hard to argue we still wouldn’t have won. My view is that Luke got a Premiership from our system and experience, certainly not the other way around.

I was at the game last night and we couldn't get out of first gear. I'm sure that was obvious on TV too. Yet we were level and should have been ahead 15 mins into the last quarter. It was very clear watching it from the top of the centre wing stand that our defensive transition wasn't on all night. We allowed them short chips that we don't usually allow when we're on, we allowed Duncan to constantly sit at the back of stoppages unmarked and we allowed them to get into some incredibly dangerous goal side positions completely unmarked. Highly unusual. They constantly got it on the outside at stoppage too. How often have we been beaten at stoppage like that in the last 5 years? I can't remember us losing stoppage by so much. Our fumbling was dreadful, May in particular was terrible again. I've said for a long time now, even for much of last year, that May panics with ball in hand in deep D50. Much prefer Petty, Bowey or Salem with ball in hand. Lever also dropped quite a few marks he'd taken the previous two weeks. You can't let the ball hit the ground against their forward mob. We each had a five day break, but we had interstate travel, they played at home against the worst AFL side since Melbourne in 2012-2013. Can you tell I'm building an argument for exhaustion being a big factor in last night's game? It'll be interesting to see how we go against Port and the Bulldogs. If we've timed our run well, we should start to see a fitness turn around against Freo.

What can I say? I completely expected this result. Two teams coming off a 5 day break, one plays a real physical and grueling game over in Adelaide, the other has a bruise free training run at this very ground. One forward line struggling, the other buzzing. Advantage Cats. Throw the loading theory in there for both teams and you've got one lacklustre standard of game. I'll get this out of the way. A lot of people like Thursday night football for some reason. I know it's harder for some to fill the time in their pitiful lives themselves so we need to create this new shiney object called Thurs night footy so all these drones are happy. Well as a result of this and crappy fixturing, the game of the year turned out to be anything but. Geelong looked that bit slicker in the end. We did start with a bang but the moment Bowser gave up that holding the ball we were in for a night of crappy, crappy decision making and execution. So many skills can be put down to fatigue it's not funny. Please no-one act like we were 'a bit off for some reason'. You know the reason, it's obvious. I couldn't give a rat's ar*e about this result tonight and the little boost it will give those nitwits down the highway. We were so crap tonight and still kept the twin towers to 1 goal. You think they will beat us with midfield and smalls goals again? Ha! We had a lot of crap performers, let's not hide from that. May was garbage early, was literally a coach killer. His influence is nothing when he's not performing. Gawn was not good, I'm not a doctor but I wasn't thrilled about him coming back early. Salem was crap, one of his most wayward kicking games. Spargo was down, Bedford was non-existent, Bowey very average. It felt like half our side was Under12s players chasing the footy and when they hit a target once in a blue moon you felt so proud. To the positives, Pickett worked his socks off. Honestly thought he'd nailed that shot but I don't think we would have won regardless. Viney and Clarry worked hard. Petracca took his chances, the backline held firm I thought Lever and Petty did their bit. Brayshaw is some player now. As of right at this minute he's the one I want to retain. Thought Jordan was crap. Thurs night football stinks, if you like it then more power to you. I'm gonna go sleep in a cave for 9 days or whatever it is till our next game.

I get the frustrating with some with him leaving. He played a factor in our drought winning premiership and I'll always thank him for giving me that premiership joy. It's disappointing that he'll potentially leave, but the way I look at this I think this could be a huge advantage for our playing list moving forward. I'm a huge believer that if we are to continue to challenge in September consistently you have to find ways to regenerate your list with fresh talent. 1. Starting point is two 1st round picks. At least a top 10 pick in this year's draft as a starting point. No later then top 12. Great opportunity to grab an elite midfielder that may slide. Elite talent like Hewett, Sheezel, Tsatas would genuinely give our midfield mix a whole different dynamic. If we're wanting to go tall then there is Jedd Busslinger from WA who's an elite defender at 197cm or Aaron Cardman who's an elite key forward. I feel like these are much bigger needs for our list moving forward. Jason Taylor has a rich history of nailing first round picks and the thought or him having his hands on this year's talent excites me. 2. Frees up salary space. Simple as that. If we need to target an experienced key position player then like we did with May then we'll have the space for it.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the design but I'm a massive fan of the club choosing to wear it again in NAIDOC week.

JVR was better than good, he was easily the best forward on ground, and after having to play the second ruck for large parts of the game I was impressed with his engine going up against Ceglar and then taking mark after mark. So unused to seeing a Melbourne player take contested marks (he took 6). He also was able to spoil to advantage and followed up. This game was just a good example of why Weideman is absolute toast - this kid is the real deal. Other stand outs tonight were Dunstan - he was pivotal to the win, even if Laurie got some cream on the outside and was good with it. Dunstan is a cut above - and deserves another go, good on him. Still gushing about JVR, what a game.

Jackson has not a single goddamn right to nominate a club. Wasn't he a West Coast fan growing up? Wasn't NicNat his hero? How about he goes to West Coast and learns how to be an overweight ruckman from the most overrated player in the game. He can teach him how to have commentators falling over themselves when he has 3 possessions. And he can enjoy the pressure of living in WA and being a highly paid 'messiah'. That never went wrong for anyone.

This x10. I was at the game too and Geelong continually set up at around-the-ground stoppages (particularly throw-ins and ball ups near the boundary) with at least one, sometimes two, players on the defensive side of the stoppage. The one that was constantly there and left alone was in an almost North-West position from the ruckmen at a boundary throw in. Often it was Duncan. Our approach the whole night was to leave this player alone. We either had the same numbers at the stoppage but held defined positions (e.g. we'd have a player in a North position from the ruckmen (defensive side of the Geelong spare but often unable to affect the play)) or we'd have a spare behind the ball. Time and again they would win the footy and flip it out to the spare, who would then have enough time to either handball to a player running past or deliver somewhat un-pressured inside 50. The benefit of having our spare back is lost if pressure isn't applied to the ball carrier - the spare is there for the hack pressured kick but we weren't able to apply enough heat / Geelong were too clean and crisp in close to cause hack kicks forward. Now I have no problem with retaining our structure and method as it has been working and you can't just chop and change all the time. But in this game, with Geelong outhunting us and bringing more heat and intensity, causing us to fumble or turn over the ball when we did get first possession, I thought we could've tinkered a bit at stoppages to try and nullify this. A great example came in the third quarter. Stoppage at Geelong's half forward line. They had the extra at the stoppage, we had Lever spare down back. They won it, flipped it out to the spare, we couldn't close him down quickly enough, the spare then fed it inside to Smith who ran to 50m and goaled. Lever as the spare was then wasted as he could only watch the ball sail over his head. Clever by Geelong to use the extra number to create flowing entries and ensure as few hack kicks as possible to our spare. Without applying enough heat when Geelong won the ball, it allowed them to get the stoppage game on their terms and was a big factor in the result. We also lacked another big target forward of the ball but what really cost us were just some ridiculous decisions going inside 50. There were a number of times we had players out in space but just kicked it straight down the throat of a Geelong defender. These were un-pressured entries so it was incredibly frustrating to waste so many opportunities going inside 50. Geelong were clearly the better side on the night. They were more intense with their hunt of the man with the ball and deserved to win the game. It reminded me of the Collingwood game where we were in the game in the last quarter but never really looked in control or likely to win.

The reason I didn’t address it because it’s been addressed so well by others on these forums in the past, but to sum it up for you, our game plan relies enormously on our ability to cover the ground both defensively to create turnovers and then going forward to create scores. No other teams relies on it as much as we do. And if we are fatigued we can’t execute our game plan and become very beatable by good teams (and not so good teams.). Fatigue also creates poor decision making, poor skill execution, lack of power to break tackles, and I could go on and on. I don’t accept it’s an effort issue. Or complacency. Or tactical. Last year is absolutely a valid comparison because the science behind our fitness preparation hasn’t changed. There are lots of other variables of course but the facts are in order to give ourselves the best chance to succeed in September, we have to risk our performance in June and July. If we play it too safe, teams that were willing to risk more now will steam roll us come finals. Loading is 100% necessary but it’s also not a silver bullet. My “blind hope” as you put it comes because I trust our coaches aren’t taking anything for granted. They now have the track record of taking care of the big picture (loading) while also identifying all the 1% issues that need addressing. Always, (win, lose or draw), looking at ways to improve. Always respecting the competition and opposition. They have been the constant theme of Godwin’s press conferences. My blind and naive hope is because our football department has earned my trust.

They had about 12 days with a nice hit out in the middle to blow the cobwebs out

Won’t lie. I find “homesickness” to be a pretty feeble reason to cut and run on a club that has given a person so much in so little time.

I posted on here a couple of months ago that McStay was a done deal to the Pies as they want him as a Key Defender to allow Darcy Moore to play Forward. I think it will still happen, however, I believe there are now certain influential people seriously questioning their List Management team about the length & value of the offer.

If he leaves I’ll never forgive him for leaving us when he could have been part of long term success. He could have been drafted to the Suns and really struggled having to be the number 1 guy. He’s benefited greatly from the experience of those around him, and the opportunity that gave him to have success. We’ve undoubtedly increased his value more than he’s increased ours in terms of his next contract. Would a new 3 year contract have killed him? He’d be 25 and still able to go home on a big 5-7 year contract. He will be reminded by me at every Melbourne game that I support the Demons, and if you turn your back on the family you have to deal with the consequences.

My very strong mail, and it won’t come as any surprise, is that Jackson will be playing in WA next year. The Club even offered to move his family to Melbourne recently and it was rejected.

I'll reply to your second point. It'll be far worse having your team rely on a forward line that has your VFL depth forward in Weideman as your main key forward alongside a 1st game as your second key tall. That's just a recipe for disaster especially coming up against an All Australian defender in Alir Alir who'll eat Weid alive. If you're going to debut JVR it has to be when a senior experienced key forward such as Ben Brown is there for the physical support and also take the pressure off him. On your first point, Browns first half was exceptional. Had 5 marks to half time and looked like he was set for a big half until we decided to just constantly bomb it down the line on his head. Not even plugger Lockett could have mark anything with that delivery. On Weideman's performance tonight. I Watched the game from start to finish and kept a close eye hoping he'd play well. He was a major disappointment. Poor body language, got beaten comprehensively by Geelong's Angus Byrne who not only out outmarked him at times but defended really well. As you've said in the past, Weideman is only depth and and should only be playing AFL footy if either Brown or Jackson go down with injury. He's been given opportunities to perform this year and has failed to grab those with both hands.

I'll be as disappointed as anyone if he decides to head home but he had no say in coming to our club and it's always a 50/50 proposition when you draft a kid from another state. He's helped us win a premiership and we've taught him a lot in his first two years of AFL football. We picked up Lingers from Fremantle because he wanted to come home. It happens. That said, the day he leaves he will be dead to me in a football sense. Much like Hogan. As a Melbourne supporter I'm only interested if you want to represent the oldest football club in the land.

I've watched quite a lot of Casey this season and I am a believer that in time JVR could be a good footballer at AFL level - his time is not now if want my opinion. To me he is a bit like a Jack Darling or Jack Riewoldt - he does have good hands and seems to know where the goals are. He is not particularly quick for his size (but not slow either) he does seem to like the physical contest - this being a real positive because some of our other tall forward options don't seem keen or capable in that area. The reason he is not quite ready for AFL imo is that to play like the Jack's mentioned above you have to be physically strong enough. He has put on size this season so his body will keep getting stronger but the step to AFL is a very big one. I also think he will benefit from another preseason where he can build a bigger fitness base so he can run at pace for longer periods of the game - this is critical for a forward of his height. There are too many posters on this site calling for mass changes after last night which obviously was a disappointing performance - we were our pressured by a team that wanted to win more and given that pressure we turned the ball over too easily. Changing personnel is not the answer - changing mindset is. Yes there are a couple of players that could arguably be replaced this week but for me there were only a few that played to their true capacity and we can't change 75% of the team Form at Casey doesn't really translate to AFL level we have seen that time and time again with the likes of Weid, M Brown, Baker and even Tomlinson. Chandler is another that performs well at Casey but can't replicate that at senior level (yet). People need to understand that players like RIvers and Hunt are probably at Casey because their disposal has been sub par - based on last nights performance the last thing we need is players who are prone to turning the ball over consistently. Sorry for the long winded answer but for me JVR is going to be a player but I'd be reluctant to through him to the wolves now unless we have totally lost faith in BB and Fritta

IF he wants to go and nominates Freo, it is about wanting to play for them, not just homesickness and I would agree with you. Players when they sign the draft documents, agree to play anywhere, just like sportspeople everywhere. I am sure when we met him before the draft, he said he was happy to play in Victoria. If this is about truly wanting to go home, he should say either club, but it appears that is not the case. If he nominates Freo then we play hardball and I would start getting into the heads of some Victorian Freo Dockers we would be happy to have, as they simply won't have the picks. We could have got Cerra last year and cleared Jacko the next if he would have told us. Freo force Cerra, who wanted to play with us, to Carlton and now want our brightest young tall.

Max rucking works against us against the better midfields of the comp. Obviously he's a champion around the ground but we're always beaten at clearance against good sides when Max is in there. His tapping is super inconsistent due to being too offensively minded. I noticed that without genuine ruckmen last week our mids were far more balanced in the way the positioned and then attacked that first ruck contest. Got to be less offensively minded when coming up against the stronger midfields of the comp. Aside from that, the loss doesn't really bother me. They'd built this game up for the past year, was a mini grand final for them so they can have it. A final at the G will be a different story. The only other worry is the forward line entries and our consistent missed opportunity to put scoreboard pressure on when we've got momentum. That's the thing that could possibly cost us a top 4 spot or a loss in a big final. We can't just expect that we'll turn it on come September. Fritsch and Brown have been underwhelming and I'd be rewarding Chandler ahead of Bedford after last night. We need to find a working and cohesive forward line before September. Kosi down but can't be dropped unless he has another couple of weeks of poor form. Over the off season, we need to target a serious contested marking goal kick forward to straighten us up. Ben Brown and Fritsch require space and perfect kicking most of the time which they can't rely on because of the types of ball users we have through the midfield. Mostly blazers. But of work to do and next week we simply must win if we want to stay top four. I can see dogs, pies and Carlton all beating us. No game will be easy from here, gotta sort this out pronto.

Given the spirit of the OP and a couple of others posting on this thread, I thought I’d post this as a way of showing how other cheer squads see us in the Demon Army. If our own supporters don’t see our value at least other supporters do…

Sitting in the MFC area in the HFF on the outer side, the missed tackles by us were extremely noticeable that resulted in Geelong scores. This has been a recurring theme in our losses this year and either demonstrate a lack of hunger or lack of fitness. This just didn’t happen nearly as much last year. Geelong were just too good for us and wouldn’t let us breath all night, aside from a few 5 minute cameos of “Melbourne” football. A few MFC supporter are gettIng ahead themselves if they merely think we can rock up to the G against them in finals and get an easy win. Disappointing result, we’ve lost more games this time than last year and we’re making a top 2 finish hard on ourselves. Really hoping that magnificent Brisbane effort will be the norm in the coming weeks rather than a once in 6 week event.

Jesus that was some performance by Bailey Laurie. I've never seen a kid that young just so ridiculously clean and handle the ball like it was dry weather. Honestly would drop Spargo for Bailey. His work rate also was extremely high. We certainly have a good one here.. JVR took 6 contested marks in one of the wettest and shocking conditions you'll see at Geelong. Calling it now but the kid will be a star at AFL level. Thought Dunstan was really exceptional. He obviously comes straight in for Oliver next week. Sparrow considers himself very lucky there...

Couldn't have said it better myself @Vipercrunch. No one is saying that the players or coaches should be immune to criticism, but after what we saw last year they have 100% earned my trust. After 57 years without a flag, surely we ought to show Goody and co. some faith.

Another unnecessary distraction. Surely Gus knows what he wants to do by now. Really frustrating, and frankly I am getting fed up with players who have it all, playing for a well run club, with a chance to win more flags, and still stuffing about with contracts. This is what makes Clarry that extra special. He could literally go to any club, get paid a million dollar a year or more (probably 10 million a year at North), but instead he signed a year out to avoid any sort of rubbish conversations about his contract. Get on with it Gus!

POST IS MISSING ALL CAPS!!!!

Gus is a Restricted Free Agent, which means we can match any offer for him. If we did that and he still wanted to leave, his prospective new club would need to negotiate a trade with us.

It’s annoying coming to the end of the season. Maybe it does not affect the players, but the on-going speculation over Brayshaw and Jackson I find a major distraction. Unsettling. Yeah I know that’s the way it is, but I hate it.

Wow. Take a walk and pet a dog. Chill.

I was at the ground too mate and this is it. It wasn't attitude. We were up for it, we just looked exhausted and this impacted on our ability to mark space, defend stoppage, not fumble (sometimes under little pressure) and make the right decisions at the right time. Fritsch, who had a trainer to him most of the night, made some horrible decisions. Burning Kozzy in the square like a few weeks ago and then going long to Gawn in a 2 v 1 situation when Petracca was right in front of him all alone. Outside of the first quarter and a bit, we basically made poor decisions entering our forward 50.

We looked 'off' from the word go last night... I was at the ground and in the final quarter, I was pondering a comment made by @binman during the week in reference to Brisbane playing us at the MCG - they were presumably loading, and perhaps felt the % of a win at the G that night was 40/60% best. Thus, let's do some loading. I wonder from a scheduling perspective whether that was not dissimilar from our FD's perspective. It is worth the risk to be 'flat', within a 5 day window, and if we lose at Kardinia Park, then so be it. As a supporter, I don't buy into the need to make 'statement's, that's just emotional responses to either feel good, or feel quite [censored] as it justifies the weekly proposition that you are only as good or 'bad' as your last game. Goodwin (and all coaches) have been in and around the system and are shrewd enough to understand that Round 1-22 is merely the pre-season. The real season then begins. What feels like a more accurate reflection of what we can achieve from a performance perspective? Was it the games vs Saints/ Brisbane or vs Freo/Geelong. I'm either optimistic, or blindly naive. The question as always is why was our pressure and execution down....when there is plenty of evidence that we can perform a particular way. It certainly aint attitude.... If you like rudimentary graphs... here is one I prepared earlier (that's a nod to Gabriel Gate who did the menu at the presidents function). Scoring shots per round for the opposition.

So far in this thread it's been suggested that just about every player should "go back to Casey" for a spell to get better, "improve their craft", or recover ... even Max. Yeah, that would work.

Just bruised, according to Goody. I hope he's right.

He always works hard but rarely gets the bloody ball

Langdon gave him an almighty spray afterwards. I think as supporters we were genuinely waiting for that exact moment you pointed out to happen. I nearly threw my cat through the TV when he chose to dribble kick instead. It's frustrating because in country footy I've seen blokes on my team or opposition benched nearly for a whole quarter from selfish acts such as this. Wish that happened tonight.

No they wore it for NAIDOC week. Fantastic show of respect from a club that is leading the way with it's Indigenous connections.

Not me. I was right behind him. Tbe fact he didn't look inboard makes it worse. I was, and remain ropeable with him. And bloody hell, why a dribble kick?

We either need to play Gawn/Jackson forward more when they're not rucking, or we need to pick Weideman until TMac's back. We can't be that small forward of the ball. Bowey and Salem both struggled tonight. With Rivers and Hunt out of the side, there is competition for their spots. I'm not convinced by Bedford. His Brisbane game was good but he is too fumbly under pressure and with our run home, we're copping pressure each week.

And despite all that we are 2nd on the ladder with 6 games left. Imagine if we actually start playing well!

Great reminder Vipercrunch. The fact is where we sit at this point of the season is tracking with where we were at the same point last season. Now, that is not to say that we should excuse or ignore poor performances and ongoing issues. There are clearly things that we need to work on and the club admits as much - just like they did last year when we went through our down patch. But I think that people need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture before declaring that our season is over. People were making the same calls last year and look where we ended up. If we are indeed still loading - and I am on the side that we are given that we once again looked fatigued and therefore slow and fumbly - it is a necessary step we have to take to be at out best come finals. Anyway, all of this is to say that I will be more worried if we play like this in the last few rounds of the year, not when we're in this loading phase and certainly not when we're playing on that ant mound that Geelong calls a stadium.

5 day rest off a combative interstate night game at the hardest ground to win at in Australia. Context is everything. We are better than we looked last night. Our draw is a literal joke compared to everyone else’s. Just got to stick together and back each other in to get the job done when it counts.

They pressured us into 'old Melbourne' bad habits: Not lowering the eyes anywhere on the ground. Little composure Picked out opp players, Didn't do the 'good teammate' things. Poor on field leadership Harmes resurrected his fend-off and HTB Viney resurrected his take on the tackler and HTB Overhandballed. Didn't take the first option. We succumbed the same way to Sydney. When they brought the pressure we reverted to the above. Both games at the G. I guess that is our archilles heal: unrelenting opp pressure. We have work to do and banish the 'old Melbourne' bad habits permanently or at least be able to stop them in game when they creep in.

Played like his heart wasn’t in it last night

I've never coached, but I reckon we'd be better off not kicking it directly to the opponents' spare defender.

Nailed it bitter. I saw the lions game live and the dees were awesome that day only 2 weeks ago. We had 5 day break and they had a bye last week. Cats will be dealt with in september on the G when tables are even

Couldn’t take a mark, couldn’t stick a tackle, couldn’t hit a target inside 50, caught holding the ball too often. Overall a pretty inept performance.

Always opportunities. If Jackson leaves he does so with our blessing, wish him luck, and onto the next guy. We do invest, and we expect investment, but next up. No time in this business to look back. We’ll be very well compensated for Jackson, and who knows, we might land the next superstar of the league with our pick. Players do get homesick. It’s part of the game.

If we are honest, the jumper looks terrible. Mates of mine were saying it looks like pyjamas and they’re not wrong

Salem last week had 22 disposals, 453m gained at 83% DE and 6 tackles (2nd behind Oliver). He has not been poor since returning from injury and is absolutely not getting dropped. He was poor tonight but he had a lot of mates..

Whoever would have thought that we would miss TMac so badly?