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Who is winning it then? Geelong who just scraped past Port? Brisbane who lost to Essendon a couple of weeks back? Freo who drew with Richmond last night? Collingwood who just scraped past North and Adelaide in successive weeks? Carlton who still look a year away and have fallen at most challenges they've faced this year? Sydney who have been flakey and up and down all year? There are no dominant teams this year. Yeah we haven't performed to the level you'd hope and have been inconsistent across games but we still have the star power to turn it on in September. Obviously this is not to say we will but we will give ourselves a crack. To say we are just making up the numbers is insulting.

Wouldn’t necessarily trust a source that can’t spell ‘knew’

Gravity isn't a theory, it's a Government conspiracy to keep the people down.

Just as a side note, are the Bulldogs and their fans the greatest over-celebrators in the history of the game. They are labelling it as a “historic win” and Bevo said it was “monumental”. They’ve posted black and white images of Bont and Bevo embracing in the change rooms. You’ve got Weightman interviewing after the game saying they can win it all. Yep, he actually said that. For a team that is one loss away from missing the eight, what an absurd thing to say. You’d think they’d learn

The morning after, still angry but credit to Dogs, they played well. However without 10 more frees, almost the disposal count of an extra half a player, they lose. Particularly as they were almost 10 frees up after half time. Compare the Jack Viney swing around and kick the ball, to Bontempelli over 360 tackle and throw/drop one handed the ball. Kossie catches Dale in middle of ground vs Demons getting pinged. Across season they have most frees in AFL. Just bloody annoying. Watching the game, minimal umpire whistle, Demons winning. Umpires whistle Dogs get back into game. Same happened last year in same game. Anyway as mentioned by a few, Kossie goals we win.

Our draw is harder. Considerably. Our game plan is the benchmark, so sides have done a LOT of work on us. I saw Justin Longmuir at the ground tonight. The players are trying their guts out, and giving their all. We had a month less fitness at the end of last year than 2021, and we’ve had a lack of cohesion with injuries - which we didn’t have last year. Honestly I think a lot is working against us. This is the time to double down and support us more. The footy gods are angry at us, but if we can get right and come good when it matters it will be the most incredible victory. Get around us. The boys deserve that.

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

Luke Darcy should never be allowed to commentate another Dogs game. Darcy needs to learn a lot from Daisy about being impartial.

We can look at all facets of the game, but let’s call a spade a spade. Kozzy missed from directly in front and it goes the other end and Steven May has the brain fart of the year with a kick across goal. It’s a 12 point turnaround and the game was done.

Make no mistake. They absolutely hate us. They beat us in the corresponding game this round last year and felt they had the wood over us. Then 3 goals up mid way through the 3rd quarter in a grand final and they could taste it. Followed by the most brutal 30 minutes of football anyone has ever seen to destroy them. Yeah, they can’t stand us. And I love it.

These both seem overly harsh tbh. Sparrow with 18 disposals, 6 marks, 3 tackles a goal and a goal assist. Solid game from him.

Lack of creativity and adaptability from out coaching group. Here me out. I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney who have the knack of changing the narrative each week depending on the opponent. The Blicavs move onto Oliver/Petracca was a brilliant way of negating the best one-two punch in the league. Longmire always seems to shift they way they play every week depending on the need. We don't! We play the same way every week. Kick out to the same side every week. Refuse to widen the ground by switching every week. Kick down the line every week. Bomb it high into the forward line every week. When will we tag someone? Where is out creativity? Any chance we could bring in a taller option like VanRooyan just to shake it up? Even playing Petty at CHF to change up the game. Where has our switching it to Langdon on the wing gone? What about Pickett one out in the 50? We never seem to try anything different?

At least we no where his new house is. I hope it like eggs.

Christ. Anyone who thinks we're likely to go 0-4 are delusional. We should be winning two. And I'm hopeful we can win three. We're a bloody good side, just need to get going. No more injuries please.

@DemonWA How does that logic marry up with them beating us second time round last year (corresponding fixture) and then their performance in their GF loss? Similarly, how does the Dogs winning last night marry up to their scars of the GF and Round 1 loss this year? Or the time we lost, what was it 17 in a row against North... and then won one? Performance is about execution of task, time and time again, not about getting caught up in the past or the future. I'd hope they've got psychologists to help re-enforce that. Very excited about the next month of football and the emotional rollercoaster that it is. I said at the beginning of the year that I didn't care if we didn't make the GF this year... who am I kidding? I care pretty bloody deeply. 😇 Just on that... I read a quote from the Crystal Palace CE - something akin to "A football club is typically someones first love, it's before their first boyfriend or girlfriend, therefore it's embedded more deeply in that persons psyche" No wonder some of these topics are so divisive.

Geez. The criticism of Gawn on here is beyond ridiculous. 15 hit outs to advantage is almost unheard of. 25 disposals for a ruckman, 8 marks - 3 contested and a huge number of score involvements. English is a good player and played a good game and that can happen - Gawn v Goldstein over the years has often seen both play well. The reason we did so well in centre clearance, and scored so heavily from it was because of Gawn's dominance. Maybe you couldn't see it on TV (I haven't seen the telecast) but at the ground it was obvious.

This is peak Melbourne. I love that your disturbance of choice is a symphony orchestra

For all the angst, wailing and gnashing of teeth, we find ourselves in second spot on the ladder at the end of Round 19. I'm confident most of us would have taken that if it was offered before the season began. Have faith, fellow supporters. Things are never as bad as they seem.

It really isn't In fact i predicted this very pattern ie we will struggle between round 11 and round 19. I even predicted in the game day thread how this game would pan out, And bar the final result, I got it right (i had us just holding off the late surge). As you note, we have clearly not been running out games in the ladt two months. That is obvious- to both the eye and the numbers Some posters are now starting to try and explain that by suggesting we are not fit enough, inferring Griffith has not been as effective as Burgess, even though the pattern of the seson has almost been identical. And perhaps they are correct. If they are, then this season is toast. If we are not fit enough now, there is zero chance we are going to be fit enough, relative to the other premiership contenders, come finals. But, fortunately they are in all likelihood wrong. Believe it, or dont belive it. But i have zero doubt, just like last season, are fatgued because of the loading phase. And we will see as soon as next week whether I'm right. If we are not fit enough, there is no chance we stick with freo, one of the fittest sides in tbe AFL. But i predict we will come and apply sustained pressure all game. We will be energised and 'running on top of the ground' And we will be too strong and too much for freo to handle. Freo will simply not be able to go with us. The supposed fitness issues won't get mentioned again for the rest of tbe seaon. And the turn around won't be because we - insert your favourite magic bullet here (my favourite is found our 'hunger'). It will because we are in the tapering phase of our periodisation program. In the last couple of months we have been at our mid climb camp tinkering with our equipment and getting our preparation right for the push to the summit. That push starts next week. Go redlegs.

Rubbish. Absolute and utter garbage. We are so far from lazy it makes my blood boil. Take a look at our draw. We keep coming up against sides with less rest and more favourable conditions. I was at the ground tonight. The players tried their absolute guts out. It’s not about want, or skill. We are exhausted, with a full day less break plus interstate travel and missing 2 of our most important structural players. The Dogs played out of their skin - but Ugle-Hagen may never kick 5 goals again in his life. He had a day out where he could do no wrong. Fair play to him but it’s not a reliable game plan. Our team is trying so incredibly hard and fronting up against a lot - and the footy gods are not smiling on us at all. You need a bit of luck, and instead we keep getting injuries and a lack of cohesion. I can’t cope with people putting down our players any more. It’s pathetic. These boys won us a flag and are doing everything in their power to go again, and a lot is going against them. Frankly they’ve been incredible.

We would be $8.00 every week if they did

Sorry, but should we have changed everything after we annihilated the other teams across 3 finals last year, or after we won the first 10 games this year? Judge us by the season, not the quarter. Long way to go yet. The only thing 2022 has taught me so far is that a lot of Melbourne supporters went from the certainty that we were perennial losers, to somehow thinking we’d never lose again. Strange days.

Nuh Our biggest issue is defensive pressure around the contest

I'd give Jackson a $36m a year super max contract personally

And more injuries. 2021 was arguably the greatest, most dominant season for an AFL club in the modern era. We didn't lose by more than 4 goals and could have won all those 4 losses. People expecting us to replicate that A+++ season are kidding themselves. Yet... despite the constant injuries, a poorly functioning forwardline and a lack of continuity in our defensive set up (how we win games), we're second on the ladder with destiny in our hands. I expect we'll see a response in the next month. I expect we'll finish in the top 4, but I've been wrong before.

We missed Lever. Bulldogs would never have scored 110 if he was in the team. We didn't have a ruckman drop back to help defend for nearly the whole game which compounded the impact of Lever's absence.

yeah sure , get a life

I’d say our biggest issue in 2022 is that we had a ridiculously trouble free run in 2021, I think supporters expected an undefeated season and back to back flags. Injuries/missed games would be next.

Online reports say Brayshaw’s management is in Melbourne this week to work with Melbourne on a new deal beyond 2022. The sooner that is done the better. As for Jackson, I think 4 weeks out from the end of the season, the Club has the right to ask him to declare what he is doing next year. They don’t need to announce it. However, it may actually be a weight off his shoulders and allow him to play some decent footy before finals.

I am just so peeved that we could have done a deal for Cerra last year if Jackson said he was probably leaving at the end of his contract. We could have got someone we wanted, needed and was keen to come to us. His timing is putrid!!!

I don't deny that training loading takes place, but if every club that's contending for finals is doing it, then the results amongst those teams is neutralised. Why will we be the only club that miraculously improves in the last 4 rounds? Burgo talked about it, so some think that it's the be all and end all to our results. Remember when high altitude training was all the rage after the Pies won a flag. Everyone started doing it. How can you properly load when so many of your key players have had injuries or Covid during the loading period? Add to that the difficult fixture. Our form slump is due to a number of things, with injuries and poor form being on top of the list.

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda. 3 critical mistakes- May’s lazy disposal, Fritter and ANB and the Kozzie missed set shot. We let this one get away.

I found this interesting during the week. After a very long winded statement/question by Andy Maher starting at 2:30 in (showing how little he understands modern AFL) McRae talks about the version of loading Collingwood have been doing. They have used 7 and 8 day breaks to do extra sessions, putting additional kms into the legs and there had been measurable negative cost in games, all to improve fitness and performance in finals. The key take away for me was it seemed for them (CFC) to be a very opportunistic approach rather than a long term plan which I believe the MFC have implemented. The obvious reason for this is we were 10-0 while they were 5-5. I predicted we’d go 2-3 post bye, so I’m not at all surprised no obvious improvement has yet been seen. We actually had a better record than I thought. It is nearing crunch time though, and the next month will either leave me with egg on my face or otherwise.

I was being highly facetious. The potting from me is at those who convince themselves loading is a main contributing factor and go on to provide the evidence they believe supports the theory. When really, nobody has a clue. I've never said that those in support of it think it's the only factor in a win or loss. Nobody has a clue because there are too many factors to take into account from the outside looking in. Posters have been guessing at which games we might have a dip in vs which ones we might look to have more energy in and from there it becomes confirmation bias for them. But really it could be any number of things. Example, a player has a shocking couple of nights sleep before a game due to a sick child. Here are the facts we know: This time last year we had a healthier and more settled squad. This time last year our game was in far better order, especially defensively even though we lost to the dogs at the G. This time last year we had a far easier run home with less travel and more time to recover between games. This time last year, teams weren't as prepared coming up against our system vs this year. To me, that's all the evidence required when looking at where we are right now as a side. The loading thing is such an overblown nonsense imo. And if it really is so significant come september and what we're seeing now is fatigue which is in part a result of loading, I'd argue that the risk vs reward is simply too great given we're likely to slip out of the top four if we don't improve quickly. Because losses sap energy levels too as well as team morale and momentum. So how the hell do we know what we're looking at? We don't, so look at what we do know, which is the above ^. I would really love to know from someone in the field, (not athletics because AFL is a contact sport), how much loading you can actually be doing at this time of the year with so much travel and so many short turn arounds. And how much impact it would actually have come september. Surely it can only be minimal gains if any given the taxing nature of every game played. Players pulling up sore constantly and the premium on recovery between games. It just doesn't compute.

We are half a win behind this time last year.

Still hurts, I had this dream where we played them in a grand final and we were 2 points down and Kozzie had the ball and was bouncing down the wing but then had to go through the living room and out the back of a house to kick a goal and the time ran out. It was some initiative by Gillon to make the game more exciting so he introduced mazes like this etc

Id like to reward Chandler too but who would he come in for? I feel it's Pickett, ANB or Spargo he is competing with: Pickett kicked 6 last week and 2 last night. He is inconsistent but he has absolute star quality and is so dangerous, he threatens to take every game apart. I can't see him being dropped. ANB plays a high coverage, high pressure, link up half forward role. I don't know if Chandler has that sort of endurance or aerobic capacity? Spargo feels to me like he has been down on form, but I'm not sure if that is just because he is averaging less goals per game? He is actually up on score involvements, goal assists, inside 50s, disposals and marks than previous seasons. I think he is playing higher up the ground than before which is continuing to less goals. That isn't where Chandler will play. Melksham is most likely as he is the last in the team and didn't provide the obvious defensive efforts last night that he did last week. But he had 9 score involvements from 9 disposals, including kicking 2.1 and a goal assist. That isn't a bad return for a fringe player taking his chances.

Another pick up tonight, Clarry did not handball with his right hand not once. Did not burrow into packs and funnel the ball out like he usually does understandable though. Might take him a couple of weeks for him to develope more confidence in the thumb.

Dear of dear, watching a different game to me.

Unusually after a loss I had a great sleep last night. I'm tip top this morning The inside 50 tackle count is the canary in the goldmine. Forward pressure is our first line of defence and when it don't happen it puts us on the back foot straight away. I reckon this will be priority no. 1 for the coaching team this week Dogs attacked through Lingers wing all night as well. This never happened last year Now that this loading bollocks is over I expect to see us holding onto leads and closing out games from here We've been there or thereabouts the last few weeks. There's plenty of upside to look forward to over the next 2 months so jump on for the ride folks. It's all to play for and we're in it up to our necks Go Dees

My thoughts pretty much mirror these as well, annoyed the dogs were allowed to stay close, which you can directly attribute to the quality of the umpiring. But when you sit back for s a second and analyses in the cold light of day, we did butcher opportunities late and the dogs played very well. English held Gawn to minimal influence and Clarry went out of the game in the 2nd half. On top of that we missed shots and made mistakes (May). It was a completely different game to what we normally play (high pace and quick ball movement) and we did pretty well considering. As bitter as it was to lose, it wasn't all bad news. Just very frustrating

Loading doesn't mean you automatically lose, nor does not loading mean you automatically win. Nor has anyone who has discussed we do load, detailed that it is the ONLY contributing factor to a loss... NOR to a win. Anyway, we lost against the Bulldogs last year in the same round... (yes, yes, it's a different year). I'd say we will cover the ground a bit better as of next week... around 2 months out...How would you explain what happened from Round 11 last year to the GF - and the variable form line? It wasn't due to the below.... Was it due to hunger? We' d being found out (until we hadn't been) We didn't have the personnel? Forward lines not functioning ? etc etc etc

Awful quiet on this thread.. Can the loaders please tell me what phase we're currently in and when we're about to see a significant bounce? Been waiting. Thx.

These silly practice matches are just annoying me now! When is the grand final on?

Don't agree re Langdon. He was clear AA last year, this year not so much. For me, hasn't been the same since the concussion. Only 5 kicks today and 165 metres gained. That's a big drop on what he was producing last year, and one of the (many?) factors in why we're not going as well.

I obviously do not understand modern footy!!! Max is being ****canned on this site!!! He had 25 disposals - 16 kicks, 9 handballs , 8 marks. [censored] me .... he busted a gut .... as usual These are off the planet figures for a ruckman in any era .

Anyone would think we lost to North by 100 points. We lost to one of last years grand finalists who played out of their skins, after we had them under control for most of the game.

In previous weeks we may have bemoaned the fact we can only score 60. Tonight we actually got to the magical 100 first (but still somehow lost despite that being a statistical improbability). Call me naive but I imagine that if the FD wanted that game to be low scoring and defensive, it would have been. Don’t get me wrong, I’m upset we lost and my night is ruined, but have some faith in the club. We may not win the flag this year, but let’s not sell the farm before the final game of the season. The Tigers went into the 2018 finals series in read hot form… how did that work out for them? I appreciate the next few games will give us an idea of where the team is at, but let’s give them the opportunity to prove themselves before we write them off.

Guys, most of you will not be pleased to hear this, however, I’m going to tell you what I know. Despite the Coaches continual public support of Brodie, the Pies are keen to move him on IF they can get the right terms. Naturally, Brodie, who is contracted, will not be forced to go to a Club unless he is totally satisfied that they are a successful Club on & off the field. Right at this minute, there are just two Clubs that have had preliminary discussions with his management to get all the facts around his current contract, where his head is at, his physical condition etc etc. I can tell you Melbourne is one of those two Clubs. A lot of water to pass under the bridge, and I’m not saying at this point in time that it will happen, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable that the Dees would explore this in the likely event that Luke Jackson departs.

If Jackson was to stay for 2 years than leave but by doing so cost us Brayshaw I’d rather he go at seasons end and Gus remains a demon for life.