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Good to see some getting on board the G-train. G for Greg. Stafford has been taking money under false pretences for years. Even when we won a flag we did it spite of our forward structure & methodology rather than because of it. I understand Stafford has to work withing the parameters of the overall game plan but his area of the ground is dysfunctional. And while I’m not a Goodwin basher by any means, he and his merry men on the coaching panel need to realise that “contest & clearance” are all very well but that only gets you the ball. The name of the game is to maximise the opportunities that “contest & clearance” create and get the bloody ball through the big sticks. The only appreciable shift from 2021 is that our tall forwards now clump together in the goal square rather than the left pocket. A direct result of this clumping is that it draws in opposition defenders en masse and leaves them having to defend an area roughly the size of a picnic blanket. We are an opposition Defensive coach’s dream. It’s like Stafford has drawn up a plan and showed it to Chaplin for approval. “Ooh yes I like that” says Chappy. Forgets to tell him why though. Supporters often wail about our “bombing into 50” but the reality is that often they have no other realistic option. And that’s on our forward structure and method. Further to this I’m often infuriated by Trac’s long mongrel punts into F50 from the midfield but I suspect this is under instruction. We are far more concerned with being out-marked inside F50 than we are with actually marking the ball ourselves. So we kick long floating mungs in the hope of bringing it to ground and causing a stoppage than we are with forwards marking the ball. Too often : We press up too high leaving the “over the top” play the only way of scoring We lead as a pack to the same spot or worse again, congregate at the same spot We fail to get any separation which gives our forwards a chance at a one on one contest We fail to have a small front & square of contests – and when we do they’re usually too close to the contest resulting them being tackled immediately on taking possession We fail to lead towards the ball carrier We try to take the back shoulder position on opposing defenders which allows them to control the contest. Rule 101 for forwards has always been play in front. So – to the players. I’m of the view that BBB is pretty much done. Not his fault but his body has packed it in. Watching him at Casey is almost sad. So barring a miracle knee regeneration, I’ve dismissed him from 2023 calculations. Likewise TMac. History shows that he takes a long time to find consistent form post injury & he’s no spring chicken either. JVR has a ton of upside but he desperately needs support from another key forward. Not a ruckman masquerading as a KPF. You can’t rely on pack marks in an area that looks like Myers front door at opening time on Boxing Day. It’s not sustainable. We will kill this kid if we don’t stop asking him to play like the second coming of Doug Wade. He needs to be able to rotate out to CHF and sometimes HFF to get some space and some easier possessions. He also needs to pick his moments and lead rather than being a one trick pony. Petty looks like he’s our best CHB but also our best CHF. He is rarely out marked and can take them as well. He was showing signs of understanding when to work up the ground as a connector before being injured. I’d persevere with he & JVR in the key posts. Max should not come inside 40 from goal unless it’s for a ruck contest. We become too Max-centric when he’s deep & continually dump it on his head. He takes the occasional goal square mark but not enough to justify him being there. He also draws in opposing rucks and defenders, adding further to the cluster…… ANB has his role but he’s heavily flawed. He needs to do the basics well and for most of this season, his skill level has been poor and this undoes all the good work he performs. While he’s important to the way we play, he’s regressing to his old ways of being a chain of possession breaker. His last quarter on KB was superb. We need more of that from him. Spargo had a bright start to the season but has been abysmal post concussion. Casey beckons Chandler is bereft of confidence. Takes an age to make a decision with ball in hand. He also gets lost a lot. I believe his role needs clarifying to assist his positioning and a decent forward coach should be able to do that. In form, there’s a place for him and he can be damaging Kozzie……has been out of form but showed some glimpses tonight. He’s another who needs his role clarified IMO. He’s trying to be too many things. I also think he needs to be released into the midfield when he’s “cold” down forward. He seems to lift the more he is around the ball and he’s one of our best users up the ground. Smith is not a KPF’s backside. Anyone who claims he is on the basis of that pre season game where he kicked 4 clearly has never watched the game, just looked at the stat sheet. Tom Stewart tore him to shreds tonight by exposing his lack of forward craft. That said, he does have some characteristics that could be more than useful if we dispense with the “Spargo” role. I’m one who believes we have too many small forwards. Smith could do worse than to study (can’t believe I’m typing this) Garry Rohan’s game tonight. Smith has some similar attributes that we could build into a role that makes him an aerial threat while making the most of his speed and tackling. Fritta while not without his flaws which many are quick to jump on has been a shining light. How he’s managed to maintain the level of productivity he has in this forward line is remarkable. Love to know what he’d be capable of in a decent set up. For a bloke who could sleep in the shade of a crowbar, he’s asked to do a lot of the heavy lifting. We’ve used a bit more of his delivery inside 50 this season which has been encouraging. I’d like to see him in a 3 way rotation system between the gaol square & the flank with JVR & perhaps Smith. All of our forward woes are fixable and fixable in season. But it’s a bit like having issues with gambling or drinking. You have to admit you have a problem before you can effectively face it and deal with it. We seem to still be in the denial stage. Apologies for the long-winded rant but it’s been bubbling for a few years now. Believe it or not I reduced this by about a third before posting. Don’t know how the likes of Binman & DeeSpencer etc keep pumping out those long posts. This has done me in ! Thought it might be cathartic but I’m probably more hacked off than I was when I started typing !

I'm going to avoid DL for a few days, and footy media too, because it will just irritate me as there will be little, if any consideration of the single most important factor in the loss - fatigue as result of a heavy block of training. If the fatigue from loading is not factored in, any related analysis is of little value to be honest. I said ahead of the game that a win would be a bonus. Predicted a loss actually. And the game played out exactly as i expected it would. I haven't listened to Goody's presser yet, but if he said the effort was good, i'd agree. The effort was really good in the last q too. Why? Because the players were so obviously completely out of gas. Look at the drop off in any relevant stat to see evidence of that - CPs, inside 50, time in forward half, kms run etc etc. But perhaps the most compelling indicator of the impact of fatigue is the pressure ratings, and our incredible drop off in the last quarter (180 is considered AFL average, and 200 elite): Team pressure Quarter For Against 1 183 206 2 224 175 3 214 197 4 163 204 Match 196 196 To only lose by 15 in the end was a really gutsy performance. Compare it to the capitulation by Lions (v Hawks) in their post-match bye when fatigue was also clearly the most critical factor or Freo's shellacking by Giants last week, when fatigue was again the key factor, as it was in their post bye loss to the tigers). Or perhaps a more direct example. Like us last night, the Cats were coming of their bye last week against Port. Meaning, the Cats (who acknowledged last year they copied our approach to loading) had just completed a block of heavy training and were fatigued as a result. Halfway through the second q the Cats had a 20-point lead and were playing a tough, physical brand of football. They started to fade after that point but got to half time with a 7-point lead. In the second half the Cats completely ran out of gas. After half time Port: outscored the Cats by 45 points (11.6.72 to 4.3.27) smashed the Cats at stoppages 26 to 9 scored 6.1.37 to 1.0.6 from stoppages (31 points more from stoppages in a half of footy is nuts - it is only 7 points less than the final margin). Ultimately, after leading at half time, the Cats, who unsurprisingly ran out the game better than us last night, capitulated and ended up losing by six plus goals (38 points). Like the Cats, Lions and Freo, we had zero run in the legs and so could not spread or run in waves to create separation, options up or properly cover the Cats' spread. But unlike the Cats, Lions and Freo we kept grinding and fought hard for every contest. What do people think Scott meant when he said ahead of the game that this was a 'good time' to play the dees? Perhaps some might say he was referencing the bye (because surprise, surprise, every team has lost after the bye, bar the Saints, who beat the Swans - who were coming off a bye. I mean really, what do people think is the cause of teams not being competitive after their bye? Coincidence? A statistical anomaly? Please). Well, yes, he may well have meant that. But not because the bye has some magical, mystical losing quality. But because he knows the dees had gone hard on the track to get their foundation down for September. Which, speaking of Scott, is exactly what he was talking about this time last year when talking about the training program, ours, they had adopted. Scott said if their training program meant they lost games they otherwise might have won, and didn't make the 8 as a result, then so be it - it was a risk worth taking because going hard now is the only way to have a realistic chance of winning the flag. Those comments apply to us - and all other contenders for that matter. Some might push back and say, well you can't win the flag if you don't finish top 4. And that is true (save an outlier result). But it is a calculated gamble. We are no risk of not making the 8, but we could drop out of the top 4. But like Scott's calculation, it is about the best chance of winning a flag not finishing top 4 (by the by, @Stu made an interesting point in the podcast chat room wondering if Hinkley has eschewed loading to the extent other clubs have to maximise their chance of winning individual games and shore up his position). And when assessing the risk, they will have looked at the ladder and our fixture and landed on it being very likely we finish the home and away season top 4. In fact, I'm tipping we won't drop out of the top 4 at point for the rest of the season (we can't go drop out this week thanks to our percentage).

Re Joel Smith-I wasn't sucked in AD. I saw the excellent work he did in the first half with his marks, contesting, knocking on, handballs when the rest of the. team was struggling. He actually showed leadership with his efforts. He was quieter in the second half but one of our better players overall who contested hard all night and was effective. In my view he is a very important player for us.

I don’t think this would have made the difference but I agree it felt wrong. I felt we got a couple of lucky HTB calls early but then throughout the game some critical umpiring decisions went against us: 1. The lack of HTB on Kolodjashnij 30m out from our goal at the start of the 3rd (blatant HTB, horrendously missed) 2. Not calling Chandler’s advantage back (he took the kick a microsecond after the whistle, that gets called back 90% of the time) 3. The “throw” paid against Viney (the umpire had to have guessed, he was blindsided) 4. The lack of HTB on Rohan in the middle of the ground when Petty wrapped him up (another blatant HTB not paid, can’t recall if they scored from that chain though)

I’ve never done a hamstring. I’ve also never run anywhere voluntarily. Hope this helps.

Not going to write of our season but sheesh, we have some concerns! Really believe this one was lost with some bizarre coaching decisions. We have not used a "horses for courses" approach very much over last few years. Players in form should be rewarded by continued selection when they are in good form. Conversely if they are out of form for extended periods, they need to be dropped. Dropping Tomlinson off one of his best games was just flirting with disaster...There were about 10 guys ahead of him that could/should have been dropped before him. !00% this sends wrong message to the entire list about rewarding performance. Not the First time he has been dropped off good performances either. We replace him with Petty after a 6 week lay off? Who by all accounts had just played his best half as a forward before he got injured? We throw Max forward, Petty back and drop Tomlinson who was really starting to gel in the backline. The blueprint on how to beat Tom Stewart was out there from Port the previous week...Yet we did nothing of the sort and let him intercept freely all day long. It is actually gobsmacking how arrogant our coaching department/Goodwin are in these regards. We seem to want to win or lose in our own "unique" way. Just ignore what other teams have done successfully and try and bash them into submission with a gameplan that that is barbaric at best. Our forward line is constantly set up to make the forward 50 some impregnable zone where we just simply are zoning and not trying to win the ball. It is massively flawed and i can see why we don't score currently. It is way too crowded and some players need to work from outside that arc. Throwing Max /Grundy forward just crowds things even more. *insert forwards coach...Why did we not even look at guys like Stevie J when he was available i am not sure. Stafford is a ruck coach that has virtually no clue when it comes to our forward craft. Before it is too late and our season crumbles, i would switch either Yze/Williams to forwards coach, and hopefully tactically we might offer some set ups that look beyond what they currently are...Watched an under 14's game last weekend and seriously they had a vastly superior structure. Coaching department needs to massively step up. Clarity on roles would be a great start! Can't fix it all at once but steps need to be taken.

The second Cameron came off, we needed to thank our lucky stars and swing Petty forward. Instead we did nothing, despite them losing arguably their best player!

One thing I will say is that Geelong held on and scragged our players all night and got away with it. Gawn was manhandled in every ruck contest. They get a bloody good go that mob.

Sex change?

Here we go again… I don’t doubt that these 3 10 day breaks have been peppered with running blocks but can we put that to one side? The genesis of our issue was not that last quarter - it was our inability to construct deep and meaningful forward entries when we were winning the contest and territory. And applying amazing pressure as you note. Like last year - I am ignoring the ‘red herring’ of loading to see if there are broader issues and there are. There just are. We are really not creating good forward entries against good teams and it’s making it harder to capitalise on and score goals.

In retrospect, we can talk all day about the game plan or personnel but the fact remains we had Geelong on the ropes for the best part of 2 quarters and as a result of poor execution and decision making inside 50 throughout that period failed to put them away, or at least keep them at arms reach on the scoreboard going into the final quarter. Kudos to the Cats for taking the initiative where we couldn't and cut through our press in the last with a combination of precise field kicking and the will to just move the ball forward at speed that left us hopelessly exposed at the back. As a defender I'd be pulling my hair out. As bad as we are around goal at the moment last night was also about a failure to stop them exiting our forward line with the ball. If we had at least done that it would have made for an arm wrestle until the end. The game was effectively over though as soon as they slammed on the first four goals of that final quarter.

Perhaps, what could have worked, is putting a key tall on Stewart, with a lot of defensive experience, who could take some marks and stop Stewart freely intercepting the ball..... if only we had such a player available...

I strongly dislike (hate) how we say things like "that wasn't the Melbourne way" and "we need to get the game on our terms". Goody says this sort of thing all the time , the players say it and we the supporters say it. It's most parts rubbish. Do you think Scott goes into the rooms after the game and says "gee how lucky were we, Melbourne didn't play the Melbourne way tonight." True pressure came on and we crumbled. Is ANB fumbling the "Melbourne way?" It certainly seems to be the ANB way. ANB is now a player who doesn't really want the ball anymore. He'd rather wait till his opponent picks it up and then tackle them. His 1 wood is tackling. Forward line pressure. All very well but how about we create goals rather than stoppages. He needs to be a player in his own right, not just some bit part player deferring to the "stars" of our side. Playing a role. Bad coaching. He could be so much better. Some of these "role" players need to be given more responsibilty. You be the man. Stop relying on others. We are going nowhere.

Our forwards play like defenders. Waiting for it to come in and then impacting rather then making the movement themselves. It stinks

I want to know why our big forwards, and our small forwards never make a lead. They all wait in a 12-man pack for someone to bomb it in. I saw Hawkins ( was it Rohan?) take a mark on a lead that must have started before the kicker even had possession. Not even Max can reliably take marks down forward when he's in a 12-man pack. We need more movement in the F50 when we have the ball.

The last quarter was horrendous in almost every respect. Very little to redeem from it. But we lost this game in the middle two quarters. We dominated general play and had plenty of inside 50s against a side who has been poor all season at conceding scores from inside 50s. But the story of our season, and for too long under Goodwin, remains - we are too efficient in our forward half. We blew chance after chance and honestly should have been 4 goals up at three quarter time. Don’t get me wrong, the last quarter was a disaster, but we should have had enough of a lead to hold them off. We also got really unlucky with some crucial frees and their accuracy but it never should have come to that. Selection was wrong. Spargo was a terrible choice for a sub. Petty wasn’t ready for AFL level football and shouldn’t have played. Smith isn’t a forward and we got burnt by his inability to contest the ball repeatedly. McVee was great again, Viney a warrior, Rivers is improving weekly and Salem strong all night. But in wet weather we get far too fumbly and players who struggle in the dry (ANB, Langdon, Gawn) lose all ball handling ability. We will blow our chances this season if we don’t sort out our goal kicking and general forward half efficiency.

Bowey playing for Casey, when we can’t hit a target, is a criminal offense.

I am just watching Munro’s stats grow what a champion VFL player he is.!!!

@binman I only really have one reservation about the voracity of your suggestion of loading fatigue. Had we been playing on a 5-6 day turnaround I might give it more heed. But we weren't. We had 10 days. Sorry...not really buying it.

We swung Petty with 5 minutes to go in the last. Absolute panic station from Goodwin once again when the game was pretty much out of reach. Incredibly slow to react to the situation is Goody.

I don't like to see the shoosh anytime. Just don't do it should be the instruction Getting your mind on your role should be the message. Over-celebrating makes me cringe Must be a millennium thing

One of the rare times i didn't see the ins/outs spending a night in hospital. I recovered in time to watch the match and was stunned when i saw Spargo getting his gear off coming on as the sub. I figured he was dropped completely from the team after last weeks horribilis. Goodwin apparently unable to read the "in form / out-of form" tea leaves and play the right cards in terms of time needed at Casey and giving others from there (who are in good form) a chance. Wrong type of player to impact as sub regardless. One of the worst selection moves in a long while. Harmes or even Woe may have had more impact.

Why did Goodwin go to all the trouble of playing Petty up fwd for so long and just chuck it in after he actually played his best game in that capacity and especially while Thommo was doing so well? Doesn't add up.

You know what also isn't tolerated in wet weather in suburban footy, over handballing. Look at the kicks to handball ratios of both teams and then look at who won. We tried to play dry footy in the wet and we have lost all 4 wet games and one very humid wet ball one. Dumb coaching or footballers or both.

The amount of times we kicked the ball on top of Kozzies head when he had a much taller opponent on him was ridiculously stupid

Couldn’t hit a target but couldn’t find a spot for Bowey in the side. I literally do not understand why we are being so cute with the team setup All bloody season Goodwin said we wanted Petty tried forward. He has a great game against the Hawks and gets injured. Tomlinson comes in and plays a pivotal role and we have our best defensive fortnight of the season. Petty is declared fit and is immediately sent back at the expense of Tomlinson, leaving Joel Smith and a fetus to play on Tom Stewart. The mind boggles.

Isn’t every one just thrilled that we gave up a home game to travel interstate? Geelong got momentum from their crowd and played to their strengths at home. We gave this game up. I absolutely hate it. Melbourne homes games at the G only. If we want to be taken seriously start acting that way.

No words for how badly we performed tonight. Cats without Dangerfield and Guthrie and lose Cameron in the first few minutes, and we just go on to play some of the dumbest, softest football we’ve dished up all year. We absolutely should not have dropped Tomlinson for Petty who was totally underdone. We needed someone to drag Stewart away from the contest, but instead we went too small and nobody was able to stop him intercepting. Spargo was a terrible choice of sub, not to mention that subbing him off for Jordon was just idiotic. Infuriating garbage.

This is the equivalent of saying could Melksham come in for Steven May.

Benny Brown is on fire bring him in! Bowey too good for the VFL Tomlinson, Turner and Harmes playing well.

Ben Brown dominating taking a few big clunks

Quarter Time Casey 4.3.27 to Geelong 1.3.9 Goals Brown Laurie Schache White

And the poor umpiring continues with Bowey penalised with a "push in the back" which clearly wasn't and in fact should have been rewarded for holding the ball.

You dont want to particularly pot one bloke or one event... but that epitomised and summed up last night.

That's right and we can only cover for Oliver for so long before his absence gets exploited

Clarrie clears the contests with the first disposal which makes us look quick and move it quick. Sparrow does it occasionally, Trac too but Clarrie does it a lot.

We really missed Oliver last night after Viney was so very good against the Pies And Oliver is a real last quarter crunch-time player ... he plays and we're at least closer Can't have an elite player like him out for too long as when you play the better teams they will exploit his absence The unanswered question is why Kozzie isn't being used in the middle for that x-factor or to just change things up. Get him into the play to get his numbers up I say. Just hands on the ball with a receive-and-go would help

Fritsch cleared of the tackle. All good for Sunday week.

There's no care in this team. No selfless footy like in 2021. Gawn was being monstered and no one went to assist. Stanley simply went to stop Max and didn't care about his own game. Viney was pushed while on the ground injured. No one went to assist Tracc was being held all night and no one tried to break his tag. May was a shadow of his best Not sure who was on Rohan but again he pops up to tear us a new one. Thommo would have been perfect. I like Petty as a player but he was underdone, not up to the pace and comprehensively beaten Thommo was be furious he was dropped and I agree with him. Brayshaw the Butcher should be his new name. Has plenty of tickets on his ability. Needs to get his ego out of his game. He is not that skilled. But the worst was the absolute butchering of the ball and trying to play dry weather football. The insane short handballs to a stationary target. Over and over again. And Fritsch? needs to be dropped and learn how to play selfless footy again. Zero awareness of whats around him Tries to do it all himself. Geelong defended as a group very well and schooled us. They always had a player back and ran/overlapped well. One of Goodwins worst ever performances as a coach. Again against Scott. They clearly didn't watch last year's game nor how Port smashed them with dare through the middle. Kicked 33 points the last two games. WTF is that? You are paid professionals FFS This group frustrates the hell out of me. Great performance against the Pies. And then this shiite on prime time TV.

I have expanded the range of information included in the stats files updates, which now include Key Team Stats, pressure for all players (including their season average), and scores from the region where chains started. All except the data sourced from the Herald Sun has now been automated, so let me know if additional information can be included or if anything is unclear. Looking at the score sources for last night - Geelong scored 19 points to 1 from chains starting in defensive 50 (13-1 from turnovers), and 20 points to 2 from chains starting in the centre/corridor (18-1 from turnovers). A total of 39 points to 3 - Melbourne average 37.3 points to 24.9 from these locations this season. Melbourne concede 5.8 points on average from turnovers in the centre and 5.4 points from turnovers in our opponents' defensive 50.

You know you are watching Melbourne play when: - the coach picks the same tired, old players each week, regardless of how underdone or out of form they are, and ignores those who are performing in the VFL. - the sub is a one position midget who is totally unable to impact the game (on an unrelated issue, well done to Charlie Spargo for achieving negative metres gained in his 21% game time). - the goal kicking accuracy is south of 40%. - the team lines up with 175cm players across the half forward line, all manned by opponents 10cm taller. - (excluding Fritsch), no forwards lead at the ball carrier and all play from behind. - the team would prefer to have 8 handpasses sideways and backwards before snapping under pressure, rather than kicking at goal at the first opportunity. - both wingers are midgets who struggle to kick over a jam jar. - players call for one metre handpasses, even when under pressure and facing away from goal, instead of making a shepherd or block to release a teammate. - the captain spends more time on the ground pleading for free kicks than attacking the football. - two supposedly elite ruckmen tap the ball to anywhere other than their teammates at centre bounces. - centre clearances, as rare as they are, travel further upwards than forwards. - the wetter the conditions, the more team wants to handpass in circles whilst the opposition kicks off the ground and moves the ball forward any way possible. - defenders refuse to guard the opposition goal square. - kick outs go to the same area of the ground 95% of the time. - the side collapses when put under any sort of pressure in the final quarter.

Melbourne v Geelong (Round 15, 2023) https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20231501 Key Team Stats Stats highlighted purple were won by Melbourne. Stat For Against Diff Disposal Efficiency 66.6 61.7 +4.9 Kicking Efficiency 58.5 53.2 +5.3 Metres Gained 6206 6104 +102 Inside 50s 52 53 -1 Shots At Goal 22 26 -4 Shots Per Inside 50 42.3 49.1 -6.7 Contested Possessions 160 149 +11 Ground Ball Gets 106 104 +2 Intercepts 91 96 -5 Intercept Marks 23 19 +4 Centre Clearances 9 11 -2 Stoppage Clearances 38 24 +14 Contested Marks 10 12 -2 Marks Inside 50 8 12 -4 Hitouts 47 31 +16 Hitouts To Advantage 14 4 +10 Tackles 75 70 +5 Tackles Inside 50 19 8 +11 Def One On One Loss % 20.0 5.6 +14.4 Pressure Team pressure Quarter For Against 1 183 206 2 224 175 3 214 197 4 163 204 Match 196 196 Source: Herald Sun Most Pressure Points Note: pressure points are the weighed sum of pressure acts. Physical pressure acts are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. ( https://www.championdata.com/glossary/afl/ ) Player Pressure Acts Pressure Points Season Average* Christian Petracca 24 62 50.0 Jack Viney 23 54 52.8 Alex Neal-Bullen 20 51 49.1 Ed Langdon 26 50 28.2 Angus Brayshaw 24 50 26.6 Kysaiah Pickett 18 44 41.7 Christian Salem 20 39 31.8 Kade Chandler 17 37 32.7 Bayley Fritsch 15 37 20.4 Tom Sparrow 15 33 45.3 Lachie Hunter 14 32 23.5 Joel Smith 12 31 22.7 James Jordon 13 30 18.7 Trent Rivers 13 28 24.1 Judd McVee 12 26 19.4 Max Gawn 9 23 22.5 Jacob van Rooyen 10 22 24.8 Steven May 8 20 14.2 Harrison Petty 7 18 21.2 Michael Hibberd 6 16 12.2 Brodie Grundy 5 11 26.9 Charlie Spargo 4 9 23.9 Jake Lever 4 7 12.6 * Pressure points for rounds 4 and 6 have not been able to be sourced from the Herald Sun. Pressure points for these matches have been estimated from the number of pressure acts for each player. Source: Herald Sun Time in Forward Half Quarter For Against 1 42% 58% 2 67% 33% 3 50% 50% 4 50% 50% Match 55% 45% Source: Match total sourced from the Herald Sun; quarterly values are my own calculations. Score Sources Summary Score sources highlighted purple were won by Melbourne. Category For Against Diff G B T G B T Kick-in 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 Centre Bounce 0 1 1 0 2 2 -1 Stoppage (Other) 4 6 30 3 1 19 +11 Turnover 4 8 32 8 9 57 -25 Category For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in 0 3.1 0 2.8 Centre Bounce 1 11.1 2 7.6 Stoppage (Other) 30 22.6 19 22.8 Turnover 32 56.1 57 39.3 Chain start region Note: region is from the scoring team's perspective. Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Geelong. Category Region For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in D50 0 3.1 0 2.8 Centre Bounce Centre 1 11.1 2 7.6 Stoppage (Other) D50 0 0.4 6 2.3 Stoppage (Other) Centre 0 2.9 0 1.0 Stoppage (Other) Wing 19 11.3 7 6.6 Stoppage (Other) F50 11 7.9 6 12.9 Turnover D50 1 10.9 13 5.4 Turnover Centre 1 8.8 18 5.8 Turnover Wing 28 30.1 16 19.9 Turnover F50 2 6.3 10 8.2 Region For Against Match Season Match Season Centre 2 22.8 20 14.4 D50 1 14.5 19 10.5 F50 13 14.2 16 21.1 Wing 47 41.4 23 26.5 Shots at goal Team Shots G B T Acc. General Play Melbourne 14 4 8 32 28.6 Geelong 12 5 6 36 41.7 Set Position Melbourne 8 4 2 26 50.0 Geelong 14 6 4 40 42.9 Centre Bounce Attendances CBAs CBA % 2023 % 2022 % Jack Viney 20 87 68.5 74.6 Christian Petracca 20 87 65.9 74.6 Max Gawn 15 65 47.0 65.5 Angus Brayshaw 13 57 16.1 16.0 Tom Sparrow 12 52 47.8 32.2 Brodie Grundy 8 35 57.1 83.7 James Jordon 3 13 19.0 0.2 Trent Rivers 1 4 4.5 0.0 Kysaiah Pickett 0 0 12.9 1.3 Jacob van Rooyen 0 0 5.3 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 3.7 3.5 Harrison Petty 0 0 1.2 0.0 Clayton Oliver 82.8 86.5 James Harmes 28.7 14.6 Tom McDonald 5.4 0.0 Josh Schache 0.0 13.8 Ruck Contests and Hitouts Ruck Contests Ruck Contests RC % 2023 % 2022 % Max Gawn 48 45 43.1 57.8 Brodie Grundy 42 40 50.5 77.4 Jacob van Rooyen 15 14 9.6 Steven May 1 1 0.1 0.0 Harrison Petty 0 0 2.7 0.0 Christian Petracca 0 0 0.1 0.1 Tom McDonald 8.9 7.0 Josh Schache 6.7 13.4 Ben Brown 3.8 3.6 Clayton Oliver 0.0 0.0 Hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. To Adv. % (2023) To Adv. % (2022) Max Gawn 48 23 8 31.4 33.6 Brodie Grundy 42 19 5 32.8 30.2 Jacob van Rooyen 15 5 1 16.7 Harrison Petty 0 0 0 22.2 Tom McDonald 25.0 33.3 Ben Brown 0.0 14.3 Josh Schache 33.3 Opposition hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. Rhys Stanley 85 26 3 Mark Blicavs 12 3 1 Tom Hawkins 9 2 0

Petracca's worst game for the year. Can't believe you could say it was an elite performance.

I like your post ADD. It has a refreshing tone, empathy, sarcasm and a cool sledge on the worst AFL stadium in Australia. I was at the game tonight and witnessed our Dees get error-pounced once again by the Cats with their predictable slingshot football feasting on fumbles by our team in the last quarter. Spent $50 to stand in A10 for the privilege. What a joke! I've just completed the 2 hour drive home, and agree with everything you've posted except for one thing. I think Melbourne will definitely play Geelong again next year at GMABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZHBA stadium. I believe this because history says so. Last year Melbourne played Geelong at Geelong. This year Geelong should have played Melbourne at the MCG - that would have been only fair. But no. Two years in a row, Melbourne plays Geelong at Geelong. At a ground that's undergoing major reconstruction that can't cater for seating or parking for members and supporters of both clubs due to the constructions works. Many people missed out on seeing the game live tonight. It beggars belief that the MCG was free tonight and the game was held still held in Geelong. Why wasn't tonight's game held at the MCG? Since 2000, why has Melbourne played 19 times at GMABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZHBA stadium? The following teams have played far fewer games at this substandard venue: Collingwood (0), Essendon (1), Hawthorn (3), Carlton (3). Geelong's superior attendance in finals this century might just be explained with their receipt of a favourable draw: Doesn't the above table show that Geelong has been given a fix? But other than that ADD, I agree with everything you posted. Go Dees, we'll get them in the finals, again.

Well that's top 2 done and dusted, as much as the loss sucked dog appendage, lets be honest we aren't playing at this ground come finals time. Its all about finishing in the top 4 rather play at the G but Adelaide Oval should hold no fear. Port will be under truck loads of pressure. The last quarter fade out was very surprising hoping its an aberration to their credit Ferals were more desperate and smarter around the ground. Not throwing out all the toys from the cot just yet, plenty of footy to play but we don't play well in the wet that's for damn sure.

Thought we had them at the start to the 4th. Then with all those entries we didn't score. The press didn't work, and they left the area without pressure once they were able to find space and go quickly. Tracc was distracted by being manhandled. Needs to ignore them and just go harder. Spargs made zero impact when he came on, JJ is being wasted. Too many handballs on a wet night. Why do so many of our players come in and out of the game? A few missed tackles cost us. We can't allow the other to get so many smothers, a bit of shimmy and some stepping would help. Had times when we created an open forward area, but couldn't win the one on one's. The Cats killed us with defensive marks, and we couldn't handle the slippery ball or take our own marks. What's happened to Chandlers kicking? Where is our poise, thought we panicked too many times. Our defence was great in the first half, but without the forwards taking the opportunities and holding the ball in, they ran out of steam by the 4th quarter. How did our mids not dominate them?

My gut from hearing Richardson pre-game is that Oliver won’t be ready. I’d drop Petty and send him to Casey to find form. I disliked the decision to bring him in for Tomlinson when it was announced and the more I think about it the more I hate it. We’d seemingly settled on him as a forward, he then doesn’t play football at all for 6 weeks, and then we decide not only to insert him straight back in off no prep against Geelong in Geelong, but to do so in defence when we were coming off one of our best defensive games all year, forcing us to drop Tomlinson after his best game in years. Never ever play Spargo as the sub again (nor any other small forward). Midfielders or utilities only. It shouldn’t even need to be said. Spargo was bad anyway, and shouldn’t come back into the 22. Smith was good in the first half but a major problem in the second half when he routinely failed to stop Stewart from marking. Must lift, but I’m not at all confident he has the ability. I want Rivers in the middle permanently and Bowey into the backline. Rivers takes Jordon’s spot.

The team selections was the start of a bizarre domino effect. Selecting a completely underdone Petty who's missed 6 weeks of footy and not made to go through the VFL over an in form player in Adam Tomlinson is an absolute disgrace. This selection completely stifled our defence which has looked it's best the last few weeks. Not only that, we keep a very vanilla player in James Jordon who btw has hopefully played his last game for the dees (needs to look elsewhere) in the team over Jake Bowey who would have added speed, kicking skills and metre gain in the wet. To make matters worse, he selects Charlie [censored] Spargo as a sub who was absolutely ineffective. The role of the sub is to use your players that come in and make a significant impact, not select slow midget small forwards. Why does Goodwin feel he needs to play the same players every single week when they're either badly out of form or not made to earn their spot? This is deja vu from last year. Playing the same boring soliders once again and not rewarding form. Onto the game: The forward set up tonight was an absolute mess. We reverted back to our old ways of just bombing it onto the heads of Pickett, Chandler and ANB who were playing on much taller defenders. We had no tall forward as last get out kick. I'm done with Stafford, he needs to go. We tried to play too cute in the wet. I was tearing my hair put that we were trying all these Hollywood handballs whilst Geelong played the percentages and just got the ball forward as quick as possible. Our ball movement was incredibly slow in wet conditions. I love Hibberd, but lets be realistic, he got taught a lesson by Gary [censored] Rohan.. thanks Hibbo, but retirement is coming your way at the end of the year. Brayshaw is a turnover slob ANB is a 🥔 in the wet and high pressured games. Just handed all the momentum to them on a platter. Very disappointing performance. They were missing Dangerfield, Cameron and Guthrie and we still could beat them.

If I was the president I’d be asking our football department what experienced forward line coach we need to bring in. Things have to change in the footy department I think. Our forward line connection has been a problem in 4 of the last 5 seasons - yet we have one of the best midfields. We need someone who values skill and forward craft, as it’ll put pressure on the rest of the football department to buy into the value of execution. We have to compete way too hard to score.