Leaderboard

Watched the Melb bit on The round so far on afl app and they show behind the goal vision of the Melksham mark and what is brilliant about it is Langdon comes down into nearly the goal square making Gunston man him up which meant no spare defender for the Lions. Huge non stat play.

Death Riders Returning from a Successful Weekend of Death Riding

The footy industry is brutal, so many entitled people out there all too happy to ignore the fact that AFL footballers are human too. There are a lot of examples of players coming out of the system quite damaged as a result of constant criticism with no way of escaping it. I like Weideman and I hope things turn for him.

It’s all about the frames of reference isn’t it? He’s actually an incredibly talented footballer. To play 75 games of AFL footy you have to be. I know people who were extraordinary talented as juniors and were in National representative teams, who ended up on lists and never played a game. If he’s the kind of person who enjoys the process and the battle then it doesn’t really matter what the outside world thinks. If he’s the kind of person who is prone to view things through the prism of other people’s expectations, and evaluate himself against that, then that’s a really hard spot to be in. Interestingly this is true for all of us. You can always be a failure or a success. It’s how you frame it for yourself that defines it. The sad reality is that a lot of the criticism would come from people who actually don’t achieve much in life. Once you’ve climbed a mountain you usually have a lot of respect for the mountain itself, and the other climbers. It’s easy to sit in Basecamp and think ‘I could do that, and those climbers are all doing it wrong’.

I rarely respond to anyone who wishes to rebuke or disagree with me, however ‘Bobby’, (who is a regular negative responder) your stupid comments about my apparent preconceived opinions require a response. I almost always forward my weekly reviews of the game within an hour of the final siren.. living close to the G affords me this opportunity… I don’t wait for ages to ‘get the feel of the room’ to ensure I get positive responses As such, I rarely avail myself of statistical lists, which some others regard as the ultimate assessment. I have no biases against or for any players (apart from Dom Tyson ) and my responses are based purely and solely on gut feel and observations. I do not claim to be an expert or infallible, and I can accept it when my opinions are dismissed, however they are only my personal opinions , as indicated by the masthead each week , and as such I’m entitled to write whatever I wish. Everyone has the choice to agree or disagree with my musings, but rather than make spurious comments about my analyses, others are quite welcome to put me on ‘block’ or offer 3 worded alternatives. Hopefully most D’Landers enjoy or are entertained by my weekly offerings, and I will continue to post them, win , lose , or draw.

How good are weekends when you win on a Friday night?

Peter Wright says hello to all the doubters that say ruckmen can’t play forward. The Pies Cox also gives a big hi. Charlie Dixon also sends greetings. Luke Jackson joins in. Ben McEvoy often played forward scoring goals. Just as a few examples. But then Damien Barrett says it can’t happen and Sunday panel agree, so it can’t then.

Pleasing that Brisbane's much vaunted midfield was comprehensively beaten by Gawn, Brayshaw, Viney and Jordon. Clearances +12 Contested possies +21 We have Petracca and Oliver in reserve.

Quite right Jaded and well said. I actually know his Dad and I can tell you they are a super giving family (still help out the younger teams down at Vermont Eagles) and all round nice people. Sam is a very well mannered and humble young man and any of us would be proud of the person he is if he was our son.

It doesn’t matter if he’s a star or bog ordinary, nobody, and I mean nobody, deserves to be personally abused. It was awful when Melbourne supporters did it, and nothing has changed now that Essendon supporters are doing it. People need to take a good hard look at themselves. If that was your kid copping this garbage, you’d be disgusted and heartbroken. Sam has always done his best. Football is a damn hard industry and not everyone succeeds. But most people don’t have the talent or the guts to even try. Those that do deserve the basic level of respect from the fat losers in the stands.

Rachele out, 2 weeks.

Given what we all had to endure from Tom Morris last year I’m still shocked anyone wants him on their payroll.

We look better with BBB up fwd. I thought we were going to be cooked if we were relying on him after last year's fade out but he gives us a target, understands fwd craft, is hard to match up on and can kick straight. He often leads a long way up the ground as well which gives us a chop out,. Our crumbers work better with him down there.

That first ten minutes was so heartening. If he can keep getting back up each week - he doesn’t come out of the side IMV.

[censored] Rivers was determined in that play, rolling through the Brisbane players like tenpins 👏, evasive run and superb delivery, just brilliant.

Just watched it Gorg, stuff that doesn’t get seen or noticed at the time. Brilliant by Lingers and you can see Gunston pointing to get someone else to come down to man up on Langdon so he can go loose again.

Nah it's a ripper.

No need to troll buddy we know your hurting!

Agree. Still looks a little underdone, but if he can get up to full rat power he will be an even more critical cog in the machine. The other thing about BB, with his height and forward smarts, opponents can't really risk putting part time or medium defender on him, meaning they have to send one of their best tall defenders to him.

Unfortunately the Bombers fans are turning on him already. Jeers. Laughter. Oh no moments. Even the sharp new haircut hasn’t helped. He’s goalkicking has gotten worse imv. He’s a great young man. You couldn’t wish to meet a nicer bloke. I hope he can put together a few more improved efforts to show he’s capable (even if it’s in red and black ).

Just pointing out without Track and Oliver, in the middle lesser lights JJ, Sparrow with Brayshaw and Viney are getting the job done.

🫣 😲 🤭

Excellent point jnr. A real upside of Oliver's injury is the extra minutes and responsibility JJ and sparrow have got in the middle. Also means when Oliver does come back JJ and Sparrow are in great nick. Can only help at the pointy end - and creates options for Goody. For example, if they run a hard tag on Oliver, he can sacrifice his game and drag the tag away from the contest, or go forward if need be, and JJ and Sparrow can pick up the slack. And as we have seen already, also gives Goody much more flexibility in how he uses tracc in terms of his mid forward mix (by the by, hard not to love tracc as as a forward - in part because i love his emotion when he kicks goals. It really pumped up the energy of the crowd on Frida night).

Don't forget Melk's Carlton game last year when he took an enormous pack mark against 4 Blues and kicked a goal with 2min left. Gets forgotten because of Kozzie's miracle goal a minute later to win the match.

Interesting tidbit from TMac on 3AW was the group have been going through vision of their entries into the forward line so amongst the myriad of issues we have been dealing with we can confirm that connection forward was one of them.

The way that we won is the kind of thing that can inject that elusive and unquantifiable factor that makes success happen. The self belief that we will win can’t be artificially created any way other than on the field, as Jack, Jake, Trent, Max, etc. showed us on Friday night. That feels profound, as did our last round win in 2021.

Zane Duursma has shut up his detractors in this game with three goals all in the third term. Vic Country blitzing Vic Metro after trailing by 2 points at half time. They’re now 41 points up.

That’s goal of the year for mine. He willed that through, no fluke kick or boundary ace just simply guts and will. Best goal I’ve ever seen.

After thinking about it imo Vineys goal is the best one of the game for me. His strength in the contest against a much bigger and stronger player, his will to get the ball and determination to kick for goal was enormous in the context of the match. He may not always hit targets by foot but bloody hell I love him and am so grateful he is on our side.

He's had to unfortunately delete his instagram account again (did this back in 2019). Starting to question whether Scott is doing the right thing for his mental health simply by playing him when he's horribly out of form. I also do worry if AFL footy is for him. We know once he drops his head that's it for him and he struggles to fight his way out of it. Saw some pretty horrible and personal comments last night from Bombers supporters on social media directed at Weideman. Needs a good 4 weeks at VFL level just to get back enjoying footy again because on observation last night he's not enjoying it one bit.

I agree 100% re Spargos delivery. Am on record for praising it. Always finds a player. The issue for me is he's not getting the ball enough and struggles to kick a set shot more than 35 at present. Would love to see him lift.

One thing you notice from the replay is what a good job Jordon generally did on Neale.

Petty out Tomlinson in Petty is clearly not right and has been subbed off injured two weeks running. Tomlinson had a career best game before being dropped and has been slaughtering it in the VFL.

We need him. As much as we may ponder if the experience has worked or not, Grundy was instrumental in keeping our season alive when Max was out for a good chunk of change. Not a bad reserve ruck at a minimum. Truth be told we really have no serious spare in development so keeping Grundy is a must. Also we can't afford to play Max exclusively on the ruck role without running him into the ground. Grundy certainly has a part to play. It's simply a question of how much and where.

I don’t see Grundy at another club next year. At this stage if Max went down, who replaces him, competently? I am convinced the Max who played on Friday was a far fresher Max than the same time last year. If nothing else Grundy is the major reason for that. He rucked alone when Max was injured, earlier in the season. Schache consistently gets goals at VFL level, but disappoints at AFL level and if Goody saw the pulling out of marking contests in the VFL, in several games I have seen, his cards would be marked, “only pick as last resort “.

Small Herald sun write up on Grundy in the VFL scratch match also states “Chandler starred”. He was quality the prior week at VFL as well and I think he offers a more rounded role in our forward set up than Spargo.

Of ‘forward craft’ is what he is learning - then he has no hope of replicating what BBB gives us. If Gawn wants to make this work, great. But he is the one who has to spend more time forward and be better leading up at the footy, and leading in the right spots. As a forward myself, a former forward coach - I don’t think there is a enough placed on having actual forwards who know what they are doing down there. Hopefully this changes that

Isn’t it lovely to see a big Melbourne club get pantsed down at kardinia park

Doug Bigelow the former Bomber and ABC commentator when describing the great Robbie went with 'Flower Supreme' many moons ago Amongst my circle, the comment stuck And what we saw from Rivers was quintessential Robbie Flower ... exalted company Dash, dare and the driving kick forward. Magnificent

If you reckon the ruck position is overrated imagine what would happen to our game plan, largely built on contest and stoppage, if we had no ruck? It’s not just about the 2 players, it’s about the way we play. We set up to play this way based on a dominant ruck (Gawn), or at worst a ruck that can compete and change the way we look (Jackson). When Jackson left we backed in our system to stay the same and to make us competitive, and got the best replacement. We are 4th, even though we’ve missed our best stoppage (and most important) player the last 5 weeks. Theres so much upside to getting Brodie - to the consistency of our game style, extending Max’s career, and providing coverage. Also Brodie is a quality, knowledgeable footballer, and that offers us a lot behind closed doors.

Need to share this on Twitter for the clowns who are obsessed with our attendance figures. Without fail there are tweets about our supporters not showing up and/or MFC not “deserving” prime time games because of our attendance.

When Rivers did those runs through the center I had a flashback to Steven febey

I think we're not in an ideal situation, we need Brodie for a proper chop out for Max so he can deliver excellence, but it's true that as @rpfc says, forward craft is an art and Brodie (or Max) is not going to learn what BBB knows about it in 3 weeks. The fact that BBB is past his prime and TMac is injured, closes the difference between them and Brodie forward. It's a compromise either way, but I think we're better with a firing Maxy at the pointy end. Having Brodie will also help JVR because he won't have to ruck and therefore can be fresher and add more forward.

Listening to a couple of player interviews today was good. Lever said on 3aw he mentioned staying calm when we were behind and when Melksham took that mark he knew how much he'd been working on his goal kicking & backed him to kick it. But lever said he closed his eyes and listened to the crowd reaction to see if it was a goal. On that last play he said he tried to spoil but somehow it ended up in his arms. Said it was either a mark or free kick. Gawn on ABC said he didn't get to sleep until 4am then at 6 got woken up by his son then had to do Auskick clinics. Still wants him and Grundy to work & mentioned how happy he was to see melky kick that goal. Laugh how the players call him melky.

So, the crowd figure last night was a H & A record between us and the Lions.

I’m watching the replay. Jack Viney’s goal was even better on TV. His willpower is unbelievable.

I don’t pay any attention to him. I don’t pay much attention to anyone in the media for that matter.