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If the 5-6 weeks being rumoured is correct, that’s an enormous win, could just as easily have ruptured ankle medial ligament, inferior tibio-fibular syndesmosis, or fracture (the things I was worried about). The way he injured it, with the ankle in dorsiflexion, meaning toes toward knee, is very unlikely to cause a Lisfranc disruption. It almost always occurs with foot in plantarflexion (ballerina ‘point’ direction). As a dweeby aside, the Lisfranc injury is named after Napoleon’s cavalry head honcho, Générale Lisfranc, who reported the injury occurring commonly to soldiers who were knocked off their horse, only to have a foot locked in the stirrup in forced plantarflexion. Ouchy. Too much nerdy-know? Not if you want to win your next pub trivia night!

The vitriol being aimed at Sparrow is completely uncalled for.

Mid foot injury scans confirmed, Surgery tomorrow, 5 weeks out, Grundy with a week to show his wares before Fritta is ready. Potential for Smith to go back forward also.

Anyone genuinely angry at Sparrow for “causing” this injury is as sharp as a beanbag.

There is no point thinking like that. We play a contact sport. He could have done this injury from a bullet pass that lands on his chest and McKay falls on him trying to defend it and his foot is caught underneath. He did a similar injury going for a mark against the Hawks.

Kozzie Pickett has only ever kicked four goals against the Blues, but I doubt many Carlton fans would take solace in such a stat. If he manages ten more goals over the next five 'guaranteed' MFC matches in 2023, he'll be just five shy of the half-way mark of Cyril Rioli's career tally, who took until his eighth season to kick 40-plus and only achieved the feat twice. Eddie Betts and Charlie Cameron notched their first 40-plus seasons in their sixth go-around. Kozzie will likely have done so three times in his first four seasons.

Also, if I could mention Jack Viney again. This bloke used to be a bull in a china shop/ throw everything and anything at getting the ball, but he has become so meticulous and composed at what he is doing now it's not funny. Jack has evolved over the last 10 weeks into a genuine ball-winning machine, that always puts his teammates into attacking positions after he releases it every time. The pressure was on this father/son from the time he walked into the club, and we are now seeing a matured man who knows how to get stuff done.

only the greeks knew how to dress soldiers

Sparrow made a mistake in a game of footy. Key player in Bang. Bang. Bang! Best 90 seconds of footy I’ve seen in 59 years. Some forget quickly.

Thanks to this podcast I have been able to observe games and players through a different lens and I usually would have watched Melksham's game this week and just dismissed it as being a standard Melksham low possession, no goal game and would probably screaming for his head. You guys have helped me understand specific roles that certain players, let's call them role players, have in the side. Case in point the incredible Melk. You have opened my eyes to seeing that Jake is the perfect player to play a defensive forward role on key defensive players like he did with Andrews a few weeks back. This week he was playing on Aidan Corr who plays a very similar role to Andrews. In the past 5 weeks Corr has racked up 15, 12, 27, 21 & 18 disposals, had 5, 4, 9, 4 & 8 Intercept Possessions and racked up 344, 373, 369, 446, 535 meters gained. Melky has held Corr accountable this week keeping him to a 6 week low of 10 possessions, 3 intercepts and 239 meters gained. On top of that he had a season high 5 tackles all whilst being mauled at every contest without receiving a free kick and most importantly without getting frustrated about it and having it affect his game.

We'll beat the blues - and jimmy will be all like: 'Typical comments from the blue and red colored glasses, happy clapper brigade. I mean get real. Of course we beat the blues - they had their two best mids and a key interceptor out. And yes Melbourne won by 5 goals, but with their outs and the injury to Cripps in the last 30 seconds of the game, a real contender would have thrashed them by 10 goals. I mean the signs are clear, Melbourne pick and choose and again only played a quarter of good football - that's not going to cut it against the Pi...., i mean Po.., i mean the Li..., i mean the Dogs, who unlike Melbourne are timing their run to perfection. Yes, yes, I know Melbourne have now won six games on end, but I simply can't get my head around why people are so confident Melbourne will beat the Hawks and the Swans. And please, I'm not being disingenuous, negative for being negative sakes, contrarian or trying to wind anyone up. Unlike most posters, I'm simply being objective, clear eyed and realistic. As I have predicted for weeks, I am confident Melbourne will lose three, sorry i mean two, of their final games. Nothing I have seen in the past few weeks has given me any reason to adjust that assessment. The Hawks showed the level they can play at with their win against the Pies. Who by the by just had an off day - all teams have them. The Pies are a great team as evidenced by their incredible record going back to their one point loss in the 2018 GF, three really clever rebuilding years at the bottom of the ladder under Buckley, then their narrow losses in finals last season to the Premiers and the rampaging Swans. And the Pies have an inspiring coach who actually knows how to motivate. Any team that can beat the Pies, even on an off day, is a huge chance to beat Melbourne. And don't start me on the bookies odds - yes Melbourne are clear favorites to win the flag now but that's just a reflection of the ladder, not form. And on the ladder, the ladder doesn't lie. Well, except when it does - often it papers over cracks or simply flatters. Whilst Melbourne are second with only two rounds to go in the season, only the most blindly optimistic posters will take solace in that. And besides they won't be second after the hawks and swans beat them. And then the ladder won't lie. And speaking of coaches, Mitchell will run rings around Goodwin tactically. And the Swans - well, i know they lost the grand final last year by 15 goals - all teams have an off day - and may not even make finals this year, but they are an incredible team in incredible form (so much better than Melbournes'), are playing at their fortress and will be desperate to win. And as the coaching Svengali Mcrae says, the game is still played mostly above the shoulders. The Swan's sheer will to win will bridge the huge gulf in ladder position (which doesn't reflect form), talent and system. And yes, Melbourne will be playing for a home final at the G in front of 90k people, but Melbourne simply won't have the same will to win, because a top 4 spot is sewn up. And Goodwin. And Longmire will run rings around Goodwin tactically. And Melbourne will still be reeling from their loss to the Hawks. I mean, seriously, how does a serious contender recover from being touched up by the 16th placed team late in the season when history shows you need to be playing your very best football to be a genuine threat? And before any happy clapper, Pie haters jump on me (you know who you are), yes i know the hawks smashed them. But as the genius Mcrae said, they got important feedback from that loss, new feedback to add to the important feedback they got from being touched up by the Blues the previous week. And feedback from those losses is so much more valuable than Goodwin's 'learnings' from Melbourne's uninspiring wins over the Saints, Lions, Crows, Tigers, North and Blues - or even their 'learnings' from Melbourne's win over the Pies on KB (when the Pies had an off day - all teams have them).'

Not sure about his marking. He copped a couple of significant hand injuries. That said his recuperative powers are legendary 🙌

Can we blame The French?

Looking at the footage it appears that he also lost his footing. The ground surface was appalling. It was not afl standard..

Don’t risk playing Petty in finals for what? To save him for future finals? He has to prove his fitness and we shouldn’t jeopardise his career if there’s a specific concern but otherwise if he’s available to play there’s no point holding him back

Yep. The bone that allows up and down movement of the foot (at the ankle) is the Talus, kind of a cubic shaped bone with an articulating dome. That dome is ‘clasped’ on either side by the fibula and the tibia (the two lower leg bones). That clasp is held together by ligaments, i.e. they join the tib and fib together. That’s called a syndesmosis. To say that someone’s got a syndesmosis injury (and it sh**s me blind when they don’t say ‘injury’) means that join has been disrupted, thus the ankle becomes unstable (the ‘clasp’ runs from totally impatent to insecure). Depending on severity, means time off in reduced weight-bearing or at worst, surgery (to resecure the clasp).

Can be quite the spectrum of severity, Red. Depends on the degree of disruption. If it’s just ligament tear without any joint displacement, the whole thing just needs immobilisation, whence it heals up, and on away you go. Surgery will sometimes be chosen to make sure of the ligament ‘attachment’. The worst situation is a full dislocation, what we have called a career killer, because it’s hard to stabilise multidirectionally. It’s the weight bearing arch, so all push off activities rely on it. Surgery is the only option, but outcomes aren’t perfect, though much better in the last 10 -15 years.

Think you are a more than a bbq

You've got 'shot down in flames' because blind Freddy can see the kid's a gun with pure footy instincts and skills Kid bring the operative word. LIke every gun ruck and/or KPF before him he won't hit his peak until he is 25. English, who still hasn't hit his peak but is getting closer, is a good example of this - as of course so was maxy. The only thing that will prevent him becoming a superstar, other than injury, will be if he doesn't get elite level fit and/or doesn'thave the drive. Same was true of maxy. He was brilliant in that game. His fumbles and errors in the last were a function of not being fit enough - it's clear from his body shape he is not elite fit (which is a worry I reckon) I wished stayed at the dees - in my opinion he was stupid not to. And freo were stupid to get him now. Wait three years, utilise Darcy who is also a gun, and get him closer to his peak. Would hardly had to pay anymore. One key reason that would have been better is they've snookered themselves in regard to Darcy. Both need to be full time rucks and they now need Darcy out for Jackson to play his best footy and for them to maximise their return on investment.

Lisfranc/midfoot sprains can have varying grades of course. The “typical” lisfranc is a full rupture + fracture dislocation which sounds just as bad as it is. This is the one you hear about taking ages to recover as it takes a lots of metalwork to get it all put back together which creates other problems. You can have a mild Lisfranc sprain which is just a sprain of the Lisfranc ligament which is treated more normally as a more severe sprain, making sure that the stability of the foot is there before returning to sport. this is more in the 5-8 week category. Going from Goodwin’s press conference a few weeks ago he let slip his last injury was a Lisfranc this year which took bang on 6 weeks to recover. I can’t remember if this one is the same foot or not? If it is then it might add a few weeks to the recovery but fingers crossed. There are a few other physio on here so feel free to add if you have any other views!

yeah sure...tomatoes...

I’ve just waded through 5 pages of the paper bagger’s posts. Surprisingly nothing obnoxious as yet. Mostly about selection. Cerra seems a focal point with opinion divided on his availability Is your Cerra in based on the info from DQ, or you have other little birdies? Cerra in would be massive for our team. Cerra won't play against Melbourne possibly week after. There is some concern over the Petracca matchup Can Noodles contain the beast that is Lasagna Petracca? He is bigger, stronger and faster than any of the players Newman has matched up against in recent weeks and he is undoubtedly the key to a Melbourne victory. could Kemp take the Tractor? Think Cinc is the way, he’s strong AF & can damage on rebound if Petracca doesn’t pay him attention. And on our selections With their injuries think Grundy might be a chance to return. Oliver hasn’t played in months so how match fit will he be? They’re hitting form at the right end of the season as well. Wish we had some options to lighten the load on Cripps, Doc and Charlie somewhat but we need them to give it all for one more game at least. Game will be one and lost in the guts, like just about every other game these day's. Oliver will apparently be back for them. Had a look on the dees thread, some are saying Schache will come in for the injured Petty. Tomlinson and Hibberd are being talked up as possibleinclusions. Melbourne just lost petty. No Fritsch. Grundy and brown the only two left to play key forward. I don’t think we need to play weiters marchbank and kemp. I’d drop marchbank for Boyd. In General Knock this mob off and we’d have beaten 3 of the top 4 sides……just saying. IMO, Melbourne are the team to beat this year. They are quietly doing what they need to do. If we are to beat them, we will need some players back. A good start would be SoS to assist Charlie and Walsh to go into the middle. This will be an interesting match for us. This game looks to me now like a fifty-fifty affair. Coming down to the gee for this. Bring on Saturday night, I cannot wait. PS - it is still mathematically possible for us to finish 4th. Double chance. Pies first up! PS . While I have opened this thread, I will not be continuing with it as I am heading to Thailand ( for spiritual enlightenment ) tomorrow. A volunteer or volunteers are therefore required. PPS. Perhaps @binman , my advisor on thread protocol could take over ?

Lucky it’s only Monday and Melbourne’s weather changes as often as David King’s mind.

Play him at full forward.

Like blaming Viney for Gawn’s injury in round 2. Stupid.

Ok, let me get this clear: Grundy is tall and mobile. Not the best mark but could create a contest and bring the ball down. He certainly could take over the part time ruck duties from JVR. He is a reasonable kick for goal. He would create real pressure up forward and would draw one of the two best defenders. He is AFL match fit. The choices would be: Grundy v Brown Grundy v Schack Grundy v TMac (if fit) Grundy v Smith Ah but the media say he is not a forward! Petty wasn't a forward until a week or so ago. Worth a try... IMHO.

Trac can steal this award now that Nicky is done for the year. Only 10 points between them, and we know Trac has 10 points in him... unless Clarry comes back and wants us to hold his beer 😁

Edwards is a Tim English clone, but more advanced (due to Colts and senior exposure) than English was when he was drafted

Win the premiership. Worry about that later 5-6 weeks is an ideal outcome given the circumstances

Watched the game and was going to skip the 1st quarter but didn’t, and as bad as the kicking was something stood out and continued to stand out through the game, and that was the smothers, and leading the way was Chandler, bloody hell the kid must have been a defensive linesman in a past life, gets fully horizontal to try and effect the smother. I think that game had more red hot goes at smothering than I’ve seen before, or maybe it was the total commitment demonstrated. So yes we got chipped in the 1st, but it’s the small things I’m seeing each week (smothers, tackles, and jack viney) that has me amazingly bullish on how finals will go… /bTW - Am starting to feel Chandler might just be the best rookie draft p/u since Aaron Davey in 2003 (although Judd might give that a shake too)

It undoubtedly does. But it's conceivable that Petty wouldn't have a premiership medal if it weren't for Tomlinson's knee injury (suffered at the same dung-heap I believe). The reverse may play out this year. Smith was another who could be considered unfortunate to miss out in 2021, due to chronic bad luck with injuries, and may just take Petty's place, due to the latter's current chronic bad luck with injuries. Karmic rebalancing is the best positive spin I have.

Reid’s game has been covered off in the Harley Reid thread, but quite a few prospects delivered today. Dan Curtin played well for Claremont’s senior team, picking up 21 touches in a loss to East Freo. Zane Duursma continued his good form bagging 6 for Gippy in the Talent League, with Archer Reid jagging 3. Nate Caddy got himself 4 goals in a loss to GWV, who had George Stevens amongst the best.

FFS, 30 years ago they played on mud.

For shtis sake let it go

Could we lease Oscar Allen for the rest of this season?

I live for this kind of information. I’ll be at a pub quiz in 2029, this will be a question, and the entire pub will be in awe of the stupid [censored] I know. Thanks @Webber. Love it

He should have read Demonland first. ;)

You would be a little mad to think you will dominate an opponent for 4 quarters these days. The last month of football has shown us this is almost impossible. This time last year we were doing the early running and teams were coming over the top of us for one reason or another. Goody has been banging on all year we are aiming to play our best footy at the back end of the year. If anything, the self belief must be growing immensely down there with some of our wins lately.

Lots of talent and Dees are well placed to pickup 3-4 youngsters to top up our talent pool. Whether we either upgrade by dealing to grab Reid or hold at #4 (and get access to any of Mckercher, Sanders, Duursma or Curtin), it’s going to be a good result. My update on rankings: 1-10. Harley Reid, Jed Walter (suns academy) , Daniel Curtin, Coby Mckercher, Ryley Sanders, Zane Duursma, Nick Watson, Ethan Read (suns academy), Connor O’Sullivan , Darcy Wilson 11-20 Archer Reid, Mitchell Edwards (Freo nga) , Joel Freijah , Logan Morris, Ashton Moir , Jake Rogers (suns academy) , George Stevens, Nathan Philactides, Ollie Murphy, Riley Hardeman 21-30 Koen Sanchez, Nate Caddy, Koltyn Tholstrup, Harvey Johnston, Jordan Croft (bulldogs f/son) , Cooper Simpson, Archie Roberts, Will Dawson, Harry Demattia, Caiden Cleary (swans academy) , 31-40. Clay Hall, Will McCabe (hawks F/son), Will Graham (Suns academy) , Jack Delean, Will Lorenz, Kade DelaRue, Angus Hastie, Alex Holt, Luamon Luai, Michael Rudd. 41-50. Will Patton, Jack Callinan, Koby Shipp, Caleb Windsor, Rye Penny, Billy Wilson, Aiden Odriscoll, Harvey Thomas (giants academy), Charlie Harrop, Heath Ollington.

I think we have as tough a run home from here as any other side. Carlton and Sydney are two of the form teams of the competition right now. But I think "limping over the line" is a bit melodramatic, given that, in the last month: We rested our stars in the fourth quarter yesterday and appeared to ease up, with a six-day break coming We blew Richmond off the park in the fourth quarter last week We came from 5 goals down in the fourth quarter to beat Brisbane We were patchy yesterday for sure, but the previous three weeks were pretty solid hit outs and whilst we had issues in all three, I don't require us to be flawless to consider we have a chance to do serious damage in September. There isn't a flawless team out there right now.

So Pies don’t pick and choose which quarter to be switched on? Did they forget to turn the light on the last fortnight? Did you watch the first half of the Carlton game yesterday? Hardly on fire. Saints were all over them and I rate the Saints on par with Freo and Hawks right now, but with a better tactical coach. Carlton do have a host of injuries that they’re covering really well and credit to them. This will be a hard game. So will the Hawks game, so will the Swans game. Every game is hard now. We are in better form than just about every contender. Carlton are also in very strong form, but they have beaten sides who are not elite in the contest. This game will come down to the contest and the midfield and I back us to be better in there for longer. Clarry back will help enormously. Viney and Trac played limited minutes in the guts yesterday so should be fresh. Carlton had to fight much harder to win yesterday than we did. We basically switched on for 2 quarters then took Gawny, Jack and Trac off in the last and just held off from any scoring eventuating. Very smart way to “rest” players. Petty out is a massive blow especially without Fritta. But if Clarry is back then Trac can spend more time forward. Kosi back in hot form also would scare Carlton. He has a track record of breaking their hearts after all.

Out- Couch Potatoes In - Loud, passionate Melbourne supporters It may be Carlton’s home game but it is still our home ground. Can’t let their supporters become the 19th man. We are playing to try and stay 2nd on the ladder to snag a home final. Be nice if some of our supporters who are contemplating turning up to watch ‘their team’ in the finals, have a practice run and turn up a few weeks earlier.

Sitting second or better 3 years in a row now we are at the pointy end. we are doing a lot right, enjoy this time, much better than the 70’s

Claremont threw Curtin forward in the 4th when the game was in the balance, I’m biased but he’s the one I’m taking if he’s there. It’s Pavlich I’m seeing 24 years later

SVR was good today for Claremont colts, without impacting the scoreboard as he could have his workrate around the ground and contested marking was excellent Koen Sanchez for East Freo was good, clean at ground level, excellent decision making and inside 50 disposal/score involvements very good Dan Curtin was outstanding in his senior debut played down back, where he’s a natural and showed why he’s so sought after.

In: Grundy, Oliver, Hibberd Out: Petty 😭, Harmes, Smith (to be sub) So much talk about Grundy not being great in the last VFL game. I watched that, terrible conditions for bigs, blowing an absolute gale. Grundy’s worst performances have coincided with terrible conditions, rain at Geelong, torrential rain in the NT, the time to play one ruck was in torrential rain, in good conditions two could be an advantage. Without Grundy we’ve won by 1 point, 4 points and two five goal wins over teams in the bottom six, with him we’re 10-6 including wins over Collingwood and this weeks opponent Carlton, it’s hardly panic stations to have him in. If the weather looks ok Saturday he comes in. His first VFL game as a forward he got involved in much better conditions. He’s no Petty, but Brown was ok against Brisbane for one quarter and terrible against Adelaide in a game we dominated, he’s not offering more than Grundy. Schache is soft as butter in marking contests, he’s not the answer, TMac can’t move sideways and while Smith is good, our forwardline looks too small with JVR, Smith and Melk as the talls, especially when Max is rucking 90% and unable to rest forward. Also if JVR is backup ruck there will be times where we have no true talls forward, if we do that this week Weitering will have a field day, especially if we kick how we did against North, Zeibel was intercepting at will! Grundy actually gives us an advantage in the ruck while Max rests and allows Max to rest forward with JVR rather than on the bench. At worst we freshen Max up for finals with Grundy in the next few games before bringing in a fit TMac or Fritsch, at best we get what we saw in the preseason and first few rounds and the two rucks dominate. It’s worth noting that Gawn looked down on form and confidence coming back from injury early in the season, his best form has coincided with playing as sole ruck but perhaps it’s a coincidence? If Max maintains his form from the last few weeks and Brodie regains his best form we could see something truly special, flag winning special, none of the other options have that upside.

I was the first one Viney high fived :)

Melbourne v North Melbourne (Round 21, 2023) https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20232107 Key Team Stats Stats highlighted purple were won by Melbourne. Stat For Against Diff Disposal Efficiency 72.0 75.6 -3.5 Kicking Efficiency 61.5 65.6 -4.1 Metres Gained 6223 5789 +434 Inside 50s 69 45 +24 Shots At Goal 29 22 +7 Shots Per Inside 50 42.0 48.9 -6.9 Contested Possessions 148 118 +30 Ground Ball Gets 98 78 +20 Intercepts 74 68 +6 Intercept Marks 16 20 -4 Centre Clearances 14 11 +3 Stoppage Clearances 26 29 -3 Contested Marks 8 7 +1 Marks Inside 50 17 5 +12 Hitouts 37 47 -10 Hitouts To Advantage 19 19 +0 Tackles 54 64 -10 Tackles Inside 50 12 10 +2 Def One On One Loss % 6.7 21.4 -14.8 Pressure Team pressure Quarter For Against 1 174 203 2 175 163 3 160 184 4 189 182 Match 175 182 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* Tom Sparrow 29 55 42.7 James Harmes 24 50 37.6 Alex Neal-Bullen 20 44 46.3 Jack Viney 20 38 53.6 Jake Bowey 15 38 22.5 Angus Brayshaw 19 36 33.2 Lachie Hunter 16 34 23.1 Christian Petracca 16 33 47.5 James Jordon 16 30 24.2 Christian Salem 13 29 28.7 Jacob van Rooyen 12 29 22.6 Joel Smith 9 24 17.3 Trent Rivers 10 23 23.5 Kysaiah Pickett 12 22 41.2 Kade Chandler 10 22 30.7 Jake Melksham 7 22 14.3 Max Gawn 10 20 22.2 Harrison Petty 11 19 19.7 Ed Langdon 12 17 27.6 Jake Lever 9 17 15.7 Judd McVee 9 13 18.2 Steven May 4 10 14.4 Michael Hibberd 2 6 11.6 * 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 54% 46% 2 49% 51% 3 77% 23% 4 67% 33% Match 63% 37% Source: Match total sourced from the Herald Sun; quarter 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 3 2 20 1 2 8 +12 Stoppage (Other) 5 4 34 1 3 9 +25 Turnover 7 6 48 8 6 54 -6 Category For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in 0 2.5 0 2.0 Centre Bounce 20 12.0 8 7.2 Stoppage (Other) 34 24.7 9 21.8 Turnover 48 53.7 54 43.1 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 North Melbourne. Category Region For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in D50 0 2.5 0 2.0 Centre Bounce Centre 20 12.0 8 7.2 Stoppage (Other) D50 0 0.6 0 2.2 Stoppage (Other) Centre 6 3.1 0 1.4 Stoppage (Other) Wing 25 13.2 6 6.9 Stoppage (Other) F50 3 7.8 3 11.3 Turnover D50 12 11.2 6 6.0 Turnover Centre 8 7.8 2 6.4 Turnover Wing 22 27.7 26 22.1 Turnover F50 6 7.0 20 8.6 Region For Against Match Season Match Season D50 12 14.3 6 10.2 Centre 34 22.9 10 15.1 Wing 47 40.9 32 29.0 F50 9 14.8 23 19.9 Points from defensive half For Against Match Season Match Season 33 34.7 19 24.1 Shots at goal Team Shots G B T Acc. General Play Melbourne 11 6 3 39 54.5 North Melbourne 14 4 8 32 28.6 Set Position Melbourne 18 9 5 59 50.0 North Melbourne 8 6 2 38 75.0 Centre Bounce Attendances CBAs CBA % 2023 % 2022 % Max Gawn 22 79 59.9 65.5 Jack Viney 19 68 71.1 74.6 Christian Petracca 17 61 62.8 74.6 Angus Brayshaw 15 54 32.5 16.0 James Jordon 12 43 28.9 0.2 Tom Sparrow 11 39 46.7 32.2 James Harmes 7 25 26.7 14.6 Jacob van Rooyen 6 21 7.3 Kysaiah Pickett 3 11 11.8 1.3 Trent Rivers 0 0 3.4 0.0 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 2.5 3.5 Harrison Petty 0 0 0.7 0.0 Clayton Oliver 82.8 86.5 Brodie Grundy 55.7 83.7 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 63 62 53.1 57.8 Jacob van Rooyen 38 38 12.7 Harrison Petty 0 0 2.0 0.0 Joel Smith 0 0 0.1 0.0 Christian Petracca 0 0 0.1 0.1 Steven May 0 0 0.1 0.0 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 0.1 0.0 Brodie Grundy 49.5 77.4 Tom McDonald 8.9 7.0 Josh Schache 6.7 13.4 Ben Brown 2.3 3.6 Clayton Oliver 0.0 0.0 Hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. To Adv. % (2023) To Adv. % (2022) Max Gawn 63 30 15 33.1 33.6 Jacob van Rooyen 38 7 4 33.3 Harrison Petty 0 0 0 25.0 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 0 0.0 Brodie Grundy 30.8 30.2 Tom McDonald 25.0 33.3 Ben Brown 0.0 14.3 Josh Schache 33.3 Opposition hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. Todd Goldstein 53 24 10 Tristan Xerri 44 21 8 Nick Larkey 4 2 1 Expected Scores (Champion Data) 93 - 75

Such incredibly bad luck for Harry just as he was hitting top form as a forward. I think it’s time for Grundy. Especially against Carlton with their two rucks (Pittonet, De König) Max needs a chop out and Brodie has done his four week forward craft/freshen up. Brodie won’t give us what Petty does but he will give a contest and hopefully a few marks, possibly one or two goals but importantly he’ll give a lot in the ruck and allow JVR to play forward the whole game. He also lets Max drop behind the ball more while Brodie takes more forward half throw ins also. Of all our options this one has the most possible upside in terms of a flag now that Petty looks to be done. We’re winning clearances now and getting plenty of supply, clean up our kicking and Grundy will contribute, it’s become overblown how big a ‘problem’ he was forward. There were games like our Collingwood win and other early season wins where he kicked multiple goals and looked good coming back from a full season off. Our last Carlton win relied on Grundy rucking so Max could hit the scoreboard as a forward, it can work! Brodie’s hungry, he’s learned some new skills, let’s go for it, while hoping Petty has a miracle sprain and is back for finals.