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Didn’t know where to post this. Rivers deserves the love he’s receiving here. Just a saw a champion data stat, he’s the best kick in the comp over the last 6 weeks. He’s the 11th highest-rated player in that period, kicking almost 20% above expectation.

Excuse me.. we should never release ANB or Salem. They are needed senior players who have played well this year. There are lots of knockers around of ANB but he is the heart and soul of our Club as is Salem.

Caulfield slated for announcement mid 2024- it's all moving ahead but nothing to announce yet.

Why are we comparing Salem to ANB? It's like comparing Steven May with Kozzy Pickett. Salem is a half backer that we use off the back of stoppages as a quarterback and to reset and maintain possession. ANB is a speed forward that essentially plays a high forward role between A50 and D50, and helps us defend right across the ground and then lock the ball inside A50. Ridiculous...

It's not my job to think, I just take notes and organise old mate's diary.

AFL football: The only code where rules ain’t rules

Caulfield is LITERALLY...not figuratively...but ACTUALLY the Geo Centre of Melbourne...is does not come any more CENTRAL than Caulfield. Parking for who...you ?? who cares..No disrespect but training facilities are about the Club and Players. There is NO WHERE in the Port area that has the potential space that Caulfield has. As to how amenable either is... the Port area is easily tied up with traffic . There will be ample parking within any new development... It will be accessible via all three modes of PT It's time to move on from this idea of we MUST be next to Mummy G...I mean ffs... Great Sporting Clubs around the world pick locations that afford the greatest potential to create world class facilities...they are often NO WHERE near where their so called 'heart' exists. Caulfield is a very rare opportunity.... if we dont do something we'll be nomadic forever.

The pies forward line is pretty uninspiring i reckon. Much more important is that we have the best defence.

We lose to bloody Carlton by four points and people want to clear half a premiership side. WTF.

I think she works in a different field of entertainment altogether.

finish as high as we can. win as many games as we can. if we are good enough, we are good enough. if not, we are not.

Not necessarily. Brisbane has an incredible record at the Gabba over the last 5 or so years. However, I think you’ll find over that period they’ve almost been unbeaten in the first half to two-thirds of the season, and most of their few losses have come at the end of the season. My theory behind this is the weather/ground conditions. For that first half to two-thirds of the season, the ground is very dewy and the ball can be like a cake of soap. I saw it first-hand at the ground in Round 2. We continuously fumbled whilst they were clean, which was the difference between the teams (before lights went out anyway). Because they play and train regularly in those conditions, they’re far more adapted. It’s also a reason why the GC tend to do alright at home at the start of most seasons before fading away. The condition of the Gabba now, given the lack of humidity and dry heat over winter in South-East QLD, means the Gabba is an easier ground to play at for Vic clubs, more similar to their home conditions. This is why the Lions finals record at the Gabba isn’t great and why they lose games later in the year there generally (i.e. like to us last year). I wouldn’t be any less confident playing Brisbane in Brisbane in September than Port in Adelaide.

We will best them comfortably. Gawn and ANB's 200th and 150 games respectively. Why wouldn't you wanna get up for these two lads.

First, we need to at least win one more. While I agree an MCG final v Collingwood is probably preferable to an interstate final, the consequences of a loss to Collingwood (1v4) will likely be far more significant than a loss against Port/Brisbane (2v3). Lose to Collingwood and the path could well be a white hot Carlton in a semi final, with the winner then travelling to Adelaide Oval or the Gabba for an interstate prelim. That's a difficult road. On the other hand, lose to Port/Brisbane in the QF, then the path may involve avoiding both Carlton in a semi final and an interstate prelim (with Collingwood at the MCG awaiting the semi final winner should the Pies win their home QF). Of course, lots of water still to flow under the bridge, but most importantly we must get that one more win to secure top 4.

I wonder if Mitch Lewis doesn't get up for the game whether the Hawks will go with two rucks and bring Meek in to partner Reeves? They have Lewis and Koschitzke forward recently so I think we need to go in with 3 tall defenders, I don't think we can go with May, Lever and Hibberd - we tried and dispensed with that set-up early in the year. I think we need Smith forward so that would mean Tomlinson back into the side - he has his well discussed good and bad points. As I've posted elsewhere I think we misused Grundy against Carlton and played him too much forward and not enough in the ruck. As @deelusions from afar pointed out in the Grundy thread, when he did go into the ruck in the 3rd and 4th quarters we turned the scoring around significantly. I'm probably Robinson Crusoe, but I'd stick with Grundy this week and have him and Max split the ruck and forward duties - 20-30% gametime forward each, covering when Smith or JVR are off on the bench. That would mean Tomlinson for a runner - JJ, we have been playing with an extra runner because we've traditionally gone with 2 tall forwards and 2 rucks, but recently we've gone with a total of 3 of these. This possibly means we need a runner as sub which pushes Hibberd out of the 23, unless we think that Rivers can go into the midfield when Hibberd comes on. I'm not enamoured with our running sub options: JJ, Harmes, Woewodin, Spargo, Laurie - for various reasons I don't have confidence any of them can have a major positive impact when they come on. So maybe we can go with Hibberd. In: Tomlinson Out: JJ B: May, Tomlinson, Lever, Salem, Rivers, McVee, Bowey M: Gawn, Grundy, Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Sparrow, Langdon, Hunter F: JVR, Smith, Melksham, ANB, Kossie, Chandler S: Hibberd This is what I would do, but not necessarily what I think will happen.

Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' August ranking

One WA boy attracting attention as bolter. Previously a ruckman been turned into key defender. Raw with athleticism and a project player for clubs as late pick https://wafl.com.au/player/zane-zakostelsky

https://megaphone.link/NTETP2924955570 15:20 https://www.sen.com.au/programs/sportsday/ Anyone catch Hoynes GuessWho segment yesterday? Said Rivers was 11th ranked played on their 100X scale of players playing above expectation. And he's interested to see what we do with the "Rivers magnet" in the next two weeks and finals "No better kick in the competition in the last 6 weeks" "Kicking 20% above expectation" "We need to see if Melbourne can inject him into the game even more so, as he's having such an a significant impact. When he wins it, and when he wins it back, he's top 10 for impact" "Healy: Move him into the middle?" "Hoyne: No, but Id move him higher up the ground, get him involved a little bit more, that would be interesting." But he's also cautious about making a change late in the season

Never feel sorry for them. We still owe them some soul crushing finals defeats and about 500 points worth of floggings. There’s a long list of clubs we need to be grinding into dust any chance we get (Pies, Bombers, Cats, Blues) but the Hawks are right up there.

ANB Heart & Soul might be a bit of a stretch. No other current player has done my head in more regularly than him for multiple reasons but I have to say his game on the weekend was a work of art. For me arguably his best game. He got to multiple contests and was effective in them, once he got the ball he didn't do his normal first options of either falling over or taking too long and getting caught. He made quick decisions, many of them were excellent attacks into the corridor and most importantly mostly didn't turn it over. I hate to sound my age and the father I am but I was proud of him for that performance. Well done ANB.

Ah yes, Booby Hill. I used to be a frequent visitor but I don't get to climb that mountain very often these days

What we don’t know is whether JvR would have goaled from that distance or whether the Blues would have cleared the kick. Let’s just move on from that game and win our next five in a row.

He is supporting a wonderful cause that the Melbourne Football Club instigated supporting women with breast cancer, The Pink Lady Match. There are far more important things in life than a game of footy.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall for the umpires game review after a game like that. What’s the consequence for getting calls like the one a live wrong?! Do they just laugh it off and say they decided to let it go as it was the closing stages of a tight game? Do they look at every questionable(wrong) decision during a game and are happy if they keep it under a certain number? Does the amount of media attention they get in the aftermath of a game have a bearing on how in depth they review each game? You wouldn’t think they can be happy with the the amount of costly errors they make during games but there doesn’t seem to be any improvement or real plan for improvement. I’m still off the opinion that the AFL has no intention of improving the standard of umpiring as bad decision create more media attention than good ones and they feel they currently have the balance right to suit their needs.

Pies at the G would cause some serious heartburn around here. Could you imagine, you’d have #binman rolling out the stats of why we can’t lose followed by #jimmygadson dialling in from Europe about the impending disaster. Then you’d have #dazzledavey swinging hay makers at anyone who disagreed. Poor old Andy would be deleting posts and sending emails like a crazed woman putting on lipstick. All the while I’d be certain of victory. Go Dees, unleash hell

Look at the full front on block on Gawn, running back to take a mark, twenty out from our goal seconds later. Put him on the ground. Player ran at him and knocked him over, off the ball. Umpire was right there. Most blatant free of the night not paid.

Petty’s out, and…. Pies : Daicos, Moore, possibly DeGoey this week. Port : Dixon Lions : Ashcroft and they keep giving Hipwood a game. This years flag is there for the taking, I want nothing more than to be able to be there to watch us win the premiership. There’s no reason we can’t win it this year.

Not bad at all at this time of year. Lions have lost most of their finals at the Gabba over the past five seasons, all games being under lights at night. Our win last year was at night, we barely fumbled all night - compare that to Round 2 this season - it’s as if the games took place at two different locations.

Not sure about this Dub. We want him prime for the finals , so if declared fit, I reckon we’ll play him in the real stuff

Port Melbourne is similar driving time to MCG as Caulfield even if Port Melbourne is closer in terms of distance in kms. When it come to public transport, Caulfield is much quicker to get to. Richmond Station to Caulfield Station in only 10 minutes via the Cranbourne/Pakenham line trains.

Stiff on Salem...injured half the year and been reasonable considering... Bowey I agree with though, he's hit a wall

By far and away our most improved this year. When he’s on we are devastating.

If Rivers can develop the tank, he could be an elite wingman.

This season has lost the plot

Pies have pulled up stumps on the H&A season, which on the one hand is fair as they can ill afford more injuries, but on the other hand is a worry because they are flirting with already pretty mediocre form. If Brisbane smash them, that gives them a psychological edge when/should they meet in finals. If Pies win without Moore, Daicos and De Goey then you can just about put a line through the Lions.

I'll check the gutters and get back to you

And we dont know whether it was a Stiton or strong cheddar in the Shiraz hamper.. Its irrelevant.. it would have been our possession. That's actually important in the scheme of things.

both

I calmed down too, and then I watched a replay of Monday nights 360 and robbo said the umpire heard a clip, 'just like cricket when you hear nick'. Heard something? 70k people going ballistic, the Demon army screaming 2 metres behind him, players colliding at speed? And he heard the sound of a football brushing a players wrist(because if I did hit his right wrist, it could have only brushed it because even those who say it did acknowledge there was no deviation)???????? In cricket, with a quieter crowd 100 metres away, there is frequently confusion from players and umpires as to whether there is a nick, hence the frequent debate about whether to use up a review.

Well put by Ian Munro, but IMO he doesn’t go hard enough. There will need to be a persistent chorus of outrage (directed at the AFL, not the umps) around the inconsistent and illogical adjudicating of the game to force change.

Another Mackenzie Arnold lookalike (and, Go Matildas!):

Are they dividing princes park into farms now?

If this club still needs to find reasons for players to get up we are in big trouble, thought we’d moved past that.

Repeating that it is Demonland policy to stand behind our club, coach and players. There is to be no discussion on this website about the Ex President or any allegations against the club coach Simon Goodwin whilst they are based on claims that are neither proven nor substantiated in any way, shape or form. This is the MFC Statement in response to the allegations:- "The Melbourne Football Club is aware, through WorkSafe Victoria, that Victoria Laspas has made a complaint about the MFC. At no point has Victoria Laspas been a volunteer or employee of the club. "Victoria Laspas is the partner of ex-president Glen Bartlett who ceased as a board member of the club in 2021. "The club has responded to WorkSafe's requests for documentation regarding club policies, staff training, employee induction and procedures. It rejects any wrongdoing. "The club has also provided WorkSafe Victoria with documents and proof that contradict and refute claims by Victoria Laspas. "Over the last two years, Glen Bartlett and his partner Victoria Laspas have continued to make allegations about historical events that are factually incorrect and baseless”.

I still like our chances for top 2. I think we can (and should - although a desperate Sydney in the final round over there will be a dicey prospect) win both, and reckon Freo is an OK chance against Port this week. More importantly, I think our form/fitness coming into finals is pretty good. Certainly better than last year. I posted elsewhere, looking at the losses we've had - we've lost by a total of 70 points across 7 games (10 per game!) - which if you remove the Bombers game (27pts - which I never want to talk about again - we were horrid and they played their best game of the year) - it's 43 points across 6 games - basically a goal. That's fantastic. I think we dropped a few that we should have won, such as GWS (ugh), but largely it has been teams who have played out of their skins to beat us, and even then, only by a goal! (i.e. the Blues - where you can argue we were failed by ARC, Port - and in particular Butters who'll poll 1000 points for that game, the Lions up there - which we nearly stole), the Bombers and to a lesser extent the Cats who overran us in the last. The competition is VERY close. But I don't think we had hit our straps in those losses yet - and that's without a conventional/real forward line. Just a cobbled together mishmash of legends chipping in. (Imagine a fully firing Roo and maybe another KPF) - Oooof BTW, if you want to compare cumulative losses for the top 5 - Pies (86/4 = 21.5), Lions (152/6 = 25.3), Port (213/6 = 35.5) and the Blues 212/8 = 26.5) - we are FAR AND AWAY the more competitive team. It takes a hell of a lot to beat us, and frankly most of the time we beat ourselves! We have a lot more experience than others (such as the Blues), and will not let those near close ones get away in the run home, or in the finals! Sorry, bit of waffle - TL;DR - I think we're travelling fairly well coming into the final 2 rounds/finals - although there is certainly room for improvement/opportunity (another forward, guys like Salem/Langdon finding form, Clarry firing, Fritter to return). I'm looking forward to finals! (more than last year, where it was clear we were hobbling to the end).