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We sewed up a top 4 spot today by beating a team who gave it their all and kept us really honest, so it was a solid win… Yet there’s such a weird vibe around here. I thought people would be thrilled with our effort the last 2 months. If you can’t be proud of what we are serving up at the moment I don’t know when you ever will be. We are the most consistent team of the last 3 years. We haven’t been this good for 60 years! Our average losing margin for the year is 10 points. I’m super proud of where we are at as a football club. I can’t ask for much more as a supporter, and if you feel entitled to more you might need to ask yourself what your expectations are, and why you feel entitled to them? Go Dees.

JVR takes the front of the pack, Melk takes a sit on him, Fritsch jumps on Melk, Smith leaps on Fritsch and Kossie flies over the top. It’s perfect

Stolen from a FB group. Credit to the creator, if it's one of you 👍

We've interviewed with Connor O' Sullivan from the Murray Bushrangers.

The Adelaide Fiasco is a bloody disgrace to the game called AFL. That two weeks in a row, teams can lose because of serious mistakes by either the goal umpire, or the so-called 'Replay' system, in Adelaide's case costing it engagement in a Finals Series is a catastrophic blight - as though there ain't enough already - on everything the AFL stands for. And then, for the CEO of this Fantasyland called AFL, to admit a serious mistake had been made and offer no redress to the victim of what can only be called an atrocity, makes me shake my head and ask myself, Why bother following a game which is so loaded with injustice. Think about it: A. How often do the E Colli Wobblers play interstate? B. Ditto Geelong. C. The irrationality of the Fixtures, rational only from economic points of view. D. The fact that Fixtures are NOT based on fairness in that the Draw is staggered; in other words, in each season, each team should either play the same team twice, and if that extends the number of games, the gaps between matches, so bloody well be it. E. The irrationality and inconsistency of the outcome of Match Reviews regarding 'Reportable' offences. D. The changing of the rules, almost as regular as The Changing of The Guard. E. The fact that 4 umpires is like having 4 Pontuis Pilates, all with different backgrounds, affiliations, viewpoints and whistle capacity. D. How a boundary umpire can stand next to a ball blatantly out of bounds, visible to a whole effing arena apart from the umpire's myopia, and for play to be allowed to continue? E. How certain teams are allowed to throw the ball instead of 'handpassing' when there are so-called Laws forbidding the practice? F. How come there is a set of rules which an umpire can either overlook or ignore if and when it suits them? All bloody 4 of them! I could go on...

I’m struggling with Gil throwing the goal umpire under the bus for a mistake rather than reviewing how the AFL can fix a potential future recurrence by amending the review system (procedures for initiating a review, quality of the review footage) to look after both the teams, the umpires and the paying members/supporters. It’s just lazy management, asleep at the wheel.

Gotta love the mongrel streak in Rooey. He was getting pushed and shoved in the goal square by their defender, young bloke on debut (I think) while the ball was up the other end. Rooey was NOT having a bar of it. He immediately and aggressively retaliated and made the little upstart think twice about trying it again. It was very pleasing to see. 😁

I think bang bang bang may have broken some supporters' brains and they've never fully withdrawn from that high, expecting MFC to pummel teams every game.

Still haven’t lost a game since the beginning of time with May, Lever and Tomlinson all playing. Why oh why do we keep insisting on being so hard on him? He is clearly good down there and makes it easier for Lever to play the intercept role. Just leave him in there ffs

Tomlinson allows Lever to take the 3rd tall intercepting and Lever is incredible every time he is allowed to play that role. The results speak for themselves. May Lever Tommo - undefeated in 18 games?? There is no way you can drop Tommo.

Carlton fans have been seen carrying around giant heads for weeks. Happy to report them to police as needed.

That's so unfair. He sometimes posts after 'disappointing' wins over any team outside the top 4 (or even teams on top of the ladder - see the posts about our win over the flu ridden, injury depleted, having an off day, supposedly 'great' pies and how poor it was to let them have a sniff very late). Probably had one drafted and ready to go 10 mins in the last quarter ('can't win a flag if we can't beat a team in 16th convincingly at this stage of the season.....'). Must have been gutted by our late run of goals. Hard, but not impossible ('i suppose you're thrilled by a win over a tired 16th placed team missing their three best players') to turn a five goal win into proof the dees aren't a premiership threat.

I listened to Mitchell's post game presser - articulate bloke ,clever coach. He praised Max as a "generational ruckman" but , in what I considered a very interesting comment, he said that Rivers has been "underrated" across the competition.

Crowd yesterday was 50,142, making home average at the MCG this year 48,786

Hawks have beaten 5 of the top 8 sides this year. I swear we can win by 100 points and someone will still say it was a mediocre win and we are no good. The only side with a flag and 3 top four finishes in the last 3 years. How about some f’ing appreciation for how hard that is to achieve?! I swear this place is full of sad sacks.

What's pleasing and not noted is how many kids are at our games now. Bodes well for the future

Does Jimmy Gadson only post after a loss ?

I actually wrote in 2013 that there's an 11 year old called Trent Rivers who I was sure would become almost the pick of the draft and a fine HBF but again I also don't want to boast.

He exudes this confidence that’s so exciting. Not cockiness or arrogance, but an aura of self-belief. When he’s up our end and there’s a stoppage up the other end, for example, he’s acutely switched on at all times. His body language and the way he carries himself is quite something else. He has an irrepressible kind of pride that as a fan you love to see. So when one of our forwards cops what we think exceeds the usual level of pushing and shoving in the goal square, naturally we make our feelings known. It’s like a saturation of unhinged mums screaming in unison… “get off him!” But yesterday we discovered in an instant that JvR’s opponent didn’t need our ‘advice,’ JvR made short work of getting the message through, himself. ❤️💙

Hmm... very loosely group by role / part of the field. McDonald, Brown, Fritsch, Petty, Dunstan, Jordan, Harmes, Spargo, Woewodin Grundy Hibberd, I think we've had our depth severely tested for tall/marking forwards, but other than that there's not a lot missing. Right at this moment I think it is Melksham who has kept us in the hunt by giving us a contested target against all odds. Melksham is basically the bioluminescent algae story from Apollo 13.

Here is a list of all the people who are surprised that Hardwick got the Gold Coast gig.

The nightmare Collywobbles scenario. They Pies play the dees at the G in front of a sold out crowd. They rush Moore and Daicos back. Both struggle and get hit from pillar to post. Will they come up? The dees beat them in a tough, physical encounter (and because the pies don't have premiership winning defensive system). The blues beat GWS week one of finals. The Pies play the Blues at the G in front of a sold out crowd. They select a clearly struggling Moore and Daicos back. Both struggle and get hit from pillar to post. The blues beat them in a tough, physical encounter (and because the pies don't have premiership winning defensive system). And this 'great' pies team is out of the finals in straight sets. Might test Mcrae's famous positivity.

Has been cleared up, we would not be paying any part of his contract. unless it was on top of what Collingwood are paying. Nothing changes for Collingwood they have agreed to pay X amount over X years, they have to stick to that. John Ralph reported this weeks ago on "on the couch"

Wow another year approaches September seems like a month ago the season started. I was thinking on the trip home that going to the game is what footy is about. However I now must face the reality that my trips to the footy will be lower than in the past. Sadly watching on TV is nowhere near the same. The upside! I am still around to enjoy a win.

Tools at your disposal has to be part of it too. Mitchell doesn’t have the luxury of a starting midfield of Oliver, Petracca and Viney that Goody has. It would be obviously wasteful if we played a completely negative player in our midfield. Hawthorn just did what they needed to have the best shot at winning. I don’t mind it, but I’d definitely prefer to be in our position than theirs.

I've always preferred a traditional two-pronged KPF set-up, with maybe two mediums and a fleet of smalls. With Petty down, I now think we need to give up on that idea and ride our luck with an unusual approach. In the parlance of footy-fans, Brown and Tomald are cooked and Schache isn't up to it. Love them all. Milk has come out of nowhere, Fritsch always contributes, and Smith is a growing threat (love his tackle pressure). Three athletic/dynamic mediums plus a KPF in JVR is unusual, but would stretch defences and confuse planning. I think Fritta in for Laurie (last-in first-out) is the way to go, and lock it in for the finals. Tommo stays back. May and Lever seem to have more trust in Tomlinson that Smith, whatever the former's limitations. I would put in on JVR: "We know you're only 20, but we think we can win the flag if you attack every ball'. I also think that calls for Hibberd over Bowey have merit. Would have never thunk the Essendon duo for 2023.

Good question @Binmans PA Key Forward: - JvR: now established best 22 - Petty: is the question mark. Does he play forward, back or play as a genuine swing man. - Jefferson: developing and probably minimum 2 years away from being relied on to contribute. - Ben Brown, T-Mac and Schache all could be in the their last year next season and realistically we wouldn't want to be having them in our plan A. At the very least, depth key forwards will need to be considered either this off-season or next. An established key forward to pair with JvR would be amazing. None on the market this year unless we can somehow pry someone like a Naughton or Allen which I can't see happening. Georgiades a possibility but has a similar profile to JvR both in height and athletically, crashes packs in a similar fashion and is a great contested mark but poor finishing in front of goals. Recovering from an ACL. Harrison Jones could be available as an ooc player, plays slightly differently to JvR which may compliment. Been chronically injured with back problems this year. Neither of these two players are worth pick 5 or used in a slide with ports poor draft picks. Some have the view the JvR plays his best footy in defence. Could he be the ideal candidate to take over May when he retires. If so, does that leave Petty to pair with Jefferson in due course? Perhaps not but something to consider. Ruck - Gawn: will be 32 by the start of next season, how much can he carry and when will his performance start to dip? - Grundy: does he stay? If not then a mature ruck between 23 - 27 would be an absolute priority. - Verrall and KFW still developing but would be years away and wouldn't be ready to take ruck responsibilities if Gawn were unavailable next year. Key Defenders - May: 32 at the start of next year, playing good footy but perhaps past his peak. - Lever: plenty of footy ahead of him, plays best as an interceptor with two key backs around him. - Petty: forward or defence? - D. Turner: developing and looks ready for senior footy, perhaps undersized to take on huge key forwards and plays similar to lever with his ability to intercept mark. - Adams: could use another year of development but showing good signs at Casey. - Tomlinson: seemingly out of favour and looking for more senior opportunities, depth if he doesn't find a home. - K Turner: lightly built rookie with limited exposure due to injury this year, may be given another year. We need to plan for life after May and decide where we want to play Petty. Both factors could contribute to a very depleted back line lacking in experience. Mids: Oliver - 26yrs - star for another 6 years+ hopefully. Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Langdon, Hunter will all be >28 next year. Viney 30. Most should still have great footy for 2-4 years but will need to think about the next elite batch of midfielders. Might need to replace Hunter after next year. Sparrow, Jordon and Woewodin coming through although Jordon might leave. Harmes & Dunstan out of favour and both might be moved on/delisted. Our starting midfield is fine for now but will need to consider the next generation of mids come 2026/27. May need short term depth if Harmes, Dunstan and Jordon all move on. Small/medium defenders - Salem - Rivers - Bowey - McVee - Hibberd: likely to retire - D Smith: rookie that is playing good footy at Casey but needs to be promoted or delisted this year, probably 50:50 to be one the list. Solid mix of small defenders. Think we have a genuine star in the making with Rivers and could see him progress to the midfield. Salem will be 29 next year, hibberd likely retired, perhaps another medium defender is in order. Small/medium forwards - Fritsch - Pickett - ANB - Melksham - Spargo - Chandler - Laurie - AMW - Sestan Fritsch, Pickett permanent best 22 with ANB a solid senior player. Spargo, Chandler and Laurie all rotating through the team throughout the year. Melksham having a career revival currently but still might be without a contract for next year. If he does play-on, I wouldn't want to be relying on him playing his best footy week-in week-out. A top 5 pick should net us a player of similar ilk as Rankine in a trade, none in that class appear to be on the move this year that I'm aware of. Watson and Duursma may serve as fwd craft and x-factor additions via the draft. Utilities Joel Smith, Blake Howes To sum up, depending on how we utilise our list, we could use a; Key forward Key back Ruck Small/Medium defender Small/Medium forward Midfielder for future planning Key forward/back and ruck would obviously be best addressed via trade if we went down that path due to their long development time. The other positions we can look to address via the draft unless an opportunity presents itself. If we can land an elite key forward that would be the dream.

Daniel Turner has a future as an AFL player IMHO.

No. The issue last week was not the umpire's call, it was the [censored] poor vision that was 'inconclusive'. Better technology would have allowed for a definite ruling of whether the ball was indeed touched. FWIW I sat behind the goals and it was clearly not touched.

Melbourne v Hawthorn (Round 23, 2023) https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20232306 Key Team Stats Stats highlighted purple were won by Melbourne. Stat For Against Diff Disposal Efficiency 74.5 75.3 -0.8 Kicking Efficiency 70.2 70.5 -0.3 Metres Gained 5369 5045 +324 Inside 50s 61 38 +23 Shots At Goal 29 17 +12 Shots Per Inside 50 47.5 44.7 +2.8 Contested Possessions 116 124 -8 Ground Ball Gets 80 82 -2 Intercepts 69 63 +6 Intercept Marks 20 14 +6 Centre Clearances 11 13 -2 Stoppage Clearances 15 22 -7 Contested Marks 14 9 +5 Marks Inside 50 14 10 +4 Hitouts 26 34 -8 Hitouts To Advantage 5 9 -4 Tackles 55 42 +13 Tackles Inside 50 9 7 +2 Def One On One Loss % 28.6 42.9 -14.3 Pressure Team pressure Quarter For Against 1 172 173 2 192 155 3 180 159 4 179 167 Match 180 163 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* Jack Viney 28 60 56.0 Tom Sparrow 23 52 44.3 Clayton Oliver 18 49 57.5 Kade Chandler 24 49 31.4 Kysaiah Pickett 22 48 42.0 Angus Brayshaw 13 32 34.9 Christian Salem 14 32 30.2 Christian Petracca 17 31 46.8 Lachie Hunter 14 31 24.1 Bailey Laurie 16 31 13.4 Jake Melksham 13 28 16.4 Steven May 10 26 14.7 Alex Neal-Bullen 13 22 44.9 Jake Bowey 9 22 22.7 Ed Langdon 11 20 27.9 Trent Rivers 9 19 23.1 Max Gawn 7 18 22.0 Joel Smith 8 18 18.3 Jake Lever 6 17 15.4 Adam Tomlinson 7 16 14.1 Jacob van Rooyen 8 13 22.1 Judd McVee 3 11 18.0 Josh Schache 3 5 13.0 * 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 50% 50% 2 62% 38% 3 70% 30% 4 69% 31% 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 1 0 6 1 0 6 +0 Centre Bounce 1 0 6 2 0 12 -6 Stoppage (Other) 2 5 17 3 1 19 -2 Turnover 9 4 58 3 5 23 +35 Category For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in 6 2.5 6 2.4 Centre Bounce 6 11.5 12 7.7 Stoppage (Other) 17 23.9 19 21.0 Turnover 58 53.0 23 41.8 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 Hawthorn. Category Region For Against Match Season Match Season Kick-in D50 6 2.5 6 2.4 Centre Bounce Centre 6 11.5 12 7.7 Stoppage (Other) D50 0 0.6 0 2.0 Stoppage (Other) Centre 0 2.8 0 1.2 Stoppage (Other) Wing 2 12.6 6 6.9 Stoppage (Other) F50 15 7.8 13 10.9 Turnover D50 25 11.9 3 6.2 Turnover Centre 6 7.6 0 6.1 Turnover Wing 21 26.9 13 21.4 Turnover F50 6 6.6 7 8.1 Region For Against Match Season Match Season D50 31 15.0 9 10.6 Centre 12 22.0 12 15.1 Wing 23 39.5 19 28.2 F50 21 14.5 20 19.0 Points from defensive half For Against Match Season Match Season 33 34.5 22 24.6 Shots at goal Team Shots G B T Acc. General Play Melbourne 12 7 4 46 58.3 Hawthorn 6 3 3 21 50.0 Set Position Melbourne 17 6 4 40 35.3 Hawthorn 11 6 2 38 54.5 Centre Bounce Attendances CBAs CBA % 2023 % 2022 % Max Gawn 23 88 61.8 65.5 Jack Viney 19 73 71.2 74.6 Clayton Oliver 16 62 80.1 86.5 Angus Brayshaw 16 62 35.3 16.0 Tom Sparrow 13 50 45.6 32.2 Christian Petracca 11 42 61.9 74.6 Kysaiah Pickett 3 12 11.7 1.3 Jacob van Rooyen 3 12 7.2 Trent Rivers 0 0 3.2 0.0 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 2.3 3.5 Josh Schache 0 0 0.0 13.8 Brodie Grundy 54.4 83.7 James Jordon 27.6 0.2 James Harmes 26.7 14.6 Tom McDonald 5.4 0.0 Harrison Petty 0.7 0.0 Ruck Contests and Hitouts Ruck Contests Ruck Contests RC % 2023 % 2022 % Max Gawn 52 71 55.1 57.8 Jacob van Rooyen 11 15 12.1 Josh Schache 4 5 6.2 13.4 Joel Smith 2 3 0.3 0.0 Christian Petracca 2 3 0.3 0.1 Clayton Oliver 1 1 0.1 0.0 Tom Sparrow 1 1 0.1 0.0 Steven May 0 0 0.1 0.0 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 0.1 0.0 Brodie Grundy 47.7 77.4 Tom McDonald 8.9 7.0 Ben Brown 2.3 3.6 Harrison Petty 2.0 0.0 Hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. To Adv. % (2023) To Adv. % (2022) Max Gawn 52 22 5 31.6 33.6 Jacob van Rooyen 11 3 0 31.0 Josh Schache 4 1 0 0.0 33.3 Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 0 0.0 Brodie Grundy 30.4 30.2 Harrison Petty 25.0 Tom McDonald 25.0 33.3 Ben Brown 0.0 14.3 Opposition hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. Ned Reeves 55 26 7 Max Ramsden 11 5 2 Jacob Koschitzke 7 3 0 Expected scores (Champion Data) 91 - 54 Premiership metrics Melbourne is currently ranked in the top 6 in all 19 of the "premiership metrics" and ranked number 1 in seven. A reminder that these are the metrics where at least nine of the last eleven premiers ranked in the top 6 in home and away matches of their premiership year. Although not one of the 19 metrics as I don't have data pre-2021, "time in forward half" is another important stat and I have Melbourne ranked second this year to Port Adelaide. Interestingly, here are the best quarters (average across all matches) for time in forward half this year: 58.7% Melbourne Q4 56.1% Melbourne Q3 55.7% Port Adelaide Q3 55.5% Port Adelaide Q2

We started poorly, struggling to stop their quick ball movement, but as the game went on we defended the ground better, they tired, and we picked up our ball movement. I think what pleased me the most was that we beat an in form and dangerous opponent despite Oliver, Trac and Pickett being quiet, and Gawn not dominating. In their stead, we saw Rivers, Sparrow and ANB step up and play strong football. We saw Melksham shrug off his early inaccuracy to kick 3 whilst JVR and Smith chimed in too. Critically important to our September is ensuring we bat deep. Tomlinson struggled one-on-one today and that's his bread and butter. Without it, he's not great. However, structurally we need that spot filled by someone, and I don't want us to flip Smith back there. We are only hurting ourselves and Smith's development by moving him all around. Let him settle with JVR and Melksham. I think we give Tomlinson another game at least. Without Lewis they didn't have an amazing forward line but with Tomlinson able to take a deep forward, Lever was free to play at his best, and his best makes us so much better. Like others, I hope that being locked into top 4 allows us to hit next week with some freedom. Approach it like a dress rehearsal for finals. Get another week into Oliver, hopefully get Fritsch back into the side, hopefully see Tomlinson improve, get another week of gelling into the JVR-Smith combo. And finally, this isn't just our third straight top 4 finish, which of its own is remarkable. We will end this H&A season having finished every single week, bar one, in the top 4 from Round 1, 2021 to Round 24, 2023. That's 69 out of 70 completed rounds where we've been ranked one of the four best sides. That is a level of consistency that should be the envy of most other clubs.

So, for the following teams to be guaranteed a home qualifying final: Brisbane: need to win Port: need to win AND Brisbane lose Melbourne: need to...lose We got this (yes, yes, I know other possibilities exist)

I'll be interviewing Demon forward Jake Melksham on Wednesday so if you have anything you want me to ask him then please let me know. I will be posting the interview here and on all your favourite podcasting apps some time on Wednesday.

I hope no one minds me starting a thread for this but it’s really important that I ask as many people as possible to help the Demon Army with something. If anyone ever sees someone carrying a giant head around the concourse or outside the ground PLEASE alert security immediately. Or even PM me directly on Demonland. We never carry giant heads out individually. They’re always all packed into the same giant head bag and carried down to the carpark under the ground by our members. So if you do see one anywhere other than in our bay during the match, highly likely it’s been stolen. Thanks in advance!!!

Glad you asked this. Played forward and ruck as a young teen. If you want my honest opinion, I think he can just as good as a forward as he can as a defender. His game IQ and smarts is very high for a kid of his age. Reads the game extremely well and his contested marking and ability to catch the ball at his highest point is why recruiters think that he'll go inside top 10. His work rate on top of that is pretty impressive also. Some clubs don't see him purely as a defender and there's a thought that clubs could use a pick on him purely because there's more upside with his forward craft then defender.

I went an event at my grand daughters school out north west last Friday and there was a 7 year old Asian boy wearing a MFC beanie. I never thought I would see the day. When we were leaving I said to him go Dees and he had smile as big as Texas.

What about poor old Shazza (Nibbla’s mum) who often sits with us. The first time she heard everyone yelling out “Dogga” to our former #6, she misheard and thought it was “Donga.” Nobody ever corrected her because it was never not funny to hear her screaming, “GO DONGA!” 😂

His girlfriend has also just moved from interstate to be with him. He ain’t leaving.

When we drafted him, JT's described him as a "real MCG player" (behind the scenes footage video) and was over the moon Brisbane didn't take him. Excellent foreshadowing. He's good on every ground, but he's a real weapon at the MCG.

Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) Just viewed the training photos. What stood out to me was how much Trent Rivers has filled out since last year. Of all our recruits selected in the past two drafts, I believe he will end up proving to be our most important selection of them all. I don’t want to brag, but I just found this old post of mine from Feb ‘21.

Oliver is a superstar Petracca is a superstar Gawn is a superstar Smith is not

And gawny rests forward to stay down for the crumb.

He needs to spend less time and energy flying for ridiculous marks, and more time & energy front & centre of marking contests. Otherwise he is going okay.

LDU, Simpkin, Wardlaw, Sheezel, Thomas, Reid, George, Larkey and more to come, with Clarkson, they won’t be cellar dwellers much longer.

SEN reporting that Bailey Smith at the dogs isn't happy with not getting midfield time. He is out of contract at the end of next year. If there is any truth to this we should pounce, this kid is a superstar and would be the perfect rotation for Petracca and the pace our midfield needs.

👍Riv is a gun!

I’d prefer him to stop trying for that and take the crumbs.

If Pies are to tank, it would have to be heavy Soviet-era tank; Essendon are that bad.

Yesterday was against the 16th placed side, so it was not a big game. If we go back to part years final against Brisbane, Pickett was the only reason we were still in that game. The role/position Pickett plays lends itself to inconsistency. Pickett is a star!