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Neither have Geelong or Carlton. Geelong have beaten: St Kilda by 8 points in Geelong, Adelaide by 19 points, Hawthorn by 36 points, Bulldogs by 4 points, North down at Geelong by 75 points and Brisbane in Brisbane by 26 points. When we played Brisbane we were clearly cooked, that's the only win by Geelong you could potentially rate... Then over to Carlton, they've beaten: Brisbane by 1 point (after being down by 7 goals), Richmond by 5 points, North by 56 points, Fremantle by 10 points and GWS by 19 points. They also lost to Adelaide in Melbourne by 2 points. So the only potentially impressive win was against GWS last week and if you're being kind, Brisbane in Brisbane. So like both of those teams, the only win you could say was impressive by us was Port in Adelaide, but also backing that up off a 5 day break to beat Adelaide in Adelaide was solid too. Meanwhile, Collingwood played Port in Melbourne, and Port away from Adelaide are half the team they are at Adelaide Oval. Not comparing apples with apples... I love how some of our supporters think our results are somehow occurring in a vacuum.

Let's see how that compares with the other sides who came into this round with winning records (and prior to the three games so far): Geelong has beaten St Kilda (2-4), Adelaide (1-5), Hawthorn (1-5), Bulldogs (3-3), North (0-6) and Brisbane (2-4) GWS has beaten Collingwood (3-3), North (0-6), West Coast (2-4), GC (3-3), St Kilda (2-4) and Brisbane (2-4). Lost to Carlton (5-1) Carlton has beaten Brisbane (2-4), Richmond (1-5), North (0-6), Fremantle (3-3) and GWS (5-1) but lost to Adelaide (1-5) Sydney has beaten us (4-2), Collingwood (3-3), Essendon (4-2), West Coast (2-4) and GC (3-3) but lost to Richmond (1-5) Port has beaten West Coast (2-4), Richmond (1-5), Essendon (4-2), Fremantle (3-3) but lost to us (4-2) and Collingwood (3-3) Essendon had beaten Hawthorn (1-5), St Kilda (2-4), Bulldogs (3-3) and Adelaide (1-5) but lost to Sydney (5-1) and Port (4-2) We had beaten the Bulldogs (3-3), Hawthorn (1-5), Port (4-2) and Adelaide (1-5) but lost to Sydney (5-1) and Brisbane (2-4). Of these 7 sides, three of them came into this round without a win over one of the others on this list (Geelong, GWS, Essendon). Port, us and Carlton all had one, whilst Sydney has two. So only Sydney, of these sides, had done better against the good sides than us. Travel-wise, we had played 3 interstate games. That's the same as Geelong, GWS, Sydney and Essendon, and one more road game than Port and Carlton. As for the losses, yes, people are upset that we lost to Brisbane who otherwise suck. But Carlton and Sydney have lost to sides with worse W-L records so we're not alone in dropping a game to a weaker side, either.

It's not necessarily true that in 2024 Petty is a higher quality back than TMac. It's also not necessarily true that in 2024 TMac is a level above Petty as a forward. But what's clear to me is that TMac has been part of our yet-again-competition-leading elite defence for the last 6 games. It's not worth disrupting just to try to get Petty more into the game.

trying to understand afl match scheduling is a good way to damage your mental health but generally speaking it's either money or mates

Demonland logic: Pre cats game: We are an average side, going nowhere. Beaten no one and a team that would have beaten us by 100 points if they didn't put the cue in the rack just got smashed by the giants. Reality check time. Post cats game. We are an average side, going nowhere. Yes we we won by 4 goals, but the scoreboard flattered us. And we've still beaten no one. Sure the cats were unbeaten, but coming into the game their wins were against teams 9th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th on the ladder. And they also had two less days recovery. Reality check time next week against the blues, who will smash us. Their mids will destroy us, and yes we have a good defence but we can't expect them to rescue us every week. And fair warning, I don't want to hear the predicable excuses trotted out by the pollyannas about the impact of the five day break.

So if you were standing around in your workplace and someone just walked up behind you and punched you in the guts, that’s ok? it’s completely unnecessary

Darcy Byrne-Jones and The Scousers.

The fact that the AFL lets this type of stuff go, and commentators laugh off this type of behaviour, is not lost on me as I watch yet another woman be killed at the hands of a man. We do not do enough to eradicate this type of [censored] “boys will be boys” behavior in footy, and it’s very much reflected in our society too. Punching someone in the guts off the ball should never be allowed. It does nothing for our game and it’s the easiest non football action to judge and punish players for. The Pendelbury defense of “I was provoked” is up there with the “she was asking for it” defense. Putrid.

How sweet. Carlscum getting a sniff and then having it snuffed out.

Caught the butt end of a conversation on the radio about the game. If I heard correctly, we had eight players on the field who had played 40 games or less, with five of those in single figures. Amazing really.

Cmon Billy, if you want to be a trolling hero you have to do much better than that. Or perhaps, Billy, don't be a hero.

Of course it's a work place. It's where the players earn their living by being paid for what they do. They could reasonably expect to have somebody jump on their shoulders or tackle them. It is unreasonable to suggest that they cop a coward punch while doing their job.

Geelong have beaten the teams currrently positioned 9th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th.

Yes, he had a clanger 10 mins ago.

It doesn’t apply when flights to the game are expensive.

Interesting that a comment on how a high profile activity in our society not just lets men get away with unprovoked, random violence but actually laughs it off is met with a barrage of ‘WTFs’. Even on a reasonably civilised forum. Maybe your comment is just too profound and big picture for a lot of people to understand.

Not sure if a 179cm midfielder in Murray is a need for us. I wouldn't be surprised if we go for a developing talk ruckman/forward. I like the prospect of Joe Pike from Geelong Falcons. 203cm ruckman who's a big lad that gets around the ground winning possessions and has got good follow up work. His ruck craft if also pretty impressive and certainly gives his mids first use. Jasper Scaife is a 19 year old 198cm tall forward from West Perth who's kicked 8 goals in 3 senior games so far this year including a bag of 4 against Perth Demons. Would be a good forward depth prospect especially with the uncertainty around Pettys future and Jefferson not coming on as we would have liked.

Grab a proper home training venue like caulfield and win another flag and I reckon we could be right up in the top echelon.

He's not playing well but I think there are good enough reasons for it to warrant persisting longer. He is a confidence player but is at I think 1.5 from set shots. I suspect if he had nailed a few more of his set shots earlier, he'd be feeling better about himself. He also isn't fit enough but I suspect the FD think he'll get that fitness just as quickly in the seniors than anywhere else. I can't deal with the "swap TMac and Petty" stuff though. TMac's looked great in the backline so far this year and looked awful in the forward line last year. Robbing Peter to (potentially) pay Paul isn't the answer.

One hundred years ago today, the Melbourne Football Club began the long haul up from wooden spoon status by taking on St Kilda who had missed out on the finals in 1923 by a game and percentage. In 1924, the VFL competition consisted of nine teams of 18 players each on the field and no reserves with teams playing each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (16 matches and 2 byes). The Roaring Twenties were well under way, but the world was still recovering from the devastation of the First World War (up to 17 million dead) and the plague of Spanish Flu which infected about a third of the world's population of about 1.5 million killing between 25 and 50 million people from February 1918 to April 1920. Adolf Hitler was sentenced to prison in 1924 for his involvement in a failed coup d’état by the Nazi Party, and J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the FBI in the USA. Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister of Britain for the second time after winning a landslide victory. In Australia, with a population a touch under six million, the prime minister was Stanley Melbourne Bruce. Take note of that middle name; Bruce was born in Melbourne, went to Melbourne Grammar and held the country’s highest office from 1923 to 1929, meaning he was still there when Melbourne won the flag in 1926, its first premiership since Federation. Among those born in 1924 were actor Frank Wilson, actor Patsy Adam-Smith, artist David Boyd, academic and educator Leonie Kramer, tenor and Aboriginal activist Harold Blair, entertainer Bobby Limb, Olympic high jumper John Winter and artist Clifton Pugh. In sports other than Australian football:- • Collingwood premiership player Bill Twomey Senior won the 130-yard Stawell Gift in 12.1 seconds, off a handicap of 8½ yards, as one of the shortest-priced favourites in the event’s history. He also won the Ararat Gift, and three different events in one afternoon at Warracknabeal that year. Three of Twomey’s four sons Mick, Pat and Bill, and grandson, David Twomey – son of his fourth son, Peter – all played with the Magpies. • The Balmain Tigers defeated South Sydney 3-0 in the NSWRFL premiership final. • The Melbourne Cup was won by six-year-old stallion Backwood (ridden by Bunty Brown and trained by Richard 'Dick' Bradfield). The race was won in a time of 3:26.5 with a field of eighteen. Legendary football administrator Charles Brownlow, who also played for and captained Geelong in the VFA before the formation of the VFL, died on 23 January 1924. The Charles Brownlow Trophy (commonly known as the Brownlow Medal) awarded to "the best and fairest player" in the VFL (now the AFL) was instituted in his memory. Decided by the field umpire’s voting at the end of each home-and-away match, only a single vote was cast per game from 1924 to 1930. The VFL introduced new initiatives including the convention of home teams wearing black shorts and away teams wearing white shorts. The fixture was scheduled from 1924 to ensure that neither South Melbourne and St Kilda (who played home games at either end of Albert Park Lake) nor Melbourne and Richmond (who played at the MCG and Punt Road Oval) had home matches on the same day due to the heavy transport and labour burden associated with running the two close venues at the same time. This arrangement continued as long as the clubs played at their nearby locations. The 1924 VFL premiership was determined by an experimental finals system, which the VFL used for this season only. The format was similar to the round-robin used in the 1897 Finals System, but included the minor premier's right to challenge, which existed under the amended Argus System. All four games in the opening round were played on 26 April 1924. The reigning premiers, Essendon suffered an upset 16 point defeat at the hands of Collingwood while Fitzroy withstood a blistering comeback from Carlton to win by two points. Melbourne also lost to St Kilda by the same margin while South Melbourne had a 27 point victory over Richmond. The Fitzroy versus Carlton match was the first in VFL history in which both teams scored 100 points. Geelong had the bye. The Junction Oval located at the western end of Albert Park Lake was the scene of Melbourne’s season opener. The Fuchsias, as they were then known, had appointed Fitzroy champion and premiership player Gordon Rattray as its playing-coach. However, he was still residentially tied to Fitzroy and thus deemed ineligible to play for Melbourne. He therefore served the entire season as its non-playing coach. Round 1 St. Kilda vs Melbourne Saturday 26 April 1924 Venue: Junction Oval Attendance: 15,000 ST. KILDA 1.2.8 4.7.31 8.10.58 12.12.84 MELBOURNE 2.8.20 5.11.41 10.11.71 11.16.82 Goals: Dave Elliman 6 Percy Tulloh 2 Edgar Dunbar George Haines Derek Mollison Melbourne which had finished last in 1923 with three wins, started as favourite against the eventual wooden-spooner but fell short in a thrilling match. The Redlegs appeared more settled with only one newcomer, Jonny Egan, while the Saints had three recruits on their team. Ruckman Bob Corbett put in a strong performance but was let down by his teammates in the middle. Winger Alf Wilson was given a bath on the wing after a late start to training due to cricket commitments. Melbourne had the advantage of the wind in the first quarter but conceded the first goal and was wasteful with conversion, scoring two goals from 10 scoring shots of which one goal came from a free to forward David Elliman. Percy Tulloh, goaled from a free early in the second term and with three goals each in this period, Melbourne held a 10 point lead at half time. Elliman was on target in the third quarter with four of his team’s five goals for the term. St Kilda had rallied at one stage to take the lead but Melbourne responded to lead by 13 points at the last break. St Kilda opened the final quarter strongly with two early goals and the teams traded goals, with the Saints snatching the lead with the last kick of the day. Elliman who finished with six goals had earlier had the opportunity to seal the game but his shot missed. Melbourne's best were Derek Mollison, Percy Tulloh and Erica Donaldson. Field umpire Jack McMurray said it was one of the "most pleasant matches" he had ever officiated. He dished out 54 free kicks to St Kilda and 31 to Melbourne on the day. The father of St Kilda player W. Cubbins suffered a heart attack in the crowd during the exciting finish and later passed away. In the seconds Melbourne 13.19.97 defeated St Kilda 10.4.64 The game gave the club pause to reflect, especially as it had the bye in the following round. To be continued …

At the 9.43 mark of the third quarter, after Hopper had injured his leg again, I noted Oliver giving a pat to the injured opposition player. I turn 74 today, and the older I get, the more gestures like that impress me. With regard to Oliver's performance, he's slowly but surely getting there. he has come from a long way back. All power to him.

Nay. It’s too much

Watching Dogga just kills me, he’s the x-factor we’re missing. A football unicorn 😭

tbh I'd rather beat wannabe Carlton in 2 weeks than Geelong. The Cats won't stay healthy all year. Hope we meet them in finals. But I don't think we match up particularly well against either Geelong or Carlton. Gonna be a tough fortnight. Carlton is staring down the barrel of 3 games in 12 days when they face us. They've got Collingwood next Friday and then us on Thursday. We'll be coming off a 5 day break but our third game in 15 days. I reckon we'll pump Carlton. Can't see us getting near Geelong though.

Geelong move the ball with so much precision and they use it better. That’s been the difference. Certainly need to be at our best skills wise next week to win.

A packed MCG is an awesome sight

No chance Danger plays next week if he’s got even a slight hamstring awareness. With his history and at his age, they won’t risk it.

We can and should ignore Schache

I feel pretty good about our top 4 aspirations, especially based on our defensive strength. We rarely get 80 points scored against us, and we have a LOT of improvement available.

Serious question. Why is Cripps allowed to get away with throwing the ball so much?

The next 2 weeks will depend on whether our Midfielders can find form…

if ever there was a game i'd like to see end in a draw its this one. i can't stand either team

O wow - so many wrong dropping-the-ball decisions in this game. Horrendous. Clear, clear umpiring errors with 4 of them on the ground, and the officiating umpire only 10-15 metres from the play.

For those who haven't had a chance.to see this. Some Sesto magic! Starting to find his feet. Promising moments and building nicely... https://www.facebook.com/share/v/kmqg7qyic3fjmNb8/?mibextid=xfxF2i

My fault, I was sitting to close to the screen.

I'm trying to understand why Carlton v Geelong is in the graveyard slot of 4.30pm and Freo v Dogs is prime Saturday night?

Nonsense. If you don’t punch someone, they can’t dive. I just don’t accept this

Why did my text style get bigger??

It’s called a ‘love tap’, and because they let Pendlebury do it every player in the comp can now do it every week. Good job AFL. Nailed it.

Those thinking that Petty will be dropped are way out of touch with reality

We’ll never be a ‘big’ club, but we’re no longer a small one.

That could well present a moral dilemma for young woey.

something is very cooked when you can punch someone off the ball (no matter how hard) and only get a fine.

No way is Petty getting dropped. Troy Chaplin was interviewed pre game and said that they are aware he's down in form but will back him to the full to find that find at AFL level. He went on to further explain that he has all the attributes of a key forward that they're looking for in terms of his work rate, defensive pressure and ability to hunt the ground ball. Similar was said about Turner as well.

supermercado is my idol

Open hand. Closed hand. Who cares - the AFL needs to get real and start suspending players for those pathetic acts. It is beyond unsporting. Is that really how the AFL want the game to be seen? And I completely concur - clarry is super fair and multiple times this year has displayed care and concern for opposition players.

For all those projecting dire and disastrous consequence against Geelong because of horrible kicking/turnovers like Wednesday’s first half, i.e. 56% disposal efficiency (10 percentage points below all game average), would love to know what you think happens if we play like the second half, i.e. 76% disposal efficiency (10 points ABOVE all game average)?