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To reiterate how consistent we've been since 2021, Carlton are the only team to have a multiple game (2) winning streak against us. If we win on Thursday, the only losing streaks we have are single games against Sydney, Brisbane, Collingwood, Fremantle, and GWS. Such a contrast to those losing streaks to Hawthorn and North Melbourne during the dark days.

People can post or care about what they want of course, but I find it odd that most post-winning game threads are usually uppity about how the media reports on the win or their perceptions about our team. Seriously, who cares if Dermott isn't on board, or downplays the win? Fritsch kicked a goal that will be remembered 50 years from now. What does it matter if some forgotten random didn't rate it? Chris Scott has one job: (clue) it isn't to hand out plaudits to the opposition, but to win flags, whatever approach he thinks is best. Goodwin has the same job, but takes a different approach. Enjoy the win. Look at the stats. Do the old fashioned eye-ball test. None of what the media and other footy forums say has anything to do with our chances of winning a flag. Not intended as a condesceing question, but would people be happier if the media bowed down and said we are unbeatable and clear flag favourites?

Even if he doesn't play, Marchbank will claim he touched a ball from the stands

He definitely asked us to facilitate a move. We’d just struck out on one of our targeted players from Carlton and were not ready for a trade request from a player that we thought was not a flight risk. He made a mess of the situation by allowing the Crows to setup that awkward golf course interview. We held firm. As we should’ve. We can’t win a flag this year with him not on the list. No matter which end he plays at. Jackson and Kozi were in different situations. Jackson was gone 12 months out. His story about making his mind up at the end of 2022 is complete garbage. Kozi on the other hand was never keen to leave Melbourne and maintained communications and negotiations the whole time. I never thought he was leaving.

Robert Flower circa 1973… Big Call, i know But this kid can seriously play, and he is doing it now….

There’s much to like about this young man and as one who’s old enough to remember seeing Robbie Flower grace the MCG wings, not to mention having had a number of conversations with arguably the greatest ever Demon, I can definitely see many similarities between the 2, and hopefully their careers can be viewed parallel well into the future.

No it doesn’t. If the Crows didn’t get the answer they were hoping for, then it sounds like Petty’s manager called to say Petty is no longer interested in going to Adelaide.

The 5 day break shouldn't be an issue. Stats show that it becomes an issue when you either have a significant difference to the break of your opponent, or when you're having multiple consectuvie short weeks. Carlton will only get 1 extra day rest, and we had long breaks between the past two games, so it's not a factor nor an excuse. It was a fair excuse for the loss to Brisbane. Repeat short turnarounds compounding. After the Carlton game, we have breaks of 9 days, 7 days, 7 days, 8 days and then a bye. After the bye, there aren't many big games that would get scheduled for a Thursday or Friday, so we should avoid many more short turnarounds.

Correlation does not establish causation, and yet...

I am both a dinosaur and somewhat lazy. Loved having access to a thread that collates radio commentary / interviews dealing with Melbourne. Thanks👍

Windsor on the radio today.

We don't need more American [censored].

Check out the Club's website: not one, not two, not three; four separate 'On The Radios'. They can't get enough of us now 😊

Credit where it's due - the clubs media game has improved out of sight. Just watched the mcqualter video. Brilliant - mana from heaven for footy nuffies like me.

I understand your point skuit, it's one many other posters, some lots of times, have also made over the journey on my time on DL. Though i have to say, I'm no great fan of the 'people can post or care about what they want of course BUT....' negation. Who cares about the media's coverage of the dees? I do. Why? I obvioulsy can't speak for others but the context is I love the club and have been a passionate supporter of the club since 1975. As a kid in the 70s I didn't know a single dees fan, other than the family friends who made me a dees fan. Through the 70s and the 80s. I suffered through humiliating shellackings and multiple near winless seasons as I traipsed around Melbourne's suburban football grounds by myself. We were treated like a joke - from other fans and the media alike. Jokes about silver spoon and snow trips (which is the opposite of my experience growing up) AND being perennial wooden spooners and total dysfunction were par for the course I grew up desperate for any morsel of info about the dees. We were hardly ever one of the 2 replays shown on the weekend and instead had to make do with those weird one camera shots and fake crowd noise 'highlights'. Of course we were one of the clubs on the chopping block in the 80s. And of course the media's pumped up the narrative Don Scott saved us from extinction. We finally win a flag and are the most successful club since the start of 2021. A flag and three consecutive top 4 finishes and we're still derided - even by plenty of dees fans. So yeah, i get frustrated by how the media cover us. So much so that I've largely taken a DL posters' advice from a couple of seasons back to stop consuming media content (if it frustrates you that much, stop reading, listening and watching it). Personally what I find curious is for every post expressing frustration about the coverage of the dees there is a post like yours that express bemusement. And others taking pot shots at the snow flakes. I mean, you don't think it's ironic posters going to the effort of essentially critising other posters for critising the media? I mean, people can post what they want but I really don't get why they would get so annoyed as to go to the effort knocking another poster for knocking the media - particularly those that repeat their confusion, derision, bemusement multiple times a season. Seriously, who cares if a poster chooses to vent about the media? Each to their own I suppose. As to your question about what I would prefer re the media, my answer is I'd prefer that was professional, knowledgeable and helped me understand the game. I don't mind critiques that have a solid rationale, perhaps even based on some research and work. Instead we get feel based, lazy, largely incorrect analysis by bonehead ex footballers that is no better than the plonkers yelling just kick it at the footy. The media does what I think is the best team sport in the world a huge disservice.

Looks like Salem will be available post the Eagles game. Fingers crossed for no more injuries and that would mean best 22 available

Enjoyed the commentary quip after Caleb's tackle and free and goal... " He's caught in a Windsor knot."

Can we pre-emptively lodge a complaint to the AFL about he number of frees Carlton will get this Thursday night?

Cats fans on the socials almost universally running with the 'we were off' line. Delusional morons.

Watching the game on TV after being at the G on Saturday night and am surprised to see the Cats complaining after every single free kick to the Dees. Haven’t seen this from a club before, but it matches the character of their Noach who has had nothing but excuses, every time we have beaten them. We never beat them, it is only them losing it. He appears a smug unpleasant person.

Caleb Windsor has been awarded the Rising Star nomination for round 8. Well done young sir!

He has the slightly hunched running style reminiscent of the greatest ever, Robbie. He is fast and direct and makes good decisions. If only he could bounce the ball with his left hand. That would be too much to ask of the footy gods.

Sensible, articulate and humble young man.

Salo is not far off, either! Once we get Bowza and Salo back - provided everyone else stays good, we're looking great. Bonuses are McAdam and Melksham later in the year, as options for certain games.

Great interview with TMac on kane and bucks SEN breaky. He give great insight on patty coming back from lisfranc. was Monday morning https://megaphone.link/NTETP5797676983 hope the link works

Bowey confirmed available for this Thursday so expect him to come straight back in.

Good, now it’s time to extend his contract with the Dees.

I fully agree. Billings must be given time to master his role. Garry Lyon pointed out how our ball movement had altered from the back half. I've no reason to believe Hunter would be any better than Jack. Like Lever, IMV Jack's performance will lift as he becomes more confident and familiar with his team mates.

I've been searching to see if this has been mentioned prior, but from what I can see it hasn't. What everyone seems to miss is how Fritsch approaches the ball. First, he sprints to make position before the Geelong player. He then slows and drifts ever so slightly to the right, taking space away from his opponent whilst assessing if the ball will slow and stay in. As soon as it appears that the ball will stay live, he leans into his opponent with a slight bump giving himself space to gather and shoot with no pressure. This is what makes Fritsch so special. His timing and bodywork are always underrated and is what makes him so dangerous.

If people think Xscore is a bad stat then accuracy is even worse. Xscore is just accuracy but adjusted for factors such as shot location, in the play vs on the run, etc.

Haha well said. So funny to watch people on here get triggered by Chris Scott, Dermie, SEN commentary and now the coaches votes. Very very sensitive bunch on here.. As you say, it was such an enjoyable win and I have even watched the replay just to go back and look at a few key moments in the game that I thought were big factors in winning the game. Big positive is having 5 players under 10 games and beating the undefeated team without the likes of Bowey, Salem and McAdam.

With all the stats that are tracked in an AFL game, you seriously think that expected scores is the worst? It says a lot more about a match than most other stats in isolation. No one actually thinks they won a match because they won on expected scores only.

More consistency? He’s more consistent than most key position forwards and a lot more consistent than any other medium forward. He went something like 40 games kicking at least one goal. He also kicked 6 in a grand final. I don’t know why he is so underrated. [censored] all over every other forward his size in the league.

Not so sure about Turner, Ouch! If I read the play correctly, Disco payed a defensive roll on Stewart, and limited his impact significantly.

Of course it does. You and your frivolous, factotum flaggelations. To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail' (Abraham Maslow) (Sorry Uncle, I have no idea of the relevance of this quote but I've always wanted to use it).

They also showed this. JvR retains the ball 65% of the time it’s kicked to him. Number 1 in the AFL and some here think he’s not up to AFL standard. Game’s changed since the 12 mark 8 goal games from forwards.

It’s even more basic than this. It’s just plotting points for (the horizontal axis) and points against (the vertical axis). That’s all. All they are saying is that premiers tend to be in the top 6 for both stats. Which, as you say, is hardly surprising!

I chuckled when I saw that as they all looked so chuffed!! The ‘window’ simply reflects each team’s %, derived by ranking then plotting each team’s pts for/against. And there is a small affect for the number of wins/losses. So is it any wonder Geelong and Sydney sit in that quadrant. The chart is saying the top 2 teams at Round 8 play off in the grand final. The chart makes it look clever but it is hardly an earth shattering observation. The year that didn’t hold true is 2022. The top 2 teams at round 8 were Geelong and Melbourne. I am confident the top 2 teams won’t play off in this year’s GF. Melbourne will be one of those teams.

One of the wiser things I have heard Nathan Buckley say is that the indigenous players just see the game differently and play in a way that others don't seem to be able to. This is a great example of what he was talking about IMHO.

worst stat ever you ask? expected score should we tell St kilda to enjoy their expected flag in 2010??

Fritsch is criminally underrated by the average joe schlub Maybe as he is skinny, doesn’t crash pack or doesn’t fit into the usual model of a small or tall He is on track to kick 66.27 most consistent fwd we have had in 5 years

I don't think I've even seen him do it once. He clearly doesn't watch Melbourne games. What a load of absolute cobblers. I rate Fritta as extremely underated. And that's fine. Let him go under the radar. He's not a large build but the way he times his " lean intos" and the power from them make him seem around the 100 keg mark. In fact he does the opposite to trying to get frees. There was a rubbish non decision when he was taken out of a contest against Geelong and Fritta said Zippo.

If you weren’t convinced that Robbo has no idea about footy, have a listen to him on 360. He thinks Fritta plays for too many frees when Gerard posed the question where Fritta rates as a forward. I also sent a text to SEN early this morning about Fritta being in a convo for one of the games best forwards. The host said he needs more consistency. This bloke is severely underrated still. In the top 5 for most goals since 2020.

Oh no, not our second round pick (would have been pick 41) and our end of second round James Jordon compensation pick (would have been pick 45)!!! Won't somebody please think of the children!

The Roar article and to some extent the guardian articles as well listed earlier in this thread banged on about how boring the game was for the first three quarters. I may be a bit biased but I found the whole contest quite riveting. It was a wonderful arm wrestle all night. It wasn't just boring stoic defence from us. The cats got out on numerous occasions but our defence was frenetic on scrambling back to stop them. I find that really entertaining to watch. 14 behinds in a row, not as much but I think that reflected the pressure of the game on both sides. I loved every minute of it, not just the last quarter.

Thought I’d post this cracking behind the goals image of our defensive wall stopping the ball coming out of our forward 50. Good luck getting it out of there with 5 defenders in a wall as the first line and then May and Lever supporting line. Looks like the footy version of some ancient Roman battle formation.