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Not a lot of optimism which isn't surprising after last week's game. Overall their focus was on underdone players, lack of speed, poor attitude and little aggression. Lamented the absence of their tough guys: Robinson (retired), Zorko (injured), Matheson (not selected). From Big Footy Dees bring this pressure it’ll be round rd 23 2022 in rd 2 2023. Team balance is wrong at the moment t. We had a speed problem, now we’ve overcompensated and have a grit problem. Friday night against another fast moving side will be enlightening, the Demons will be fired up after us beating them last meeting. We lack fierceness and need to do something to shock these gentlemen players into desperation effort levels. i just want the players to care and reverse that putrid attitude and effort from yesterday. Maybe I'm getting too pessimistic but if we plan on losing the ruck contest, which is going to happen anyway , how do we expect our guys to shark it with Oliver, Petracca , Brayshaw, Viney ,Harmes etc getting service. Demons mids hit the ball hard. Based on what Horne-Francis did to us, Petracca will be unstoppable. IF Zorko was playing yesterday he would not have changed the result, but I reckon he would have become more aggressive in that 3rd Q and the team might have responded. Another concern I have had the last few months is the lack of defensive players in the forward line. Whether we win or not against Melbourne is not as consequential as to whether we turn up with intent and keep it going for the 4 quarters whatever the state of the game. If we just fold and poonce around again I'll be genuinely worried. There is something fundamentally wrong with our team all down hill skiers. Of our last 5 games we have been belted 3 times that’s not a team that should be contesting for a flag. I watched the Dogs v Dee's last night, and even though the Dogs lost by 50, still looked light-years better than we did this weekend. The big worry for me is how hobbled Gawn and Petracca were and won't be this time... Payne and Andrews don’t get close enough to their opponents to tackle them. These are two defenders who seem to have a major deficiency in defensive skills. Yep the old “are we pretenders?” conundrum starts again for another year. Melbourne look deadly dangerous already and last couple of years have had the measure of our midfield. Bailey is not an inside mid and neither is Berry. If Berry played for the Dees or the cats he wouldn’t get a game. Fritchs is about to rip Rayner a new one… …Fritsch will run Rayner into the ground in the first quarter, if Rayner tries to run with him. Even in our best games there are quarters we sleep in, let alone whole games we just don't wake up. My favourite – for its reality and light hearted humour Right, you go whack Petracca in the tibia with mallet, and I'll ride a mini scooter in Max Gawns' back. That oughta help Melbourne replicate their team from that semi final win. Coleman was excellent against us in the final so his unavailabilty this week will help. Dees by 4 goals!

Just an update on Kynan Brown and a little bit of Noah Yze. A contact within Murray bushrangers attended the Oakleigh Chargers practice match on the weekend against Sandringham. He's an opposition club scout. His opinion was he thought Kynan was close to BOG for the chargers playing as a midfielder. Was quite impressive around the stoppages and showed a high level of grunt and speed as well. He reckons he'll push himself into top 20 draft calculations if he keeps this form consistent all year. Noah Yze also played as a bottom ager and he reckons he showed some really exciting traits and little bit of X factor at times throughout the game. Played forward majority of the game and he reckons he's a genuine watch for 2024.

Just got into bed to discover the cat had spewed all over it. I think he’d seen the clearance differential.

Harmes had 42 pressure acts which is exceptional. Next best was Kossie with 30. Your views on Harmes are no longer objective.

Tomlinson outperformed expectations Hats off to him

Best possible outcome from that incident (excluding no injury at all)….no ACL, no medial meniscus, no joint surface trauma. No legacy either once it’s healed. He’ll be good as new, ready to hoist the Cup (assuming the rest of the team can atone for last night, and play like we know they can). Rehab is straightforward, and lucky for Max, he loves cycling. 👍🏻

Folks have talked about fitness but did you see Petracca flip off the ground, off his back onto his feet. Never seen that happen on the footy field. Now try doing that in the backyard. It is impossible for most of us, it requires incredible strength and flexibility in the core. That was my highlight. No wonder he is impossible to tag. A raging bull. Once in a generation. Oh, maybe we have two or three once in a generation players. It’s like looking back and saying how lucky you were to see Barassi or all those other champs from those days. We are very lucky to see our current crop of players.

Simon Goodwin played a straight bat to the unpleasant questions. I admire his self restraint. I also wanted to state that Simon Goodwin is a hero of the Melbourne Football Club. He is a Premiership coach who broke our 57 year Premiership drought and for that I will be forever grateful.

My eight-year-old has never seen his footy team win. I don’t want to lie to him cry me a river of wees and poos they’ve only been [censored] for about 2 mins about as fair weather as it gets

Was particularly noticeable to me last night too, @old dee (maybe cos I sat top tier, which I don’t usually). And most noteable here is Alex Neal-Bullen. His combination of endurance and consistent speed to the contest is frankly phenomenal. When everyone else (the Dogs mostly) was grinding down, he was running as far and as fast as the first quarter. Needless to say it falls on deaf ears for many on here, but Nibbler’s all-game work is just extraordinary.

Players Definitely on the Flight to Brisbane. May, Harmes, Petracca, Grundy, Viney, Lever, Spargo, Brayshaw, Gawn, Hunter, Oliver, Hibberd, Langdon, Bowey, Melksham, Tomlinson, Jordon, Rivers, McDonald, Smith, Neal-Bullen, Fritsch, Sparrow, Petty, Chandler, McVee, Brown

It's a good reminder to have faith in the current Admin/FD. People were up in arms when we traded out Watts, people weren't happy when we lost Hogan but ended up with May. People (including myself) weren't happy when we picked up Grundy and Hunter but they're looking like inspired decisions. The current FD has earnt our faith and repayed it several times over. Relax, we got this

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Don’t think he’s been mentioned yet but welcome back Bowza! All class from the little fire engine.

That was a fun game to watch. Youngsters really showed their worth. Geez Jefferson can certainly take a good strong clunk. 7 marks and kicked 0.4. Still needs a bit of work but the talent is certainly there. It's a pity poor old Schache copped a knee to the head because on today's form he was absolutely in line to replace Max. JVR didn't do his chance any harm. Just play the kid and get some games and experience into him now. AMW, Howes and Kye Turner were all very impressive as well. Turner certainly provides drive off half back and AMW has a crack. Seston is an unfinished product. Definitely needs to work on his tank and consistency throughout games, but when he does look out. The kid can play.

In my ‘Demonland as a pub’ narrative - this is like someone at 9pm on a random Tuesday just yelling this out across the bar at the front. It’s a good point, mate. Totally. But where did that come from?

So many observations of great things: Pickett in so many of our goals. Max's run up when kicking for goal was straight as as arrow Max gave a masterclass in marking and positioning Spargo never wastes a ball. So clever. McVee a smooth mover and neat kick Lever back to his best BBB was playing footy that he didn't look capable of late last year. Fast ball movement, unpredictable entries into fwd 50 not a weak link, total team performance. Bowey's kicking superb Max and Grundy worked very well together Langdon picked up where he left off last year Petty's safe hands Harmes did a good job mostly on the Bont Umpires were generally very good - even though the Dogs throw the ball more than any other team\ Kick ins were varied and often they honoured the short 35m pass directly in front The team never stopped running Thommo had a blinder - Although Lobb is generally pretty poor.

TMac didn’t have a great game, Yes BUT TMac allowed Benny Brown to be a loose man. Which was the main problem last year So TMac still did an important job

The average crowd between us and them is 22,700-odd. Tonight was the second-biggest H&A crowd between us since the 1960s. It was also 37 degrees which doesn’t lend itself to some people commuting in. Plus the majority were our supporters, meaning the Dogs’ fans were the ones who didn’t really turn up.

This is everyone’s light lunch today

Mate - they don't even have electricity.

Don't fear Brisbane one bit. Give us Kozzie, May, Salem and Gawn back in and we beat them comprehensively.

Reading some of the foam in here is literally making me sick. You've got people all week basically guaranteeing we'll win all tough and everything. Now a lot of those same people are jumping off and saying season over. More bile than Sydney Harbour, you have literally become the arrogance of the other sides like Geelong and Hawthorn that you let us know how much you hate on a weekly basis. Pull your heads out of your collective rear ends and get behind this team for [censored]'s sake. I know it's a terrible situation, yes I'm really annoyed how we are playing but reach deep down inside and find that belief you had earlier. They need us.

"Look Eddie, I haven't received February's payment and it's close to the end of March. WTF is going on?"

I can trace the origins of this thread to the mention of Cam Rayner in the 'What they're saying at Springfield' thread. Humans are fascinating creatures. Anyway, if Watts had been taken at 31 we'd love him and if Fritsch was taken at 1 we'd probably have burned him for 'underperforming' for the first three seasons of just being good. Of course, NOW we can say that pick 1 of the 2008 draft got us one handy third tall swingman for a decade and then the games' best mid-sized forward who kicked 6 goals in a grand final and is realistically top-3 in his draft. It's like an MFCSS therapy session in here.

Really feel for the Poos and Wees. I personally would love to see the Poos and Wees get flogged for another decade. No sympathy at all from me.

Woah woah woah, nobody is saying JVR can't be great or better than TMac. But TMac plays a very specific role, a role that requires elite endurance. JVR is two years in, his endurance is not at TMac's level. In fact, even with 10 pre seasons under his belt he probably won't have TMac's endurance, which is at the top level of AFL players league wide. Very few players his size can cover the same KMs he covers in a game. It's also why someone like ANB, who isn't the most polished perfect footballer going around, is a best 18 player for us. The ground he covers at top speed is elite and nobody on our list can play that role because nobody has the aerobic capacity to do so. Our entire forward set up fell apart like a cheap suit when TMac got injured last year. Not because he is the greatest marking and goal kicking forward going around, but because he is a very disciplined role player who rarely loses an aerial contest and can get to contest after contest. While I thought he was just ok on Saturday night, what he did is allow Ben Brown and Gawn to play deeper while he was able to neutralise the aerial contests on the wing. He also does some forward rucking, and he gives us the ability to cover a tall defender if one goes down mid game. These are things that will take JVR a long time to perfect, no matter how good a player he can be at AFL level. I think he will get games this year, as he should, and I think he has the potential to be the next Tmac (and hopefully better), but we are not a club that has to play the messiah card anymore. We have lots of good players, which means any youngsters coming through can come in with no pressure and just slowly learn their craft as needed.

I really thought that I might be able to avoid this death ride stuff but, on Sunday afternoon/evening, I found myself drawn to the St Kilda vs Fremantle game and was actually trying to will St Kilda to the 4 points. In the end, the willing side of things was unnecessary because the Dockers lost it all on their own with an insipid display against a depleted outfit operating on 50% rat power. I’m sure the Freo brains trust is searching for answers but it looked to be quite simple - their depth is being sorely tested. Fremantle traded heavily in order to fit Jackson onto their list. They traded away Blake Acres (Carlton), Rory Lobb (Western Bulldogs), Griffin Logue (North Melbourne), Lloyd Meek (Hawthorn) and Darcy Tucker (North Melbourne). They also lost David Mundy to retirement. Apart from Mundy, none of the players the Dockers lost were household names but each of them individually was a player who gave the team additional options in terms of placing and performance. The Dockers’ gains during the trade period were Jackson and Jaeger O'Meara. On Sunday, the latter was okay and promises to be handy but Jacko was sluggish and presented no danger to the Saints. I question his fitness. Fyfe appears to be a shadow of his former shadow. it was only game one but they were, along with the Hawks, the round’s biggest losers.

Uh oh..It's started. "Jackson sucks, Fyfe is too old, we don't have a forward line, Treacy can't play football and Ethan Hughes is on an AFL list" • "Melbourne must be celebrating today, genuine shot at a top 10 pick all of a sudden" • "Jackson can't mark to save his life." • "Hope Melbourne enjoy our 1st rounder" • "0 marks to Jackson is a bad stat line by itself, but he was out bodied and out read every time the ball went near him in a marking contest. And he added very little more at ground level." • "I don't remember being terrified and lacking confidence being in his draft profile." • "Bullied at clearances despite HO advantage, we looked outsized in there without Mundy. Jackson looked out matched as well." • "I thought Jackson overall was poor. And yet he started so brightly with that neat handball to Freddy for our first goal. But it was summarized by his lazy boneheaded kick around the body shot for goal that missed the lot. And that basically characterized the afternoon.....sigh!"

Shame on those Dees fans who booed Sauce. He was delisted ffs.

Bayley Fritsch & Steven May are here

It’s not hard. Last year Ben was getting 3 opponents Last night he was free to run and cover ground TMac played an effective team role. He will get better

What?!

I would have thought that Laurie would be more likely to be replaced in the team.

So this is what Fremantle meant when they said he looked like having a Goodyear.

At least Collingwood paid for that mark.

We’ve now spent 47 consecutive home and away rounds in the top 4. Not too shabby, huh.

Sunday morning and I am still in bed reason it was after midnight when I got home. From the time I left to go to the game till I got home was 7.5 hours. Now admittedly I left early to make sure I got into the G car park. Ridiculous! The upside ? We slaughter a team that was supposedly a top 4 contender. I have to say rarely have I watched a MFC team play as well as this one and we had 4 of our 21 premiership side out. I know it is only the first game but how could you not be excited. Bring it on Dees we have all waited decades for this team.

On a positive note. Benny Brown is equal leader of the Coleman Medal.

We should have a MFC tent at all the hawks games, handing out free Trac and Oliver merch to all these poor, suffering Hawthorn kids. There's plenty of room on our bangwagon.

I would be shocked if McVee gets dropped. Hes gone from an unknown to playing rd 1 in a top 2 side in a heartbeat because the coaches know he's something special. Before his baulk on Libba there was a contest on the wing where we have a 2 on 1. He does the sums in his head and subtly runs in front of naughton to block his line of sight to the ball (and not to give away a free kick). Then releases just when Petty picks up knowing he is the option forward of the ball. It was all just so smooth. Also he has great 3 step acceleration and he hits targets. This kid is something special. Give him the role on Cameron to start, lets see his ceiling.

Jackson certainly wouldn't be the only ruck to go without taking marks for week on end. For all the media plaudits he gets for his ability to take big grabs, Nic Nat has gone through his entire career averaging just over a mark and a half a game. Makes you realise how much we take Gawn's around the ground marking prowess for granted.

Great Sub choice. Milkshake is a very smart footballer that can play middle and ahead of the ball, but might not be as fast or have the legs of the others. Bring him on as a sub when others have slowed a bit and let him get to work. He contributed straight away. A tactical masterstoke? (I think so)

The one sitting behind me was pretty thick

Is Big Joe playing for us tonight?

I hope the man who has participated in 15 consecutive wins for us (still undefeated) is ok, as he clearly does a few things right.

Awful call. What are you basing his “nothing” game on? only having 12 disposals? Langdon had 14.. should we drop him also? .. Hunters 12 touches were damaging. 3 score involvements, 75% efficiency & i saw him on numerous occasions do the 1 percenters. And considering how dominant his preseason was, he’s only going to get better. Not sure why the anti hunter sentiment.. But you’ll eat your words in no time.