Tough Kent

For me, this is not about being bitter or angry. I love this team. They will forever be my sporting heroes. This is just my own honest assessments and views on our 2022 season. I started to worry after the trade and draft period. We brought in a one player, a fringe player from St. Kilda who could potentially crack our 22. “Don’t worry. The improvement will come from within!” we were told. Teams don’t stand still. That Geelong side we beat in the prelim are an 8 goal better side this year due to changes in personnel and a tweak in their game plan. I believe that we just thought incremental improvement would happen. Into the season. We were winning, but there were worrying trends. Failure to bury teams. Drop offs in games. Lack of cohesion going inside 50. Scoring was labour intensive. “That’s okay. We’ll click when it matters” we all thought. Then we started to play the good teams. Teams that were ravenously hungry. Teams that had studied us intensively for 2 years and had worked us out. Teams that out-hunted us, and ran across the top of the ground a lot better than us. Teams that knew that if they stayed in games against us, they could run over the top of us. Did we have a Plan B for such occasions? I’m not sure. The football world could see the issues. Lack of skill execution under pressure. Lack of cohesion going forward. Lack of reliable focal points in attack. Drop off in our pressure game. What was done about it in the second half of the year to buck these trends? Nothing. Goodwin was stubborn. He backed in his game plan. He backed in his core group of players. And by the time it got to last night, we were forced to play banged up players and players in questionable form because it was too late to bring in options from Casey. I am glad the season is over. Truth be told, I didn’t enjoy the year at all. My heart was telling me we could win the thing, but my eyes and brain were telling me something different. The players said all the right things about being hungry, but Sydney showed us last week what it means to be truly hungry for 4 quarters. It is so hard to go back to back. Am I excited for next year? Bloody oath! We finished 5th in a year where our forward line was broken. We led in 7 of our 8 losses by 20 plus points. When it mattered, our important players were banged up and not at their best. I believe that with a few changes to 22 after an aggressive trade period and some adjustments to the game plan, we can challenge again in 2023.

This is why I wouldn't be putting the house on Geelong to win the flag just yet. In 2022, Geelong played against teams in the current top 8 only 7 times. They haven’t played a current top 8 side twice. They also haven’t played a current top 8 side for 5 weeks and they’ve played West Coast and North twice. Melbourne have played against current top 8 sides 10 times this year. We’ve played Freo, Collingwood and Brisbane twice, and only played West Coast and North once.

The mystery of what caused the Nibbla vomit is solved. It was a punch in the guts, but not from [censored] face Zorko. It was Noah Answerth that got him.

I had a conversation with Jason Taylor at the President's Club on Friday night. He played a pretty straight bat. Me - "What's Dogga doing next year?" JT - "He's going okay, isn't he." I asked him again. JT - "We'll be good either way." Me - "How would Freo even come close to doing a deal if he does go? They'd have to get another club involved." JT - "We've been having these conversations for a while now. We'll do well out of it."

I could be wrong but did I see Andy Moniz-Wakefield in #41 and Blake Howes in #22 in that video?

The players return to training the next day so I reckon Dogga will be back from Perth.

I just got an email from the club. The 5th will push ahead. Details will be released this afternoon.

I love that we are no longer referred to as 'Melbourne' in print or TV articles. We are now 'the reigning premiers'.

Someone said after the GF that for a premiership side to get better, they need pressure to come on the 23 who played from those outside the team. Who will create that pressure for us? B: Deakyn Smith, Daniel Turner, Joel Smith HB: Jayden Hunt, Adam Tomlinson, Marty Hore(?) C: Fraser Rosman, Kye Declase (?), Osker Baker HF: Jake Melksham, Mitch Brown, Bailey Laurie F: Kade Chandler, Sam Weideman, Toby Bedford Rucks: Majak Daw, Luke Dunstan

I have seen very little from this under-sized small forward to get excited about. Please, I wouldn't give up a second round pick for him. He's just not that good.

Has someone got Tim Lamb's number for J???

Never underestimate a footballer's ego. He'll be backing himself in to play in our senior 23. Hopefully with our coaches support they can help him to make this happen.

To those questioning Dunstan's recruitment. If any of our midfielders from the GF were injured next week, who would you bring in from the list to replace them now that Chuck and AvB are gone?? There is not one true mid amongst the remaining 16 or so players on our list. It's a no brainer for mine.

I was taught by Gerard's sister at primary school. I idolised Gerard and Greg. I had his number 3 on my little MFC jumper. It broke my heart when he left us for the mone.... I mean to play finals. One of my best moments in footy was when we flogged Gerard's Swans in the 1987 first semi-final, knocking them out of the finals. It's fair to say I have forgiven, but not forgotten. :)

Thank you! I tried to find that song for ages. Appreciate it dude!

Does anyone know this song or who sings it?

One of the Casey boys, George Grey played as a top up player for the GWS reserves side last weekend.

I just had a lengthy chat to one of our assistant coaches this morning. I asked him about the rumours of a few players being sore and potentially missing on Monday. But Jake Lever (He acknowledged Jake's ankle was sore) and Christian Salem (groin) both trained strongly and should play. The boys fly up tomorrow, have a Captain’s Run on the SCG and come home Tuesday. They then have 4 days off before the Bye. We spoke about the small forwards as this bloke looks after them. He’s really excited about Kade Chandler who kicked 5 goals in a little scratch match last week with players from Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood. We also spoke about the new training facility. One thing he told me that I didn’t know was that the oval at Gosch’s Paddock is being expanded to MCG size. That was definitely going ahead shortly. He was also fairly confident that the new facility would be built in the current AAMI car park.

Baker, Chandler and obviously Weid were the players from outside the 22 last week who trained this morning with the main group.

I was at the Captain's Run this morning. Not only did Trac train, he looked completely unimpeded, ran at full pace and looked sharp. He did every drill and there was no sign of any limp. From what I saw in the first 30 minutes there is no way in the world he is not playing.

It was stated on MMM over the weekend that despite clearing the three players at the end of last season, Collingwood's salary cap is still extremely tight and a real mess. They will not have the room to chase a highly paid recruit. They're not exactly a destination club at the moment either. (How the wheel turns.)

You don't flirt with your form. You pick the side that gets it done for you. If T-Mac's form drops away, you drop him. What message does it say to our players when they are getting dropped because of their birth certificate? I think you're giving Weid far too little credit. He won't sook up because he's not getting a run at the moment. His time will come. It's a great position for the club to be in.

What a ridiculous notion. Based on that logic, we should drop Stephen May because he is 29 and bring in Harry Petty immediately because he is younger and out of contract. Regardless of form.

The Saints have a plethora of explosively quick small forwards. The ability of our small defenders (see Jetta and Salem) to cover them worries me. Viney comes in for Sparrow. Yze needs to sort out those centre clearances ASAP.

I just took a call from T-Mac and asked him about the blood clot rumour. He said Oscar even rang him to ask if he was okay. Apparently there was a young Casey fella in the B game that looked a bit like him who got taken to hospital with a blood clot after the game. Someone saw him at the hospital and confused him for T-Mac.