Gator

It doesn't matter how many times you tell the nongs they won't believe until he signs. It's the way they're wired.

We might stop hearing about this "top teams" myth that posters keep talking about. Hawthorn, Geelong, Port, Sydney are all ordinary.

This is exceptionally pleasing. Lions by 21 with 11 minutes to go.

Because I've researched the subject.

No

It is what it is. If there's no crack it should be fine with an "off legs" approach in a few weeks.

Opinionhome, can you tell me if Gaff is staying or going ? I'm keen to know in advance.

My final pre-finals prediction... We are about to get on a salad. We win comfortably today and then beat Geelong in Geelong and Adelaide in Adelaide. In fact, our only loss is to West Coast in Perth. We finish on 15 wins and 4th spot on the ladder.

This is the oldest and most experienced side we've fielded for quite some time. Average Attributes Melbourne Attribute Western Bulldogs 186.0cm Height 186.9cm 87.3kg Weight 85.2kg 25yr 2mth Age 23yr 9mth 101.5 Games 70.4 Total Players By Games Melbourne Games Western Bulldogs 4 Less than 50 11 10 50 to 99 4 4 100 to 149 4 4 150 or more 3

That's incredible ! Even Sloane wasn't certain he was going to stay, but you were. Amazing

Fritsch, Brayshaw, Jones, Neale-Bullen, Harmes, and Spargo who links well. There are a few players who can rotate outside. I don't mind the Kennedy-Harris selection if he plays a tackling/forward pressure role. I'm far less enamoured if he's been chosen for the Stretch role. But I don't expect that to be the case.

Kennedy-Harris' clean ball use in atrocious conditions last week was amazing. He won't play the Stretch role, but instead I think he'll be used as a pressure forward inside 50. It's his last roll of the dice, so will be interesting to see if he can reinvent himself in a small forward role.

Tim Smith has played 4 games for 3 goals.

Yes, I know. Maybe I should have left it alone.

OK. I didn't have time to read. Will look later.

I often go on to squiggle. Not sure how it correlates with what I posted.

Another fun fact: Do supporters remember Glenn Luff's (from Champion Data) hot plot in 2015 and 2016 ? It was a graph that showed a team was in the premiership window if their average scoring was 100 points > and their defence averaged 86 points <. There is only one team to round 16, 2018 who is in the hot plot sweet spot. Any guesses ? The Dees are the only team in the premiership window based on this once used metric. Btw, I know it's no longer relevant. Footy changes quickly and scoring has dried up over the last couple of years. Nonetheless, i thought it interesting when I checked lat night.

Please yourself mate. Worry your little heart until it's content.

You obviously haven't listened to a recent Melbourne podcast. If there's one player not going anywhere it's Brayshaw. He hasn't strung enough games together on the back of concussion issues to be offered a big contract by another club and he loves the Dees club and his teammates. He also comes from a great family with loads of character. He's the last player you should be worried about leaving.

A great 50th game. How lucky are we to have this 20 year old player ? It would be interesting to know how his stats rank after 50 games compared to many of the game's best.

Frost will have poor games, but he showed in one match that he's the best option, which was my main point.

I've gone from recently being a fan of Brereton to now finding him unlistenable. He was cringeworthy last night. I used to accept that he'd take 200 words to say something when 20 would do, but he's now become a parody of himself when he basically makes things up to suit a narrative. No greater case in point was his critique of Hogan's first mark of the match. Hogan took the sensible and safe option to take a chest mark because he knew he could and it would already have been slipperier conditions than what they're used to playing in. Sure it wouldn't have been as bad as the second half, but all night it would have been an issue. Another was when he was critical of Tom McDonald when he slid in front of an opposition defender only to drop a straight forward mark. It was great play and certainly a better option than having body contact when he didn't need to, which is what Brereton recommended. The guy is just too eager to show off how smart he is.

We should have beaten Port irrespective of Frost or Stretch. 19 times out of 20 team's with our stats win that game. And there are no guarantees we beat St kilda. We may have only lost by 2 points, but we were 27 points down with about 5 minutes to go. Gifting them goals from 3 or 4 50 metre penalties didn't help. Notwithstanding, I agree that selections have been surprising. It was clear we needed a small forward after the port loss. I was very surprised one of Spargo or Garlett didn't play against St Kilda. Frost has been out of favour for reasons we all know. It's hard for me to be too critical of Goodwin for not selecting Frost because I didn't want him in for the same reasons. That said, it's now evident he should have been given an opportunity earlier and certainly before Petty.

Our congested forward-line is annoying, as is our ability to spot up targets, but let's not forget we've scored more than any other team in the AFL and are 100 points ahead of the next best (Richmond). 1561 next best 1461. And that won't change after today's games.

My main takeaways were Frost and Stretch. Sometimes it's easy to focus on what a player doesn't do well and lose sight of what they can do well. Frost's size, speed and strength were a welcome addition to a back-line that has struggled since Lever went down. He'll still occasionally frustrate, but he's clearly the best second tall and he'll make life far easier for Oscar. If he plays to his limitations he'll be pivotal to the remainder of our season. Billy is a neat player, but I didn't see any AFL quality attributes. I did last night. He worked hard, showed some zip, positioned himself well and made himself an option. He can become an accomplished AFL player. He's also testament to a player working on their craft at the next level down and showing how sustained form in the VFL can make you a better player. Happy to say I was wrong on both.