Gator

B: Fowler May Lever HB: B Lovett Hardeman A Johnson C: Alves Wells Flower HF: Lyon Schwarz Gerard Healy F Farmer Neitz Fritsch R: Gawn Oliver Petracca I/C: Yze K Pickett Wilson Jakovich I wasn't going to put Jako in because of only 47 games, but his career was so spectacular I couldn't leave him out. Pickett is a little pre-emptive, but also a certainty assuming he stays. An incredible talent. Including Jako meant one ruck only - sorry Jimmy. Whelan, S Febey, R Robertson, Tingay, Bruce, Green, Langdon, Jones, Hibberd and others given consideration. If I made this team again in a month it would probably be different. Disappointed I've only included 7 x 2021 flag team.

West Coast Eagles vs Melbourne VOTES PLAYER (CLUB) 9 Christian Petracca (MELB) 8 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 6 Brodie Grundy (MELB) 5 Tim Kelly (WCE) 2 Tom McDonald (MELB)

6 Oliver 5 Grundy 4 Petracca 3 McDonald 2 Viney 1 Rivers

Buddy (199cm), Logan McDonald (196), Amartey (197).

Defenders: May, Lever, Hibberd, Brayshaw, Rivers, McVee, Bowey We always pick 7 defenders. Jordon being dropped suggests that Petty will once again play forward. It's this restructure that has cost Jordon his position (along with Pickett's inclusion). If Petty was in his typical defensive role then one of Hibberd or McVee would have made way. In all probability that would have been Hibberd, even though we look better with him in the side. So, I can understand why Jordon has lost his spot, but it is disappointing. I was at the ground last Sunday and he was very good. Viney is a bit lucky. The VC and length of tenure always buys you a bit of time. But gee, his last 2 weeks have been terrible.

I join the chorus. Unequivocally, Jordon is better than Harmes.

Knuckle not Knuckle's'.

I don't believe there are ''rumours''. More likely it's speculation in the posters own mind that's been fuelled by yesterday's Channel 7 tweet. Channel 9 confirmed that May returned to the field and completed the session.

Brayshaw may play midfield, but Hunter won't be playing half back.

The Irish pronounce O'Meara as O'Mara, not O'Meera. Arguably, this bloke pronounces both of his names incorrectly. 😉

That was Parke's 7th game, not his debut game. Great mark Parke. Pity he couldn't kick straight.

You'd think after 18 months the coach would know how to correctly pronounce van Rooyen's name. The captain doesn't know either. I suppose it's up to van Rooyen to correct them. But if in doubt you could always ask.

Gawn played one of his all time best games against them last year. Result ? We lost. Our system didn't hold up despite his individual brilliance. Great teams can cover one or two great players. We can't cover Gawn against Peter Ladhams even though we have Grundy ? I don't buy it. Pickett is a significant loss, but he's one player. I'm not confident we'll win this game but I am confident it's a must win despite a 21 year olds absence.

I reckon a team has about one, or at the most 2, crunch games per year (not including finals). This is Melbourne's. Sydney have not been beaten in 16 of their last 20 games against the Dees. They massively have the wood over this club. Yes, we won in 2021, but we and they both know that that doesn't change the fact that they have our measure as a football club. It's in their psyche and ours. If Melbourne want to reinstate some authority, demeanor, or aura over the competition, they must win this game on their home ground. Not many will agree with my next comment, but I believe if we can't beat this younger and less experienced side on our home ground then we're not winning the premiership in 2023. It's a must win. It's that important. They'll be smarting from their last game on the 'G, but our imperatives are equally important. Am I confident ? A resounding no. But they must find a way. It's never easy to break a dominance, because they're there until they're not. And they can last a very long time. I sense there's still a slight fragility about this team. The flag notwithstanding. I'll learn a heap by Sunday night. It's as crunch as you get.

My personal favourite from their Board ? "Jackson's idea of contesting for a mark is doing star jumps''

That's the most flattering scoreline I've ever seen. Easily. Some supporters love making excuses, but let's deal with reality. They were a 10 goal better team. Oliver, Petracca and particularly Viney were pathetic. Harmes was worse than Viney. Barely possible. Brayshaw plays like he's wearing concrete boots. Ashcroft made our two ''generational'' mids look like they lacked class. Grundy is one of the smallest talls I've seen. Tom McDonald needs to rediscover form at the lower level. I particularly enjoyed the dropped marks and constant fumbling. A grim reality check.

I haven't been a huge fan, but there's a role for him and I've liked what I've seen at training. I may have been premature in my views. He adds a nice bit of diversity to the forward-line, especially with Pickett spending more time upfield.

In good news Salem and Fritsch completed the whole session. They both moved and trained very well. Viney off to the side with mainly agility and lap running at a good pace. It was a light craft session. Mids/rucks doing centre bounce stoppage work. Inside 50 delivery was extensively practised with defenders v forwards. There's an emphasis on either hitting up one of multiple leading targets OR taking a longer option with a deeper kick where the forward has got themself in good position behind the defender. There was some 3/4 ground match simulation that wasn't too intense or too long. I didn't notice Woewodin, but I might have missed him. May did not train.

No.

Barassi left before I was born, so I won't include players I never saw. From what I've heard it would be hard to go past Stuart Spencer, Barassi, and Mueller from year's gone by. My 5 favourite players: Flower, Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Viney (experienced the worst of it) My weighting is very much based on premiership players. I never thought I'd see one, so these guys are my favourite. It's a very easy decision for me over non premiership players. But if you saw Robbie you couldn't leave him out. The 5 best Melbourne players I've seen: Flower, Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, May (not in order) It's some feat for a non-premiership player to be included, but if you saw Robbie...

Tom McDonald attended quite a few ballups and I doubt would have won one hitout, which wouldn't have helped. And with so many players rotating through the CBAs our best combination wasn't always in there. For example Hopper attended 25 and Petracca only 15. Oliver 20. Also, Viney was missing. As whatwhat mentioned, post clearance was strong.

I know it's predictive, but from a Melbourne perspective May is underrated. He's the best defender in the league and lost the least percentage 1v1s in 2022. He's not behind Darcy Moore or Stewart. And the ESPN list has him also behind Sicily. He's behind no-one. He didn't include Fritsch because he criticised his perceived selfish behaviour last year. Only one player in the league has scored more goals than Fritsch the last 2 years (Hawkins). He's definitely a top 50 player, as evidenced by his AA40. Interestingly, this morning on SEN Nathan Buckley listed his 5 most impactful players in the game and he had Gawn at 1 and May at 2. Oliver was also in the top 5 along with Darcy Moore and Neale. Even Moore's biased ex-coach had him behind May. There's no way Oliver is behind Cripps as a footballer, but I admit I don't rate Cripps nearly as highly as many. Anyway, it's all just opinion and I recognise my bias.

I love it when supporters talk in absolutes off the back of a massive sample size of one game. And a practice one in February at that. Listening to Ross Lyon on RSN reference the game he lamented how challenging it was with Marshall up against both Grundy and Gawn and how they were giving us momentum around the ball. He gave an exacerbated laugh as he was saying it. And that's the thing. It's won't all be about the rucks kicking goals, or clunking contested marks in the forward 50, it's that the opposition ruckman and midfield get no respite. Every stoppage they're up against an AA quality ruck giving their mids momentum. Not all hitouts will be to advantage, but the opposition isn't hitting them to advantage either.

What gets overlooked with McVee is his toughness. He's physically not huge, but he has a real crack. He has genuine class, very good kicking, he's evasive and he has nice speed, which is at odds with an earlier comment in this thread. There's a lot to like.

And at the intraclub last Friday.