deespicable me

I much prefer the players not being allowed to argue the point with the umpires. You can see they want to and it's hard for them to stop themselves but as a result a lot of bad decisions just slip through and the public aren't as inclined to boo and carry on. But they have to improve the standard of umpiring. As for Cody Weightman, he saw Smith coming at him, so actually made a conscious effort to go for the free rather than the mark. When Smith baulked and ran past, beside, under him, Weightman was already bracing for contact. I thought he may have been burrowed from behind but it was all his own actions. Squib. No free. And Naughton is a great player but the free against TMac where they were all going for the ball and Naughton who was out of position just flew off to the side, was staging. They should be doing revues after each game and picking these things up and notifying the Dogs that those actions won't be tolerated and they are going to stop rewarding those acts. But they don't. The footballing public are on to Weightman, even the Dogs supporters see it, but the umpiring department seem blind to his constant actions of going for the free rather than the ball.

I'm happy enough it's not season ending. If we are good enough to be in the top 4 or 6 when he returns then get him cherry ripe for the second half of the season. I know we have too many back-men out at the moment but I think Hunt, Tomlinson, Joel Smith get a chance to play and prove themselves and Brayshaw and Tom McD were great in defence on Wednesday night meaning Bedford gets his chance up the field. In a sense theres no use having great depth unless you get to use it and develop it. Having said all that does anyone know the timeframe for Petty, Rivers and Lever to return?

The only award the journos have a say in is the Rising Star. Is that right? Is it a panel or heaps of AFL hangers-on voting on it? Either way if they think Daicos will be Rising star then he only has to be somewhere nearly as good as any other eligible player and he will win. Their sycophantic ways are embarrassing. You can just hear the commentary every time he touches the ball. And they know it's Collingwood so only injury can stop the fools.

I think Collingwood might win it this year............. Ha ha .............

I thought it was good for us. With the proviso we take the lessons and prepare for the season. Carlton were good. Their midfield with Walsh back will be scary good. Their backline with Oscar (who played well and kept having small jokes with the Melbourne boys) and Williams and Saad were getting free way too easy. They had us on toast. Yet in the second half we tightened things up. Our backline started holding with second stringers, we tightened up on Saad and somehow we got back into the contest. Max was enourmous. Our midfield is the worry, but with our best backline in (especially May and Salem) we can hold a side when our midfield is beaten and slowly get on top. Was the loss we needed. No injuries. Well orchestrated MFC.

It's definitely a trend then. Teams [censored] themselves when they have to play us.

The sooner we move on from this game the better. Inflated egos and hollywood highlights....oh my god the horror!!

I love how they knew they needed to get better at contested ball in the middle and how they've gone about it. Daisy to the forward line, Paxman about 70% outside now and with Mithen, Hanks and West doing all the in and under grunt work, we are a seriously good contested ball team. West adds so much, she's great, just get the ball going our way. Libby Birch is a great back player and the speed of Goldrick in defence and Bannan on the wing is okay. Zanker is good to watch, she can be seriously good (the pick up on the run in the last then off to Harris for the soft free) but she also does a lot wrong. Her development is important to the team, she is nowhere near the finished product yet. I think our forward line is good around Harris, Daisy and Hore, but one more target would be good. Adelaide's defence was super and they shut us down very well, we will need to develop other avenues to goal to seriously challenge them. I think if we keep improving like the mens team did in 2021 we can win it. The big difference is I always thought the mens team's best was the best in the league but I don't think the girls are the best team in it yet. Hopefully they get to finals and have a good series. Go girls.

Don't want to rain on your parade Picket as it's nice to be on the receiving end of a good trade. We've had our share of bad ones, but I think this was a win/win sort of trade. Ben Brown was going nowhere anymore at North and had become Mr Flopsy as he was double teamed all the time and found it an easier option to try for a free than go for the footy. It's great he got the chance to revitalise his career, there were many doubters, especially from oppo clubs, but he got fitter and embraced change and the team ethos and got his reward. As did we. North though have two really good forwards that have developed well in Larkey and Zurhaar. That may not have happened if they had of hung onto Brown. I think they are winners from the trade too.

The thing I like about this list is Luke Dunstan is at 26. Second Saint on the list behind Brad Couch. I heard it said Ratten didn't like Dunstans turn-overs and the big knock on him was his disposal, but considering the company he is in on that list he is a pretty good ball winner and fits in well with our territory gained football. Looks like he is a really good pick up.

He looks fitter Turner. He's a fitter Turner

I don't see Richmond as a threat at all. For me the two Sydney teams are the main threats. But on paper we are superior to both those teams. The hunger is an issue though. Our contested ball was where our game started and you need desire and purpose to keep it up for a long season. We will most probably have at least one form slump and if we can get through and still finish top four we will be hard to beat. Goodwin was good at teaching them to reset. After each game and even quarter, but after a season it's back to zero. That's a big reset, but hopefully they will go again. I see some big wins and a much higher percentage this year as we blow a few teams away. Each time we do win by a big margin the commentators around the game will be fawning all over us. It is a big danger getting ahead of ourselves. We are the team to beat but make no mistake, there will emerge at least one other team who will believe they can beat us and win the Cup.

Speaks well and I think his clear hunger to be a bigger part of what the team achieved last year will inspire and drive the team to greater heights. Is there greater though? Maybe just to "do it again" by the Beach Boys

Weid I think was actually smart to sign a two year extension with us. He is still young at around 24-25 yo and will be free agent and in his prime for his next contract. If he had of gone to a Gold Coast for more money he would have been exposed and much more demanded of him and a likely scenario where he fails. By taking a modest wage at Melbourne he can continue to develop and not get over exposed. He could still become a good player in the right team when he is at the peak of his abilities. Will that be at Melbourne? Not sure. He has another two years to prove he has value to a club. And Melbourne will want to make him a good prospect if for no other reason than to trade.

Just watched the videos and was super impressed by Kate Rothey our president. She spoke so well. I think if any of the boys disrespected a female in any way she'd rip them apart. She has a real warmth as well. Her good wishes and inclusion of Glen Bartlett was great to see. She is a very good leader. We are a good club in good hands. Go Dees

The two biggest commercial games for us are both away (tiges and Collingwood) and our home games are against interstate sides. There is no cash in for us after winning the flag. It's like they want to prove we are a second rate club who's numbers won't stack up. Disgusting and disrespectful draw for the club.

Love her to bits. For me she will be as important to the MFC as Jimmy Stynes, Max Gawn and Ron Barrassi. I know Collingwood (Buckley), Brisbane (Voss) and Hawthorn (Mitchell) have made bold/crazy decisions to keep hold of favorite sons for coaching roles, to this point with limited success, but I'd love to see Daisy coaching the aflw side and continuing her journey with the MFC. She is an icon and trail blazer in the formation of the women's league and will have awards named after her and I reckon may even one day get a statue in her honour at the MCG. People should be getting along to see her play as your grand daughters will be asking questions about her in years to come. I'd love to see her take the side all the way. Go Daisy, go Dees.

I'm glad Howe wasn't any part of it. Hope it doesn't sit well with him.

After the Sam McClure puff peice about the 'nastiness" between Melbourne and the Dogs, which is all fine if it pumps up the rivalry, but how about the Dogs and Dees really go to battle by offering each others future first round pick to each other to take the rivalry up a notch. Maybe add in a $100,000 from each club to a charity of the winners choice. I know it can't be done this year but it would be fun to see. Say Carlton and Essendon. Swans and GWS. Freo and West Coast. Actually I don't think the AFL would approve.

He will probably take over Max's AA spot. We could have a player as first ruck in the AA side for over a decade. Imagine that.

I think Cordy for the dogs will try to be physical and may cross the line, mainly because he has pretty limited skills and to offer something to the team cause may be best served by injuring as many opponents as possible, but the danger of going out there to try and target players has more chance of backfiring than being successful. In my mind we are the better side with a dominant big man in Max so when he goes forward or back they will try to jump into his back and slow him down. Martin was on one leg by the end of the prelim and at 34 with a limited preparation they have to be worried. We are a very clean side with some physical beasts like Petracca, Viney, Harmes and now Sparrow who go for the ball with intent. This physical attack idea is a Beveridge mind game to try and get us off our game, because if we play our game we will win. Just play hard, fair footy and don't change what you've been doing. Don't feel intimidated and we are too good. They have to disrupt us someway to win and Beveridge will be trying every trick in the book because he knows we are the better side.

Well to counter that, Melbourne don't really have any players I would consider super flaky whereas Port have a bunch. I was kind of banking on guys like Amon, Motlop, Rozee, Fantasia etc to have stinkers under pressure as our path to victory and it worked out that way. I look at Melbourne's expected 22 and there really aren't any weak links. It's going to be a grind for 4 quarters and if we do emerge as winners, it'll be a small margin. As fans, we'll be white knuckling all game I imagine. This was a quote I liked. There wasn't much ra ra and a lot of thought. One even pointed out the 25 to 11 frees for in our second meeting as a reason they won.

I think Hunt is possibly the best match - up on the dangerous Weightman. I think Hibbo would do a good job though so happy with the selectors choice, Hibbo can body him and hold him at stoppages. He is a good mark as well Weightman, not sure who is the best stopper for his marking, maybe Smith.

He's just coming to the years when he is going to be at his most capable of making an impact. He needs to look for a club that will give him a shot at the full forward role for a couple of years. We aren't ready to do that till maybe 2023 so he should look around and we should value him highly. 19 is about right.

I agree I think he improves us and would be a good get, but if he's a lock in our back 6 with May, Lever, Salem, Petty and Rivers then missing out / interchange is Bowey, Hunt, Tomlinson, Smith and Hibberd. Rivers is probably our version of Maynard and I'd prefer Rivers every day. Also the money spent on Maynard can help hold talent like Rivers who is in line for a big pay-rise. The beauty for Melbourne now is they can low ball any talent unhappy with their present club. MFC has done a great job of identifying who it wants and sticking to the plan with Lever, May and Langdon all coming across on strong rumours and this year it looks like Maynard is the one who we're into, but we are now in a position to pick and choose and there will be lots of players "gettable" in the off season. Maybe we wait?