Hatchman

Fatigue was the reason we lost. Knowing this was our third game in 13 days, Fagan forced it to be a highly contested ball game to suck the energy out of us, never allowing the game to open up so players could get more time and space. Ugly game to watch, not just because we lost either. Losing Salem was bad as we lost a mid-field rotation option and with Koz out it required them all to play extended minutes. However I don't think it would have made much difference, the result was inevitable, I'm amazed it was only 22 points Thankfully we have the bye so the players can recuperate, they need it

Love that Jack has always been such a a clean skin. Never had any off field controversies, never needed some idiotic bogan haircut or a swathe of tough stickers either.

This is just the kind of game we are notorious for losing. I'm nervous

I loved TMacs game, his deft clearances out of defence were excellent and so calm under pressure. Our defence looked so settled yesterday Tomlinson is not getting a look in if that form continues

The players looked exhausted to me and nothing like the team that tore the Blues apart Accuracy was, as it has been for two years, still a major issue - maybe that's fatigue related this time but it's a trend that has not gone away.

We looked great but we still have not addressed our goal kicking accuracy. I appreciate that it was very hot and the boys have come off a very heavy loaded pre-season but massive shanks off the boot are a bad look

Every single one of us has in effect a quota of serious concussions we can withstand before they start to affect our brains and where continued ones beyond that will lead to CTE. And that quota is different for all of us. The time between concussions can make little to no difference as well. It depends on the person

I know the quote. He has a history of concussions and requiring a long recovery from them. The incident did end his career, but to ignore the impact of his history of long recovery times from them is wrong.

Maynards hit was absolutely intentional and the handling of it by the AFL should come back to haunt them as it was a digusting decision by the tribunal to let him play. Contact to the head, no, matter, what, in the AFL should be severely dealt with, irrespective of what faux tough keyboard/couch warriors or retired "good old days" players say. And while I respect this is an emotional time any anger at Maynard is misguided. It is not Maynards fault that Angus is retiring. Angus's retirement comes from repeated hits to the head, there is no "root cause" reason for the retirement (i.e. Maynard) it is through multiple contributing factors. The reality is repeated hits to the head will, over time, take longer to recover from and eventually cause irreversible impacts to the human brain. And the amount of damage you can sustain is unique to every person. My daughters friend got a bad head knock playing soccer when she was 15. It was the first time she had a serious hit to the head. It took 12 months to make a recovery, she got another knock and the doctors told her she could no longer play contact sport. For me personally I've had 10 concussions through footy, surfing, boxing and general idiocy growing up. After I got briefly knocked out in a surfing accident 5 years ago that required skull surgery I had a full brain scan. Luckily there were no symptoms and I'm in my late 40's. I now wear a helmet every time I surf/skate/snowboard just to be safe. Everyone is different, unfortunately Angus's buffer of head injuries ran out.

I was alive on planet earth for 45 years before I saw a flag. And I never, ever thought I would live to see it. Publish your headlines and be damned.

Recent off field shenanigans with more potent revelations (likely) to come, would suggest that all is not well behind the scenes and it that we do not have a strong enough culture, from end-to-end, that is essential to winning a flag let alone making it to top four. Our window was 2021, 2022 and 2023. It's going to be a long cold winter, thankfully I live in the Northern Hemisphere

The Window was 2020 - 2022 It's now firmly

I come from a big Melbourne family on my mothers side My uncle bought me a Demons jumper with Robbie Flowers number on the back when I was born. I was the first grandchild in my mothers family so there was never going to be any doubt I'd be a Demons supporter - my dad wisely did not protest

Marty was a serviceable player and I also thought he was stiff to get delisted. He's there for defensive depth and we still need that

As fate would have it I was at the G when Port played us the first year Jack was playing for the Power and his family were sitting right behind us. In the last quarter we had some friendly banter with them as they were all in Port gear and we were playing terrible and went on to lose. The whole time I didn't know it was Jacks family until the siren went and his dad asked me if I knew who he was! Really nice bloke, as were his family. I shook their hands, wished them well and let them know that I hope Jack does well at Port because we all knew the Demons were not a great club and he clearly had a tough time there. I truly hope Jack is in a better place. We were a terrible club back then and neither he nor the other players deserved what Connolly, Neeld and Schwab had done to the place

The AFL is a for-profit business It will always act in it's own interests to ensure that it maximises profits, therefore keeping things fair and equitable for all clubs has its limits I'm still amazed that the Tassie team actually got up, but the cynic in me believes it was a concession made for some good public relations points and nothing more than that. As a business, a Tasmanian team makes no sense compared to another team in NSW.

And just to make matters worse for me, the San Francisco Giants just fired their coach! 2023 can go to hell!

I live in California, so glad I am not in Melbourne right now. The AFL engineered the umpiring and tribunal and got what they wanted. That was not a kick to advantage. At all. The harder reality is we were good enough to win it this year. And we failed.

Always.

It drives me nuts seeing a player, well within range, not run in a straight line from the mark to the centre of the goal line. It's what we were taught from a young age, run straight at your target. Running in an arc is only acceptable in two cases 1) Your name is Lance Franklin 2) You are kicking beyond your normal range so you need distance and ideally the ball as it travels will swing out but then back in. Incredibly hard to do for almost all players. However running in an arc is more accurate than a torpedo kick The reality is no matter how much coaching you can have not all players are good at set shots. Max is not good at this and never will be

The same coach that got us a flag in 2021? 😀

Nailed it. That's all we need

We can't hide from it, our goal kicking is just terrible. Like last week we weren't beaten by a better team, we just could not get the goals. We did not deserve to win that game. This was not our season, there is no way we would have beaten the Lions to make it. I wish Carlton the best, we know what it is like to be down for so long. I never say much about the umpiring but it was disgusting. The AFL has to improve the standard of umpiring, it is just not good enough.

We do but, it would be a very Melbourne thing to achieve a record like that!