Hatchman

Ha! I really should have re read that post 🤣 But it was the premiership!

I feel you. I married a Tigers supporter My long-suffering ended last September

They are going to hit the wall 4 weeks from now

Great win by the team. Weideman would be lucky to play again for us, he was terrible all night. Didn't touch it until the second half in a game where we dominated the inside 50s. He just can't read the ball in flight. On the lead and on the chest he is fine, but once it goes overhead and in a contest he is no good. I'm convinced it is his eyesight.

We're the reigning premiers, this whole season is a first for me. It's great!

Maybe it is a vision thing with Sam. Adding to his bag of dropped marks and misses there was one where the ball flew over the pack and he literally dropped a chest mark that fell into his lap. It's possible his depth perception is totally whacked. Before wearing contact lenses at 15 my depth perception was horrible, I had spectacles which kind of helped, but if I was trying to catch something that was not coming straight at me and crossing into the zone at the edge of my spectacles and vision I'd struggle - probably why I was so bad at cricket! Once I wore contacts I got better at everything, footy, basketball, baseball etc.

We're second on the ladder in the last quarter of the season. I don't think we have too many issues. Having said that I do believe our biggest issue right now is the lack of a strong marking forward that can run up and down the ground to work with BB and Fritsch. If TMac was fit we would have that base covered and we'd probably be on top. I never appreciated how much better we are structured when he is in the team due to his huge tank, strength and defensive skills. Weiderman and Mitch Brown are not the answers and that has been proven now. BB out of the team also made life much harder against the Dogs. I believe we need to trade for another BB/TMac - I did like the look of Ugle-Hagan, wonder if we can get him or if there is another player in the league that is looking for a move?

I think Daisy is the best commentator in the game. Furthermore, her special comments are way more insightful and demonstrate an understanding of the modern game, and its tactics, that the old dinosaur commentators just don't have.

Exactly, and his half-wit brother was no different. I hate seeing players do this and would love to see it umpired out of the game.

Melkshams run-down tackle and then gut-running to kick the goal, plus a very unselfish pass to Brown (or Fritsch I forget who) for another goal will keep him in the team. He was better than Bedford. In: Oliver, Petty Out: Bedford, Tomlinson Sucks for Adam as he had a great game but he did not make it back to the team on form alone and Petty has earned the spot.

Despite him signing I think we should trade Sam this year while he still has currency. He's been with us for a long time but he still cannot take a contested mark to save himself and he gets bodied off the ball too much. He is a nice kick for goal, however. He's one of those players that is just a little too good for VFL, but not good enough for AFL, he'd have better luck at a club that is struggling.

I forgot how hard Byron played. Man I would hate to be on the end of a bump from him

He is a gem. All of the Pickett bloodline brilliance and toughness, strong sense of playing fair and elite defensive efforts. I am so, so happy we drafted him. Could become one of the all time greats.

Is it just me, or is Fritsch leading a scoreboard for the most amount of physical damage done to opposition players? He must have steel-plated elbows and knees

Glass houses everyone. Just saying. If he backs it up on the field then let him take a mid-season holiday to blow off steam. Love how in the Last Dance even Jordan reflects how Rodman came back from one of those benders and totally smashed everyone at training.

Very well said

If Turner had not been concussed and Max had not been playing injured then the result would have been closer as it threw our structures out of whack and the Pies smartly capitalized on this. Petty also looked hurt after a big clash in the third as well. Mitch Brown had to be moved to defense to cover Turner and then when Max went off in the third, Cox sat in the hole in our forward line and grabbed everything because Ben Brown was double-teamed and Fritsch was well-held. Why on earth our mids kept bombing it into the forward line in the third and fourth quarters is beyond me, that was a stupid tactic and it cost us momentum and ultimately the game. The competition is very close and every team knows us very well. Once our game plan came apart at the seams as the injuries mounted the momentum started changing, McCrae changed tactics and the result was inevitable. Good coaching by the Pies. But we head into the bye at the pointy end of the ladder and the two weeks break should be really good for us to put a better team on the park in a couple of weeks

I think they have a hard time accepting that we are this good. Further to that would be last year was not a fluke I admit that I do at times as well because, to be really candid, most people alive on the planet today have only known us to be an utterly terrible team.

I feel bad for them. I know how it feels to literally spend every game sitting there just feeling everything is so hopeless. But there is the cold reality as well. North is not like Narrm, they don't have the tradition we have, nor do they have the link to the very origins of the game that we have. Their name is just ours with a compass direction added on - there is no need for two teams with the name Melbourne in it due to the number of Victorian clubs already in the League. They have very low supporter numbers and could never rally their members like Stynes did with the Foundational Members. They need to move to Tasmania, or the NT, and be reborn again. We're just watching a very slow death and it is very sad to see

Best I have seen in my lifetime.

🤞 Daw finally gets a call up. He can alternate with Jackson and he will be fine.

Goodwin. First coach to get us to a flag in my lifetime. Can't beat that Northey I still remember how utterly hopeless we were in the 80s. I was reminded every Monday in Primary school as the one of only three Demons supporters in my year level. The fact he got us to a Grand Final in 1988 and we got over the line in 87 (I was at the Whitten Oval), to give Flower his first ever final in a club that had a rag-tag list, an import from Ireland in Stynes and horrid facilities was massive. Absolutely massive. Daniher Even though he rarely had a Plan B on game day and put his faith in under performers for too long - selection pressure wasn't a thing on the Boulevard, he still managed to get us to a GF with arguably the worst facilities any team had in the league and had to do this after picking up the pieces after the whole merger debacle Roos Got us back on track, mentored Goodwin, cleared out most of the dead-wood and drove the standards and culture that we have today. His impact on the club cannot ever be under-estimated. Balme Kind of have Balme at a tie with Roos in rebuilding a list for Neale to take over. Difference here is Goodwin got the flag, Danners didn't. That is all. No disrespect to Bails here but no way would a Roos, Clarkson or Matthews have put up with Schwab and his meddling. His parting shot out the door lacked class too. But RIP mate, you had a thankless job and a gutless, cowardly employer.

That takes him to 10 years at the club. Probably a sensible timeframe I think, he's achieved a flag and may get another 1. After that he may want a new challenge

Plus one to that He is the best Key Defender I have seen play for us and I've either been to or watched, almost every game we played since the early 80's. Little harder now living in the States - thank goodness for WatchAFL and International Memberships. He ticks every box you want in a defender, second only to Lever in reading the play, an excellent kick, can mark overhead, great on-field leader, built like a brick outhouse. May and Lever were selection masterstrokes - all the more poignant given our utterly horrible recruiting record for more than a decade.