fr_ap

It's not. He's never been in the top runners at the club - his game never revolved around fitness. He's not ANB or Walsh (who without their superior fitness would be average players). The absolute thirst and zeal he had for the contest and game has reduced - as I think football is no longer his no.1 focus. This is probably a better outcome for his health and life, but makes us worse clearly. He's still a very good player - but he's now a one or two effort player instead of a 3,4,5 effort, tireless, absolute will to win player. That edge was what made him so special. He played well tonight - but if the first or second ball didn't go his way I watched him quite a few times slow to a stop. Largely, it's his defensive game, which was always underrated, which has fallen away. Great post. The FD fumbling the window is pretty bang on - list management, fitness, playing injured players, game plan/bombing to pockets, inability to address goalkicking. Couldn't keep Burgess for even one more year. Couldn't keep Jackson after doing so much work to get him. Couldn't keep & develop Bedford, couldn't keep Jordon. The crowd ... Collingwood vs GWS would have got 35k in that weather tonight. We're about half the membership base aren't we, in which case 17k makes sense. It was absolutely icy, rained all day, half the train lines were down (no one EVER talks about this) and worse, we played like an EFL team in the west last week with statistically one of the worst midfield performances of all time. Plus, dees supporters are smart. Most (except the deluded ones) can see whats been happening for a little while now.

I know people are saying we got close with a lot of young kids in the side - but this was our leaders who lost it. Gawn was absolutely bullied by Briggs in that game breaking spell start of q4. May, McDonald and lever gave up marks deep inside 50 to Hogan and green. McDonald turns over lateral kick for goal. May drops mark. ANB run down on the wing, partially due to Melkshams poor handball. Lever drops intercept mark with 1 min to go. Oliver let's Greene walk away with the last clearance. Not good and alarming for the future

Nail meet head

Respect the positivity but we won't. This list as it stands is cooked - midfield in particular is threadbare and there is very little in the cupboard. We have some good kids but the gap in our list between 23-29 means we'll have some lean next few years.

Jeffo with some crucial up the ground 3v1 ground ball wins and then the i50 contested mark on the siren. Kicking letting him down...I've been critical but fair play can see the development

Yze has some power

Depends - have they been loading?

Good post and sums up how I feel about this too. We can all see the cliff - does a very good half back stop us falling off it? Probably not. I have very little faith in Tim Lamb. Seems to be shrewd enough with re-signings, but his work at the trade table has been so poor. In terms of experienced recruits, we are still living off the work of Josh Mahoney and Todd Viney.

Seeing their star 3 trio developed from the draft bully our midfield was a very clear signal where we're at imo. Tbh I don't think the Clarry that won bnfs will return, this year or another. Not buying that his fitness and lack of pre season has anything to do with it. Whatever happened, it's clear footy is no longer his #1 focus like it once was and he doesn't have the fire, energy or care factor he once did. Once you lose that it's exceptionally hard to recapture. Let's face it - even at his ripping best he was hardly a picture of fitness. He was all effort, all heart, all care for his teammates and the win. When that part isn't there he's just a player. A trade this off season may be the best thing for all parties. It would be a very sad end to one of the great MFC careers...but an eventuality the fanbase should probably start preparing for.

Probably our worst defensive game structurally that I can remember. The number of goals they scored by just being all on their own in f50 is completely bewildering. Lever seemed at fault for probably 10 goals. I'm sure he wasn't as clearly they just walked the ball down the field uncontested which makes his life difficult, but gee whiz... Simon why would you push the defensive line high with no ruck against a dominant ruck duo? We compressed the field...leading to stoppages....leading to clearance loss ...leading to them running back to goal uncontested when they are pacy and we are not... Like honestly what the hell was the plan?

We look absolutely cooked. Jogging on the spot and no desire

With both our superstars out, theirs (Merrett) will probably be the difference. If we can clamp him to even 70% of his game destroying best, that will go a long way. Also a little worried about the flakey [censored] Stringer just because we don't have someone with his combo of size, aggression and agility down back. Tbh Turner would probably be his best matchup but alas, he's now a ruck forward?? Haha

Yep. Tim Lamb has deadset destroyed the list

I don't think he's similar to JK at all. I see a fair bit of Justin Westhoff

Fair enough. That last term from Reville is really surprising, he didn't feel that impactful to me at all

I know what you're saying and this has been the knock on him playing half back at Casey. I think he's a see ball get ball player and the weakness in his game is adherence to structure. I'm not sure we could tell from TV whether this occured last night though? He was at fault for the late Lohmann goal. Not sure Rayners second was his fault at all - all the bigs played that poorly and it should never have fallen front and square. I thought Reville had very little impact

Still think he's the heir apparent to May (lord knows we don't have another...Adams ain't there yet) and we should be maximising the time of May being in the team to let Petty keep learning next to him. Yeah - there's not a lot up forward - but now the 'win now' mode theory has more or less been disproven I think we're just wasting time with Pets up forward. Put Tmac up forward to finish his days - he's still better at ground level than most of our bigs even on his last legs. Turner should be in Tommos spot - learning from Lever but as the clear 3rd/4th tall who can actually move and run off half back (Tommo can't). Back: May, Petty, Lever, Turner (tall or small) Forward: Tmac, JVR, Jefferson (learns with the 3rd best defender), Fritsch (tall or small) Hate the short termism as our FD continually overrate the list. 'Win now' is gone - time to get serious about having another crack in 3-5 Issue with playing the long game is it inevitably costs those in charge their jobs.

100%. With Fagan and Zorko, Rayner, Daniher, Hipwood, Andrews, Berry and more their leadership and culture stuff sucks. They're world beaters one week, meek and timid the next, [censored] the one after that. Very few level headed individuals in that side and they're carried by Neale and Dunkley, who are both champions in that regard. It's always been their problem and it's why they won't win a flag. They recruit good footballers but sub-par humans. Every club has a few (us too) but they seem to have a critical mass of poor characters. Difference in last year's flag imo - Collingwood aren't/weren't a better footy side but have exceptional leadership with McRae and level headed guys on each line in Daicos*2, Pendlebury, Moore, sidebottom, mihocek etc that cover the yo-yos of De Goey, Maynard etc. On the big day that stuff matters a lot

??? " 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well", but your assessment is he didn't play well at all? He's a debutant back pocket and spent large parts of the game alternating with McVee on Cameron or Bailey, both of whom are amongst the best small forwards in the game and both of whom had pretty minimal impact. Genuinely bizarre self contradictory take

I can see this too

Fantastic quarter. Most fun ive had watching us in 6 weeks. I hope to win but Brisbane will come - big ask to maintain this intensity for the whole game but just loving the intensity. Been terrific from the start. All I want to see.

This is not the clever insult you think it is. I questioned whether Kynan's form warranted a call up for exactly this reason - I didn't want him in and out like a yo-yo as it makes his selection look token. I complained last week that AMW was more deserving. Well?? Where do we stand now?

Kynan dropped after 10 mins of play, a gamewinning tackle and a kick to advantage. Wtf mate honestly

This is what I like the most. Our ground ball stuff in D50 has felt like a weakness for most of the year. He's just one player and a debutant at that, but it's a step in the right direction the way games are being played these days

So I'm a donkey for not buying Max's words, when the entire point I was making was that it was spin and I didn't believe it...? The example of clarry taking someone out wasn't to make space for Viney. It was Clarry letting out his frustrations. If you bothered to watch the game objectively you'd see it too. Watch it closely again - over the course of the game Clarry did very little to block for Viney. Very little. The vast majority of Jack's ball and clearances was him going and getting it on his own. I did say say that even having Clarry out there meant North were a man down - but don't try to characterise that as 'selfless'. He doesn't have any control over how North choose to play him. The donkey is you for believing the spin. Clarry was tagged, beaten and frustrated, and gave away a litany of free kicks as a result. He was extremely distracted and again if you watch the game objectively you'd see it. Everyone around me at the game could and no one thought he was being selfless. Max and the club when questioned about Clarry's poor night took the opportunity to characterise it as selfless, and tried to use Jack's good night as a way to paint it as a net positive. It wasn't. Clarry and Viney can both play well and have done together many times. It's pretty clearly PR 101 and spin. In anticipation of another obtuse response - I'm not against all spin either. There's certainly a time and place. But as I said, I'm getting sick of it, and after watching the guy embarrass my club on the field I was after a little more transparency. No evisceration, but just some more accountability. In my view it's all gone on far too long