fr_ap

It's how I feel about it too. People saying it's a "freak accident" - no, it's not. It's not like a 10 sided marking contest where a stray elbow struck the temple, or even a ground ball where a freak bounce left a player prone, or one of a million other unlucky situations. Let's be real here - players run at the ball carrier in an attempt to smother 100s of times a year. Often from directly front on. Despite this, never before in the history of the game has someone come down from a smother attempt like that. There was nothing unique about this situation at all. The Mitch Duncan comparison in my mind actually helps. Do you know why Duncan was spinning? It's because he watched the ball sail over his head, turning mid air to see it. As you would if you had genuine intent to smother. Maynard didn't even notice the ball flying over his head. Was already pointing everything he had at the head of no.10.

Yes, trained well, good energy stayed out longer signing autographs

Actually forgot one more - Woewodin is a player we should be getting games into asap in my opinion. Not saying he is SF, PF, GF ready (though he won't do any worse than Laurie), but he has a very good in-out skillset and has a lot of upside I think as either a wing or midfielder. Has talents many of our mids don't have. Very smooth mover, hit all of his set shots just about and just has a bit of spunk I reckon

Me too. Let's hope the sports scientists told them not to exert themselves. Smiling and being positive really takes it out of you

Tbh, I found the energy from the players quite lacking. The energy from the crowd and kids was terrific but almost deflated when the players came past. I think they're hurting & their confidence has taken a bit. It was a low energy session overall so perhaps a harsh judgement but it didn't fill me with confidence at all meeting a Carlton team on cloud 9 in full hunter mode. I think they're tired after 3 top 4s in 3 years getting bashed from pillar to post for lately, little reward. The injuries might have killed us I think. The remaining teams seem to have an energy and hunger about them that I don't sense from our group. Of course I hold hope and it was still a fun time, kids loved it and the DJ helped ,but feels a little inevitable to me right now. Like a looming exam you just know you're not prepared for. On the footy itself, a few observations: -I have some faith Turner would do ok up forward even though that's probably illogical. He's a neat set shot, holds the ball all the way down to his foot. It may be an interesting move to tell him to play 'defence' on Weitering. He'd make an OK fist of it I reckon if he played from behind. -Clarry absence very mysterious. Let's hope nothing to see there. -Trac looked a little....green? When he ran out but trained fine. Such a loose set shot, either middles them or sprays them. -AMW struggled with the short hit up kicks in the forward drill. -Ben Brown moved surprisingly well, looked no worse than Tom Mac tbh. -Energy in the midfield group far higher than in the fwd/backs group. Led by Viney. We are lucky to have him. -Fritsch and ANB in good spirits, more interactive with fans than most. -love the way Verrall moves and have a lot of hope for what he could become. -Spargo is a little too negatively demonstrative imo. Does it in games too. Touch of the Hogan's. Probably frustrated with his year I'd imagine. Can't think of much else, any questions shout out will do my best

Asked 4 different players. All ignored the question. Asked BG if he was playing, said " I hope so" Lady next to me mentioned George on the Outers wonderful analysis, so there were at least 2 demonlanders in attendance!

No Clarry. Daniel turner with the forwards.

? We lost most key stats to the blues when we lost to them. They play a similiar profile to us. Kicking straight is a start but won't be enough. Kick straight, stop Curnow, win clearance, and negate Weitering. That would do the job.

This kozzie vision is not helpful and you should stop sharing it. He's running at a 45 degree angle towards WHE and so of course misses him on the way down...it's entirely different to the angle Maynard was approaching from

Agree. Spargo can actually draw a [censored] in the fwd 50 too, which we couldn't buy last night.

Spargo to FF it is

There is plenty of MFC 2018 vibes about Carlton. Every chance to roll us and then fall in an utter heap in a prelim in Brisbane.

Two things make this very clear to me. 1. Players attempt to smother, whilst running towards a player, 100 times a game. In all my years watching footy and attempted smothers, I've never seen anyone change mid air and land the way he did to strike a player. 2. His eyes. He doesnt turn to watch the ball sail over his head. Doesnt even start to. His eyes were trained on our no.10 the entire time. This is what makes it different to the Mitch Duncan case that Jon Ralph is tweeting about - Mitch followed the ball with his eyes and so it was his back that landed on the player, not his shoulder/hip.

Same boat here mate. I want to stop but can't look away as the outrage is still simmering. That fans let their club allegiances undermine human decency is the worst part of sport. Line up any of these 'fans', or their family members in the way that Maynard did Brayshaw and they'll take you to court (if they could afford it). As for the Goodwin presser, what did he say that's so offensive? The facts literally were that he left the ground and knocked a guy out? It's hard to believe that people's brains have the capacity to misconstrue such a simple sentence I just can't

Real vibe of 'why did we bother going through the season' at the moment isnt there What's the point of it all! The week to week ups and downs, when this is where it ends!

I'm seething at Maynard but I don't think you've interpreted what happened correctly. In my view he made a genuine attempt to smother, but with the ball gone, also made a split second, barely conscious decision to turn and lead with the hip and shoulder while Gus was vulnerable, if nothing else, then to make him 'earn it'. The 'barely conscious' aspect of it would make sense to me, as its in instinct that character emerges. He's known to have white line fever - I think his instinct was to take a free hit and inflict pain. Over my sporting days I had/have white line fever, and hand on heart, I have to admit I have at times intended to inflict pain in the heat of the moment. I don't expect everyone to understand this but I feel uniquely placed in this scenario to comment. How such a situation is adjudicated, I don't know. General consensus around the footy public seems to be he will walk free.

Sorry everyone, this one hurts Genuinely ashamed to share a stadium and city with players who would chant while an opposition player is prone motionless and injured on the ground - only to then one up themselves by cheering on the perpetrator. I've never felt visceral anger towards a player from the stands before like I did tonight at Maynard. I hope he gets weeks but have no faith he will. Anyone suggesting he had no other alternative has rocks in their head...players jump to smother all the time...they don't turn and hit players in the head on the way down. I'm not going to wish injury on him as I don't need to. If he has a semblance of human decency he will feel awful, which is good enough for me. And if he doesn't feel a thing, he is beyond help anyway and he'll end up alone. I'd rather be a better person than win the game

Starting to think that the Pies form struggles are being exaggerated. Smashed Essendon by 70 (sure, questionable opposition but if we'd done it we'd be confident), lost to Brisbane by 4 goals (it happens), beat Geelong with 29 scoring shots, lost to a red-hot Carlton but had more scoring shots (remember, we also lost to Carlton) when they arguably should have won. The only 'concerning' game was the Hawthorn one, but it appears at this time to have just been an aberration. They've been navigating some major injury concerns over that period too, which other than Naicos, are now resolved for them. Before that, they beat Port in Port and barely lost all year other than to us. It really isn't as unconvincing as everyone is saying? Comparatively, we've had a far better scores against profile (with 3 tall defenders, which we have moved away from), but for long periods we struggled with Hawthorn, gave Sydney a significant run-on, struggled with North and barely beat Adelaide & Brisbane. I'm not sure we've been as convincing as people think either. Unlike the Pies, our injury issues have actually impacted us structurally at selection too, missing our best key forward and dangerous defensive forward too. The old "things are never as good or as bad as they seem" truism seems...true Help, the MFCSS is taking over!

Reckon you could just about justify anything in long form Binman Not a criticism btw

I've always thought he was a handy player who hasnt had a really good extended run at it. Reminds me a little of when Charlie Cameron left the Crows, though I really doubt McAdam has anywhere near the upside Charlie clearly did

Wonderful. Well done

? This isn't hard to understand. You know it and every semi-informed Melbourne supporter knows it, including those choosing to ignore it in favour of hope. Let me spell it out for you. May and Lever's intercept and contested marking is one of our main weapons. When it's wet, this weapon is somewhat nullified. Nearly all marking players are less impactful in the wet, this is true. But some cope better with this being taken away from them - for example they might have a terrific ground ball game with which they can offset. Rivers is one such player and Quaynor would be another. Darcy Moore is an intercepter, but he is more accomplished at ground level than most key backs of his size due to his athletic profilr. Ergo, poor conditions would arguably impact his performance less. May and Lever, who have different athletic profiles that serve them in different ways, are at best average ground ball players. Lever in particular is considered a poor ground ball player by a lot of opposition coaches, with many quoting over the years that going in fast and low is the key to getting around him. This is a reference to his speed (or lack thereof), and by extension, how his strengths as a player diminish somewhat when the ball isn't in the air. Given their prominence to our gameplan in normal weather, and how their demise often correlates with our teams demise, yes - May and Lever come in for special consideration as a discussion point. I'm not attacking their character, but discussing their strengths and weaknesses and how conditions impact those. I'm not going to source "comprehensive" stats because 1) I don't have the time and 2) I don't need to. I can have an opinion - which I know many would share - without needing to cite supporting evidence. This isn't a news article or, as you point out, a scientific journal. Find your own stats if you're keen. I wasn't under the impression I needed to research before posting. Proven is commonly used as a verb, for what it's worth.

This is not even mentioning the impact on Gawn. We all know how we look when he isn't taking marks down the line...our wet form is not a mystery if you know what makes us a good team

Our 'defence' isn't ground ball...it's aerial. Lever and May are both very poor in the wet as it becomes very easy to prevent them (anyone) taking marks...ball hits deck, they're below average and our weapon is no more Results in the wet speak for themselves this year, not sure why you would question the theory when it's already been proven

What he needs is a whole lot more than muscle. Most of this sport is between the ears. He should improve in time in the system and may have some good days at Casey like Weideman did and Schache has, but he reminds me of them just in his lack of physicality, intensity and competitiveness. Physicality is very rarely developed - you either 'get it' (Hogan from game 1), or you don't. Despite being the poster boy for softness I thought Watts actually did improve in this area over his career, but let's face it he was probably given more time early days than other non-messiah draftees. Weid dominated juniors with his running jump and long arms - as soon as he met defenders that could put on a body, he had his only weapon taken away. No fun writing a kid off, and Jeffo is at the end of a very long first season playing a key post in the VFL, but gee there is plenty to be concerned about. He was insipid today. Couldn't get to a contest, couldn't get the footy, didn't look like he even wanted to be there. It was fair dinkum embarrassing at times. And he'll play on far better defenders than Ryan Gardner...