At the break of Gawn

Too many here with rose coloured glasses on. He has been a liability the last 4 weeks only plays well now as a tagger. I'm not sure if we should go all the way and trade him, but he's certainly not deserved of his spot at the moment. You just can't carry a player like that who turns the ball over like clock-work. 

Need some big changes:

In: Weid, Harmes

Out: Jackson, Viney,

Jackson just isn’t having the same effect anymore. Viney is a liability.

I’m really worried about Viney’s inclusion.

Since returning, our midfield has been beaten 3 of the last 4 games.

Our win against Port came when he had a clear role in tagging Wines. 
 

He offers us nothing. His tackles aren’t getting rewarded and his kicking is a weapon against us. 

Only one who could possibly go is AnB. His fumbling was horrendous but he was a bit better in the second half.

3 minutes ago, loges said:

ANB and Harmes very disappointing

AnB having a nightmare of a game. He is literally a detriment right now.

56 minutes ago, Chook said:

Just get him in, we all cried, and Goodwin did that.

What do you want? A personally signed apology from Goodwin to you?

Haha that would be nice! But in all seriousness we were crying out after the Essendon game!

40 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Sorry, what else were you expecting?

Of course he made the decision based off our form vs GWS! That's precisely how it's supposed to work!

No, I’m talking about Brown’s form. He was in form after the Essendon VFL game, and ready to be picked. Goodwin has then realised his mistake of not picking him and corrected it. I applaud him for correcting it, but every week is 4pts.

B. Brown coming in this week compared to last week makes literally no sense from a form perspective.

Goodwin says because of the 5 day break he was on limited minutes, so that means by Saturday evening, after the GWS loss, he had decided Brown would play the following week and hence gave him limited minutes. 
 

Sounds like Goodwin has made the decision based off how [censored] our forward line was on Saturday afternoon. He’s then pulled the trigger, and not even considered how well Brown’s latest VFL game went.

So, why exactly didn’t he pick him for the Giants?

Have you ever done a long plank? For someone of Trac’s size it’d be torture. No one likes doing Planks… or Burpees for that matter.

1 hour ago, JimmyGadson said:

 

This isnt the thread but I completely disagree with those that think this was lost at selection. We've been at our best this year without Ben Brown. Do supporters understand that or not? We were something like 6 or 7 and 0 without BB or Weideman. Supporters have no idea. 

We losg the game due to our atrocious ball use going inside 50 all game. We were also comprehensively beaten up around the ball for three quarters. 

I agree with your sentiments regarding Viney, but the poor entries is a bit of a chicken or the egg argument. A poor entry isn’t poor if a tall marking forward runs and grabs it, but it’s considered poor if you can’t pinpoint your kick to a smallish forward. I’m sure Geelong have plenty of poor entries that are made to look good by having Hawkins and Cameron down there.

It makes it a whole lot harder to nail a forward 50 entry when there’s no tall forward target to kick to. If this wasn’t a problem there wouldn’t be a whole heap of media commentators out there also saying we lack forward presence.

1 hour ago, Sydee said:

What is bad is when you finish outside top 4 or have finals outside home state 

This team has given itself its best chance in very long time - its destiny is completely in its hands - are they actually any good - we are about to find out

I'm really disappointed in their current form but plenty of top 8 teams have delivered up stinkers this season. The measure of a good team versus one that's average is how they respond 

Thursday we get to see what they are made of 

Yes absolutely finishing top 4 gives you every opportunity, and finishing 2nd even better. 
 

If Melbourne could say displace the 2nd place team, say the lions, in rnd 23 by beating the Cats to then host a home final against the Lions at the MCG, it would be an absolute dream.

From the outset this may seem like a silly question, but sitting on top of the ladder certainly has some negative side-effects. Teams look at you as the grand prize and rile up all their energy to knock you over. Opposition coaches spend an inordinate amount of time analysing your weakness and you end up becoming the hunted. We’ve seen it twice in our losses and even a couple of times in our wins.

Simon Goodwin says we want to be a club that “welcomes pressure” and to be able to perform where there are great expectations, but this group of players isn’t there yet.

A couple of examples are:

1. Our first loss to Adelaide. There’s no doubt Adelaide threw everything at us. They played out of their skin and utilised corridor tactics they haven’t used as successfully since. Adelaide hasn’t played a game like that since and wont for the rest of the season.

2. Our second loss to the Pies. I know there was the Buckley factor, but the Pies played their best game of the season to knock us off.

3. North in Tassie. Built up as a David vs Goliath game, North put us on the back foot by playing their best game to date, but thankfully we corrected things late. 

Perhaps a small slide down the ladder might not be the worst thing in the world for us, as opposition teams look to focus on the Dogs, Lions and Cats instead.

Winning a premiership is as hard as ever due to how close this competition is. It’s teams who catch the competition off guard and fire at the right time that can get it done. A lull for Melbourne may lower expectations of our competitors while we correct our forward line and our clearances to launch a fresh assault.

Second week in a row Lloyd has called this out. He’s not wrong.
 

1 hour ago, hardtack said:

Hogan gives away a free to Weid who misses for a behind 

If I had told you in 2018 that Melbourne’s two up and coming star forwards would be playing against each other in 2021 in the magoos because both can’t get a run in the seniors you’d tell me to go and get [censored].

30 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

We lost to a good in form side. However the season is heating up. Well done Goody so far. You have surprised some of us. Congrats. Time to regroup, harden up, get selection right and have a red hot go at our best chance for nearly sixty years. 

Good in form side? They lost to the Hawks last week and drew with North recently.

They are a backs to the wall side, but they were certainly not in form. It was two teams in bad form coming up against each other.

For those saying that Goodwin doesn’t see a problem with our forward line, I don’t see how that could be the case. He would know that for the last 3-4 weeks our points For is way below the average of a top 4 side. I think a bit of arrogance crept into his decision, and was probably thinking “BBB isn’t at out expected level, the Giants defence don’t worry me, so we should be fine to leave him out”. 
 

A game against a middle of the table side just needs to be won to solidify our top 2 position. If we don’t finish top 2 I can’t see us breaking our ‘64 drought.

On another note, is Viney’s career at the cross roads? We’ve been carrying him the last two weeks, and he can’t get his foot right. If he doesn’t get it right over the off-season I can easily see him being the next Jack Trengove.

I knew this would happen. GWS are a backs against the wall side and we gave them a sniff early and they went on with it.

Lost it at match committee not picking BBB.

Out forward line as impotent as a 90 year old bloke reaching for the Viagra.

7 minutes ago, loges said:

IF BBB has been left out because of the weather I hope its not wet for the next 6 weekends.

1mm of rain. It’ll pretty much be a dry game.

I’m disappointed with no BBB in. I can only assume that the coaches want one more game of that from Ben.

I’ve always thought the year we win the flag to break the ‘64 drought will be unexpected - like the Dogs in ‘16 where a magical run of 4 weeks won it for them. 
 

I have doubts we’ll win it this year. I think a prelim or a GF loss is likely. However, I think the year after or the year after that, we will time our form and be finals battled hardened to see us sweep the competition at the business end and knock off a Geelong or Bulldogs in the grand final. 

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

Chunk tore it up today in the first 3 quarters at Casey and was easily BOG.

BB, while not starring, still did well given the delivery and limited opportunities plus a cheapy out the back but he held his Depth and the eyes/kick from Rosman was a beauty that suggests he will be knocking on the door at some stage next season.  All class.

The other reason you bring BB in is for his marking i50 ability.  The more contested/leading marks we take the better it will be for our mids/HBs and forwards to set up for the lock it in / repeat entry attempts and will also give them a chance to recover aerobically while BB is taking his Denis Lillee run up for goal.

Sparrow was solid but Chunk is still either his equal or often a fair way ahead at this point.  And part of this is trust / consistency.  Chunk rarely doesn't put in a serviceable or better game whereas Sparrow is too hit or miss at this stage of his career.

So for mine it's...

IN:  Chunk & BB

OUT:  Fritschkreig & Sparrow

There’s no way we’re dropping our leading goal kicker.

If we’re doing the two changes then I think AnB goes out. He still turns it over too often (had 5 last night and went at 43%). I know he had 5 tackles but I think Kozzy has an X factor that worries the opposition. 

19 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

IN: Brown

OUT: Sparrow

I really like Sparrow and he was good for the amount of game time he had, but seems the most likely option.

Jones or Melksham could possibly be close for Kozzy or Spargs who need to find a bit of form. Probably get one more week though based on their form the rest of the season.

This is spot on. This will be the one change this week. You don’t have to be a genius to identify that we are lacking presence up there. If the AFL media are picking up on it, then the coaches also know it.

When we beat GWS earlier this year, Phil Davis went down early while Fritsch got some lucky breaks on Haynes and Pickett bobbed up with 4.

Pickett will not kick 4 again this time, Fritsch will be lucky to get as many shots on goal against Haynes while if Davis blankets Tmac, then we won’t kick a winning score. BBB must come in to stretch this Giants defence otherwise we will lose it at selection.

Goodwin will blame our “connection up forward” , but it makes it much harder for the ball carrier when there’s barely a tall target to kick to. BB surely has to come in next week

Seriously, how did we lose to Collingwood? I suppose no Moore helps Freo a bit.

19 minutes ago, Ethan Trembley said:

Bianco for Collingwood is being talked up a bit but I think he comes across as a little dull, plain white if you will. 

Very good!

I’m more nervous for this game than any other game this season. So many questions to be answered tonight:

1. Can we maintain the rage and continue on our form or have we officially hit a flat spot?

2. Can our forward line kick a big enough score with only one genuine tall forward again or was that only successful when we were surprising teams?

3. Are Essendon actually decent and can make a case for the top 8?

4. Does bringing Viney back bring back our ruthlessness?

etc.

If we win tonight, and the Dogs lose to Eagles in Perth, we go 2 games clear on top. It is a massively important game for us.

My MFCSS is at an all time high today, but surely we beat this mob and continue on our way?