At the break of Gawn

Who are the other good assistant coaches that may be available out there?

I love the way Jack Viney goes about it. But unfortunately, he’s not a very smart bloke at all. He’s just a see ball, get ball, kick ball player. Who is ultimately not a very effective player when you compare his effort to his output. He doesn’t have a qtr of the footy IQ of a Pendlebury, Cripps, Bont, Davis, Hurn, I could go on... I honestly think in two or three years they’ll give the sole captaincy to Lever if he gets his body right and can reshape our backline. Lever has all the hallmarks of a great captain.

We have been pathetic all year in ground ball gets. Especially in our forward line. I’m not sure if this is correlated with the poor form of Tmac and Weid but also the poor quality small forwards we have but something has to drastically change. Apart from defensive structures, this has to be a top priority that the FD has to address.

Agree. Richmond 2015 finished 5th (same as us in 2018) although got knocked out finals first round. 2016 finished 13th, and we all know what happened in 2017. Success doesn’t always happen in a straight line. But I will say, that teams like Richmond and Collingwood had major shake ups of their FD before it all clicked. Same thing needs to happen with us and hence the clean out of some dead wood assistants.

Crazy idea, but why doesn’t Melbourne employ Roos again on some part time consultation basis? I saw better performances in most of 2016 than I have seen all this year.

Yep, Ben Matthews too I feel. Got the most talented midfield going around and can’t win clearances. At at the end of 2017, Collingwood brought in Garry Hocking and Justin Longmuir who had immediate effect. The FD needs at least two or three changes at season end. Starting with Misso, Chaplin and potentially Matthews.

Well I was dead wrong. The Saints aren’t the bees knees, but they play a really simple and effective game style. Tore us to pieces in the middle and their transition from defence is very good and no nonsense. The only 4 we’ll be worrying about this year is the bottom 4.

Saints have overachieved so far this year and sitting pretty after a very soft draw while also running into teams at the right time (Essendon as a shambles, Hawks on one leg). The headline tonight will be “Dees give Saints a reality check”. Melbourne by +30pts

Disappointed that Garlett or Lockhart didn’t get a look in.

I also have the same feeling. But mind you, I also had the same feeling going into the Bombers game.

I thought groin injuries were usually a 4 week injury. It’s already been 4 and Smith is a 4-6 which means he’s potentially going to miss half the season with a groin injury???

This is pretty frivolous, but it was my birthday recently and I didn’t receive an email with an offer for a 20% discount at the demon shop (I’ve got a premium membership). A friend of mine (who’s a 3 game member) got an email for this offer for his birthday in March. I msged the club on twitter and they confirmed it was an oversight and they did have my d.o.b in the system. They said they’d send me an email with the discount but it’s been a couple of weeks and nothing. Have since followed them up and waiting to hear back.

Goody said in the post-match he’ll be fine for this week.

Probably our most frustrating game of the season last year. However, the FD took some vital lessons from that game and it was the last time a team kicked a big score on us in 2018 before the PF (although Geelong scored 100pts exactly against us thanks to Tuohy's last kick).

Saints are rubbish. Have beaten Gold Coast by 1pt, Essendon when they were a shambles, lost to Freo and beat the Hawks on one leg. If we bring the same defensive mindset and contested footy, we should beat them easily.

I’m not sure if we lose tonight we’ll be absolutely done, given our history at the SCG and our history against the Swans. It may bee too insurmountable. However, if we don’t beat the Saints next week then it’ll be absolutely done. I see next week as our most season defining game.

He could always step down as co-captain. Just like how Hannebery stepped down from the leadership team to work on his recovery. Jones could do the same to just focus on his game.

Just finished watching ‘on the couch’. My god our defence is a shambles. The footage was laughable. Some of the decisions made by Froscar, Fritsch etc on when to leave your man and go is just horrific. It’s just too complicated I feel. Lets just go back to a much more simpler structure and the only time you need to leave your man is if your team mate has basically lost the contest and the opposition is running towards you.

Perhaps the “Gold Coast standards” was just an easy excuse for a player that just has a bad attitude around keeping in shape over the off season.

Can we do a straight swap for Gold Coast’s defence or employ their defensive coach?

Pretty interesting stat regarding Lewis.

Watched the second qtr replay on Fox. The only reason we got back in the game and looked better at repelling our defence was due to Essendon’s poor entry from stoppages purely from skill level (mainly from Dylan Shiel). They weren’t even pressured kicks. After the poor entries we were good at transitioning back (we kicked 6 goals straight from the back half). We’re a forward half team so it wasn’t even our brand, but we were just fortunate Shiel can’t kick. Hence, our defence was just as diabolical as ever in that second qtr but it was masked by unforced error entries from Essendon. The defensive positioning of our midfielders at stoppages and even in general play is a complete shambles.

Goody is chatting to SEN at 12.

I still recall PJ’s strong comments on ‘inside Melbourne ‘ after we lost to Hawthorn. It was clear that he knew exactly that it was unacceptable and not what we stood for. We’ve heard nothing from Pert so far.

Brisbane are currently the same odds as us to win the flag this year now.