At the break of Gawn

Any predictions on whether the roof will be closed or not?

I'd love for Roosy to stay at Melbourne in some capacity next year. However, if we somehow make the finals this year, everyone in the footballing community will be calling him a genius and will be targeted by the next struggling club to take over and emulate the same thing (e.g. Perhaps Richmond).

His NAB challenge was anything but composed. Complete turn around.

Pretty confident about tonight. Deledio will be ineffectual, and the Tigers hand balling game plan will get them into trouble tonight with our manic pressure. Hogan and Watts to dominate up forward, while Gawn, Vince and Jones to get on top of the Richmond midfield. Also, can't see the Tigers scoring much unless Jack Riewoldt absolutely kills Tmac which is unlikely. Dees to win by 40pts and to throw more pressure on Hardwick.

Such a great combo. i think Watts is actually better as a deep forward if we have good ball movement as he tends to be able to get more of a gap between him and his defender on the lead. Hogan is still supreme on the one-on-one and has a bigger tank than Watts so he's also great up the ground.

I think everyone fears the old Melbourne will show up today. It's statements like this that help alleviate this fear. Only time will tell though... Watts said there were some “murmurings” that his side’s round two loss to Essendon at the MCG was “the same old Melbourne”. But he insisted the red and blue was now a far different line-up to previous seasons. “We knew that we’re a completely different team and last weekend [against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena] just assured us of that,” he told Melbourne TV. http://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-04-16/club-has-such-a-positive-future-watts

First game of the season. Let's hope he's underdone.

Pretty confident with Today's game. I watched the pies last week, and they were dead set woeful. If Melbourne can nail it's forward press and contain the pies forward line - we should run out as 5 goal winners. Also, even though Melbourne were terrible against Essendon, Essendon aren't that bad of a side at the MCG. The main difference between the Cats game and our game was that Danniher dominated. I'd be picking the Dons next week over Collingwood if the pies lose today (which I think they will), and maybe still if they did win.

Fair to say the Bombers play the MCG pretty well. Really taking it up to Geelong.

Link is here http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-late-mail-round-4-melbourne-livewire-jeff-garlett-in-doubt-for-sundays-clash-against-collingwood/news-story/12811d6af8f4f1fd5c26266827ab356e I think Watts has had that leg strapped since rnd 1 for the corky - during training and during the week (saw it strapped in a Twitter photo mid week at some social event). Don't think it's anything to worry about.

Read Foxsports Late Mail article just before. Garlett is very doubtful, and apparently Watts had heavy knee strapping but "soldiered on"

I'm partially blaming Hogan for presenting the lead in the first place. Why even offer a lead when the bloke with the ball in hand is our best set shot for goal in the side and he's 30m out?

I just can't see us winning this one. Even if we do, we absolutely have to back it up the week after and beat Collingwood otherwise we're back to square one.

Geez Adelaide are good. Walsh, Camporeale, Pyke. Doesn't matter who coaches them. That team can learn a new game plan in the matter of months whereas we take years to adapt :s

I heard a comment by David King during the last qtr that he thought Watts was still suffering from his corky in round 1 which is why he was playing so deep. Surely this can't be the case? I doubt Lamumba will be dropped after just one game (although I wish it would happen) I think the OUTs will be: Harmes, Oliver and the INs will be: Frost, ANB. After pulling the trigger too early on Brayshaw, Roos may be a bit apprehensive about bringing back Dunn and will opt for Frost instead.

It almost feels like it doesn't matter if we win next week. We still lost to Essendon, and it'll be a stain on our season. This really has to be a line-in-the-sand moment for us. Massive improvement from here, and I'm talking 3-4 game winning streak is the only cure for this.

Don't think he hates Melbourne. Certainly doesn't respect us. But he really does hate Paul Roos. I think he's worried Roos will take his spot on the couch.

Watts is always an easy target for them. Not even Wayne Carey would have had an impact with such poor delivery inside the 50.

This team has clearly got ahead of themselves and that game was lost above the shoulders. Let's compare this to last week's first qtr. Players were relentless in pressure, guys like Jack Watts were doing blind turns and taking the game on. This week, Essendon's stand as one lifted that whole playing group. They were pumped, and we needed to match that intensity. Instead, we were just pedestrian like. A Sunday stroll. No pressure, no close checking, no defensive acts. Given the whole playing group was affected. The blame has to go to Roos. Just as Ross Lyon took the blame last week. He failed to prepare them.

As long as it's not Queen's bday...

I think our forward line was too congested with tall/similar players. There was no space for effective leads, and our ball movement was slow going in which didn't help. We hardly took a mark in our forward 50 despite all those entries in the first three qtrs due to this. In the last quarter, Roos just left Watts and Hogan as the two talls, Garlett and VB to support, and all of a sudden we had a functioning forward line. I have a feeling starting with 4 talls in the forward 50 won't happen again next week.

One thing I noticed about Jack that I haven't seen before was the amount of noise he was making throughout the game. From the goal celebrations to bagging out the opposition during set shots. He was making his presence felt. He seemed to have a buzz of energy. I noticed him and Vince hugged at the start of the game and you could just tell he was pumped and raring to go. I will say that the cork really took it out of him and I had almost thought "the old jack watts is back" as he seemed to lack that spark - even though he appeared to be over the pain. But his last qtr was immense and I think it'll give him heaps of belief that you don't have to have a perfect game, but just stand up when it matters. I remember thinking that maybe his game in 2014 against the Tigers (he kicked two in the last qtr and won us the game) might have been a break out game for him, but this one feels different. feels like we've done a 360 on his positioning though. We drafted him as a high forward, played him there a bit, then defence, then wing, and now finally back as a forward - his best position.

6 - Viney - consistent 4 qtrs, and stood up during the middle patch where things weren't going our way. 5 - McDonald - very solid in defence all game. 4 - Watts - He started the resurgence and had numerous important touches. He seemed really vocal all game, too. 3 - Kennedy - like Watts, had a huge last qtr and plenty of score involvements. 2 - N Jones - solid captain's game and his move into defence really steadied us. 1 - Gawn - Had an excellent game on Mummy.

Umm. Pretty sure this is on tomorrow? I just watched today's replay and Melbourne wasn't mentioned.