Previously known as LITD.

Hopefully Oliver and Viney can dig deep and play out of their collective skins for the remainder of the season and stop anymore Freo type beltings. Alas I don't think we will make finals with Trac sidelined for the rest of the season. It's more a case of just playing to show some pride and dignity of the club and stop a premiership team from being humiliated. Milkshake may come back in four or so weeks an bolster our goal kicking power. Such a tragedy that he went out just before the finals last year. In actual fact, I think we have been quite lucky on the injury front of we suffer a few others it could be nasty. Which brings me to the big issue. How did a team of 21 and one that probably should have won the flag last year ( pies were pretenders and our fwd line injuries were cruel as could be plus Gus being taken out) be reduced to where we are today? Why to we not have any players to cover our injuries or to drop players in poor form? It seems we just thought adding rejected players from other clubs would see us manage. Does anyone have any real reasons as to why we don't have any depth anymore. Did we have a lot in 21 ? I really would like to know what happened. Genuinely. I mean it's not like a whole bunch of players from the 21 squad just got up and walked out. And the few who did leave or retire were not exactly superstars.

Grundys tap work is very good and he's also pretty good at ground level. But Maxy is still a better ruck than Grundy. And as a player, Max is streets ahead of Grundy. I do wonder if our list was as incredible as people have argued. Of course our list was great but not a list of the ages. There was never a star full forward. I think it was a case of Goody getting the absolute best of the boys in 21. We also had a great run in terms of few injuries. But in 21 the signs of a missing forward line were definitely there. Tmac started 21 very well and was instrumental in us kicking some big score but he started to go downhill mid season. Bbb as well. At the start of 22 our forward line showed big problems. Again Bbb and Tmac had issues. Jackson left but he was never a prolific fwd by any stretch. 23 saw the same as this year as the Grundy/ Mac fwd idea unravelled. That was it. Lucky for us Milk stepped up but was dealt a cruel blow. So our list with a great backline and definitely classy midfield was left exposed the last two years by a dodgy forward line A great list has a great fwd line. We didn't and don't. We did well to play finals in 22 and 23 but surprise... surprise our fwd line imploded on both finals campaigns. Now this year our midfield despite the objections of a few faithful fans has definitely struggled leaving only one component left...our backline. Against Freo and Eagles and pies we saw Lever out injured and Petty still not defending. So our fwd , midfield and backline all had big issues and there goes the ballgame. Sorry Ww S, I went way off on a tangent or two here.

Some really unflattering mugs in that Hawks team.

Smith out. Bbb cooked. Spargo out all year . Tmac no longer admits he can play fwd. Schache not sure why's he's on our list Fullerton ditto. McAdam rightly dropped. Petty not a forward. Milkshake still recovering. Three years to fix a forward line with no success.

Good point. He's probably more productive in the fwd line. Hell knows we need some help there. If he can pop up and kick a couple of goals and goal assists there it's worth a crack. I always would have preferred him there than Tracca but even as he is as a mid, I think he stays put with Trac out.

Posters are probably sick of calling for Petty out when he stays all the time.

I think Afl years are like dog years .

Richmond remind me of us. Constant poor decisions. Especially the looping handballs to stationary players. An almost lazy and over confident style at times.

It does seem to make the rules somewhat inconsistent. I mean it's a slippery slope in stopping knees in the back for only spoils. And a path I'm not sure I'd like. That said the knee out in this spoiling attempt would have made it harder for Moore to get closer to the ball and only ultimately possible by the physics of moores knee pushing Trac out of the contest So it seems pushing a player flat in the back with hands albeit a spoil attempt or a mark is penalized but a knee isn't. It's a tough game to arbitrate but tougher one to play. Id hate to see knees penalized after someone's spinal cord is damaged. Despite being a footy act this particular knee out, wasn't a fair footy act for me. Totally unnecessary and has seen one of the Afls best players season done and dusted. Thanks Darcy. Get well asap Trac.

It's a pretty shocking injury to Tracca. After all is said and done I'm glad he's ok in terms of nothing life threatening. The blame game doesn't help and in any case I'm sure the clubs learnt things here( no sarcasm either). Four broken ribs, injured spleen and lungs is pretty nasty. I have no idea what Moore was thinking. Why and earth would he have put his knee in so very, very hard( it must have been given the injuries) in just attempting to go a spoil. Let's be frank about this. He was not flying for a mark and didn't need his knees for elevation. It's not necessarily a normal footy act in that if it happened all the time we would obviously see many more injuries like the ones Trac has. It is genuinely hard to ascertain why Moore did this. If you watch the replay moores knee was sticking out way before the contest. if anything moores knee would have impeded his ability to get closer to the ball. So it definitely begs the question why.

I genuinely hope that Petty finds some good form but I won't hold my breath He's played around 11 games fwd this year and with the exception of a very good game against Geelong the other 10 have been well below standard. At what stage will Goody simply have to make a change? Or does Petty just continue to play out the rest of the season in his current form? Surely a change of moving him down back or dropping him will eventually have to take place.

I may be way off base here and I certainly can't speak for the teams of the glamour years in the fifties and early sixties but hasn't Melbourne always been seen as more of a gentleman's team ( or at least educated private school) . This may just be a perception but perceptions can create some reality. As a supporter base we have probably been erroneously painted as cheese eating, Pinot quaffing , cigar smoking snow aficionados who drive European cars with small red and blue stickers on them. Have the players been wrongly( although I'm not sure about lately) presented as Robbie Floweresque and decent chaps rather than thugs who don't have elite skills and athleticism. This is quite false in my opinion as we've all witnessed our fair share of Strawbbs, Stynes, Grinters, Jacksons and Ditteriches. ( We could easily name a dozen others). But ai think in the eyes of pies fans we are perceived as soft. The whole Jack Watts saga comes back to mind. Now as mentioned we are not privy to what Gus or the coaches wanted. But I do believe our lack of response rightly or wrongly has fueled this narrative. We one a flag in 21 so we can't be too soft but maybe we are getting tired and apathetic which gives the same picture somewhat. I reckon pies fans have gone away thinking we are physically lacking. We play the filth in the last round so it will be interesting to see what transpires.

The remaining one per cent, probably think they are doctors.

It bugs me too that Maynard wasn't man handled. I was expecting and hoping for some justice via hard tackles and strong bumps. ( Since that Afls never handed any out And yea not the suspension causing ones. All legal and all within the bounds of safety ie no deliberate tackles ( or smothers) that are bound to cause injury. I thought the club could harness that player and club anger and use it to motivate. But the club was under a lot of pressure after the Freo loss so maybe it was worried about a distraction and another big blow out. Who really knows. And also as WCW mentioned maybe Gus didn't want them too. Maybe he just wants to forget the whole ordeal and not let it define or shape his life anymore. Can't blame him. And perhaps the players got around him in this sense. I think I'm hoping it was one or two( or both) of these things that prevented Maynard being singled out. Otherwise I think it makes the players look apathetic to the loss Gus has experienced. Now the game has come and gone and I've pondered over it all, I'm sure the players wouldn't be. But it was irritating to see Maynard tackle some players still pretty hard like the Howes one. Even without the Gus incident, Maynard is a dirty player. It's why other clubs go after him.

Which one? The ML one? Agreed. I posted that out of context.

Certainly no need for it. That was a lot of body Mass moving at speed focused in a small area ( knee surface) and caused a ton of damage. For every action there is an equal......busted ribs, torn spleen and hole in lungs. Wth? Wouldn't want that force focused on the base of one's spinal cord. Get well soon Tracca.

So strange we are in tenth all of a sudden. Just two games in beating Freo ( which smashed our %) and Eagles....which weren't unreasonable to imagine we could have won ....would see us in second spot on the ladder. Go figure. It's a close season for sure but Traccas injury I feel has cemented our fate of it wasn't already.

As much as it pains me to say, Dons 2000 team were a pretty tough bunch that played pretty hard as well. We had some tough nuts too in Ingerson, Schwartz and Neiter . We may have gone out in straight sets twice in a row lately but the dons 2000 team was earmarked to win three flags in a row. Ha ha .

Always been my go to method for getting out of a funk or dealing with Optus. Life's brighter and filled with panavision colour on the right side of a threatening to flail someone. 😵‍💫 ( Have I gone too far?)

Good point WCW. The usual voice of reason. I did mention this as a possibility tonight a few hours ago. And in more reflective moments, even earlier. But I wish I was less reactive like you With a bit of perspective I definitely think this is a distinct possibility. I'm sure the whole affair has been gut wrenching for the poor bloke and quite possibly he decided to forgive the bloke and move on. And thus perhaps want his teammates to the same. That would certainly explain the hand shaking. In any event it's more than likely Gus didn't want to relive the whole episode by Maynard being in the spotlight. If this was the case, then it was the right thing for the team to leave him alone( although other clubs have their own agenda with him). In this case probably best to ignore this thread and put it down to a knee JERK or MAYNARD reaction .Hopefully it was at least probably cathartic for a lot of supporters at least😄

That's a pretty good effort Sydee. Not sure I could do the same. ( Mostly for financial reasons though I guess).

Either there or time forward. Not the middle.

Are you related to the Donald?

I think as other posters have said that it was likely a coaches call. After the Freo belting, a response was required and I reckon any distraction from winning was ruled out.

It was strange the club let him continue to player and with the benefit of old hindsight, quite stupid. I hope we learn from it and don't let it happen again. One just had to look at how much pain he was in and you'd call time. You can't see inside but you can see the see the external manifestations of severe discomfort and doubling over from pain. Credit to Tracca on some level for trying to play but it's clearly not always the right thing to do. I'm torn on Moore putting his knee out. I mean if he really wanted to he could take out half a dozen players doing this. But in trying to stop it you take away a big part of the game. I guess in this situation where it wasn't necessary you rely on players to do the decent thing and not do it. But the filth are never decent. You cant go for a mark playing against them hoping a behemoth of a bloke won't drill his knee into your spleen and ribs just going the mere spoil and then puncturing your lungs. Nice work Moore. Unless your bravely flying for the mark over the top, keep your blo8dy knees to yourself.