Wiseblood

Thanks, Dad. Thank goodness you are here telling us what to do.

Sorry, didn't realise you were also the 'who you can have on your favourite player list' squad as well. Former players don't count eh? Childish response.

Must be your 57th post bagging Watts in this thread. Give it a rest. It's pissing with rain and we are bagging skill level as well. Too many have no idea on here.

No changes to either side. JKH the sub again.

Putting off contract talks also doesn't help his state of mind, and he has brought that on himself. Every time a player does that their performance suffers and they have a negative effect on the team. Clearly Chip is no different.

Just brilliant. Flanagan never takes cheap shots at our club; instead he captures the essence of our supporters and the struggle we have supporting the team we love.

I'd love Chip to stay - even with the total and utter crap thrown his way by our supporters - but what can we sell him? If the Hawks came round and offered him 500k for the next 3-4 years there is nothing we could do that would improve upon that offer. The only thing that will keep him at the club is loyalty and the club, somehow, showing some light at the end of the tunnel. Back on topic though - it would be an absolute shame if Clark retired from the game, although everything points in that direction. Clearly the big contract and the big injuries have weighed him down to the point where there may be no return. The two positives are, if he retires, that he can get himself right and happy again, and that we get a nice big chunk of salary cap space to hopefully sign up the kids and land a big fish or two over the next couple of years. It's something anyway.

Play Garland and stick him at FF as the #1 tall. Gives Howe and Fitzy a little bit of support and it will keep him relatively fresh as the game goes on. It also means we can keep Dunn down back where he belongs and also plays his best footy, while Chip can take Cameron and McDonald/Georgiou can take Patton. We win the midfield battle then we win. Viney would be handy as well.

Rubbish.

I don't think he's rattled, I just think he is truly beginning to realise the work that needs to be done and the myriad of bad habits that these players have. You don't see it so much on the track or even during the pre-season, but under some real pressure he saw us crumble for the first time and it didn't look good. Happy for him to make some changes and to send a message or two to the players. Guys like Fitzpatrick and Pedersen may get dropped, we go with a small, quick forward line and we swing a few other changes as well. Can't make us any worse.

The problem for Fitzy is that he needs to be the 3rd, or 4th, tall in a forward line to be effective. Unfortunately with the injuries we have he is literally the key big man down there and he simply doesn't have the talent to perform at a high level in that role. If we had Dawes and Hogan down there then he would get the third best tall and have the opportunity to kick a few goals and have an impact on the game, but without them there he is being found out, just like Howe is as well.

Melbourne fans. Blowing things out of proportion since 1858.

No one would argue that, the problem is we don't have anyone else to play at the moment.

We've been okay outside of the first 10 minutes. At least we look like we can get the ball forward.... we just have no targets...

Blah blah blah, cry me a river. No forward line and turnovers in the middle of the ground hurt us big time. The 'no trying' comment was ridiculous.

The no forward line is the key. That and we haven't won a centre clearance.

We are trying you peanut. Each time we get it at half back we have nothing to kick to. The Eagles are a seriously good side.

Darling and Kennedy already have 3 marks inside 50. Turnovers killing us though. They are getting their scores on the break. Matt Jones had a chance in the middle and fluffed it completely.

Final teams are in and there are no changes to either side. A little surprised that McDonald recovered in time but not disappointed he is out there with their plethora of talls.

Don't lie to us - you've been drinking since about 7am this morning in anticipation of the game yeah?

Over who? Terlich possibly, but they would struggle to find a spot elsewhere. But some Melbourne fans are as regular as clockwork - the moment a discard plays well they come out of the rafters to proclaim we should never have gotten rid of them. McLean was [censored] by the way. Just sayin'.

I agree wholeheartedly with this, but there has to be some leeway when you have a skeleton of a forward line. What I think we would all want to see is the continued improvement and effort across the board. Are we close to breaking even in all the key statistics? Are we having a fair dinkum crack? The Eagles are up and about and have no major injuries, something we unfortunately have in spades. I'm looking for the midfield to break even and for the entire side to run themselves into the ground trying to stop the Weagles. I think it's all we can ask for going in to this one.

Dawes and Hogan are no surprise. I'm pumped to see Garlo almost ready to resume though as he gives our backline some extra experience, or we have the option to use him as a forward target while Dawes and Hogan return. If our backline of Chip, McDonald and Georgiou stays fit then we have a little more flexibility if we need it.

One game and one loss is all it took to bring posts like this out of the woodwork. Sometimes our supporters are too embarrassing for their own good.

If McDonald doesn't get up for Sunday then Pedersen plays, and plays down back. I don't think we can go in with just Chip and Georgiou as they play very tall with Kennedy, Darling and NicNat/Cox, and you would want someone like Dunn playing on LeCras who tore the Bulldogs a new one yesterday. Hopefully Fitzpatrick gets up and Gawn comes into the side to at least give us some height and take the pressure off Howe. Blease would have to be considered and, if they think he is up to it, Viney would be a handy addition to the midfield as well. If we can play as hard as we did on Saturday and bring the turnovers down a little then I think we can be right in the game. I am more positive going in than I have been in years.