titan_uranus

Says more about them than us IMO. GWS at the G is not exactly a match made in heaven. Plus their last two wins have been relatively average performances hidden behind exceptional goalkicking accuracy. Two weeks ago against Richmond at the G they had fewer CPs, clearances, inside 50s (-17!) and scoring shots. Underlying performance was very average against the worst side in the comp.

Think about what he adds to our side. Our best kicks coming out of the back half are Salem (struggling fitness-wise), Bowey (struggling all round) and McVee (most of us want him pushing up the ground a bit more). With Rivers now a mid, Houston helps shore up our back-half kicking, which is hugely important to all sides. Our foot skills are the biggest thing holding us back. He's a genuinely good player. We can't and shouldn't sell the farm for a 28 year old but he'd be a great get for us if we can work it out.

6-day break. They played last Saturday night. I'm with you on 5-day breaks, as above, but there have been worse. You didn't go anywhere, they had to travel here. I wouldn't worry about beating Port in a final if you get them. I'd be more worried about slipping out of the top 4 - if Brisbane, Fremantle and GWS all win, you'll be 5th at the end of this round. You should have had 2nd spot sewn up by now, IMO.

And Acres and Williams (and Silvagni and Docherty too I suppose). Port missing Marshall, SPP, Finlayson and Soldo though, so not completely at full strength either.

Port a 6-day break but point still valid. 5-day breaks should only occur when the opposition is also on a 5-day break. Not that I care about Carlton. As much as it's fun watching Carlton lose, this is not good for us. Although it's funny thinking that after Port fans booed Hinkley off the ground, they'll go 4-1 including wins over the Dogs and Carlton.

You just said in another thread that the only way forward for us is draft picks and kids. So locking away a 19 year old (2 year extension, not 4, btw) who’s had a taste for it and clearly vibes well with the club doesn’t fit that strategy?

Melksham on radio this morning revealed that Gawn has a fitness test today. Also said Sparrow plays a defensive and team role but also needs to play with more freedom without just focusing on his team role, which is why he’s been dropped. Sounds 100% spot on to me.

Source? Sounds like rubbish to me. Since when have we ever picked someone for sentimental reasons?

FWIW, in the same radio segment where he said Houston’s likely to come back to Melbourne, Peter Ryan also said his “intel” is that Clarry’s going nowhere.

This is everything I hate about AFL media. This topic is only relevant, let alone a distraction, because of the media and Cornes himself in particular.

There are people on here who have admitted that they refuse to go to games to "protest" against what they perceive to be poor performance of the club. Our own members admit they don't go to games. Hard to blame the media from having a dig at us then. FWIW I agree with the other posters who are concerned we will get a lower crowd than the 19k Richmond got two weeks ago. We might play well on Saturday nights but we don't draw good crowds to them, even at the best of times. I reckon we'd do better crowd-wise if this was 1.10pm Sunday.

For me though, that evenness of the ladder makes me want to push for finals more. The reality is that the only way we can make them from here is to win at least 3 games against GWS, the Dogs, Port, GC and Collingwood. That will give us at least some sort of form running into September, and we could cop a side like Geelong, who will make finals given their soft final five games despite being like us and struggling to beat good sides. I'd much rather finish the season strongly and see what comes of whatever final we can draw first up.

“There is an increasing belief that the 27-year-old will request a trade once the Power’s campaign ends, but he is yet to relay that to the club and is focused on completing the season, according to two sources. The rumblings about Houston’s future, and in particular his links to the Demons, started early last month. Industry sources who wanted to remain anonymous when discussing Houston’s future confirmed Melbourne were monitoring the situation.” Also says he’s actually contracted to 2028, not 2027, and that Port will be up for a trade to get picks in so they can try to get Perryman. Suggests we’d have to part with a first rounder.

I agree. Their last fortnight has been less impressive than the 2-0 result suggests. Of course, we have to demonstrate that we can produce quality football against a genuinely good side. We did this for 2.5 quarters against Brisbane but unless you rate Essendon (I don’t), we haven’t really done so since the Carlton loss in Round 9, and not for long enough to win since the week prior vs Geelong.

This is a different tangent to what you said before, which was that they’re not that good given their recent losses to Hawthorn and the Dogs. Yes, they play us exceptionally well. They match up against us brilliantly (eg even when Gawn and Trac play they match us at stoppage) and play a style that we struggle to combat. The ruck point’s been done to death already. FWIW I disagreed pre-game with the argument that, because it worked vs Draper in the wet, it would work again vs Darcy/Jackson. The issue, as Goodwin said in the presser, is that we don’t have anyone else on our list who was going to offer much more. That’s poor list management, not coaching.