titan_uranus

Yes but Hibberd also flew to Perth, so it's not as if he's far away from the 22 either.

Agree. Cannot require vaccination for entry given that Victorians under the age of 39 have barely had an opportunity to get one dose of anything, and given AZ is all that's been available, won't have had the opportunity to get two doses prior to the GF.

We're 0-1-3. Lost to Richmond and Geelong last year, then this year drew with Hawthorn and lost to the Dogs. We're 3-0 in crowdless games at Marvel (beat Carlton last year, Bulldogs and GC this year). And we're 0-1 in crowdless games at Perth Stadium (Round 1 loss to West Coast last year).

He said "we're hopeful, probably not optimistic, but hopeful" that he'll play this week. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/998840/injury-report-hunt-sidelined

It's one thing to say you'll be disappointed with not being able to be at the GF this year if we make it. Disappointed is an understatement for the majority of us who, like you, have followed this club for decades on end, going to game after game, belting after belting, hoping one day for us to become relevant. But it's another thing to say this, which despite your later protestations, is the equivalent of saying you'd prefer us not make the GF this year so you can go next year. It should be blindingly obvious to any Melbourne supporter that this might be our one and only shot. The comparison isn't interstate GF in 2021 vs home GF in 2022, it's interstate GF in 2021 vs no GF ever in your lifetime.

Hibberd has enough pace. Bedford is a forward. We're not about to start experimenting by throwing a small forward into our backline. Hibberd's been part of our backline for most of the season. He can, and will, slot into Hunt's role fine. He won't be as good but he'll be good enough and better than any other option.

There is a significant amount of talk in here about bias and conspiracies and favourability etc. I'd be really interested in as deep an analysis of free kick counts as possible. Why do the Dogs and Eagles, for example, get so many more than their opponents, and why does Richmond concede so many? The two main times a free kick is awarded are tackles and marking contests. As to tackles, most free kicks go to the player with the ball (holding the man, push in the back, high contact, tripping, dangerous tackle) as the tackler only has one option (holding the ball). Similarly in a marking contest we know that the player in front is going to get free kicks for holds, pushes in the back or high contact a lot more than the player behind. Is it really that fanciful to wonder whether the Dogs get more free kicks because, for example, they're first to the ball more often than their opponent, and therefore get more free kicks from bad tackles? Or that their key position players hold front position more often and therefore get free kicks more than other clubs? Similarly with Richmond they've regularly played with aggression in their era of dominance and have pushed the envelope, giving away professional free kicks where needed as well. Is it that surprising then that they concede more frees than they get? I have no data on any of this but it's a topic that is missing from this thread, which focuses solely on incompetence, bias and corruption.

Such bad luck for Hunt. He was one of 12 (I think) players to have played every game to this point, wasn't he? We can cover him I think (Hibberd), but hopefully our season progresses long enough for him to be able to push to get back into the 22.

Well step 1 is to avoid playing them in Adelaide in the first final. That means we either need to win both games, or Port needs to lose one. If we go 2-0, we'll finish 1st. We'll then host Port Adelaide, if they lose to the Dogs in Round 23, or Geelong, if Port beats the Bulldogs (assuming Port, the Dogs and Geelong all win next week). If we go 1-1 and they beat the Dogs and go 2-0, there is a strong chance they finish 2nd and we finish 3rd, which is the worst result we can get at this point I think.

I posted yesterday that we beat West Coast despite May, Lever and Gawn combining for three intercept marks. So hopefully even if Adelaide do go the small forward line and chaos ball option, we've learnt how to adapt. As to the wooden spoon, unfortunately North is 1.5 games behind Adelaide, so North would have to beat Sydney this week for their final round game to be a spoon play off.

Those numbers are definitely more positive than negative. The negative, though, is 5 of the 20 cases are still under investigation as to whether/how they're linked.

I've been thinking about whether we'll see a player or two rested this week. The concern is that with the bye coming up, and the potential for a week off if we win the first final, anyone who gets rested will be having a very stop-start run (will literally be play, week off, play, week off, play, then week off if we win the first final, before the prelim).

I was tired after staying up late watching the game... Neither of them are as bad as Gawn. Spins the ball around, ambles in, hoops out right and then hooks it massively left. Every. Time. At least Fritsch has kicked 39.18 this year and Petracca 22.14. Gawn is 10.14.

I don't think a blanket statement like this is accurate. I think we can be a better team with Melksham in it, when he's on song. But when he doesn't commit defensively, and particularly when Fritsch is also off, we're a worse side, and for large portions of 2019-21 Melksham's defensive work hasn't been good enough.

I agree, although I think we deserve to be cut some flak for last night with the lightning break. But as @DeeSpencer has argued, when we get the ball with a small lead late in the fourth, we seem to think the only option is to wait for a massive pack to form on the boundary and then kick it to that pack. No real short lateral options available, and worryingly we seem to kick to that pack and it spills out into the corridor a lot, not over the boundary line.

Misleading headline in the extreme. Confirmed to have caught it in Melbourne and has been in quarantine whilst infectious.

What sort of approach to his game is this? Is the Jordon passage of play the one where he dropped it on the dive? if so, wasn't that in the final quarter after the break, when the entire 22 was gassed? Ditto the late kick down the line (he wasn't the only player to fluff a late kick, Salem missed one too). Yes he missed a couple of shots, but he kicked three, including two early when the heat was on and we needed to build a buffer. He repeatedly presented an option at both half-back and half-forward and I can only off the top of my head recall one marking contest where he didn't mark it or bring it to ground, and that came from a kick that didn't go to his advantage side. He kicked 3 (more than anyone else), took 7 marks (second-most on the ground and the most for us) of which two were contested (in the wet, don't forget), had 6 score involvements (third-most on the ground, only bettered by ANB and Petracca) and 249 metres gained (our 10th most, more than both Oliver and Jackson). Cherry picking a moment or two where he stuffed up does not substantiate an argument that he's "fighting to say up to the pace of the game", nor that "there's nothing to suggest" that he's playing well.

Current top 8 record against the current top 8: Melbourne: 7-2 Bulldogs: 6-3 Sydney: 5-3 Geelong: 4-4 GWS: 4-5 Brisbane: 3-4 Port Adelaide: 2-5 West Coast: 1-6

Couldn't help yourself, could you. Brown played well last night.

I'm not against rewarding VFL form but this reads as if you're suggesting we give Lockhart the Adelaide game just because they're Adelaide, and then drop him for Hibberd in Round 23? We won't be doing that. We're not messing with form and experimenting with our 22 on the eve of our most important finals series in decades. If Lockhart is the best option outside the 22 to replace Hunt, he gets the spot. If not, Hibberd gets it.

Some have argued that limiting May and Lever's intercept marking is the key to beating us. Well, last night May had 2 and Lever had 1 (and Gawn had 0). The wet will have impacted that, but it's impressive to see that we can play well without those two dominating the air.

Anyone who can access the paywall?

We made the mistake with Melksham, IIRC? In 2019?

Port would have to beat the Dogs at Marvel for this to happen. Port is 2-5 against the top 8, with one of those wins vs GWS (the worst side in the top 8). It's not probable.

Here we go again with the vandenBerg myths. "Professional free kicks"? He [censored] gave West Coast a goal with a ridiculous push in the back when the ball was going over the boundary line. Nothing "professional" about it, it was moronic. Unfortunately he doesn't appear to have improved that aspect of his game. Meanwhile he was only on the ground for 50% of the game but had 6 clangers, our second-most. He doesn't add anywhere near enough to our side to offset his mistakes and what are blatantly unprofessional free kicks. It's insane that he gets praise for that sort of game. If Viney did the same thing he'd be pilloried.