titan_uranus

If there's no pre-finals bye, does that mean a Sunday final in week 1? Or three finals on the Saturday? If not, they'll have to do a Thursday night, but that won't work unless Bulldogs v Port is a repeat match up in the first final and they're both on a six-day break. Otherwise they'll be sending at least one, if not two, sides into that game off a five-day break. From our perspective we'll have already had two consecutive six-day breaks so you'd hope we're on the Saturday in week 1, so that we don't have a third straight six-day break.

Tom Browne at half time was "reporting" (by his standards anyway) that he thinks the AFL is going to scrap the pre-finals bye. Imagine if we get the Friday night final in week 1. Three consecutive six-day breaks. Surely not.

That's not the rule at all.

This might have been fair to say in Round 1. But it's Round 22. No excuses. Stand on the mark, don't move. It's not hard.

This is seriously a poor comment.

GWS is missing Greene, Green, Coniglio, Davis, Daniels, Finlayson, Hill and Reid (along with some season-ending injuries to Flynn, Keeffe and Buckley). They could be a handful come finals. If they beat Carlton next week that puts them in prime position for 7th and potentially a final vs Sydney, the best draw possible for them. They look good, but I'm sure a lot of it is due to Richmond being just absolutely pathetic.

That may be absolutely right, rjay, but the way he's played in the backline in previous years does not lend any confidence that he'd be capable of playing in our backline at AFL level. It may be that in training this year he has developed a level of predictability and maturity in his play, so that he isn't always flying at every contest and peeling off his man at precisely the wrong moment. If that's the case, and he's capable of slotting into a defensive position if we have a player out, then that's all well and good. But based on what he's shown at AFL level previously, I don't think it's unfair for some of us to suggest he might be better suited to the forward line.

It's one of those very rare weeks where the top 9 on the ladder play the bottom 9 on the ladder.

@Lord Nev @WalkingCivilWarI reckon @Macca was referring to the Dean Margetts thread.

I have to say I'm surprised. We know we want to play TMac, Brown and Jackson in the finals, but despite TMac being unavailable we're preparing for finals with a different looking forward line. I accept Weideman may not be in form, but structurally I would have thought we want to keep rolling with the two key forwards (without wet weather anyway) for as much of the season as possible. Of course, rewarding the players who went over to Perth and got the W last week isn't a bad outcome.

Interesting decision. I'm all for depth. We haven't had injuries this year and if the club thinks Smith is capable of filling a gap in the forward line, or (shudder) the back line, then fair enough. But I'm not a fan and I'm not convinced he's good enough to play AFL level football with any consistency. Certainly not in the backline, where his Frost-like unpredictability goes against everything we've strived for this year. No dice. Emergency, along with Bedford, vandenBerg and Weideman.

Final team announced. In: Hibberd Out: Hunt, vandenBerg So no Weideman.

Meanwhile Greene getting a week just tops off the shambles that is the MRO/Tribunal system. Dangerfield in the 2020 GF - not suspended Astbury in Round 1 - not suspended Daniher in Round 1 - not suspended Hawkins on May - not suspended Fritsch vs North - not suspended Shuey on Mills - not suspended Buddy Franklin - not suspended Greene - suspended for a week If your argument against Greene is "if you're going to raise your arm/elbow you suffer the consequences if you hit someone in the head", all of the above players should have received a week. Don't tell me "oh but some of those guys were fined". If you want evidence that fines don't operate as deterrent, look no further than Selwood, who has been fined three times already this year.

You want our club to get in the media and pot Yeo? Have you ever seen a club mount a campaign against a player from another club?

If two big enough clubs make it into an Adelaide or Perth GF, [censored] the general public, tickets should be allocated to the two clubs' members 50/50% and only opened up more broadly if/when the clubs don't use them all up. Make this the fans' GF.

Yep, agree. I'm sure this data exists, but I've never seen it made available publicly. Separate to any discussion about bias/the Bulldogs, I'd be keen to know what sorts of errors we are making more often than other clubs. That's my point: they may well be, and if they are, it stands to reason they'd get more free kicks. Tackling properly is a skill, like kicking and marking. It isn't silly at all to suggest one side might do it better than another, and that should be borne out in a higher free kick count.

Also, how quiet is this teams thread? Surely a sign that Demonalnders have breathed a sigh of relief knowing we can't slip out of the top 4?

So the four ins join Jackson, vandenBerg, Jordon and Sparrow on the bench. Jackson's not going anywhere so vandenBerg, Jordon and Sparrow are likely to be the candidates to make way for Weideman, which IMO is the move we should make, get back to our preferred forward line mix ready for TMac's return. I'd go Weid for vandenBerg along with Hibberd for Hunt, with one of Jordon/Sparrow the sub.

You can't clearly see anything from that photo, certainly not any more "clearly" than whatever was visible in the Viney footage. Be that as it may, without video footage it's hard to compare the two.

I don't think this is fair. For starters, the flights to/from Queensland aren't relevant - he didn't have the back problem until the GC match on the Sunday. We had to fly to Perth the next day so unless his back was so obviously bad that it couldn't possibly have recovered in a week, why wouldn't we take him over and do his rehab over there? Sounds very hindsight-y to be now arguing that, because it still isn't right, we never should have taken him over.

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.