titan_uranus

@A F Viney 88% TOG tonight.

Or this:

I believe so. We won three quarters and drew the fourth vs Carlton but I believe this is the first time we won all four quarters.

How good it feels to get back to our best. Let's get the negative out of the way - 4.10 in the second half. Could, and should, have won by 50+. But we won four quarters. IMO we won it most in the third quarter. They lifted but despite dominating time in forward half for the first 20 minutes, we only conceded two goals, and then scored two of our own, was huge. We kept them to their second lowest score for the season, their lowest score at home, and their fewest number of scoring shots for the season. For mine, Brown made us better. Didn't kick a goal but released TMac. Small forwards lifted too - Pickett 9 tackles to go with his 3 goals, Spargo I felt played better than he had for a month. Petracca's first 5 or so kicks were turnovers but he was otherwise incredible, Oliver's first half set us up, Gawn was dominant in the ruck, and again May and Lever were superb. Shout out too to James Jordon, I really loved his game tonight. Gut running, composure, felt like he was 5 years more senior than he actually is. We're now two games and 10% clear of Port Adelaide in 5th. We've beaten everyone in the 8 except West Coast who we haven't played. Now to sit back and enjoy the (long) weekend!

You struggled to see us as a serious threat when were 11-1 having just beaten the Dogs and Brisbane. You'll struggle to see us as a serious threat even if there's a minute to go in the GF and we're up by 200.

Far out, you two have already started criticising us for losing a game that hasn't been played yet!

No, your initial point was good sides don't lose to bad sides. Then your point was when Richmond struggled through 2017, they were a different kettle of fish to us, which they weren't in 2017. Now this is a new point, which is that we struggle when favourites. That's different, and I agree to an extent (I think we play better when we're the "hunter" rather than the "hunted").

At the time Richmond lost to Fremantle in 2017 they hadn't won a final for 16 years.

And then they went on to win the premiership. Which is my point. Good teams lose to bad teams from time to time.

This one?

Port's best football all year has been against bad sides. Only two wins over the top 8 - 2 points over Richmond and 10 over Sydney. In both they trailed in the fourth quarter and in neither did they dominate. (Edit: with Richmond out of the 8 they actually only have one win vs the top 8). All other games against the top 8 they've been pretty poor and haven't gotten within three goals, including home losses vs the Dogs and Geelong (their defence vs Geelong was embarrassingly bad). They are absolutely beatable if we bring anything near our best. But, if we're lax at stoppages and butcher the ball in our forward half, we'll lose. I'm of the view we lost the game last week more than GWS won it. This game tonight IMO will be dictated by us, not them.

Richmond lost to Fremantle at the MCG in 2017, before they'd achieved anything. They followed that up the next week with a loss to the same "soulless franchise" you're now complaining about.

Sorry, what else were you expecting? Of course he made the decision based off our form vs GWS! That's precisely how it's supposed to work!

Yep I think a Saturday twilight or night game against GC is a near-certainty, they play most of their home games in those slots. Friday night vs the Dogs the week after is a near-certainty I'd say: even if the AFL is still doing Thursday night games by then, the AFLPA has said they only want clubs to have one five-day break and we're having ours this week.

Guess that makes Richmond a bad team?

Round 18 Thursday, July 15 Fremantle v Geelong at Optus Stadium, 6.10pm AWST, Seven Friday, July 16 Richmond v Brisbane at MCG, 7.50pm AEST, Seven Saturday, July 17 GWS Giants v Sydney Swans at TBC, 1.45pm AEST, Fox Melbourne v Hawthorn MCG, 4.35pm AEST, Fox Gold Coast v Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium, 4.35pm AEST, Fox St Kilda v Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium, 7.25pm AEST, Seven Sunday, July 18 North Melbourne v Essendon at Marvel Stadium, 1.10pm AEST, Fox Collingwood v Carlton at MCG, 3.20pm AEST, Seven Adelaide v West Coast at Adelaide Oval, 4.10pm ACST, Fox Why are there two games starting at 4.35pm?

Melksham, vandenBerg, Sparrow and J Smith the emergencies.

Carb loading?

I'm not sure there has ever been such a thing on Demonland. But, to answer your question, yes, it is possible that we could be back on track but still lose this game.

Yes, Petty is markedly better (and has done nothing wrong since coming into the side to warrant being dropped). No, Smith is not "great with lock down". He is Frost-level unpredictable which is the last thing we want or need in our backline. Unless he's significantly changed how he plays, Smith is the wrong answer to a question that isn't even being asked.

It sounds like someone's mail here is off? FWIW, if Joel Smith is on the plane...I'm not impressed.

The general point you're making is a valid one (i.e. our pressure has fallen back the last few games) but then it gets all hyperbolic. What has our reduced pressure got to do with the valid question to ask anyone right now (i.e. would you have been happy with 12-3 if you'd been offered it before the season)? In relation to whether it's being addressed, as you've pointed out we've already seen two casualties (Melksham and Weideman) but otherwise it's not surprising at all that we haven't seen masses of dropped players - it's only been three games, and one of them was before the bye. It's no surprise to me at all if the FD wanted to give players like Spargo, Pickett, ANB, Jordon and Sparrow at least two games post-bye to lift their intensity, the more so given we won the first one vs Essendon. It's also fair to note that despite the lower pressure rating, our last two opponents have struggled to score against us. Much more of the loss to GWS can be attributed to what we did with the ball, not what we did without the ball.

Prime time games played by Melbourne this year: Saturday night vs St Kilda - win ANZAC Eve vs Richmond - win Saturday night vs Sydney - win Friday night vs Bulldogs - win Friday night vs Brisbane - win Queen's Birthday vs Collingwood - loss Saturday night vs Essendon - win I don't think prime time TV has been a problem for us, with two of our three losses on Fox.

Spargo's 60% from snaps but only 44% from set shots. And the data does go back to 2018. But you're right, last year he kicked 8.1, with the only miss being a set shot.

Some news now coming out about our Round 18 clash vs Hawthorn: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/crowd-caps-set-to-increase-for-afl-games-in-victoria-20210706-p5875x.html This article says that: Fremantle v Geelong is likely to be on a Thursday night (if true, that will be five of their six games post-bye on a Thursday/Friday night and the following week they play Richmond so gear up for another one) Richmond v Brisbane is likely to be Friday night, but apparently our game vs Hawthorn is also being considered for that timeslot All clubs have agreed to one five-day break during the season I suspect they are considering our game for the Friday night because that round has three MCG games (Collingwood v Carlton is the third) and so one has to be on a Friday night, barring any double-headers. And with Richmond on Sunday this week it uses up their only agreeable five-day break, whereas we're on Thursday and Hawthorn's on Saturday. I reckon this means we'll be Saturday afternoon, with Collingwood v Carlton on Sunday afternoon.