titan_uranus

Can I just call this out? @Demonland and others go to significant effort to run the podcast and to get someone as important as Bartlett as a guest. This isn't a hard-hitting investigative piece of journalism, it's an online forum. How about, if you want to ask the club a question, you do it, and otherwise don't [censored] and moan about questions possibly not being asked of Bartlett tonight.

Nope. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/735403/we-don-t-use-covid-19-as-an-excuse-bartlett “We rolled out some club values at the start of the year and some expectations, and one of them is that we’re not going to use COVID-19 as an excuse” “Our expectation is to play finals. “We set out a strategic plan at the start of the year for the next four years and that plan hasn’t been altered. “We can still absolutely assess the performance on and off the field - the performance of our coaching group, our playing group, everyone across the club. “Absolutely you need to take into account the circumstances we’ve faced, but also how we’ve dealt with those challenges and circumstances.” I read this as an admission by the club that our response to COVID is where we can, and should, be analysed (i.e. rather than saying "COVID means this season's a write off", we need to accept COVID changes things but grade our performance based on how we adapt). What he's actually saying, if I read the articles correctly (I didn't hear the interview), is that we've decided to ask our supporters for donations and if we can get $1M in donations by the end of the year, we won't need to rely on an AFL assistance. That, to me, is not an unreasonable financial decision. If we have a wealthy supporter base, why not try to tap into that before we have to go to the AFL? I also don't think that's inconsistent with us saying we should still be playing finals.

I can't stand the whinge of a team "passing us". Did we pass everyone except West Coast and Collingwood in 2018? Yeah, we showed them! Did Fremantle "pass" us last year? But now we've "passed" them? Have we "passed" West Coast now?

A disgrace. We traded a first round pick for a first round pick. We cashed in on what we knew was a strong first round. We backed ourselves in to be better in 2020. That's precisely the sort of attitude this club should have. Doing the opposite would just be "accepting mediocrity", wouldn't it? FFS. There's plenty to question about Mahony and the decisions our club makes in many areas. I really, really, do not think this is one of them.

I largely don't agree with any of this, but appreciate individual perceptions of players can differ. Even if he is slow with ball in hand, I don't see it as an overall blight on his game, given the attributes he's bringing to the table. In a side that has, for years, cried out for two-way running up and down the wider wings of the G, we saw yesterday from him precisely what we need, and with effect given he was involved in link-up plays. Some of the stats which I think show his impact yesterday: 19 disposals (3rd highest for us), 5 marks (2nd highest), 6 inside 50s (2nd highest) but also 3 rebound 50s (suggesting he works both ends of the ground), 4 score involvements (equal highest). Again, I accept he may have weaknesses, but I think you're (significantly) overstating his weaknesses whilst (significantly) underplaying his strengths.

I'm wrong: they can't play Geelong because Geelong was in Melbourne yesterday. This will all be very interesting.

They actually play in Geelong, so I think they can avoid the new rule by just avoiding Melbourne altogether (e.g. flying in/out of Avalon). The problems will begin to mount from there, though. We can't play Fremantle next week, Brisbane can't play Collingwood either. And there is a third limb to Queensland's new rule: if a Queensland team plays any side who has been in Melbourne in the previous 14 days, they have to quarantine. There is every chance the 10 Victorian teams will have to leave Victoria to keep the season going.

I'm guessing we'll play Richmond on the Sunday, and Sydney will be moved to the Thursday night to play West Coast. Possibly throws Sydney's preparation out of whack as they've been preparing for a Sunday match rather than Thursday, but they at least played last Thursday and so get a full week's rest compared to us, we'd get 5 days with no notice.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-west-coast-clash-in-doubt-20200629-p5574q.html

ANB was a beneficiary of his favouritism in previous years. I'll reserve judgment until I see the team this week, but I suspect we will see vandenBerg hold his spot and ANB fail to retain his. IMO, we have few players who are more trustworthy delivering the ball inside 50 than him. I genuinely do not understand your attack on that aspect of his game. He's one of the few players who kicks to a forward's advantage. Did it yesterday on at least two of those inside 50s you mention, did it again vs Carlton. He's also one of the few players who consistently, all day, runs both ways. I can't think of one example in three games where he's been obviously caught out for a lack of speed, either. Not every player has to have Hunt's foot speed. From what I saw of yesterday's game he was probably in our 10 best players.

You're right in that pinpointing one error and trying to extrapolate it out to affect the conclusion of an entire match can be unreasonable. But the issue with us is that we see, weekly, basic fundamental errors being made. IMO, the issue is that it's a pattern of behaviour. We regularly stuff up our attempts to touch the ball on the goal line. We regularly drop marks. We regularly miss shots from directly in front. We regularly take on tacklers and get caught holding it. They are a feature of our game and when I see them week to week, I get concerned.

That may well be the case. His mistakes will have to be outrageously bad for me to consider returning to Jetta after just one game though.

They're not "very good", as @Fat Tony suggests, but they're not a terrible side. They seem to me to be mid-table and a clear chance of finals. They belted Hawthorn, who are undefeated outside of that match. Yes they lost to Carlton, but Carlton have shown signs of improvement (we played them into form). We did a few things right today to keep them from getting the ball into their forward half and from scoring. The way we defended the MCG today was not as bad as we saw in many of our 2019 losses.

I've only seen the first half and 5 minutes of the third, so I've missed what seem to be Lockhart's big errors, but from what I saw there's no way Lockhart gets dropped. What he showed in the first half was miles above what Jetta's been giving us in that role since the start of 2019. I'm also shocked to see any calls to drop Tomlinson. He was clearly one of our best in the first half and he's one of the few consistent two-way runners. Salem was poor, but the bigger problem is the forward half. We're not going in with the right line up and it needs to be changed. We've made big calls dropping Jones and Jetta, it's time to make the same call on Melksham I think. We need another tall forward so someone has to come out. Other than a structural fix to our forward line, the improvement we need to see isn't going to come from making changes to the 22, it can only come from the 22 we put out there improving individually and as a team.

I only saw the first half and 5 minutes of the third. It wasn't good. Goodwin told Channel 7 pre-match that the key to winning today was to get the ball locked in our forward half. We did that. But we lost. Goodwin is doubling down on the aggressive forward press method of play. He continues to believe that we can be successful by keeping the ball locked in our forward half, so our focus continues to be on getting it in there first, dealing with it second. There is enough evidence to suggest he is wrong. It doesn't help, though, that our players continue to make fundamental errors. Not manning the goal line properly and failing to touch Ratugolea's shot on goal, in a game we lost by 3 points, is criminal. Dropped marks, missed shots from directly in front, handpasses to stationary players or behind running players, turnovers in the back half. Mistakes get made every week, but when you are making errors with the fundamental basics of football for years, there is a systemic problem. I'm sure part of the problem is the stop-start nature of this season. We're getting no consistency. We're chopping/changing the team and we're not playing week to week. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next three matches as they present interesting match ups. But most of all, I want to see us play a month of solid football together. My last bastion of hope is that we need to click by getting some consistency into our 22. Unfortunately, I'm not confident.

Agree with everyone suggesting we need a second tall forward. We're too one dimensional and there is too much reliance on TMac to make contests up the ground. We don't need all of Melksham, Hannan, Fritsch and vandenBerg in the side, one can come out to play a second tall.

No way. Both are settling after poor starts. Lever's second quarter so much better with his body positioning. TMac getting to more contests and started leaping at the ball.

Much better quarter but still issues. We're barely generating shots on goal and too many of them are on an angle. Brayshaw's goal was nice but the kick inside 50 from Harmes was to a pack of Geelong players who spoiled each other. Our defence tightened though, and our ball movement sped up which was important. We're zero chance of winning if we try playing slow with short kicks. Gawn, Tomlinson and Lockhart all playing well IMO.

Gawn's last 5 minutes exceptional, especially that pick-up in the backline.

Tomlinson playing really well today IMO.

Undoubtedly our best football so far today, that chain.

Brayshaw's kick inside 50 is classic Melbourne. Has plenty of time, but either the forwards don't lead to the right spot or the kick is poor, or both, and we can't make the most of the clearance.

Tom Stewart done for the day with a broken collarbone apparently. We'll see if that makes a difference to our forward line.

+1 CPs, +4 clearances, +5 inside 50s. But we're two goals behind. We know this is the style of play Goodwin wants. He speaks about wanting the ball to sit in our forward half. Geelong knows this too. As does every other side that we've played since the start of last year. We can't keep going like this.

That was exceptional from Melksham. Fritsch can't drop those if we're going to win. And Pickett can't miss from 10m out directly in front! [censored].