titan_uranus

Interesting(-ish) that the Darwin game is Round 11 and the Alice game is Round 18. Our Alice Springs game has been Round 9-11, the last weekend in May, ever since we started playing it. That's now the Darwin game. Meanwhile since 2011 our Darwin game has been in July, in predominantly Round 17. I wonder why they effectively have switched them. This is also the 5th straight year we've not played West Coast at the G.

Patriots, Redskins, Seahawks

My tips for week 7 - Patriots, Vikings, Rams Agree, I think that's a big win for the Jags, given they know their offence stinks without Fournette so they need someone to be able to capably run the ball.

We haven't been interstate in Round 1 since the 90s, we've been incredibly fortunate on that front. Let's hope it continues with a big Round 1 game against Collingwood or Essendon or something like that. If we maintain the two NT home games we shouldn't get a Marvel Stadium home game, but if we are able to get out of Darwin I expect that will just get sent to Marvel. We should be seeing more Friday night games, including home Friday night game(s) against Victorian sides (i.e. not Sydney like 2017), and more Thursday/Saturday nights, too. But I still expect to see plenty of Sunday 1.10 and 3.20 games. A home game against Essendon would be nice. Our finishing position of 4th means we have to play a minimum of two repeat games against the top 6 (West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond, GWS, Hawthorn), and possibly three. And we can only get a maximum of one repeat game against a bottom 6 side (Carlton, GC, St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle, Bulldogs), and possibly zero. You'd like to think we'd get repeat games against at least one of Collingwood and Richmond, possibly both.

I like him, but not as much as others it seems. I am quite hopeful of being pleasantly surprised. Indeed - GC's highest ever crowd is 51,774 (this year, vs West Coast). Highest ever home crowd is actually the 33,388 they got to Perth vs Fremantle this year. Highest ever home crowd after that is their first ever game, 27,914 at the Gabba vs Carlton. Highest ever home crowd at Metricon is 24,032 vs Collingwood in 2014. It's actually kind of funny to think that a potential attraction to playing for Melbourne is crowds.

Losing Hogan sucks. But having accepted that he wanted to go home, I'm more than happy with the way things panned out for us in the end.

Seahawks, Panthers, Rams

I find this whole situation quite intriguing. It started with unfounded rumours (e.g. Greg Denham), then progressed to the club itself failing to hose down the speculation, to everyone believing it was going to happen, to now there being question marks and even a "report" from Perth that he's staying. I suppose all it says is that no one actually knew anything and we're all still none the wiser. Oh, and Greg Denham remains a fool.

AFAIK this hasn't yet been approved? And reports I read a few weeks ago suggests that whilst the commission was likely to approve 6-6-6, the larger goalsquare was not necessarily a fait accompli?

The media shenanigans are a huge part of things. Hogan is consistently being talked about in the media. That undoubtedly has an impact on how he has been dealing with his life. The media attention on VDB is borderline non-existent, until he started playing again this year only Melbourne supporters would have known who he was. His personal story didn't even get revealed until a few weeks ago - everything that happened in Hogan's life was documented by the media in real time. Their positions are markedly different and drawing a comparison between the two, which seems only to have been a crack at Hogan, is pretty unfair IMO. Finally, as to "resilience and grit", how are you placed to comment on what "resilience" or "grit" Hogan has, or hasn't, shown?

Titans, Broncos, Rams

IMO it is. I'm at peace with Hogan leaving, but I don't rate May nearly as much as others do and I do not necessarily see May coming into the side as being a net gain over Hogan leaving the side.

What a shocking weekend. We lose the prelim, Casey chokes and loses the GF, then Garoppolo does his ACL, then Gawn/Brayshaw underpoll in the Brownlow, then Oliver needs two shoulder surgeries, then the Hogan-to-Fremantle rumours kick off. We've invested so much into Jimmy for 2018 (literally, given the price), to lose an entire season of him working with the offence is surely going to set us back significantly. I don't have much confidence in Beathard pushing us along like Foles did to Philly last year. I don't think our offence is good enough to make a sub-par QB look good. And with our defence...this is going to be a tough year I think.

At the moment we have Greg Denham who has added nothing to the situation (Fremantle want him is his article, in summary), and Jon Ralph saying Hogan is open to it. Ralph is a better journalist than Denham but I'm yet to see anything which actually adds up to a trade being considered by the club and/or by Hogan. I don't want to lose Hogan, I am firmly of the view that if he's not already a star of the competition he will absolutely become one. I don't buy into some of the stuff that people come on here and say about him not being friends with the boys at the club, the only evidence as to his connection to the club is positive every single time. But, if he is considering moving and the club considers that his price this year is worth something of value to us, then I can completely understand making a move now. The key here will be to ensure we get not just value, but something that we really need in our starting 22 for 2019. How useful is a draft pick, whether top 10 or otherwise, when we're a preliminary finalist and should be in flag contention as of next year, when we're losing an established key forward?

The only way this makes sense, if true, is that we're going to play two ruckmen next year. Whilst I like the idea, and neither McDonald nor Weideman are solid options if that's the road we want to go down, the balance of the side is going to be interesting. Can we have Gawn, Preuss, Hogan, TMac and Weideman all in the same 22 (along with Frost/OMac (or any two other key defenders) and Lever)? I'm assuming you were a big advocate for McInerney at the time?

Writing "bombshell" and that he is "set to play" at Fremantle is designed purely to be quoted on Twitter and forums and social media, but what he's actually saying is "Fremantle are interested in Hogan". Wow. Breaking news there. Complete click-bait rubbish, which is classic Greg Denham (a pathetic attempt at a journalist, IMO. Genuinely cannot stand the man).

Just checking, we have to pick three road teams, right? Assuming so: Packers, Patriots, Bears

Lewis was probably our worst today. So many critical errors at critical times. But Jones was terrible, Gawn played his worst game for the year, Oliver was poor and possibly also played his worst game for the year, TMac was unsighted. Both Lewis and Jones are coming to the end and it's going to be interesting to see what we do with them in 2019.

Eagles, Chargers, Giants

There's a moment in the first quarter where Scott Selwood leads into someone's hip with his head, (rightly) doesn't get a free, then stops and looks at the umpire whilst the play carries on around him. He's worse than Joel. Absolute [censored].

What a night. Our pressure was as god as any side's has been all year. We were tackling hard and they knew it, some of their players were just avoiding contact all night (see, e.g., Ablett). The second quarter felt like the Port Adelaide or Sydney game again, wasting opportunities and then seeing our opponent take it down the other end and kick a goal. But we held them at bay largely, including through the third when they lifted, and we put them away in the fourth. Goodwin mentioned the belief we gained from the West Coast win, and I'm sure that includes how we fought back after they took the lead. I reckon the days of us not believing in ourselves are firmly disappearing. I thought Harmes was incredible last night. His development this year has been as important to our improvement as any other factor, IMO. He does defensive jobs but burns his opponent the other way. Weideman is going to be a star for this club. I didn't think we'd see that sort of performance from him this soon, but he clearly now belongs. His tackle on Dangerfield was delicious. Frost did well on Hawkins IMO. Hawkins got into it when we allowed him to lead up into space. His two marks in the third were both a failure by the defence to plug the hole in front of him. I've seen a few posts about VDB. At the game I thought he was our worst by a mile. Yes, he tackled a lot, but so did pretty much every other player and I thought he made more mistakes than anyone else. Might have just been me though. And finally, I've been to plenty of games with big crowds but whenever Melbourne is involved, we're usually dwarfed by Collingwood/Richmond/Essendon supporters. But to be at a 91,000+ crowd where 80% of us were Melbourne supporters was surreal.

I'll try to join this year - I regularly miss a week or two early and then fall behind/drop out, but I'll try to keep up this time! Titans, Steelers, Rams

Bit of debate in here about whether the top 6 or bottom 6 matter more. Across the home and away season, I think the bottom 6 are as important as anyone else. Teams who fall away and have a weak bottom 6 I think struggle to win enough games through 22 rounds. But when it comes to finals, I think the top 6 become more important. In one game, where everything is on the line, the teams with absolute stardom at the top tend to shine through. As for our bottom 6, assuming Hannan and Viney replace Tyson and Kent, I'd consider them to include JKH, Spargo, Weideman, Hannan, VDB and Frost. These are our fringe players, the ones who have been in and out of the side (VDB due to injury of course, and Spargo's been more in than out). They're good, and can be match-winning (e.g. Hannan vs West Coast, Frost vs GWS), and I think they stand up with most other sides' bottom 6. But there's always room for improvement and in players like JKH and Spargo, plenty of room.

We do this plenty. We usually kick it up and under, though, which isn't smart.

Should get 7. That way, even if West Coast play four finals, he can't get back this year.