titan_uranus

They beat Fremantle two weeks ago. They also have wins over Hawthorn (Round 1), the Dogs and GWS. But they've also had one of the biggest fixture leg ups we've ever seen, and botched it - they have not left Melbourne since 2 June, which was Round 12. It's now 16 August, and Round 23. They go to Brisbane next week, which means they didn't leave Melbourne for 12 weeks. 12 weeks. No travel. And they're still going to miss the finals. (the other fixture leg up goes to St Kilda, who finish this season with their last 6 straight games, and 8 of their last 9 games post-bye, at Marvel Stadium, and are also not going to make finals).

You answered your own rhetorical question. None of those players have been picked because none of them have demanded selection at Casey, and we're not going to gift them games for the sake of it. One sure fire way to damage your playing group culture is to play players who don't deserve it.

https://www.3aw.com.au/sam-mcclure-gives-the-latest-on-the-unfolding-situation-at-melbourne/ Sam McClure in this grab said that he knows "for a fact" that other players at the club didn't like how Clarry was treated, i.e. saying they'd have been dropped for a month when he didn't cop anything. If true (and yes, it's McClure), that tells me one of two things has gone wrong: The club's response to Clarry's situation was not the right approach having regard to the rest of the team's dynamic and views The club's response to Clarry's situation was correct, but we don't have a stable playing group who can appreciate this, and/or we weren't able to explain our approach to those other players in a way which they'd accept and understand. Maybe the report's not true. He told everyone West Coast wasn't picking Reid because he wasn't going to go there last year. So yeah. But if it's true, it's not good for us.

https://www.3aw.com.au/sam-mcclure-gives-the-latest-on-the-unfolding-situation-at-melbourne/ A slightly different report from Sam McClure (who, I know, is going to give the same reaction to many on here as Tom Morris). In this grab he says that Trac has already asked to be traded, and the request has been denied. I'm not sure that's been reported before. Perhaps that is the reason he hasn't said anything this week. Perhaps Morris report that "if he were out of contract he'd ask for a trade" is indeed wrong, but not for the reasons some want to think. It's wrong because the truth is that he's already asked, but the club is refusing because he's contracted. Hence the Pert and Goodwin "he'll be here next year because he's contracted" remarks. Food for thought.

This game feels so weird. Obviously because of the events of this week. But also, it's our first dead rubber since late-2019, and before that 2016. Which is funny because we had a decade of essentially only playing dead rubbers. But having been up for even just these last 5 years, it's so flattening to now be so checked out before the end of the H&A season.

Paywalled so I haven’t read the article.

I think he means Houston?

“It is understood Houston has had second thoughts about making the move to the Demons despite Melbourne’s strong interest in the All-Australian playmaker. It is a blow for Melbourne who had their eye on Houston to help improve their delivery from the back half. But the club will be forced to look elsewhere as it is aware Houston is considering other options. It has been a turbulent week for Melbourne which is holding talks with superstar Christian Petracca over his frustrations with the club which have put a cloud over his future in red and blue. The off-field issues at Melbourne mean Houston is considering other clubs in Victoria to continue his AFL career, but in any case a deal could be very difficult.“

Parker’s struggling to get a game because Sydney’s midfield is stacked. I’m not convinced he’s the best option out there but he’s so much better than Billings and Hunter that the comparison is silly.

Not against this. Certainly in favour of the first three - I'm also in favour of the sub being not Melksham, but not sure if he deserves to be dropped.

Garry Lyon said on radio this morning that his understanding was that North asked the question and Viney said "no thanks".

I have absolutely no idea how you reached this conclusion. You must not watch his other press conferences. Go watch any of the ones he's done in the aftermath of one of the press hit jobs, and you'll see him when he's unsure and uncomfortable. I've just watched today's and I agree with the OP's general sentiment. He was proud to stand up for his players. He was open and honest about ANB and Clarry. He correctly identified Trac's concerns as being a positive - clubs need to have a strong enough culture where the players can feel empowered and able to raise concerns. He even had a wry smile at the point where he was about to say the phrase "contest and defence", knowing that Kane Cornes has been insulting him all week for those words (and he correctly said that he is constantly on the record as saying we need to be good in all three phases, the third being offence, and that we're not good enough at punishing turnovers). This was as good a press conference as I recall seeing from him, and about bang on what you'd want to see and hear from him after the last 48 hours.

If you think this, I don’t think you properly appreciate his role or modern footy. And that’s without acknowledging his status as a leader of the club.

Snap.

The timing reeks of a leaky club, more than anything. That’s what concerns me. Why are we leaking again after years of seemingly not?

This is some A-grade rubbish from you. Firstly, the article explicitly says he requested a trade weeks ago. Not this week. Secondly, there is no report or suggestion thatViney or Trac have requested trades. Thirdly, you either don’t have kids or have had a charmed run. But the suggestion that you can plan for kids and map it all out and it all goes to that plan is misguided and honestly, to those of us who do have kids, offensive. Who are you to judge him or his partner or his child on what is working for them? Take your disappointment and vent it somewhere else.

Disastrous news. Not because of some sort of broader problem but because he’s a heart and soul leader of the club and a key player in our side. Largely irreplaceable.

I should have known the great @WheeloRatings would have the answer!

You know what’s interesting about this? They didn’t show a single piece of footage from the game on the weekend as an example of us being “boring”. Both Cornes and Lloyd are quick to grab footage and work with it (like the May stuff in this clip) but not one clip here. I’ve argued earlier that I don’t actually buy it. Our lack of scoring on Saturday wasn’t for want of trying. It was for want of ability. We can’t move the ball quickly because we can’t kick or handball quickly when under pressure. We tried. We failed.

Definitely worth bearing in mind. Our fixture this year has ended up being brutal from a repeat match perspective: Brisbane, Port, Dogs and Fremantle, along with Collingwood (and West Coast). The minimum six games against North, Richmond, St Kilda, Adelaide, GC and Essendon. GC, by comparison, has had 8 games against this crop - and they're one of them! They've squandered one of the all time easiest fixtures this year.

Out of interest, where did you find this?

It's actually (ridiculously!) possible that 14 wins misses: Brisbane wins at least one (14.5+) Fremantle wins both (14.5) Dogs win both (14) GWS therefore loses both (14) Hawthorn wins both (14) Carlton wins both (14) The lowest percentage of GWS, the Dogs, Hawthorn and Carlton would then miss (currently that's Carlton, 1.1% behind Hawthorn). Imagine if Carlton miss despite going 14-9... Meanwhile, also ridiculously, 13-10 might be enough to get in: Fremantle loses both (12.5) Carlton loses both (12) Essendon loses at least one (11.5 or 12.5) (could be worse if Hawthorn or the Dogs don't win again) In that latter scenario, Collingwood make finals if they win both. We'd also have remained in the running had we won on Saturday (and our percentage would be irrelevant).

Our pursuit of Houston would have started a while back, at a time when we would have expected our first round pick to be 10-12 or something. As the season has fallen apart, and that pick is now 6 with a possibility of becoming 5 (or even 4 if we want to get really pessimistic…), the club may well have had to reconsider. I’d sure hope so, anyway.

Another good post, even though I don’t agree with all of it. One thing that I’m seeing a lot of is the notion that we were “boring” on the weekend and that Goodwin’s at fault for having us play that way. I didn’t see it that way at all. I didn’t see us trying to move the ball slowly, backwards/sideways, etc. What I saw was a side trying to spread, and trying to move the ball quickly enough to generate scoring shots, but failing. We consistently missed kicks/handballs (side bar - how often do we handball to or behind a runner instead of in front of them?) and didn’t appear to have the legs to run out the game. I also don’t buy that Goodwin’s pressers have a draining impact on the players. I reckon they have next to zero impact on the players. The (limited) behind the scenes content we get from the club shows us he’s a different person internally as compared to in the media/externally.

@Dee-tonator‘s right on this one. Had we won last night, this would be the equation for finals: - we beat GC and Collingwood - Carlton loses to WC and St Kilda - Fremantle loses to GWS and Port - Essendon loses to at least one of Sydney and Brisbane Obviously no guarantees this all happens but Carlton are in free fall and have a stack of injuries which opens the door to them going 0-2, and Fremantle right now doesn’t look likely to beat GWS or Port either. The only way this season gets any worse is if we find out after all is said and done that 13 wins would have been enough, and we end up on 12.