titan_uranus

8 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

There were a heap of ex players there on the day including Hunt who was in the rooms.

Go look at his instagram story. Funny stuff..

They were all on the ground pre-game for a photo with Gawn and TMac and were there when they ran through the banner.

I saw Spargo and Weideman outside the ground and spotted Howe and Harmes on the ground, but haven’t yet seen a photo of all of them together. Seemed a fair few though.

29 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Hewitt raised the ball to shoulder height with both hands. Even tho it was a split second that action made it 'prior opportunity' as he could have hand balled unimpeded while raising the ball as the tackle was about hip height.

Evans did a fend off type action first which is prior then ducked into the tackle.

That’s a good defence of the Hewett free kick but IMO in real time, no benefit of replays or slow mo, that just wasn’t holding the ball.

The Evans one I think was line ball so IMO wasn’t egregious at all, but the Hewett one was a mistake and I’d have been livid if that had been against us, at that stage of the game.

We're not dropping Petty, not against Gold Coast and not, at the absolute least, until Turner's fit again.

May well just be finding a replacement for CJ - could be Rivers, but not sure what he learns about himself without a run at Casey. Could be AMW, but he may need another week at Casey.

I feel we're a touch too short and Gold Coast may exploit that. Not sure if we're going to change the forward line dynamic to get Heath in (or, later on, Kentfield) nor how we'd do it (might be Cross who makes way).

6 - Steele
5 - Kozzie
4 - Gawn
3 - Lever
2 - Sparrow
1 - Fritsch

That's the second time in three weeks I've had such fun at the footy, although this time obviously only for half the game.

It might be 3 years since we've had fun at the footy this much across a three game period. That of itself is noteworthy.

We must gain so much confidence and belief from holding firm to how we wanted to play despite the abysmal start. King said it in his presser though, unlike last week where Fremantle smacked us across the park, the start this week was more about how awful we were. When we are bad, we are terrible - fumbly, over-running the ball, kicks missing targets. Kozzie was emblematic of it.

But the way we worked through that and turned the game on its head was remarkable.

Felt to me like we ditched the tag and stopped running Tholstrup in CBAs in the second half, which helped us match them. Not sure if causation or correlation but our ball movement also felt better after Jiath went off.

Koz's second half was stupidly good, but Steele's first half was so important when most of the 23 were down. Sparrow's game was a stand-out too. Not sure how related it is to Rivers coming out of the middle but if that was part of it, then Riv's got a bit of work to do as that level from Sparrow makes us such a better side.

Major improvement IMO from Langford, Culley and (a bit less so) Lindsay. I'm really hoping that they are just starting to find themselves in this side and are gelling with each other, as seeing Langford get into the game and on the scoreboard is critical to balancing our midfield.

Loved the MFC supporter energy in the crowd. Probably outnumbered by Carlton fans 2-1 but the noise when we got going was pulsating (at least on the members' side of the ground it was).

Expecting another come-down next week vs Gold Coast but, like Round 1 into Round 2, I'm OK with that. We are building belief in a brand of football that stacks up. It won't work every week, and against the best sides we just won't be good enough for long enough, but we're 12 quarters in now and 8-9 of them have been pretty good.

I personally haven’t been overly concerned with Rivers so far this year, despite acknowledging he has a fair amount of room for improvement.

I’m not quite sure dropping a core player, these days a leader, after two games into a new era at the club is the right move, but then again many spent the last 9 years complaining about Goodwin never dropping players so this approach is a new to us!

Rivers dropped!

Well done @Bring-Back-Powell

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

He’s probably on notice this weekend.

I don’t think King would’ve been too impressed with him dropping a handball pass from Steele that resulted in a costly turnover on the wing.

You’re probably right, but I highly doubt he is getting dropped off one mistake (or 2, or 3). King spent all summer talking about how our players need to stop being afraid of making mistakes as we learn how to adapt to the new style/coaching.

If anyone gets dropped I suspect it will be for structural or more basic/fundamental reasons (effort, intensity, etc).

10 hours ago, DubDee said:

Always keen to jump on Salem when he has a bad game hey? You know he was 5th in our BnF last year

Calling a 200 game player soft after putting his body on the line for 12 years and winning us a flag, is pathetic

I wish more of our players displayed his composure, skill and loyalty

I’m with @dazzledavey36 , at least a bit.

Salem frustrates me. Yes, he has skill and loyalty, but to me he dines out on those attributes whilst putting teammates under pressure with nothing/dinky kicks and then, as on the weekend, not going when it’s his turn.

The clips Riewoldt mentioned are in this video from the 34.43 minute mark: https://youtu.be/iQ-FM--mTLQ?si=bVT2FXNfmnG5n5t8

IMO it’s absolutely fair to call out Salem, a leader, for this stuff. In addition to the poor showing in the clips, on the weekend he had 7 pressure acts (5th worst for us, excluding Disco who already had 6 before his injury) and 0 tackles.

I reckon this happens often with him and then posters like you will say “but he’s a classy kick” or “look at his B&F finishes”.

22 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Training hasn’t started yet but I’ve already got an update on Disco!

Disco has a broken hand. He had surgery yesterday morning and is expected to be back in Round 4.

This is from our head physio. I just ran into him at the cafe under AAMI.

Round 4 is next week? So he might just miss the one week?

Would be a pretty good result if so.

21 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Sparrow is a King favourite.

AMW is there to stop people from kicking goals, not get a ‘dope 30’…

Culley is playing a role, also for that matter is the energetic kid in 33 who is in the team for what he does without the ball.

Let’s go beat Carlton, yeah?

Yeah but he only had 8 pressure acts, 7th lowest in our side. 0 tackles, 0 score involvements. Not much defence, not much offence.

He also looks 2-4 steps off the pace.

Yes, he brings excitement, but it's also pretty apparent that the step up from the level he was playing at last year to AFL level is significant for him, and having had a taste, it might be best to get him back to Casey and get him finding some confidence on either offence or defence before he's back.

TMac for Turner.

I’d consider Heath, but not necessarily this week vs Carlton.

I’d prefer Lindsay up the ground more and AMW coming in may help with that. Latrelle is fun but also not ready IMO for the pace of AFL level football, so I’d make that swap.

39 minutes ago, Gator said:

Are you suggesting that there shouldn't be any scrutiny or that young players are beyond being critiqued ?

Or that if you do critique them you must have an addendum at the end of said critique that references their age or lack of experience ? So, every time I assess their output I need to end my commentary with said addendum ?

No, but if your commentary reads like you don’t appreciate their experience/age nor any of the other context (Round 2, 6-day break, trip to Perth, hot weather, opposition is in flag contention with a far more talented and mature midfield), then be prepared for someone to disagree with you.

2 minutes ago, layzie said:

It's not unfair to suggest that Langford and Lindsay may not be as ready as we thought for week in week out football so I don't accept this criticism.

Of course most of us expected to lose convincingly today but it doesn't mean we can't critique where things went wrong and see what we need to learn. Freo were excellent but 80+ points from turnover suggests we have plenty of work to do and shouldn't just chalk these up as nothing to worry about.

I’m not for a second suggesting we have nothing to worry about.

We have heaps to worry about.

This game didn’t suddenly reveal them. They were clear going into 2026 and a side primed for a flag like Fremantle, with a stacked midfield, was always likely to expose that.

I maintain that it’s unreasonable to pile on those three kids. Langdord and Lindsay have barely, if at all, played 20 games whilst this was Windsor’s second game as a centre bounce mid. Again, we didn’t play just anyone, we played a side that is much, much, much better than us in the middle. It is not surprising we looked slow, timid and fumbly. That happens when you are under pressure (real and perceived) all game.

I want to see them improve but we need to see a lot more than two games, one off a six day break in Perth in the heat against a flag contender.

6 - Gawn

5 - Langdon

4 - Tholstrup

3 - Rivers

2 - Steele

1 - Chandler

This is only a reality check if you got ahead of yourself.

This was a totally unsurprising result. Honestly, winning two quarters after that nightmare start, and fighting back in the last, is to our credit.

Losing Turner ruined our defence, highlighting that we were too short for Fremantle at selection.

Ridiculous to see posters already piling on Langford, Lindsay and Windsor. In what world are they going to compete on a 6 day break, on a hot evening, against a midfield like Fremantle’s? Clearly work to do for them but FFS just bear in mind how much more experienced and talented the opposition were.

Tholstrup’s job on Serong was fantastic, Gawn is ridiculous (Darcy’s a fail of a ruckman though), Langdon played his best game in ages, Chandler fought it out and Rivers looked a lot better this week IMO.

We are going to be thrashed by a few sides this year. Next week should be a better showing.

I reckon we get belted but if we can maintain our style from last week and show continuity in our method, I’ll be ok with that. If we minimise the margin that will be a bonus.

16 minutes ago, Kent said:

Is Haydon Young playing? Saw something last night in doubt.

No he’s out. Huge help for us tbh. King said as much in his presser.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

MFC monogram for formal stuff, Demon logo for marketing, merchandise etc

It's not rocket science, kids go to Target or Kmart and see merch with Magpies, Hawks, Tigers and an MFC monogram. It's hardly appealing to a younger audience.

I dunno about that. I don’t think Carlton has any issues selling merch with the CFC monogram and without “Blues” meaning anything. Essendon’s logo is a plane and that doesn’t seem to stop them selling merch. Port’s logo is a monogram too.

In saying that, I do think we should be leaning into the demon heavily. Using the flamehead as a retro throwback once a year is IMO a perfect way to do that.

9 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

I am absolutely loving the socials from the club this year.

Haven't been this engaged, connected and this informed ever.

Reminds me of Liverpool's game day social short videos which go for roughly the same amount of time.

Don't want to blow to much smoke up their rear ends but Smithy and Guerra have been electric since they have jumped on board with their messaging, club initiatives and direction.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

This is so important.

Engaged, connected, informed.

Such a basic concept but up to last year, one we had failed at miserably. Our comms were awful, our attempts lacking, and the connection and engagement from the member base was dwindling.

So happy to see the club care about this, and for us as members to be buying back in.

3 hours ago, binman said:

Put it this way, we are currently 3.28 to win and Freo are 1.34 and i reckon that's about right.

But hope springs eternal.

I actually think in many ways we are better placed to beat them than we were in the last few seasons, in large part because King has built a team with genuine leg speed.

Freo has torched us with their fleet of fit, fast runners in the last few years. But with Tracc and Claz gone, and Melk an Tmac not in the ones, we don't have as many slow players in our best 23.

And with Koz and Windsor up around the ball, Latrell playing a high half forward role, ditto Chandler, CJ and Howes down back (and XL has pretty good wheels too) and Sharp playing more minutes we are much better placed to match Freo's ability to run, carry and spread.

The other positive is we look super fit atm - we won't be in better shape at any pont in the season than we are this week with one game under our belt. A terrific time then to play the hard running Freo side - certainly better than mid-season when fatigue and/or the impact of mid-season loading has been a big factor in them torching us on the outside.

For me the key will be whether our defensive system holds up on turnover as Freo will have better forward target than the Saints, are better on transition and have better delivers of the ball inside 50. And they won't turn the ball over nearly as much as the Saints so i don't think we'll beat them in a shootout.

A great thing about the win over the Saints is it reduces the anxiety of losing a string of games early doors and we can attack this game without that pressure. It will be the perfect test of where we are at i reckon.

I personally think we’re no chance, but I’m ok with that.

We should have major difficulties curbing their mids - Young, Serong, Brayshaw and Jackson is a much bigger test than what St Kilda threw at us. That midfield delivering to a very dangerous forward line spells trouble for us.

1 hour ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Mentioned on radio a short while ago TDK came into the game with a virus.

Not sure how true that is, but poor guy might’ve caught one after the game with all that chasing.

37 minutes ago, Mickey said:

Does anyone know why the changed races? And someone mentioned they may have changed benches too? Is it just an 'everything new' thing or something else?

Seems to have been suggested that the new race is bigger with more screens to give us more “vibe” running onto the ground.

I hated it, as I prefer to see us emerge from within the MCC heartland, but the X post dazzle quoted gives a better justification for it - change the rooms, leave the old Melbourne behind, including our old rooms.

22 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

I suspect I'm not the only one who has watched that goal a couple of times. What I've loved on close inspection is how deliberate it was. Not a simple case of 'I go fast, I go sideways too, watch me go!' but a genuine anticipation of what the defenders were going to do, and a dash into space that actually didn't exist until the defenders kept going to where Latrelle suddenly wasn't.

This is the sort of thing that tells me he can be damaging at AFL level once he adjusts to the pace and gets fitter (which admittedly are 1-3 years off).

At the moment he's too slight and likely aerobically won't be able to hold his spot in the side for long periods at a time, but the way he finds space, and uses it, is a stand out (except yesterday when Koz was leading into the goal square and he got caught in two minds as to whether to kick it, which he should have, or pass it to Koz).

I'm very optimistic about Steele, as I think he is going to be one of the recruits of the year across the league, simply because he fills a gaping hole in our midfield.

He shouldered a huge load yesterday and, with no Viney, is going to have to keep doing that until we get more midfield experience into the likes of Langford and Rivers.

If he just plays that role every week, we win, and win big, from the trade to bring him in.

56 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I thought our team selection was good.

The decision to play with Petty as the second ruck gave us an extra runner and Max's amazing effort in the last quarter won us the game.

Apart from JVR, I thought our better players had mixed games. Kossie was great in the centre bounce but fairly well held around the ground. Max fumbled a bit early on. Lever made poor decisions.

I am still not sold on Rivers in the midfield long term. He is a weapon off half back and just average in the midfield.

Lindsay is not a great defender but Bowey is still months off returning, so we will need to persever.

I thought CJ was pretty good. Not sure why he is geeting criticism.

JVR looked fantastic being 4kg lighter. He is a fantastic set shot and just needs to keep holding his marks.

Culley playing as a forward was a good move.

Good start for Latrelle. I think he is going to be in and out of the side this year and he is probably not in our best side, but he showed enough signs and kicked a great goal. Good effort to go from SANFL seconds to the AFL.

Langford had a quiet day. We need to feed his left foot more.

Mihocek looks the same as he did at the Pies.

The fact that we had a number of players who were down is a positive IMO. 120 points with Koz kicking 1 goal, for example. Personally I think Lever was fine and nowhere near as bad as he’s copping on here, other than the two awful kick turnovers (he has to learn to stop trying those kicks, he routinely misses them).

Agree re Latrelle. How many times did he find himself in space and with the ability to impact? He was behind the pace of AFL level, and not fit or strong enough, but the sign is there IMO that he can be damaging once he adjusts.