titan_uranus

I saw a clip of Melksham’s goal where he kicked it up to himself. McDonald looked like he could barely walk, let alone run. Has he improved since then or is he injured?

A few interesting stats (at least to me): No one played 100% TOG. May was at 98% and Lever 96%, but all our runners were 90% or less and notably, Gawn was 82%, Oliver was 79% and Petracca was 75% - when was the last time Petracca spent 25% of a game on the bench?). Surely a sign of our approach to the short break Sparrow and Chandler our pressure act leaders with 25, interestingly 13 of Sparrow's were in the defensive half Sparrow also had our 2nd most centre bounce attendances with 17 (Oliver had 24). Gawn and Grundy split them 50/50% precisely (16 each). After 0 last week, Pickett had 11 this week. And we continue to try new things in there, with Brayshaw getting 3 CBAs, Jordon 7, Rivers 1 and even Harmes had 5 in his limited game time

Agree, @Lucifers Hero. I felt he fumbled his first touch a bit too much and missed some small handballs that we just have to be nailing all the time, let alone under minimal pressure from North. Dunstan has been lighting it up at Casey. If he does it again today, can we keep justifying Jordon’s ongoing selection over Dunstan? They aren’t precisely the same role but we have to be careful not to ignore strong form from our depth at Casey.

6 - Petracca 5 - Chandler 4 - Oliver 3 - Brayshaw 2 - Grundy 1 - Fritsch

Petty or Brown/TMac for Schache. If Dunstan plays well again he may get the sub spot at worst. Or maybe Jordon’s spot? I felt Jordon was poor tonight. Not sure what we do with Spargo if he’s fit.

I hope those in here expressing disappointment in a 90 point margin aren’t the same posters who were worried we’d lose pre-game. Off a 5-day break with a few players missing (Petty, Spargo, Salem) we played clinical football against an admittedly at times pathetic opponent. A percentage boost and (hopefully) no injuries. Loved Chandler’s game and again the work of our wingers was important. Grundy’s marking is no good but when be gets going in clearance and transition he makes us so good. Tonight felt like he rucked heaps more than Gawn, perhaps a fitness thing for Gawn? Not sure Schache did enough to hold his spot. 22 goals with the two tall forwards kicking just 2 total shows that we have many pathways to goal. Like others I’m disappointed in the crowd but I wasn’t able to go tonight for personal reasons so can’t point the finger. But we really need to be pulling 30,000 of our own to all our MCG home games. I maintain that our fanbase don’t like night games (outside of ANZAC Eve).

Ignoring Gather Round for all clubs except Carlton/the Dogs: Collingwood actually only have 5 away games Essendon also only has 5 away games but does have to go to Geelong. Geelong has 5 away games Carlton has 6 away games. Richmond has 6 away games. St Kilda has 6 away games. Bulldogs have 6 away games (one of which is Hawthorn in Tassie) plus Geelong Hawthorn has 9 away games but 4 of them are their own home games in Tasmania. North has 9 away games but 4 of them are their own home games in Tasmania and one is Hawthorn in Tassie, plus Geelong We have 7 away games but 1 of them is our own sold home game to the NT, and one is North in Tassie, plus Geelong So ignoring a club's sold home games it's either 5 or 6 away games for everyone. At least for us, one of those six is North Melbourne (closer to "neutral").

Goodwin in his press conference today confirmed that Brown and TMac have been left out on form, not injury. After having explained that Schache built up VFL form and deserved selection, he was very fairly asked about Dunstan. His answer was he is close to going past some of the current midfielders. I don't know whether that's just Goodwin saying something to placate or whether we're shortly going to see Dunstan step into Sparrow or Jordon's role.

Really interesting selection on two fronts IMO. Firstly, Schache over Brown and TMac. There’s no suggestion the latter two aren’t fit enough for AFL level - if they weren’t I’d have expected as much to be said by the club to help inform us members. So the club instead thinks that Schache’s VFL form this year trumps Brown and TMac’s AFL form. Tough for Brown given he was great before his injury but Schache offers more defensively which may be the logic. Second, no one rested despite the fresh legs of Laurie, Turner, Harmes and Dunstan. It’s in line with the FD’s general approach to seek consistency but on a 5 day break with a trip to the Gold Coast next week I’m still surprised.

The last two times we've played them: We struggled to put them away until midway through the third quarter last year, at Marvel We were something like 20 points down to them in the third quarter in 2021, in Hobart We rarely play our best football against North Melbourne, for whatever reason. We also rarely play our best football against Clarkson-coached sides. They have a few stars (LDU, Simpkin, Sheezel, Larkey), the hot/cold Zurhaar, and then Cunnington, Goldstein and Ziebell. But it falls away after that. Off a 5-day break, I'll be happy with any sort of win to be honest, but reality is we are streets in front of North on form, talent and development, and should really have no issues with them. I'll be disappointed, but not surprised, if this is an arm-wrestle.

I only agree to an extent. I think travel and breaks are most impactful on any given week, but they build up over time. So this will be North's 7th game and their 6th different venue (MCG, Marvel, GC, Perth, Adelaide Oval, Launceston). It's tiring moving around that much. There's no routine, just constant movement. For them, the "soft" part of their fixture (travel-wise at least) is coming up - their next 8 games before their bye are all at either Marvel or their second home, Hobart. So IMO I don't think it's purely coincidental that Essendon and St Kilda have started the year well when they've played every game bar Gather Round in Melbourne (including this week and, for St Kilda next week too). That's a 2-month patch where both sides can get into routine, avoid being on planes and in hotels, and settle into their new seasons with new coaches. Chandler having scans? Source?

We played West Coast in Perth in the (relative) heat. So far the only other non-WA side to play West Coast in Perth is GWS, who lost. Comparing our game vs Sydney to Geelong’s is foolish. When we played them all of McCartin, McCartin, Rampe, Franklin and Amartey played. None of them played against Geelong. Two markedly different Sydney sides.

Horrendous fixture for them. Ours better but clearly not by much (remember we’re on the Gold Coast next week too). Meanwhile Essendon and St Kilda haven’t played anywhere other than Marvel/MCG (bar Gather Round).

If we move Petty to defence this week then IMO it’s defence for the year for him. I don’t want us to keep flipping him from week to week. Whether it’s forward or back, he needs to get stability with May/Lever or JVR/whoever. Flipping him around is giving me Brad Miller vibes - never got settled and never got to his potential as a result. If he’s a forward then leave him there. If not, move him back and get Brown back into the side.

I have no idea how you walked away from that game thinking Hunter and (in particular) Langdon didn't do enough. The middle two quarters, their run and width was essential to keeping us in it, then turning the game around. Probably Langdon's best game of the year. I agree, which is a bit sad really given there are plenty of times the Fox crew say stupid stuff (Jonathan Brown sh*ts me). But it's miles, miles, miles in front of the dross Channel 7 give us.

Did Rivers hurt his leg? Looked lame in his last horrible turnover kick then subbed off? Fritsch and Hibberd both had ice on their feet in the rooms post game too Wouldn’t be surprised to see May “managed” with a sore calf, maybe Turner in. Spargo will miss and I’m pretty sure we won’t see Brown or McDonald after the Casey loss.

6 - Viney 5 - Grundy 4 - Chandler 3 - Lever 2 - Gawn 1 - McVee

I’m a seasoned Demonlander but even so I’m surprised at the negativity in this thread. That was a high pressure game for 3.5 quarters in front of a massive crowd. We started poorly, but the incredulously bad umpiring didn’t help. A 50-point turnaround is something we should be impressed with, not describing as “papering over cracks”. We have to stop expecting to blow every side off the park, or to be leading start to finish, or to be flawless. The competition is too even for that. What I want to see is improvement in key areas of concern. We started tonight leaking goals from innocuous inside 50s but ended it with our intercepting game in much better shape (what a difference Lever and Gawn make). No idea why Hibberd is copping so much heat, thought his job on Cumberland and his strength in contest was critical to us evening the game out. As others have said, Grundy’s third quarter stoppage and ruckwork helped turn the game, but I also thought Langdon and Hunter were huge in the middle two quarters when the pressure was right on. I’m far from convinced about Petty as a forward but we have to pick a spot and leave him there. Can’t keep flipping him between forward and back.

Good at best? Our performance against Sydney was up there with the best football any side has produced so far this year. Some of our football against the Dogs was excellent, too. Yes, our worst football this year has been mediocre but our best has been stunning. That is, IMO, part of the disappointment - we're so good when we're on, but we're not that good at all when we're only slightly off. Our gap is too big right now.

We shouldn't be losing this game. Not with their missing players and our close-enough-to full strength line up. Win and we go back into the top 4. Lose and we'll be out of the top 8 for the first time since the end of the 2020 season.

Gee Brown's season's really taken a disappointing turn. Tied for third in the Coleman after two Rounds with 8 goals. Looking as good as he had in his time with us. Back spasms in Round 3, takes longer than anyone expects to heal, can't get back into the seniors even with us coming off a loss and then plays average-to-poor in the VFL. Now being discussed as a "has-been" a month after being discussed as in form and integral to our 2023 flag chances.

I don't think the fact that some of their opponents were top 4 at the time of playing them means a whole lot in the first 6 weeks. Right now Fremantle and Carlton don't look like finals sides. So their wins over the Dogs and Essendon look good. But even then, I'm not sure Essendon will keep it going all year. Plus they're yet to play a non-Gather Round interstate game. Collingwood IMO is miles in front of any other side for flag favouritism. Geelong's beaten two (not even) VFL-quality sides and a Sydney side missing its back and forward lines. St Kilda see above. I'm unsure on Essendon keeping their form for another 18 weeks. Sydney's depth is non-existent and unlike previous years they're going to need it in 2023. Brisbane will win enough H&A games but they still don't defend well and have to get better away from the Gabba. Adelaide struggled to beat Hawthorn and strike me as a massive flash in the pan style side. Port Adelaide are hot/cold. Carlton have problems all over the place. As for us? Well, I don't know. But I know we're not as good as Collingwood.

Jeepers. Four goals down at half time to a side barely VFL quality? Let's hope for some improvement.

I think we know enough about how we were going late last year to know that wasn't our best performance. But even so, that's Brisbane's one finals win of merit in four years of finishing top 6 on the ladder.

Brisbane has one genuine away win so far, and that was yesterday’s far from convincing win over GWS, a likely bottom 6 if not bottom 4 side. Their home wins vs us and Collingwood were excellent but they have dominated at home for 4 years without being good enough to do real finals damage. I’m not at all convinced enough has changed there. Geelong are the only good side to have played both Hawthorn and West Coast plus they got Sydney at the best possible time. Their percentage is hardly reflective of their season so far.