titan_uranus

This article says Lever and Viney will play: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1112980/melbourne-trio-ruled-out-of-hawks-clash

Jack Higgins 5th in the coaches votes. Like everyone predicted pre-season.

Is it confirmed that they have COVID? As opposed to being required to isolate?

We don’t really exhibit a horses for courses style of selection policy, particularly in our back half, so I don’t think anyone can be best 22 “most” of the time. I also think he’s actually overly popular. He has far more fans on here than I reckon his career to date would suggest.

In 2020 we lost to Brisbane, Geelong, Port, Richmond, Sydney and West Coast, for each it was at least a second loss in a row (was 5 in a row for Richmond, 4 for West Coast and 3 for Port).

Everyone else in the top 8 has played at least one game against someone else in the top 8. All bar Carlton have a win against a top 8 side, too. Geelong have two.

I’m pretty confident the answer to my hypothetical question isn’t Jordon. He’s nailing his wing role. You know that Smith was fit to play last week but didn’t get recalled, right? He might have been in the QF team but we are one week removed from him not being considered best 22.

Serious question. If Salem were fit this week, would he take Hunt's spot, or Rivers'?

Both of them did hamstrings mid-week, Jiath's was on Friday. Would have to be minor for either to be available for our game this coming Saturday.

Hawks hitting the wall in the fourth quarter. They have a five day break into our game against them on Saturday...

6 - Oliver 5 - May 4 - Gawn 3 - Langdon 2 - Brayshaw 1- Petty

Well all the club's told us is that they were out for COVID reasons. Lever rolled his ankle last week but there's been no suggestion that would have kept him out of last night's game. And there's no reason to believe Viney's injured.

We're going to lose games this year. Yes, plural. It's silly to suggest otherwise. Not only does history tell us it is going to happen, but we're simply not as far in front of the competition as some in the media are sensationally suggesting. We haven't played a side sitting higher than 11th on the ladder. Of the 16 games to come, 12 of them are against the current top 10. The fixture difficulty ramps up from here.

If no injuries, it's really simple: Lever and Viney come in, Smith and Dunstan go out. Harmes finished the game on the bench with a jacket on. If he's injured, and if Dunstan isn't concussed, he might make way for Viney. If both Harmes and Dunstan are unavailable, then we have to get a bit more creative and it might be Bedford who gets a game. But some of the other changes suggested in this thread just aren't going to happen. ANB's not going to be dropped (IMO he wasn't anywhere near as bad as some have said). Jordon's not going to be dropped (those who query Jordon's role in the side are maybe not going to the games because his role is vital). Weideman's not going to be dropped (did enough right to get another game over TMac).

Brayshaw will stay where he is. When Salem returns it will either be for Hunt or for Rivers, and right now it's arguable it'd be for Rivers. But he's not replacing Brayshaw, who would have to replace Jordon, who is best 22 right now.

I can't stand reading the number of posts in here along the lines of "it was ugly" or "we need to play four quarters" or similar. If you were at the game last night you'd have seen that Richmond dropped extra numbers behind the ball. As did GWS. As did Port. This is the approach of teams who don't think they can beat us. Last night Richmond added pretty ferocious pressure early, backed by the loudest crowd against us we've faced in a year, if not more. Despite that, we are still wrestling games onto our terms. We absorbed their hits, limited damage from their momentum, and ended up with the ball camped in our forward half. The game would have looked very different had we nailed the easy shots in the 2nd quarter that we missed, the two main ones being ANB's set shot and Pickett's snap. We kept the door open and with the crowd, they got a look late in the 2nd and capitalised. But the game was played almost entirely otherwise the way we wanted and we know that when we play the way we want, we almost always win. It's April. Salem's played one quarter, Lever's missed four games, Petty's missed three, Rivers looks like he's not fully fit, Brown's missed three games, Petracca's not 100% fit and being tagged relentlessly. And we're 6-0.

Agree re: Fremantle. I can totally understand why the jury would still be out for you (and anyone else) on St Kilda. For me it's line ball. But on your last line, St Kilda played Fremantle in Perth and beat them. That has to be accepted as a strong win now that we see what Fremantle is capable of.

Fremantle's as serious a contender this year as anyone. Right now I'd say the flag is going to be won by one of these clubs: us, Brisbane, Fremantle, Sydney, Geelong and St Kilda. The good news is three of that group barely play on the MCG (Brisbane, Fremantle and St Kilda), whilst Sydney and Geelong only get 3-4 games a year there. The bad news is if we slip up, and we do have a rough fixture (Brisbane away (and home), Fremantle away (and home), Geelong in Geelong, St Kilda and Sydney all still to come), top 2 could prove vital.

When was the last time TMac was dropped in his career? Who knows, maybe it is the wake up call he needs and may spark something in him.

As we're the away side, this is the one game a year where we're in the other change rooms and our cheer squad will be at the Ponsford end. Will that disrupt our usual routines? (tongue in cheek here...) Anyway that aside, we're due to lose a game. It's going to happen soon. If not this week then I can easily see us losing to Hawthorn or St Kilda in the coming fortnight. No Lever, Salem or Viney, and something of an "experiment" running Brown and Weideman for the first time. Will it be tonight? Honestly, whilst it shouldn't be (even with those three missing we're much better than Richmond this year), I won't be surprised.

It's probably worth bearing in mind. Assuming the Suns don't beat Brisbane, a win tomorrow will leave us with six wins against the bottom 8 sides in the comp.

Dogs are 2-4. They haven't left Victoria yet this year. They've still got six interstate trips plus a game in Geelong to come. They still have two games against Geelong and games against us, Brisbane, Sydney, St Kilda and Fremantle. I've had faith in them all year that they'd bounce back but they've got a tough run.

Thought the McHenry miss might have killed them but that kick from Walker was incredible with the wind the factor that it is.

Jeepers the umpires just missed an utterly blatant protected zone 50m against Weightman.

Across their careers Dunstan averages 0.4 goals per game to Viney's 0.3.