Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Back on the Benny Gibson theme of this thread, one thing I certainly see comming through his interviews is that he seems to have both a genuine rapport with the players like he's part of the group, but also comes across as a passionate supporter, a professional reporter and seems to have the genuine respect of the players in all of these capacities, which I think is no mean feat. If he is actually a through and through MFC supporter, gee he's kind of living the dream of most of us here. Well done Benny, keep up the good work.

Seriously, you guys are picking the eyes out of Max's responses here. Having watched the interview, yes it was a bit lackluster. But what do you expect we'd just lost. To me the lackluster interview probably reflects Max's genuine disappointment in the loss. I think Max's response was honest enough, he acknoledged we were beaten in certain areas and wasn't making excuses due to the short break etc. And 'they were' sloppy at times as well (I recall in the first quarter they kicked it our on the full comming out of their backline two or three times in the space of about 3mins just for one example) so that wasn't an untrue call on Max's behalf and in a few words later he acknowledged they were generally cleaner in the first half.

I think a significant part of this is the way we kick big lollipops up in the air for the wind to take a hold of when passing. When we use it to switch the ball across the ground or into the centre in windy conditions it brings us way unstuck.

I'm not saying this is the sole factor, but a common denominator in three very winnable losses we have had this season is the inability to handle windy conditions. Not sure if it's skill execution, game style a failure to adapt or a combination of all three, but three games we lost that I think we could otherwise have won include: 1. Brisbane Lions (Metricon); 2. Western Bulldogs (Metricon); 3. Sydney; In all of these games our ability to hit targets by foot has been terrible, leading to horrendous turnovers and an inability to move the ball efficiently and numerous very gettable goals missed. I know in theses game we were also badly beaten around the ball and that's a different issue, but I really do think we need to address our ability to play in windy conditions as well. It should be under 12s stuff, but apparently not.

Then there was that hand off around the corner goal that Freitch gifted him where he made it look like shelling peas - that quality makes perseverance with Harley worth it. Given a lot of people didn't think he'd make it this far, I think it's been a good investment both footy wise and spiritually for the club and I'd certainly entertain keeping him on the list next year if Burgess thinks it's a reasonable chance his body can go to the next level with a proper preseason.

Bit of a mixed bag in that. Mostly pretty reasonable analysis, but there isn't a lot of consistency in how they think they will fair against us, with a whole binch thinking they are going to get belted and the others think they are a fair bet. To be honest, I could go either way from our perspective as well - think it could be close for a fair portion of the game, with us kicking away in the last like Adelaide/North, or we grind it out to the end for a modest win. But I do think we will win. We actually rarely loose to bottom sides these days.

We bundled out Geelong in 2018. We owe WC for 2018 and 1994 at least.

There are some big ifs and buts, but if the cards fell right, I'd love to play WC in an elimination final and bundle them out. Hate those [censored].

...So if it pans out like this, how do you determine who is the higher rank side when we finish on identical win/loss points and % as St Kilda?

Something I've been wondering about this scratch match is were the potential inclusions for the Swans game managed to play lower minutes to keep them fresher for a potential call up? They would have had an extra days break on the AFL guys, but that's still not a huge break given we also need to backup against Freo and GWS in quick succession. Obviously guys like Harmes and Pruess didn't play at all, so it should put them in a really good position to come into the side fresh if required.

I agree that our media department have and can do a pretty good job on the behind the scenes stuff and the associated production to cut it all together in a really professional manner. Furthermore the behind the scenes stuff certainly isn't something you would want to farm out to well meaning amatures. But the video footage of our Casey games and practice matches usually leaves allot to be desired. Low zoom levels, make it almost impossible to work out who most players are etc. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. I do feel the coverage of the seconds games could be greatly improved by having both a few more cameras at the ground and closing in on the shot a bit more a lot of the time. If there were as a team of volunteers who were willing to shoot and edit up some better vision of these games, that would be great.

I haven't thought too much about what actual changes should be made, but if Rivers doesn't play this week, I'll be spitting chips. I'm guessing probably Fristch should be one of the ins and I'd also like to see Hunt get a game, if only to give Kossie a break, but I also think Hunt has earnt his spot and would provide some good scoring power and pressure in our forward line. Kossie is also a bit of a tease and I'm not sure I can handle another game of that. His pressure acts are good and probably justify his place in the side, but he hasn't been holding his feet enough, finding enough footy and/or kicking enough goals to be truely dangerous in enough games for my liking. Still he's just in his first year and I'm sure the experience playing at the top level is doing him good and one day he will explode and start tearing games open on a regular basis.

Chill out Dazzle. It's wasn't like I'm advocating that we should go after him hard and pay overs. Yes it was rumored that he did have some poor off feild standards and recruiting him second time around would be contingent on those issues being rectified, along with reasonable confidence in his physical fitness. So what if he is 30 by next season. Not all players drop off a cliff at 30. Just look at the impact that Grant Birchall is having at Brisbane at age 32. Obviously you'll make the case that Jack Watts probably doesn't quite have the track record of Birchall, but the later spent most of his career as part of a pretty well oiled machine, where as Watts played most of his in a basket cases side. I'd also contend that the criticisms of Jack by our supporters are somewhat overblown at times and more a reflection on what he was hyped to be as a No.1 pick vs what he delivered, as opposed to a critique which would be applied to any other member of the 22.

If Watts was right in body and mind, he could be an import missing piece of the puzzle with his elite distribution by foot into forward 50 and also being a very accurate shot for goal. I think he'd do a lot better second time around with us, without the saviour level of expectation and us having build a fairly decient side which he could fit into. If he's available and our fitness guru gave it the ok, then I wouldn't be against it. The other interesting thing is that could all parties put the past behind them regarding his exit, which get the impression wasn't on the best of terms between Jack and Goody.

Somewhat surprised that the Weid is so far down the list. Is one of the form forwards of the comp and his contribution to team structure has been very important to us. Perhaps another case of awards voting not being a true reflection of player value.

Thought that Josh played a respectable game last night. Didn't star, but held his own and took some good intercept marks. There is a nice little moment in this pre-game video on the MFC website of Wagners inclusion being announced to the players. It think his selection really reinforces good team culture - you train hard and show some form and you will get picked. Combined with the Bailey Fristch non selection, it's a timely reminder of the standards now in place at the MFC. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/803423/rd-14-before-the-bounce?videoId=803423&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1598685351001

Goodwin's self control at that point was quite admirable.

Yep.

That one will take some real beating as an amazing victory in the history of the MFC. But I do think the 2018 win against WC came close. I was very happy to get the win last night, but it wasn't in the same league as those to drought breaking victories.

Rivers won the rising star award didn't he?

He's actually one of those players who's efforts often don't overly stand out and particularly when we have a big win, I often struggle to put him in our best. But I think his value and contribution to the side are immense and he his output is very consistent. Even in our losses, he never seems to go missing. Wouldn't surprise me if he finishes top 5 in our B&F.

If they want to start complaining, that 50m penalty paid against us for the protected zone infringement was total BS and I thought they generally got the better of the holding the ball decisions that might have been there, but generally I think the game was actually fairly well umpired.

Last night's win was sweet revenge for all the close losses we have endured to St Kilda over the years and that goal was the icing on the cake. Go suck my chocolate salty balls KC and Saints fans.

I think it's almost like Langdon is actually competing with May for recruit of the year status, as we are only now really seeing the best of May; it's like May is a virtual recruit this year given how little he played last season.

Despite winning, I wasn't particularly enthused to watch the replay last night as it wasn't a very attractive game. But there were probably some good highlights for us in the first quarter that I'd enjoy watching again. Just looking at the match highlights on the web, that goal from Patracca outside 50 in the first quarter was a bloody HUGE kick. Also enjoyed watching big Max nail a goal for us.