Engorged Onion

This is the reasons EVERY team loses. I know you know this :) And for those that are unclear - and use this as THE reason to make sense of it to blame the FD or the athletes - this has happened to every single team, every single season. What's with some supporters disconnect with understanding how fine the margins are to winning and losing, within each club within the competition that is designed to be equal (forgetting the draw,) and then the outrage towards players the the FD - that occurs when we lose, it's seriously [censored]. Aside from being Freo's bunnies - > we're a team that has had a lot of adversity this year, a lot - and had to patch things up on the fly...and have been quite valiant and shown lot of resilience considering the context of injuries and other missing athletes. It's as if this knowledge evaporates to some people when focusing on single game outcomes, and is such a shallow binary analysis. Still, from a club perspective - I'd rather be us than Essendon at least... 😎

"in the early stages" - ahhh so there is fluidity in decision making depending on the context...rrriiiiiggghht,

Thermos of coffee and whisky and a HSP 🤷‍♂️😀

Carlton, solid block of training…

Squeeky sphincter time... 💦

I'm exasperated by the notion that the medical team, Gawn and the FD would knowingly put him in a position to exacerbate the injury, without weighing up the risk.

Sparrow and a first?

I highly suspect we were in a heavy training block post the Essendon match... all evidence points to ducks and drakes with Freo 😏

It’s happened already 👍 And some who exit the circus that is sport, only by the skin of their teeth get lampooned for choosing their mental health and thus future over playing a sport for $

Appreciate the energy and effort you are putting in. You are a very good writer and I enjoy your style.✍️

💩the bed… what does it mean?

#1 post of the year pretty much the funniest thing I have read on the internet ever... aside from https://27bslash6.com/overdue.html

I'm not understanding the thinking that when you are 2 wins off 2nd then we're ostensibly out of the final race. For those that think like this, can you help me explain your logic?

Yeah goal kicking and yeah to being injured, both coming into matches and clearly in matches.. but you cant ever ever ever use injuries as an excuse - because you know, all teams have injuries. I mean it makes not a jot of difference to the team that Petracca is out, or Lever at times, or Gawn, or Brayshaw... in 24' it just means we don't have depth and have recruited poorly. just like when you get on the ground, well, you know, you've chosen to play, and your physiological movements are no longer relevant to being restricted or not... Collingwood are tracking poorly -because they're tracking poorly, and overrated, not at all because they have a significant injury list - just like Sydney are tracking really well and not overrated at all, because they don't have a significant injury list. Now... the tigers circumstance... is interesting - everyone acknowledges there are significant reasons and context to Yze's coaching tenure - due to injury - so what it seems is that there is some mythical and magical 'appropriate' injured player to fit player ratio, that is acceptable to use as a legitimate reason as to why a team, is playing the way that it does over a sustained period of time... Someone really needs to do an injury ladder and post it up against the current ladder...

some may see it as a monkey - some may see it as context...

@Binmans PA Ahhhh, I just wanted to open up a meaningful conversation on it, rather than the slagging off of Petty that occurs in some other threads…

Slightly disappointed the word ‘engorged’ was not evocative enough for people 🥲

Demonland pulse check 😘

Well I never, Clayton Oliver is a List Clogger... 🫠

I'd be hoping Goodwin reviews it ... eh! eh? eh!! 🫣

Some thoughts to consider… We’re a rabble - 2 games and % off second. Seriously, if you’re up in arms about Goodwin or the team, you’re not one to take on context of how tight the season is, or the industry is - nor the factors of significant injury and retirement to effectively 4 of our top players for significant amounts of the season (Petracca Lever Brayshaw Gawn). if you were to be told we’d be missing those players at the beginning of the seasons - I’d imagine you’d adjust your expectations… but perhaps not… Id say it’s Swans, Freo then Carlton then the rest. Freo are a very good team, and they match up well with us in midfield even when we have our best 22.they have done for 3’years now I remember watching Voss, Black, Brown etc absolutely beating up on Ablett Jnr, Chapman, Scarlett etc - fast forward 3 years later and the tables had turned. This is where Freo is at with their midfield. And this is the cyclical nature of footy. not to say things don’t need tweaking, but sometimes you’re hands are tied with personnel… we may make finals in ‘24 but I’d be looking at ‘25 and giving the team the best opportunity.

Do we think this a direct reaction to not having petracca and at times brayshaw (when he would roll through the midfield), so the evidence being that without the holy trinity operating (Oliver, Viney, Petracca, and Barayshaw) anymore, or at least at reduced capacity (Oliver) there is less likelihood that we a) win the clearance and b) disrupt the opponents first clearance, thus we need the extra (no longer -1) at stoppages. So not changing due to a change in just game plan, but personnel to execute the preferred game plan in the first place… Is that Goodwin being flexible 😏

20 point win circa 80-60’ takes us to to the realm of 107.5% and what will likely be 4th on the ladder but potentially 5th with an unlikely Brisbane win over Sydney

By luck do you mean umpiring equality? 🤷‍♀️

Melbourne's biggest challenges lie in the middle and potentially the weather. Without Max Gawn and Christian Petracca, our dominance around stoppages and ability to transition the ball quickly are significantly compromised. Fremantle's midfield, boasting Serong and Brayshaw, could exploit this weakness, feeding their potent forward line with clean entries. It was only 3 years ago that we bullied Freo's midfield - and they've got 3 more preseasons into those younger players (it's the circle of life)... they're a fine outfit. The key battleground will be the clearances and the quality of them. If Melbourne can find a way to mitigate Gawn's absence through a collective effort or a strategic shift, which might look like assuming we lose most ruck contests and shark the ball (shoe on the other foot), then we may be able to win our clearances, or have cleaner post clearance possessions. The rain, if it arrives, could be a double-edged sword. While it might favor the contested style which matches well against us, Fremantles outside game might struggle as well. Our backline will have our work cut out for them regardless of the conditions, but a typical strong defensive effort could keep us in the contest. Looking for Knuckles to continue strongly and hopefully May not looking too banged up. The outcome hinges on our ability to adapt. Can we find a way to win clearances without a designated ruckman? Does that even matter? Can our remaining midfielders step up in Petracca's absence again? How well will we handle Fremantles outside game, especially if the rain disrupts both teams' flow? I'm hoping for the best and dampening my expectations that this is one match we can afford to lose - but as someone else said on here - what an opportunity. Perhaps some TMAC or Dean Kent last quarter heroics get shown! Cheers and Go Dees EO