tiers

Tracca is as good as it gets and compares favourably with the recent Brownlow medallists. Not only a ball magnet but last season he added team lifting plays in the centre (3Q GF) but also around the ground (4Q Gf to Spargo to Fritsch, to TMac). Can do it all. Clarry is a different bird. When he is on song he plays his own game in a way that has rarely, if ever, been seen before. He lifts the team and brings teammates into the action by his own efforts. The ability to win his own ball and thereby deny possession to opponents is the best ever seen and he then multiplies his effectiveness by delivering to advantage by hand and by foot. If not there yet, he will end up the club's second greatest player of all time after Robbie. How fortunate are we? A truly unique pair and they're all ours. Golly gosh it's great to be successful. GO GOODY GO DEES

We have the most effective and versatile defensive unit in recent memory who can play various team roles within the group, not individually one-on-one, so to isolate one member for analysis and criticism is grossly unfair. My preference is for a group of 7-8 who can play multiple roles as required on the day and who will support and back up the other members. A group comprising May, Lever, Petty, Salem, Bowey, Hibberd, Tomlinson, Hunt, Rivers and Smith, playing team roles as assigned, seems to me to have the required versatility, discipline and skill to match and overcome any opposition forward line. The real issue is how to fit them all into the same team. Gosh its tough being successful. GO GOODY GO DEES

Who cares? It cups and games won that matter, not some arbitrary rankings? We have 23 players who were the best of season 2021 and all are back for season 2022.

After many watchings of the GF, what did Maxie whisper in Frtter's left ear after he kicked his sixth goal? It was more than "good job son" or "i am peeved that you have kicked more goals than me in a final". Any credible, amusing response will be accepted.

Clarry and Tracca win more of their own ball in contested situations and do more harm than Bont. I refer to the goals from the centre in the second half of the GF, the ultimate stage on which to perform. Powerful and sublime.

Leave the discussion about bread and circuses to the Romans. All we want is good footy and demons premierships and I, for one, would gladly eschew so called fine dining for lots of wins. So, I expect, would 100,000 others.

Still not enough. It gets better every time. GO GOODY GO DEES

It's all about the so called fine dining in the corporate suites and dining rooms, not the queue for the chips. The big money is in the catering for the pretend elites.

Some so called "expert" on TV suggested that the MCG needs upgraded food and beverage facilities (bars, eateries) to compete with new stadiums in other states. Are we watching sports or feeding our faces? And by the way, the government and MCC should spend $1b to increase capacity by 5,000. Are they for real? If the sporting contest is good enough, then the people will come. Bring a cut lunch.

Of the four who commentated the grand final, Daisy was the only one who had interesting and valuable insights into how the game was playing out. The three guys BT JB and LH are challenged dummies as commentators although anyone who comes up with Bang! Bang bang bang is worth a handful of comments a game, no more. Although Daisy's voice is at times irritating. Tone it down and slow it down and she would be even better.

Not enough. Never watched second quarter but know time when to start replay in middle of 3Q on IQ4. Four minute online highlights package of 3Q 7 goals on rotation on my computer. Has there ever been a better half of a quarter than 7 goals ending with Bang! Bang bang bang? NO. Not ever. GO GOODY GO DEES

Robbie. No one earned it more and no one deserves it more.

The main requirements to success are to have a full list with alternatives and back ups, no obvious weaknesses that can be exploited and a role for each player within a solid game plan. That was our formula last year and should be a winning formula this year. So far as I can tell there is no other team that can satisfy these three requirements. GO GOODY GO DEES

Just sign him for many years. He could be so good that we can then work out where his best role will be.

Maxie not elite! Must be joking. Daniel of doggies elite! Must be joking. Conceded at least 5 or 6 goals in GF. These stats are ludicrously ludicrous.

How many 208cm tall ruckmen would even attempt to chase Jackson? Maxie has put on some speed.

He had that and more. It was just that he was forced to play within an unsuitable structure that denied him the opportunity to display his real abilities.

Jesse had the most sublime footy smarts and skills that were never appreciated or even noticed. His loss due to injury, illness and other issues was a sad day for our club, even allowing for May's recruitment. Sadly he suffered from a lack of intelligent coaching and on field structures so that he was considered only as the go-to man deep in attack even when he was against up to three opponents. This structure did not change for the whole time. With today's coaching he would be allowed to play a roaming game (a la BBB) that would increase his influence and dominance on the game. I hope he is now fit enough and has a coach who uses him properly to become the force he should always have been, except against us.

Seems to me that, after 11 years, the coach and the captain have run out of fresh ideas and things to say. Unlike us. GO GOODY GO DEES

Who wouldn't want to come to the best team for his improvement as a footballer? Makes good choices. Smart boy who should do well when given the opportunity.

So long as they stay out of each others way. Robbo interfered too many times with Neita.

No. Neil Roberts got around to other schools in his role as PE teacher.

In an earlier post (can't remember which topic) it was noted how many times Daniel was in the vicinity of a goal opportunity for us - came late to stop Gus' diving mark; was nearly run over by Viney who was running with Clarry at bang, bang, bang; kicked it to Clarry who gave it to Tracca for TMac's first goal; bypassed by Kozzie who passed to Fritsch who passed to Langdon. There were others as well. He is an accumulator, not a damager. By comparison Salem's kicks are damaging. We should not fear him. Macrae and Hunter are two lefties who accumulate on their left foot. Play the other wing and they are neutered. By the way so is the Bont. The leftie trick worked for the dorks but is now passe.

Taught at Melbourne High in the early 60s at a time when league footballers had to work for a living. It was a thrill to be a Melbourne supporter at the school at the time although he never taught me. In those days it was not uncommon to see champion league footballers at their day jobs eg. John James (Brownlow medallist 1961) taught at my central school; Bobby Skilton (Brownlow medallist) was a plumber fixing a roof opposite my school; Neil Roberts (Brownlow medallist) was a sport teacher at my primary school; Ron Barassi was an office furniture salesman for Sears Morton in the city; Bill Young (St Kilda goalsneek) ran a sports store in the Village Belle in St Kilda.

My understanding is that there is a difference between "building a tank" and "maintaining the tank". The former is founded on a series of sustained pre season periods of training over several years. The latter is a on going effort based on solid training in season and regular matches. To build a tank during a season means that match play and regular training must be suspended to allow for higher training loads. Hard to do during a season whilst playing. If Weid lost 10+ weeks of solid training, and then returned to playing without fully rebuilding his base, then I suspect that his year would have been shot. Is it possible that Weid played only to give BBB more time to recover?