Jimcor2

I arrived at Tulla on the morning after the last GWS game (after a 36 hour journey from Lucca) so I sat in the coffee lounge at the airport and watched the replay on my laptop before heading off to my sister's. I didn't want to know the result before watching the gamesince where we finished had a big impact on where the finals games would be played. Can't beat a happy ending!

So, I am not particularly wealthy but have lived in Italy for the past 5 years and maintained my reserved seat membership since moving. To me, it serves two purposes: 1/- a donation to the club 2/- a chance of getting to a finals' game when we make the Finals. In 2018, as soon as we qualified, I booked a ticket back to Melbourne and went to the Geelong and Hawthorn games. It was worth the wait. Let's hope I can do the same this year and we get a bit further.

The Walls have also been declared off-limits until 25March. A lot of people use the 4km wall to jog or cycle and the central government asked the regions to close all parks and similar facilities to discourage gatherings. As they are saying iin the slogan "Andra tutto bene'', it will all come good.....eventually. In the meantime, roll on Sunday....if the game goes ahead.

If Italy is a guide, Yes. Self-isolation is probably going to impact sooner or later on the players and staff. And we were looking so good!

In fact, remarkably clean. No tourists (hence no 'lucre') and very little dog-walking. A group of fellow expat Australians & English have been going to watch the local soccer team (La Lucchese 1905) but those games were all suspended a few weeks ago. I have been watching the footy via Watch AFL and the discount I get with the MFC membership so I am used to remote supporting. The town is sooooooooooooo quiet.

Slightly off topic but I just wanted to say that I live in Lucca in Italy and that, from our experience, the most important thing to do is to stop the spread of the virus....by whatever means necessary. We have been in significant lockdown for almost two weeks and the rate of infection will continue for at least a couple more weeks. There are no sports events taking place, we are permitted to leave our house for three reasons only; shopping, to go to work, or for health-related reasons. No shops other than supermarkets, food shops or pharmacies are permitted to open. No bars or restaurants...and you know how Italians love their coffee! Walking outside is only permitted for one of the above three reasons e.g. to go shopping. All shops restrict entry to enforce a minimum one meter distance between shoppers - maybe 50 people in the supermarket at a time. The reason for these measures is because this virus is a beast and spreads amazingly quickly. If the spread not slowed hospitals and doctors will be overwhelmed because it often impacts on the lungs and the demand for intensive care exceeds the ability to provide it. Inevitably, it will hit Australia similarly so I urge you to start the 'social distancing' required. Italians are not known for their rules-following behaviour but I can tell you that they are certainly taking this seriously. Good luck!

It never fails to surprise me how defensive we get about external criticism of the club. Without doubt, the post-2018 season preparation was poor. Those that weren't undergoing surgery, should have had it explained to them individually how important it was that they improved their fitness levels to provide some coverage for those coming back late and what the consequences would be if they didn''t. It would seem that in at least one of the cases (Stephen May), that didn't happen so I am assuming the same in other cases. And also Burgess recently commented on how much higher the workloads are this year. It reminded me of 2002. To drop from 4th to 17th was pathetic. On the other hand, what a great start to 2020 on Saturday. Normally my optimism is challenged a bit after the first game of a pre-season but we looked great.......and we outlasted them. Admittedly, it was only the Crows but how long has it been that we could say something disparaging like that and mean it. I haven't been able to occupy my seat at home games for a few years but I am pretty happy to be back in Melbourne for a couple of months from early April and able to get along to training as well. Happy days!

Now, I don't intend to disparage anyone else's report (all of which are appreciated) but this is probably the best, most-informative report I've read over many years. Stay a bit longer, by all means.

Sadly, in my view, this will never happen. From what Ihave seen from Goodwin, he is almost incapable of acknowledging an error of any sort when it comes to his judgement or his coaching ability. Even an experienced, successful, confident, proven, successful senior coach would have difficulty coping with an admission of poor judgement and poor leadership re the JW departure. Gooowin is currently none of these. Let's hope he us capable of learning a lesson.

One thing I have noticed is that Jones has developed his ability to kick with both feet....maybe Brayshaw's influence. He is now pretty reliable on both sides. For me, one of Viney's huge flaws and failures to lead is his failure to develop a right foot. Great footballers and great leaders find ways to eliminate their weaknesses. I still think he's a good player but..........! How often do you see Pendlebury, Selwood, etc waste a kick these days?

So, I think the backs are still trying to adjust to the departure of TMcD and the arrival of Lever and just haven't been able to work out how to do it successfully as yet. The coach really needs to pull his finger out and work out a strategy ahead of the game and have the know-how and guts to change tactics if the strategy isn't working during the game. Decent players like Jetta and Hibberd do not become clueless or slow for no reason. The defense structure has changed with the arrival and departure. Need to keep trying to sort it out. Ins: Pedo - can play ruck, forward or back as required. Hunt - is quick and brave and can break lines Stretch - fit and skilfull. Can't work out why he hasn't been picked this season. Tyson - on balance is probably ahead of fellow mids in the 'Outs'. Anyone know what his 'illness' was. Would be nice if he and Kent found their right legs. They might become very good footballers. Outs: Any four from the following - Bugg (unreliable kick, slow), Harmes (poor recent contributions), Melksham (see Harmes), Vince (slow), Lewis (see Harmes), Fritsch (uneven contribution) and Wagner or Frost. I had some doubts about the wisdom of selecting Kent last week but again, on balance, he's done enough to keep his spot.

I am also confused as to why Kent has been picked over Brayshaw. He might be the most 'one-sided' kicker in the squad. If he hasn't spent the last two years learning how to kick with his right foot, we might as well keep him on the bench all day or use him to relieve Max in the ruck! Defenders might have learnt that all that needs to be done with Kent is to make him use his right foot and the ball is almost bound to be turned over. Brayshaw has at least demonstrated on multiple occasions that he is comfortable kicking off of either foot and can play in the mids or back and can also kick a goal.

I think you're right but I guess it was only to be expected with the different level of experience that each of them has. I would have expected than Macca would be having some more influence....or maybe he's part of the problem?? Anyway, two years ago we would have lost this game and the fact that we didn't is a testament to the contribution of Garlett, Hogan, Clarrie, Petracca & Jones. The inability of the on-field leadership to come up with a plan to stop (or even slow down) the opposition when they've got a run on seems to have been a constant companion over the last decade or so. This is surely a coaching/recruiting issue. We are either not training our leaders properly or we're not recruiting good enough leaders yet. The sad fact (to me) is that we continue to allow opposition coaches to tell their players "Don't worry, the game isn't lost yet. Keep the pressure on and we'll get 6/7/8 goals back because they don't know how to defend a lead". This has got to stop if we are to be genuine premiership challengers. Regardless, a win is a great relief as we can now move on to the next season-defining game!

I think there might be some confusion over the term 'matchwinner'. To me, a match winner is a player who, when the game is in the balance, can pull something out of the bag and force a win. Again, to me, there are not that many instances last season that come to my mind when someone has risen to the occasion and done something that has decided the result in our favour. Last year, Tommy Mac in Perth and JW a couple of times. I'm sure others will come in with other examples that escape me. That might just be a failing memory....or not. I agree with OD that we still lack the resources needed to win a GF. Objectively reviewing the performance of the coaching team and the players is not disloyalty, it's part (maybe one of the best parts) of footy. Those people find it worthy to unconditionally support the current approach regardless of the evidence are also part of the culture and I encourage them to continue doing so. I might not agree with Saty's and others' approach or commentary but their commitment to the Club is phenomenal. Others of us will continue to see things and comment differently.

I agree re Viney and all the other one-foot players that we have - grunt but lacking a bit of finesse and vision. Apart from Jones, Vince and Brayshaw, I don't think our dual foot skill levels are good enough...and that's surely a coaching and recruiting issue. I also think that we don't yet have on-field leaders with the required skills of the like of Dangerfield, Selwood and Ablett...all from just one team!!! Having said that, at least we are now pretty competitive and grunt is good. Grunt plus sublime skill is better.

Without wanting to labour the point, how nice would it have been to have had a player who can kick a goal from a set shot at the end of a game or one who could find a team mate's chest with a pass rather than trying to bounce one on his head all day?

Is anyone else concerned that misleading medical reports might create opportunities for corruption with those in the know being able to provide accurate information to bookies or gamblers to give them an advantage while the rest of us have to accept what the club tells us? Like most forms of gambling (including the stock market), winning often relies on accessing inside info and surely this is exactly what this is. I am surprised that the AFL hasn’t taken action. I am not sure why MFC medical advices are so often proved optimistic (?) but one of the best ways to disappoint supporters is to raise expectations and then fail to deliver. I really don’t understand why the more realistic updates are not released in a more timely fashion.

I agree. My support will never change but that does not mean endorsing what I consider poor decisions by the Club (and there have certainly been a few over the 60 years I've been on board) or accepting the failure of the club to learn from their mistakes (again one or two). Presidents, players, coaches, quacks come and go. We don't. In the meantime, I can't wait to watch the game tomorrow but I'm nervous!

Re-writing reality? An interesting summation of his 'skill set'. I would have thought that he was better known for the accuracy of his set-shot goal-kicking with his preferred right foot and his ability to identify and find a target when under pressure. Given that we have quite a few players who are unable to kick reliably with their preferred foot and are lucky to actually make contact with the ball off of their unpreferred, it's surely not constructive to try and create a false narrative. This is as unhelpful as the 'Pedo is a spud' campaign and just casts doubt on your opinion. Our individual biases are evidenced here but there's little point in trying to spin the self-evident.

And, for the last time, don’t call me Shirley.

Thanks for that. At first, I thought you had posted it to warn me then I realised you were just answering my question! I will try to ensure my VLQ (Vitriol Level Quotient) is suitably low. Hopefully, others will also do their best. Again, thanks.

What events, DD? ps Wiseblood. 15% would normally mean 15% each year. If he’d put a dollar figure on it e.g. $150k over 2 years, that would equate to $75k each year.

A big call. As a couple of others have suggested, he was travelling pretty well for much of last season. Anyway, he's gone now and I hope that the FD will have a real good look at what happened and try to improve the way in which we deal with talented, intelligent players of his ilk. There is no single approach which works with all types of players and, in Watts' case, whatever they decided to do simply didn't work as well as we (and he, I suspect) would have hoped. There is a great need for players that have limited imagination, who can follow instructions and inspire by example. There is also a need for the type of player with an appropriate skill-set that can recognise an obscured opportunity and grasp it. These players are more difficult to counter because they are less predictable. An appropriate mix of both types would hopefully produce winning football. Occasionally, one player will be a mixture of both (e.g. Dangerfield, Ablett Jnr). It will be interesting to see who emerges to fill this apparent void.

So, pleased to see Jack get off to a positive start and being well supported by his senior coach. How did we manage to get this one so wrong? Classic MFC! Hopefully, we can beat them in the GF.

Saty, Can you not remember when you meticulously reported the training sessions every couple of days until you got sick of people questioning your commitment, motives, loyalties, etc until you basically stopped reporting? At the time I didn't blame you because I thought much of the commentary was puerile and simply dumb. It is a shame to see you become one of those taking cheap potshots at others who care sufficiently to post. Frankly, I preferred the old, less supercilious version. FWIW You will be judged by the company you keep. Find better role models e.g. Old Dee.