Mel Bourne

I’m not saying he needs to be electric every week, just involved at a consistent level. Five disposals is not good. I’m not using goals as a metric. If I was, he’s behind Greene, Cameron, Elliot, Papley, Higgins and Rankine in that regard (and not sure why Cyril Rioli’s numbers are the benchmark - small forward-wise, Greene has kicked 56 and Cameron has kicked 53 this year). His inconsistency is not an illusion. There was a reason why he was moved to the centre bounces against the Tigers a couple of weeks ago - to get him more directly involved. I’m not sure why it hasn’t been adopted more since, as it seemed to be having the desired intention. I say all this as somebody who loves to watch him play when it’s on his own terms, and really want him to be the champion he keeps hinting at becoming.

He came back two weeks ago. The thing he has to do is STAY back.

Fair enough. It’s interesting how many thought it was him at an absolute ebb, but he can still find votes. Pretty great player, I guess.

Yeah, I reckon you pounced on that one a bit hard, my friend.

I don’t know if this has happened to anybody else, but I accidentally let Kayo continue playing after the match. After a while, a program came on called “The Bounce”. It seemed to centre around AFL and was a bit hard to follow, but eventually it occurred to me that Fox have given a few older people with acquired brain injuries the opportunity to host their own show about AFL. Kudos to Rupert and all at Fox for embracing inclusion!

You were that impressed by Trac today?

Lever Brayshaw ANB Rivers Gawn Sparrow

Great game from our core players. Lever, Brayshaw and ANB battled hard and were top three, for mine. Laurie seemed to find his feet as the game progressed. Sparrow worked hard. Didn’t always make the right decisions, but did some important stuff. His strength is an asset. Rivers has become consistently solid. Love his work rate. Langdon and Hunter did their jobs. Hard running and skills on display. Hunter does find ways to get himself into trouble though. McVee is the quiet achiever. Love how his game is developing. Viney didn’t have a standout, but I’m still so glad he’s out there week in, week out. Maxy had a fairly reserved match by his standards, but my love for the big fella only grows. Trac? Pretty weird game. Probably the most ineffective game I’ve watched him play. But not cause for any genuine concern. Clarry? Hard tag most of the game. Those things work. Glad our youthful forwards have an experienced player like Melk out there with them. Chandler was good. JVR a bit better. Smith, though no youngster, has surely worked his way into the starting squad now. Good on him. A few things to furrow the brow. May and Salem both looked pretty sluggish. May especially, playing down a gear. Salem’s delivery has lost a little silk of late Pickett needs some serious coaching guidance. He must get bored out there, watching his buddies play. I’d like to see him start in the centre again next week. Lord knows whatever system we have at the centre bounce is, in the words of Logan Roy, “fungible as f$&k”. Bowey did some good things, and Bowey did some not-so-good things. Tomlinson also showed moments of class, but gave his opponent too much space, too often. He lacks pace. Forward entries are still a bit of a Hail Mary. Kicking for goal was pretty dreadful at times. But my biggest concern are our sluggish starts. Are we trying to spread our energy levels across four quarters? Or are we simply too slow assembling our game plan?

Josh Schache needs to eat a few burgers.

What an insane goal haha!

ANB fantastic then.

Bowey handballed it to him with two players already bearing down on him.

Poor by Bowey then.

Kozzie: - underperforms for several rounds. - causes debate among the supporters - questions asked by the pundits - plays an absolute blinder - dissenting voices told to eat their words Repeat.

But somehow more than Petracca

Sherrin-dipity

Watching him then, I noticed that he had two opportunities to lead and present an option, but just chose to watch his mates play some footy. Has he been told not to present himself in a one-on-one?

Unbelievably poor defense!!

Nice one Joel! The tactic of sending Clarry into the ruck to shake his tag is clever. Might have to get him to do the centre bounces as well.

I wouldn’t trouble the word “seriously” in this instance. But I am more and more of the opinion that a lot of Kozzie’s issues stem from not being coached well enough.

Of course I’m not happy. But the modern league is very competitive these days, and even teams who are low on the ladder find pockets of excellent form. I don’t see it as “Demons are being showed-up by duds”

I’d suggest that was an automatic response to, y’know, having taken the ball over the boundary line.

Arm wrestle with a team who beat the premiership favourites two weeks ago.

Laurie finding some confidence. Good to see.

Boundary umpire is the dill.