Mel Bourne

Jesus, what a terrible idea.

Long-time defender and quietly smug in the best possible way about what he’s become (and becoming). Keep at it Chuck

I imagine Ben Brown is putting in some serious work right now to get himself right, now that a GF appearance is a very real possibility. It’s going to be tough for him or any of us to see how he’s travelling though, given no Casey games for the time being. Personally, I really hope he does get himself right. When he’s on, he’s a far better player than Weideman, and has the receipts to prove it.

1 Petracca 2 tMac 3 Harmes 4 Oliver 5 Spargo 6 Rivers Just realised I forgot to put Max in. Sorry Max! You definitely belong in there somewhere, probs near the top. Ah well.

Ha! Perhaps. But we caaaaan play 4 HUGE quarters if we want to. Mostly I’m just excited about the 4th. Knowing we have such formidable tanks makes so much difference to my blood pressure readings at the 3/4 time break.

If no Hunt, give Lockhart a run.

Yep. Thread closed. Except it’s not. Proceed...

I’m just so stoked with tonight’s win. Can you believe this is OUR TEAM? Oh man. I’m hammered. Hammered on the taste of success (and Japanese whisky) that is.

That last quarter was a jewel in Darren Burgess’s crown. It was going to come down to fitness, and it feels so great knowing we can play four HUGE quarters.

Welcome back to the 1sts, Ben Brown.

SCRAP WHAT I SAID

We were all very right to get excited by Kozzie - and still are - but in the last few matches a little reality has started to kick in. He’s a kid who’s still finding his way (and boy, won’t he). But I’ve noticed I don’t get the same rush of anticipation when he gets near the ball. Just hoping he does something good with it.

Can’t blame the umpires for this. We’re just not playing with the same intensity as them. And boy does having no Langdon make a difference.

Yeah I’d also be worried if we fielded one of those wacky inflatable guys you see out the front of car wash centres.

Just a week or two? Surely just one, right?

That’s a fair call. Many players who ultimately become crucial to their team’s success edge their way there through grit n’ grind, but I think it’s fair to say that all the “stars” of AFL invariably had that one match that made people sit up and take notice, and followed on from there. So maybe Weid won’t be a star, but he needs to put the work in to become crucial.

Yet to kick more than three goals in any his 46 games. And only on three occasions have three goals been kicked. Still waiting for the break-out game, and as Tom Petty sang “the waiting is the hardest part”.

Yeah, the selectors have a real pickle here. Two key forwards, currently in a race to the bottom. It’s going to be very difficult to give one the necessary game-time and instil the necessary confidence, without neglecting the other.

I mean, he dropped five marks. It’s safe to say he was not instructed to do that. I really don’t think we need to start making such excuses for our under-performers. There’s no way Sam would have been satisfied with his game on Friday, so we just have to hope that both he and BBB are doing all the necessary soul-searching it takes to find their form.

It’s a strange saying that one. If you were to ever witness a storm in a teacup it would actually be a big [censored] deal.

He's been doing a lot of personal training with his own agility coach, off the clock.

That was the precise moment my positive vibes for Weid took a major dip.

Yeah I was probably a bit harsh on Weid earlier. Combination of being a bit cranky about this particular lockdown and perhaps enjoying a couple too many celebratory drinks last night. Agreed, he looks better on paper than Brown, but I guess overall I’m not comparing him to another under-performing player, but holding him to a higher standard. And what Brown will always have over Weid is that he’s a proven gun, and just needs to be reignited. But I’m now willing to stick with Weid for longer than just one round ?. That was last night’s seventh wine talking.

For every one of those marks there was a dropped one. And since when has "6 disposals" been something worth typing out? Look, of course I want to see him succeed, but it's his lack of pressure-acts that get me fuming. He either doesn't have any leg-speed or cannot be bothered employing it at times when he has a genuine chance of running down or at the very least, being an obstacle to his opponent. Clangers happen, but applying pressure is something player has a choice in doing and he needs to choose to apply more.

Weideman was rubbish for 90% of the match last night. He'll no doubt get offered another chance against the Lions, but another game like that and he's trade bait as far as I'm concerned. So tired of waiting for him to "break out". It's been years now FFS. As for Langdon (and my doesn't it hurt to have him out for even just one week), somebody has to match his work rate and the only player who really could is our best gut-runner, Nibbler.