Swooper1987

Coaches votes: Petracca 10 Melksham 6 Gawn 5 Sheezel 4 Fritsch 3 McKercher 2 Gawn now equal 8th and ahead of Xerri by 1 and Grundy by 2 for leading ruck.

Agree. Xerri was super frustrated. Gawn was absolutely dominant and Xerri had next to no impact at all. Just checking Wheelo's ratings, Xerri scored 4.9 for the game which is by far his lowest rated game of the season. Gawn was third highest rated on the ground with 17.3 which is actually his 6th highest rated game for the season. Xerri was losing it before he dropped Sparrow.

Petracca - impactful the whole game. Disposal needs a tidy up but was almost back to his best Melksham - irrepressible as always. 5 goals is a mighty effort Gawn - a dominant display against the second best ruck in the game. Haven't seen the stats but seemed to have a lot of hit outs to advantage, even if our mids sometimes found a way to mess up the clearance. 6 clearances of his own and 8 score involvements. Fritsch - his best game in some time. Langford - polished and thoughtful with the ball. Salem - a very nice game. I sat with his nephews and they are ripper kids.

He was no doubt a great footballer - one of Melbourne's greatest ever, however his legacy as a politician is largely overlooked. He was a genuine "small l" Liberal politician and was one of the key drivers in the Hamer Government's push to modernise Melbourne and Victoria. He was Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation and most notably led the introduction of the Life. Be In it campaign, but as a cabinet minister in a moderate Government he worked to introduce stronger environmental protection laws, the abolition of the death penalty (he strongly opposed the execution of Ronald Ryan), the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the introduction of anti-discrimination laws. His contribution to the state was immense.

If ever Campbell was going to play this is the game. Absolutely ragdolled Xerri in the preseason game when Gawn was recovering from the throat injury.

Gawn is a victim of his own incredible standards. Because he doesn't dominate, even though he shaded Witts, Hardwick rates Witts game highly. Montagna called the Witts the games biggest tagger on 'First Crack".

Melksham - probably should've kicked 7 or 8. He was thoroughly dominant. Loves the QLD weather Pickett - influenced largely by his epic last quarter Viney - putrid first quarter but along with Gawn got us competitive again in the second Gawn - see above. Witts is a very good AFL ruckman and Gawn shaded him Bowey - 25 at 88%. Our best ball user by a mile Petracca - gets a vote simply because he was involved but his butchery is a real problem.

Coaches votes: Georgiades 10 - 5/5 Ratugolea 8 - 4/4 Rozee 5 - 3/2 Horne-Francis - 1/3 Gawn - 2/1 Coaches in agreement as to the best 5. Gawn now equal 5th on 54 votes.

Well any semblance of confidence I might have had left in the CD player ratings has just flown out the window. Georgiades after a 7 goal performance is the 22nd highest rated player on the ground and Gawn with 20 contested possessions, 8 marks including 5 contested and 10 hitouts to advantage is the 23rd highest rated. Old mate Hoyney has a bit of work to do on this dodgy system. If Georgiades wasn't best on I've never watched a game and it's an insult to Max to have rated anyone other than Kozzie's first half better than him from the Melbourne side.

Agree about his goal kicking but pretty much everything else the man does is exceptional. The only problem he is a part of is the goalkicking malaise. In most other areas he is our only answer.

Gawn easily. "I'll take you both on with one arm tied behind my back". Pickett for a great quarter and a half Bowey 21 at 90% and our best ball user. Fritsch who looked a threat and got plenty of the ball Howes who played probably the best game of his career to date Turner who is a real asset with his versatility. Genuine utility players are hard to find but he is one. I thought Oliver was ok. He tried hard. May did most things well except stop his man.

A mighty player! Probably cost us a GF berth in 1987 when he broke his leg in the famous game at the Western Oval, then missed the semi against WCE in 1990 which would have given us a great shot at one of the most open flag races in history - we'd already knocked Hawthorn over the game before. That year Gaz won his first B&F and was one of the best players in the competition. Injury was a constant curse for him but at his best, there were few better.

A great ambassador for the MFC and a wonderful player. Congratulations, Daisy.

He really was a brilliant player. Long overdue.

J. Daicos 10 - 5/5 Howe 8 - 4/4 Gawn 4 - 3/1 May 4 - 1/3 Pendlebury 2- 2/0 Sidebottom 2 - 0/2

All of the Age, Herald Sun and AFL.com listed Gawn as our best. In the Herald Sun he received 1 vote (Howe and J Daicos got the 3 and 2), in the Age he received 7 (Howe and J Daicos scored 8). Incidentally, Gawn is now outright second in The Age Player of the Year award behind Bailey Smith. So it seems there was a lot of "love for Gawny" everywhere yesterday, not just on Demonland (with a few notable exceptions). Cameron had three disposals to half time and got 19 hitouts for the game. He rated 10 on CD ranking points to Gawn's 17.6.

3AW went Howe, J Daicos, Pendlebury, Gawn and Langdon in that order. Nice to see Langdon get recognised for what was a very disciplined and team oriented role.

Champion data for what it's worth rated Gawn at 17.6 v Cameron 10.0. In a head to head contest that's about as comprehensive as it gets. Gawn was excellent (again) against one of the other top level rucks in the comp.

Gawn May Langdon Oliver Turner Petracca Was a really good effort but too many basic errors were the difference. If only we had a couple of players with the composure of Sidebottom and Pendlebury.

The composure of Sidebottom and Pendlebury v the opposite from Oliver and Petracca. I thought Oliver and Tracc were good today but the same old issues really stood out when you have a comparison like those two Collingwood champions. I'll give Lindsay the benefit of the doubt for his 50 - much worse hasn't been paid but Pickett knows better and his lack of discipline in big games really hurts. Fritsch goes from chocolate royals to boiled lollies in one play that ultimately costs the win. It was another one of those games that we have seen plenty of in the last few years but in so many ways we are a really good footy team.

I'm losing confidence in the Champion Data analysis of the game. Apparently Koz was our second highest rated player today with 13.5. About the only noteworthy statistic from his game was 5 clearances. He didn't kick a goal he had 12 disposals and laid three tackles. I love Koz but geez their rating system needs some serious work. He was bloody awful today.

A major worry was the influence of Wanganeen- Milera in the second half. He had 15 touches in the last quarter alone and looked like he hadn't showered in a year given the space he had to do as he pleased.

Tough to find 6 voteworthy performances but in terms of our best 6 player: Gawn May Turner Fritsch Chandler Petracca Of those Gawn definitely won his position; May played a good three quarters; Turner was competitive all day; Fritsch was involved and actually tackled (4 for the day); Chandler particularly through the middle of the game and Petracca was the best of a pretty sorry midfield bunch.

Fantastic to see Roan Steele drafted at pick 8 to Collingwood. Roan was a wonderful player for Casey over the past few seasons.

Grundy got a 9.8 game rating from Champion Data. Gawn was 14.8. That's a pretty comprehensive flogging.