Swooper1987

He does look a bit fumbly since his return. Even against the crows, where he played a pretty good game, he was shaky early. His kicking reflects his overall uncertainty I think.

Super pleased to say that did not age well. Well done Suns!!

I've been hearing all season about how Witts is the favourite to replace Gawn as AA ruckman. He's done absolutely nothing tonight. A few dinky little handballs. Tigers 4 goals from stoppage out of 10. Other than being big and getting his hand to it a bit he's pretty useless. Gawn is in no danger from him. Richmond will win this by 10 goals plus the way they're going.

1990 Darren Millane. Played the last month of the season with it. Every game he re broke it. Plastered it up during the week, played the next game with it strapped up. Never been a fan of anything black and white but that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. He was still marking the ball and playing incredible footy. Was a huge reason they broke the 32 year drought. Oliver has Millane - like courage.

I reckon he'll play. If he's had surgery today he'll be right with a hand guard. Some of the injuries this guy has played with are beyond belief. And nobody could tell.

As long as the trade works for us I've got no issue with losing Jackson. He's a barely adequate tap ruck and as he gets heavier his leap will be less a factor. He has shown no interest in approaching aerial contests with anything like the requisite aggression. He constantly gets outmarked. I loved his third quarter in last years GF but his influence there has been a bit overblown - almost an inverse to last night where the rucks have copped heat for what was in effect the inability of the mids to get the job done. In the GF the mids made Jackson look better than he actually was. I think he'll turn into a decent AFL utility player but at this stage he's really not fit to carry Gawn's bags. And I don't say that as a "scorned lover",. He won't ever be an elite ruck, and by going to Freo, if that's where it is to be, he's confirmed that he doesn't think he will be either. There's no way he's playing ruck ahead of Darcy.

It's a long break until the next game. A lot can happen in 10 days. I'd be expecting minimal changes. The reality is most of the next in line blokes in the VFL have been tried and fallen short. Maybe Rivers or Hunt gets a call up. Bowey and Salem both off at the moment. Bedford looked ordinary last night, but the other small forwards struggled too. Goody tends to back his lads in. There'll be a big response against Port. We play Traeger Park well.

I think the criticism of Gawn's game is a bit harsh. As Goodwin pointed out our ruck gave the mids first look plenty of times (Gawn had 11 hitouts to advantage - basically a third) it was just that Geelong's pressure at clearance was better than ours. I'm not sure that Viney and Harmes made great decisions a lot of the time either. They often looked to over possess instead of taking the first option. In a territory game, on a territory ground like KP, moving the ball forward quickly often works better than the extra handball or two. Secondly as the Fox Footy crew pointed out, and the Geelong players later confirmed, it was a strategy to not kick to a contest involving Gawn. They nullified his involvement by avoiding him. Well done to them. He will be better for the run. The bigger disappointment for me was Jackson, who can't possibly have been fit. 43 ruck contests for the night and only 13 hitouts. Only a couple of clearances and only 2 kicks. About 120 metres gained. In a game that required territory gain, that isn't good enough.

Geelong the better side tonight. Congratulations to them. 31 scoring shots to 18 is a comprehensive victory. Still a long way to go. Need 4 out of 6 to make top 4.

I reckon Gawn has 4 x 3 vote games so far as well. Port, Giants, Hawthorn and Swans.

Pickett fined $2k so won't need to worry about replacing him.

$2k fine. Just handed down

I agree with this and it isn't just Oliver. Gawn has had a terrible run in terms of being blocked, thumped from behind, impeded. In 2018 he bolted in the AFLCA award yet finished only 4th in the Brownlow. He wasn't even the top votegetter from his own team. I cringe when I see some of the pathetic, soft frees dished out to blokes like Harry McKay yet Gawn can be literally assaulted and the commentators laugh it off as "he had to really earn that one".

He was ok tonight and performed exactly as I expected he would. As Melbourne supporters we have been spoilt by having Gawn for so long. What we got to see tonight is how most teams fans feel when they play against Gawn. O'Brien is a decent AFL ruck, a club B&F winner and has had a number of competitive duels with Gawn. Weid played within his limitations, provided a contest, was useful at ground level, tackled quite well but dropped some marks he could've taken. O'Brien played well but didn't dominate as he could have. I think he did his job. Having said that, I'm very happy to have the skipper back on Thursday night.

Brilliant game by Petracca. 6. Tracc 5. Oliver 4. Langdon 3.Brayshaw 2. Viney 1. Jordon

Pretty easy selection I'd say. The only problem might be Pickett

Witts turns 30 in September, Gawn will still be 30 then. Why would we be handing from Gawn to Witts? And other than hitouts, Gawn leads Witts (easily) in just about every other measurable stat for the season. Assuming Max doesn't miss more than a couple of games he's the AA ruck again.

Paul Salmon another big man with significant knee injuries who played until he was 37, and still at a high level.

I think Weid is more than capable of providing a centre bounce contest for one game. Let's be honest, Jackson played a good game last week but you'd hardly say he dominated hitouts - in fact quite the opposite. Our mids had no problem garnering clearance from a non dominant ruck. Weid needs to be busy around the contest and provide a down the line contest. O'Brien hasn't been in stellar form but on his day he is a very good AFL standard ruckman. Obviously we'd be better with Jackson, but I don't mind Weid on ball. Our biggest issue will be when Weid needs a spell.

Sandilands retired at 36, Gawn is a "young" 30 with not a lot of miles on the clock due to his early knee injuries. I think he can play out his current contract and then might have another year or two. His forward work gets better every year, he's the fittest big man in the league, he's got career high numbers for everything bar hitouts this year, which makes sense given he now only spends about 60% time in ruck. Barring injury he'll make it to 35/36. Should have another 80 or so games in him I reckon.

He's displayed a level of consistency over his career that I can't recall from anyone else. I was thinking about him, Gawn and Petracca and where they sit against the greats of the last 50 years. Whilst I still believe Gawn is our most influential player, I'm comfortable that Oliver is the best since since Flower, based purely on his incredibly high output over his first 130 plus games. Tracc has had a couple of wonderful seasons and Gawn is our talisman and has been for a long time, but Oliver I think stands apart for his ability to make those around him better. And that is absolutely worth a 7 year extension.

Correct. Viney on 22. 10 v Brisbane, 5 v Port (round 4), 5 v WCE (round 9), 2 v Sydney (round 12)

Just picked up 1 coaches vote for his effort last Thursday. Probably adds at least another zero to the Dockers offer!

Nuts isn't it? Viney and Lever universally the best two on the ground from all bar the scum. You have to wonder if they watch the same game sometimes.

That was one of the really great performances by an individual last night. Right up there with Gawn's game against the Swans, some of Oliver's and Petracca's dominant performances. It was everything that you'd expect from a club leader and more, and a reminder, if we needed it, as to why this guy is so important if we are to go back to back.