Swooper1987

Probably posted elsewhere but the coaches were all over the shop. Only Viney 10 and May 7 got votes from both coaches. Salem 4, Crisp 3, Gawn 2, Fritsch 2, Petracca 1 and Mitchell 1. I guess it was that sort of game.

Tomlinson was fantastic today. He balances up the defence really well. Having salem back and playing near his best makes a massive difference too.

Danny Hughes was a very "robust" full back in an era when knees and elbows were weapons. He hurt a lot of opponents and always flew the flag. That Northey era Melbourne side had a few blokes who walked a fine line - and I loved them all! Grinter who knocked out many, but by far the hardest and at the time fairest bump was the one he laid on Chris Mew in the 1987 preliminary final. Unbelievably Mew played in the GF the next week but barely touched it. Strawbs O'Dwyer was another with particularly pointy knees and elbows and a pretty decent rap sheet. Earl Spalding was another of those "ungainly" types who always managed to make contact with an opponent. Dean "Dog" Chiron was another ripper. He terrorised John Platten to the point that Dermott Brereton knocked him out cold in 1988 and that was the end of him. Part of our relative success in the late 80's and early 90's was built off a very hard edge from a good number of players. We were truly very hard to play against.

De Goey will go straight to the tribunal. He'll get a nominal three before they appeal. Harmes deserved his week. Was a little unlucky that Cotterell fumbled but that's how it goes.

6. Petracca 5. May 4. Salem 3. Gawn - very good second half and superb last quarter 2. Lever 1. Van Rooyen Really Petracca was the stand out but May's performance on Curnow was excellent. Don't underestimate the role Tomlinson played. Although beaten by his direct opponent he was part of a system that kept an AFL team with two Coleman medallists to 44 points. He freed up Lever to do what he does best.

I am not surprised Gawn and Brayshaw polled. Petracca was an obvious best on. Gawn beat Darcy pointless before Darcy was injured half way through the second quarter. Brayshaw played his best game for the season.

We weren't great today at all. We looked like a middle of the road side. Which is what we've been since this time last year (and probably a bit before that to be honest). However, we had opportunities to win in the last - Van Rooyen, Pickett and Brayshaw all missed set shots in the last that were gettable; Koz bellied that one in the third and they got a couple of soft ones (Amiss in the first and the missed throw in the third). The criticism of Gawn and Grundy is misplaced. They had 34 disposals, 9 marks, 5 tackles and 55 hitouts between them and were beating Darcy pointless until he got injured. Jackson will get the plaudits because the narrative is about him today but he wasn't significantly more influential than either of our rucks, let alone both of them combined. What killed us was our inability to get our hands on the ball. Other than Petracca and Brayshaw, no other Melbourne player topped 20 disposals. We looked top heavy forward and slow and uncertain in defence. The effort was there. I liked Sparrow's game. He was important in the last quarter. Carlton are missing a number of important players next week and bereft of confidence. Our approach needs to be ruthless.

Good on him for choosing his time. He goes out with a record that any would envy. He rebuilt a club from rock bottom, kept the wolves at bay and came out a three time premiership coach. And in the end the media never got him! That is a brilliant career.

We won without him last year against Port in Alice. Rozee got 33, Boak 29 and 2 goals, Houston 28, Butters 20 and Robbie Gray and Drew had 23. Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? For us Viney had 28, Trac 30, Langdon 24 and Brayshaw 20. Sparrow played quite well with 18, 6 marks and 6 tackles and of course Kozzie kicked 6. Port were in not bad form at the time either. Freo's midfield is pretty good but not as good as Port's.

Likely that he'll miss a couple and be back for Collingwood. He only missed one with the broken hand last year. Not ideal but not insurmountable. Time for a few others to lift.

This is the issue. It's the number of possessions and quality of them that hurt us. We have zero capacity to limit opposition mids either through design or lack of options. Merrett blew us apart and the other Bomber mids had a field day; Brisbane collectively torched us; Anderson and Rowell were dominant (and that was without Miller); we all saw the collective efforts of the Port brigade. We are bereft at shutting down a dominant opposition, or too arrogant with our belief that our guys will just get it done. Unless we find a way to shut down a dominant opposing mid this will continue to happen.

May and Fritsch were the only ones to win their positions. That part is correct, as is the depth of Port compared to us in the middle of the ground. Petracca played a quarter, Oliver was just average most of the night. They got belted by the Port mids. They were both better than Viney and Brayshaw but worse than Butters, Rozee, JHF and Drew. As I said elsewhere, the fact we got three goals in front and only lost by less than a kick was pretty miraculous given that we won two positions on the night. I'm quite optimistic about what might happen this season because I doubt we will be beaten that comprehensively across the ground again this year.

None of the mids tonight. They were completely outplayed.

An absolutely brilliant midfield display by Port. Butters, Rozee and Horne-Francis destroyed our lot. Tactically brilliant to keep the play away from Gawn. Rozee made it clear after the game that a lot of the pre game planning revolved around Gawn's influence. That we got out to a three goal lead and lost by less than a goal is miraculous given how much better Port played.

He'll win on appeal. To uphold this verdict means that any "reasonable" player defending by punching the ball from behind and hitting Max Gawn or any player playing in front in the head, ear, jaw etc will be suspended. There will be nobody left playing. Gleeson's premise is absurd.

It's worth noting that of Gawn's 4 games for the season (I'm not counting Brisbane as he was off by the 5 minute mark) he has polled coaches votes in three of them. The only one he has missed on is North. A pretty solid effort given he's now only a part-time ruckman!

Only two Melbourne players but probably fair enough. I thought Gawn and Viney were our standouts on the day. Hard to argue about any of the GC players who polled. I expect it was Gawn who picked up the 1/2. Both coaches would've had him in the votes.

Gold Coast are the last team to beat Geelong, who have been absolutely dominating teams since. The Suns are a very good team, especially at home. They had some important players out as well. We probably didn't deserve to win but we did. On such results seasons are often built. Gawn and Viney played like the leaders they are and that was the difference in the end, along with Brayshaw putting his body on the line multiple times. The Suns will win a lot of games at home and against very good opposition. Fritsch will not play that badly again. Time for Brown to come back and we desperately need Hibberd to play as many games as possible. I think Harmes might be due a full game too.

6 Gawn - sublime marking when many struggled in the air. 5 Brayshaw 4 Viney (very good last quarter) 3 Petracca (not at his best yet we don't win without him) 2. Oliver 1. Sparrow Apologies to Rivers who was also good.

I thought Grundy really struggled early. He worked his way into the game but he wasn't in the best 6 over the night. 6. Petracca - clear BOG 5. Oliver - another strong performance 4. Chandler 3. Brayshaw 2. Fritsch 1. Pickett

He picked his moment beautifully last night. I don't see the Schwarz comparison. Schwarter had tremendous agility pre knee. Some of his blind turns (1994 finals) were out of this world for a guy of his size. A thumping kick, great field kick, and a clean one grab mark. JVR strikes me more as a young Dermie. In the early stages of his career he was very much a cameo player - a great 15 or 20 minutes here and there but absolutely loved the big occasion. He debuted in the 1982 finals but it wasn't until the 1985 season when he started to play really consistent footy. He hit bodies hard even as a youngster and like JVR was marginally undersized compared to opponents but played a bit taller. JVR loves the physical aspect of the game, he doesn't waste the opportunities he gets and he impacts at important times.

Was at the game last night and haven't seen a replay yet. In terms of overall influence on the result, Gawn and Viney were the difference all the game and JVR was the match winner. Chandler is coming along very nicely, ANB played the sort of game that really suits his strengths, Hibberd did well controlling what looked like our biggest danger in the first quarter and Lever was poised. I'll agree with the ANZAC medal judges and go: 6. Viney 5. Gawn 4. Chandler 3.Lever 2. Hibberd 1. Petracca

Except win us the round 23 game at Geelong to give us the minor premiership, kick 5 in a prelim, lead us to a flag, etc etc.

Sounded from Goodwin's presser that Gawn is playing this week. He is a quick healer, although I guess he has technically already missed 4 given he only lasted 5 minutes into the Brisbane game. Yesterday showed how important he is to our defence. Grundy does some things very well, but defending isn't one of them. Hopefully Lever is right to go too. Beware the wounded Tiger.

Bombers are playing a faultless game really. Collectively we are terrible. None of the names have fired a shot. Good quarter by Petty.