roy11

Saka had only played 2 competitive games for England prior to this tournament. Donnarumma is 22 now and a freak. 200+ club games at his age is outrageous. I don't begrudge anyone missing a penalty in a shootout, takes a lot of courage to put your hand up. At the end of the day England didn't really have many seasoned penalty takers on the pitch (see below), someone had to take them. After the game John Aloisi was saying Grealish and Luke Shaw should have taken a penalty before Saka just because they're older? Luke Shaw has never taken a penalty in a game and has only taken 1 in a penalty shoot-out (a few months ago). Sterling could have put his hand up but he's scored 2/5, so Saka was feeling more confident but unfortunately hit a relatively weak penalty - it happens.

Players have their shirts pulled and are tugged back all over the pitch and that is generally a yellow card offence. For it to have been a send off it would have had to have been a Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity. Given the location on the pitch (distance to goal) and proximity of other defenders it's not deemed a DOGSO, so in reality just a clever professional foul from a seasoned defender of the dark arts of football (aka ****housery)

Is Southgate the right guy.....

Italy - Solid CBs, talented midfield, inconsistent forwards winning the cup. A good omen for us.

I’m MCC restricted member and have the MFC/MCC Premium Package. Probably won’t be full for another 3 years so won’t be able to enter MCC ballot. Purchased the Grand final add-on in early June. Re: Reduced capacity due to covid- Dees membership advised as follows to me If you add on the grand final guarantee and due to covid the capacity is reduced etc. those with the GFG will be put into a ballot system. If you do not receive access to purchase a grand final ticket you will be refunded the $229.

Beating the record during covid time would be very good and a positive for 2022.

Wonder how we line up next year then

I know we've watched them enough to tell the difference, but commentators always seem to get Hunt/Langdon mixed up in the heat of the moment

Going back to this, after the game Mayzie talked about the backline composition and how he Petty/Hibs are usually in a contest and how Lever is the intercept defender, when it came to Salem he had a cheeky smile and said something along the lines that he marks space - so assume it's a tactical rejig.

Funny one with Ben Brown if you look at Twitter you see some very different reviews. Positive Ben Brown was great tonight. This is the forward structure we must go with from now on Forward structure looks so much better with Ben Brown in the side. Also helps McDonald and Fritsch taking the 2nd/3rd best defender. Ben Brown didnt kick a goal but he played a bloody good game. No intercept marks. Do not drop Ben Brown again this year. In the side. Makes everyone better Ben Brown has had a really good game We look so much better with Ben Brown. Ben Brown has been perfect for our structure. Ive been pretty pleased with how we’re playing No goals so far but Ben Brown’s definitely been useful tonight structurally for Melbourne Ben Brown may not be credited with a score and still will have played a fantastic game. Didn't see this coming Melbourne much better side with Ben Brown Negative Ben Brown getting too much praise, I thought he was garbage tonight. Ran under the ball on so many occasions, I thought he would have learnt by now Ben brown offers nothing Ben Brown is done at AFL Level I’ve seen mountains move faster than Ben Brown. Ben Brown is finished Ben Brown is not an AFL level Senior Player. Not sure Ben Brown is a seniors footballer anymore. Really fallen off But didn’t Ben Brown make Dixon look good Funny how a mediocre performance by Ben Brown. Until half time being classed as a great contribution If he was at North and had kicked 3 until half time wouldn't rate a mention

It's all going to plan so far.

We started the season with a few Simon Goodwins and then something fell off as we entered Simon Badwin territory. Will take an ugly win tonight but uncertain how it'll go. If we lose, don't think we'll get smashed, have the defenders to minimize some damage and also some fitness to recoup some damage in junk time.

Good reply which has be second guessing my initial post aha I guess I've been distracted by the fact he's doing his job (which may have changed?) whilst a lot of the action ends up around Hib/May/Lever/Petty etc

is Petty 100% - was smashed a few times in the GWS game

Some of those names are predictable, but Salem an interesting one.

Hopefully he's given a few weeks. See how his tank is, but also see how the small forwards operate around him etc

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this stage.

GEELONG spearhead Jeremy Cameron is set to miss at least a month of matches after scans revealed he had suffered his third right hamstring strain of the year. Cats have: Carlton, Fremantle, Richmond, North, GWS, St Kilda, Melbourne Don't think they'll miss him too much in some of those games.

I was on Squiggle last week and got it to Auto Predict the Season and it had us finishing 2nd. Did it today after the round had finished and it's not as pretty. Not sure how the permutations work though

Agreed he should have been integrated a bit slower, especially as we've got a mountain of inside mids. Not hitting the panic button yet, as others have said it may take a few more weeks before he's back to his usual standard.

The way I see it is before the season started I thought we’d narrowly miss the finals, instead we may narrowly miss top4. Don’t think top 4 is gone. Hoping for some serious bite and bounce back this Thursday. whatever happens this season, as long as we build on it the following year and not have a yo-yo like existence

Just revisiting this; If we look back at 2019, 3 teams finished on 64 points and then another 2 on 60. Expect it to be as close this year, so after dropping this game it makes some of remaining Top4 clashes even more important. I still think there are twists and turns to come for not just Melbourne but all the clubs in the top 8. Even the clubs in 6th to 9th have proven on their day they can do damage. I mean it's good for the competition but unfortunate for us as we chase a flag.

Still not sure if he burnt him or if it was a bad kick.

The last holding the ball for Hunt, you could tell he wanted options. We were too static for large periods today

The only positive to take out of this result is that it’s booted Richmond from the 8