Rab D Nesbitt

My concern about tonight is that we're now rotating guys that wouldn't be automatic selections through the side at a time when we can't afford to drop points anymore. It would have been nice to have a little buffer before landing ourselves in this position but I guess that's just not the Melbourne way. If nothing else I'm sure the media team will be able to put together a great documentary on how season 2020 unfolded. To Hell in a Handbasket ?

I'm no tactical genius and I've found that the Game plans, tactics and all that jazz thread on DL to be far more informative than anything I've heard from any tv pundit this season. I wish we had someone with Steven May's presence and drive to win on each line of our team to help drive standards on game day.

As a lot of the side seem to average one good game in every four perhaps we could get Burgo to work out a system that can calculate when each would be at their most, ahem...'fertile'. It beats throwing darts blindfolded.

James Brayshaw is excruciating to listen to and by far the worst of all the current day parodies of Rex Hunt we have to suffer.

One positive is that he didn't say learnings.

So disappointing again. You could tell we weren't playing with the same intensity as Sydney from the outset and when the penny finally dropped in the last quarter we couldn't convert. Some terrible decision making forward of centre with the wind didn't help.

This is pathetic. We’re making this lot look like the Harlem Globetrotters.

I'd have thought all of the chat down Lakeside Drive these days would relate to whether South Melbourne Hellas might ever be given a licence to enter an expanded A League. It's all greek to me though.

I watched that thinking geez we had some serious talent in our side back then. Then I saw Simon Eishold at the end. I was behind the goals at the outer end and it felt like the last 5 minutes of that game was played in that forward pocket, right next to the point post. That was a season where we won a lot of close ones I think. The running joke was that we never felt comfortable as supporters until there was less than a kick in it. I used to love going to all of the away suburban grounds but gee Moorabbin was an absolute pig sty of a place.

Hey McQ. I was kinda hoping yourself, ET or Pennant St would give me an insight into what things look like from behind enemy lines so to speak. I can understand the mindset up to a point but it's all a bit self defeating if it all it does is make us scratch our heads and shrug.

Yup, agree with all of that LH. It would have been a visiting team's nightmare if they came up against the coasters but that's beside the point.

Perhaps it's viewed differently from across the Nullarbor but to us it's always seemed that WA and SA have a hatred for Victoria that knows no boundaries. Certainly on a sporting front. This might have been justified in the time when the VFL poached all of the best talent from the WAFL and SANFL but those days are long gone. Where we've always viewed it with indifference we still see it play out over there with the incessant booing of the opposition on a match day (particularly in Perth) and the tense and intimidating atmosphere experienced by visiting fans in both cities. For me the reaction by Victorian football fans to the announcement that the GF won't be at Optus Stadium is perhaps just giving them a little return serve. Mark McGowan quite rightly has put his citizens ahead of football in his job as premier which as it happens has played out well on both fronts. I think his media skills do need a bit of a polish though and on the evidence so far I think he would have enjoyed putting in the knife and turning it should they have been successful in getting the GF. A once in a lifetime opportunity to kick a Vic that would that have gone down well with his constituents. That all said I still think they would have got their prize if they could have guaranteed a 60,000 sellout.

Carlton are so soft. 4 points in a second half against their fierce rivals. Now they're out of finals contention the AFL can move them out of the RACV Noosa Resort and into the local caravan park to finish the season.

I think there are still 3 spots up for grabs in the eight. I said a few weeks ago that St K may not win another game in the run home. They've since beaten Essendon but lost to Geelong, Brisbane and us with Hawthorn, West Coast and GWS to come. Hawks being the only likely win would leave them on 9 wins. We should be gunning for 6th spot and a 'home' final.

Fantastic team defence last night, taking away St K's run for most of the night. A couple of Jones clangers helped keep them on our coat tails and I'll have to watch the replay but it felt like everything Hannan touched he turned over. I was a little worried in that third term when it looked like we were having problems with our midfield - forward connection again. Mitch Beige should probably get another chance after last night.

Apparently he was touching cloth for most of that last quarter. Great effort to stay focussed on the job at hand.

I might start taking them seriously when they work out the difference between lose and loose. Jake Carlisle win a Norm Smith ? They'd get rid of him tomorrow if they could. All Maxy's years are precious.

Seems a bit of a mercenary to me so I'd be reluctant.

I found it a horrendous read and hard to finish the article. Fair play to St K for making an unequivocal apology to the guy.

If I had a crystal ball and could see that West Coast won't make the GF I'd be more than happy to take their $50 million.

Hi BBP. I have no idea who Tom Elliott is but my understanding of the situation is that Victoria, unlike other states can only activate any of the measures we're currently seeing under a state of emergency for a maximum of six months only. That period is due to end soon. Extending the option for a further 12 months would allow them to be activated again at short notice (if required) without a lengthy debate taking place in parliament to change legislation. It doesn't in itself extend level 4 restrictions beyond 13 September or into the 2021 football season. It's a preemptive measure should there be a need to close things down again quickly at some point in the next year or so.

If we do miss finals this year it'll be as much because we took eight weeks to work out how to get someone in our midfield to kick the ball to someone in our forward line. Despite having what we're told was a stellar preseason pre covid.

This game is an absolute drossfest.

I'd be all for it. Imagine the Crows having a 0-34 season.

If both sets of fans were honest they'd say they have no idea which version of their respective teams will turn up today. Slightly worrying perhaps is that it's now their turn to have a season defining game.