Gawndy the Great

So the 360’s watch list run by Montagna and King highlighted what some of us have already mentioned and that is our ability to win ground balls post clearance/ general play and and how we elect to go with fewer players around the ball. I think it’s really obvious that this is a trend in the game we haven’t adopted yet and I don’t really understand why. Especially given how we are conceding so much here and putting pressure on our defence to generate our turnover. Im not a tactician, but if many teams are doing it - Doggies have been doing it for years, then why don’t we ? Is it because of vulnerability we have?

No way Pies let him go.

I lack in creative writing WCW. It was too early for The 2nd half, and my only other alternative was “The Next 14 Games”.

Is it possibly that swans are keeping him employed for monitoring and medical treatment rather than letting him retire and leaving him to care for himself? Cannot see him coming back from this.

How can you even put a spotlight on this? The media seem complicit as the 360 panel don’t seem to care that much. If it was me, I’d be confused AF and telling everyone as much as anyone would care to listen. How does the collective fan base hold the AFL to account?

Will some ask Gil in the presser “is this presser just a smokescreen to let Cerra’s appeal decision to get through unnoticed? “

Wasn’t Sparrows tackle identical? I mean no arms pinned as well? This a utter BS but we all knew it would happen. Right hand vs Left hand, hair doesn’t doesn’t touch the ground etc. It the AFL doesn’t appeal, they are complicit.

GTFO? I cannot believe this. What a complete farce. Gleeson has to be removed.

Good points. The defensive 'retreat' is the opposite of what Port and the Pies are doing. At least in 2018 we were manic with our forward half press. .

Statistically speaking with every loss, we get closer to a win.. that is all the logic I can count on now because every other insight tells me we are going to lose another one this year.

We lose this and the media turn their full attention to us - even if Geelong lose to the Doggies. Melbourne of old would have buckled under the weight of expectation and off field pressure. Have some credits in the bank over the past few years. But lose and face a 4 possibly 5 match loosing streak. I just have a feeling the game in Geelong will be a game where it will be a battle for both teams to keep their respective seasons alive.

Yes im well aware. The salary cap position is always a challenge and we dont know whats actually been contracted with our players in future years, which may force us into doing silly trades like GC to manage salary cap. If we traded Harmes, retired Hibbo, Melksham and Jordan left, without doing anything else, we probably have enough for Himmelberg assuming no other cap mismanagement. There would be other players on the market no doubt that we'd be into but he would be at the top of a lot suitors. I reckon if we are not mentioned with any links to him in the next 8-10 weeks then its not happening. These things tend to leak.

This game has disaster written all over it (for the MFC). Carlton are really under the spotlight and are under huge amounts of pressure to perform. If the playing group is united, we are in for one hell of a fight. Even with their big outs.

We clearly need to turnover some players in our list. At the end of this year: Tommo - 30 (contracted until 2024) TMac - 31 (contracted until 2024) BBB - 31 (contracted until 2024) Hibberd - 34 Melksham - 33 Harmes - 28 (contracted until 2024) Jordan - 23 There is easily a minimum of 2.0M there (assuming avg AFL salaries) possibly more. There is plenty there to attract Himmelberg and possibly another player then take our 3 picks from the draft and promote some rookies.

there was no oppo pressure. It was a glorified training run. We did however seem to use it against Dogs and Swans , so it worked. The contest structure is absolutely mind boggling but it’s Goodys way or the highway. Can’t see it changing anytime soon.

Will at least stop us dump kicking into the forward line.

Yeah my thoughts too.

I’m ok to split the. It’s as it was evenish game from an individual performance. Dogga really starting to deliver on his potential. Starting to feel like our initial displeasure of getting shortchanged on that trade is coming back.

Just wait and see…. No joke he is getting off.

What are the 1 or 2 stats that are telling of our problems. The last few weeks we have said effort / pressure, but the last 2 weeks pressure has been ridiculous elite. So the boys are clearly trying. We say that Goody is being out coached - what is this specifically? Matchups? Team selection? Game plan ? execution? There is something clearly off but it’s hard to put the finger on it so keen to get the panels thoughts if it hasn’t been answered yet.

They know how to use the corridor and win clearance. That is basically the only way you can beat to them there.

He is progressing through by the sound of it, but it will be the full tilt running, rapid acceleration, deceleration loading that’ll determine match readiness. 3 weeks is a minor hammy whether we risk it 3.5 or so will be interesting. If he does a major one it could be season ending so a big call either way.

I thought the run home is worth discussing given that we are close to midway through the year. 12 wins gets you into finals and 16 into the top 4. There is an extra game this year so it’ll be interesting whether this effects the required wins to make it into the 8/4. We are are 7-4 meaning there is a bit of work to do. Where do our wins come from. My views below based on current form gets us to 14-9 which ends up being 6-7 territory. There is probably a few more wins in there but I have not the confidence to call em right now. Geelong are gettable , Adelaide and Lions on our home deck we’d have to have real hot shot… but that is assuming we get our ducks in order. We get Petty and Oliver back after the bye so no excuses. Melbourne v Carlton - W Melbourne v Collingwood - L Geelong Cats v Melbourne - L Melbourne v GWS Giants - W St Kilda vs Melbourne - L Melbourne v Brisbane Lions - L Melbourne v Adelaide Crows - L Richmond v Melbourne - W North Melbourne v Melbourne - W Carlton v Melbourne - W Melbourne v Hawthorn - W Sydney Swans v Melbourne - W

I actually don’t mind this.

Was thinking about this thread today and it occurred to me that we are having a very similar year to 2018 where we were a high scoring team, inconsistent and couldn’t really beat the the top 4 teams. Is it possible that in our efforts to try to emulate a faster moving , offensive team like Lions and Pies, we have over compensated and basically stopped defending as a team ? Quick to point fingers at others? When we come across good defensive sides, our offensive plan is lost at sea and we just default to boundary, slow, bomb kicking We are also addicted to front of stoppage clearances and yet rarely punish the opponent when 1/10 clearance falls our way and our stoppage setups are too offensive and often leave us flat footed. Predictably the media scrutiny is well upon us and so it should be. There are no easy solutions, just hard work, hard training and a big rebound on Friday night to get the confidence up before the big test on KB. Our next chance to beat a top team. The boys should really set themselves a target before the bye - nothing to lose type mentality and go all in. If the shoe was on the other foot, I certainly wouldn’t want to be playing us coming off 2 straight losses and our pride and courage questioned. The Pies will have two soft kills in consecutive weeks and will lose a bit of edge so we have the advantage of being a bit more battle hardened then them.