Ollie fan

Absolutely.

FFS, Petty should be forward and Hibbo should pick up Rowan!!

Would be crazy. Until the moment Petty was injured we had the best attack in the league - and since then, real problems. He creates a contest, marks well and opens space with his movement. Back to CHF imv.

Loved watching Byron Pickett play - whether for Port, NM, or us. Just great to watch. And I thought Lachie Hunter’s bump against Collingwood was straight out of the Byron Pickett textbook.

Clearly bought his shorts from the same supplier as Warwick Capper

Drop Hibberd? Seriously? He has been tremendous of recent weeks, and in my opinion would be an ideal fit for Cameron.

All the votes to TROY CHAPLIN!!!!!!! what an amazing job our entire defence did today.

Well I am at the game and i think we’re are playing fantastically well - fabulous pressure, great defence - but oh, if only we could kick goals!! But anyone who thinks Collingwood are miles ahead of us is wrong wrong wrong.

Would far rather see Woey in than JJ. JJ is a known: pretty competent, but no more than that. Woey is an unknown. He may be a bust but then….. maybe not.

People seem to think that because Melbourne has some weaknesses, we can’t possibly win the premiership. All teams have weaknesses – look at Brisbane now! Even if they get up to win it, they have still been put to the sword by an inferior team.

The way I see the Port game is that we played one quarter which showed just how good we can be. If we played just two quarters like that in a game we would beat any team.

I love this post. Honestly, on this website you wonder whether people actually barrack for the club and want us to win. This is the sort of positivity we should have.

The man everyone loves to hate, Kane Cornes, thinks we are right in it. See “the round so far”, this morning’s edition.

Melbourne has a curse regarding foot injuries. I would think it would be incredibly unwise to rush him back. We will have to make do without him, I think, but luckily Collingwood don’t have a heap of tall forwards.

It says heaps for the depth that we had last year – and I think, probably still do – the Bedford, Baker, Weideman , Hunt are all doing extremely well at other clubs.

I think alcohol is a problem - it certainly was at Entrecote.

Really good posting, binman, and it’s also great to see this thread back on track after a little diversion. I’m looking forward to the remainder of your hypotheses! Talking to someone last night, and thinking back on a bit of history, it seems to me that one of the huge factors in 2021, was the fact that we did the hub life much better than any other team. And that contributed to the absolute team commitment and joint purpose that we had. That was, of course, really damaged at Entrecôte restaurant. And I’m starting to hear that there are other issues – minor ones, but issues nevertheless – around the club. Apart from anything else, our captain is running two wine bars, there are other players with other similar interests, other social matters, and I just wonder if a lot of the cohesion has been lost. The trouble is, I don’t know how we get it back again. (If WCW is reading this thread, I am sure she would have some pretty good insights as to whether I’m right about this, and I would love to hear them.) Perhaps one way to get cohesion back would be to have a couple of cracking wins against good teams e.g. Carlton, and then Collingwood. That might really help. On the other hand, it is a real problem that once again, we really don’t get a bye, which would’ve been an opportunity for, perhaps, the whole team to get away for a few days to a holiday vacation together. But obviously that’s not going to happen.

That Petty time frame is looking ominous. Foot injuries are the Melbourne curse!

Well, we were right in it in both games…..

I haven’t seen him at Casey, but would Verrall perhaps work as a key defender, to replace May? He looks to have the perfect size for it.

And me. The AFL has no faith in its product so they keep trying to “improve” it; most steps are backwards. I mean, really: why can’t we have peace during the breaks so you can discuss the game with your companion?

Truly unbelievable

I agree but most clubs don’t trade them away! -so better late than never.

In the draft we need to find and prepare a replacement for May in the next year or so - someone big and strong.

Looking at Blakey’s game for Sydney on the weekend, I was thinking -that is the style of game that would suit Rivers perfectly: he should study it. It could make him a very powerful weapon.