Ollie fan

That statistic of scoring coaches votes in 10 out of 16 matches is one that absolutely surprises me. You are certainly right about him going under the radar! Obviously, he has been a great player for us this year but I hadn’t realised that he was so essential. I think his reemergence this year has shown him to be an outstanding person and, like BB, I completely admire him for it and also admire Goody for the encouragement he has obviously given him.

I think your list is a bit harsh on Dean Chiron who was always a trier, and who was particularly good at stopping John Platten which, if I recall correctly, is why Brereton ran straight through him in the 1988 grand final, in order to prevent him from doing his usual excellent stopping job.

PS and Hibbo will completely shut Rohan down

I, for one, I’m going against all history and saying that I am really looking forward to the last week of the season. I truly believe we will beat them. May owes Hawkins and will close him right down, Cameron is iffy at best, and I think it will all be sweet indeed

Yep, and Gawn had to go off the ground. Because of the “protected zone” we couldn’t get a replacement on and we’re down a player while GWS Kicked it into the forward line, where Himmelburg marked it at exactly the point where Max would normally have dropped into the hole, and they got a goal.

That is truly ridiculous. Go back and watch some of the videos of the games. Viney is the ultimate team player/one percenter.

IIRC Geelong were looking to get him to replace Selwood? Like Selwood or not, he is a VERY highly-rated player and leader. Doesn’t that say a bit about Viney?

Toby Green: four kicks. Yes, he has converted well, but Hibbo is doing a great job

I’ll have to think of it this way. We played better than Geelong did, or Richmond did, or Sydney did…

Brisbane are winning because they have the pace to get to the ball carrier and tackle. That is our strength, even more than theirs. Players like Spargo, Kozzie, Hunt, ANB – all around the ground we have pace. Which might be the selection thinking this week – why Ben Brown is not getting a game.

Watching the game, I can’t help but realise how many Geelong players I hate.

I wonder if we could work on Majak as a key defender and try Petty up the ground. IIRC he had a game or so in the forward line a year or so ago and did pretty well.

Perhaps because he wasn’t playing. There is only so much he can do. Or are we back to “Is Goodwin the right guy?” even though we are still on top of the ladder.

I know! Followed them for decades and I can never remember feeling that way before

I’m with those who say the 1994 team was outstanding. But the team includes the coach, and our coach then completely wrecked that team. He wanted everyone to “share the football“ which meant hand passing to each other on the back line, when we had Lyon, Schwarz and others in the forward line just waiting for the ball to come down. The present team is absolutely superb, although the forward line is yet to dazzle. Despite all the Goodwin haters, we have a much better coach now than in 1994 and that makes all the difference.

I am really looking forward to the Geelong game. We owe them so much! And I think we will do them at their homeground and it will be sweet.

How nice it is too watch other teams and think, Gee these teams are rubbish. Watching a bit of Carlton v WC. Gee these teams are rubbish.

100% agree. Bleeds for Melbourne, inspires by actions, never concedes.

One of the absolutely fantastic things about Melbourne over the last few years has been our ability to take relatively low draft choices and turn them into gold. Trent Rivers is a perfect example.

I don’t know why everyone thinks Hibberd goes on Cameron. I would think Rivers is the better match up – but I guess we’ll find out tonight.

Jones doesn’t chase, and against a high-scoring team like Brisbane we need EVERY player to be capable of pressuring when we don’t have the ball.

I think that’s exactly what he’s doing, and it will be interesting to see what they do when Langdon is out this week.

No change. Viney is weeks away.

Not trying to be funny, asking a serious medical question: what actually goes wrong with a groin? And how does it get fixed?

FWIW, I think we have a glaring hole in our depth. Since Tomlinson went down, we have relied on Petty and he does not seem to be a champion – to be honest, if he comes up against the class player, he will be destroyed. And the named key defenders in the Casey team were both Casey-listed players. I believe we need Daw, just for that depth in case we have another injury in the backline.