JimmyGadson

Unfortunately for those players you mention, they're not like-for-like. And Salo is a lefty with elite foot skills. Those other guys aren't and are in competition for spots in different parts of the ground. Bold move for sure, but I've heard he's been match load running for a while now. I like the move, aggressive. And I think it will give our boys a lift. They love him, premiership player, best mates with Trac and Clarry. Fingers crossed he gets through and makes a significant contribution.

90k happening!

Interesting, thanks for the info. That'd be a huge result if we managed to get within 5k of the filth. Either way, I hope we show up on droves. I'm overseas all year, gutted I won't be there for this one. Biggest King's bday match I can remember in my 36 years.

No doubt the vast majority of those reserved seats sold will be Collingwood supporters no? Or do we get first dibs on those?

@FearTheBeard How are the ticket sales looking for King's birthday? 90k surely.

Haha. You called it a rubbish start but you're also using it as evidence to back up what you've noticed in game? What a delightful contradiction. And no, what I did was dig a bit deeper and highlight (for you) one of the actual metrics that is used to measure disposal efficiency which shows how misleading it can be. His +1 percent in disposal efficiency is more than likely coming from a long kick going to 50/50 contest for us. And yes, I use my eyes to judge whether or not his shorter kicking under no pressure has improved because there's no stat in isolation that measures that. And I let my eyes be the judge of that rather than my emotional feeling that I possess for that player. My eyes in this instance are telling me exactly what I'm looking for. And your disposal efficiency stat isn't. The only part you got right is that it's a rubbish stat and you should have stopped there. No, most of the time under a high pressure situation with little to no time and space to handball to a team mate, its the most effective action a player can take. However, context is key here and it depends on many factors. Weird thing to say that it's terrible though?

It is a rubbish stat, yet you've used it? A kick that goes 40+ metres to a 50/50 contest is considered an effective disposal. And the bulk of his kicks are those types so the 76% is meaningless to me. The important ones are the kicks where he is under little to no pressure should be hitting targets and he doesn't do this often enough. And he sometimes does even worse by directly turning the ball over when really his kick should be resulting in another possession for us. I admire his inside work, but god damn do we still waste so many entries going forward and I still think we need a better balance of players in that midfield mix.

Sparrow has improved but I'd still much rather us insert a mid with complimenting attributes to Trac, Oliver and Viney. I think we have an overload of inside bulls who all share the same weakness. It's nice to see him improving although I don't see it with his ball use/decision making which is our Achilles heel. Pickett has really rejuvenated us when he runs through and gives us a completely different look and we need a couple more young mids who have an element of class, composure and ball use. Not bull at a gate.

Happy to barrack for Geelong this week. Higher the pick, the better our chances of nailing an elite player and/or giving us a better chance to do a deal with a club. It's one week and Geelong don't scare me now that Joel has gone. They're on their last legs. I want Freo to implode and I feel like if they beat Geelong, they'll come into the game against us with their tails up. If they lose, they'll be nervous to perform.

Is he wrong?

Good call and apologies. I'm really surprised after last week's effort against Collingwood. Hope Geelong smack them all over there on the rebound.

Now Freo have a fired up Geelong to play next week after their loss to Richmond. The grand plan is aligning. Let us rejoice.

You've lost the plot.

Was going to say surely this will be the year we can hit close to 90k for the King's bday. I've never wanted to win a home and away game as much as I do coming into the King's bday game. Collingwood have an arrogance atm that needs to be squashed. And too many times we've been their bunnies even when we've had better seasons.

This comment is almost as good as my "Salem's body type is that of an ectomorph" circa 2015.

Anzac day was the biggest home and away crowd that year, as it is most years. Ours was third highest, thanks to collingwood mainly. Eddie is right whether people like it or not. We show up to marquee games but we're pretty disappointing against lesser or interstate sides at the G. I'm not sure that can be questioned. No doubt we'll show up for the King's bday. But we should be showing up in big numbers against the Freo's and North's etc also. Collingwood got 60k + against Port the other month at the G on a wet day too. Yes they have huge membership numbers, but they consistently show when their side is doing well. Melb supporters pick and choose a bit too much for my liking.

@Bring-Back-Powellneeds to look at Freo's draw. It was rated as either highest or second highest hardest draw this year. They have Sydney away, Geelong at home and then us at the G the next three weeks. If they lose all three, that'll be it. Then the snowball pressure cooker comes and they fall apart. And we laugh and watch and take the gold at the end. Yay.

Too good a side to be beating last year's grand finalists on their home turf? Nah.

Not sure I'd label them trash given they kicked themselves out of the game against the best team in it atm without Paddy and Rampe.

We'll be getting a pick as high 4 and as low as 7 imo. Unfortunately North, WC and Hawthorn are all but certain bottom three. Then from 15th - 12th/11th it's anyone's guess but I can easily see Gold Coast, GWS and Richmond finishing above Freo. They have a terrible draw, have a flawed system, are playing without confidence and the players that left last year have left a big hole. Plus there is pressure building from the outside and we know what happened to us in 2019 as the pressure kept building.

The dogs were at 35,000 members by the end of 2015, 39,000 in 2016 and then made the jump up to around 47,000 the year after their grand final win. They've always been a small club. One flag is not sustained success and as I've mentioned, every club gets a bump post a flag, but since that 2016 year, I don't think they've even made a prelim and they've had a couple of very low finishes and missed the top 8 a number of times. Their numbers have slowed again, naturally. If we want to surpass Geelong and get closer to Hawthorn then we need an era of serious success that included multiple flags as well as superstar and universally appreciated stars who bring people to the footy. (we have a couple). You can't underestimate what Franklin and Rioli did for Hawthorn during those years as far as attracting new supporters, kids mainly.

Sparrow?! He's as bad a ball butcher as both Clarry and Trac. As an aside, I think even when Trac and Clarry are in space and under little pressure they still rush into a quick way too quickly. And yes, it's a criticism of two players who are obviously unbelievable players but they still need to work on this. It's almost the single most important improvement needed for us imo. It doesn't have to be lace out kind of stuff every time, obviously that's unrealistic. But jesus they have the time to kick to the advantage of a forward rather than the disadvantage or on top of a forwards head.

Not sure why people are surprised.. As has been said, it takes years of sustained success to bring new supporters and then members to a club and aside from those MCC members who will never buy a MFC membership, we're just about at capacity. Anything more will be the hand out type three game memberships. Win the flag this year and we could get 70k next year due to it being a flag year. We need multiple flags to attract a new gen of supporters and that'll be what pushes us into that next tier of club. For measure, the Saints have been in the doldrums recently but due to the spike in performance this year, I'm pretty sure they are at about 60,000 now too which is a smidge behind us. Whilst it looked like we were getting away from them in recent years, it shows that members fluctuate more than people think depending on where your club is at. Our rise is not a true reflection of growth, but rather a bunch of supporters jumping back on board post some dark years. All clubs have a slow growth of members due to the game growing which has been no different with us, as well as the normal bump that comes post flag. The real and lasting spike will be seen years after multiple flags. That's the challenge for us.

Three things I'd like to see from three different individuals. May to either play with condifence and keep his [censored] feet. Clarry to take a couple of seconds to realise he has time to dispose of the ball with more care. It's killing. Lever to stop turning the ball over out of D-50 as he does it multiple times a game. No injuries, bring the same level of intensity and we'll win by 50+

His eyes were on the ball to start with lol. Nobody would be getting suspended ever if that was a ligitmate rebuttal.