BoBo

The thing that I hear a lot from people that (wilfully or not) don’t understand the impact racism can have on people, is things like ‘it’s just words’ or ‘their overreacting’ or ‘it’s just a joke’. I still see comments on social media or hear people that I work with that say these excuses. At times I’ve been called a ‘white maggot’ by indigenous people. This has absolutely no effect on me as it is just a name and just words. There’s no history of my whiteness being genocided because of being white, no history of my parents/grandparents being taken away from their families because they were white, refused jobs because of being white, being viewed suspiciously, enslaved because of being white, my culture and language being purposefully erased by the state because for being white etc. etc. etc. There is no inter-generational trauma I face because of my skin colour. The same is very different for indigenous people. For indigenous people, being called a racial slur is hundreds of years of trauma, vilification, genocide and being assumed to be ‘sub human’ which is solely based on skin colour/culture. It’s not a joke, it’s not just words, indigenous people aren’t being too ‘sensitive’, these slurs are bringing up all of that history of being thought of as sub-human which is massively alienating and hurtful. It is something white guys like me will, never, ever understand or actually be made to feel like this. It’s alien to us as in racial terms, we have always been ‘normal’ (I.e. white) Australians. Once you realise the weight of this, there is no possible way you could dismiss this as being anything other than an incredibly hurtful, cruel and hateful thing to do. In my younger days I was too scared to speak up about casual racist remarks. But now I think it’s the very least that I can do to not accept racism in any form. It’s not funny, they aren’t jokes and they aren’t ‘just words’.

I remember hearing Luke Hodge saying that Harris Andrews was clearly the best defender he had played with... that is an amazing achievement given how good Hawthorns defence was for a very long time. Before this game I was thinking it’s good to have someone like Weid in because Andrews would HAVE TO follow him which draws Andrews away from our other forward. Give the Weid another crack against the pies to see what he can do. Key Forwards tend to have games where something clicks and their form becomes more stable. I remember when Hawkins was starting to find form after just doing ‘his role’ for quite a few years. About Weids age. Also, I completely trust the coaching staff in their decision making... 11-1 has earned that. So if they’re happy to keep Weid in then so am I.

For what it’s worth I had this happen recently... A friend of mine is from Argentina and we watched a game together as she had never actually watched an AFL game. Trying to explain the rules turned into a farce. Perfect example was holding the ball. I explained the rules and then she would continuously ask as we were watching ‘isn’t that holding the ball???’ To which I had some reason to explain why it isn’t... but even listening to myself was nauseating. It showed me how ridiculous of a game this is to try and umpire and that; something is a free kick one week but not the next was ridiculous to my friend. And I learned I don’t actually know what the rules are now as so many free kicks just aren’t paid and others are. And I’ve been watching footy for 30 years now.

Are there any modern commentators that are universally liked though? The discussions about commentators is almost solely about which ones people hate. modern = started commentating post 2000

I reckon us beating Richmond will probably be a motivation for the Tigers to come back hard.... They were [censored] last week as beat beat them up on on the ground and the scoreboard. Generally good teams that have that arrogance won’t put up with losing like that two weeks in a row. I think Richmond might pinch it in a close game but like you mentioned, no Dusty or Prestia in the middle against probably the strongest midfield in the game... gonna be tight.

Even Ricky Ponting is on board! haha

Nathan Jones plays for the rest of the year FULL STOP. The team solidarity around him to get success is massive and come finals, that will be an inspiration factor. He stayed with us when we were an absolute embarrassment. As long as he is on the park come September, other guys will give that extra 1% to do everything they can to give him a grand final chance. Not saying it’s all about him but my god, the team looks like they’re willing to die for each other at the moment. The fight at the end was a sight I haven’t seen in Melbourne teams for 20 years. We won’t be pushed around ANYMORE

The best sides just win. They win ugly if they have to. Today we played putrid football for at least a half. And still win by 50 points.

MUST KICK IT BROWN

Forwards need to present to the mids. Unless it’s Tom McDonald, I don’t see any other forward making a lead. Get running fellas

Just one of those ugly ugly games

Literally not one of our forwards made a lead then

I don’t care if it’s ugly. We just have to win from here. We’re killing ourselves with our skills which are WAY down. Legitimate teams win games like this. Just need to get it done.

Right there!!! There was so much room to lead into! Fritsch is a huge out for us

kozzy trying to take that mark with one hand...

I think we’re seeing the worth of Fritsch and what his skills as a leading forward give us. We look terrible going forward and nobody is finding space. Horrible kicking into f50 also doesn’t help.

They are paying almost every free kick they can for us

To be honest, this is what I expected first up. Getting ahead of ourselves and not doing basic things well. We look like we’re just expecting things to workout for us instead of making sure they work out for us. This is where top 4 type teams re-group, reset their mindsets to what the opposition teams are doing and come out and get the job done. If we can do that and win from here, I’m on board that we’re a top 4 team. Do it boys!

Not trying to be obtuse at all. I’m not asking if any gun defenders became gun forwards. I’m asking if there have been any average defenders who became gun forwards, which I can’t think of any and I find it curious as there’s quite a few avg. forwards who went back and totally changed their careers. Average forwards to absolute gun defenders, there seems to be more than a few, so why not the other way?

Tommy was an absolute star in 2018, but that’s really the only season you would call him a ‘gun’

Yes, but once again, he didn’t become a gun forward for the rest of his career. I guess I’m looking for a Mal Michael type career... but going from the backline to the forward line. He played 3-4 season as a key forward and was average... then became a backman and dominated. I don’t think there is a player that’s been mentioned that has played 2+ seasons as a key defender and then gone forward and been an absolute gun player. Point being, it’s weird how there are at least 6-7 players in the last 20 years (that I can name) at least that have done a few average seasons as forwards and then become gun backmen.

The Mal Michael example I would count the same as Howe or Dunn. At Collingwood he was very hit and miss and could never cement himself as a forward. Then went to Brisbane and we all know what he was like as a defender. Michael wasn’t bad up forward but he was obviously way better down back.

At AFL level? I guess I mean they played 1/2 (or a few seasons) their career down back and then the other 1/2 as a gun forward.

I was pretty young when Neitz started so I don’t remember him as a defender! Thank you

This isn’t strictly about Melbourne, just more of a general question, if not allowed, mods please delete and apologies. I can think of quite a few forwards who were Ok or average at best, then get sent down back and turn into absolute guns (Howe and Dunn are prime examples)... BUT... I’m wondering are there any dedicated defenders that went forward and turned into gun forwards? Go dees!