Sydney_Demon

Daicos went at 4 but I guess he could have gone at 1 if he wasn't a father-son that everyone knew Collingwood would take.

He was recruited as a link player, specifically to play on the wing, and that turned out to be a mistake. He is versatile but I don't think he's good enough in any role to be in the team. Now to be fair, I think when he was in as a replacement for Lever that was a mistake in selection because he's a lock-down player, not an interceptor like Lever.

I agree with you about Sestan. Doesn't get a lot of the ball but a natural footballer and goalkicker. Has a lot of potential and the upside is enormous given he hasn't had the support though the elite juniors others have had. What I like about all our developing forwards is they can kick. JVR, Jefferson, Schache (and obviously Fritsch) are all excellent set shot convertors. I don't know whether Schache will make it. Probably unlikely given the number of chances he had before joining Melbourne. But I hope the selectors give him a decent run at it. Why do people keep asking about Tomlinson as a forward? Let's be honest. The only reason he is still on our list is that no other club wanted him last trade period. For me Turner should be the next in line as a backline replacement. And I'd even prefer him up forward to Tomlinson being trialled there. We all recognise Smith's athletic abilities which is why he's still on Melbourne's list despite being perpetually injured. I like him up forwards. Too mercurial and inconsistent as a backline player. Just not a lockdown player.

I think the obvious point that we all get (except clearly you) is that if you are only interested in Melbourne's games why are you posting under this topic? Now there's lots of topics on this site that I'm not interested in so I don't read or post on them. That way I don't waste my or other people's time.

Fair enough. I like Melbourne's game style when we're on too. I didn't see a whole lot of analysis of the game style of Essendon, Geelong, Brisbane or Hawthorn in your post so I was just assuming you were using premiership wins as some sort of proxy for game style. Personally I'd take another Melbourne premiership ahead of game style any day!

Thanks for the F/A. You could argue that Melbourne's numbers should be better after we conceded 3 late goals against North, but Collingwood also conceded the last 3 goals agaist St Kilda. What you can't argue with is that Melbourne have won every last quarter this year and Collingwood have only won 4.5. Apart from the win against Richmond (and we were only behind by 2 points) we haven't come from behind at 3/4 time but that's because we haven't had to. Naturally, no-one talks about the issues with Collingwood's game that has meant they've been behind in 4 out of 7 games at 3/4 time, only that they've come back to win 3 of them.

I think this is all a bit irrelevant. Essendon no doubt were the best team by a long way in 2000 but of the 9 premerships won by the other teams 2001-2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013-15 the premiers only finished on top of the ladder at the end of the H&A 2 of those years. What matters is probably finishing Top 4, being in form with limited injuries at the right time of the year, and having a bit of luck. Geelong last year had an incredibly soft draw (they played West Coast & North twice each) and were probably lucky to beat Collingwood in the Qualifying Final. They met Brisbane and Sydney after those teams had had very tough wins and effectively were ripe for the picking. Similarly Melbourne had pretty much everything fall their way in 2021. Let's just keep banking the wins, not overreact to a few unexpected losses, not get ahead (or behind) of ourselves, and hopefully we'll be where we need to be at the sharp end of the season.

Well I think you need to look at both for and against but that has been a plus for Melbourne this year definitely. Of course winning final quarters against Essendon & Brisbane has to be looked at in the context of us losing both games but it all helps the percentage I guess...

and most importantly Fremantle losing.

Trying to put a positive spin on things, I obviously would have preferred Adelaide to win but a Collingwood win is better than a draw. A draw is the same as a win if you have an inferior percentage, and (althought there's a log way to go) I'd like to think Melbourne will have a better percentage than both Adelaide & Collingwood at season end. We're about 140 points ahead of Collingwood at the moment and slightly more against Adelaide so a draw would have been a horrible result. For similar reasons I was much happier to see Carlton have a huge win against West Coast given they have drawn a game already. It also means it's harder for Richmond to overtake them which is better imo from a Melbourne perspective.

What are you talking about? Inarguably the best team in the AFL? No doubt the luckiest. How many teams are going to keep gifting them games? I'm happy to concede they are definitely one of the better teams after 7 Rounds.

or alternatively kick straight. Adelaide should've been so far in front that they couldn't lose. Clearly Collongwood are a great last quarter side but I'm so over sides rolling over and letting them come home over the top.

If his form warrants him being selected then fine, but if there's a genuine choice between Melksham and a first or second year player then the priority should be to the younger player. Forget the father-son situation. I appreciate recent AFL form show's he probably doesn't have a place in the Melbourne backline but why would we be considering him up forward? At least as a backman he can contribute at Casey. Went off injured. Only 9 possessions today but you can see he has talent.

I agree. He was crucial in the last 2 minutes of that game. The problem is he's not consistent and does not exhibit the selflessness we're trying to communicate to the rest of the team. I'm not bagging him in general. He's a strong mark, presents well and works hard up the ground. But he's slow, tries to unsuccessfully break tackles all the time, and makes skill errors that an AFL player shouldn't make. He should look at a player like Mitch White who is very limited but only tries to do what he's capable of. I agree with you about Turner. He to me was the obvious standout from an AFL perspective. Despite very poor Casey midfield pressure on Box Hill's running players he stood up superbly.

That goal to Box Hill was almost entirely due to Tom McDonald not being able to hit a player 10 metres clear in Casey's Forward 50

Agree, Melksham is outstanding at this level which is where he should stay.

Not sure I entirely agree. Casey 30 Inside 50s to 23 Box Hill. Looks like a difference in class to me. I agree they need more possession. Like last week Casey are missing Jimmy Munro!

Our best 22 at season end could be quite different given the vagaries of form, and of course injuries will need to be taken into account. So you reckon JVR is already in our best 22. And Spargo isn't? Who would you drop to bring Salem in?

AFL Concussion Protocol: the earliest that a player can return to play after a concussion is on the 12th day after the day on which the concussion was sustained and provided that the player has safely progressed through each phase of the 11-step return-to-play program. So you do count the day of concussion but you can return on the 12th day. 24/4 + 12 = 6/5 which is the day of the Gold Coast Match. Excellent!

I think the problem last year was we needed to rest players earlier in the season before it became imperative that we win late-Season games. I also believe late season injuries to key players was an issue. Our position was very different to Geelong's. They had/have an old list where players need to be managed. I think that generally isn't an issue for Melbourne. Hibberd is the exception but my view is that he is definitely in our best 22. I think posters are being tough on Charlie. For me he was an automatic inclusion before the concussom. The difficulty is that it's hard to see who goes out with other small forwards all firing. Agree entirely. I think it depends a bit on injuries. But it's great that we now have depth.

No, it's 12 days automatic for concussion but the player also needs to go through the protocols. If there are any ongoing symptoms the player stays out which I assume was the case for Spargo. Goody said Petty was progressing well and will come back but I would have thought he'd still be out under the 12-day rule (or he's right on the cusp).

GWS beating the Swans. An excellent result!

The Sydney of now wasn't the Sydney we played. Since then they've lost all their key backline players, both McCartins and Rampe, Amartey, Buddy. Of their best 22 they were only missing Reid (who I think is a very important player for them) and Hickey when we played them. And Buddy played way above how he normally does against May.

Well done! You need standards. My rule is no alcohol before 12pm (New Zealand time) or if away on a wine-tasting weekend no Port until 10am. We do need to look after our health after all.

I stand corrected. I remember now. There was no negativity towards Jeremy Howe from Melbourne supporters before 5/8/22. Just 6.5 years of niceness 😀. Actually we should forgive Howe for purely selfish reasons. He played 100 games for Melbourne if my maths is correct and his son could qualify under current Father/Son rules for either Melbourne or Collingwood. Fair point. I like to think I'm a reasonably civilised person but I'm definitely not at my best at a Melbourne game. It's laughable. Every game I tell myself that I'm going to behave as I arrive at the MCG and that usually stands till the first arguable umpring decision. Wasn't Howe essentially playing half-forward flank for us? Certainly a much-improved player once he went to Collingwood. Frawley was 26 when he left at the end of 2014 and he might have made the difference between us making the Finals or not in 2017. I think you're re-writing history re 2018. Everyone seems to downplay Melbourne's performances due to the horrific Prelim exit. One bad game and that unfortunately was the final one. A bit like last year. A 14-8 record in 2018, and should have been 16-6 or 17-5, percentage of 130%+. Lost 2 Geelong games by under a kick that we shouldn't have. Lost to St Kilda (16th at the time) by 2 points. Our smallest winning margin was 13 points... Basically, we should have finished 2nd, not 5th, and then who knows what could have happened?