Sydney_Demon

Absolute BS. IMO we were never going to lose any of those games. The closest we got to losing was against Essendon when they had a kick in the last quarter to reduce the margin to a goal with about 10 minutes to go. No game involving Melbourne this season has been on the line in the last 5 minutes. Hawthorn scored a goal in the last minute to reduce the margin to 10 points. That's not a close game. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved it if we'd won every game by 10 goals but I'd take winning all games as we have against having a percentage of 170% and a 5-2 record any day. You attack and you open yourself up to goals at the other end. Why take that risk when you're 4 goals ahead at 3-quarter time?

With due respect the only trash I've seen today concerning Melbourne Football Club are your posts. I've heard of doubling down but I think in your case you've quintupled down with increasing overstatement and inaccuracy with every post. Right now the only thing that matters is racking up the wins. Would any Demon fan have believed someone saying pre-season we'd be 7-0 with a percentage of 145.9% after 7 rounds? We are not playing perfectly, but so far have beaten 4 finalists from 2021 including the 2nd & 3rd teams. Yes, on the balance of play we should have a percentage of 165% (which shows how dominant we've been) but 145% is hardly shameful. Deedubs, the issue isn't with the Dees, it's with you 😞....

Stating the obvious. I reckon we're going to have a lot of percentage-losing wins this year given our percentage is still 145.9% after a 10-point win. Better than having a percentage-boosting win when your percentage is 110%! 😁

Why will it have a greater effect at Casey? Casey are playing on Sunday so any non-playing emergencies/medisubs from Melbourne's Saturday game will be available. Bedford didn't play for Casey last week as he was the Melbourne medisub and Tomlinson only played half a game as he was being held over as a Melbourne emergency. The only player Casey will be missing they had last week is TMac, and they will have Hibberd so a marginal loss at worst.

What impressed me with Baker wasn't his stats. It was his ability to get away from pressure using his pace and his decision-making. These are abilities that transfer to AFL level (although admittedly they haven't as yet). The AFL-listed younger players seem to me to lack consistency but show some class so they just need more injury-free time to develop. The other thing that is apparent is how much potential some of the VFL-listed players have. Corey Ellison, Roan Steele, Miles Shepherd (1st game), George Grey als. Mitch White & Jimmy Munro are great players at VFL-level but are not AFL level. The problem is of course is that not many Casey-listed players get to play in any given week (there are 30 detailed on Melbourne's website but it's not up-to-date).

What a load of crap. We are 3 points down despite kicking 3.12. Yes, our goal kicking is putrid but on the balance of play we're a 6-goal better team. Message at half-time is keep playing the way we are but just choose better options in the Forward 50 and kick straight! I'd be amazed if Richmond can keep this tackling pressure up but if they can they probably deserve to win 😞

Agreed. Casey need to upgrade tackling and defensive running. Not Tomlinsons fault that last goal. The previous free against him was riduculous. Apparently as a forward (at least if you play for Richmond) if you're not strong or skilled enough to hold your position in a one-on-one you get a free (which resulted in a goal).

Goal to TMac😁

The stream doersn't appear to be working. Just hanging.

I agree entirely. Casey works fine for a non-affilliated VFL team but given that it's usually 70% Melbourne's list it would be nice to have it closer so Melbourne fans could get there easily and less windy so skills would count. As far as the class differential goes Casey was about 15 goals better than Coburg but when teams are playing in conditions like today it evens everything out.

It must be tough as a player. You have to put up with umpire incompetence and if you show any sort of dismay they hit you with a 50m penalty for dissent. Maybe the AFL should concentrate on improving umpire performance rather than worrying about negative player feedback.

Well I agree that he led the AFL though 2 years of COVID and the game has survived but IMV he (or at least the AFL) did everything possible to stop Melbourne winning, although probably unintentionally. Firstly, both Port Adelaide and Brisbane were given home finals when they shouldn't have (the other 6 teams couldn't play at home, so why should Port & Brisbane have been allowed to?) Then there was an unnecessary extra week off before the Grand Final which clearly favoured Western Bulldogs at Melbourne's expense. The fact that the Dees overcame these disadvantages meant the AFL weren't embarrassed by their mistakes.

No doubt they were beaten by the better team but I think you're being very unfair. They put up a strong effort, especially in the 2nd half, and were a sneaky chance of getting up in the last quarter. Let's look at the facts. Adelaide, as has been pointed out more than once on the Demonland Podcast, are basically the SA State Team. Because of the close to amateur status of AFLW and the fact that Adelaide are the only team in South Australia they have an incredibly strong pool of players to choose from. Melbourne have to compete against 7 other Victorian teams for player talent. Adelaide had a marginally harder 9 opponents to play against this year than Melbourne, but countering this was for some reason they were given home games against nearly all the top teams (the only away game they played against a top team was against Fremantle). Melbourne had to play 3 away games agaist top teams from 2021. The importance of this from an Adelaide perspective is these games are basically 8-point games which enabled them to finish on top of the ladder and get to play at home. Basically, Adelaide had a preferential draw which goes totally against the AFL's equalisation principles. This is not sour grapes. Adelaide were the better team and deserved to win. Let's see what happens next year when they lose some of their best players to Port and more money in the game means South Australian players will be prepared to move interstate. Also maybe, just maybe, the AFL will actually give them the tough draw they should be getting.

When the draw was released I noted we were playing 6 games in Perth/Adelaide/Queensland plus Geelong in Geelong and a home game in Alice Springs. What really sticks out is that we play Port twice, once in Adelaide and once in Alice Springs and the only game against Geelong is in Geelong. Totally fair (not). Geelong & Port were top 4 sides in 2021 but none of the 3 games we play against them this year are at the MCG. Your solution would be much more equitable (but it won't happen because it was clear when the Draw was released the AFL has decided to prejudice Melbourne & the Bulldogs well beyond the normal equalisation requirements). On the positive side (but definitely not from my perspective) we play GWS & Sydney once and both games are in Melbourne. We also don't play in Tasmania. 12 games at the MCG (10 of them home games) and only 2 at Marvel. Only 4 out of our 10 home games at the MCG are against non-Melbourne based teams (even though 9 of 18 fall into that category). This anomoly would be fixed my moving either of the Port Adelaide or Geelong games to the MCG (which of course won't be happening).

I don't really get your point about starting times. Why do games need to start on the quarter-hour or 10-minute marks? You could equally make the point that all games should start at the 5-minute mark. I assume it's all about TV scheduling but in any case it's surely not hard to look up what time the game starts on the AFL site or newspapers. I agree with you about 4.35 on Saturday not being the graveyard slot. I would have thought that was a good time for fans to get to the game. Not a bad time for families as you get virtually the whole day for kids sport etc., but the game ends by 7.15 so not a late night. Those without kids can kick on to a restaurant or bar. What's not to like?

I agree entirely. He and Bowey were basically rated at the same level by the Club at the 2020 draft and due to injury/covid last year he hardly played (how many games? 3 or 4?). So he has now played a total of say 8 games so clearly has enormous scope for improvement.

50-60 games is 3 seasons (or 5 if you count 2020 - no games - & 2021 - 9 games). Jake Bowey is not the exception. Luke Jackson, Kossie Picket, Trent Rivers, James Jordon, Tom Sparrow... I agree you shouldn't play kids too early but as long as you don't introduce too many at a time and as long as they're integrated into a successful team they don't need 50-60 games, 15-20 is more like it. If they're key forwards of course they're likely to need longer but not 3 seasons!

I know it's all about playing your role but can't understand that TMac who basically has played one good game of the past 10 since coming back from injury is preferred to Wiedeman. Wiedeman had an ordinary game against Port but the way Port played (especially for the 1st half) was focussed entirely on stopping Melbourne scoring and playing keepings off - hardly conducive to forwards starring. TMac played slightly better than Weideman but I still think not well enough to keep his spot at Wiedeman's expense. Wiedeman should be given another couple of weeks for Melbourne IMV and if he doesn't perform then drop him and bring TMac back (if he performs for Casey). When was the last time TMac kicked 4 goals? For me it's BBB & Wiedeman against GWS. Re Wiedeman remaining on the list, he's contracted until 2023 so unless some other team wants to buy out his contract he's going nowhere this year. I was looking forward to watching the Casey game today (I was out last night). The whole game is on the AFL website but someone has stuffed up because there is no audio!

He didn't say that. What he said was we focused on our defensive structure/skills rather than trying to attack. Every side should do this if they're capable of doing it. You attack when you're behind because there's no other option. If you've got a comfortable lead you eliminate as much risk as possible, unless of course you're totally dominating so you put the opponent away.

It was the same as the game against Melbourne. Once the sun goes down at this time of the year the ball is like a cake of soap. That combined with the natural fatigue late in the game.

Why would you ice him after 2 quarters? He won't have played for 2 weeks and Melbourne don't play again until Next Saturday. The Melbourne approach beginning with Darren Burgess and continuing with Selwyn Griffith is all about playing through niggles and encouraging resilience.

I'm looking forward to this game. I assume BBB will be playing along with Harrison Petty. I'm particularly keen to see how JVR plays given he was a late out last week. I don't think the side has been named as yet.

Yes, both the AFL's The Round So Far and Access All Areas I think are excellent shows with good analysis. Access All Areas is good despite having Damien Barrett on it who is execrable usually. Since Melbourne started winning last year I've been regularly watching Channel 9's Footy Classified & (very occasionally) the Sunday Footy Show. The latter is absolute trash IMV and manages to cram about 10 minutes of analysis into about 90 minutes of crap. Footy Classified is OK even with Eddie on Wednesdays but again too much filler with not enough concise analysis.

I'm with you. Notwithstanding the fact that TMac had a (marginally) better game than Wiedeman I hardly think he played a game that means he automatically stays in. Weideman needs to be given 4 games to cement his spot (or otherwise). I don't see how you can play TMac off the bench. You would need to drop a midfielder to accomodate him (all of whom are playing better that him? Who yould you suggest?) Brayshaw off HBF seems to be working well and in any case I doubt it would be an improvement to bring Smith back in at the expense of Sparrow or Jordan. So maybe Smith for Hunt, Petty for Tomlinson & BBB for TMac.

Sydee, in your initial post you stated 'A worse howler came from Jackson who dropped an absolute sitter uncontested 15 metres out which led to an easy goal - I'm not hearing anyone suggesting he gets dropped or suggesting he made a costly error.' I thought this topic concerned possible selections for Round 4 so why would anyone be posting about costly errors by Jackson or suggesting he get's dropped? Are we going to go through every error of every player and compare it with every error by every other player. No, we are focusing on specific players that potentially could go out because other players could potentially come back from injury/covid protocols. That's why no-one mentioned Jackson, not because we hold him to different standards. But I stand by my initial point. If you're a forward you are more closely judged on your goal-kicking, if you're a back you are more closely judged on your defensive skills. I'm totally fine with you disagreeing with me on this particular point. This has nothing to do with Smith, per se. I like him in the side. Re May, I already stated that he was beaten on the night. You are probably right that he was disappointed in his performance and that he sets high standards for himself and the team, although I don't claim to be able to read his mind, unlike your good self 😄. I actually made some points about goals kicked against him which again I stand by. What has this to do with Smith? Pure speculation on your part. I can only talk for myself but I don't hold Smith or May to different standards. Are you seriously suggesting May's possession count is irrelevant? Yes, he is primarily there to stop his opponent but the rest of his game is of course also of importance. IMV this is ridiculous but again I'm happy to agree to disagree.