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Think goody mentioned something post game about a light week on the track. Lookout Pies!

With Gus proving his midfield capabilities, how does this change things in terms of team structure? I thought his defensive game was significantly improved from Gus the midfielder circa 2018

Anyone watch Lloyd on Sun footy show yesterday? Am sure there would have been no accountability to how wrong he is/was?

You see those monster bandages on Jacko’s knee? Jacko most likely not fully fit since returning from knee injury R17

OD surely you can see that our game relies much more on our defence, defensive 2 way run, and gun midfielders, than it does on gun KPFs? We just smashed a potential top 4 team, with our sole key forward having next to no impact.

Jimmy, have you considered the possibility that Burgess implemented something last year that was cutting edge, and hadn’t been attempted by a club previously. With Selwyn carrying on the similar successful program this year. Not saying I know this for sure, just saying it’s something to consider. Best to keep an open mind, rather than waiting for someone to come and spell it out for you.

The point was clear and is not without precedent. Jacko has a good relationship with club & players. Is grateful to be a premiership player. Would be leaving with mixed feelings. And does not want to leave on terms that would burn relationships with all. The agreement of find a fair deal, or I will sign on for 1-2 years and try for a trade again then is very possibly what is going on. Further, without question he is worth Young and a first rounder. A 20 year old, who has potentially shown more than any other 20 year old ruckman at the same age for the last couple of decades.

Agree. why any Melb supporter would facepalm this is beyond me.

You appear to enjoy taking the [censored]

Correct. Leave the kid alone. If nothing else, if he was to become aware of the pressure of being J.White’s son, it would be a good reason for him to choose Basketball over AFL.

A legend, and definitely under-rated. looking forward to the “is Fritsch too un-selfish” thread

Defensive setup, and how quick we were to roll the zone across the ground or backwards last night, actually reminded me of what we did to St.Kilda earlier in the year.

Rather than a big 40+ point win next week. Do we run with a couple of point win, to prove that not only can the filfth be beaten, but they are not the masters of the close games?

Noticed that! Players would know Trac is one of the fairest players going around, who rarely wastes his energy agitating. It was almost like Darcy had conceded “yeah I probably shouldn’t have done that”

Can’t recall seeing our players as p155ed off as last night in recent times. Might have been a bit of healthy agitation re the poaching attempts. Certainly a bit more for LJ to think about this morning, around the risks of leaving a potential dynasty team.

Good points. But, how good is it to be sitting in 2nd position, when we are 18th for pressure! Does anyone doubt what our pressure will be for a final on the G?

You are twisting what has been said, and trying to suggest we think Melb thought it would be fun to troll the media. No. All we are saying, is just because knowone in the media can look deeper than “ruthlessness” as a reason, doesn’t mean there wasn’t more behind the win. Richmond, Geel, Hawthorn and some of the great teams would have been pretty confident by R20 in their flag years :- Did they spoon feed the media why they were a great chance of winning the flag those years?! Of course not. This year many of us have just found it interesting how quickly people have been to jump off us (demonland posters, media, public, everyone). This week pre game 80-90% of people would have said Geel is a greater chance of winning the flag. I just find that strange. The team that we beat by 83 points in last year’s prelim (granted with some good reasons, why they are better this year)

Of course to benefit from a loading program, mental application and focus is required :- pretty sure most “loaders” thought this is that obvious that it doesn’t need to be said.

Got me again, well done. We did not say we don’t believe the club when they say there is a focus on ruthlessness etc. it’s a great message and a great mindset for the players to be in! Again, no criticism to Melb. A PR strategy, like all big organisations have. They have not lied to the media, they have just been selective in what they have released. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Here is a challenge for you LN. Find me one media commentator/analyst, that shows an ability to dig a little deeper in analysing why we turned things around last night. That is the focus of this discussion. The lack of ability for the media both pre game and post game to actually have a deeper understanding of where we are at, and why we probably should be outright flag favourites. What is Lloyd going to say now, after completely writing us off the last few weeks?!

Making stuff up most likely to bait a response. Good for you. You and Luci came up with those words, re con / trolling the media. The club like all clubs, and like always is selective in what it releases to the media. Fact. There is no criticism or judgement on Melb in its PR approach. flashinthepan’s comments make a lot of sense also. Reinforce a message in the media, that may flow through to players and get them focused on what they can control. There 100% is criticism and judgement on the media for not having the ability to analyse things a bit more deeply and see that last nights performance was driven by more than just a “pow wow” and “ruthlessness” Over and out. Have a great day!

It’s got nothing to do with a media con. Has got to do with releasing information that suits you. Why give away intel that would be useful for your opposition.

Luci, why did we suddenly run out the game for 4 quarters for the first time in a couple of months? (Other than the Lions game, where we had a rest week, coming off the bye)

Hook, line and sinker. Watch every stupid media commentator say for the next week, how we have magically re-discovered our “ruthlessness”, “fitness”, and “defensive game”. And most painful of all will be Kingy claiming he was correct in identifying the “pow wow” as a turning point.

Exactly. The club knew we would be significantly better this week. And also know how dumb the media are, so they have planted the narrative pre game “pow wow”, “ruthlessness”, “hunger” etc whatever.

Yep, appealing to emotions that the every day punter can relate to :- “having a go”, “hunger”, “team first”, “bleeding for his mates” etc. Not many of us can relate to the sports science requirements of an elite athlete