Bring-Back-Powell

If only we could’ve been in a position to utilise that advantage.

That’s terrific praise for Harvey. Interesting that according to Hoyne, Fritsch had one of the best debut years of anyone since 2010, and Langford is on track to also have one of the best debut years too.

Looking forward to seeing Petty, JVR and Disco kicking 10 between them again at Gold Coast. Bring back T Mac to stiffen up our defence. If the club was giving him a mid season rest to recharge his batteries, then that's totally understandable. However he'll be needed next week.

Is it possible the media are constantly getting stuck into us because they have high expectations of us each year and expect a consistency of excellence from this list?

How’s this for the most anti Melbourne performance ever: In the correspondence game last year, we kicked 15.6, had 3 less scoring shots and 21 less inside 50’s… but won.

What’s even more damning for Goodwin is that we’ve barely got an injury. Aside from Spargo and McAdam (who never plays anyway) we had a full list to choose from on Sunday and still delivered that slop. There’s a lot of clubs that would kill for our injury list at the moment.

Unusual to be on the right side of the MRO or tribunal. Thought McVee was gone for all money.

Since 2000, the most inaccurate side has been Gold Coast in 2018. They kicked 181.222 for a percentage of 44.9% We are currently 152.179 for a percentage of 45.9%. A few more gross performances in front of goal and we WILL be the most inaccurate side this century so far.

Last week we blame the umpires for losing the free kick count 29-20. Yesterday we win the free kick handily by +8. Yet we still blame the umpires. I'd suggest we're all deflecting from the fact that we've been an unacceptable footy side since June last year.

Channel 7 news article suggested Gawn will come under scrutiny for a tackle on Sweet in the first quarter. Anything in that? Clearly McVee will be rubbed out.

I’ve raised this before about North Melbourne but if we had their clinical accuracy we’d be $1.02 favourites to win the flag. Out of 14 games they’ve had one occasion whether they’ve kicked more behinds than goals and they still managed 10.11.

To borrow a useless comment from Dwayne Russell, we could be sitting at 10th at 6pm tomorrow if we get the points. A bit at stake even though realistically finals are likely done.

Voted Petty. Petty was surprisingly awful as a key defender in the North and Geelong games before he was permanently moved forward in Gather Round. He's been serviceable as our number 1 key forward but we're not going anywhere if he's our #1 in years to come. Turner has played his best footy when played exclusively as a key defender this year and should remain there all game, unless we have an injury to a key forward - per the WC game.

Assuming Viney's finally in, it will be interesting whether they go the obvious out in Howes or whether they want Windsor to have a full game at Casey this week to regain some form and confidence. Windsor announced himself as a serious talent at this exact game/oppo/venue early last year with that phenomenal goal left of screen.

Wrong thread...

You could make an argument that the loss to St Kilda was worse than the North game in round 2, given what was at stake and how talent-less St Kilda is.

Good point. I can't recall what happened in 2020 but from 2021 onwards the only game he's missed (that wasn't through suspension) was due to COVID in 2022. Therefore it's more than warranted to give a player a very long contract with NIL injury history. And I'm knocking on a lot of wood here!

Freo supporters over at Bigfooty are like a dog at a bone re: Kozzie: "All good, we'll just trade for him in 2 years and Melbourne can pay half his salary....haha.....lol " Let it go guys. Go now put your eggs in the Chad Warner basket.

Are Troy and Justin Longmuir brothers?

For those that don’t like the re-signing of Kozzie, I implore you to rewatch the Freo game, the Sydney game and the clutch goal he kicked to put us in front during Monday’s finals like game. A genuine game changing super star appropriately getting a game changing super star contract.

If you read Bigfooty, many Port supporters would also take great joy in that.

Yeah good question. I have a gut feel we'll put in a terrific performance and a stinker either side of the bye. Just not sure in which order. We've shown we can match it with the better teams this year so a win over GC isn't out of the question. We've also been BOG ordinary against some of the bottom 10 sides this year, so a poor loss against Port could also be on the cards.

This would have to be the most exciting and unlikely news we’ve received in years, if this actually transpires. The scary thing for the comp is that the quiet games such as the St Kilda loss last week are becoming few and far between and are being replaced with more high end 20 disposal 3 to 4 goal games, particularly given he’s spending significant minutes in the midfield. There’s not a coincidence in the world that his return to the side in round 4 has seen us become a far more competent side (aside from the Gather Rd disaster ) and the one week he was down on output, we were atrociously down as a side.

Hopefully we can get to 10 wins and presumably avoid the bottom 4. Our list is better than a bottom 4 finish and I can't really stomach giving Essendon a super high pick off us. More importantly I hope we can beat some teams in the hunt for a finals birth on the run home such as a Hawthorn, Carlton or Bulldogs and actually put some learnings in place in terms of winning close games and rectifying our accuracy. If we can made amends on this front, then we can head into 2026 with some hope and confidence.

And meanwhile Disco Turner is providing encouragement and positive reinforcement to Max. Liking this guy more by the week.