Bring-Back-Powell

Happy for May to go as long as we keep T Mac. May's game on the weekend was one of the poorest MFC's performances I've seen from a senior player in recent years. And his game before that he allowed a woefully out of form Charlie Curnow to kick 2 quick first quarter goals to set the tone for Carlton.

You're correct. Trac polled in 7 of his 14 games and had 16 votes prior to getting hurt.

Was T Mac injured or tactically subbed out?

I tried to justify that we're not far off due to all those close losses. But the fact is when the game is on the line, we are continually found wanting and the opposition's gun players always rise above ours without fail - whether it be against a Collingwood or Dogs or a Carlton or St Kilda. The only game we dug in this year was against Brisbane and that was a complete anomaly. (technically against Freo too but that was a real fall over the line operation) You also look at the overall product that was dished up against Hawthorn, particulalry our abhorrent skill level, and you see a team that's nowhere near it. The eye test will tell you this. I've no idea if a coach can fix all of this, but at the moment we appear to be a genuine bottom 4 side heading into next year.

Fritta saves his best for Hawthorn: Round 9 - 4 disposals/0 marks/0 goals Round 23 - 8 disposals/1 mark/0 goals/0 score involvements. How is it possible that a forward can literally have not one involvement in a score for the entire game?

100% agreed. It’s not unprecedented and we wouldn’t be the first bottom 4/5 side to lose a couple of close games to good teams. I reckon we’re miles off being a top 8 team next year.

I’d consider managing Kozzie and make up an injury. His round 24 suspension last year against the Pies derailed our start to this year and we can’t afford to have him on the sidelines for round 1 next year. And let’s face it, bad things always happen we play Collingwood.

Kozzie just but he seems to be slowing down these last 2-3 weeks. Maybe he has one last bag left in him. Could see Fritta landing on 38 and Kozzie on 39. Melskham looks tired if the last quarter of last week's an indiction.

I have Pies still making top 4 even if they lose to Adelaide. I can see Brisbane, Freo, and Hawthorn all losing 1 game each meaning Pies finish above them and finishing 4th assuming they beat us next week. Good things happen when you go on an insane 13-1 run between rounds 1 and 16.

Clearly played his best game of the season last Sunday.

Sounds like a viable dinner option...

I’m not a fan of his new role as a half forward flanker that pinch hits in the middle and I hazard a guess that he isn’t either.

I gave Goodwin his dues last week in another thread where I commended him for his 9 years.

Buckley's 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons impressed me. In 2018, they were projected to miss the 8 but ended up 3rd. They played the #2 seed West Coast at Optus Stadium in week 1 and lead for most of the night only to fall short. However, 2 weeks later his crowing achievement as a coach was flogging Richmond in the 2018 prelim whereby nobody gave them a chance. In 2019, they won 15 games (like 2018) and finished 4th but in week 1 finals they went onto beat the minor premiers in Geelong by 10 points in a game I'm sure they were underdogs. In 2020, they snuck into 8th and were expected to be no match for West Coast at Optus in the 2020 first elimination final. The reason being is that it was COVID and the Pies had to fly from QLD to WA under COVID pressures and instabilities whilst West Coast were settled in their own state. Buckley/Pies pulled a rabbit out of the hat and won by a point in a boilover. The point of the above is not to fawn over Collingwood's memorable wins but to highlight that he's proven that he can motivate and then steer his group to win big finals whilst being the under dog. We need a coach that can take the next step from honourable loss to upset win (aside from the Brisbane win this year).

Off topic, but kind of on topic (Parking/Hawthorn theme) but Jeff Kennett's parents were die hard Melbourne supporters and he was willing to lead the club as president some years ago due to the connection.

A bit like Lachie Hunter’s tenure at the Dees. Year 1 he was a productive regular best 22. Year 2 he fell off the face of the earth from a footballing perspective.

I'm in full agreement and suggested this here a month or so ago. There was a video interview on the club website over the summer with Turner and he aspired to be a leader for sure. Fits the age, talent and onfield actions (the May/Max diffusion) profile. Having said that, Lever would have been the obvious choice at the start of this year, but that landscape may have changed.

Out of all the close 1-10 point losses we've had to good and bad teams alike, this one stung the less. It didn't have the "one that got away" feel about is as we kicked 11.3.69 in the second half meaning we took most of our chances in front of goal and left nothing on the table from a conversion perspective. (our accuracy has really picked up since round 16) I was impressed that we hung in there after conceding the first 2 goals of the last quarter and to kick the last goal of the game showed we were never interested in rolling over. Unfortunately for us, their current/future champions such as Richards, Bont and Darcy stood up in the key moments and got them over the line. Plus they picked the wrong quarter to start fluking goals from the boundary when the game was on the line. The performance gets a tick from me, and hopefully we repeat the dose the next 2 games.

I was really disappointed with Langdon's on field attitude early in the game last week. The tackle he missed where the Dogs player simply brushed past him tells me where his mindset was post Goodwin, and his mid week presser wasn't just words. Plus, the fact that the younger brigade have taken his starting wing role.... Have seriously rated him as a player though.

I've thought about Ollie Henry as a forward option, but he poses a major home sick risk (apparently left Collingwood because his home city of Geelong was too far away)

If the mark and subsequent set shot goal he kicked on the angle in the last quarter isn't enough to get you excited.... I also like that when things don't quite go his way or he makes an error, he doesn't drop his head, he gets on with business and will do something seriously brilliant not too much later. I'm thinking of the one-on-one contest he lost at the MCC members half forward flank yesterday. Conversely, Kolt doesn't have that ability or confidence yet to build into a game if he makes an early error.

Fair point. It was telling that in the final centre bounce of the game with 50 secs left, we had the old firm in Gawn, Trac, Viney and Oliver and we couldn't get it done (albeit against a very good Dogs midfield). This game, and the two previous GWS games where we had a centre bounce in the last minute and we didn't look remotely like winning the all important clearance, is disappointing by the leaders.

Winning close games is definitely the final piece of the puzzle (that is either missing or has been vacuumed up) that could see up return to the top 8 next year. Definitely getting tired of the opposition's top 9 coach, such as Luke Beveridge, praise us as being highly competitive and being made to earn their wins. I want us next year to go from making contenders earn their wins against us to beating contenders and condemning them to disappointment rather than relief. Having said, it's not the close losses to good teams that have disappointed me most this year. It's the losses to the North's, Essendon's, St Kilda's and Carlton's where our heads were not in the game. So next year, we need to win (more than losing) the close games irrespective of the quality of teams, and we need to win all the games that we start $1.50 at against the mediocre sides.

It’s improved significantly since the bye.

Genuinely thought we’d get 40K today, but now I get the rationale as to why they’ve closed a fair portion of the stands. I reckon a smaller crowd than the North game the other week.