Bring-Back-Powell

Pretty sure it’s back to the pre finals bye. (which I wish they’d get rid of) That pre GF bye was a COVID once off, thankfully.

Not a truer word spoken. No top 4, no flag. For us or any club for that matter.

Teams for Thursday night games are typically announced at 6:20 on Wednesday nights.

It’s understood Freo V Melbourne in round 20 will be on a Friday night but our games against Collingwood and Carlton won’t be. Brisbane V Carlton is favoured to be Friday night in round 21 and Saints V Brisbane should be Friday night in round 22. The AFL tossing up whether to put Brisbane V Melbourne or Carlton V Collingwood on Friday night for round 23. With how well Collingwood are going, it will likely be the latter. The latest fixture instalment will be released this week so the above isn’t confirmed as yet.

Looks as though the weather’s coming to the party on Thursday night. 17 degrees during the day and a mild 11 overnight. No rain at this stage.

Preuss had a massive opportunity against the Dogs in 2020 when Max was injured and failed (as did we that day) on that occasion against the likes of Josh Dunkley or whichever other midget they put in the ruck. Dogs made finals by a game with a worse percentage than us.

I hope Collingwood miss the 8 purely and simply because West Coast’s WAFL side beat them in round 4.

Fair call. I acknowledge that. It would just be disappointing to lose a pick 3 after only 3 years.

What’s an acceptable crowd for this week’s game against the Lions to get the likes of Caro off our backs? We average 24,000 against Brisbane Lions at the G, and they only got 21,000 to Richmond V Port the other Thursday? Our record high is 36,000 on a Saturday night in early 2010 when Brisbane (4-0) were flying at the time as we were 2-2 and starting to make progress under Bailey. I would say the club will be looking at the high 20’s for a reasonable result. This year has emphasised the lack of crowds for Thursday nights during Melbourne’s winter.

And we have the best player in the AFL on our list, who becomes a restricted free agent at the end of next year, to focus on.

Agree 100%. There’s also the matter of spots available down back with Hibberd and Salem’s return and the club’s reluctance to move Brayshaw out of defence. Rivers is a good young player who by all reports has responded well to his omission. Perhaps they do a straight swap. Rivers in for Bowey who could do with a refresh at Casey.

In - Weid, Rivers, May Out - Gawn, M Brown, Turner, Chandler Bedford as sub. Rivers is a good young player that shouldn’t be spending more than 2 weeks at Casey. Weid needs to stay in for the entire time Max is out as our back up ruck. I really hope his form makes it impossible for him to be dropped as we have T Mac out long term. I’m sure they’ll acknowledge that they got the M Brown selection wrong. I wonder if Bowey is at any selection risk?? His form and influence has dropped off.

It was a bit of a joke mate. I’m sure momentum will change and we’ll string a bunch of wins at the back end. And we’ll play teams that aren’t at their best, in contrast to Freo, Sydney and Collingwood who probably each played their best games of the year so far against us.

In the words of legendary NFL coach Jim Mora: ”Don’t talk to me about playoffs. I just hope we can win a game”

Pretty sure his brother in law/player agent wrote the statement.

He was directly involved in just one of our seven goals in the third quarter of the GF.

And we throw in our first rounder and Trent Rivers to somewhat balance the ledger that you’ve proposed. Freo will not be giving up any of their high end talent for Jackson. Particularly with Peter Bell at the table. It will more likely be Freo’s 2022 and 2023 first round draft picks for Jackson and Melbourne’s 2022 second round draft pick assuming both clubs still have their future draft picks.

Well done to out recruitment team for selecting a flight risk at pick 3 on the assumption he ends up going. The most obvious strategy of a list manager and head of recruitment is to use a high end draft pick on a player that is based in his/her/they club’s state. It’s not rocket science and there was some mighty fine Victorian based players picked in the top 10 of the 2019 draft. Eg - Hayden Young who looks like he’ll be a generational talent.

Then he goes into the PSD, plays for North for a year before getting to Freo in 2023 and we get nothing. Sounds great…

Me too. If rather the player that’s in career best form, playing with 100% heart, taking courageous and goal saving marks over someone that could be a good player in the future.

Collingwood are the fools in this story more so than De Goey. They let the most immature party animal in the league head over to party animal territory right in the heart of a season which they are now contender in,, and now have to face a week of negative press rather than enjoy a well earned week off after a sensational start. I understand the clubs can’t control 100% of their players lives but this particular player is a complete exception to the rule after the NY incident:

If he stinks up the joint over the next month and is yet to sign by late July, then he’s clearly got a heads of agreement with an WA club. Hopefully he gives his all for the club in the absence of Max and re-signs in the next few weeks.

Collingwood are so much better than last year it isn’t funny. - Easy remaining fixture. Play North, GWS, ESS, Adel, GC. - excellent record against the top 8 thus far - have a healthy list. - just look like a damn good team to be honest. Collingwood are playing finals this year.

I know it’s an obligation for a Melbourne supporter to hate on Essendon but I enjoyed their performance tonight. Credit to them. Saints didn’t come to play when it mattered.

With Collingwood a certainty to play finals, this loss by St Kilda could cost them a spot on in the finals. You can’t be losing to a bottom 3 side this far into the season.