Bring-Back-Powell

It’s 35-21 marks Port’s way.

The first bounce was Gawn, Petracca, Oliver and Pickett. Pickett and Hopper were manned up on each other.

Mollison umpired the Adelaide V Melbourne debacle but unsure whether he was the one that paid the incorrect call.

I can handle getting done if tonight if we lose fair and square and Port outscore us by 8-10 scoring shots, as disappointing as that would be. What I can't handle is if they win say 12.6 to 8.15 and we've literally kicked ourselves out of another game. We need to respect our set shots way more than we have of late, eg - Fritsch missing a set shot around the body from 15-20 out last week as well as Pertacca missing a 40 mtr shot directly in front. I think the winner scores no more than 12 goals tonight.

Strong possibility it will be Darcy or JB. Probably Hamish as the other. We'll also be blessed with Timmy Watson's young son in the special comments booth.

Agreed. We're 7-3 when favorites We're 5-0 when outsiders (St Kilda, GWS, Richmond, Dogs and Brisbane)

Was this cut and pasted from the Port V Melbourne 2018 game day thread?

There is a direct correlation between the quality of opposition and/or what they've done in the previous weeks and our mindset and overall performance for the game. Fremantle win - Freo were the buzz team of the summer and were expecting to be a finals contender. We were up for this game as they effectively knocked us out of the finals last year. St Kilda win - massive things were expected of St Kilda this year and they had a gusty round 1 win over GWS in the wet. GWS win - GWS were coming off a terrible listless loss over Freo. Our poor first half reflected complacency. We ran over them in the second half mainly due to GWS copping 4 injuries. This could've easily been our first loss of the year. Geelong win - Geelong were clearly a flag contender at the time (still are) and we were ready for them from the opening bounce. One of our rare 4 quarter efforts for the year. Hawthorn win - Poor first half which correlated with a 1-3 opposition who were tipped to finish bottom 2. To our credit we were much better in the second half but certainly not a solid 4 qtr performance. Richmond win - Were up and about against the latest dynasty club who just came off a 15 goal win over St Kilda and we treated this game like a final accordingly. North win - Just expected to stroll through an entire game against a potential 0-22 side at the time. It was a lesson that has not been heeded against more recent encounters against bottom sides. Pathetic mindset that has plagued our losses this year. Sydney win - gutsy win against a very good 5-2 side that had just taken down Geelong. Carlton win - Carlton's previous 2 weeks had been a win over Essendon and a 5 goal blown lead against the Dogs. Out mindset was sufficient enough to beat a middle of the road side and kept them at arm's length for most of the day. Adelaide loss - Clearly took the reigning wooden spooners on a 4 game losing streak lightly. Dogs and Brisbane win - No explanation needed against a top 2 side and a club on a 7 game winning streak respectively Collingwood loss - Playing a bottom 3 side and simply took them lightly. Their recent form (2 close losses and a close win) and the Buckley resignation should've spelt warning signs though. Essendon win - Essendon were clearly the glamour side of the previous 6 weeks and we did what we needed to do. GWS loss - Playing a horribly inconsistent side who had just lost a shocker to Hawthorn. We could all tell we were off in the opening minutes. Port ?? - Playing a top 4 side that has gone 6-1 in their last 7 games. If history is any guide this year, we might get a favourable result.

I understand it's the pink lady game so maybe that had something to do with it being a twilight game?? An afternoon or night game would've made more sense.

Any reason why this games isn’t Saturday arvo considering there’s already another Saturday twilight game at the same time?

To replace Petty, or at least be on stand by. Saw the trainers attend to a hurt Petty in the second half of last week.

If Ben Brown fails to do anything in the next 4 week, he'll probably be our next full forward to experiment with.

Is it possible to lose this game but feel we're back on the right track? What if we lose 90 - 80 in a see-sawing game with the home town crowd getting them over the line? What if our clearance work and scoring improve significantly in a high scoring loss? It would be nice to read a post match thread after a loss, that isn't world ending like the others this year.

I like Jackson but how do you best utilise he and Gawn when our forward line is struggling to kick 8-9 goals a game. They must seriously rate Butters if he's coming into play off a 5 day break from the SANFL following a 10 week lay off. Hope he doesn't do to much damage. Hopefully is Boak is banged up off a 5 day break.

We may need to look at dropping either Gawn or Jackson this week to see if our forward line can function better as neither is doing anything up forward. Or as George on the podcast described it as an "abject failure". Clearly it's not going to be Gawn getting dropped.

Would be flabbergasted if they gave the Dees v Hawks the Friday night. Richmond V Brisbane would’ve been earmarked for Friday night since the fixture was released last summer. And I’d expect Melbourne V Bulldogs (round 21) would’ve been earmarked for Friday night since about round 5.

The Adelaide loss was our third most accurate scoreline of the year. The trouble with that game was that Adelaide kicked an unsustainable 15.6. Walker, Fogarty and Co couldn’t miss that day. Collingwood kicked 11.14 and outscored us by 7 shots. It was a genuinely deserved loss by the Dees. Last week was the game where our inaccuracy absolutely cost us a game of footy.

Let’s wait and see how the remainder of the season pans out to determine how valuable Williams is to this group, and specifically whether he can guide us through this flat patch.

Don't they always say that players struggle in their second game back from a lay off. Backing him in this week to a) play well and b) being an asset to our setup. If not, some tough decisions will need to be made, particularly getting our balance of midfielders right - eg Harmes or Jordon going out of the side at the expense of Viney who appears to have priority.

As much as I don't want to lose, is there any chance we can lose, but lose with some credibility. E.g. In the contest all night and go down by 6-12 points to a top 4 side in hostile territory. It would be a refreshing change to read in the post match thread that we had a red hot crack but were beaten by the better team on the night in front of their home crowd. Contrast that to the usual end of the world posts that we've read after our 3 losses so far.

Still sooking it up 2 years later after losing the captaincy??

Was a good stalwart for the Dees in his 3 games for the club.

If Daw can sort out our goal kicking woes then bring him in. It's demoralising watching the Gawns, the T Macs, the Petraccas, the Weidemans, the Picketts etc miss set shots week in week out, quarter in quarter out.

Not 100% against this idea. At least you'll know he'll get more than 4 possessions and 0 marks this time around. (or at least you'd hope!) However, would prefer a proven 60 goal a year forward to come in.

Why? He's the best set shot at the club and has kicked a tidy 42.20 over his career. We lost a game directly due to our disgraceful kicking for goal on the weekend. Wouldn't it be a good idea to address that issue and play someone who's competent around goals?