Bring-Back-Powell

Agreed. People need to get their heads around the fact that it's not 2021 anymore. Apparently our defensive pressure which was the hall mark of last year has gone from elite to mid table or worse.

Looking forward to a comment from Caroline Wilson in regards to the crowd of 21,000 tonight, in which the home side has the most members in the AFL. This is the same Wilson who bagged Melbourne for getting 29,000 against Freo, which was the highest ever crowd between those two sides at the MCG.

Is Jackson a certainty to make the 22 given he’s named on the bench, hasn’t played a decent game since round 2 and is averaging 2 marks a game since round 6/Anzac Eve?

Hasn't seemed to have worked.

Mihocek in a bit of doubt with bone bruising in the knee. I think he kicked 4 against us last year.

Any chance we can do a Geelong this week and beat a mid range team with multiple best 22 players out in addition to losing a gun defender mid game, without its defensive structure falling to pieces, and produce a character building win?

I didn’t study Tomlinson’s game in depth last week but all of Sam Reid’s goals came in the first half, so he was able to do a reasonable job on him in the second half. Or am I giving him too much credit? Tomlinson played well in the early rounds of 2021 and 2022 as a key defender but May played in all those games.

Don’t hold your breath mate. He’s been garbage this year.

If we lose Monday, the Melb V Bris game could go from 40K (if we we’re 13-0 OR 12-1) to 25K. I expect the crowd on Monday will be low 70’s which is of not help to our back account.

He played in the most recent one in 2019.

Can't imagine Mrs Melksham would be overly thrilled with his behaviour.

I'd say May's tummy isn't the only one that's full going by the past 2 weeks.

I initially thought it was Clayton Oliver who was suspended when afl.com.au went with the headline "Gun Dee suspended" and Oliver was in the photo next to May.

And yet DeGoey lands himself in a New York clink and Collingwood don't suspend him from any games.

Maybe we're just not good enough at the moment. 2/2 tests failed at the home of footy. If we lose to the Pies can we stop blaming loading and just declare that the 2022 Demons are not as good as the 2021 version?

I thought the Freo crowd was a good effort considering the timeslot and lack of Freo numbers in general (although they'll start to get a big fan base if they win a flag). Caroline Wilson was off the mark to express concern with the number of 29K. The Sydney crowd was a real let down. Marquee timeslot, no community sport to contend with, two top 8 sides etc...

Did not Carlton V Sydney get about 45K in addition to the two you referred to?

They should’ve gotten more than last year’s game given we have a premiership under the belt this time around.

I don’t think we would’ve won the flag last year if the finals were at the G, if our form there was a strong guide. In the second half of the year we had poor/average wins over Essendon and Adelaide, somehow drew against lowly Hawthorn and got done against the Dogs and were extremely poor against the underdog GWS. Meanwhile our best regular season wins were against the Dogs, Brisbane, Geelong,l and Port - all away from the G. I think there’s something in this, given we’ve dropped our 2 biggest tests of the year at the home of footy.

Who do we hope wins out of Freo or Brisbane? Do we hope Brisbane wins and therefore get 2 games clear of 3rd place but be equal on points with Brisbane? Or do we hope Freo wins and we get a game clear on top but be only one win clear of third. I would suggest the former as it’s more critical to finish 2nd over 3rd rather than finishing 1st over second.

Gerard Healy just mentioned (on the Fox Footy pre game show) something about Mitch Brown possibly getting an opportunity tonight. Sounds like this T Mac out rumour has been leaked far and wide.

Yeah in fairness last years night game followed a 20 degree day, and although it drizzled throughout that game, the weather is far worse today. Hopefully they get in the low 30’s at worst, when accounting for the average weather.

We got 35,000 to the corresponding Saturday night match last year against Sydney. Anything less than 30K would be a failure. A big mid season Saturday night game against a side that always draws a crowd down in Melbourne really requires at least 40,000 if we’re to be considered a big Melbourne club.

Looking for big games from Jackson and BBB.

Absolute full credit to Geelong tonight. Lost their best defender and arguably best player in Stewart which could’ve had the potential to destabilise their structure and had 5 of their best 22 out. Not to mention they had their big lead pegged back but had the character to hold on and never give up.