Bring-Back-Powell

Collingwood in 1991, Essendon in 1994, Adelaide in 1999 and Brisbane in 2005 come to minds as premiers that somehow missed the following finals series before the Dogs. Richmond also in 2021.

I get what you are saying in terms of hungry fans as we head into the 2022 season, but there's absolutely no blessing in the majority of diehard MFC members missing their side's first premiership live in 57 years.

Are they opening up the top level for this one or are all going to be crammed into the bottom level like last year.

Correct. Cameron was held to 2 that night while Daniher, Hipwood and McStay managed just 2 between them. Bailey kicked 4. For the record, I like bits and pieces of Smith's game and he was excellent against Adelaide late last year. A good depth player that may actually sneak into round 1 and never look back if all goes right for him. I guess my point is that he's not suited to your smart and crafty Charlie Cameron small forward types, rather a taller forward. The question is with Jetta gone, who takes the premier classy small forward from the opposition? Eg - Cameron, Papley, Shai Bolton etc...

Joel Smith is 11 cm taller than Cameron so from a height perspective, it was a poor match up. Smith was thrashed accordingly in that Brisbane final. The coaching staff need to consider who can take on Cameron in the 2 and possibly 3 times we play the contending Brisbane this year. Next time we'll be up against more fire power in Hipwood (who destroyed us in 2019) and McStay for more than a quarter. Therefore another 4 or 5 goals by Cameron may be way more costly next time as Daniher, McStay and Hipwood may also hit the scoreboard as well.

Have we ever had a Carlton player come to us in the last 40 years? Seems to be one way traffic going from Melbourne to Carlton eg - Spalding, Brock McLean, Chris Johnson etc...

100% agree. Another 2/3 year while we're in our window is key, and if he leaves after that, so be it. Our window's not going to be open forever.

Can’t wait to see the boys live for the first time since the GWS game. 27 degrees at bounce time. Watching our reigning premiers. What more do you want… Hopefully Fritta, Lever and Viney will be back and we can have a full dress rehearsal and hit the ground running for 16 March.

He was in Slobbo's top 20. I get that Fritsch can go missing in games and that almost a quarter of his goals came in 2 games. However it's stiff to overlook a player that kicked the second most goals in the league last year and kicked an incredible 6 in the biggest game of the year.

I thought Harmes was excellent yesterday with 3.1. Goal kicking midfielders are gold.

Was really good yesterday and was involved in many chains of play. Looks set for a big year and a highly valued member of the side. Lets hope money is not his sole priority in determining his future past this year.

Can definitely see Lever and Trac as the 2 obvious contenders for captains, but as they're the same age I suspect only one of these 2 will be the long term captain after Max relinquishes the gig and the other misses out. One of the key criteria of a captain is their communication skills through the media and the public and how they represent the club. That's why I couldn't believe D Martin was a supposed contender to captain Richmond and why Oliver would probably never captain our club. Being a captain is more than leading by example on the field. Both Lever and Trac handle themselves brilliantly and are natural public speakers.

It’s a quick turnaround considering he did his knee in May last year. A lot of players take the full 12 months until they play another AFL game, eg- Lever.

49,995 tops. Wednesday night. Dogs supporters won't turn up. People still hesitant to attend public events.

I heard that Jack Darling's mum in law is a high profile anti vax campaigner so he probably never stood a chance in regards to making a well considered and informed decision.

I get the need to have a 7 day break into the Carlton AAMI game, but it would've been great to have this match as a double header leading into the Melb/North AFLW game on Saturday night. Hopefully the club's website will show a full replay on Thursday night.

A little surprised we're going in as favourites given we're on the road against a good side (albeit one that hasn't beaten anyone of quality this year)

I was thinking that if it came down to prioritising Brayshaw or Harmes, we’d clearly spend our money on Gus. Only to find out Harmes still has 3 years left on his contract.

Not sure I understand you’re last paragraph in reference to a surreal experience that probably won’t be replicated. Are you suggesting that the next flag (if we win another) won’t be as special as 2021? Or are you suggesting that the nature of the win was surreal with respect to 16 goals to 3 in the second half. I reckon there will be 30,000 Victorian based MFC supporters that would find winning a flag live at the G better than having to watch their clubs first premiership in 57 years in lockdown with sub standard channel 7 commentators.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a mutual parting at the end of the year if Gus plays another year on the wing. (And I hope he doesn’t play inside as that would likely mean that Trac or Clarry are missing games) He’ll point out (and sell to other clubs) that he plays his best footy inside the centre square as evidenced by a 37 possession 3 goal game against Adelaide in 2018, or the clinic he and Gawn put on in a devastating third quarter against the Dogs later that year. We need to save our money for generational game changing players such as Oliver and Jackson who are out of contract soon, not spend the farm on solid role players such as the one Brayshaw has come. We can’t keep all our premiership heroes.

And hopefully we'll be able to attend games in August/September this year.

Going to watch the GF for the 4th time this coming weekend. Only watched the prelim once in full. Poor numbers I know. And yet I've watched the Freo, St Kilda, Richmond, Geelong (first time) Sydney wins at least 7 or 8 times.

Adam Schneider was recently referred to as an AFL “legend”. The accolades really get thrown around loosely.

Before I reading this I would’ve said Petty was arguably the most replaceable player in the Premiership side aside from say Sparrow. Perhaps not after all.

Just win one at the G fellas.