Bring-Back-Powell

If they can somehow avoid Collingwood at the G, then they’re a chance to win the flag. Only Geelong and to a lesser extent Brisbane stand in Collingwood’s way of this year’s flag IMO.

The difference between Collingwood and Melbourne’s depth is that Collingwood’s VFL regulars slot in seamlessly under a well coached and well oiled system while we certainly can’t say the same about our squad. Therefore, while Collingwood’s injury list is larger than ours both in quality and quantity, they have way better depth to cover their lnjuries.

Brisbane absolutely “Melbourned” that one. Adelaide have been impressive this year but I can’t see them knocking off Collingwood at the MCG on GF or prelim day and thus aren’t a contender for mine.

Is an elite shot at goal with a career 52.27. Would fit in well here.

I'm very pleased and excited to announce that our crisp accuracy of 7.7% (1.12) for the second half V St Kilda is officially our fourth worst conversion in a half of football in the history of our club. THE HISTORY OF OUR CLUB. We couldn't quite reach the lads effort back in 1907 (1.14) or the misfiring crew in 1979 against the Hawks (1.15) but it was still a mighty effort for our beloved 2025 group to hit the record books. (incidentally our 12.2 in the first half against Freo was our 15th most accurate half of footy, ever)

It's interesting that since 2022 we've been more than competitive against Brisbane at the GABBA which theoretically should be considered the hardest assignment in AFL football given the extreme talent and weather at Brisbane's disposal. We're 2-2 with a thumping win (2022), an inspirational win when we were $4.50 under dogs (2025), an extremely gallant and close loss when were out of form (2024) and the other game we came rattling home for a 9 point loss (2023). And yet against Collingwood....

Suffice to say that on my list of requested wins after the bye, the Carlton Saturday night game sits very high on the list. Every loss to them is torture because they always beat us by under a kick. For some reason when we play Carlton we either kick atrociously or they can't miss, or both.

So, Freo next year is now out of the question given they're speculating about an extension? I'm sure a few of us were coming to grips with counting down his games at the MFC at rounds 4 to 5 before he caught fire V Freo. I still can't see a way that he extends past his free agency so far in advance. Surely this ramps up in the off season of 2026/2027.

I hope the club has a word to the AFL and asks for this to never happen again. 4 weekends of no MFC footy in VIC is awful scheduling by the AFL. The pay off is that our last 7 games are in Melbourne but the scheduling is so uneven.

Games since 2022 that we've either kicked ourselves out of it and/or the oppo has had incredibly unsustainable accuracy. I suspect it doesn't compare favourably to other sides. Round 22 2022 - V Collingwood MCG Semi final 2022 - V Brisbane MCG Round 11 2023 V Freo MCG Round 16 2023 - V GWS Alice Round 22 2023 - V Carlton MCG Qual final 2023 - V Collingwood MCG Semi final 2023 - V Carlton MCG Round 9 2024 - V Carlton MCG Round 13 2024 - V Collingwood MCG Round 20 2024 V GWS MCG Round 12 2025 V St Kilda MCG I excluded the Hawthorn game the other week as they absolutely schooled us in the last quarter and they were far from accurate themselves. I think supporters overrated our performance that game. Odd that Carlton and Collingwood feature heavily on that list.

No idea to be honest. I'm guessing they take their shots on lesser angles than us and it helps having a sharp shooter in Larkey.

We should spend a day at Arden Street to solve our issues. North are not much good at anything but last year they were the most accurate team in the league and this year they’re the second most accurate, with only 1 game scoring more behinds than goals and that was 10.11 against Brisbane.

I’m hearing Jack Billings is a red hot chance to return this week, in response to our goal kicking woes.

In fairness Collingwood had as many players out as we did in round 24. One team wanted to end the season with some pride, and the other team just wanted the season to end. But yes, our accuracy has been disgusting against Collingwood recently.

JVR and Jefferson are theoretically our future 1-2 key forward punch and should be getting games together after the bye, in what’s clearly now a “reset” year. (It’s amazing how one loss can sink a season) Unfortunately they both played together V’s Hawthorn and it was a bit of a disaster. But we should persist with these two once finals are unofficially shot after Kings Bday.

Probably Elliott because he’s in such hot form but Hill would probably be a more suitable option for McVee.

I know it’s been suggested many times but it’s time Windsor ceases being a small defender. We can’t know for sure but it appeared as though he was manned up on Butler for much of the day who schooled him with 4 goals. Put your hand up if you thought at the start of the day that Dan Butler was going to kick 4 goals? He’ll likely spend some time on Bobby Hill this week given the in form McVee will take the in form Elliott. Windsor on Hill doesn’t take my fancy. Go and watch the Geelong win of last year and you’ll see what position he should be playing.

No chance we play 11 home games at the G. Two would be at Marvel with the Marvel tenants now begging for and the AFL granting them games at the MCG. That’s why our MCG home game allocation has reduced from 10 to 9 this year. That doesn’t change the fact that I want us out of this venue and have the home game transferred to Marvel with full awareness that it won’t be at the G. I keep thinking it’s ground hogs day when I sit down and watch an Alice Springs game - every time we put in a sloppy, careless, NIL attention to detail kind of performance full of arrogance and a complete disrespect to the opposition and the set shot.

A blessing in disguise IMO as it will force the club’s hand in bringing JVR back in the side whom we need to get going again. 5 or so games at Casey is plenty. Surely JVR will get more than 4 touches and 0.5 marks a game and provide just as much as AJ does in the ruck?

Get rid of it. It’s an absolute liability and a black hole in our fixture in terms of on field result and membership engagement ie -the rank and file not being able to attend a home game. Furthermore, there’s absolutely no home ground advantage feel about it. Sure you see the demon army up and about to the left of screen goals but there’s more than a healthy roar when the oppo kick a goal. St Kilda were distributed $3 million more than us last year from the AFL and some of that would be due to revenue forgone by not selling a home game. Sadly, and unless Guerra agrees with most of us, I think the game is engrained in the club and is a major part of our business and cultural model. Thus we’ll need to suck it up for at least the next 5 years.

It was only 12 months ago that JVR had a near career best game against Darcy Moore with 3 goals and 9 marks. Was an absolute shining light that day and looked like that genuine young key forward we’ve been crying out for. I’m glad he’ll back in the side. Far more upside and skill than AJ and now needs to be back in the side and work his way into form. AJ getting suspended is actually a good thing IMO.

Ch 10 news just then. Had a scan today. I think it will boil down to whether he’s prepared to play with the pain.

Melksham in doubt with an AC injury and technically Kozzie hasn’t been cleared yet of his gut punch yet.

Agreed. Maybe we could look at instead hosting an annual pre season fixture, spend a week up there in late Feb and net a $250K sponsorship, and then ask for an increased AFL distribution to recoup the shortfall. Play the 11th home game at Marvel. Yesterday was an immature performance against a team that shows up and plays solid footy 1 in every 3 weeks. The club should aim to win 5 of its last 10 games and end the season at a mediocre (but not embarrassing) 10-13.

At the time of the announcement I really liked what Ross Lyon and St Kilda did with respect to the conclusion of selling home games, and I like it even more now. St Kilda last year received $3 million more of AFL distribution than Melbourne did. Nathan Buckley, who knows a thing or two about the inner runnings of the AFL, suggested that the shortfall of NT sponsorship dollars that we would concede if we stopped the arrangement would be mostly or fully recouped in increased AFL distribution like St Kilda have received as a result of them not selling a game. The venue, city and occasion clearly does not work for us. The proof is in the pudding that Goodwin can’t motivate the players for this annual fixture, the players lose focus after kicking the opening 1 or 2 goals of the game (same thing happened against Freo last year), the dimensions for some reason don’t suit our game plan and the opposition seem to always bring their best footy. We’re also incredibly inaccurate. I hope our new CEO Guerra seriously considers a move out of Alice Springs and either forges a new home away from home where we can foster a genuine competitive advantage like Hawthorn do in Launceston, or we bring that 11th home game to Marvel (clearly it won’t be the MCG). It’s wonderful that we receive $1 million for a fixture that has sunk our 2024 season and and has probably also sunk our 2025 season.