Bring-Back-Powell

Kozzie to come back via the 2’s. We don’t want to upset the chemistry of our forward line which is humming at the moment.

Good choice of sub. Was calling for this earlier in the week.

Anthony Hudson eloquently described tonight’s come from behind inspirational Bulldogs win over Carlton as this: “Such a Luke Beveridge performance” Can anyone here describe what a “Simon Goodwin performance” looks like?

Essendon and Carlton have both brought high pressure into their games after their week of scrutiny. Hopefully we can do the same and it will serve us well.

And not giving 1 second of playing time to a starting sub in a semi final while the opposition’s sub is instrumental in their game winning passage of play. The head coach should not be kicking own goals in a final.

Agree with this. Even though we went in favourites against North, something just didn’t feel right about that game - as you said it was probably the Marvel factor. We unequivocally play the MCG far better than Marvel, we have the wood over Gold Coast, GC are far less trustworthy than GWS whom we almost beat, and there’s also the “bounce back” effect” for clubs that have copped it from the media and fans. I still think it’s a tall order to win tomorrow.

Yes he played well in round 1 as a defender and I said I'd consider (not demand) him as a forward tomorrow seeing as though T Mac is in the side as defensive cover and you're not going to have a defence of May/Lever/Petty/T Mac. If T Mac wasn't in the side then I wouldn't consider Petty as a forward. JVR hasn't hit the scoreboard in any meaningful way in 8 of the last 9 games. As our nominal number 1 key forward I expect more output. EDIT - Lever is out, so clearly Petty won't be forward.

I don’t disagree with that but we’re entitled to expect a better return from JVR than 1 goal a game from his last 9. In fairness, he needs a reliable and experienced key forward to assist him but he won’t be getting that this year.

Agree with all you points aside from Salem. He's been fine to start the season. Petty's not a number 1 defender but was forced to play on Larkey and got beaten. With T Mac still in the side I'd consider Petty up forward due to he being one of the better contested marks in the side. And given our forward line is atrocious at the moment, we need to continually explore various options. Yes, JVR should be on notice but who else do we have? He's end to the 2024 season went under the radar (in a bad not good way) and he's followed that up with an extremely poor start to 2025. As in one of our worst to have played both games.

Melksham fits the sub role perfectly this weekend for where he’s at. Excellent selection.

Anything helps I guess. The defence should be far more organised with those two running the show.

2025 isn’t exactly shaping up to be a party for him.

If we’re dishing up Sunday’s effort 2 in every 3 weeks for the rest of the year and win 4 games for the year, then I think you definitely can.

In - May, Johnson, Melksham (sub) Out - Jefferson (inj), Lever (inj) Woewodin. I know Goodwin was confident that Lever would be ok for next week but he has a history of over promising on the injury front. The only positive about not having a first round draft pick this year is that winning games won't come at a cost. So if we do start 0-4 and finals are done and dusted, we can hopefully build as the season unfolds, accumulate some wins later in the season with the knowledge it won't cost us in the draft order, and then carry that momentum into next year (because we've sure carried our losing form from late last year into this year).

Hamish was interviewed on SEN a couple of weeks ago marketing this program. They were all done prior to the season starting.

He's also on AFL 360 tonight. His fortnighly segment. Did "Simon's final word" end up getting released last Sunday night (at home with a red wine and a spag bol) or was that a one off? Or saved only for positive performances?

A test for this week. I’d consider him as sub. If by some bizarre chance we’re in the game at 3 qtr time, I reckon he’d be a dangerous option coming into the game fresh.

I think he has a lot to offer in theory, but he didn't look ready on Sunday. One needs to also remember that he was dropped for 7 games in late 2023 before earning a recall in the Carlton semi. On a side note, this might surprise people but he's only kicked 3 goals (career best) once in his career.

Brilliant summary of last Sunday and the overall state of play.

Very concerning that: 1) We're still losing games with more inside 50's but getting spanked in inside 50's efficiency, which speaks to a dysfunctional forward line on the one hand, and a loose defensive unit on the other -admittedly we're missing our best defender. 2) As per last year, the effort, pressure and determination already appears to be conditional based off 2 games. The effort was chalk and cheese between round 1 and 2. I'm not as bullish as others that the returns of May, Windsor, Kozzie and McVee are going to be like waving the magic wand and all will be sunshine and lollypops. The return of a fully fit Oliver and Trac hasn't appeared to be that magic bullet we'd hoped for.

In last week’s injury report Selwyn hinted that Melksham will be available for selection this week. So there’s a chance he returns. We diabolically need to inject someone of his class into our forward like, albeit he alone isn’t going to change our fortunes.

100% agree. You should not be struggling for a seat on level 4 with a crowd of just 27K.

Be interesting to see how he goes on AFL 360 on Wednesday night during his fortnightly segment. He or the club has already appeared to have pulled the pin on Goody's final word with spaghetti bolognaise (assuming this was supposed to be a weekly segment). Couldn't muster up the effort to make the video and I don't blame him after such a disgraceful performance.

We haven’t lost to GC since the Easter weekend of 2014.

Looking forward to Simon’s sign off later tonight for some positive vibes. I’m thinking it’s a Spaghetti Marinara kind of night paired with a nice Reisling to compliment the creamy rather than tomato sauce.