Bring-Back-Powell

Hopefully not Chaplin.

Win this and we're well and truly back in the hunt. The 8th place side (Adel, Port or Freo) could very well be 5-5 while we'd be 4-6. Makes last week even more frustrating as we could've been nearly 8th if we win this week. Still, will be a tough assignment with GWS near full strength while we've made no inroads with our injuries, and infact could be worse off with our concussion victims. Speculation of Lever possibly returning is surely nonsense. 7 possessions after 12 months out of the game would suggest he's not ready.

If they go ultra conservative with the concussions and rest all 3 players then we've got the following to choose from. Lewis Lever C Wagner Sparrow Preuss Keilty Chandler Jordon Maynard Lewis and Preuss would be the first 2 selected, however they'd then have to choose from one of Lever. Wagner, Sparrow, Keilty, Chandler, Jordon or Maynard. Really scraping the barrel there and you could then possibly understand them choosing Lever out of necessity. Though you'd suspect they'll still stick to the plan of Lever playing a few weeks in the VFL.

A win this week vs GWS changes the course of the season. Port or Freo will likely be clinging to 8th (5-5) and we’ll be 4-6 and right in this thing. Its been a terrible start to the season but a win this week will largely make up for it.

Brilliant pre game speech by his Dad. Has coach written all over him.

Probably one of the most enjoyable days at the footy as a Melbourne supporter knowing we were finally in the finals and at the sane time beating up on a contender.

Fritsch probably needs to be dropped after one too many poor games this year and/or that serious lack or effort in trying to go with Liam Ryan in the lead up to that screamer. I wonder if his omission from the prelim last year has rocked his confidence. He was good player last year. He isn't this year.

I know it's a tiny sample space but May did a good job on Eric Hipwood in JLT 2 which gives us hope that he is actually that key position lockdown we need.

My response to the thread was that I can think we can be rest assured the umpires don’t have it in for us specifically. We got the great rub of the green vs GC last week. I take your point that the standard of umpiring is down a bit this year.

Pretty sure every supporter from every club has started a thread like this. Umpires go at 85% accuracy and we copped a couple of unlucky ones in the last. They’re not robots, they’re humans who make mistakes, just like players. Get over it.

Gws going all 186 on Carlton.

No way they’re going to take the captaincy off Viney unless he doesn’t want it. Gawn will replace Jones as co-captain next year and Lever will be at the very least a co-captain in a few years if his knee holds up. Lever reeks of leadership.

And why are teams kicking so accurately against us? That’s hurting us just as much. In 4 of the last 5 weeks, the opposition has managed to kick single digit behinds. We have the most accurate ‘against’ score in the league if that makes sense.

Why are sides so accurate against us?

I'm a bit the opposite. Would prefer Essendon to beat Freo and have as many teams on 4-5 as possible. Remarkably, if we lose to West Coast and GWS but knock off Adelaide in Darwin, the ladder could look like this after round 11: Fremantle 5-6 (8th) --------------------------- Hawthorn 5-6 Port 5-6 Essendon 5-6 St Kilda 5-6 Bulldogs 4-7 North Melb 4-7 Melbourne 4-7. We could still be in this thing despite losing 2 of our next 3 games.

I've never seen him play but he reminds me a bit of Dean Kent.

Any idea what position we can expect him to play? Wing?

As WJ alluded to in his preview, teams seem to kick very accurately against us, particularly late in the game. Some example of clubs kicking accuratly against us: Geelong - 20.6 Essendon - 20.10 St Kilda - 15.5 Hawthorn - 11.8 GC - 9.6 Teams have kicked a combined 110.75 (59%) against us which is the most accurate in the comp. Contrast that to Adelaide who's opponents have kicked a combined 73.97 (43%) which is the least accurate. If Eagles kick a score of say 16.5 tonight, you'd have to wonder if it's more than a coincidence that the opposition are kicking straight against us.

Willie Rioli playing limited minutes in his come back game. Show’s what West Coast think of their opponents when they can afford this kind of luxury.

Stating to think he’s now only insurance for Gawn.

I'm not prepared to write off the season if we lose. Fremantle, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, St Kilda are all projected to lose and if so they'll all be 4-5. Even with Essendon beating Freo they'll be only 4-5. Port will beat GC at home this week but have to travel to Launceston the week after and could be 5-5 after round 10. If we beat GWS we'll be 4-6 and in the thick of things. Yes percentage is a problem but if we start winning games it will obviously improve. GWS next will be our season on the line.

How much are flights for this one? $1,500 one way from Melbourne via Helsinki like last September? Will Jetstar again put on an additional $300 one way flight that gets you there 3 hours after the games starts? A 3-4 goal loss is probably the best we can hope for given the depleted side we will taking over for football's toughest assignment behind Geelong at GMHBA stadium.

Hogan missed just the 2 games with a busted collarbone in 2017. I’ll take their word on that one. I hope Melksham’s 4-5 weeks is actually 4-5 weeks.

I understand the club is prioritising AFLX 3 and treating the home and away season as a form of experimentation - hence the 3-5 start to the season.

You know it’s a scoring crisis when barely any losing side scores 80 plus points this year.