Bring-Back-Powell

Agree with that. Their only tall is McKernan who I rate and killed us last year with 4 goals despite playing out the game with a pinged hammy. Certainly a lot shorter than Carlton's fwd line, but Stringer, McDonald-Tippa, Smith and Fantasia (if selected) will provide a handful. Therefore next week might not be the week to bring back O Mac because they ain't dropping Lever or May. On the flip side, we may need to go for some height up forward as Hooker and Hurley could mark everything given our sub-parinside 50 entries. Maybe bring in Weed and retain Jackson or drop Jackson to also include Brown.

I can't fathom how anyone would even contemplate dropping Hunt. He was in our top 5 for the day. Kicked 3 goals, made a classical lead and took the resultant mark like a genuine full forward because of his explosive pace. No one else seems capable of doing this in our forward line aside from Fritsch who can't hit the side of a barn at the moment. And as you mentioned, put in some important 1 per centers including a crucial late game tackle and shepherding that long Petracca goal in the third quarter. We must persist with him as he some fantastic attributes as a modern day forward eg- explosive off the mark and a reliable kick for goal. Meanwhile I reckon Melkham's in trouble and probably would have been discussion after round 1 whether he retained his spot. I'd back him in one more week as he's a gun on his day.

I would think Shiel also needs attention. Come to think of it Essendon have traded really well over the last couple of years with the likes of Stringer, Smith, Shiel and Saad. I wrote them off at the start of the season due to their off season surgeries but the COVID 19 period has worked well in their favour. They will probably play finals.

Fritsch needs to also take responsibility for his performance. Has kicked 1.6 this season. Missed way too many set shots and undid his excellent contested marking on Saturday - particularly the grab he took to boot the "winning" point. We'd all be celebrating his performance if he kicked 4.1 not 1.4. I'm happy for him to keep playing full forward as 5 scoring shots justifies his position deep in the fwd line. Just needs to start converting.

I'd be more confident if this game were at Marvel as we usually beat them there, while at the G they're too fast for us. They've beaten us the last 3 times there. Ins - Pickett, Weidman, O Mac Outs - Jackson, Smith, ANB Pickett for ANB although Jones and particularly Melksham should be dropped based on their poor starts to the season. Melksham hasn't played well since getting injured in round 8 last year. O Mac for Smith is obvious. Smith was an obvious liability as he directly cost us 2-3 goals. Either play him forward or don't play him. The Jackson inclusion didn't work in terms of having a cohesive forward line after half time. Weideman needs to come in and hopefully T Mac will benefit from having a more experienced co-key forward. I hope Bennell's minutes increase this week. I'd imagine him playing just 50% of game time wouldn't be helping our overall rotations, although Carlton lost a bloke early and ran the game out far better,

And the same question for AFL members?

Is it possible T Mac cracked the sads that his bother got omitted and hence came in with a poor attitude?

Melbourne don’t win that game without Petracca - Jason Dunstall on fox footy. Hats off to Petracca on a magnificent performance. He’s approaching gun status.

Problem is we don’t seem like the sort of club that learns from their performances.

Fritsch is a terrible set shot as I mentioned here during the COVID break. Has kicked 1.6 to start the season. Really needs to work on his accuracy If he’s going to make it as a genuine player in this league. Melksham needs a rocket in him or else he’ll be kicking off the dew Hibberd. Another unsatisfying win.

I heard a few weeks ago that the roof will be closed for most if not all games at Marvel. Expecting it to be closed today.

As he should. We lack goal kicking avenues up forward and Hunt proved himself to be a handy goal kicker for a lot of last year. Anyone remember the winning goal he kicked last year in the same game from outside 50? Its forward or bust for Hunt IMO.

Jon Ralph - 7:10pm, Fox footy pre game show - 12 June 2020.

Peter Gordon’s current stance is a disgrace and hypocrisy at its worst if you ask me. This is the club that has rattled tins on and off since the late 80’s, almost got taken over by a now perished club, accidentally won a flag way before their time and are now leveraging that 5 minutes of success to look down at a few VIC clubs that have a slightly weaker balance sheet than his mob.

I’m still trying to work out the blockbuster trade of 2 first round draft picks for a player that quite frankly has done bugger all since he’s crossed over. But that’s a story for another day.

Luke Jackson to play as a defender tomorrow. Sauce - Gerard Healy who know Jones well. My question is why not just play O Mac on one of Casboult, McKay or McGovern?

Or you could provide the answer...

Kennett won me over the other day when he declared that neither he or his board would be attending the Hawks game this week - whilst the rank and file were unable to attend. He makes a point here but it’s hard to cop as a supporter of an also ran. A part of me wishes he took over the MFC presidency in 2013. And Peter Gordon gives me the [censored] when he talks down at clubs. Just remember Pete, you almost got taken over by Fitzroy in 1989 - FITZROY of all clubs!! You probably should’nt throw stones at glass houses.

Will we have special dispensation to bring someone in that’s outside the listed 26? Say O Mac who could release Smith as a forward or Lockhart who could potentially play as a small forward?

Handy out. Kicked 3 goals/10 marks the last time we played them.

Gotta hand it to Spargo. Puts in a round 1 performance at a level not seen since Isaac Weetra circa 2008. Then coerced our premier albeit young small forward into attending a house party via an Uber during pandemic - hence robbing us a key piece of the puzzle in somehow jagging our first win in 11 months. I don’t think we’ll be seeing young Charles for a number of weeks.

Did anyone else breathe a massive sigh of relief that one of the players was Spargo?

Agreed. Hibberd stays in and Lockhart is unlucky because Salem returns. Lockhart hopefully has a bright future while Hibberd is well past his peak. However, I feel as though we need to keep a good balance between rookies and second year players (Kozzie, Rivers, Jackson and J Smith who is still inexperienced) and the importance of having plenty of seniority. If we're cooked by August, then yes you play a Lockhart ahead of a Hibberd or even a Jetta.

Bit harsh on Lockhart having a stinker. Spargo, Brown, Melksham, Fritsch, ANB, Gawn, Brayshaw, Oliver, Bedford and Jetta all had stinkers. Lockhart had a good crack I thought.

Valid point about us breaking even after quarter time, so from that perspective it wasn't "putrid". The thing that concerned me was that the other day I watched Queens birthday last year where our skills hit rock bottom that day. Then compare that to round 1 2020 and our skill level was generally just as bad. How can we expect our skill level to improve dramatically from round 1 to Saturday? If it doesn't we'll likely be 0-2.