Bring-Back-Powell

Round 23 2018 V GWS and then week 1 2018 elimination final was peak James Harmes. I think he polled 8-10 coaches votes in both games. Not surprising he signed a long term contract in 2019 given he was at the peak of his form.

And Sam Walsh who destroyed us in the semi final and did what he liked. In a perfect world, Harmes keeps Butters to 20 and 1 goal instead of 40 and 2 in round 10 and we win. He also prevents Walsh from getting that early goal in the last quarter and snuffing out Carlton's early last quarter burst. However, the club doesn't tag/run with and thus there was no role or future for a below average skilled player in Harmes.

It reckon it will either be Sydney taking on his full salary or we pay a bit of his salary and receive a good draft pick. It won't be both. I'd imagine Sydney have asked us to pay a significant portion of his salary and have offered us a pick in the 40's or 50's.

Given his recent form in the AFL, I’m surprised it wasn’t a fourth rounder. Not a bad trade.

And yet they had no issue playing Kozchitzke at Box Hill for half the season. No chance he is worth pick 25.

Or how about the media be clear and concise in their communication to the public. One section are saying that he has personal issues that require him to come home while others are saying that he wants to specifically play for Collingwood. If he has personal issues that require him to come home, then why is he only nominating the one club? Wouldn't he have a list of Melbourne based clubs that he would like to play for as a contingency plan rather than putting all his eggs in the Collingwood basket who may not be able to satisfy Fremantle with a trade. So again, I ask is he coming to Melbourne due to personal reasons, or does he want to play for a team right in the flag window?

Schultz wants to come home because he’s desperately home sick. He’s also demanding to play for Collingwood. So which is it? Is he home sick or does he want to play for Collingwood? (Welcome to the modern day player)

Would have liked him to have played the Carlton semi final given we were missing goal kicking avenues in Petty, Melksham and JVR (who kicked a combined 14 goals between them against Richmond). I would also like him to go on, but there has to be some confidence from both parties that his knee will hold up next year rather then spending half the season in the medical room. Multiple posters in the B&F thread were apparently told he will be playing on.

I didn't like the comments much because I don't agree with them. We are not better than them. Maybe if the qualifying final was played on a Champion data spreadsheet, we were the better team, but the facts are we lost the game because Collingwood came out harder, focussed and were more ferocious at the contest in the first quarter. They also consolidated their lead in the so called premiership quarter with a 4 goal to 2 quarter. We've lost to Collingwood 7 of the 9 last meetings. Since round 1 2022, Collingwood have a 38-13 record compared to our 32-17, and have beaten us 3 out of 4 times. I've been struggling all weekend to comprehend on what basis Melbourne is better than Collingwood like so many posters are claiming we are.

Any player that has managed a 5 goal/30 possession game requires consideration.

I don’t want to come across as greedy but I’m expecting Shane to kick something close to 23 goals in his first 3 game for Melbourne, just like uncle Adrian did in 1993 for North.

Zanker has been out of this world clutch today.

Do people genuinely believe we’re a better side than Collingwood? Like honestly believe that 7 times out of 10 we’d beat them, right here, right now.

Agreed, he shouldn’t get booed. Can’t blame the guy for seeking better opportunities. And given some MFC supporters were actively cheering on Luke Jackson in our loss to Fremantle last year, I don’t think there’ll be any booing issues for JJ.

I can’t seem to locate May’s speech on the website. Was it that profanity laced?

Nice scoop. Hopefully he can have a bit of luck with his knee as we chronically need a forward that doesn’t let us down in front of goal.

Has Goody done his speech yet? He usually sounds pretty refreshed at these nights.

I actually thought the post that preceded the park bench gag was even funnier.

McAdam for JJ’s compo pick would be a good outcome. Be interesting to see if he starts round 1 or is made to earn his spot.

I'd like the following to not occur which seem to have plagued our fixtures of late: Not to travel in the final round. Reduce our non Gather Round interstate fixtures from 7 to 6. Not to play Geelong on a Thursday night in Geelong. Not to play Geelong in Geelong, period. None of this 10 day break nonsense after Kings B'day. Give us a proper bye A 7 day break post Alice Springs. Not 6 days as per last 2 years. No back to back travel either before or after Gather Round. No 4 week absence from the MCG which occurred in the second half of 2022. Not a previous issue, but not to play GC in Darwin, but I fear our turn will come soon. Other than that I don't think our 2022 and 2023 fixtures were overly disastrous and unfair.

Yeah I like the Sunday 1:10pm games. Game is over by 3:45pm and you've still got the late afternoon/early evening to do stuff after. Also hoping for more Saturday 1:45pm/2:10pm games.

I wonder who's ahead in the depth chart and in line for a game if Max goes down - Schache or Fullarton.

His best game from a statistical point of view was a 15 possession/5 mark/1 goal game in a loss to Hawthorn in round 20 2021. His last AFL game was incidentally against us in that 2022 semi final. Probably played well too given their entire team played inspired footy against us in the second half.

I strangely remember that post you made about Smith back in 2019. I certainly remember the Brisbane pre season game where Smith went bananas on 1 leg.

Lever did his knee at Marvel against the Dogs in 2018.