Chook

Best game I've seen Sparrow play imo. Bowey has turned into an absolute jet. Petracca is just going. Oliver has fallen off a cliff.

Possibly my favourite player of all time. He reminds me a lot of myself, just taller and with more athletic ability. That probably comes of as self-absorbed (my favourite player is the one most like me). Oh well, we like who we like!

Van Rooyen and Fritsch out. Here we go boys and girls. Goody's gettin' serious.

Honestly nothing at this point. A lot of my excitement for Melbourne and AFL in general died on QF night in 2023. Windsor and Lingers get me going, so I guess I have a thing for wingers. More broadly, I'm at a point in my footballing cycle I call "hate supporting", where I'm ostensibly a Melbourne supporter but get no joy out of it. Last time this happened was when guys like Rhodan and Shannon Byrnes were running around for us.

I think Bevo's generally not an all-time coach by any means but for our list and coming off a robot like Goodwin he could actually be quite a good fit.

That paragon of football media, Paul Wheatley, I assume?

I didn't vote for the status quo, so at the very least this isn't my fault. It could have been worse if my people got in though. Most in the shadow cabinet never are willing to say that.

Incorrect. Every club that wins a premiership sacked their previous coach to do it. The only exception is handover arrangements, and we're in no position to do that.

Saw that too and thought it very odd.

Fitness. Half the side looks overweight. I suspect Selwyn holds them back more than he should. He's not really a high performance fitness coach.

Ed Langdon might not be playing quite like he did in 2021 but can't fault his effort and commitment tonight.

We have a small forward line, but a small forward line with Melksham and Fritsch means it isn't really going to be locking the ball in there.

Have to feel for Tom McDonald. An entire career playing dour defensive roles in garbage teams, with 3 good years of football in the middle there. At least he got that flag.

Finally we kick to a leading forward and it's…Langdon. OK then!

I think you can see the look of dejection on the players faces too. It's dawning on them what has already dawned on us: a long time in the wilderness beckons, and a lot of pain lies in our future. Like a sandcastle destroyed by the waves, the dynasty that could have been has been washed away, only to leave…this.