Chook

Serious problems to address: 1. Midfield depth - Petracca and Oliver as our only guns is not enough; Viney is, to put it midly, "working his way into it", while Harmes is limited and not to be relied on 2. Forward structure - this is dictated a lot by how much time the ball spends in our back half (i.e., by point 1), but even when we win the ball the player with possession rarely seems to know who to kick it to, because there's no one there demanding the football. I think we could possibly win a premiership this year if Oliver and Petracca go gangbusters in September, but it's not sustainable because it's a reliance on too few in that area. When they're down or outworked, we'll lose because we simply need to get it inside 50 a lot in order score because of point 2. As for point 2 - please can we pick the Coleman medallist sitting on our list?

It's pretty clear this is not our best mix. Goody, give me Wiedeman if you want Brown to build his game in the VFL, that's fine. Just give me someone with a bit of height and forward craft.

This is a Petracca, Oliver, Viney problem for sure. Still think Brown would straighten us up and give some purpose to our forward entries.

Lazy performance from our midfielders, and terrible non-Brown selection by the coaching panel has us in a situation where we just cannot score, regardless of how good our defensive running, structure and personnel are.

Get Brown in please and thank you.

The working week just feels shorter with TNF. I like it.

When was the last non-danger game we had?

Isn't it the exact same feed?

In one of the early seasons of the Brady Bunch, Greg Brady the oldest son graduates junior high school and becomes a middle schooler. Immediately he rankles at any suggestion he's a kid and goes to great pains to highlight how "mature" he is, and how everyone needs to respect him. A few years later, he hits he final year of high school and learns what it really means to be a young man. He has grown up and no longer gets so sensitive because he is now really a young adult instead of just pretending to be one. I feel like the Melbourne Football Club is a bit like Greg Brady this year. We know what we are, and we don't need to prove it to anyone. Or to put it a different way:

With regard to COVID in 2021, I'd love for the media to ban the word crisis in favour of the word situation. 2020 was a crisis. This is nothing compared to that.

Imagine coming into a finals series knowing we've beaten 2/3 other top 4 sides twice. 'Twould be nice.

No clearances though. He did get back off the mark well, though perhaps overdid it at times, especially when kicking for goal.

Classy goal from Nev Jetta receiving from Vandenberg. Vanders is a smoky for AFL yet this year.

Makes that a 5th with an over the top receive from Vandenberg. The running power of McDonald and Brown will be hard to stop, although Brown should stay pretty deep most of the time to provide a leading target.

Brown marks another on the lead and converts. Is that 5 now for him? EDIT: 4 and a miss he would normally kick.

45 degrees, 40 out on the right hand side looking at the goals I'd say. Umpire did not move.

Essendon supporters are the absolute worst. Anyone remember this classless display?

I could see Fritsch out, Ben Brown in. But equally, Fritsch kicked 6 when Brown was in, so he would really benefit from not being the 2nd biggest target. I think our best structure includes 2 talls based on the ridiculous kicking into the forward 50 we saw tonight (putting it on Spargo's head won't win a Grand Final).

The heat on Oliver in this thread is quite unexpected. 3rd best on ground for us after May and Langdon IMO.

I was 50/50 on whether I wanted to see Brown back. I was curious as to what our small forward line setup would look like, but it's pretty clear we've gotten used to the 2 tall setup, and we're playing as if we're expecting McDonald to be there for the long kick in, when he's busy running up and down the ground. Brown in next week regardless of the result for mine.

What's the result if we beat everyone in the 8 but lose 2 games to lowly cellar dwellers (not that that would ever happen this season).

This game really feels like the first of a new era. Goodwin’s 100th game, top of the ladder but coming off a loss, after a week off to reset. A talisman of the club in Viney back in for the first time in a while, on our home deck after a month on the road, playing a team that could easily scalp us. So many factors at play. Are we just early season front runners, or are we in this thing for the long haul. Tonight will tell us all so much, and set this club on one of two very different paths I feel, depending on the outcome.

Viney is a force of nature and Ben Brown is a sideshow, bub.

In case you're being sarcastic, Gary gave us Neeld.