old55

I reckon that shows we were lucky to win vs Richmond. We should have won against Freo last week but we got out of jail against the Tigers.

Where can I see Centre Bounce Attendances? @WheeloRatings?

Really looking forward to next week. We played the brand we think wins finals last night and we're priming ourselves for September, unlike last year when we were broken and couldn't score. This match will be a good entree but not the main course. Don't forget that Collingwood failed in last year's finals too. Their method is not a proven finals product.

Agree we absolutely killed them everywhere except conversion. Yes McKay got the better of Tommo but that enabled May to murder Curnow and Lever to intercept. Joel Smith enabled JVR and Max to get clear up forward. All around it was a dominant performance. 27 shots from 59 i50s vs 16 from 39. That's a kill.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-01/afl-what-makes-a-good-kick-in-2023/102420562

Steven May could wheel him out in his wheelchair.

What did you have on your toast?

You left out Leo Tolstoy as an influence.

Ben Brown is an emergency. I do get it though, last year Goodwin was a clown for persisting with the flag heroes, this year he's a clown for not doing it.

HFC deserve a full whack. They screwed up all the way through.

And what did you say in 2021? "They finally started doing what I've been saying all along", "Happy to be wrong" or something about rugby?

I was looking at our younger brigade. We have a nice balance with all roles covered but I think we do lack star power there and that needs to be the focus of our drafting, trading and FA. We don't need more "good" young players, we need some stars. https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tp-melbourne-demons There's an age gap between Schache at 25y9m and Petty at 23y6m, we happen to have 22 listed players including Petty and younger: B: McVee Adams D.Turner HB: Bowey Petty D.Smith R: Verrall Sparrow Rivers C: Woewodin Jordon Howes HF: Spargo VanRooyen Chandler F: Sestan Jefferson Pickett I: K.Turner Faris-White Laurie Monis-Wakefield

I think Melbourne supporters are so used to having ordinary lists that when we finally get a good list with a smattering of genuine stars we're overwhelmed by its quality. We do have a very good list but it's not clearly the best list and expectations should be set accordingly. I think our age profile and quality suggests we should be able to win one or more flags with this list but it takes some luck and it's quite possible we won't win any more.

Thanks for at least making an attempt to describe an alternative path the AFL could have taken, rather than just saying they should have taken some nebulous "action". The problem with your suggestion is that the AFL couldn't compel all parties to participate. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-does-deal-with-families-to-end-hawthorn-investigation-20230530-p5dclq.html "The Hawks review was sparked by an interview in The Age in April last year with Hawks champion Cyril Rioli and his wife, Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli, in which they said they were poorly treated during Cyril’s playing career, and in which Shannyn said she was “belittled and humiliated”. The couple did not feature in the ABC report but later joined the players and partners known by pseudonyms Ian, Liam and Jacqui in making submissions to the AFL inquiry. The complainants, known by the pseudonyms Zac and Kylie, opted out of the AFL process, their legal representative questioning its independence." And AFAIK - Clarkson, Fagan and Burt would not appear before the AFL investigation or mediate until they received documentation from HFC, which ultimately amounted to 37,000 documents. The complainants did not agree to the release of this documentation because they believed it contained private and confidential information. I'm persuaded by conversations elsewhere on the topic that the best course of action for the AFL would have been to acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations and recommend to the complainants that they take the matter to the Australian Human Rights Commission - the most appropriate body to address the matter. I recognise that this would have been out of character for the AFL who always try to control the narrative and would have opened them up to erroneous criticisms that they "shirked responsibility" and more strident calls that they "threw Clarkson, Fagan and Burt under the bus". But it was the right thing to do.

Still growing?

You critiqued the AFL performance and I asked you what they could have done differently and you replied with some vague undefined "action". OK I accept that you don't know what they could have done differently

What "action"?

You haven't proposed what the AFL could have done differently.

I'm very keen to hear how the AFL could have handled this differently. The Hawthorn Football Club handed them a grenade with the pin out.

Ironic metaphor

Christian Petracca 5+3 or 4+4 = 8 Luke Jackson 5+3 or 4+4 = 8 Andrew Brayshaw 1+5 = 6 Hayden Young 3+0 = 3 Max Gawn 2+0 = 2 Angus Brayshaw 0+2 = 2 Jaeger O'Meara 0+1 = 1

I think we need some more size forward and back without sacrificing too much mobility. Joel Smith needs to come in forward to provide some further aerial contest and we won't lose any defensive capability. Chandler or Spargo out, probably Chandler. I watched TMac closely and he provided a good contest in the air and pressured well on the ground. Sure he can't win a ground ball but BBB isn't going to either. It's a pity they have both boiled over this year, one or two more years would have been handy, but it is what it is and TMac is the best bet at present with Van Rooyen. We also need more height in defence so we can free Lever to intercept. We've got McKay-Curnow, Cox-Mihocek(-McStay?), Hawkins-Cameron-Henry in the next 3 matches. Quire frankly if there were two Joel Smiths I'd bring him into the backline as well. The alternatives we have are Tomlinson, Daniel Turner or TMac back and BBB into the forward line. Tomlinson is not going to help with ground ball mobility in the backline, but it's a big ask for Disco to go with the array of forwards coming up. Nevertheless, looking to the future I'd go with him even though it will be a baptism of fire, we've got to pull that trigger sooner rather than later. McVee or Bowey comes out - I'd prefer to retain McVee of the two for size and grunt. That's unless Hibberd needs a week off for his Achilles, but for Disco's sake it would be handy to have Hibbo in the team to add support. I'd add that Salem has hit the ground running in his return and has been great in the contest, with him there we rely less on Bowey's kicking. Hunter will come back in - he and Langdon don't help us in the size department and that's partly why I think we need bolsters at either end. Harmes is the logical out, but it could just as easily be Gus - one of them will have to play midfield minutes. Gus has sacrificed his midfield game for team balance and flexibility, but now is the time to use him there with Oliver out. Harmes becomes sub - more erratic, but more dynamic than JJ. B: Hibberd May Lever HB: Salem D.Turner Rivers R: Gawn Brayshaw Viney M: Langdon Petracca Hunter HF: Neal-Bullen McDonald J.Smith F: Pickett VanRooyen Fritsch I: McVee Grundy Sparrow Spargo S: Harmes In: D.Turner Hunter J.Smith (Sub: Harmes) Out: Bowey Harmes Chandler (Sub: Jordon)

We've beaten them the last 7 times in a row back to 2017.

Well that post is the pudding. Most of the good posters I know don't bother to venture here after a loss like yesterday.

For the slow learners: Be positive all H&A, win the flag - universally happy Be angst-ridden all H&A, win the flag - momentarily happy Be positive all H&A, don't win the flag - mostly happy Be angst-ridden all H&A, don't win the flag - universally miserable