old55

It's not dislike of Fritsch at all, he's a talented player who has been important in wins this year. But if you want Brown in someone has to give and I think Brown for Fritsch and retain Sparrow is the preferable outcome. It's really Fritsch vs Sparrow. I think we need the midfield and forward pressure.

But that hurts our ability to run to defend and hurts our defensive abilty inside 50. Brown for Fritsch increases our contested marking capability inside 50 (Fritsch has 6 total for the season) and doesn't reduce our defensive capability. Sparrow was good against Essendon.

Is that similar to your predictions that Goodwin will be sacked by round 8 and Essendon will beat us by 37 points?

Sounds a bit like B.Brown's first year with us is a bit like S.May's

Brisbane and the Dogs just had glamour wins against apparent contenders - it's no surprise they're flavour of the month.

The weather looks poor on Saturday. Definitely not time for a tall in for a small out. Could well be no change.

Essendon - roadkill in the MFC 2021 rear vision mirror now.

How about Nev's goal and the players getting around him!

Look I wouldn't be pumping that up too much - it was against us and 8th vs 5th

Agree and we've effectively got an 9 week finals campaign starting with the R20 clash vs the Dogs (Dogs, Eagles, Crows, Cats, bye, finals) so we've got just 4 weeks to get set.

The stoner is right - $2 is even money

Titus https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-afl-round-fifteen2021 Essendon (57) v Umpires (68) The Bombers were cruising towards an enormous victory in this one, until the AFL hierarchy, who have been long involved in a conspiracy to destroy the Essendon Football Club, told the umpires to make sure Melbourne won.

Jones was great in that game but he's not going to play that role of #1 on-baller for MFC

It's B.Brown for Fritsch for me. I think Fritsch is a dangerous player who uses his smarts to get free, I also think he can play a negating role on medium intercept marking backs which is very valuable. He's a good player who has been key in some of our wins this year. But I think we need a contested marking target in our forward structure and something has to give. I don't want to go with one less mid to accommodate an extra tall. In the last quarter whenever Essendon had the ball on the back 50 I saw 4 MFC jumpers along the line of the centre square guarding the corridor and forcing them down the line. I think in the end that's why we won. That takes discipline and great running and I think we need the critical mass of mids to achieve it. Sparrow played limited minutes but had high impact for that time - he was involved in some great handball chains, tackles strongly and kicked a clutch goal - he stays in for me. Big finals are won in the contest - B.Brown offers more aerial contest deep inside 50 than Fritsch. They both have similar defensive profiles when the ball hits the ground and I think we can only afford one of that type. Fritsch would need to consistently kick more goals than B.Brown to make up for the lack of aerial contest and I don't think he can.

Did everything necessary today to keep his name in lights.

Well I think the player most likely to be out for a tall would have been Tom Sparrow and although he played limited 50% gametime I though he was very good and earned his keep. He seems to be getting up to the speed of the game and was very clean in some handball chains, laid 5 tackles and kicked an important goal.

For someone who loves to pump his own tyres about how often he's right you sure get a lot wrong. D for Dud?

That was a tremendous gutsy grinding win against a hot team with everything to play for. Go Demons!

Truly amazing - if we lose to all our top 4 competitors, we don't finish in the top 4.

Come on Demons - it's our time - bring the hammer down!

We used two last year so we're in credit.

As long as, unlike them, we win them!

Keep trading forward next year's first until we look like sinking back down the ladder in the 2030s rebuild

Great ruck depth, hope we re-contract him next year.

"Esserdun"