DiscoStu17

Good old Kayo. Turned on the North - Freo match. Must be at least 4 - 5 people watching this, including me. Good on them for making it 4K. Took almost 5 minutes for it to lag this week. Now lag free for almost 10 minutes. Perhaps they could use that in their advertising?

Well, I did say last week that there was nothing to worry about. This week I will say that the doggies aren’t a bad side. Their defence, Jones included, made life difficult at times - Fritta won’t be an orphan in having a difficult game on them. Their attack threatened to get on top at times, and things were not perfect, but the intensity of this group will shock more sides than just the doggies this year. Our midfield was brutal and several of Viney’s tackles and attacks on the ball made me wince. Treloar looked like he wanted to tap out at one stage. Credit to him for staying on. I believe the doggies will be there at the pointy end of the season. I must admit that I did find it harsh to omit Shack and Tommo after last weeks game in the SCG soap dish, but TMAC and BBB along with Hore all had worthy games. Next up are the Mayblooms. Need to treat them seriously.

He’s probably still looking for correct weight.

They didn’t show it live, but did show it after the game. Possibly during the Max and Clarrie interview.

Gawn Viney Oliver May Billings Petracca

Maxy with the groundball get and spin! He is going to go bunta in the second half.

Not sure whether Kayo or the ARC has more issues. Maybe they’re from the same developer? Damn they’re both so slow! Lucky it’s in 4K.

BBB!!!

Sydney looked pretty reasonable last night. A lot like they did against us. Although I really think that we would’ve had the points on a dry day. We were 1st to the ball, most of the first half. Collingwood looked pretty poor under that kind of pressure. Looks like at least two clubs have pulled apart their weaknesses. Still no one has cleaned up Maynard. Hopefully won’t be long. Ess and Haw have both improved and will trouble a lot of teams this year. Don’t actually mind Ginnivan today. Normally can’t stand him. Odd. Can’t tell if my 4K TV is producing 4K with Kayo. It should be, but do I trust that Kayo has not just changed the label in the top right corner? It looks clear, but so does HD. Waiting for it to buffer for 5 minutes.

I’m really enjoying today’s matches. If only Briggs could run through Maynard in the last quarter…

Thought this was starting at 2pm? Probably thought it was going to be warmer. Or I just got it completely wrong?

I think that the umps should be advised before the game that running into Max is not on - I know it’s not the 1980s but giving a free away by throwing one of these nuisance players into the ground is well worth it IMHO. I also believe Max could run more aggressively into position and look at potential assailants. They are looking for a cheap shot and do not want 110+kg to run through them.

It might be a nice idea to have the opening round in the northern states, but the reality of the ball slipping around like an ice cube made the game very ordinary.They were just more used to the conditions. There were a few centre bounce infringements that were missed when Brodie stopped Max’s access to the ball. Geelong uses a similar system. Perhaps we should have a preseason camp in Sunshine Coast to get used to the slippery ball.

I might as well include, Max for the Brownlow, (it’s been too long since a ruckman won) Sanders, for the Rising Star – just heading out Windsor.

i’ll just leave this here Melbourne Bulldogs GWS Brisbane Port Adelaide Adelaide Collingwood Sydney Carlton St Kilda Geelong Gold Coast Fremantle Richmond Hawthorn Essendon North Melbourne West Coast

Something funny going on with AFL stats. I don’t think Harry has been 200cm since he was 18. I’m sure I have seen stats showing him to be 204cm and 106kg. I don’t think he’s shrunk. He does look a bit leaner this year than last, though we can never confirm. During the team huddles last night he looked quite a bit bigger than De Koning who is listed at 201cm. Who knows where the AFL are getting there figures from?

Windsor is freaking quick. I could watch that goal all day. There really is no substitute for speed. It makes the opposition nervous.

Not getting carried away just yet, but gee there are some good signs.

As long as we mark it in the square, no problem.

His first touch was a nice tap to Max. So 🤷‍♂️

At least they didn’t say, “millenia” 😳

(Sorry – just realised that I’ve gone into a bit of a rant. Might be a TLDR? In which case, just read the first sentence) There really isn’t anything to see here. We will get players back into the forward line. Looks like the training loads have pushed players to their limits. Better now than September. We have coverage for Max. Granted, it’s not as good as last year with Grundy, but it’s not too bad. Having reviewed the practice games and some of last years games, there are not many ruckmen that I would see as an upgrade to our list. And even some of them are getting a bit old. These are the players that I think consistently provide real value for their side in the ruck: McInerney, Goldstein, Darcy, Briggs, Stanley, Witts, Gawn, Nankervis, Marshall, Grundy, and English. Most of the rest are either forwards/utilities that spend little time in the ruck, or they are unproven, or they have some serious skill deficiencies. I would expect all of our backup talls (JVR, Schache, Verrall, Fullerton, TMac) to at least break even with other listed ruckmen. In any case, this is a non–issue while Max is fit and playing. But that is the same for all 18 clubs. Not many would be unchallenged with their main ruckman on the sidelines for an extended period. Even if Gary doesn’t rate them.

So they end with, - “ if they play close to their best football, they’ll be right up there. - Oh yeah.” As I’ve said before, I think that a lot of these commentators have some sort of recency bias. A lot of them have grown up in an era where Melbourne did not dominate. Even a lot of supporters are reticent to see signs of good team play. One-day, they will be correct in their predictions. But not this year.

It was great to see the boys back in match sim with some opposition today. Looked like just a switch up from training with a few nice passages of play interspersed with guys trying to bite off too much and making errors. Best to do that at this time of the year. Nice to see some of the uncapped players be given roles and for the most part show they can be slotted into the side when required. Probably just not 5 at a time. Nothing to worry about here - just business as usual for this year.

Sorry, who? I guess Stevie won’t have a gig at News Corp any time soon. They don’t even know who he is. 🤔