seventyfour

I couldn't care less about Victoria. I only care about players who represent the red and blue. What does it even achieve? A few hours of entertainment during the season. Then back to the proper AFL season... The All-Star games in NFL and NBA have become a joke. The NRL is one of the few surviving leagues to have a strong all-star or stage-of-origin game, but they have a consistent legacy and only two states competing, hence a massive rivalry.

Been off for weeks

How is Oliver just jogging around barely a minute into the third quarter?

Jefferson had a exciting moment 15 seconds into his first game. I haven't seen anything exciting since. Really disappointing.

We lost a mid sized defender and a key forward. We didn't really have other options.

KFW and Bradtke were Forwards/Centers in basketball, usually stiffer athletes who use their height rather than movement and don't play as primary ball handlers. Berry is a guard, the position requires a lot more movement and skills with and without the ball in hand. Two of his brothers are punters in NFL and College Football, so there is clearly family pedigree when it comes to foot skills. KFW and Bradtke were much more onthe raw-with-upside due to their height. Berry seems more likely to have a chance.

Most of the time they will be. Have to be out of AFL systems for 3+ years. Not sure how many other sports would be relevant. Despite the way it ended, Joel Smith was a very serviceable player for us. Played the sub role incredibly well in 2023, could've been a Grand Final sub had injuries not gone against us. Hope Oscar could be the same. Cat B list spots can't be filled by any other types of players, so we're not taking some list spot that a kid or established AFL player could take. Would be on dirt low money too.

Yes, was in rehab almost all preseason

After this week we don't leave Melbourne again for the rest of the year. If we were competitive, we'd be excited about the opportunity. Our fixture last year was unfair with 5 games in 28 days and back-to-back Adelaide games against Adelaide sides. Our fixture this year has been fine.

Top 5 for speed in attack: Melbourne Top 5 for speed in defence: Gold Coast Stats say it all.

He has lost the players. During our premiership contention years, we would get outplayed or outcoached but we always showed up to play. Not today. This is Bailey and Neeld era stuff.

Who plays ruck when Gawn rests?

Agree. Windsor was incredible in his first year, they move him elsewhere and his performance suffers. Coaching issue imo. There's not even anyone exciting to replace him either. What are we going to see, Billings? Laurie? Henderson? zzz, none of them are the future.

McStay has never kicked more than 28 goals in a season. He wouldn't have changed our fortunes.

So should we have settled for the next best option to start right away or wait 6 months for the best option?

Why not play them all? Imagine Collingwood with De Goey and Petracca rotating with each other from forward to midfield. Nightmare stuff.

Howes FFS

Disgusting kicking from Viney. Inexcusable for a player of his experience. Having said that, where was the lead from a forward?

Fritsch has been working up the ground the last few weeks, it's good to see. Has been putting on pressure and providing options.

If another club bids on Kalani, we'd have to match the points of that pick, minus a 20% discount. If the season ended today, we'd have 663 draft points. That would mean we can match any pick worth 828 points, so the earliest pick we could match is 19. This is all prior to compensation and other bids. The points system also changes this year so picks past 55 have no value. In the past we could've just stockpiled some later picks, but we'll likely need to trade for some picks in the 40s to find a few points to cover ourselves.

Fine with Lindsay as sub. Absolutely love him but this is a good time to lighten the load on him and Langford. I really hope this means we don't see Windsor at half back.

I love it but it's too long. Surely the club needs to have some clauses in there for our protection.

IMO the AFL need to set maximum contract length, at 5 years. Save clubs from themselves, and benefits the AFL with more player movement.

Finals are gone, just play the good kids. Tholstrup has to keep playing, Windsor needs full games but not at half back. Jefferson has half a year to show if he's got anything to hope for. Time for list management to figure out how we get back into the first round or early second round. Think it's time we try JVR as a defender (at Casey).

We have no depth. It's just the truth. We'll question changes every week because the cupboard is bare, even with an incredibly fit list.