Sparrowsfart

I was able to catch about 15-20 yesterday. My observations were mixed. Positives Looks to have been a few develop, JVR's hands were a feature, not sure if he's just upped his use of grippo but he looked to be one grabbing and had a fair bit of confidence about him. Latrelle moved well and looks very comfortable at the level. Windsor looks to be building nicely, pace a feature and neat kicking to cut through the middle. Kozzie looks more than a level above everyone. In the match sim he was getting in behind the 'zone' with ease, short release kicks to him and then he was out and more often than not found a leading forward or finished himself. I know 2025 was a big year for Kozzie, but if there's a bit of supply and some decent ruck work around stoppage he will comfortably be a top 5 player in the comp by season's end. Negatives I don't want to go on too much here, but.. Koltyn When we drafted him I had high hopes, competitive, strong, bit of mongrel. All good traits. But just like his senior debut there's still little awareness and seemingly panic ball in hand. He really berated himself after missing a 20m pass on his left when chest out running forward. I honestly don't see him making the level and was baffled by the decision to recontract him. Hope I'm very wrong, but I don't think he has the smarts and ability ball in hand. Jefferson There's been some interesting commentary on here about some good performances in match sim. In the snippets I saw of him yesterday I'm still convinced he's a mile off the level. There were some average kicks coming forward but he was still moved with ease off the line of the footy by Tom McDonald. His frame has not built out, and when the ball hit the deck while looking to have improved his urgency he just couldn't impact the game. At best he's a third tall marking option, but he doesn't have anywhere near the ability of Fritsch who owns this role. Looking forward to hearing the news from the match sim and thanks to others for their detailed observations, always great to read. Cheers.

You can’t compare a half back flanker with onballers for disposal efficiency..

Prob time for people to start realising Humphrey is worth more than Trac. It’s more likely Trac and 24 (or later pick) for Humphrey.

He's rated 2nd best inside 50 kick in the AFL. He's in his absolute prime. I'm on board doing it.

Is he back on our list? When did that happen? Why do you think I mentioned it.. 🫠

I'm guessing you haven't had any/many internal abdominal surgeries. He won't be anywhere near the club until the doctors have given him the all clear. The risk of infection is real and they'd have him wrapped in cotton wool. Adding to that he's had two general anaesthetics within a couple of weeks of each other.. not recommended. Again from personal experience. Really knocks you around, fatigue, mental clarity etc.

Stevic and Gianfagna (delisted) have a particular disliking for MelbourneFC.

I think things really reached a crescendo last year. It seems like it was a combination of a number of factors, injury, breakdown of a relationship, challenges with medication he's on all while having developed some unsociable coping mechanisms (the photo/videos of the pokies were a bit much). I see it as somewhat of a bit of an early midlife crisis, clearly there was a cry out for help and when you're in your mid twenties and have achieved more that most could ever dream in their whole career it's hard to try to put yourself in his shoes. I think it's clear that deep down Clarry has good values and wants some of the things that many of us take for granted in life, good relationships, a family etc. and he's made some mistakes in trying to get there. He needed and continues to need to grow up but he's on the right track now. It seems like he's got a good idea of what the destructive behaviours are and what he needs to eliminate from his lifestyle. The club know the best thing to do is to monitor him and keep him busy. It wasn't a surprise to see him on the trip with Kozzie, McAdam and Goody, smart management from the club and a great experience for Clarry. I think he has turned a big corner and we would be absolutely stupid to consider trading him now. He's got another 5-7 years of elite football left in him and that a full pre season will do him a world of good. There's a great quote from Thomas Watson (IBM): "Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?" Something in that I reckon.

From someone with experience with appendicitis (mine had perforated) it's a pretty long recovery, I was in bed/resting for about 6 weeks. When you factor in he is still recovering from internal injuries, I'd say no chance he returns this year, they wouldn't want to risk another hit to the spleen area in 2024 especially given the ongoing narrative about our medical team's handling of Brayshaw and Trac. I'd had the same thought that it was be great to have him playing deep forward, but to be frank, that's where he got injured and there are plenty more defenders with pointy knees like Moore.

Dockers have recently smacked us at the 'G too. Really doesn't matter.

I'd be interested in looking at Stengle if he's gettable. Would be nice to have a small forward that can actually crumb, and is disciplined enough to sit front and square. What we'd give to have Toby Bedford back right now.

The Freo games will be tough.. their profile is soo similar to ours and there isn’t any love lost between the midfields.

Agreed - it's a massive game from that perspective. This game and the two games to come against the Pies are the huge eight point games against 3rd and 4th ladder chances. I don't know what to expect from remaining fixtures against Swans and GWS.

I suspect we will see a few changes based on Goody's post match comments. Likely Bowey, Hunter and one other in. I think this will be a tough game - I went to Geelong Carlton and the Blues play a pretty brutal style while lacking a bit of polish. As others have commented, their big boys can kill a game in about 10 minutes, so much will be down to our backs. Our mids are still not quite there, a bit better against the Cats but as mentioned last week, out stars do some to leave a little in the tank for critical moments in the game. That was more evident that ever late in the Cats game. Gawn and Trac really lifted. I think it's going to be closish, unless we have a good night in front of goal and in that case we win by about 3-4 goals.

I was in the Geelong coterie box on Saturday afternoon and word in there was he's 50:50 at best. They will err on not playing him as he's had multiple concussions. It's probably less about Stanley and more about Geelong's smart ball use to avoid Max down the line. That will be one of the deciding factors in the game.

They weren't the ones completely responsible for turning the footy over. Even though Windsor had a couple of uncharacteristic howlers. What I was trying to get across was that our best and most senior players aren't going 100% every week, and they get excited for these big games. We have another level.

To me - result hinges on availability of Tom Stewart. If he plays they'll have a brick wall that we won't be able to penetrate. I went to Geelong-Carlton and the Cats looked great across the ground. Their biggest weakness is Stanley who was deplorable. Max should be able to own the ruck. We should have more explosiveness around stoppage, I'm feeling a big game from Clarry. The other piece that is often overlooked is that our team is very experienced now. We don't fire on all cylinders every week and you can't draw too much from that Richmond first half. My prediction if Stewart plays is flip of a coin. No Stewart and I see a Dees 3-4 goal win and a heap of expectation coming our way for the rest of the year.

Came here to write exactly that.

Will get a week for two reasons: 1) Optics 2) The new potential to cause injury clause Objectively, I wouldn't out him, but it's borderline. Some of the angles don't look good, but the force was negligible. What really hurts Kozzie was that he temporarily went to ground.

You had full panels on both fox and 7 that just can't swallow Melbourne, Leigh Montagna the only exception. Brad Johnson's ongoing saltiness about us is amusing, but it pre-dates the '21 Flag, he tipped Freo to beat us in Round 1 of that year and tipped us to miss the 8 in the same breath. We went on to win first 9 and win the flag in the most dominant way since Geelong of '07. These guys have massive blinkers on and the 'toffy' stereotype means that most of them don't want us to do well.

Yeah the Michael Christian factor is still a disgrace. How he can objectively rule on 'Pendles' last week is so ridiculous. Even Pies supporters would've expected a week.

Usually by COB following day.

Naughton