Go Ds

It's funny. This feels like Melbourne is 3 goals down early in a match. No supporter wants that start. But often teams win from there. People were screaming for Goody to be sacked. Even most of the rest of us soon after King's selection got on board and agreed to hold back on judgement and the trademark Melbourne pessimism. Now suddenly, days after he's started, so many have their knickers in a twist. What were you expecting ? Throw that infamous soccer ball in the bin, run a few extra laps and practise more kicking at goal? Sure, delisting Gawn and Kosi this week would have been preposterous. But surely we expected King would do things - be a mover and a shaker. Honestly we really have no feedback yet - we really have none until early in round 1. And remember even if we're three goals down early we can still win that game. Cripes, even with a round one loss we could do well next year or prove the year after that King ( and maybe the current expected list changes) has been great.

Do you mean exactly 24- 28? Trac and May are well past that and Oliver is 29 next July. Surely if next year he has another horribly ordinary year as a midfielder polling no Brownlow votes but earning well over a million this isn't gonna help our team much. Quite simply we're not suddenly offloading two or three players in their prime that match it with anyone.

Yep, I would have last played it well over 40 years ago. The photo here proves you're right and the second time I described this game. https://auctions.leski.com.au/lot-details/index/catalog/616/lot/210893/TEST-MATCH-A-Fascinating-Cricket-Game-produced-by-John-Sands-Pty-Ltd-in-the-mid-1950s-Complete-and-in-working-condition-in-the-o

Hmm, I had a second game where you kind of spun ... moved a wheel under a panel and it would come up with a 'result' each time - 4 ... 6 ... 1... 0.... wicket. Neither of these game had anything to do with the actual sport.😂

Werribee, you don't seem to rate Brownlows. Anyway.... What I think is interesting how often top ten selections don't realise their potential and then go to another club ..... and don't realise their potential. Yep, some of these players had their careers cruelled by injury and the occasional ones like Dom Tyson and Tomlinson look they've now made it BUT not permanently. And I'd say we picked 7 of these second-chancers. Apart from maybe Tyson the "sell high, buy low" strategy of redeeming these high-draft underperformers just doesn't work (,maybe)

Is that the game with the figurines, including the bowler with the seesaw arm and batter with moveable bat and the tiny metallic ball? 😃

It's a little misleading judging team or forward line success merely from GF performances. While you have to play well in them if you can't even make them who cares. If we could do a straight swap of McVee for Jeremy Cameron are you gonna argue we shouldn't?

Hmm, Lamb trading a butcher.

I guess we just have to have faith. We have a new coach and the fortunes or attitudes of our players improve markedly next year. Hopefully our recruiters will work out a great resolution for the current Trac business, either way. I think binman says he tries his best to not fret too much about trade rumours/eventual trades and I concur. We can do nothing asmere fans. Our team's fortune will improve some time and for all we know King is a gun and Petracca watches on as Melbourne win the flags from 2028-30 while his new team, even if regular finalists, loses a GF how Geelong just did and otherwise is on holiday every time come.mid-September

No. I would assume from what I've heard and the fact Petracca was a star pre-injury and Goodwin a lauded coach that there was plenty of love and respect as both helped Melbourne thrive. But things can change and I've been wrong before. 😂

That's harsh. He had a horrible injury and both the team and his own form since has been frustrating. Then he loses the coach he loved. I sure hope he stays and sees what King can do. But people will often feel like a change. After a decade with a team a move to a new club and city might be incredibly beneficial - no different to one of us leaving Melbourne for rural Tasmania or Brisbane and going from stockbroker to florist.

Wow! Imagine your doctor giving your medical test results in make-up like this, especially if he had just said unicorns on Mars made the moon. 🤣

Channel 9 news said an upcoming story is that a Demon young gun wants out. McVee?

Huh? Is this about our small forwards or our love of snow (and skiing)?

It's only tiny consolation but I do love the fact we can say we beat this year's premier. I think weve done that 9 times since 1980 but we've probably played 65 or 70 games against these teams weeks away from glory which is hardly.a great ratio. (BTW have I missed any? ... 88, 89, 93, 98, 2002 , 05, 18, 23, 25)

The crowds were often compromised, including the fact interstate grounds substituting for the MCG meant even capacity crowds couldn't be anything like 90+K they might have been. I just can't think a team in the top 4 for 3 years and who rarely played well below their best in front of large crowds at the time suggest anything fluky.

It really is much more important whether the players think they're losers. If a team comes from 16th the previous year to 4th and then after a stumble in Week 1 end up starting at 6.0 in the GF their self-belief or lack thereof will decide if they're a genuine chance ( not everyone else). As for empty stadiums I don't think they're as big a deal as some would think. Just because Kardinia Park was empty doesn't mean our comeback win in the final round was a fluke. I'm sure some teams do get overwhelmed by big crowds.But we won our GF in a full and loud stadium (and then won with much bigger crowds in the two years after.) I can't agree with you

Ummm, maybe it's all good marketing and optics. MacRae keeps saying his players are not losers - even after they just lost. Is it bad for players to believe they're winners and that they can beat anyone and even when 6 goals down with 5 minutes both his team and the opposition still believe Collingwood can win. Maybe it explains some of Collingwood and Geelong's success. Just imagine if Goody could have somehow cryptically explained that something awful happened at three quarter time against St Kilda and thus team morale couldn't / didn't deteriorate and St Kilda next time - actually any team - has a lot more respect for Melbourne before and during games. Maybe Scott and MacRae have got it right. They're there to win games and premierships NOT win over random fans. All the close losses we've had recently suggest maybe we do think were losers. Maybe King can be as much a sore loser and our team can be winners. Hey, again, maybe we get a few big 'trade' fish like May and Lever rather than watch on as Houston and anyone else choose a winner rather than well .... us. 🤔

Also they went into the 2001 finals as second elect behind Essendon. People assumed they were the same juggernaut as in 2000 and probably focussing on the second half of that year Brisbane were the better team. Nonetheless in the early noughties they were never minor premier. Port finished top 2002-4 and only as Brisbane started fading did they finally make the most of their minor premiership. Hell one year Brisbane came second but Port were 3 wins or more ahead of every team. For whatever reason Brisbane has done pretty well at converting their high finishes into flags even if in the patch before 2023 they had a couple of prelim losses and straight set exits.

You mean people would pay good money to get rid of it? 😯

Yes, but surely AFL will evolve again and just copying the Lions/Clarkson won't be enough. Surely in 20 years time the game have changed at some stage. While tactics wouldn't be the only thing considered I can't help but think that regularly/ yearly each club will see how their teams can play better and get an advantage on their rivals. I'll be very disappointed if King just follows Goody's or Fagan's game plan next year without even a little experimentation.

Yeah, I don't like the way rotations have affected the game. What do we actually want to see in Aussie rules? What do we proudly boast about if we're explaining our sport to foreigners? It's the marking, kicking (especially the goals from way out or impossible angles), maybe the dodging and same other skills like tackles and smothers and even the footy IQ stuff like the non-ruck tap-ons, toe pokes and hand pases which put a teammate in a much better position. IMO it's not running. While important I just don't care about players running longer or faster - certainly not in comparison with actual football skills. I'd happily have rotations quotas cut way back. Maybe we'd even see less injuries, concussions, congestion and rolling mauls.

It could be that come siren King hugged and consoled everyone, sat in on the aftermatch meeting with the players and then a bit later walked out of the changing rooms and off into the sunset. The silly thing is if he conferred with Scott (and the other coaches) today (or next week ) what went wrong in the GF that both parties counterintuitively would have learnt a lot and gone into next just that little bit better. I guess this won't happen though.

Yes, but do imitators surpass who they imitate? Brisbane will always be more practised than those now imitating. Even if still effective next year what's to say next year's premier upgrades the strategy with a couple of tweaks that gets them ahead of the curve? While pre-seasons, bench rotations and the phasing out of drop kicks may be permanent for many more decades other things will change - even if spectators barely realise the tweaks.

I can understand this. Players can practise goal kicking* with loudspeakers blaring or pretending they're a goal up or down in the grand final. But their brains know it's pretend. Same thing about winning a GF at the MCG ; it's NOT the venue ... it's the actual match. Do you watch someone on The Front Bar whose only GF win at VFL Park and suddenly lower the merit of their career? No! Our players toiled years to win a GF and they did that. While I hope most still had/have a burning desire for a second at the very least before their flag every time they had to sacrifice something they could say "I'll do it because I want a flag". That said completely unmotivated players probably wouldn't reset twice and have done all the boring, hard work to get back into the top four in the following years (and often since mid 2022 they've arguably panicked and lost games through fear of failure/wanting to win too much.) *Love the typo - goal Licking. 😂