Whispering_Jack

I don't know about anyone else but I've has enough of getting beaten by this mob. It's time.

My guess is that except in the event of someone going out of the Melbourne side through injury, Billy Stretch will be the player who is the stand in emergency and that Bugg and Wagner will play for Casey.

I guess that means we don't get the last $300k.

Trouble with a capital T.

Tonight's win over the Dockers was, in the circumstances, encouraging. Coming off a six day break, with players injured and tiring in the hot, humid conditions, the team could not have been expected to maintain the pressure it applied in the first half of the game. The test now is how to prepare for the next game. Traditionally, Melbourne has faltered in games after those trips to warmer climates. This time, we have an eight day break and our Casey contingent rested after a bye. But there's more to it than selecting the right line up; the team has to be prepared for a tough assignment at Etihad Stadium against St Kilda who we haven't beaten since the 2006 Elimination Final. According to Jade Rawlings, the club has things in hand - Trio of matches planned methodically That may well be the case but when the teams last met there was also a lot of talk about being well prepared - the team was coming off a six day break - but this wasn't reflected at the selection table or on the ground during the game where the team looked slow. We are in for an interesting week.

Qtr Time 41

Looking only at the scores and nothing else, I couldn't help but think of our game last week when we came back from behind with a big second quarter against Adelaide. Seems to me that we blew our chances to do to Adelaide, exactly what Collingwood did to GWS.

Thought I'd never read this story ... Martin Flanagan tells it so well. AFL season 2016: Melbourne finally give fans something to cheer about

In the absence of a mighty surge by one of the outsiders, the top eight is now firmly set and more and more attention will be placed on this year's draft prospects. Here are some of the better guides around the place ~ MATT BALMER’S JULY POWER RANKINGS Callum Twomey’s Phantom Form Guide - June edition AFL Draft | New No. 1 in updated Big Board Unlike in previous seasons, there are no real standouts for #1 yet although a few good candidates emerged out of the national championships. From Melbourne's perspective, we are a long way down the current draft order because we traded our first selection in this year's draft to secure an additional top ten pick and improve our draft position last year. I think that might well turn out to be a good move. Of course, draft order will change dramatically during the trade period and the academy selections will also play a major role in how things pan out so we can expect interest in this area to mount over the coming months.

It was his first game for the year and he's played very little football so he deserves to be cut some slack but he looked slow and out of place. I think the game has passed him by but he'll probably make a cameo appearance in round 23 and kick 6.

No he hasn't ... Calling it now.

The most damning statistic underlining Melbourne's recent history in games against Fremantle is the last six scores against them ~ 40, 40, 38, 34, 50, 54. We bolstered the average considerably in our two encounters last year but it still sits at a shade under 43 points a game or a goal less than the Demons' total in the second quarter against Adelaide last week. It goes without saying that we'll have to be well above average if we're going to win tonight.

With respect to our losses after six day breaks, if my memory serves me correctly, we didn't really make many changes for those games and ended up paying dearly. I wonder what happens this week.

I don't know if this has been mentioned to date but I was listening to a pre match interview on SEN with Josh Mahoney and he was asked about the selection of younger defenders like Sam Frost and Oscar McDonald ahead of the more experienced defenders like Lynden Dunn and Colin Garland and Josh said that players were being picked on form. There is also the need to get games into the legs of the younger players. On this basis I think the futures at the club of Jack Grimes and Heritier Lumumba for that matter would also be limited. And if that's the way to go then Chris Dawes is skating on thin ice because the selectors might well decide to give Liam Hulett a chance very soon in his place.

The statistics:- Angus Brayshaw 18 disposals 8 kicks 10 handballs 6 tackles 62 dream team points Lynden Dunn 20 disposals 13 kicks 7 handballs 5 marks 5 tackles 89 dream team points Colin Garland 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 6 marks 5 tackles 76 dream team points Jack Grimes 2 behinds 27 disposals 16 kicks 11 handballs 10 marks 2 tackles 107 dream team points Liam Hulett 2 goals 1 behind 12 disposals 10 kicks 2 handballs 5 marks 62 dream team points Max King 3 disposals 1 kicks 2 handballs 1 marks 3 tackles 6 hit outs 28 dream team points Heritier Lumumba 11 disposals 6 kicks 5 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 54 dream team points Viv Michie 30 disposals 15 kicks 15 handballs 3 marks 86 dream team points Alex Neale-Bullen 1 goal 1 behind 26 disposals 14 kicks 12 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 89 dream team points Ben Newton 16 disposals 8 kicks 8 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 60 dream team points Clayton Oliver 25 disposals 9 kicks 16 handballs 3 marks 11 tackles 1 hit out 106 dream team points Jake Spencer 10 disposals 4 kicks 6 handballs 1 mark 4 tackles 42 hit outs 83 dream team points Dean Terlich 1 behind 12 disposals 7 kicks 5 handballs 6 marks 2 tackles 1 hit out 56 dream team points Jack Trengove14 disposals 5 kicks 9 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 1 hit out 60 dream team points Sam Weideman 1 goal 11 disposals 7 kicks 4 handballs 7 marks 53 dream team points Mitch White 19 disposals 11 kicks 8 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 75 dream team points

Robbo just said on the MCG screen that it was 1 point.

Looking at the ladder, it's clear that this is a last chance saloon event for the Melbourne Football Club. For weeks, we've been meandering just outside the top but today, we need to pull a rabbit out of a hat just in order to stay in touch.

As long as she doesn't take the Hulk with her to Freo ...

A little snippet from the National Under 16s championships. Jimmy Stynes' nephew - Sam Stynes - is representing Vic Metro. Sam is the son of Brian Stynes but unfortunately not a father/son chance (Brian was about 99 games short).

The washup from the championships:- Vic Metro win Under 18s championship as Brad Scheer kicks epic game-winning goal for Allies Gun sons push Vic Metro to U18s crown Vic Metro 1.4.10 5.6.36 7.8.50 12.9 (81) Western Australia 0.3.3 3.6.24 4.7.31 8.10 (58) Goals Vic Metro Kerr 3, Venables 2, Hayes 2, Gallucci 2, Taranto, Daicos, Lyons Western Australia Narkle 2, Fisher, Petevski-Seton, Strnadica, Clarke, Logue, Bolton, Best Vic Metro Taranto, Gallucci, McGrath, Clarke, Brown, Venables Western Australia Petrevski-Seton, Narkle, English, Rotham, Powell-Pepper Potential top pick Brodie shines, but Allies hold on Victoria Country 3.1.19 4.3.27 10.5.65 10.6 (66) Allies 3.2.20 4.7.31 6.8.44 10.10 (70) Goals Vic Country Battle 4, Brodie, Piper, O'Brien, McCluggage, Fowler, Ainsworth Allies Marshall 3, Maguire 2, Williams, Olango, Sproule Best Vic Country Brodie, Atley, Battle, Worpel, O'Brien, Fowler, Drew Allies Mutch, Hampton, Scheer, Long, Perryman, Maguire, Marshall Vic Metro dominates Under-18 All Australian side 2016 AFL UNDER-18 ALL AUSTRALIAN TEAM
 DEFENDERS Alex Villis (South Australia), Jack Maibaum (Vic Metro), Sam Walker (South Australia), Andrew McGrath (Vic Metro), Brennan Cox (South Australia), Harry Perryman (Allies) MIDFIELDERS Zac Fisher (Western Australia), Tim English (Western Australia), Jack Graham (South Australia), Will Brodie (Vic Country), Hugh McCluggage (Vic Country), Jack Bowes (Allies) FORWARDS Daniel Venables (Vic Metro), Josh Battle (Vic Country), Dylan Clarke (Vic Metro), Callum Brown (Vic Metro), Patrick Kerr (Vic Metro), Tim Taranto (Vic Metro) INTERCHANGE
 Jonty Scharenberg (South Australia), Kobe Mutch (Allies), Sam Hayes (Vic Metro), Jordan Gallucci (Vic Metro) Five talking points: The Under 18 championships

The championships ended today with Vic Metro prevailing. I will cover the final day soon but here are the details of the penultimate round from last Friday - U18s: Jarman stars as SA topples Vic Country Vic Country 2.0.12 3.5.23 4.10.34 9.11 (65) South Australia 6.0.36 9.4.58 11.8.74 11.10 (76) Goals Vic Country McCluggage 3, Ainsworth, Battle, Atley, Fowler, Battle, Worpel South Australia Jarman 3, Coleman-Jones, Pitman, Stengle, Ladhams, Villis, Hayward, Scharenberg, Lebois Best Vic Country McCluggage, Ainsworth, Worpel, Atley, Piper, Brodie South Australia Pitman, Graham, Scharenberg, Stengle, Villis, Jarman U18s: Hayes steers Vic Metro to victory over Allies Vic Metro 5.1.31 5.6.36 6.9.45 10.14 (74) Allies 0.5.5 4.7.31 6.10.46 8.12 (60) Goals Vic Metro Hayes 3, Kerr 2, Venables, Lyons, Higgins, Daicos, Brown Allies Sproule 2, Brown, Hampton, Allison, Rolls, Perryman, Marshall Best Vic Metro Clarke, McGrath, Lyons, Hayes, Ridley, Bunker Allies Perryman, Bowes, Mutch, Scheer, Allison, Spargo

I'm worried about this round. The best we can do is drop further down the ladder. Woe is us.

Tonight shows how poorly Freo plays when in Melbourne in the cold of winter. Which makes me feel great knowing we're playing them in Darwin in a home game in a few week's time.

Vic Metro came from a long way behind to win against SA and therefore remain undefeated in the series. Both of its wins to date have been by narrow margins. U18s: Elite runner leads Vic Metro to come-from-behind win South Australia 2.1.13 6.3.39 10.4.64 10.6 (66) Vic Metro 0.5.5 2.9.21 3.11.29 9.15 (69) Goals South Australia Hayward 3, Houlahan 2, Lebois, Nixon, Graham, Fogarty, Pitman Vic Metro Kerr 4, Venables, Florent 2, Clarke Best South Australia Pitman, Hinge, Walker, Villis, Slimming Vic Metro McGrath, Clarke, Venables, Romensky, Kerr

Surprisingly, I find myself in agreement with Stuie about the thread having worn out its welcome.