VÌþÈR

It’s irrelevant to the outcome’s on the field. I thought that would be clear…..

Absolutley agree. Unlike many good players from other teams who act or play in a style that makes them extremely dislikable, I've never had anything else than repsct for JK. Wonderful career. WCE clearly won in the Judd trade in my opinion, which is amazing in itself given how good Judd was. 8 goals in his last game is a very fitting way to go out.

I think the "Melksham instead of a genuine tall forward" experiment is over. There were so many times that our small forwards and midfielders easily got to the fall of kicks into the F50 but instead of contesting the mark, took position front and centre expecting one of our talls to contest only for there to be an uncontested mark to Collingwood. We can't allow that to continue so need to bring in someone to support BBB. I think Weids is out of chances so has to be JVR or Joel SMith if he trains well. No more of Max starting at FF. Start him in the middle. Jackson made some costly errors early on Friday and is still a second ruck that can provide some great cameos as the game wears on. It's not pooular but I can see why we kick to the pocket. They went end to end on us after an intercept mark in the middle of our back 50 late on Friday. That doesn't happen if the intercept is deep in the pocket. They broke us down and scored by creating overlap at our half forward area. Too many bees to the honey pot was often the cause initially then they got the run through the corridor and took it forward at speed which is very hard to defend. Was it our system not working or was it someone (or several) not sticking to the system? Whatever it was, it needs work to combat Collingwood and Sydney's ball movement. Cold comfort, but we actually got a lot of things right. I went home thinking that 4 out of 5 times we'd probably win that game. We won most key stats, kicked for goal badly, watched them kick for goal unbelievably and didn't get the rub of the green with HTB frees in front of goals (the McCreey non call in our goal square soon followed by the red hot call against JJ quite soon after stand out). The expected score had us winning by 13 points. Fingers crossed it is 2018 repeating, with Collingwood playing the role of 2018's Melbourne side, who when playing an exciting brand of footy went to Perth late in the season to beat WCE. "The Dees played eye-catching footy, moving the ball with pace and putting West Coast's rock-solid defence under severe pressure." was how it was reported. We all remember how 2018 ended up.

Who is "we"? The fans, in which case it is utterly irrelavant if some of the fan base is arrogant and disrespectful, or is "we" the players and coaches, in whch case you have no idea of their attitude.

Spargo and Kozzy both do it but I’d argue it’s as bad. And the AFL should have stopped Selwood doing it 15 years ago but they fluffed it. However, JG took it to a new level by making winning the high free his first and only goal when confronting a tackler. Once the dust settles the game will be much better off. Whether Jack has enough other strengths in his game to remain affective at the highest level remains to be seen. Edit for clarification - I’ve never liked Spargo and Kozzy doing it, or any other Melbourne player. I loved Brad Green but disliked when he started throwing his head back late in his career. Playing for a free is totally against what I view as the mythical “spirit of the game”.

The poor bugger should stop dropping the knees. The one against Essendon that caused all the uproar was only a mistake because it lingered high and became overly agressive. AFL's call was contact was only high because JG lowered himself so intially the call of play on was correct but the "make him earn it" aspect that wasn't called a free was the error.

We're fine in the rain. Just makes for unpleasant viewing. It will be worth it at the final siren though.

Bring ya ponchos folks

I heard today the AFL were expecting a crowd of just over 60,000. Maybe this is a well thought out strategy to get that to close to 80,000 instead. Unfortunately if they attend hoping for a close one, they’re going to be disappointed. Melbourne by 50+.

He played forward at AFL level in late 2018 didn’t he? So this isn’t entirely new or unexpected is it?

Great promotional work by Lingers.

It's like they're preparing Melbourne supporters for his selection as a tall forward this week or next....

I’ve been pondering exactly this. You’ve put it with much more clarity than I could have.

Absolutely horrific while also being mind-numbingly stupid. The Australia Army walked away from this sort of nonsense decades ago for regulars. If I was a Adelaide supporter hearing this stuff, I would walk away from them forever.

It's a very interesting situation and without 2 fit and in-form big forwards, we may not find out what the coaches preferred forward balancee is. I don't mind the current balance, but it certainly worked well with two talls last year.

I wonder if anyone in the media will make the link to the contents of this article and Melbourne's (and others) midseason form slumps in premiership years. I won't be holding my breath. Edit: Just saw the date of the article - 19/04/2022. Obviously had very little traction or care factor in the wider AFL media.

Very true. He’s made many of us eat our words before so could very well do it again.

I’m of the same view unless he gets up for the VFL scratch game that Goodwin mentioned was going to occur the weekend before finals start and plays well. If not I think it’s too risky to bring him in for a PF or GF.

I thought that was the case until I read in their article from Fridays game this beauty - "I'd argue that Melbourne simply wanted this one more."

As I've asked before, if you or others have a better explanation for the unique shape of Melbournes 2021 season (9W's followed by a 9 game stretch of 4W-1D-4L, then 7W straight), as well as how closely their 2022 season mirrors 2021 so far, than what loading provides, I and I'm sure others, are ready to consider it. None of the other vocal doubters have so far even attempted an explanation.

I 'd prefer to deliberately sit it on Moore's head and let Kozzy, Melksham and anyone else that wants a turn crash into his back and take a few screamers.

I only watched the stream on the AFL site. As far as I could tell he played forward all day. A little rusty early but got involved well as it went on. Flew for a few marks but I don't think he dragged any down. He would be behind Tomlinson and Turner for a gig in the seniors down back, so playing him forward to see how he goes makes sense. No VFL this week and I think needs another game there before being considered, but maybe he finds enough form at in the scratch matches. Just an option right now.

I'm quite confident JVR will be our number 1 or 2 tall forward in 2023, but also believe he is a preseason away from being ready to regularly do the 2 things the MFC demand from our tall forwards at AFL level. The MFC require them to have the aerobic fitness to get up to the wings and even half back to contest before rushing forward post turnover, and that they have the talent/technique/strength/competiveness to not be outmarked. I don't think JVR yet has the fitness required to do the first, and although he has talent and competiveness in spades, he still doen't have the strength or technique for the second. At least twice yesterday at VFL level, he gave away free kicks in marking contests and he was also outmarked a few times. I think for those reasons, although he isn't pleasing anyone outside the four walls of the club, Weids is ahead of him and also why I think Joel Smith played forward for Casey yesterday. Ideally we have a fit and in form BBB and TMac for the finals, but I think Weids and J Smith are the coaches preference ahead of JVR while those two are absent. JVR will be a star for us, but I think we're going to have to be patient to see it in the seniors.

Joel Smith played forward. He didn’t especially stand out but after such a long lay off and playing forward for the first time since (as a guess) late 2018, I doubt much was expected of him. Possibly the coaches are considering him as a forward option in the seniors if required. Right now, he’d be behind Tomlinson and Turner for a big back position. Didn’t see much of Howes unfortunately.

Unreal goal by Fogarty. He’s finally fulfilling his potential.