pitmaster

I thought everyone knew it was OP...at least that's what Joel told a premium member's pre-game function before the Hawthorn game. He said "I am in quite a bit of pain" and used the term "osteitis pubis". So the post 427 pages ago seems to have been on the money. And as for the article that accompanied the chart above, it seemed to significantly understate the impact of Melbourne's injuries by suggesting Collingwood had coped better because of their greater depth. It shows Melbourne's best-22 missed games are 89% greater than Collingwood's and 63% higher than Richmond's!

You've a snakey edge to you Elegt that does not warrant encouragement but I must agree with this comment. Preuss would have been much greater value given how tall and mature-bodied the Giants were. We had no target forward other than Hunt who had a kind of decoy role. Preuss would have been a destination for those long bombs and could at least have made a contest.

It's less and less likely that Spargo is going to make it. He has no penetration with his kicking, is not particularly quick and does not win much of the ball. It is inexplicable how often players kick to him when he is always going to be out-sized once the ball is overhead. That said, he is a second year player and the Second Year Blues used to be a thing. Maybe it still is.

Late in the GWS game cops evicted several Giants supporters from the northern stand...anyone here know anything?

Matthew Lloyd...Wayne Carey...unlike Yze they are available, and they'd have plenty to teach about positioning and general forward play.

Ling says he will cop one week. And it was a two goal turnaround! I think Margetts was the fraud who called it...anyone confirm?

The ugliest win I can remember. Brayshaw terrible, Trac continues to disappoint...our skills have vanished but we are alive and have another week to find our touch (although Lewis I fear has lost his for all time).

Virtue signalling is the new "fake news". Using it you say more about yourself than anyone you tag with it. Burnside happens to be entirely genuine. I had dealings with him many years ago and saw him at first hand. He is entirely authentic regardless of who he does or doesn't support in football. I'd expect he'd resist any entreaties to attach himself to any club he didn't already follow.

Correct. It's very exploitative of Benny. I suspect HawkFan TV is using B's disability as cover for having him say things others only dare think.

Having listened to this foul mouthed fool, egged on by a smirking creep - the one holding the mike - I can only say that I would be deeply ashamed of myself if I was provoked into doing something that had me charged with assault by either of these two. I have no doubt that in an earlier era Benny, the 'victim' of the affair, would have earned himself some corrective attention. He is an unfiltered vulgarian. But to get into strife on his account...dumb. As much as Melbourne has to condemn what our bloke did, Hawthorn need to reign in this garbage . The guy with the mike encourages violence and anger and offers nothing useful.

Yze reportedly very happy at Hawthorn. Bugger.

Another reason for revelling in yesterday's win is the fact that the face of the Breast Cancer Network appeal this year is life long Demon Amber Whelan who, according to the Record - that's her on the cover with Jonesy - was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27. She was at the game with her family and I, and I am sure all Demonlanders, are rapt that she was acknowledged with a great victory. Enjoy the party, Amber.

My involuntary response to checking out the website today and seeing 49,636: WOW! That's incredible.! It really is tremendous news since the last I saw it seemed stuck on 48,080. We will certainly crack 50K this year which is a great achievement in the circumstances.

The upside of this - and this is how clubs like Hawthorn view it - is an opportunity to see how some of the kids slash lesser lights shape up. I reckon on the evidence so far Hore and Lockhart look like they could be the goods. Preuss also brings something although sadly he has joined the injury list. Clearly we are underdone - and while some might think it misguided I suspect the leaking of this was well-intentioned - but that does not really explain our vanishing skills as witnessed last week.

To know why it was leaked you would need to know who leaked it. It could be a board member or any one of the football department. I am saying I don't care how it came out, but I can see that the club would not want it out as an official statement because that would be excusing failure. I disagree it would have been released weeks ago for transparency...we weren't 1 and 5 then. I am saying it's important for the supporters to know the scale of the issue. Now we have some.

Well, given the madness that overtakes this place why not leak some facts? It's good to have the scale of the cutback in preparation quantified like this. I really don't know why you'd complain about it...you think it's a conspiracy to protect the coach and yet every week there is someone on this site complaining about the level of (non)disclosure from the official club site. You can't have this stuff dropped by an official because it looks like you're making excuses for the players. I'll go with the media strategy thanks. You go with your gut feel.

Looked to me like he had very late notice of Stack's arrival and just had time to brace. The villain by my viewing was Max with that horrible hospital handpass to Viney.

Fluke is precisely the right word.

What else did you expect?

Agree with your outs. Garlett and Lockhart to come in. I'm also open either to TMac out (rested if he is genuinely playing hurt as he appears) and T Smith in; or TMac to defence to find touch and Fritsch to go forward.

They're not mates. They're d*$#ks. Or are you 12 years old? Or are they Hawthorn "fans"?

Looks OK this arvo

I share the frustration and disappointment of everyone else here, but I must be the only one who saw some purposeful attempts to use the corridor in the first half. I haven't watched the replay yet (still summoning myself to that) but there were repeated moves where we drove into the corridor with direct low passes. It was in the forward 50 and in goal kicking (petracca, melksham, emac all culpable at different times) where we failed to press our advantage. There is a system being attempted but we need much better spread up forward to create options for the mids to find targets. StK repeatedly had up to three extras back to pick us off. I like the idea on here of putting Hunt on the wing. We also need to include Garlett. Like Preuss, he's coming in at least one week late even if he gets a go against the Tigers but his leg speed is essential. Lockhart also has to come into consideration. Spargo is a no go. In warm up he can kick 45 metres, under pressure in a game he is lucky to make 30 metres, and that's off target. Around goals he is no good. Petracca needs help from a sports psychologist. He has a kick on him like a mule but he needs to focus on the task of getting foot to ball, not on the intended outcome. Then he won't be such a momentum killer. TMac is just out of sorts. It happens; he'll recover eventually. The new rules hurt us - our game relies on keeping the ball inside the forward 50 but the licence allowed on kick-ins now makes that task more difficult. But those of us calling for the coach to show some emotion at press conferences...really? You want him to break down and weep? Shake his head, say "I have no idea what's happening"? On that I disagree. I want serious analytical thought applied to our dilemma, not some mad rant. Mad ranting...that's our job!

That would have us back in the Bailey era FFS!

He probably meant Harmes. Hannan is gravely missed.