layzie

He does. I know we're used to a certain level of athleticism with Maxy but there were a number of times we could have used Brodie tracking back to help out the defenders, it's the little things.

They were able to ensure that we didn't get tonked in two games that we should have been.

Yeah maybe the never never was bit was excessive. I don't like hearing comments that player x is only getting games because of some loophole and otherwise offers nothing. While I don't believe milestones are ever a non-factor and can be important, I think people tend to buy into the hyperbole that a club needs to try and get a certain player to a milestone as if they are carrying dead weight across a finish line. The thing about Jordon and Melksham not fighting for the same spot is another thing altogether and actually enhancing my point that players are selected on merit and not potential future loopholes. Still have to earn your spot.

Alwyn Davey Snr was 29 when he finished in the AFL. He was having a good season until he got injured, was stranded on 96 and then the decision to get him to 100 became a lot easier when Essendon were booted from the finals because of the drugs saga and the last month meant nothing. He was also delisted in a decision that could have gone either way at the end of that season, easily could have continued his career at another club but decided to go to NT to play so he wasn't exactly an old geezer being wheeled across the finish line. Nathan Jones was an experienced head playing a role across half back which was working pretty well for the first 5 games of the season, while we may have helped him get there he was far from gifted his 300th. The emergence of Bowey and other youngsters kept him out of the team but you can bet your bottom dollar Chunk was doing everything to get back in there. When we look at the gameday threads and everyone scrutinises every selection to within an inch of it's life right down to the sub, the idea that a selector looks at a James Jordon and a Jake Melksham when making a selection choice and thinks to themself "Gotta play the old pro and plan ahead for 2039, JT will thank me" in a season where we are contending for a flag is absolutely nuts. Selection is made on winning the game of football, extra things like this are just gravy. Do they want it to happen? Sure, it helps the culture and is a 'nice to have'. I agree it's in their secondary interests to get him there if possible but compromising weekly selection based on a guy that half the people here don't think can play anymore and is only in there because of a remote future event? No chance. It's not part of the footy business to cut off your nose to spite your face. Maybe in a weak team playing for less but not when every selection is vital.

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I just want these two games to happen because I'm so sick of hearing about it. I still think he can play a depth role but I am sick to death of hearing theories about the club trying to get him to 100 games in red and blue. It's been a while since I've repeatedly read so much claptrap around these parts. The notion that we are gifting a guy games to get to 100 on the off chance that his offspring may be eligible (providing they choose to play footy) to draft in 15 years time and to do this over someone like a James Jordon is just absurd and something thought up in the land of never never.

The pill did come into our 50 a lot yes, but the majority of their entries were long high balls I would have expected to cut off time and time again. Our mids were down but our backs had a shocker too.

Can we please not bring Max back for this game as a knee jerk reaction to what happened on Saturday? Don't take any risks with this, yes I'm not a doctor but I have a feeling I'm definitely right on this one. Long season, get him cherry ripe. I don't like how quick the panic button gets hit when we lose.

The thing is though, if he goes then we are likely going to have the silent treatment from when the decision is made or a non-answer for the whole season. I don't want a distraction as much as the next person but it's very much a possibility. I will be hoping that we now have experience in dealing with the distraction because I'm not having it throw another potential premiership challenge down the toilet. Let's stay professional.

Same here. Two team sport, anything is possible and don't be arrogant. It's why I never go into games like the West Coast one hoping for a certain margin, playing with fire.

A guy in one of my messenger chats said "The only thing worse than the umpiring today has been Melbourne's effort" People need to get a grip sometimes and stop looking for the perfectly umpired game, control the controllables.

That's right, it's made an already fundamentally flawed fixture ever more flawed. I was also shocked that they didn't Glenelg as a venue, that's a great footy ground. If doing it for the community and boosting the economy was really the true motive for Gather Round then they missed a big opportunity.

Did Sestan play? Must have gone missing if he did?

I did the same, really wanted to let it sit for a bit and get some clarity. You have not only hit the nail on the head but built a house with the remaining nails. That Brisbane game was the definition of a one-off as we will never be monstered like that in contested ball. This game however took things to a new level. I’m a realistic football fan, I don’t yell ‘pick the ball up’ at games and then get really annoyed at players when they don’t. It’s a two team sport after all but what I can’t cop is having our fortress attacked and destroyed at our most strongest points. To be 35 – 7 in the possession count 5 mins in was very telling, to be smashed in centre clearances early was also telling, but the icing on the cake was to concede 15 marks inside defensive 50 mostly directly in front. That is the point you throw your hands up and say “well, they got us”. Lever out definitely hurt of course as he’s so often the guy coming over the top and killing the contest but come on, we should have had enough to deal with their talls. We really missed Gawn’s ability to drop back and influence as well and this is where I look squarely at Brodie Grundy and say “Mate, you may be getting beat in the ruck right now but you can still influence the game in other ways." Get on your bike and push back hard to try and get a spoil, a physical body on a Bombers forward, something, anything! It was so obvious we were getting outmarked 1 v 1 in that backline, we really needed some help. To be fair no Hibbo and a wounded Petty didn’t help either as they can cut across and do this but we just needed the big man getting back more. I said this earlier but when the ball was in the air and the pack formed, we seemed to setup with someone front and square and a couple on either side ready to takeway and move the ball quickly forward. Rarely we had someone to the back of the contest and the number of times Essendon got a long kick out of the 50 up to the wing or centre it would come off hands to the back and perfectly placed for a Bomber to take it then scrap kick it into 50 where we got outmarked all the time. I found this happened in the Brisbane game for nearly every first quarter goal. I don’t know if it’s just coincidence but I’ve said before there are things about our defensive approach and what got us here that I don’t want to lose completely. Which kind of leads me into the next point. The Bombers played with such speed and dare in the first half, the game was not really played in close at all and there were very few stoppages. It’s time like this where I’d like to slow the game down a bit, force stoppages and let our contested bulls get to work. The rain could have really helped us get back into it, as the 2nd half started I thought that maybe Essendon could struggle because they won’t be able to get as much speed on it and it will be harder to bomb in long to their tall timber. If we could just get that first goal of the second half we may well be able to scrap back into it and get it on our terms. No, we simply weren’t up for the challenge. EFC came out and went bang, bang, bang with 3 straight and the game was dead. Forget what happened previously, this was the most disappointing moment of the game for me. After this there was this feeling of cue in the rack with 15 mins left in the 3rd quarter? I was seeing JVR down back, Fritsch up the ground, the kind of moves you see when we’re 50 points down. We turned our heels up. It’s such a cliché in AFL footy to say another team wanted it more but this is exactly what happened. We started off looking a bit cruisey and casual, trying some fancy stuff and not always thinking team first while Essendon player were cracking in 110% efforts, tackling to hurt and always providing an option for a handball. In a lot of ways we were beaten at our own game and anyone still saying Essendon will do nothing this year you may be right but don’t be surprised if this is a platform for them to build on this year. For Melbourne this sets us back a little, while nothing fatal we had some weaknesses laid bare and there to be exploited. We were outcoached and their selections paid off big time. It’s extremely unsettling to see this lack of effort in Round 5, we saw the response after Brisbane but the one thing you want each week is effort and I hope this isn’t going to be a team that thinks they can flick the switch and get the job done as opposed to consistent intensity. Long way to go but it’s a more level playing field than we think sometimes. We don’t have a divine right to beat a team on a given day and if you’re 5% off you likely get done. Bit nervy for the ANZAC eve game now as we run into a Richmond side with two losses on the bounce and something to prove. Would have been much nicer to go into it off a win but that’s the way it is.

Brilliant question. As a coach, how do you get your team wanting it more than the opposition every single week? It has to be one of the toughest parts of the gig to consistently say all the right things and hope your players don't get ahead of themselves. It's easy to say that players should be giving 110% every single week but we're all human and have blips here and there. How do you coach for this?

We did, even paper clips annoyed us.

Doesn't get much worse.

It's like when people have bad memory retension. Demonstone out!

How many Vics were there again?

I knew this question would tick people off!

Could this be a Grand Final preview?

GG

Grandstand finish

What a win for the GWS Suns!