Lord Travis

Also, anyone saying leg speed isn’t important only needs to watch Richmond to see they’re wrong. It’s all teams can apply pressure, but Richmond’s leg speed across the whole ground is the defining trait that sets them apart from other teams.

No one is going to get close to Richmond this year unless they suffer injuries to key players. They’re a clear level above all other teams. So jealous!

Better Ins this week. Let's see how the balance looks with more pace and smalls in the team to provide pressure.

It’s looking unlikely we make it now. If we somehow fail again this year then serious questions need to be asked of the coaching staff and onfield leaders. For this list of talent to not make the 8 despite a good run with injuries and a decent fixture is unacceptable and pathetic. Either we make it, or some heads should roll. It’s sad enough that after what happened last year, our best case scenario is now limping into the 8! Where is the hunger?!

He’s dropped off big time in the past 1-2 years. Whether that’s the poor environment he’s stuck in or him as player losing struggling I’m not sure. Not sure he’s the best target for us now, despite our inexperienced key defensive depth.

Believe it’s weighted over the past two seasons. Great effort from Clarry regardless.

Believe outside those Daniher years it’s only been 5 times? Whatever the number is, it’s pathetic and embarrassing. We Melbourne supporters are a resilient bunch to stick by supporting such a lowly club all this time.

We’re lucky that other teams around us also had surprise losses this weekend. It sort of nullifies our [censored] up today. Dropping an easy game like that makes the run home harder now though. We now probably need to take a scalp like Geelong in Geelong or Sydney to make it (assuming we don’t stuff up and win our expected matches).

Out - Hannan, Petty, Tyson, Smith, In - Garlett, Frost, Stretch, Vince We need speed and run.

Viney had 6 touches to half time and didn't give a yelp until the last quarter. I love his intensity when he's playing well, but he's not a very well rounded leader. He leads from the front like Jones, but you never see him barking orders and organising players like a Hodge or Selwood or Cotchin does. Lever was brought across to provide leadership, and once he settled in he was the general of the backline. Losing him to injury has not only ruined our defensive structure, but losing his onfield leadership is arguably the biggest loss we could suffer. We still don't have many good onfield leaders and it's the main reason we're struggling to improve IMO.

Just bumping my topic from a few months ago. Our inability to play at our home ground has killed our season. Our record at the MCG compared to everywhere else is abysmal. Until we learn to play our home ground, and the ground finals are played on, we will never be a threat. It's embarrassing to watch our defensive zone push up so high at the G compared to other grounds. Somehow the coaches and players have made zero change to a structure that is not working. The amount of space we give teams in their forward half is comical. Is it the players or the coaches to blame?

If we had Gaff instead of Tyson or ANB today we would’ve won. Must get.

Gawn is a one man team today. So disappointing from our midfield. No leadership shown by Jones and Viney. They’ve both been horrendous and while they try hard, they aren’t leaders who can direct and fire the boys up.

Should be playing instead of Hannan today.

We can’t play the MCG. It’s as simple as that. Our defensive zone is too high and our kids don’t work hard enough/aren’t quick enough to get back and help out. We don’t deserve to play finals this year. So disappointing.

All flying for the ball, no one staying down. Midfield not working hard both ways. Gonna be a long day.

Obviously a must win game today. This is one of the four games we can’t afford to lose (Saints, Freo, Dogs, Suns). It would be good to get another percentage boost, but at this stage I’ll just take the four points. Reckon Brayshaw will have a good game today, seems to play well against the Saints from memory.

Pies will likely jump to 2nd spot on the ladder tonight. How sickening!

37 disposals, 7 score involvements, 7 tackles, 1 goal. Probably BOG again. On 2018 form he'd be our best midfielder at present. If we can afford him, we'd be mental not to go hard for him. Exactly what we need!

Huge win by the Dogs and great for us! I've talked him up on here earlier in the year, but Ed Richards looks like a star in the making. He's just got footy smarts, pace, skill, intensity and is a joy to watch play. Great get by the Dogs pulling the trigger on him slightly earlier than expected last draft.

2004 Elimination final against Essendon. Whelan lays out Hird with a bump, dishes the ball off to big game player Travis Johnstone, who nails the goal from 50 out on the boundary. Shame we lost the match, but that few seconds was possibly my favourite few seconds of footy ever.

Would be worth less at the trade table than he is worth to our team. Until this year, he was the highest goal scorer at the club since coming across from the Blues. 40+ goals a year every year. Considering our recent scoring problems, lack of speed and lack of crumbers, it'd be stupid to trade him. If anything it's stupid he's not in the team at the moment. The coaches obviously don't like something about his game at the moment and want it to change, but I doubt he'll ever tear up a game at VFL level, so he's just rotting away there. We need his speed and goal scoring power. People saying Spargo has taken his spot aren't quite correct. Spargo, while small, has played more as a high flankers pushing up into the midfield and has yet to show he can play as a small combing forward. Not dissing the kid as I love him, but he doesn't play as a small crumbing forward. Jeffy is competing with Hannan for that spot and IMO should be in the team.

Great game tonight. Tigers deserved the win as they held their structures better than the Swans. Typical Rance game. Flopped around like a fish and lost every contest he went near. As usual the commentators didn't say a negative word about him though other than his losses and mistakes were "uncharacteristic". He's an overrated soft [censored]. Cotchin on the other hand has developed into a brilliant player. He was always more outside ball user, but the past 2 years he's really lifted his intensity and physicality and he just always leads his players from the front and sets the standard. Great to watch.

Best of luck to him, he’s a ripping positive person. He’s had a horrible run of luck with his footy career, and it’s admirable the resilience and hard work he’s shown the whole way through. Am surprised and glad he’s got the chance at AFL level again. Good luck Trenners!

The ladder predictor snow up on afl.com.au again. I just ran through and came up with the following at the end of round 23 (attached image). Had us finishing on 14 wins, which lands us 8th. This obviously won't be accurate, but the numbers at the half way point of the season don't lie. Teams are going to have to win more games than usual to make the 8 this year.