Lord Travis

North comfortably win. Jeez that [censored] me that we gave up against a middle of the road side in the Hawks last week. Has ruined our percentage!

Other than Pedo and Spargo, none of the Melbourne listed players showed much. JKH and some of the others who have been around a few years are pure list cloggers who are being kept around for contractual and emergency injury situations. Further culling of the list is needed as we severely lack class. We have far too few good kicks still after all these years somehow! Casey seemed to try hard, but with a crowded forward line struggled to make the most of opportunities when going forward. Exactly the same as the AFL team, and it shows our gameplan does not work and needs to change.

Spargo getting involved this last quarter when we need it. His disposal has been iffy, but he doesn't have much to kick to with that clogged up forward line. He knows how to find the pill and has fire in him. Definitely something to work with there. On the other hand, Dion Johnstone struggles to get involved in any form. Doesn't find the ball, doesn't lay many tackles, just jogs around aimlessly. The nicest thing I can say about him as a footballer is he is present and playing. Seems a bust and clear delist material alongside the injured Vandenburg and McKenna.

Agreed. I thought he was best on ground for us in the first half. He repeatedly beat Roughead in one on ones in quite convincing fashion. Very impressive. He’s improved his body work and spoiling immensely this year IMO. One of the few shining lights for us thus far this season.

Agree. Those first two clips show how incredibly well he reads the play and he managed to tear away from the closest man and impact the contest of the ball that was kicked in to ensure Oscar/Frost had support. He didn’t mark it, which he may have when last when when in better form, but he read the play better than anyone else in that half of the ground. Pretty exciting to see if from that angle, it’s clear as day his footy brain is a level above anyone else out there. Once his confidence returns and there’s some form of pressure on the ball coming in, he is going to flourish and be f*cking unbelievable.

Yep certainly some vitriol being spewed in here. He had a poor game, but a broken hand explains why. He's a tough guy Jordy! Good on him for seeing the game out, must've been hard in those conditions and being part of such a disaster to keep pushing himself. He can heal up for a few weeks now and hopefully return fresh and primed to have an impact.

Yeah I did a youtube search but only found older episodes. I'll wait a few days and see if it pops up then. Thanks anyway! It's a shame Hunt's been out of form. His pace and running power both ways is exactly what we're missing at the moment. Here's hoping he did enough a Casey on the weekend to earn a call up.

I'm pretty sure I know exactly what they'll show (Lever and Vince over-running ground balls, Vince not kicking ball away a metre out from goal which cost a goal etc.), but where can I watch this online? I don't have Foxtel.

It’s a bad look for the game, but it’s within the interpretation of the rules so we need to adapt to it. The Hawks and other teams have used it to good effect against us. Blocking the man on the mark means the kicker gains an extra 10 or so metres before bombing it long. Our defense is weak at defending quick long balls in when there aren’t midfielders there to assist with killing the contest. Good coaches know that, and so they use the rule to their advantage. We need to learn to adapt. If an opposition player is sheparding the man on the mark, it means we have an extra player elsewhere. Make use of that.

He's been disappointing, but the whole backline bar O-Mac have been poor this season. Can hardly blame it all on Lever, though he is seriously down on confidence. He's gone from Rance level confidence in the air and dominating the league, to sh*tting himself whenever the ball comes near him. What's happened to him? Jetta is horribly out of form. He's gone from AA level form in 2016-2017 to losing nearly every contests he approaches. Is he injured? He's been outbodied so easily this year! Hibberd has been average. Not getting to as many contests down back, and his rebound work has been average too. Far too many mongrel punts to 2 on 1 contests, just horrible decision making. Hunt was so poor he was dropped. Frost's legs move faster than his brain. I like that he has pace and power, but he needs to learn when to use it. Constantly runs into trouble or stuffs up the whole structure back there by taking the wrong option, going to ground, leaving his man free etc. Wagner has done enough to hold a place, but he's hardly set the world on fire. He's an average footballer warming a spot for when a proper option comes along. Lewis played like a 50 year old today. Fumbled, went to ground repeatedly, picked poor options as it all seemed to fast for him, and he showed zero leadership. Deserves to be dropped after today. Vince was ok, but he's near the end and struggles to keep up some weeks. O-Mac has been good this year. I'm not his biggest fan, but he's seriously improved to the point where he's become the most reliable defender we have. Who would've thought!

[censored] I hate supporting this team. How long until this torture ends?!

First game I’ve left early since the 100 point loss days. To not kick a goal for over 2 quarters of footy in unacceptable. Nothing has changed. No finals this year. Goodwin is clueless.

Goodwin being shown up again today. Organization and strategy with ball today has been atrocious. I wish we had a coach who could organize this group properly because it’s a top 4 team playing below their ability at present.

Umpires for today? Do we know yet?

No excuses today. We’re a better team than Hawthorn now and if we lose today it means the players didn’t try properly or we were out coached by a great coach in Clarkson. Conditions suit us, and small forward like will work when we take control and bomb it long. They’ll have opportunities at ground level to swoop and kick us to a big win. I expect and believe we should win and win big today. In reality I’ll just be happy to get the 4 points. We need to win games like this against lower teams as routine now.

Does anyone have the gif/clip of Clarry from Hawthorn game where he did the one handed pickup/rotation/handball while being tackled? Was sheer brilliance but I can't find it online. I remember seeing it on Demonland last year though!

Sloane can’t handle a tag. Crows missing their best midfielder Matt Crouch.

Adelaide have been hopeless tonight. Definitely won’t be making another grand final this year with this lack of intensity or gameplan.

I’m a fan, but he’s been disappointing so far this season. After a great 2nd half of 2017, and a great JLT and preseason, I expected more from him. He’s out of form at the moment. Hopefully he clicks soon as he can be very damaging and has a higher ceiling that most of the other small/mid forward options (Petracca aside).

Reckon we’ll bomb long too often and Sicily will pick them off all day. He’s the key player we have to make accountable to get the 4 points IMO. Predicting Hawks by 9. Hope I’m wrong!

No excuses today. Let's bury these losers. GET IT DONE DEES!

How are people proposing we get Wines? We’ve got no first round pick to trade this year, and have to use next years first rounder in the draft, as we haven’t used one since 2015 draft. Unless we’re trading a gun of our own like Petracca or Oliver, then we have no way of getting him across.

Goal kicking is the big one. It's the only thing separating Clarry from the truly elite midfielders. If he can start kicking goals consistently then he will immediately become a top 5 player. At present he isn't as damaging as most of the above listed due to this one aspect. He's got them beat for clearances, contested ball and tackles, but at the end of the day the game is about kicking goals. He needs to contribute more in goals and score assists to elevate himself to the elite level. He's more than capable, it will just take time to find that balance. Still only 20 years old and less than 40 games into his career! His output thus far is phenomenal, and I honestly think he's already close to being the best Melbourne midfielder I can remember in my time. Finally a superstar in red and blue!

Judd won the Brownlow, best and fairest, and was All Australian in his 3rd year as a 20-21 year old. He finished 2nd in his second year as a 19 year old... but was second to Ben Cousins, who was one of the best midfielders of the decade. Clarry is far ahead on pure numbers, but Judd definitely impacted games more. No one else has ever had as big an impact that early in their career as Judd did.

He's my favourite player, and is well on his way to being the best Demon midfielder in my lifetime. Very different player to Judd though. While he's putting up far better numbers than Judd did, he doesn't have the explosive bust out of packs and he doesn't hit the scoreboard either. Judd would often go for a run, dance around some opposition and bang through 3-4 goals. His impact on games was huge, and faded in the second half of his career as his groin was shot so he lost his explosive pace. I love Clarry, but his impact isn't the same at this stage. If he starts hitting the scoreboard, then he'll genuinely be a top 5 player in the comp.