Lord Travis

The hip must have been limiting him until the past few weeks. His first month was ordinary. He didn't have the speed to get out of congestion, wasn't getting to as many contests, wasn't showing his trademark aggression and intensity. It would have been nice to see him try to lead more vocally during this period and organise players around stoppages etc. He just went completely into his shell and barely gave a yelp. In the Essendon game he was doing some odd looking hip stretches in between quarters and while waiting for centre bounces etc. The hip was clearly limiting him, but his burst of speed and general intensity has now returned. Now that he is able to perform the way he wants out there his voice has also returned, laying into opposition players and organising players at stoppages. Great news for Jack and the team if he can stay healthy and in good form for the remainder of the season.

I'll probably do all 3 if we lose I'll be that disgusted and furious. Surely after all this improvement we can beat a bottom 4 side at our home ground!

If Hogan is mentally and physically ready to play then he replaces Weiderman. The team as a whole though need to change the way they enter 50. Hogan stays deep and calls for it long, often while having two men on him. The players need to recognise this and not just bomb it long to him, even if he calls for it. If there are two on him, that means we have a spare player somewhere else, likely charging towards 50. We need to use quick handballs and short kicks to move the ball forward quickly . If there is space, use it. If Hogan is in the goal swear with 2 guys on him, and there is 40 metres of space in front of him, either kick it into the space if he can get on a lead, or run the ball the entire way yourself and have a shot. We did this so much better against Adelaide without Hogan there, and have done the same in the past with him out. We need to learn that lesson and use the available space instead of bombing it to a contest where we will likely lose. We should account for North this week. Just need to turn up with intensity and play our game. It should be straight forward, but that does't seem possible with this group yet. Hopefully they can take confidence from last weekend and understand that if they work hard they can beat anybody. It's all up to them to work hard all match and not just turn up for a few minutes when they feel like it.

The club are likely going to give him time off again because of the knock on the weekend. I hope there is some further treatment, research or opinion they can seek. Angus is a talented and driven kid. We invested a lot in him taking him with pick 3. Hopefully he can overcome the concussion issues with further guidance and treatment, as he would obviously be an important player for us in the future if he can make the most of his footballing ability in the red and blue. If the risk to his health is too great though, then he must do what is best for his long term health. Health always comes first. I don't think it's time he hung up the boots just yet at only 21 years old, but if he keeps suffering further head damage in the future then it's best he stops playing for his own health.

Irrelevant. Writing off 9 attempts is ridiculous. It's embarrassing that we haven't beaten North for over 10 years. At least with a team like Hawthorn or Geelong you know they both had eras of greatness so it's not surprising if you haven't beaten them for a few years. North however have been a bog average middle of the road side. We will beat them this weekend. If we don't, I'll burn the MCG to the ground.

We need to start performing better at our home ground the MCG. This year we've stumbled over the line against Carlton there when we were at full strength with Gawn and Hogan playing, then lost all our other games there to beatable teams. It's ironic that the MCG is now our weakest ground. We've been better at Etihad and now interstate swell after the weekend. Does our gameplan break down with the extra space of the G? Our high zone always seems to get caught out playing there this year and it's painful to watch when you're at the ground. Does Goodwin need to tweak something? We've got 3 winnable games coming up, and if we win all 3 we are well placed for a tilt at finals. If we drop more of these winnable games to bottom 4-6 sides then kiss finals goodbye. Hopefully the win in Adelaide has given the boys belief and they can come out breathing fire and know they're capable of beating anyone as long as they keep working hard and playing their game.

Definitely agree with this. His 'don't argue' fend offs are just him shoving another player in the face or throat. Can't remember which match it was, but early in the year he pushed a player in the throat with such force that they couldn't breathe properly and had to come from the field with medical staff. Umpires didn't even pay a free kick. While it's great to see acts of strength or speed or athleticism in our game, they still need to be within the rules and Dusty should be penalised for his fend offs a lot of the time, but is obviously one of the untouchable players and so the umpires let him get away with it. I loved when he tried it against us this year and barely broke through our first midfielder, then the second one came in and crunched him in the tackle. Umpire had no choice but to pay holding the ball while he was pinned to the ground looking sorry for himself. Was an absolute delight to see!

Sounds like a bad day for Casey with a big loss and Brayshaw concussion. Hope Brayshaw is ok and the players can pick themselves up for next week.

He kicked it more this week and he's usually damaging with his kicking. He obviously kicked a miracle goal, but he directly setup another goal by pulling the trigger and kicking long instead of hand balling it off like he usually does. Goodwin has started resting him forward too which is a good move as his hands are strong and he's setup a few goals now while resting down there (set one up for Petracca last week and two I can remember last night). This kid is already a great player, but he could be a star of the comp in the very near future. So excited to have such a talent playing for the Dees!

Well the Jack Viney we know and love is back. 30 touches, 12 tackles and a goal. Another great game by him. He appears to have his pace back and the aggression and intensity around the ball is fierce. He's returned to his 2016 form and that's a big bonus for us. Hopefully he can maintain this form for the remainder of the year and continue to build on his leadership skills.

Missed the first half tonight but got to see the second half streamed on my phone. What an incredible and unexpected win! Go you bloody Dees! Absolutely amazing!

They've earnt it. For the most part they have turned up to play and taken their opportunities. When they play a bottom team (e.g. Hawthorn) they make he most of that and make sure they win. We've done the opposite and it's why they're ahead of us again this year and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. We need leaders to help get the boys up so they don't drop games to bottom teams. We're going nowhere until we can turn that corner.

This one will get ugly I'm afraid

No Hogan is gonna make it tough tomorrow night. Reckon Crows will be breathing fire after an embarrassing loss last week and smash us by 10 goals. This year is pretty much a write off now I fear

In Kent Out JKH Great change that improves the team offensively and defensively. Good to see the team finally starting to settle. Hopefully they rebound from last week and pull off an upset win as payback for a pathetic showing against the Hawks (and Dockers).

Forgot about that. He deserves an extra million then.

I'm sick of losing to bottom teams every year. With Sydney winning, Hawthorn were bottom of the ladder. They were 1-5 with a % of 63. In terms of performance, they were on par with Melbourne during the Mark Neeld era. Sure they have some old champions in that team, but they have been horrendous this year, absolutely pathetic. They've had 3 80+ losses and an average losing margin of 70+ points. And we lost to them. That loss is an absolute embarrassment for the club. I hope the players really feel the sting of that loss but I doubt they will if history is anything to go by. If we don't make finals this year then it's a complete waste of a season. We've got older guys like Lewis, Vince, Jones who are only going to be around for another 2-3 years. We're already struggling with leadership, we'll be even worse when the guys retire. We need these kids getting all the experience they can get, and that includes finals experience. If we're not producing actual successful results instead of being competitive, we won't attract good players from other clubs, and guys like Hogan will get fed up and go home to WA. It's a vicious cycle and I'm not sure we're out of it yet.

I agree with most of this. Simple fact is 3-4 is failure. We've had a better fixture than this time last year, haven't left Melbourne for 7 games, yet have gone backwards in both wins and percentage. I've attended every game and we do appear to be a better team this year, but so are many others as evidenced by the matches over the weekend. It's a very even league and everyone is always improving. We are 3-4, which means we have lost more than we've won and we're currently outside of the top 8. Our draw starts to get harder from here so it's hard to see us improving and making finals now. This club needs to get serious and get ruthless. We have been losers for decades, and the soft mental attitude of the club doesn't appear to have changed. I was happy with being competitive a few years ago as we were an absolute joke of a football team and anything less than a 100 point less was a treat to watch. We are at a stage now where we cannot accept losing in any fashion. The club and players need to take responsibility. Whether it's extra training and education sessions or donating their match payments to charity every time they lose, it is now no longer acceptable in any form.

Our 'big fish' should be Steven May. One of the best key defenders in the league, leadership skills, competitive, aggressive. He should be our number 1 target. He would improve us so much structurally. Imagine him down back directing traffic while nullifying their best forward. It would free up guys like Hunt, Hibberd and Frost to run off half back more as they would have to get back less to help out. It would mean Tmac would not need to be number 1 defender, so he can then play more to his strengths and intercept more. It would mean we don't need Oscar out there costing us goals every week and his teammates needing to bust their ass to help cover whoever his man is at the time. I reckon getting a good key defender like May would improve us drastically.

4-3 with a higher % too. We had also already travelled interstate, so we've had an easier draw this year and gone backwards.

The worst thing about the team at present is the lack of leadership and organisation. I don't see anyone out there barking orders and trying to organise or fire up his teammates. Look at Hodge yesterday. As a player, he's pretty much shot, but he was still barking orders and organising his team. He was also picking fights with Melbourne players and getting his team mates involved. This bonded them and fired them up. We need better leaders who can organise us on-field. Shout out to Jeffy who continues his good form this year. And Jack Viney who played a great game. And Hogan for his return under challenging circumstances giving us decent output. The rest can go jump in the ice bath for all I care until they are ready to put in the effort, use some common sense and win some matches.

His loss hurts us more structurally than in the ruck. Gawn is our bail out kick when we come out the defensive 50 under pressure. He is parked at the half back flank, the players know to kick it there and he will either clunk the mark to relieve the pressure or bring the ball to ground and out of bounds. Without him there we have no-one capable of making that same contest so we are turning the ball over and opposition teams are getting repeat entries into their 50. We also miss him taking saving marks in defensive 50 and floating forward to help out too. Not having him means we take a tall player out of the forward or backline (Watts, Pederson, TMac) to cover is absence, which then also stuffs up the structure for that area of the ground. Until we can get a pure ruckman back in to help with our structure, we are going to struggle. Still the worse thing about the team at present is the lack of leadership and organisation. I don't see anyone out there barking orders and trying to organise or fire up his teammates. Look at Hodge yesterday. As a player, he's pretty much shot, but he was still barking orders and organising his team. He was also picking fights with Melbourne players and getting his team mates involved. This bonded them and fired them up. We need better leaders who can organise us on-field.

I agree with this. There was a moment in the 4th quarter, 10 mins to go still. 4 Hawks players (Hodge, Gibson and some other campaigners) started laying into Watts in our forward line, ball was 100 meters away. It was like watching his debut all over again where he got swarmed by Colllongwood player a and his teammates didn't have his back. Hannah and Hogan were both standing there and just ignored their mate getting mauled until Hunt ran over and actively raised his arms and yelled at them. Then they put in a token effort to stop the fight. It was symbolic. The Hawks players know each other and we're on the same page. They had fight in them. The Dees players haven't bonded properly yet and wanted to avoid conflict. They had no fight in them. As soon as I saw that mini fight I knew 100% we would not get back up and win. These guys still don't have the fire in them yet and don't know each other well enough. It's going to take time, and that sucks. Let's just hope they get there in the end or lots of Melbourne supporters will die without seeing a premiership.

Jack played a great game today and appears to be working back into form the past few weeks. 30+ touches, but it was the 15 tackles and 8 clearances that had an impact. I just wish some of his mates shared his work ethic and intensity out there today!

It's taken 10 years to get to this point, but being competitive is now no longer enough. We should be angry at any and every loss. Losing is now unacceptable for the club and its supporters. They had better fire up next week and pull of an upset win to pay us back for losing to the bottom of the ladder team at home today.