Nasher

Yep, another one here raising an eyebrow at the Grimes criticism. We know he's no star, but it was a solid game with no significant mistakes that I spotted. He is in decent form at the moment, I hope it can continue as I like him. Thought joeboy was harsh on Viney and Brayshaw too, but I understand that it's hard to capture the essence of a whole game in three words.

We've got at least two midfielders every week who are not up to scratch, and we're back to seeing the usual revolving door policy that we've seen in the past as a result. Riley, Newton, Michie, Bail and Matt Jones all belong in this category. I think it's pretty hard to have two of those guys in as well as ANB and Stretch who are just babies (that said - Stretch took a big step forward last night), and Toumpas who slowly starting to reach some form. Sometimes one of these guys steps up and plays well (e.g. Michie vs Richmond), but by and large they are unreliable and too prone to contributing absolutely nothing. Our core midfield group is still way too small. It's frustrating when the only changes you've got available to you are swapping players of this class in and out of the side, and Dawes who was in poor form prior to injury. it's why I feel like vomiting every time I hear people refer to our "depth" - you've got good depth when you've got genuine AFL grade players being held out of the 22, not when you've got 5 nearly good enough midfielders bouncing in and out of the team.

I'm going to have nightmares of Montagna strolling in to an open goal all week.

See ya next week.

Jeez it's hard to see through the red mist to do this one today. I'm still trying to snap out of it. Talk to me again in a few hours.

Post match thread, people.

Fuming.

The panicking is all down to his personality I think - he takes mistakes very personally, so each one has a snowballing effect. I suspect he'll always have highs and lows, but we're starting to see what he looks like as a player as his confidence is picking up. I'm really enjoying his game so far today.

That Hogan fella goes okay. Might keep him.

I remember that loss against Sydney in 1993 (I was in year 4). I got mercilessly teased in the playground at school during the week after. Tough gig being the lone Melbourne supporter at the school.

Nup, he didn't. I'm confusing him for Petracca. Getting old, I think.

Take a deep breath and think about why that might be.

I think it's just a more useful point of reference. If I said "this guy is a dead ringer for Nathan Wright", I don't think people are going to be much the wiser. The best players in the game are the ones everyone knows, so it's only natural that that is where the comparisons gravitate to.Anyway, ANB compared himself to Robbie Gray, so I doubt he's going to be that bothered by who he gets compared to.

By "have a feeling", he means taking a wild guess.

Don't think they're KC's best. Would love to know if there's a story behind him not being listed there though or if it was just an oversight - 5 goals sounds dominant.

I did too, but in my mind I associate Rivers with the Daniher era, which feels like such a long time and so much pain ago now that I'm able to let it go. Happy that he's had the opportunity to play out his career in a good side - I truly didn't think he'd still be kicking around at this stage.

Two good teams going at it in a close, exciting contest? Yawn. When do Carlton get thrashed?

Good to hear that Goodwin is trying to establish his list.

Didn't expect the Stretch/Fitz swap, but otherwise as expected after seeing the extended bench. Best of luck to ANB on debut. Hopefully Stretch can step up too - very, very inexperienced looking side this.

Bit of a tangent, but I thought it was interesting that Plapp went out of his way to point out that three of his young players are really enjoyable to coach because they listen (in contrast to Roos' comments after the game). The three he mentioned were OMac, Harmes and Stretch. I wonder how much of an influence this has on players having success at the top level - I've heard stories about some players such as Blease, Morton and Gysberts being nigh-on uncoachable because they didn't listen to feedback.

That's ABN to you, buddy.

Any offers from other clubs?

As opposed to the ones we've won that we shouldn't have won?

Spencer will most likely play too (pending MFC selection) - if that's the case I expect King will play the whole game as a full forward. We need King to be a good forward and a decent ruckman more than we need him to be a good ruckman anyway, IMO. A David Hale circa 2012/2013 type should be his ambition.

For what it's worth, you don't have to count his post to me as hectoring. I was far more amused at his expense than I was offended I literally LOLed when I read it.