Nasher

Looking at those heat maps, McDonald is already playing a high role anyway. The last two weeks have basically been 50% forward, 50% midfield. And what wing is he going to take? Brayshaw might be a poor kick but he's defensively crucial. His positioning when defending our own 50, the way he blocks the opposition from switching, and his push in to the back half are all critical. And obviously it's not going to be Langdon's wing. Assuming Jackson and Viney aren't ready, I'm going with no change. If Viney's ready then Chandler goes out. If Jackson's ready, I'm reluctantly putting Weideman out at this stage.

Happy to have backed Petty in last week. I think it's totally reasonable for a young KPD, playing in a system defense, to take a game or two to find his rhythm. It's silly to think he'd be playing at the top of his capability in game one. He's never played any more than 3 games in a row as a defender, the writing off of him was nuts. I'm a lot less convinced about Kade Chandler, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the same reason. I reckon Melksham would have offered more, but if Goody and team want to give Chandler a few weeks to settle in, I can appreciate why.

I would mute it, but it sucks listening to the telecast in silence. I like hearing the sounds of kicking the footy, bodies on bodies and the crowd. I get goosebumps when I hear the MFC faithful go up. Unfortunately the price for getting all that is having to suffer BT. Years ago Fox tried a thing where they gave you an option of turning off the commentary. Don't know why that didn't stick, but it was awesome. I would 100% do that every game if that were a choice I had.

Addendum: please Footy Gods, let it be Essendon. I would settle for Collingwood.

Hence ratcheting up the bar too high. We will smash someone. It’ll come. It was never going to be this game though. The current incarnation of Carlton don’t have a huge number of wins on the board, but they don’t get smashed. We delivered, for the 9th time in a row. I’m feeling smugly content.

I actually thought it was a great win. There were long periods of the game where there wasn’t much scoring - that to me says the game was a genuine arm wrestle. We scored heavily in the periods where we had ascendency and defended like Demons(!) during the period where they had it. I reckon the “meh, just a win” people are ratcheting the bar up a tad too high.

As usual, if I only looked at the match day thread, I'd assume we were 30 points down.

Really enjoying Weid's contribution at the moment. He's hanging on to his marks, which is an excellent sign. Can't wait to see the boys get around him when he kicks one, which is inevitable. TMac has been immense, again. I'm stoked for him.

Yep - I swore at Gawn in the first instance but then thought maybe it was just a lack of player talk; Brown's job as the leading in forward to call Gawn in or out. Happy to apportion equal blame to two experienced players though.

7 points behind us with our slow starts = 20 points down against any other side. We're going to roll these guys comfortably.

Chandler is off the pace at the moment so I'll cut him some slack. You'd expect it'll take him a quarter or two to get in to a rhythm with the game and the team. The Gawn/Brown one was a shocker though. Great mark from Weid at the end of the quarter, and great kick to TMac.

I’m yet to see Goody post the unjustified, one eyed garbage that I see posted on here. Have you got a link? Melksham getting dropped doesn’t make me wrong about the groupthinking Melksham haters. I stand by it. FWIW I didn’t think Melksham would be dropped, but I don’t object. I actually said weeks ago (when everyone was laying in to me about daring to suggest Spargo should try and get the ball more) that Melksham was the most likely in the gun. Excited for Chandler after 3 games as the unused medical sub. Can’t wait to see how he goes.

It wasn’t analysis, it was supporter bluster. I don’t mind buying in to the banter every now and again. We should still have their measure, but of course we’re beatable and they’re good enough if they bring it. No point letting them read that though ?

If we were going to come unstuck against a garbage team, it would have been the hapless North. That was the textbook “Melbourne will get complacent and lose” game. Carlton aren’t bad enough to take lightly, but they definitely aren’t good enough to beat us. It’s cute that they’re confident though. Good on them.

Sorry, I probably should have put a content warning on that one ?

If he plays well, it'll be interesting to see what happens once Jackson is fit. I don't think it's implausible that he holds Jackson out when both are available, in the same way others have held him out.

I'll never be able to bring myself to chant Weed like that at the footy. Reminds me too much of that ugly bastard Wayne Weidemann who played for Adelaide, and later Devonport in the local Tassie league when I was a kid.

I’d never considered the aspect of player salaries inflating over time meaning that, relative to the TPP and average player salaries, the salary of players who sign long term deals actually shrinks as time goes on. If player salaries continue to grow in the way they have historically, it could be like the Lynch situation where it’s not that high a % by the end of the deal. I wonder if the club has structured the contract to be as front-loaded as it afford? If I was Petracca I’d want that - access to more money earlier means I can start investing earlier and can build my wealth quicker. Obviously the club would benefit too with reducing salary cap pressure as the years go on.

21st century radio show.

Nice post, but you're tough to single out Brayshaw - his win/loss record is 50-52 and he's only had two seasons in his career where he's played in more losing games than winning ones, one of which was his first one, the other being the car crash that was 2019. I don't think he qualifies as a player who's a bit used to losing. Really the only ones on our list that were there for the really dark times are Jones, Gawn, Viney and McDonald; three of which are leading the resurgence.

It was really interesting listening to Petracca talk in his interview with Lyon and Watson (available on the MFC website); he talked about how they sit down every season, discuss and map out the things they want to deliver, the way they want to play, the culture they want to set, and so forth. Petracca said the difference between this year and previous years, was that they actually did what they said they wanted to do. One of Paul Roos' closing speeches when he left the club was to tell the players that whatever happened from that point forward was up to them. As a bloke in my late 30s now I can vouch for the fact that for young men, sometimes it really does take a long time for the message that your future is in your own hands to get through. It's easy and natural to fall in to a habit of relying on others to get you there. It can be a lightbulb moment when you suddenly realise: it's up to me. You could have been told that by senior people 1000 times and think you understand, but it's not until it clicks in to place mentally for the individual that you really buy-in. There's no way to force it to get through, you just have to wait for the maturity to take hold. That's what I think has happened to this group of players. There's a lot to be said for maintaining consistent leadership with a constant focus, too. One thing Goodwin has in common with recent dynasty coaches such as Thompson, Hardwick and Clarkson is that he had the blowtorch put on him by the footy media and his own club supporters, right before the side came good. The administration of our club (and those other clubs) remained patient and committed, and are now benefitting from the rewards. Compare this with the administration in 2011 who shat the bed, panicked and set the club back years. We're going how we're going because the club backed Goodwin's leadership, his (and their own) ability to tweak and tinker to get the right personnel in place, including players, coaches and administrators, and they didn't panic and deviate from the master plan when there were bumps in the road. It's a massive team effort, of which Goodwin deserves a good slice of the credit. All the stuff listed in the OP is, with all respect to the OP, complete bollocks. Those are just tweaks on the periphery. Where Goodwin deserves credit is just for doing his bit, which was to continue to lead the implementation of a coaching and development programme that was agreed to and put in motion all the way back to when Roos and Jackson were running the show, and absorbing all the heat in the process. On a side note, I really like listening to Petracca be interviewed. To me, in listening to the subtle changes in the way he speaks now, you can tell the difference between the young man who was eagerly regurgitating what the coaches said to him, to a player who has absorbed and processed the message, and putting it back out there with his understanding of it. He gets it now - it's clear. It's not that he wasn't trying to before, it's just taken that final maturation step for it to click in place. I can't wait to see what the next few years brings for him, because the sky really is the limit now.

What a shock that a person who would pin the arms of a 19 year old while his mate punches the kid in the throat would endorse violence.

Yep, exactly. We were all young and stupid once. I don’t really blame the players at all - I just hope they’ve learned a lesson from it. It’s the 40 and 50-something men acting as if this was an inevitable/honorable outcome that really presses my buttons. We should be showing young men the right way, not reinforcing boorish, dangerous behaviour.

MFCSS has me screaming to find a spot in the team for Weideman so he doesn’t crack the sads playing in the VFL and leave. But logic says he’s just going to have to wait. I think he’s a kid with a good head on his shoulders who understands how it is. His injury came at a most inopportune time, he’s behind two legitimate AFL key forwards. His time WILL come - we’re only 1/3 of the way in to a long season. Surely, he sees that he’s valuable, and he wants to be a part of what we’re up to in the long run. Would he prefer to go to a non-contender for game time that comes more easily, or does he back himself to break in to the team here?

If there are tools harassing your partner, report it to security. If they do nothing about it, they obviously don’t want to look after their patrons, so leave. It’s really, really easy to avoid getting in to fights. Attitudes like picket’s belong in the 1970s. Defending women’s honour - please. I’m sure Bolton’s girlfriend is stoked he’s got a broken wrist, which he depends on for his livelihood, and a broken reputation now, all in the name of her “honour”.