Fat Tony

I think our biggest problem is that Ben Brown isn’t a good enough number 1 forward option. He doesn’t take enough contested marks and is a liability defensively and on the ground ball.

100% correct.

The decision to hold back our cards and be a bit bolder with our ball movement in finals was a big coaching error IMO. We were clearly unprepared for the new untested game plan and we gave up two goals with risky corridor kicks last night. The change also meant we were out of position defensively at times. And changes like we made need to be player specific. Gawn should not be going for risky inside kicks.

Our best footy of the last two years (except for our glorious September when our midfield was dominating) was at the start of 2021. If TMac is fit, we would be better off with neither Brown or Weideman.

Really ill disciplined and fumbling tonight. Spargo and Brown were liabilities. (Brown is cooked.) Petracca not fit. Jackson given a lesson. Goodwin made a big error changing the game plan in Round 23 by encouraging kicks into the corridor. Too late to learn it and this cost 2 goals.

Did he impress? He looked pretty coordinated and athletic is some of the vision from last years grand final.

September Demons are the best Demons!

I was an initial sceptic but I think the bye has some merits. Why? 1. The tanking in the last round is something the game wants to avoid. 2. It helps the players and teams to be at their best in finals. 3. I also think that ladder finishing position can be distorted by the vagaries of the draw. So I question if the advantages attached finishing higher are fair anyway.

I think Chandler has potential at AFL level. Fast, decent overhead, a long kick. He is just not strong enough and has not been given a real chance yet. KEEP.

My sources tell me Tomlinson will look at moving to another club to play AFL.

I think Goldstein or Ryder makes the most sense. We are in the window so we need a backup who is AFL standard straight away.

Did Laurie make it through the game? Just 5 possessions as a midfielder is disappointing.

Efficiency in front of goal aside (in the first half) that was a brilliant performance by Casey.

TMac is moving extremely well. He might not play on Friday night but I think he will play AFL finals now.

Will Casey pick it’s best 22+1? Or will MFC listed players get preference? Could any Melbourne players not get selected?

It should be able to be streamed on the vfl website.

Can we forgo the Spargo as the third/relief winger experiment? Brayshaw would be a better option. Salem for Bowey will be the only change.

Freo don't have a top 5 pick. While they could trade up for a higher pick, we will lose value to achieve this. Gold Coast fought tooth and nail to get a top 10 pick from Hawthorn for O'Meara and St Kilda did a great trade for them in order to broker the deal. Conversely, the Cats took a number of lower picks from WCE for Kelly, which, in aggregate, added up to more than pick 1 in value and was a better deal. I would prefer we take a collection of lower picks and let our brains trust work out how to push up or down the draft board. Brokerage is expensive in the AFL system.

This system is fairer but it means we effectively have 2 sets of finals and a lot of dead rubbers. We also cannot release the full fixture until round 17 is done. If I was running the AFL, I would actually go the other way and look to maximise revenue while creating as fair a draw as possible. This means more double up games between Victorian clubs. For interstate clubs, they should play double ups against each other, including 3 local derbies each year. This would mean less unnecessary travel and that fans could attend more games. The double up games should look to promote relative equality in the draw, with each team playing an even number of high and low clubs. (They should look to equalise the competition through draft and salary cap rather than the draw.)

We were unlucky that our bottom 6 double up was Collingwood and our middle 6 double up was Freo.

Jackson or Oliver could get 3 votes.

I think Jordon is stiff to get dropped. We obviously want to play Harmes on Neale and that has forced a midfield reshuffle. Spargo would have been the one I would have left out.

It’s go time Demons!

Didn’t Chandler and Bedford have Covid though?

You are surely not suggesting corruption at AFL House?