Gouga

One good year end then drops his bundle? That is not the Melbourne way ?

Maybe Phillips' contract is just worth too much to make him a viable option? From memory Langdon was coming out of contract when we targeted him...

IF everyone is in form (and it is a big IF): FB: Lever, May, Hibberd HB: Salem, Tomlinson, Rivers C : Harmes, Viney, Langdon HF: Fritsch, Petty, Pickett FF: Melksham, Weideman, Jackson FOLL: Gawn, Petracca, Oliver INT: Hore, Brayshaw, Sparrow, Hannan We are desperate for an elite outside midfielder, elite small forward and elite small defender.

Burn.

Just for fun, this is what a team of 200 game players looks like: FB: B.Lovett, T.Johnson, S.Smith HB: S.Febery, G.Hardeman, D.Williams C : R.Flower, T.Viney, B.Dixon HF: A.Yze, J.Mueller, G.Lyon FF: R.Robertson, D.Neitz, N.Smith FOLL: J.Stynes, R.Barassi, P.Beams INT: N.Jones, J.McDonald, S.Alves, G.Wells EMG: B.Green, J.White, C.Bruce

This is the link to the Melbourne list: https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/melbourne.html You can navigate back to the main menu to find the same list for the other clubs. P.S. "AFL Tables" is my favourite website.

Thousands of AFL players over the years have shown promise but can't sustain it. It's a fact of life. It's not a knock on those players, but only the top echelon can do it year after year. I think we forget that. Tmac (170 games over 10 years), Jetta (153 games over 12 years), Harmes (104 games over 7 years), Neal-Bullen (77 games over 6 years) and Hunt (71 games over 7 years) have probably done well to contribute as much as they have over the years. Notwithstanding, they are the precise players that need to be turned over in the next 1-2 years. Are Salem, Brayshaw and Lever future 200 game players? Odds are against them. Of the 1,350 odd players that have pulled on a Melbourne jumper since 1987, only 25 have played 200 games or more.

Me too. When he said he was disappointed it sounded very disingenuous. Maybe max thought they played ok given the circumstances. Hopefully not...

Riccardi this week, but hopefully stays in the side for the rest of the year and gets one.

Agree, but will never happen. At the end of the day Eddie and Sam are just a couple racist morons.

Wow. Even today people don't get it. Your comment embodies the very issue he faced.

Not according to the stat sheet. 4 contested marks for the year. None since returning to the side. He is making a contest forward but he isn't marking them.

Gawn for tmac. Preuss to play forward and relief ruck. Tmac has been better since his return, but has not taken a contested mark.

Why does smith get "not a defender"? All he did today was defend Riewoldt. Lever is "not a defender", he just floats around pointing fingers.

Has been completely shot for a while. No athleticism at all. Can only run in a straight line. One more week before Brown and weids take over.

Problem is most of Hawthorn's (aka the "family club") revenue comes from operating gaming in the City of Melton shire where pokies losses are historically at their highest.

I agree with this. We just need to put space between us and the Saints, Kangaroos and Bulldogs. I think we have got a fair bit right off field. Divesting assets (Leighoak and Bentleigh gaming) and investing into football is 100% the right move, but if we can't deliver our 4 year strategic plan (albeit a COVID-19 modified version) we only have ourselves to blame. https://resources.melbournefc.com.au/aflc-melb/document/2020/02/17/c3ff8ef1-5953-4576-adca-d6e5ead3d156/MFC_Strategic-Plan_Web.pdf Can anyone put their finger on what it really means to be a sporting section of the MCC? Besides acknowledgments in both organisations reports it is not obvious. Is it just ceremonial or is there a genuine opportunity to financially merge? This would be the obvious way to put space between us and the other smaller clubs.

That would be great! We have the mental edge after 5 wins in a row...

A lot of us have been too negative about the weekend. We were not the only team to go missing for a large patch of the game. Good start - tick Petracca in the middle - tick Using Tomlinson and Langdon effectively - tick Winning when we probably didn't deserve to (like good teams do) - tick

Sorry that just simply isnt true. His marking has never been a feature. And even if he did make a decent small forward we need quality small forwards or need to develop them quickly. Cant cop jones being picked ahead of Pickett for example.

So by that logic jones along with all his teammates all those years arn't responsible for teams performance? They were all just unlucky? Oh, but your the guy that knows about high performance.

The MFC and AFL communities are soft on jones because he is perceived to be "unlucky" to have ended up at melbourne. People forget he has been extremely well paid, probably overs, for many years. Captained a club without a lot of leadership. He was never asked and still doesn't work defensively and for years only worried about his own game. Don't get me wrong, i like jones a lot and wish him well this year but if we are going to be successful we need to lift the standards we demand and that includes jones. He performs he plays. He repeats 2019 he plays it out at casey.

If we are guessing: 6 - Jackson, 15 - Langdon, 17 - Dunkley, 20 - Tomlinson, 24 - Rivers, 36 - Pickett, 38 - Brown, 43 - Bennell

When picking a team we seem to aim for 7 defenders and 7 forwards (3 tall, 4 medium/small). Obviously Gawn plays and I reckon the right mix of midfielders would be 4 inside, 3 outside. On that basis... Best 22 (assuming no injuries whatsoever) Defenders: May, Lever, O.McDonald, Hibberd, Jetta, Salem, Kolodashnij Midfielders: Gawn (r), Viney, Harmes, Brayshaw, Oliver, Bennell, Tomlinson, Langdon Forwards: T.McDonald, Weideman, Petty, Melksham, Petracca, Fritsch, Pickett

Lets hope a few of the senior players are joining in...