praha

This is not just a season defining match for this club: it is truly club defining. And wouldn't it just be typical that after three straight losses to start the season in Melbourne, our one win would come in Geelong of all places where maybe 10 of us might actually be able to snag a ticket.

Even Hawthorn when they were bad were playing with structure and dare.

Adelaide looks good but defensively they will get found out in September. They score a bunch but also concede a lot. But also... how did we let North kick 20 goals. Jfc.

You play a positional and possession game. 6-6-6. With a roaming defender. And you score over the top on the turnover. Just as Adelaide, Hawthorn and Collingwood do

"Unlikely to face Geelong." Never been so happy to hear "unlikely".

If your head coach is not taking responsibility then who is?

We had 13 premiership players today, with a further three who at the time were on the cusp of top 22. The average age of this group is 27. This is prime performance period as a core group of players. On top of that we've had 4x top 10 picks in the past two seasons. This is disastrous. We are on the verge of going the way of the Eagles. The club really needs to think of what's next.

Simpson.

Jesus, Fritsch....

This is starting to look like a 10 goal loss.

Concerning transition by them... straight down the middle unmarked. Very lucky they didn't get a goal.

[censored] me, the kicking sometimes...

Bowser and Trac rightfully complaining about a 5 meter kick that was paid a mark... only to let a team mate run past for the handball. Petracca has to be better there.

I am watching on TV and it looks like there is a lot of space. I am liking what I am seeing so far.

Melksham can barely run or turn.

We're tackling well. Seems they got the memo after last week.

It's not surprising that we as a club see this sort of drop off during times of turmoil when you consider the socio-economic demographic of the Melbourne fanbase. I definitely feel like Melbourne supporters are more likely to scrutinise the club through their wallets than any other club is. When you combine boring football with no scoring, off field issues, player turmoil, not to mention the off-season anxiety fueled by your best players threatening to leave, and it is absolutely no surprise we have seen a 7k dropoff. I can't remember who said it, it might have been Pert, and i think the news article has been scrubbed from Google, but I distinctively remember someone saying that the aim was turning Melbourne into the "NY Yankees" of Australia. There is no compelling reason at the moment to sign up. It's much harder to sell hope when you can't win games even with one of the best ruckman of all time, and a premiership winning midfield still playing together.

I went with a Hawks supporter. He said to me that he'd never seen a team try so hard and yet be so bad. I remember thinking the same thing and seeing how hard the Hawks players were running to space. They just got beat at every contest. Three months later and they were playing finals.

This is disappointing from Caroline. CEOs take a long time to find. Companies can take years in their search. Honestly it sounds like they are deep in the process.

The club will have a very rare opportunity this off season: they will have three proven coaches all available. Longmire Hinkley (yes - he has guided Port to multiple Prelims) Simpson I really love Goodwin for where he got us but the club really needs to think about whether he is right to do a mini-rebuild and get us back to contention. In my view we are two seasons away, with the right drafting and player additions, from playing finals again. Unless Goodwin magically changes how he has coached for the past nine seasons, he should move on. We definitely can't sack him. I don't think you can sack a Premiership coach. But hopefully he does the right thing for the club. Whether that is commit to changing what he does, or stepping aside.

I hope so. Sleeping the whole weekend can really ruin your week.

You could tell we were in rebuild mode with 6 debutants last week. As I've said multiple times, people need to keep their expectations in check for this season. But yesterday was shocking.

Like most of us, Goodwin could see it coming. I switched off halfway through the third. Watched the first 4 minutes of the 4th... North was looking for a scalp. Good on them. They weren't nearly as bad last year as their win:loss record shows. They turned a corner yesterday. I'm happy for their supporters. We all know what that was like. Yesterday for them was probably like our win against Hawthorn in 2016. That was our turning point as a club.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but this post gives me early-2007 vibes. We are right on the cusp of a capitulation as a club and have been since September 15 2023.

I genuinely feel for Goodwin. I just can't see it anymore. It was probably an opportunity for him to step aside at the end of last season. If he leaves during the season then it ruins the rest of the year. Things could well turn around. But just too much has gone wrong