praha

knowing our luck we'll end up on top for most of the season, make the granny, and then Dean Kent or Oscar Mcdonald kick the winning goal on the siren. The club blows up and we finish 18th the next season.

Hardwick embodies everything you want in a leader. Similar style to Clarkson. 1. Encyclopaedic knowledge of the game 2. Uncanny ability to articulate complex strategy in a simple way 3. Strong, imposing presence during presentation/performance 4. Can switch between the "warrior" and the "joker" when talking to the team (anyone that has taken corporate coaching training will know what I'm talking about here). Basically means he walks into a room and people know it's time for business, he can tell a joke, but then immediately switch back to serious business without having lost the room. Not everyone can do this (ie. some people start with a joke and then struggle to get full buy in from the audience) 5. Empowers and trusts the team to execute 6. Has an unwavering belief in the strategy Goodwin (and most coaches) has many of these traits but lacks many. Suggesting he is even close to Hardwick at this point is utter insanity. Hardwick in the corporate world would be VP level without even lifting a finger. He gets buy in at a ridiculously high rate and that's why Richmond plays arguably the best "team" game in the league.

Richmond has been ravaged by injuries the past two seasons. Large chunks without key position players, Prestia, Martin. They've done a Brisbane circa 2002-2003, never quite dominating, utilising list depth to position themselves well for finals, and then going in fit and ready to go. Richmond also won a flag with Reiwoldt as their only key forward so this belief that you absolutely need a tall forward (or two) just isn't based in reality. Lynch helped get them to the next level but they would still be up there. We should be able to manage injuries through list depth and game day adjustment. This is less a question of the quality of our injury and fitness management. More a question of overall football department management and the coaching department. And it always has been. Melbourne appears to be the only team impacted by injuties to a degree that it completely destroys our season. That's just not right.

Anger is the path to the Dark Side.

Mate of mine is a Richmond supporter. He was telling me that even after they won the flag in 2017, he and Tigers supporters in general would still eat their own and go to games not quite knowing which Richmond would turn up. Even when they were 40 points up, they always had a "feeling" they would choke and lose. When they lost to Collingwood in the 2018 Prelim, even after two amazing seasons the supporter group was "same old Richmond". He said it wasn't until they won the second flag in 2019 that he now goes into every game with a sense of excitement, knowing which side will turn up, and knowing they'll probably win. He also said it still feels weird to feel like that after 30ish years of utter crap. But it feels good. Richmond supporters have "turned the corner" and the club is no dominant. I told him that it's a feeling I've never had except for maybe patches in the Daniher era; whenever someone asks me how Melbourne will go, my response is always "I have absolutely no idea". Maclure's comments at face value may be simplistic but he makes a point: culture helps establishes an identity. If you don't know or can't even predict an outcome, then the identity is lacking. We still don't know what this club or team really stands for. We merely "exist". I'm optimistic for the season but anyone that can't acknowledge how lacking we are in the cultural department is delusional. Culture isn't immediately identifiable nor easily defined or articulated. But when it exists and when it's strong, you just know it's there. With Melbourne it's always just a shrug of the shoulder. We have a long way to go to turning the corner like Richmond.

when do tickets go on sale.

if this were a game out at ballarat or casey people wouldn't care. it was a practice match at marvel and people act like our season is over. oliver brayshaw viney hibberd melksham salem pickett brown weids all walk up 22 and all not playing. a decent hit out against a near full strength dogs side. people need to calm the farm.

thank god for may and lever..backline looks very good

kayo

looking forward to seeing footy live for the first time in a long time and not recognising half the team.

Can someone tl;dr the latest article Robbo has written about Melbourne? Can't access due to paywall.

not all that different to his stat lines at melbourne, really. aside from the goals and score assists, which he normally got when he played forward.

If pre-season ticketing is anything to go by AFL Members with club support WILL get priority access. I was able to get a ticket during the members purchase period.

What a [censored] storm. AFL should righgly reject Essendon request. If they don't and they move to MCG they will set nasty precedent for the remainder of the year. All clubs and all fans are impacted. Essendon should sit down and put upm

Got my ticket. I had to add a $0 junior ticket to my order though otherwise it wouldn't go through. So I have more tickets than I need. Some people saying they need to add one junior ticket for each full member ticket they are trying to redeem. What a mess.

Just taking the [censored]. Those guys are merchants. They move from one topic to another with maximum hyperbole. I can't see this gaining much traction. I value your opinion DeeZee. Just not theirs.

lol close the thread.

Turns out round 1 will stay as it is. If Melbourne buckles and accepts a move to Marvel the fans should rightfully riot. AFL fixturing boss: “The Round 1 fixture as it stands, we can proceed with that. The challenge will be Fremantle coming to Victoria to play Melbourne. It presents an issue as it stands for Fremantle going back to WA, they would have to quarantine,”

best since Neitz sure but 10x the player Neitz was. Neita was great don't get me wrong but he'd go missing often. Since I've been supporting 1990 I'd say he's the best player we've had.

Fixed it ya bigot.

eventually.

Won't happen. We'd have to get another MCG game to make it up to fit contractual obligations. Essendon would also have to make up another Marvel game. That's the least of the league's problems anyway. WA needs 28 days of no community cases before it loosens border restrictions with Vic. Meaning Freo needs to quarantine for 14 days when they return. Round 1 won't happen as it currently is. Won't be surprised if our game is postponed or we play GC, and Freo and WC play each other round 1. WA still stands to be the one state that [censored] things up.

wonder if this will be the same for AFL members. I'm a Gold member so anticipate I won't have an issue getting into any home games given you could probably count the amount of Melbourne supporting AFL Gold members on 2 hands.

She's hardcore Richmond. Zero chance.

First order of business, a haircut.