praha

if that's the case hit the boundaries and for wingman to fill holes in defense. goodwin is a stubborn coach. we play like millionaires but look like unemployed Arts graduates: no promise and no real skill.

And on cue after our captain misses a shot they go and kick a goal.

Typical. Our captain has a chance to kick a goal after 5 minutes of solid play...and sprays it from 40 directly in front.

Steven Febey 2.0 Lockhart has an Andy Lovell quality about him too.

If we hadn't played finals last year this game would actually be Goodwin's last. One of the most structurally inept performances I've seen since the Neeld days. Just an awful coaching performance. On top of that, the playing group appears to have zero urgency, directive or leadership.

Jones is a deadset moron. Demands the ball while surrounded by 5 Giants players. Fritsch is quickly turning into Simon Godfrey 2.0.

Oliver Jones Petracca Garlett Brayshaw Mcdonald all less than 8 Fantasy points.

That was an embarrassing umpiring display. Two umpires needing to be told how to count.

Dumb asses.

16k max I'd say.

please never play that version of our song again.

predict we'll start strong but then go goalless for 3 quarters. giants by 42.

Better hurry up and get to the ground folks. Only 20 minutes until the first bounce and there's only 90, 95 thousand seats left.

Bizarre. 9 days as well. Surely it wasn't just a "wait and see how you wake up oj game day"? If he was still showing symptoms after 6-7 days it's a given he isn't playing. The FD is a joke.

Yes one game behind the records of 7th and 8th but given our %, we would effectively be two games off a top 8 spot. Lose today and we are still three games off. Our poor percentage is basically worth another game. Teams would be licking their lips to play us, because even if they lose against us they don't stand to lose much percentage given we barely score and don't win by much.

May need to take the red and blue tinted glasses off, folks. Daniher lasted much longer, with absolutely disastrous, pathetic performances in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Not to mention: A huge choke and breakdown in 2004 after being 1st after 18 rounds, losing our last 5 games including an Elimination Final against 8th-placed Essendon. Losing 7 games in a row in 2005 after being 2nd after Queen's Birthday, and scraping into finals before getting belted by 70 points in the Elim. Starting 2006 at 0-3, losing to bottom placed Carlton twice (!), gifting them 2 out of their 3 wins for the season, and also gifting Freo their first ever finals win. Topping it off with a lovely 0-9 start to 2007 after going into the season as Victoria's perceived "only hope" to bring the flag back to Melbourne. It was the quintessential Melbourne way to disappoint everyone after being hyped up. Absolutely loved Daniher and what he brought to the club, but, arguably, keeping him on for as long as we did arguably fed into our cultural downfall towards the end of the decade and start of the 2010s. We were extremely top-heavy in the age bracket, recruited TERRIBLY at the draft table, and looked borderland wooden-spoon worthy for large chunks of seasons across his tenure. We were lucky not to finish last in 2003 (the Bulldogs finished last and beat us, recording 1 of their 3 wins for the year, and we only beat Carlton by a goal). Love or hate Scott, he managed to get a pretty average squad to a couple of Prelims, and while they never looked likely to win a flag, they did net some huge scalps during his time, never truly bottomed out, and were consistently solid for the first 75% of his coaching career. Granted it fell apart in the second half of 2016 after being 1st for most of the first half, but his tenure still stands as one of the more successful and consistent post-Pagan/Carey years.

Players named on an extended bench are always listed in VFL teams. Harmes is on the bench for a Sunday AFL team. He's not playing in the twos. Fritsch on the other hand...

Yes no doubt. However there is still our "chain" play. We turn the ball over at important places and guys like Cameron love those fast entries from opposition turnovers. We need to do a lot more than convert our shots against GWS.

Every area is "historic" in context, Neil. We allow cars to park every week on this "historic" parkland. I've lived in East Melbourne and have been privy to the community events, meetings and whatnot. These are people that spend weeks debating whether or not an alleyway down a backstreet should be named after a madam that used to own a brothel during WW2. It is a bubble of a suburb where its long-term residence live in delusion that the world surrounds them, rather than them being part of the world. You couldn't find a more isolated and self-important group of people if you tried. Turning a small part of the park into an oval with a thin layer of metal pole fencing isn't going to "change the historic layout". Nor is a building over railway tracks. If I learned anything while living in the area it's that if we listened to absolutely everything the inner-city champagne socialists spew, we'd likely still be getting around in horse and carriage.

Unfortunately loges, we haven't been "on" all season. Even our best game of the week last week saw us turn the ball over more than any other time this year, with more players producing clangers than any other time. And we lost. This is going to be a low-scoring mess of a game. No doubt we can win this but I just don't see it.

clubs taking 0 chances these days. even one symptom such as night sweats or maybe just some forgetfulness and the club will define it as a concussion symptom.

I can already see what happens. We push him around and get stuck into him all game.. Gawn and Preuss get the better of him all game. On the scoreboard, GWS maintains a consistent 4-5 goal lead from midway through the second term. In the last we peg it back to 2 goals with 10 minutes remaining. We get the clearance, go forward, but fluff it. GWS get the quick transition, fed by silky handpasses and prestine kicks through the centre and across the flanks. A long, driving kick forward towards a forming pack. In comes Mumford, who takes the strong pack mark. Gawn and Preuss are no where to be found. Mumford goes back, kicks the the goal, and the fat lady starts singing. It is our destiny. Look into your heart. You know it to be true.

Agreed. Jones, Lewis probably done by end of 2019. In 1999 we could barely field a side. Remember White having a bad start to the year after getting a leg infection or something. Farmer had an off year, just couldn't get going.

I like your positivity but objectively it is just not our year. We are consistently poor in the same areas and have the worst percentage in the league. We are at least 7 weeks away from all current best 22 players on the injured list being ready for selection. We are playing three Finals locks across the next three weeks. We were ok on Friday night against a pretty average Eagles team that is good enough to win when it plays poorly. We still have too many VFL quality depth players that reflect a consistent theme of poor quality kicking. We may finish the year strong but we are very far off being even remotely finals caliber atm. GWS speed and foot skills will absolutely tear us up on the weekend. It will be an effort in margin minimisation.

The difference overall was class. Oliver is oozing it, so is Gawn, Hore and Salem both have it. Outside of that, however, and you have a lot of solid role players and a handful of VFL (at best) hack jobs like Stretch and, on current form, Fritsch. Stretch has been solid this year but if he's in your team you've got serious depth issues. People carry on about guys like Omac and Frost, but seem to forget some of the complete hack jobs that take place across half forward and the middle of the ground that constantly put our defenders under pressure, and that Fritsch effort in the last quarter leading to the Gawn hanger is the best proof: over-handballs, lazy non-tackles, dropped marks. It all returned in the last quarter after a very slick and fast first three quarters. And the biggest culprits in the last were with usual suspects: Stretch, Jones, Brayshaw, Fritsch, Garlett. I can give Brayshaw a pass for now but he's quickly becoming a downhill skier: on when we're on, but if we're off as a team his skills become a huge liability. Even if we kick straight, eventually all of those errors and hacks start becoming a factor: they pile up, and good teams with experience know exactly when to pounce. Melbourne of 2004-2006 was very much like that. I remember quite a few games where we would be hounded and beaten all game and then pop up for a blistering last quarter with the experienced heads popping up. We are relying on sub-100 game players to turn the tide and win games for us. We are still quite far off having that core 150-game group that most great teams have.