praha

Because we're 17th. They included the two best ruckman from two sides inside the top 5. Two ruckman was an aberration, not the norm. It'll be one or the other. Gawn will make the shortlist though.

Gawn wasn't making AA anyway

Sidebottom is only 28. He is peaking right now and could go even higher. Most definitely is not past his best

Salem was not tagging Sidebottom. He marked him whenever he was alone across the flanks at centre balances but Salem's role was as always: to provide a roving flank and drive out of defense. Jones or maybe even Harmes should have been alternating on Sidebottom. Gawn was clearly running side by side with Grundy it appeared to frustrate him. At every bounce or throw in Gawn was overly cautious of Grundy's positioning. I haven't seen Gawn's body language appear so defeated as it seemed on Saturday. It was a clear directive, maybe the intent was to make Gawn more accountable and work on his defensive game. But Grundy is the worst player to do this against because he will smoke Gawn on the run and with body work, 9 times out of 10. Gawn's strength is in the air whereas Grundy is a superb ground work player for his size and this is ultimately where Gawn lost the contest. Like I said, this was an effort in margin minimisation. Goodwin has completely thrown the towel in for 2019.

"When Jordan won 3 championships with the Bulls the captain was Bill Cartwright and when he left the team didn't win anymore championships even with Jordan." Jordan won 6 championships. Three of which when he was captain, after Cartwright retired.

Maybe they would have if they'd done the camp the preseason prior.

Yesterday I had the honour of standing near Collingwood supporters. 1. They were absolutely infatuated with Fritsch. They love him. Baker as well. They were getting stuck into Oliver and Jones. "Tackle, tackle" they would jeer every time Jones or Viney would go to impact a contest. 2. Eventually it got to a point where they were dissecting Melbourne's play along with me and 2 other Melbourne supporters nearby. Actually turned into a half-decent conversation (when one of their drunk 50-something mates wasn't straight up insulting me for supporting Melbourne) Without fail, every time we marked or took possession across the flanks or CHF, it was like we waited for Collingwood to flood. We would have a paddock of space ahead, and one, maybe two, one-on-ones, mostly Fritsch, and occasionally one of OMac or Melksham. We almost never, ever kicked it to the advantage of our forwards, blatantly ignored leads, and almost always only went forward once Howe or someone else had plugged the hole. This made Fritsch's marks inside 50 stands out all the more because every time he was kicked the ball he was almost always surrounded by 2-3 Pies players, or had to impact a contest with 2-3 players. It was rather astonishing every time someone pointed it out: Melbourne players would actually wait and watch as black and white streamed into our forward line. I can't fathom it. There was no kicking to space; no leading into the space; no kicks to advantage. Nothing. Just mindless, blind kicks to contests. This is actually, literally our gameplan: avoid space, minimise turnovers in space, and thus, put the ball at the advantage of our contested ball winners. The problem is, we get found out time and time again. Players are hesitant to kick to space and kick to a one-on-one because they're petrified of the turnover and opposition transition. Rather than adjusting and implementing a strategy that allows for two-way running, open space, and free-flowing football, we will the match and opposition to turn it into a slog, which is in effect an act in margin minimisation. The second half of the year has seen "improvement" from garbage, but do you all realise what we are right now? We are now the Roos-coached team circa 2014. This is the Roos mantra we are seeing. Numbers behind the ball, condensed play and contests, low scoring. Margin minimisation. It is pitiful to watch, and trying to find any sort of positives is futile because we're not supposed to. Goodwin has lost the players this year and is already looking to 2020. It is pointless even watching these remaining matches because they are hopeless, pathetic attempts at trying to look "meaningful" and "positive" when in actual fact the fans are being taken for a huge ride. The towel has been thrown in, which is a pathetic indictment on a team that has purportedly been trying to build a winning culture. Even when the year is dead and buried to play to win and you stand for something. We are a pathetic club and nothing short of a flag next year would change my perception. We could make a Prelim and I wouldn't give a [censored], that this year even turned out to be the way it is says to me that absolutely nothing has changed. Still we find ourselves falling to new depths of mediocrity. It happens time and time again and some here refuse to see it. "Disappointed" is an understatement. Goodwin needs to stop cuddling and nurturing this playing group. It's not 2014 anymore. The club should be angry at this year because the impact felt across the club is disastrous. 31k yesterday vs Collingwood is [censored] pathetic and it's 100% entirely unequivocally the club's fault.

TMac played most of this season and was terrible. Weideman too. The latter didn't really impact contests last season until last year's finals series. Hogan a big loss, no doubt. Our forward line wasn't league standard and our skills were horrid across the park for the 3/4 of a season TMac played. So yes you sound like an apologist.

on the plus side if we have a good year next year it'll be very beneficial.

31k at the MCG today. Of which 28k were Pies supporters. How big a hit has this season had on us? We lost the Pies home game and every big crowd was an away game. Bet your [censored] Jag will jump ship. Zurich must be counting the days. Today was absolutely horrible and I can't wait for this chlaymdyia of a year to end.

fmd what did he say? I'm sick of people on here and on Facebook posting [censored] without context.

Grundy has absolutely annihilated Gawn.

lol may.

I laughed, and then cried.

can we talk about the crowd? even Collingwood supporters haven't turned up. 35k imo.

Collingwood supporters standing near me love fritsch. they cant work out why we hit the flank every tine we go mark across half forward. we wait for them to flood. this season is a carbon copy of 2003.

7 unanswered.

On the plus side Omac actually looked decent up forward...in the first quarter.

elaborate

Coach killing.

lol at everyone bagging Lever. like always it's pathetic turnovers up the ground that kill us.

beat us on the inside and BAM.

This is both the best and worst Melbourne game I've watched all season.

Maybe it's just me but I have a good feeling about tomorrow. We are badly due and tbh Pies are in a good spot to spank given their injuries. It would be nice to end the year with at least one win against a big club. Just getting this sense we will win comfortably.

I'm no fan of Goodwin but what do people want him to say, really? I stopped listening to coach and player press conferences years ago. They are just bait shops for journos to get a hyperbolic headline from. He could talk about a good receipe for muffins and I wouldn't give a [censored]. I judge him on game day.