praha

Oliver's attitude and body language are so hugely improved vs last year. He just looks ready to tear a game apart.

First gamers all doing very well.

Badly missing Pickett already.

Why was that a free kick?

They are way too quick for us. Need to slow it down and play on our terms. Trying to match them for pace is a mistake.

May out 2-4 weeks apparently.

They're switching it now. Fox Footy.

I am probably going to the game but I'm finding it hard to care when we have a very good chance of an Aussie Grand Prix winner.

Dogs have a number of huge outs. They probably should be winning games like this by now

Bogans.

I might be wrong but this is definitely a changing of the guard moment. This will be a genuine journey. We might surprise but people should temper their expectations.

Club confirmed 6 debutants will play.

You may only have one love, too. They say a son is a mother's last true love. If she fears losing her son to another city because of the girlfriend then it is not unreasonable that is dislikes said girlfriend, as irrational as that may be. We have a culture in Australia of remaining one-city our whole lives due to our geography. The "going home" factor doesn't exist in other leagues across the globe.

Carlton and Collingwood both just look slow and old to me.

It's insulting that we aren't favourites next week. I rate GWS but they are very bruised atm.

Statistically that match summed up Melbourne of 2022 and 2023. Dominated but yet somehow didn't. And never really looked like winning.

I totally forgot about this game. Took the kids to the park. Good choice.

Your forward line is only as good as what's happening up the ground. Watching our games we are going to congestion constantly. We kick and hope. Zero space. Teams play to this knowing the forward entry is what it is. We got away with it in 2021 and most of 22 and 23 but still struggled. We were 5th for Points For in 2021. Sixth in 22. Fourth in 23. 14th last year. I just refuse to admit that what we have in the forward line is the problem. Not a coincidence that when we move Petty forward, lose Petracca, underdone Oliver, and a struggling midfield last year that our scores drop off. If we start winning more up the ground like we did in our top 4 years we'll find a way to score. Fritsch is a 60+ goal forward. JVR needs to hit the scoreboard more but couldn't because he was second hitter in the ruck. Losing Jackson set us back so much because we lost a forward as a backup ruck. This explains the obsessive focus on getting another ruck to compliment Gawn (and why I've been such a huge critic of how we handled the Grundy situation). Hopefully Jefferson and Johnson address that issue.

I love the current emblem as a primary logo. We are MELBOURNE. The 90s logo is very....90s. I like it though. I always thought the demon looked a bit like Neil Balme.

People said the same of Geelong.

Looking at the performance of Collingwood's players, they have immense talent on every line. If they stay healthy, they will be very hard to beat. Adding Houston and Membrey as well... even their youth play like 100+ gamers.

How does 41k compare to this time last year?

I was ready to reignite the "Is Goody still the right man?" thread.

Fair Work signed off on the traineeships. The union says they're not worthwhile but if you're keen for a career in hospitality it can get you a great gig managing a bar or restaurant. Many fast food joints do the same thing. I got paid less back in the day at Maccas to do the same thing. I'm sure businesses are taking advantage of it but Grill'd did nothing wrong legally.

I think it's fair. Preseason chatter is always about teams that finished strong + ladder position. I remember David King saying at the end of last year he expects us to return to finals. I think the reality is we have plugged a lot of holes but we need a gameplan change to contest. Four straight finals exits, and a capitulation towards the end of last year rightly raises doubts. If we'd finished top 8 and won a final then I'd say we are being underrated but otherwise I'd say the ratings are about right (except the ones saying we'll be bottom 4). No one is going to risk being ridiculed for saying we are a contender when the reality is there are far too many unknowns about how we'll perform.