praha

Was embarrassing for him. He's a spud of the highest order.

Thought it was an anagram.

What about Hogan?

Time?

Dom is utterly terrible.

Time left?

Sitting in the pocket. Oliver handball ed that. Clear as day

Ah well. I guess the *hope* of finals was fun. Better than simply expecting them to try hard.

Get [censored] Bernie your scrub. Fmd. Jones and then Vince gifting the Bombers two shots on goal. Two of our leaders. How are we supposed to play finals?

You take a shot at an empty goal square, Jeff.

This is identical to the Geelong Freo and Richmond games. We dominated play for long periods but either overuse it, ignore the first option, or turn it over. We've have two shots that have badly missed. We can't hit targets by foot, but we still look the better team. This has been a strange year.

Essendon's sense of self-worth is nauseating. God I hope we smash them.

All we need is for Jones Tyson and Viney to perform and we win. They don't need career best. They just need to find a way to control the tempo. That's what the primary difference between last week's game and our previous three wins against the Tigers. This trio has been an afterthought the past 3 weeks. Jones especially needs to step up.

I've had a number of concerns with Goodwin since round 1. Our structures, rotations, positioning, and conversion have all had big question marks, even in our wins. I highly recommend people keep an eye on our bench today: there has not been a game this year where players haven't been confused about rotations and positions. It sometimes looks a shambles. We can't afford that [censored] today. Everyone needs to be on song. Not just the playing group. Goodwin needs to coach his heart out.

Last year's loss to them was just utterly infuriating. We led by 6 points with 9 minutes left, and allow them to run all over us. Our 3 losses this year have been very similar. If it's close near the end, I have zero confidence we'll come out on top. We have too many players that just look for ways to spud it up and lose it. I think our only chance to win today is to jump out from the blocks.

Will be utterly devastated if they lose today. It simply can't happen. If we can't get up today with the shape the team is in, it makes it tougher to do against other teams. All circumstances considered, if we want to play finals then ultimately this is the game we win. Lose and we make it increasingly tough, bordering on impossible considering our team structure. Jones, Viney, Tyson, Vince, Lewis, McDonald and Watts all need to lead from the front today. If they all have good games, we win.

Does anyone else find themselves saying, "Thank God for Neville Jetta" a few times a game? He's easily our most composed Backman. He saves so many goals.

IT'S PEDO WEEK MF

Hawks are garbage. Will be very disappointed if by the time we head to Adelaide we're not 4-3.

Definitely. I still believe though that team structure has made it harder to win. We certainly would have benefitted from having AFL-fit players in the side last week. Hibberd admitted he was dead and buried in the last quarter (not to say he shouldn't have played but he should have been the only player in that situation). JKH couldn't run. We rested Stretch and Harmes this week so they were obviously out on their feet. Ultimately we had AFL-fit and experienced players in Bugg, Pederson and Kent who weren't given a go. I am all for dumping players that don't perform and tackle but is now really the time to send a message? We're probably the best 2-3 side in Melbourne history atm. I've been overall impressed by our capacity to win the ball and actually give our forwards opportunities. But I've also noticed we run ourselves into the ground and then open the door to be steamrolled. I think a lot to do with that is just how the team has been picked and structured in this situation. We made the mistake of running with Gawn exclusively for so long, and felt the pain in the second half against Geelong. The coaches made the same mistake, two weeks in a row with Spencer. That is so frustrating. I know they couldn't have seen it happening but if your forward line is so reliant on a very specific structure, why risk our goal-kicking capacity by using a piece of that structure as a back-up ruckman? Pederson should have been in the side from Day 1 once Gawn went down. Every time Watts goes into the ruck, our goal kicking capacity drops significantly imo. It totally muddles everything. He should be kept out of centre bounces as much as possible. I am surprised this was evident after the Geelong game. I'm fairly confident that Pederson, Kent and Bugg in last week's team puts us in a better position to win and hold on in the last, than a team with JKH, Smith and ANB/Melksham.

He's due for a good game, then. Luckily he's playing Melbourne this week!

Yeah transition has been an issue that has persisted throughout the Roos era. This is the two-way running issue that even Neeld acknowledged was a major issue. Dumping Stretch I feel is a mistake because he has played well in our two Etihad games this year. I fear that decision was the wrong one although it may be a resting tactic not so much a reflection of performance. I get so frustrated seeing the first option ignored, only for players to turn around looking for a handball. I see that we're trying to get a loop going so we can either get the switch going, or we try *really* hard to create some space. As you said we are too slow to get into space, so all of that overuse is for nothing. Shall be an interesting match. If Jones, Viney and Tyson all bring their A-Game for once this year, we'll probably smash them. I'm really bothered by Stretch's omission, though. Dumping him on performance seems to be at odds with the very kind of players we need in the side atm.

Essendon is [censored] but their forward line delivers. They get no inside 50s but have very good efficiency when going forward. Melbourne is the opposite. We need to start converting otherwise this "fast style" Goodwin promoted in the pre-season is to the detriment not benefit of the side.

So no Gawn + Hogan = reserves team? Come on. I'd be much more concerned if we lost two of Oliver, Jones, Tyson and Viney.

With AFL Members pass? I suspect behind the goals.