praha

Gee this Freo lot is unattractive .

Justice!

Hogan has 112 Fantasy point. BOG atm by that metric.

Ross Lyon.

Jetta been great tonight.

Pav got an easy goal for the same drive into the ground...

RIP Early-2016 Matt Jones. Welcome back 2013 Matt Jones.

We've been as sleek tonight so far as I've seen in years. One 5 minute period let us down and gave away a goal, but aside from that we've dominated. Hopefully we keep it up.

Starting to make silly mistakes in the backline.

Tough call on White.

Two right footers getting to that side. Center it.

Gee Watts gets up there in the ruck doesn't he.

Or take one of them out.

Either out on the full or a mark you hack!

Damn, that was a waste.

And the best snap kick is, VB! VANDEN BERG

Deliberate! For people struggling with AFL Live, it is an unreliable service. Get a VPN and subscribe to watchafl.afl.com.au. Near-HD quality.

Have we found the Freo stud that will dominate us?

HAHAHAHAHAHA

We shouldn't lose this. Freo still has some solid ball winners but they're incredibly unbalanced atm and we should beat them in key areas (middle, attack, stoppages).

They are beatable, but there is zero margin for error against them. You need to beat them in contested ball and stop the outside string, because they are all connected telepathically. Their ability to string together handballs and taps to one another the way they do...well, you can tell they've been playing together for a while. The Bulldogs play a very similar style of play, and dare I say I've seen patches of Hawthorn-style strings of play from Melbourne this year. They are on top, but they are far from their best. The thing is that the league has caught up, but more teams are at the same point, so you have teams winning and losing against each other, while the Hawks stealthily take top spot. I really do think we can beat them.

Since 1990: Grand Finals Adelaide - 2 Carlton - 2 Collingwood - 5 Essendon - 4 Fremantle - 1 Geelong - 7 Hawthorn - 6 Melbourne - 1 North - 3 Port - 2 Richmond - 0 St Kilda - 3 Sydney - 5 West Coast - 6 Bulldogs - 0 Premierships Adelaide - 2 Carlton - 1 Collingwood - 2 Essendon - 2 Fremantle - 0 Geelong - 3 Hawthorn - 5 Melbourne - 0 North - 2 Port - 1 Richmond - 0 St Kilda - 0 Sydney - 2 West Coast - 3 Bulldogs - 0 I don't know, I don't think it's that "skewed". Geelong didn't win a flag for 40 years and superb drafting and patience paid off. Hawthorn was the same. Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton have been okay, not great, and all have been down for long periods between flags. North has been consistently good and always kind of relevant, Port managed a flag as a minnow club, St Kilda has 26 spoons but someone manages to rebuild and make Grand Finals. Melbourne had its chance in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, but either bad luck, bad scheduling or just [censored] managed ruined it. It happens. We've had our chances, and we didn't take them. We're seeing now that the teams that are "up", are "up" for longer because it's easier for them to attract agents and retain players. What this does is ensure clubs like Melbourne are accountable for their finances and the way the club is managed. Can you imagine Cameron Schwab getting away with what he did between 2009 and 2013 for any longer than 12 months these days? The scrutiny is far more intense, there is zero room for error. If Melbourne can't build a finals-caliber side with the rebuild, it will need to start again. You need to fail quickly in this league the way it is, otherwise you can't bounce back. Adelaide has lost so many players and yet are genuine flag contender this year. They're just a superb club. The Saints know how to managed rebuilds and they always find a way out. The Bulldogs were a nothing club two years ago and they're set for a flag in the next 2-3 years. GWS and GC have hurt teams like Melbourne, and imo they have contributed more to Hawthorn's, Geelong's and Sydney's recent dominance than any other league changes.

We make things difficult for ourselves in this country. I'm astonished there isn't strict rules and regulations in place to ensure that ALL agent meetings are post-season. In the NBA, teams are not able to discuss an upcoming free agent's prospects of signing with them until the free agency window has opened. Outside of that, a team can waive "rights" to a contracted player, essentially make them free to join whoever they want at any time. What we're seeing in the AFL is teams meeting with a player's agent while they're still contracted to another club. This puts said team at a disadvantage because while said player is exploring other options, the team they're actually contracted to is being told that contract negotiations are "on hold", when they're anything but. The AFL needs to stamp its authority on this. There should be no discussion -- publicly or privately -- of a team exploring signing a contracted player in the off-season. We all know that Hogan's agent has had discussions with WA teams, that others team have contacted McDonald's management. This should be reserved until post season, and teams that break the rules should be punished. It's a farce. If the AFL ever allows the free agency system to go the way of NRL's, I'll quit this game.

He's using Richmond as a bargaining chip. They are hardcore into him and will give up $700k no questions asked. My understanding is that this was "put out there" to see who would bite, and that a few clubs baulked. Understanding is that Dion ideally would like to be at Melbourne, but the club hasn't inquired since last year, and he couldn't possibly turn down Richmond's offer. I think if Melbourne could get within 100k of Richmond's offer, he'd take it. $600k?

No excuses this week. Should beat them. Experience is irrelevant. We are a 4-5 goal better squad. If they lose this week, it'll snowball and we'll end up with another sub-8 win season. Must win to set up a strong second half leading into 2017.