praha

Why would we blame Jack Watts? This is clearly Toumpas' fault.

I wonder if Sydney will try and get him. They're ridiculously top-heavy with Tippett and Franklin especially on the SCG which gets super bogged down in the wet. One would think Howe would play off of Franklin better than Tippett ever could.

Probably. Could be the other way around. A sprained ankle could lead to a host of knee, ankle, foot, groin, back injuries. I had OP when I played footy as a junior and it all snowballed into knee problems. Hamstring issues become knee problems. I wonder if it's a fitness issue though, not directly related, so kind of a difference in way you move and approach a situation. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS!

All of our wins this year have resulted in, "How good is out list" or "Our good is X player" threads, only for the following week to lean into, "Where did it all go wrong" and "We still have a long way to go" threads. Finals are a possibility this year. We *can* make it if we play consistently good football of the ilk that we saw last weekend. Ultimately, the team still hasn't managed to play consistently good football for longer than a week.

I love how the media is treating the "bible group" like as if it's so outrageous...

Welcome to Demonland.

The only game that isn't winnable imo is Freo. In NT, the Eagles game could go either way but WC deserve to be outright favourites. We have a super easy draw to close out the year. We could go anywhere between 9-1 and 1-9. We're 2 games out of the finals and still a legitimate chance to make the top 8 with this draw. If we can win 8 of the next 10, we'll make the 8. Tough, I know, but possible. Imagine if we'd beaten the Saints and Pies? We'd be equal 8th (but out on %) with a very good chance of slipping in.

You mean to say he's not already leading the Brownlow?

Calm down. It was a superb win - one of the greatest - but we have a ways to go. If they lose to the Eagles by 10 goals it'll undo a lot of what has been achieved here. True consistency imo will be the "turning" point.

I missed this game. I've been in LA for work. Fun fact: I haven't watched Melbourne beat Geelong since Round 21, 2000. I've missed every game we've beaten them since (I think we've only beaten them three or four times since then). That means that in my whole life, I've never watched them win in Geelong.

Slowly but surely

Anyone got a live stream?

Tanking.

We have 17 wins in Geelong, and 2 since 1982.

Oh god. 10 goal loss (at least) coming up. What shocking depth we have.

I'm done. I hate this club. See you flogs later. Have mercy on me.

Scared. I'm in LA for work so I'll miss it. If I wake up and they've lost it'll ruin my day. Don't let me down, Dees.

Scouting reports suggested he didn't spread as quickly as other mids and lacked pace. In-and-under grunt mids tend to drop down the pecking order. Swan is an example although he's gotten faster with age.

Worried about this game. Saints have over-performed for most of the season imo. Interesting that the Saints are favourites. No one has faith in Melbourne, and rightly so.

To be honest it's a miracle we have 35,000. We have more than the Saints (Finals in 04-06, 08-2011, two Grand Finals) and Bulldogs (three straight Prelims in late 00s) and almost as many as Norf (Prelim last year). If we can close out the year strong and win 8 games, there is a strong possibility we could breeze past Geelong (42k) and Carlton (46k) next year or in 2017. We're averaging 29,528 per home game, which is 10th in the league, and considerably more than the Saints (23k), North (22k) and Bulldogs (21k). It is imperative we finish strong. If we only win 4 games again I can't see us cracking 35,000 again. We ruined a chance to crack 70,000 on Monday with a poor showing against Port. This club's future is in its own hands. The fans have signed up. Hopefully the players do soon enough.

So we've lost members on last year, correct?

It would be disastrous if we lost this. Another loss to the Saints. Another loss at Etihad. If we have "improved", then we should win. If we don't win, I can't see how anyone could possibly argue that we've improved.

We were definitely the better team I thought but as usual, we capitulate in patches and no team allows the opposition to score as quickly. Collingwood is actually a close second in that regard and we've seen that a few times this year. They'll come undone against top teams. I thought that when we went on a run, we looked more dangerous and had more control over the game than they did. When they had control, it was due to our breakdowns. We went from top 4 side to a bottom 4 side in a matter of minutes. Astonishing. Granted, their pressure was good, but our forwards also let them get out with ease. Roos was completely right in that Oxley was given far too many easy contests. I counted probably 4 or 5 times when a huge pack went up, but Oxley got a clean mark. Our forwards kept spoiling one another. That's not a coaching issue. To be frank I think our momentum yesterday was our own worst enemy. Whenever we got a run on, we seemed to get increasingly erratic, kind of like a little kid on a sugar rush. Then they'd throw Oxley back and our forwards suddenly became a dysfunctional mess, while our backline suddenly became indecisive. I walked away disappointed we lost but happy with the match overall. As a neutral fan it surely must have been fun to watch. If we play like that on a consistent basis, I think we're a season away from winning games like that by 10 goals. When we were on, we looked far better than Collingwood did at any point during the match. But consistency now is the issue. Our good is good enough to win us games. But our worst is enough to lose us a match, irrespective of how well we play in patches. That was evident yesterday: our good was very good, but our bad cost us the game. For good teams, it's the other way around: their good is good enough to win them a match, irrespective of how bad their bad patches in a match are.

I am not at all confident that we'll beat St. Kilda. If we don't, it'll be very hard to demonstrate that we've improved this year beyond normalised expectations of improvement. We've failed to turn the corner after every opportunity so far this year. It is a must-win in terms of the team's development, in terms of doing something that the club has been incapable of doing for a decade (win at Etihad, beat the Saints). A loss would be disastrous imo.

N. Jones - A captain's game Dunn - Post-contract year Hogan - Out-muscled throughout Watts - Career best tackle Toumpas - Slowly coming on Viney - Errors killed flow Lumumba - Confident but erratic Brayshaw - Red blooded champion Gawn - Tapped to advantage Cross - Loose yet accountable Newton - Did he play? Garland - Pressured yet reliable Pedersen - Couldn't make statement Vince - Big stage display McDonald - Soundly beaten throughout Riley - Raw yet intriguing Garlett - In and out Howe - Endeavour was better Jetta - Indecisive yet influential M.Jones - He's no x-factor Fitzpatrick - Tunnelling to Casey vandenBerg - Subtle yet imposing