praha

It's more likely that he had a dull pain there and thought he could play through. The diagnosis on Saturday morning then forced their hand.

That's AFL Members. Melbourne has among the lowest number of AFL members in the league. It's always a dead zone. I'm an AFL member but I walk around now and sit or stand near the cheersquad or in Olympic Stand.

I say we go all in on the Mark Neeld philosophy, bring in Daw, play Hunt one out in defense against the opposition's best forward, Ben Brown on the wing, send Petracca and Langdon to the VFL. And have May return via VFL reserves. Yolo.

Imma give this take a Kent Kingsley Award. Not sure which award specifically but it deserves some sort of recognition. It really is a special take.

Definitely. Someone mentioned this on the radio. We aren't very fun to watch atm. And haven't been all season. The only "fun" game was vs GWS. All other games have been pretty clinical bores.

That was a [censored] pathetic turnout. Was standing behind the goals and Swans supporters outnumbered and outcheered us badly. Everywhere. I'd say 60% of the crowd was Sydney tonight.

gifted

sydney *should* win this. they are way more dangerous up forward and look like scoring every time they go forward.

Concerned every time they go forward. they are smartly isolating Hunt and Lever every time. And every time they get beaten. Gawn needs to float back more often this quarter.

hunt on papley is going to give me an aneurysm.

exactly. hunt was embarrassed.

May ain't the issue. The body pressure is non existent. Everywhere. We're not winning tonight.

The bye really couldn't come soon enough. So many of the teams we've played thus far have thrown absolutely everything at us. Almost every game has been a grind. We just look so tired. It's really quite concerning how we look though. Don't think we win tonight. Sydney look just as Freo did. Seriously I love how every team is suddenly made up of aerial superstars whenever they play us. Sydney hasn't looked this good all year.

Swans supporters outnumbers Melbourne supporters 2:1. Maybe Caro was right. Maybe we do have a problem.

Richmond supporters definitely take the cake. The last two years I have been flat out abused by sore losing Tigers supporters. Simply cannot handle losing. Like they just hurl insults at you. And not even prompted. I remember one bogan looking at me while they were walking out and saying, "You're not even that good." Like wtf kind of comment is that? Eagles supporters are horrid. Similar levels of just inability to accept a loss. And when they win, they jeer and ridicule. I have absolutely zero sympathy for that club atm. I hope they end up with the worst percentage ever. All that said, Melbourne's support base is pretty tame. There's definitely your loud and passionate diehards but holistically we are a tame bunch. And it stands out more now that we are winning. We sit and watch and enjoy. We don't really seem to "barrack". I think it was Gerard Wheatley who made the comment that watching Melbourne was like viewing art in a museum whereas Carlton was like a rock band. I think that pretty much sums up both how the clubs play but also how their support bases carry themselves. I know it was 22 years ago but if Safeway Niddrie back then was anything like it is now, she was doing you a favour.

Seems our entire philosophy is around "exposure" to the elite level rather than "easing" in. We haven't really been conservative with anyone over the past two years, Brown excluded at the start of last year. Still, bringing in Salem who has played 10 minutes in the past 8 months, in freezing and potentially wet conditions... I really don't get why we wouldn't have kept Bedford in, especially given he was probably our best small last week, whilst having Salem ease back in via the twos. I really can't help but think we are slowly grinding to the bye here. Internally they must surely be content with a few loses now before a huge drive at the end of the year. Just seems to be like we are "managing" things to the extreme, maximise exposure, accept a few loses, and then we're ready for a huge push. I'm really indifferent about the result for the next two weeks.

I want him to get off. We don't need the opposition to be missing players. Also Buddy at the G on a Saturday night....easily brings in an extra 5k at least. Swans fans in Melbourne haven't got to see much Buddy over the past 5-6 years. People literally go to see him. It will be electric if he's playing.

Crowd was okay. Would have been nice to tick over 30k though. Honestly though the whole Mt Buller joke is actually legit. Our crowds tend to pick up towards the end of the season. We somehow got 38k vs GWS in 2018 in August. Absolutely zero chance we get that in May or June. It's always been like this. I hope we can get 40k+ vs Sydney this Saturday which is definitely doable. No Buddy definitely hurts but should still be a bumper crowd.

I feel the same but also remember how the Bulldogs tore us open for a quarter in round 1 once Salem went down. We quickly adjusted. Today just wasn't our day. But I do sense a few weeks of pain ahead. There were some weird concerning signs this week. Lack of disconnect and awareness. We were pressured for the first time in a while and got absolutely annihilated. I hope it's a wake up call.

This fills me with overcast confidence.

Brown at least competes in the air though and gets the ball to ground level. Weed loses contests that are counteractive to his use as a forward. He only started playing better when he moved up the ground, but then he's kicking it to contests with Spargo as the tall lol

Today was as much about our holes across the ground and how poorly we played, as it was about how utterly awesome Freo were. They were scary good. Looked very Melbourne circa 2021 finals series. They're legit and are still very much a threat. People wrote them off after the last two weeks. Credit where it was due. My main concern today was just the overall disconnect in general play. Hospital handpasses casually to players directly under pressure. Poor aerial contest. Outmarked across the ground. Constant space between Melbourne and Freo players. They pulled off every trick they tried. We had nothing up our sleeve. We were a shadow of our best. But Freo were just awesome.

Adds nothing. Slow and zero pressure. Finished.

you just don't lose games playing the way they did in the third. good on them.

Actually let's add Frederick here too.