praha

For a club that is small and irrelevant, supporters of the "big" clubs sure do love beating us. You just sense it's a bit of classism and fear of the elite being better than them. Richmond and Collingwood supporters I know can't STAND Melbourne. Which is weird becauae they keep talking about how irrelevant we are.

This is like Melbourne in the 80s and 90s. Even parts of the 2000s. Love or hate Collingwood their ability to turn it around and respond in the face of challenges and criticisms is commendable. Whereas teams with large coterie cultures always tend to go through waves of board room and back office infighting. I hope it never returns to Melbourne.

All teams get a break before finals. Which effectively ruins any advantage top 4 teams have. Many teams have won a flag after losing in the first round: it's still 4 games in a row. From 5th down it's tougher because it's 4 wins in a row. But playing 4 finals on the way to the flag is not uncommon. This year has 2016 vibes. Two of the top 6 contending for top 4 could steal a flag. And at least one outside the top 4 will be a victim of unfortunate circumstance. We can't all end our season with 9 games against bottom8 sides like Geelong has. Top 4 definitely helps. Confident we are a chance regardless of finishing position.

Win or lose this week, we are a top 4 quality side that's ended the year with almost 5 straight finals-like games as well as 2x matchups with three top 4 contenders in Pies, Dockers and Lions, and a game against the Cats. Literally every other team with that sort of string of games has had similar results. Brisbane could finish top 4 but they ain't winning it. Neither are Collingwood. Nor Freo. It's between Geelong, Sydney and us. Regardless of finishing position I'm confident we'll at least make the Prelim.

Narrator: "He didn't realise it at the time, but he was right: a loss to the Lions would, in fact, lock in an Elimination final. And, just as with every year, Geelong ended their season with a gift: the gift...of fixturing."

I also cannot believe that people are responding to this thread thus one by one expanding the number of pages attached to said thread.

Finals pretty much start now for all top 10 teams except *checks notes* Geelong who has ended the season with a tough run against GC and WC... All games between two from that group are genuine 50/50 regardless of position. That includes Saints vs Swans. Cats Dees and Swans are clearly top 3. Freo Lions and imo Tigers round out top 6. Pies and Blues are the 7th and 8th best. Saints and Dogs are fringe. Giants have something to prove. I rate the Lions as a top 8 team but they are not top 4 caliber. Our DNA is top 4 football. Should be a good game.

It's not though. Statistically Geelong are almost guaranteed at least 8 wins a year from playing in Geelong.

I'm more confident against Brisbane than I have been against any team going back to the Bulldogs game. Could not visibly see us beating Collingwood or Carlton, had bad vibes against the Dogs and uncertainties about Freo. If we push Brisbane around a bit we win. I question their ability to win under genuine finals pressure.

I was in AFL members so always hard to tell but my mum who was in MCC said it was probably 50:50. But the final seconds and final quarter you'd think the entire crowd was Melbourne. I think much of the problem is that we're not a very loud supporter base. We were there last night and last week. We're just not big on big cheering. Finals should be different though.

I highly rate this team. The emotion of it all takes hold when expectations aren't met. I'll be first to admit that my negativity sometimes gets the better of me. I thought in the heat of battle that we were "pathetic" tonight. In reflection and after watching the replay I realised we're not. And that I am pathetic. This is my life.

Melksham effectively locked his position in the team for finals. Hunt as well. Gonna be tough for Harmes to get back into the squad

Hunt was huge in the last 3 minutes We stole that.

Absolutely pathetic.

We won last year playing in front of no one. This year against big clubs we have folded in every big game. Nothing has changed.

This is really bad. Blues have no midfield. They are very average

Haha we are huge chokers.

History says we lose this.

lmao making a very average team with no midfield look decent.

King has legit kicked Saints out of finals.

Max King is weird. Gives off Lloyd or even Jono Brown vibes some weeks. Then other weeks like tonight he gives off Jack Watts vibes.

They badly lack class. Some of the free kicks they give away are just not top 8 calibre. The quality drop from 7th is massive.

Seriously if we don't deal with both Carlton and Brisbane I'll absolutely lose it. Brisbane is not top 4 quality.

Solid contributor. Brisbane is made up of them. Reliable down back. Not sure he's finals material though. I really hope the Saints get up tonight.