bananas

Laurie's taken a few games to pick up the pace of AFL, but I thought it clicked for him today. A bit like Chandler's sudden emergence this year after a few ordinary cameos in 21 and 22. The Petracca we saw in the last 40 minutes of game time today is the Trac of the 2021 Finals all over again. If his form stays like that for another month, we win the flag. Gutted for Melk, obviously. He's been massive for us, and deserves a premiership medallion if anybody does. Unfortunately, as Chunk and Nev can attest, "deserve ain't got nothing to do with it." 😢

Judd "Boobie Miles" McVee: "Hype is something that's not for real. I'm ALL REAL!"

Just posted in the trade thread, but thought this deserved a thread of its own. The culture that Stinear and Daisy have built over the last eight years must be absolutely exceptional. Every single premiership player (minus Daisy obviously) and all our most significant players who missed out (including McNamara and Colvin) have just re-signed en masse. Mammoth AFLW re-signing, article at melbournefc.com.au How do you spell DYNASTY?!?!?!

Holy [censored], we're going back to back. Incredible news: AFLW Dees re-sign en masse The entire premiership team (minus Daisy obviously), plus basically every significant player who missed out (McNamara, Colvin, etc.) have all re-committed to the Dees. What a culture they've built!

One quarter into this game and it's become VERY obvious that neither Richmond nor Carlton are going to do anything of note this year. Way off the pace compared to these two.

Flag, obviously, but the thing that I want to see because I believe it's the best predictor ... I want us to be number 1 in the comp for forward 50 tackles again. We dominated that stat in 2021 (from memory, ANB and Kozzie were #1 and #2 in the league) and completely dropped away in 2022. Bring that pressure again, turn the ball over higher up, force oppo quick kicks to Lever/Gawn/etc., and we're well on the way to Cup #14.

6. Trac 5. Lever 4. Oliver 3. Kozzie 2. Rivers 1. Dogga

6. Viney (somebody resurrect the Jack Viney Made Me Cry thread, I need a gif of that tackle) 5. Lever (clunking his marks again, hooray!) 4. Oliver (just Clarry things, ordinary game by his standards) 3. Harmes (shut Neale down, kicked two himself) 2. JJ (owned his wing, and unlike many others, was good from minute 1) 1. ANB (the forward pressure was BACK baby!) Apologies to Dogga, Gus and Trac

6. Petracca 5. Langdon 4. Viney 3. Oliver 2. Smith 1. Brown

Joel Smith had the best game of his career. Really looked the part tonight. Surprised there hasn't been much chat about Ed Langdon in this thread, thought he was immense tonight, a lot of our best attacking play went through him. Definitely in my votes. Petracca ... what more is there to say? He's become an incredible player. Thought Oliver was a little quiet, then looked at the stats and saw he had 32 touches. Shows how much I expect from him. Ben Brown is a genuine shot at the Coleman this year, provided he stays fit. God it's nice having a proper full forward for once! And with defences worrying about Brown and Fritsch, Luke Jackson is going to start really tearing games apart this year. Only flashes tonight, but you can see it coming. Hope Salem's injury isn't too serious. Fingers crossed.

5. Zanker -- a real difference maker in the midfield. Saved the game when it looked like the doggies were going to overrun us. 4. L. Pearce -- doing the Max-style kick behind play thing, and doing it very very well. 3. Birch -- had a great game, but occasionally a bit panicky/unclean with her disposal. Fix that up and she'd have been BOG. 2. Hanks -- as always, a smooth mover and good user through the middle. 1. Sherriff -- both tough at the contest and skillful when the ball was on the outside, a key link-up piece in most of our best passages of play. Apologies: Lampard, Tarrant, Hore, Heath, Gay, Harris (the difference from Cunningham last season to Harris last night was like night and day -- I don't think Tayla will ever quite be the player that her media profile demands, but she'll be a very important structural piece for us).

Trying for a serious answer, it seems likely that there will be moments in the season when big chunks of the list are sitting out and we will see some bizarre Franken-teams getting named, filling the 23 with whichever fit players we can scrounge up. (Not a complaint, it's gonna be the same for all teams, and with our good depth, we're as well-placed as any to overcome it.) One thing I'd be doing, as a coaching staff, is trying to use this pre-season to build a bit of flexibility into the players. Try and make it so most of our guys are able to slot into multiple positions, and even if it isn't their best spot, they at least understand the positioning/gameplan/team tactics that a new position requires. Give May/Lever/Petty/Tomlinson some time up forward in training. Give Brown/Weid/TMac some time down back. Get Rivers/Bowey/Salem training as wingers or pressure forwards. Give ANB/Kozzie/Spargs/Melk some midfield minutes, or defensive duties, etc. etc. Seems obvious that there will be times when we're gonna need to be flexible, so we should start planning for it now.

I'm a bookseller, and my store's got it too. Maybe with all the supply chain madness the publishers have said "screw release dates, if we can get it to you just sell the bloody thing!" It's definitely out there.

I'm lucky enough that I've had a chance to read the 'Captain's Diary' book they're talking about: it is absolutely brilliant. Any Dees fan will really love the insights that it gives into the entire season, and into Max's personality, and his take on the whole playing and coaching group. There's a lot in there that even us obsessive Demonlanders won't already know. Highly recommended.

TMac's goal after the siren ... because we were already PREMIERS when it happened!!! Serious answer is probably Oliver's, just the unstoppable wave of red and blue surging out of the middle, leaving the Dogs in the dust. Seriously beautiful football.

Roarke Smith in the first quarter on Saturday night did almost the exact same thing!

All hail Lord Nev. My favourite player, I'm devastated to see him go. What a bloody legend. Years and years before his post-delisting renaissance, I remember a game super early in his career (one of his first few matches, I think, when they were giving him a go as a forward pocket) where we were getting pumped, and I was sitting high up in the third tier in a pocket of the 'G. Brad Green had the ball on the half back flank, we were fifty points down already, and the team had given up for the day. I had a perfect view down the wing and the entire forward line was stagnant, nobody moving to offer a lead, nobody trying to drag their defenders away from where they wanted to go. Just perfectly static, waiting for a long kick down the line to a contest that we would inevitably lose. Except for Jetta, who was leading, and doubling back and leading again, trying to offer something to his teammate, trying his hardest to do his bit when every other player on the ground had given the game up as lost. For a kid in his first season to show that kind of heart, I've always remembered it, and he's been a favourite of mine ever since. Nothing made me happier than Jetta turning himself into an elite defender and an MFC champion. A gentleman, an inspiration, and a bloody good footballer. I'll miss him a hell of a lot.

Anybody else get strong "Christian Salem 2.0" vibes from Bowey? Composed, precise skills, and goes a lot harder than he looks. Imagine having two of 'em!

Getty Images have no idea who Harry Petty is ...

If Tom McDonald could slim down and regain his previously elite endurance running capabilities, he could be the answer to the problem of who plays opposite Langdon on the other wing. (Getting him to change his body shape was a horrible mistake.)

Just having a quick play with the Ladder Predictor, I set it with us having a 10 point loss, and Geelong go past our percentage with a 50 point win, but fail to go past us with a 40 point win. The extra thirty points they got out of Freo after they cracked the ton were the real killer. That win was so huge that the Cats passing us on percentage went from 'possible but unlikely' to 'more likely than not'. What are the chances Gold Coast get within fifty points of them?

It's a different kind of X-factor, but Gawn is the guy. Remember the 2nd bulldogs game, which was pretty close until just after half-time when we got (i think) four straight goals from perfect centre clearances, every one of which started with a brilliant Gawn tap. We won the game in a five minute burst, and it was all because of a series of perfect hit-outs to advantage.

Assuming Collingwood beat Freo and Assuming Geelong pulverise Gold Coast (enough to make up the percentage gap to us) Then A win has us fifth and playing Geelong (we leapfrog GWS and overtake the loser of Haw v Syd on percentage) A loss has us eighth and going up to Sydney for a re-match with GWS.

6 Jetta 5 Oliver 4 Hogan 3 TMac 2 Fritsch 1 Brayshaw

Since TMac returned for the Essendon game, he and Jesse have combined for ... v Essendon: 4 goals, 24 disposals, 10 marks v St Kilda: 5 goals, 37 disposals, 14 marks v Gold Coast: 8 goals, 39 disposals, 15 marks v Carlton: 5 goals, 35 disposals, 11 marks v Adelaide: 7 goals, 38 disposals, 18 marks v Bulldogs: 9 goals, 43 disposals, 21 marks That's 38 goals between them in just six games. And given those stats are on a generally upward swing, just how good can they get? (If anyone has access to the 'kilometres covered' stat, I'd be interested to include those numbers too … I just don't know where to find that info!) I'll admit, I thought TMac's forward line form last year was likely to be a bit of a mirage (like Colin Garland being swung forward and winning us that game against Essendon that one time), but he's been in close to All-Australian form since he's returned. The way the two of them work together has given our forward line a real point of difference, and it seems like no opposition defence is able to set up to properly counter them.