Adam The God

I totally get that this is what's going on, which is why I left it a couple of days before commenting on it haha. Our supporters were great, but I was disappointed we didn't get 90k, and walking from Richmond (Bridge Road where I park), I didn't spot a single Melbourne supporter until I got to the entrance of the carpark at the MCG. They outnumbered us quite heavily, but that will happen when you play in so many GFs and finals series and the other club fails to make the finals and wins spoons all over the place. We just don't have that level of support anymore. Plus, Melbourne supporters like you arrived far earlier than I was prepared to arrive, so that would have impacted on the vibe turning up to the ground. (I support the cause by buying a beanie, but I just want the game to start, so turn up 20 mins before the bounce) I'm hoping in time, if we keep winning flags and keep contending, we start to convert kids of Hawthorn and Carlton parents, as well as new migrants. Without a second flag, I don't think we'll cracks that 70,000 membership threshold either. And the fact is, a lot of our supporter base is over 50, so us younger Melbourne supporters need to reproduce in large numbers. 😉

Yeah, Collingwood supporters around us were visibly clapping. It was a bit like the LJ moment against Freo, except that Grundy was a salary dump and we wanted to keep LJ.

Stakes were lower on Monday though and they'd already spent the whole week bleating about COVID and flu, and many of their players being under the weather. I'm with @binman on the fact they leaked all that. So then he can appear reasonable in his presser, we don't then get the psychological edge and the press continue thinking they were just under the weather.

17 years. 👍

My understanding is the broadcaster places microphones strategically, to ensure the loudest noises/cheers/boos etc. Makes sense, right? So that's a bit of a furphy as well. The true test is at the ground itself. It sounds like we heard it differently. Again, obviously, this is influenced by where you sit to an extent as well, but I've never heard a big game with 80,000+ fans so quiet for large patches of the match. It was eerily quiet at points as if the crowd was holding its collective breath. Influenced in part by the low scoring of course. It was quite an unusual game in that respect, but I can't recall the last time we dominated Collingwood in general play in Melbourne (we did in that Gabba game in 2020), so to me it was a combination of inevitably that we'd hit the front from the Collingwood supporters and potentially the fact Collingwood had spent a week laying the ground for excuses about COVID, flu and missing players. Plus, the psychological benefits of already being three games clear at the top, all of these factors, IMV, influenced the noise level of their mob. I’ve never sat around so many Collingwood supporters who were so subdued for pretty much the entirety of a game. Last year they were absolutely insufferable.

I'd prefer Carlton winning. We don't want Voss sacked just yet.

I think the cheers outweighing the boos has been massively overplayed on here. For starters, the Collingwood supporters didn't really have it in them to really try and boo Grundy. The Collingwood supporters around us were cheering and clapping him. So it wasn't just Melbourne supporters drowning out the boos, it was many Collingwood supporters themselves. Secondly, the idea that we were louder than them is also a fallacy. We were louder than normal, no doubt. Those in gate 3 in particular made great noise. But when say McCreary ran on to that ball out the back and goaled, there wasn't a louder roar for the day. Lipinski's first was pretty loud too. The reason we sounded equally loud at times was because we dominated them in general play, which influenced the crowd. I'd give our crowd a 7 or 8, but Geelong and Hawthorn 2018 finals were still louder and we legit outnumbered them at both those games, whereas it was probably 4-1 supporter wise the other day.

Should also say, as I'm a coach in the junior school at Caulfield Grammar, Watson being at the school, I should get more info as this year unfolds.

Sure, but I was there for 186. We're going down to that terrible place again as usual. Got tickets yesterday.

Do we want that though? I want to catch Port for top 2, and IMV, Geelong are not the team of last year. Beat me to it, @Wodjathefirst and @Roost it far.

Was speaking to a Collingwood VFL player today who is good mates with Nick Watson. Reckons he'll be an absolute gun, despite being a messy user of the ball. He also said Dursma will be the best player in this crop. Take that with a grain of salt. Found it interesting as this bloke has grown up with both of them.

Maynard would have been the perfect heir to Hibbo. Pity that didn't come off. Oh yeah, and Cox is still a nuffy.

Some hilarious speculation on Facebook that I happened to be sent tonight. Needless to say it was rubbish, but so bizarre and ridiculous, it had to be made up by a Collingwood supporter.

Without Clarry, it's pretty dangerous to go -1 every week for four quarters. We needed a huge game from Trac last week and a huge game from Viney this week.

It also comes down to what else does McRae have? Does he have an ability to tweak his system or is it always just about run and gun?

Gold Coast are going to be scary good in the next year or so. And they get to add two more top 5 picks for free and another top 20 - if that list is anything to go by...

I reckon the fact it was close, despite our clear dominance, will work in our favour @Macca, but only time will tell.

Unless we can land a Larkey, Naughton or King, an A grade tall, I reckon we'll go for mids or small forwards this year.

I don't think this gives enough credit to Goodwin and co. Our press was highly sophisticated. It wasn't merely a frenzied press (ala 2018), it was denying corridor and pressuring into wide areas. When they did get it into the corridor, we sweated on them for the turnover. As for corridor style and attacking game plan being the best strategy for winning games, the best strategy for winning games is the strategy that is able to be replicated under intense pressure in finals. And good defence always beats good offence in finals, because the games are often arm wrestles that have less open space and more pressure. Relying on handball chaining like the Bulldogs do will only get you so far. Collingwood have at least four elite ball users (Daicos, Daicos, Sidebottom and Pendlebury) who can also do damage, but it's the forward handball that enables quick ball movement. Because they run and gun, it's a hard thing to replicate in finals without costly turnovers back the other way. I guess we'll see in due course though.

It seemed to the eye that much of the time in the past fortnight, Max was rucking more like Grundy, and that is to drop it at the foot of the contest. I reckon Yze (and or Stafford - has he still got the rucks as well as forwards?) should get a fair bit of credit for our midfield work in the last fortnight too. Really good stuff considering Clarry's absence.

I think once we got the lead, this was a tactical tweak to ensure we didn't leak goals from defensive stoppage. Despite Daicos' goal, he was manned by Gus, so we had 1v1s all around that contest. There might have been a good block or two in that play (likely a set play), but I'm sure we realised we couldn't simply allow Daicos to sit off the back of the contest, because he's deadly.

Sorry. Evened up the stoppages. In the last quarter, we started manning up the Collingwood spare off the back of the contest. Not sure I noticed it before the last quarter.

Do we think we'll allow +1 at contest against Geelong? In the Collingwood game, we evened this up in the final quarter. @Lucifers Hero has pointed out before the +1 that we allowed last time against Geelong. Do we allow it for 3 quarters or even most of the match and tweak it if necessary?

I wondered about this wing role option for Bowser too, although I think he could be really exploited with his lack of height and potentially even his tank at this stage on a wing.

I'm not sure he dealt with the Grundy departure particularly well and is trying to make up for it internally, and externally it would seem.