Adam The God

He definitely ducked IMO.

Their blueprint was Melbourne not turning up was it? Sure, Essendon played a disciplined defensive game, but we didn't turn up. Any plan we had goes out the window if there's no intensity or work rate.

This is it I reckon. Played like millionaires.

Melksham and Fritsch cannot play in the same side. The lack of tackling pressure that they both dish up most weeks is not good enough. I know Melksham kicked goals, but surely he's about done at AFL level? He has no presence as a forward in a game that requires tackling intensity. And I know it was wet, but I can't think of a more inconsistent senior player than TMac. Up one week, down the next. If it's wet, he's a liability. JVR didn't do a lot, but every time it came near him he halved the contest or brought the ball to the ground. His follow up work is then good. The same cannot be said of TMac. Again, you could see that it was a team wide intensity and work rate thing from the very beginning. I think we turned up thinking we'd walk it in. May was either playing injured (with a severe hamstring) or he was simply disinterested. To me, it seemed irrespective of injury, he looked disinterested. I'd like to borrow a line from that Freo supporter on BigFooty a few weeks back - he and the rest of the team looked like they were on heroin. Tomlinson should probably have played his last game for the club unless injuries allow him further opportunities. I'd be playing old mate Turner ahead of him. Petty was excellent in the second half. Clarry and Trac had their moments, Clarry in particular, but outside of his tackle count, the less said about Viney the better. Give Rivers more CB time though (0 CBAs apparently). I'm liking what he's bringing to the midfield mix, but felt he struggled a bit when playing behind the ball. Our failure to be clean at ground ball and our alarming lack of intensity and defensive transition, was equivalent to the Brisbane game IMO. So that's two games in five that the margin has flattered us and our mental side of the game has been completely off. Max's injury against Brisbane goes some way to explaining the alarming indicators against the Lions, but not all the way, and what's the excuse this week? Trust is important for footy fans, and our mob had built up such excellent trust with us (and each other) across 2021 and even the majority of 2022. The Brisbane loss really tested my faith in the group this year and this week's game has now put them in the territory of untrustworthy. Which Melbourne are we going to get next week against a very ordinary Richmond? I think it's clear we've got some major problems. No Gawn or Lever shouldn't see such a marked drop off in effort and/or organisation behind the ball. Captain Obvious, signing off.

All our fundraising strategies are essentially this.

Good on you for having a go, Cranky. Nevermind that this bump is one of the more dopey bumps in modern Demonland history.

I was the same, until tonight at the Boundary Hotel in 3165, reminded me what a bunch of self entitled muppets they really are. This old bloke in a family wearing their Essendon scarves to the pub (you're not even playing tonight, you absolute pelicans!), cut in front of me at the bar, completely oblivious to the 6 foot 6 bloke towering above him, clearly next in line. Now, yes, he was a boomer, so one could go down the path of the self entitled boomer etc etc, but I'd prefer not to play idpol on the generational welfare stuff. That gets us nowhere. I am however quite happy playing idpol with football supporters and there's just something about Essendon plonkers. Despite being irrelevant for almost two decades, they're still the smarmiest of the lot. And yes, I got my drink eventually.

Old mate Tim Lamb goes alright too.

Not sure if it's been mentioned here, but two moments in the Adelaide v Carlton game really stuck out for me. Both of them were Carlton goal celebrations. The first was Walsh. They were six goals down at the time and he's doing all these ridiculous hand gestures and celebration. You're six goals down mate. Stop celebrating and get on with getting back in the match. It wasn't just that it was a celebration. It was the arrogance of the celebration. It's fine to celebrate goals, that's good, but you look like a muppet when you're six goals down and carrying on like that. The other celebration is pretty much exactly the same as everything I've mentioned above, but in the third, when again, Carlton were like 4, 5 or 6 goals down. Motlop kicks a standard crumbing goal and then arrogantly gestures with his hand as if to indicate "on a platter". Mate, you absolute nuff nuff. You're nowhere near hitting the front, you've barely touched it, let alone been dangerous most of the night, and your team is down a long way. Carlton played like clowns and it would remain excellent if they continued to implode at every hurdle. Unfortunately, I think they could be a top 4 team this year, maybe a little Bradbury-like, but still, they have weapons. I think their problem at the moment is they think they're way better than they are. Their defence is suspect, their system is suspect, which means they're too reliant on McKay and Curnow to kick bags to win games. On that last point, we saw what happened to Richmond when system took charge and Riewoldt stopped being all about himself and just stuck to being a functional role player. We saw what happened when Melbourne players played disciplined roles in 2021 and they played to a tight defensive system. Carlton have none of this. I'd be staggered if they win a premiership until they sort the selflessness thing out.

Well done, Riv. 👏 And well done MFC.

I just watched a video before of Cal and Riley talking about Watson and whether a team would actually take a small forward that high in the draft, but if Kozzy leaves, even if he doesn't, we may be able to roll the dice there given our list stage/cycle.

Moir looks like a right footer that can kick well on his left foot based on that limited footage. Not too dissimilar to Gus.

I noted Chelly had mentioned Reid previously. Have you seen him play mate? Is there a current day comparison to Reid in the AFL?

@Demons11 has had pretty good mail in the past. We understand some things change and there's always lots of moving pieces. At least you don't do riddles...

Agreed. How many good KPFs in this year's crop that would go top 10? And are there any Kozzy types that are gettable with our likely picks? @Pennant St Dee @IvanBartul13 @ChaserJ @spirit of norm smith @Chelly

I'm hoping we had the splutter in round 2. 😁

3165 may be using flagrant language to describe Jack, but it's an opinion and 3165 doesn't have to be 'respectful'/share your opinion.

Gus is playing that role. He sweeps behind the stoppage (front of defensive contest), which is the role Salem and Bowey played in 2021. Agreed, and yes, I'd like 2021 Salem, please.

Didn't think I'd be keeping too close an eye on this year's crop, but thank you Fremantle. 😉

Give me Salem's cleanness at ground level and ball use any day.

I know this isn't a thread on LJ, but if Freo weren't based in Perth, would Freo really have set their sights so strongly (if at all) on LJ? It feels like they had tunnel vision because LJ was a high draft pick West Australian, and so cleared out 3-4 best 22 players to fit him in. LJ may well end up being a star, but it appears Freo have this hyperfocus on WA products to the detriment of their actual list needs. If I were Freo, I'd have definitely enquired, but given they already have Darcy, it wouldn't have gone much further if I knew that getting him would mean having to clear out 3 or 4 best 22s. That's insane and it's a philosophy that Melbourne clearly don't share. No one player is bigger than the club. I wonder what Longmuir thought of the trade...

My recent critique on Gus is he tends to try to bite off too much with his kicks (he's not a great kick under 30m) and has been fumbly the last few weeks. When Salem is fit again, we'll have a tough decision to make, because for mine, I'd take Salem's poise and ball use every day of the week. So we'll have to find another role for Gus.

I assume the Trac thing is a reference to the West Coast fans mocking him about his Instagram cooking.

Where did we finish in order to get LJ though? 17th. That's what I mean. The elite of the elite are usually top 5 picked. Unless you have some low finishes (bottoming out), you need 2-3 strong hands in the top 20 to lay the foundations. Don't get me wrong here. I've loved our list build, I'm just being realistic about what we'll need to do to go again without bottoming out. Unless of course we get lucky like Geelong and a Dangerfield and Cameron fall in our laps via FA.

I love our recruiting, but our absolute elite players aside from Max were top 5 picks in their draft year (Clarry and Trac) or in trade form (Lever and May). Take Clarry and Trac out of our midfield and we're not a top 8 team. This is usually how it works and why eventually the fork in the road comes. Do you keep topping up with FAs or do you bottom out and go back for the elite top end talent?