Adam The God

Just watched the replay again. Fritsch's game wasn't bad, so I'll take that back, but he certainly showed he was overawed at times, with a few fumbles that were costly. 1st Quarter: * Drops an contested mark and puts everyone under pressure at 4.52 to go in the first quarter. * Slips over with 2.40 to go in the first quarter. Lays a tackle but doesn't impede. Fortunately, ANB is covering. * By the end of the first quarter, he's taken a nice intercept mark and shown poise to open up the game with a neat kick into the corridor. 2nd Quarter: * nice neat kick to start the second quarter. * another effective handball. * at 13.52 to go, ball watches instead of intercept marking, causing Lewis to hold on to Kelly. Free-kick, Geelong get their first goal and momentum. Should have been away with it. * a get out kick on his right that works for McDonald. Decent effort. * 3.07 to go and he let's Kelly mark and run off him, which leads to the free-kick to Menzel that becomes a poster to Geelong after Menegola takes the advantage. * does well with a handball in the final minute. 3rd Quarter: * fumbles at 18.25, puts Gawn under pressure, who kicks it out on the full. This leads to the Hawkins goal. * at 9.42 remaining he punches back towards two Geelong defenders who would have goaled. Fortunately, Frost is rightly awarded a free-kick for being pushed in the back. 4th Quarter: * a nice handball out of trouble. * fumbles but gets lucky when Kelly gets him high. And an example of how misleading that 100% DE stat is, his next kick goes to a contest and Geelong bring it back. Yet they've called that an effective disposal. * a short careful kick to VDB that VDB then turns over and the commentators claim the play is too slow. It leads to Tuohy's goal. * makes up for the last slow play with his next kick that opens up the game in the corridor. * panics and gets lucky. Is tackled and drops it but not called holding the ball. One thing I did get from re-watching this was just how good ANB was. He was everywhere. His tackling and chasing set the tone in every quarter.

Yep. I mean Hunt.

You weren't watching properly in 2012-2013 then. We had guys like Dean Terlich and Matt Jones finishing high in our BnF. I'm not ANB's biggest fan but this is hyperbole. We've had a lot worse players than him.

I'll go back and rewatch a second time, because I counted at least 5 times he fumbled and put team mates under pressure. But here probably highlights why the DE stat is the most misleading stat in the game.

I think that's a really poor coaching move. You don't blood a young player in a final for the sake of it, who has been horribly out of form. Too much risk of mentally scarring a player when they fail in a final, having come in with no form.

Spargo corrals and tackles well in our forward 50 too. Those that want Jeffy to come in haven't watched Jeff properly. In big games he wilts. In Goodwin teams he's not appropriate because he's too soft at the contest. And some saying JKH should come in, are you serious? The bloke can't handle the heat in the regular season. He would crap himself in a final. And he certainly doesn't bring any more pace than Charlie.

My recollection of our 2016 win was that Stratton missed that game too.

Fritsch's game, much like his past month or so, was error-riddled again. I'm sure he was at one point, but I can't remember him being clean with the footy on Friday. Seems overawed by playing in the back half to me, but without Lever, he is needed to intercept and kick. Let's hope he remains calmer this week. And no change for me. Bring the same pressure and kick straighter and we comfortably account for the scum.

Hudson has really lost it. He's an absolute pill these days. Even managed to make a little snow joke during the commentary that we heard when listening back to the game. What a smarmy little fuckstick.

And this is the beauty of Harmes' rise. It enables Viney to play see ball, get ball and Harmes to tag Mitchell. Our midfield should murder them. I'm worried about their cleverness around the ground though and being outcoached by arguably the greatest coach of all time. But there's no doubt this Hawthorn side is the weakest top 8 Hawthorn side under Clarkson, so they are certainly gettable. I'll be fascinated to see how our press works.

Definitely bottom 6 as we're in the business of playing footy and that's the bit he's not great at. But as you say, a very valuable bottom 6 player with the intensity and hardness he brings.

Here's the thing about VDB. He's probably the worst handballer of all time. Seriously, so bad. He's not a great kick either. But his tackling in a tight congested game makes him worth it. He did give away two goals though from turnovers. However, his tackling has the capacity to lift him out of our bottom 6.

Bring tonight's pressure game and convert a bit better and we should account for Hawthorn. Anything less than that though and we're in trouble. But on tonight's performance we were brilliant. Weideman, Harmes and Max were the standouts for me. Quite incredible to think Weed could stand up in a final like that and Harmes is a truly dominant mid now. He is matching it with Clarry and Gus. When you add Viney's tackle pressure, our midfield really could rip any other midfield in the comp in two. I want to see more composure inside 50 next week, but generally, they made us proud on the big stage. We go again. And how was that MFC crowd!? Incredible. At least 65-70,000 were Melbourne. At least. We keep this up and we'll walk in 50,000 members next year. It shows that if we can have some sustained success (and I mean flags), our dormant supporter base has the capacity to reach at least 65,000 members. And if you win flags, you get the kids jumping on board and 70,000+ becomes very attainable in the next 5-10 years. The most exciting aspect about tonight was ticking off the mental barrier of winning a final. We saw what impact that had on Richmond for years. Well, we've ticked that off now. The other thing this victory tonight does is really announce us to the footy world and stamp us as contenders over the next 3-5 years. We play a brand that stacks up in finals and will only get better as our younger players develop. This finals experience too will hopefully hold them in really good stead for next year, whatever the outcome from here on is in 2018. And if I'm an opposition player, I'm wondering how do I get to Melbourne to play with these guys. Andrew Gaff, Dylan Shiel. These types. Lever saw it. Lewis saw it. Nights like tonight I'm front of 91,767 put us in that destination club conversation even further. Well done, PJ! And well done MFC.

Another brilliant display from Lewy. So important for how we set up and use the footy. I don't remember him being beaten 1v1 at all tonight either. I think his last month has been first class. Possibly his best month at Melbourne.

I can only think of one player that has left via free agency that has then gone on to win a flag: James Frawley. Invariably, it goes the other way (Deledio). Besides, Riewoldt AND Lynch may well change their game style. I doubt Lynch would want to play in a team that merely bombs the ball long and expects him to bring the ball to ground. I know that's an oversimplification, but I think Lynch's arrival may well upset the fine balance they have in their forward half.

Too soft and inconsistent.

How are ticket sales going? Gil said ON THE COUCH on Monday that there were only 1,000 tickets remaining. I presume he was spruiking but does anyone know? I'd heard they were expecting 85,000.

I think we'd back Max to dominate the ruck post. Of course, if he's being completely neutralised then you'd look at trying some different things, but otherwise we should stay the course. You mean Josh Kelly who feigned being asleep during the singing of their song after beating us one day? That team was arrogant as well.

Half of my family is Geelong too and they're all saying we'll win. Interesting. Is it the fall of an empire?

People smashing us on Instagram after Harmes photo saying "we're not scared. We're not scared at all". They hate us. Finally relevant again. ?

“A lot of this started with Jim, and all the excitement that came with him becoming president,” McLardy told The Age. “The whole thing really was a building process for probably over 10 years,” he said. “The last piece has been getting a really credible footy team on the field, and as we know with equalisation, the pieces can be in place but it’s hard to put a good list together. “Things just don’t happen overnight. I think it’s taken a lot of pieces of the jigsaw to fall into place over a long period of time. I'm sorry, but that's taking credit. The inferences are there. Perhaps, it's not destablising and he does give some credit to the guys who he worked with, but he doesn't seem to glowingly credit PJ or Barlett. PJ is the architect. He's built from ground zero up. Why does McLardy need to comment at all to a journalist, unless he feels the need to stick up for their legacy. I loved Jimmy as a footballer and I even loved him initially as a President. They tried their best, but they were utterly incompetent and very clearly incapable of running a football club. As a result, they almost killed the club I love. So I'm sorry if I'm a little passionate about the subject, but let's remember who oversaw the darkest period of our football club and the debacle that was 2007-2013.

He might have done all that mate but to come back after all of PJs incredible hard work and try and claim credit for it. Wow. Our club was on its knees. If he didn't want the post as President, he shouldn't have stood for Vice Presidency. And I love the club but I'm not trying to destabilise it. Probably the most egotistical approach to it too. He's very quiet during PJs time and now that we've made finals, he's trying to take credit. Just yuck.

Almost killed the club. [censored] off, McLardy.

Where's Jack's neck gone? He looks like Gladstone Small.

Jessie's Pizza. Thick crust and a large under $10. My favourite.