Adam The God

Hype-central here, but well deserved. If he can shut down Mitchell and win his own ball like he has been, there's a massive chance we shut down Hawthorn's midfield and make them play counterattack on us. Pretty hard to do in a final. Given our likely clearance dominance, we'd win the game if we kick straight.

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.

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.

Good post as usual. Who are our top 6 and do we have enough star power to get the job done this September? Gawn, Oliver, Viney and then maybe Brayshaw? Hibberd? Petracca? Jetta? TMac? It's possible, but I don't think we have enough at this stage. We'd really have to play out of out skins for the next month.

Yeah, sorry. Hannan would be ahead of JKH and probably compete with Spargo.

Jetta Omac Hibberd Fritsch Frost Lever Salem Oliver Brayshaw Harmes Hogan Melksham Petracca TMac Weideman Gawn Viney Tyson Jones ANB Lewis Spargo Emergencies Hunt AVB JKH

I wouldn't be taking one of our biggest strengths (a 40+ goal CHF beast) and playing him in the middle unless we were trying to get him into the game. And even then, once he gets a few touches I'd be telling him to go forward.

Clarry will have the Scott Selwood tag. Viney head to head with Ablett - he'll scare Jesus. Harmes to Dangerfield for a tag. Brayshaw v Joel Selwood. Gus has to lift his defensive game, which is probably his weakness, but should be able to win footy on the outside and make ducker accountable. Tyson head to head with Kelly. I'd go Jones on Duncan.

Yep, I reckon if we kick straight our numbers should overwhelm them.

I hope we're putting an offer to Shiel to play with the best midfield in the league at the end of his current contract. Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Harmes, Tyson and Petracca. Surely, he'd have to consider it. If we don't get Gaff, I'd say "give it one more shot at GWS and then come back to Victoria and play under Max".

None of those midfields were having the same dominance that we've had though. I reckon it'll work. Jason Taylor has been building to this since he arrived. Except, unless we could trade those two top 10 picks that'd be a terrible deal for us. Lose a young gun CHF for two kids that take years to develop, while we're inside our window. Dumb list management IMO.

Only a Melbourne supporter would put it this way. ?? I think the point about all three of them offering something slightly different is a great one. I also concur that we'll set up with three talls next year too. Players like Harmes and ANB, coupled with a new speedster or two at the feet of these guys will be pretty deadly. We may well be able to get away with not having speedsters and rather just hard runners, given the mobility of the three talls we have. Hogan and Tom need to start tackling more in the forward half though. Weideman, when switched on and confident, is really good at this. Particularly, as it allows me to develop and ultimately shine, by getting the third best defender. You beat me to it, mate. Spot on. If I were Melbourne I'd still be saying, look, Jesse, if you want to play in flags and dynasty's like Geelong and Hawthorn, they all took pay cuts to stay together, so you do the same.

Equally, it might be better to play more pressure smalls in that situation. It'll be interesting to see the rule changes and the evolution of the game from there.

I reckon we can play them all in the one forwardline and we showed this earlier in the year. Jesse switching from a wing, midfield, CHF and deep forward. Tom switching from ruck, CHF, CHB (this bit will happen, despite him not being a good defender) and deep forward. Weideman switching from ruck, CHF and deep forward. The beauty of all of them is that they are mobile beasts. Weideman is terrific below his knees as he demonstrated on multiple occasions against GWS and the other two have never had a question mark over them in this regard. In fact, it's probably their key asset. I think we'll look back on Jesse's injury at the end of 2018 and see that it enabled Weideman to gain some confidence at the top level. This will be invaluable for next year when all three play together. I'm pretty sure Goodwin would have kept playing all three together in the same forwardline had we not had injuries and Weideman struggle with form. Richmond changed the face of the modern forwardline last year out of necessity and it may well snag them another flag, but I think Goodwin and his set up will transform the modern game again. Our sheer weight of numbers as we win it at the contest infused with three mobile talls. It's Adelaide 2017 on steroids.

May well have played his breakout game today. Is building really nicely. Was always in front, brought the ball to the ground when he needed to and took some nice marks. Well done, Sammy.

His best game for the club today. His improvement has been phenomenal.

Why would Hannebery leave Sydney for St Kilda? Far more likely to come to Melbourne if he were to leave Sydney. St Kilda makes no sense.

He loses his feet too often and doesn't lay enough consistent pressure for mine, but he was the one who won that 1v1 to get ANB the sealer. But he kicked that all important goal on the stroke of 3 quarter time and brought the ball to ground on a number of occasions last night, often against 2 or 3 Crows opponents. He is also 5th in the Coleman race. We forget how good he is I reckon.

Sorry, Jesse, you need to keep playing. You're too important to our structure to leave out. Particularly, when finals is not assured. He has a good record against Gold Coast, so he'll kick a few this coming week. If we can win 2 more games and keep the other two games tight, we should make finals. They said it on the commentary last night and I think it lacks understanding, just because we're a high scoring team doesn't mean we can take out a Hogan. Richmond can score heavily too but if they took out Riewoldt they wouldn't be. It's structural. If we get to the finals, Jesse will have a week off anyway.

Or there could be equal blame?

Cripps has just today signed an extension...

If they lose Cripps, they're [censored]. Curnow is going to be a good player, but they need to get the ball to him. I actually think along with North and potentially the Bulldogs, Carlton are the club that could well fold in the next two decades, unless things improve. Bizarre given they've still won the most flags, but they're in real trouble. I hope West Coast get him.

Paging our man @Chook in Perth. Heard anything around the traps, mate?