Adam The God

Just on this, I really respect Bowey for staying at Cheltenham. He had offers for private schools, but wanted to stick with his mates and come out of the public system. I wouldn't say it's harmed his football at all...

I wouldn't be managing Hibbo this week though.

Couple of things about this. 1) I'd be going to the AFL about treatment towards Max. All the other clubs complain, so we should too if it provides us with an advantage, or at least ensures the umpires are looking out for treatment towards Max. 2) we have a big, experienced body in Grundy, alongside Max this time. We just have to ensure we win ground ball if Max or Grundy don't mark it. 3) I'd be pushing a small forward up to the contest (potentially Kozzy who is better in traffic than ANB, but they might have to share the role), so we're -1 in front of the ball, but still try to generate that +1 behind the ball. 4) I'd try and drag Stewart back to the goalsquare with Fritta ala the Collingwood game with Moore, so you get their most dangerous interceptor deeper. Alternatively, I'd look at playing Smith on Stewart as a defensive forward, but Stewart is likely to drop off if Smith gets higher up the ground, so whoever is playing on Stewart, ideally takes him back to the square. Fritta is the biggest danger to Geelong, so I'd go with him first. I also think he's better closer to goal, than at half forward. 5) I'd actually give Gus a defensive role on Duncan at stoppages. So play Gus as a winger or a mid. Yes, I know his contest work against explosive players in defensive stoppages last week wasn't good, but Duncan isn't explosive and shouldn't expose him for pace. As they'll likely be without Dangerfield, if we can lock down on Duncan, that'll stop some of their ball movement. I'd roll Hunter back to half forward and play Gus as a ghost winger if need be, who is really a defensive mid. 6) I'd start Tomlinson on Hawkins with Hibberd on Cameron, and I'd play May on Rohan, but I suspect they'll go May to Hawkins. Tomlinson may not have a perfect match up this week, but if he can somehow hold down Hawkins, it allows May and Lever (on someone like the inexperienced Henry) to get dangerous. With McVee to Stengle and Salem on Close. See how many of those moves come to fruition. My strike rate as of late has been horrendous, so take with a huge bucket of salt.

We'd get 50,000-55,000 along, not sure it'd be big enough for them.

Well, Larkey was pick 73, so sometimes they do. 😉

I felt both teams showed vulnerabilities tonight. Port is all offence. They simply won the territory battle, which meant their defence didn't have to do much defending. When Port's defensive system was called upon, Geelong looked good. But Geelong's midfield isn't what it was. We're going to need to defend their short kicking game off half back when they intercept, do that and it'll going a long way to winning the match.

So let me be clear here. The person I was talking with is a close friend of Watson, but doesn't know Harley, so that part could well have been pure speculation.

As promised, Andy, here is my question from the Collingwood Podcast thread, but relevant to the Geelong game. 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 was told Nick Watson and Harley Reid will not leave Melbourne. FMD, things are changing. More JHFs.

My wife was a Carey girl. We've put our son down for Carey. Good luck affording it!!

Yeah, I did. But most of the really good kids were not in the junior school. They were scholarship kids brought in during Year 10-12. I did coach the middle and senior school in the first 6 or 7 years, now I much prefer Years 5-6.

Wheelers.

A question that could be posed far more heavily to Collingwood, our own main competitor. Or Port, one of our other competitors. This group of players got the job done less than 24 months ago. And in 2023, it's clear we've made substantial tweaks to our system, but retained the emphasis on CP and defence, playing to our strengths. But our system tweaks are going to take a little longer to perfect. We still don't move the ball quickly totally instinctively like Collingwood do. However, if we bring our pressure game, we have multiple ways of winning the game. It's not just force them down the line to our interceptors via upfield pressure anymore. It's more sophisticated. And we score not just from stoppage, but from turnover and against the likes of Collingwood, this is a very tried and true formula for success against their high risk game style.

It'll be interesting to see if we rest anyone else going into the Geelong match and then the GWS match.

It's an odd qualifier to say "indefinitely". Surely, they will simply return to the VFL and until their form aarrants selection, play there. "Indefinitely" implies that they may not return to the VFL either, but take time off. Or is that just me?

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.