Dr. Gonzo

Wow, those Port supporters really are feral!

2018 was pretty fast and attacking

Yes but can he be a 4 or 5xAA? That's what we'd be hoping for if we trade out a top 6 or 7 pick for him considering his age.

Pretty sure Fritsch has copped it in the past.

Somehow I doubt that.

He's a good player but do we really need another half back flanker?? Unless we get him on the cheap I don't get the interest.

Forward half pressure. Needs to build on that to be dynamic with ball going inside 50 or dangerous around goals but look at how often he tackled defenders trying to get the ball out of our 50.

They roughed him up at halftime as well

Yeah Roffey should've dobbed that goal and manned up in the last quarter there 🤦 Thought the effort and intent was there, for those not keeping track we lost by 2 points to the team sitting 2nd with 2 games left. Kolt should've dobbed that goal but he'll be better for the experience. Billings should've kicked the goal too to make up for his poor game but kicked the wrong side of the foot/ball. Salem was a lot better, Petty was better but still should be the bare minimum effort there. The defence held up pretty well without May. Oliver was poor but I thought Viney was good, Max was Max and Koz was electric. Disappointed that Lever didn't spoil that mark that Narkle took to kick the matchwinning goal but he was good overall. Season was already over but I was pleased with the effort and our kids get some more development into them. We really need to focus on our ball movement and inside 50 entries over the summer again, our ball use is still sub par. In other news, Essendon lost after the siren 😍

So is Ben Brown but he helped us to a flag

We should've gone hard for Peter Wright when he first left the Suns. I would definitely grab him as an interim backup/2nd ruck who can play key forward until we can develop Max's successor.

Once you realise every decision the AFL makes is primarily for the benefit of the TV networks their actions make a lot more sense.

Spargo is no matchwinner but he is a clever player who was very good at linking up through half forward. He was dropped for a period last year but I thought was one of our best in the SF loss vs Carlton. Would definitely improve our side if he was available but not sure he would change much on his own results wise if that makes sense.

He absolutely should not get sacked. And he won't. I think the Assistant coaching group needs a big shakeup though, out Stafford and McQualter at minimum. We need a tactical/ball movement coach. Goodwin is a fantastic people manager, the players clearly love him. He is a very good strategic coach but if things don't go well his tactics can come up short and he is slow to react. I thought it interesting he switched Petty/TMac last night when it should've first been tried at halftime vs Brisbane in round 5. I think we definitely need some fresh voices/ideas and I'd be looking at our fitness coaches and list manager too, JT has been fantastic at drafting but our trading has been poor for several years now. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater and sacking Goodwin would be idiotic. The same people are probably calling for Pert/Roffey's heads too, just really dumb - this kind of instability would send our club back a decade.

Anyone who complains about our current membership numbers are just looking for ways to pot the club. The fact we have exceeded 60k members several years running now is phenomenal.

$33 memberships going recently after Kolt re-signed.

Richmond are bottom of the ladder not fighting for a finals spot though. That's why the poster said "a match like this", context matters. If we swapped positions with Richmond how many would we have got to our respective games? I can't imagine it getting worse than 16k but who knows???

Maybe slightly, I doubt the numbers were boosted by 16k though

As evidenced by the fact we had 32k v WCE 3 weeks ago.

The problem is we put ourselves at risk of being shunted off to Docklands for games - 20k looks horrible in a 100k stadium, especially when most of those 20k sit on the broadcast side. Carlton and Essendon want more games at the G, so who is going to play at Docklands to make up for it? Supporters complain about selling a game to the NT but last night is the perfect example for why the club would sell 2 games if they could. We almost merged in the 80s/90s and almost did ourselves in in the 00s/10s. We came out of it and won a flag but the supporters still flake it and then complain when we get treated like the poor relation of the AFL. Well you reap what you sow. I am sympathetic to those who have genuine health, financial, family,travel etc etc reasons for not going and I'm not judging anyone individually, as a supporter group though I feel like we could do better.

I know a heap of Collingwood and Carlton supporters and most of them would be lucky to go to 2 games a year. They get to gloat about what big clubs they are and their big crowds and give [censored] to me about Melbourne crowds/supporters despite hardly ever going to games while I've been going week in/week out for about 35 years! Ok a bit less frequently in recent years due to a young family and the commitments that come with that but overall I've actually supported the Demons a thousand times over compared to them with their clubs. It's tough being a Melbourne supporter because you feel this personal obligation to go every single week and feel as though you've let the club, players and other supporters down if you dont go despite probably being some of the most rusted on supporters in the comp. Supporting a club shouldn't feel like a chore or obligation, it should be fun but sometimes I feel like I have to drag myself along to games to make sure the club isn't embarrassed by a poor turnout. We have a smaller supporter base, that won't change overnight. Sometimes you will get a confluence of factors lining up which sees a poor crowd like last night but I think part of it also comes down to our supporter demographics. I'm surprised the club weren't spruiking for supporters to get out and attend this game, they must have known there was a risk of a really poor crowd. Sometimes supporters need that extra motivation to get off the couch, especially in the middle of winter against a franchise who is not a traditional rival. I know my family have been less inclined to go this year despite my cajoling, my parents are getting older and hate the night games, my brother still plays so Saturday's are usually a wipeout, my kids are young and play junior footy early Sunday, and amongst all of us most have had this 3-4 week virus that seems to have been niggling half of Melbourne this winter. None of them could be convinced to go last night (especially after the rain hit in the early arvo) but they were umming and aahing about it so a bit of a push from the clubs media team might have been enough to get them to come along. Anyway I can imagine if my family was like that there were plenty of others in the same boat.

To be fair though Richmond are dead last on the ladder, we were fighting for finals last night. How many would've turned up if we were 18th with two wins for the season? We had <10k against GWS at Docklands about 10 years back.

Sparrow will never be an elite mid but he can be a very good 2nd string mid. He's had to step up this year with our midfield problems and has struggled. As a 4th or 5th mid I think he'll still be fine.

If it's the one I'm thinking of Kozzie basically pushed him and didn't tackle which is why it wasn't holding the ball.

Reading through the Essendon bigfooty thread (schadenfreude does wonders for the soul) they are ready to blow the place up and start again. Got me thinking we could do worse than get Peter Wright in as 2nd ruck/forward option for a year or two, couldn't be any worse than our current options. Wouldn't mind Nick Hind either, has some real line breaking pace and seems to be on the outer (was sub against us, came on and made a bit of an impact then dropped to the VFL).