Dr. Gonzo

I'm the opposite, I would play him deep forward - out of the goal square leading up to his teammates in a classic spearhead role. I think he gets lost around half forward playing too high up and we invariably kick it on top of his head making it easy for his opponent to spoil/work him under the footy due to his lack of footy IQ.

I don't put it on Goodwin, and the Blues definitely lifted. The problem was our intensity (or lack thereof) after quarter time and the inability of us to wrest back momentum. For me that is on the players/senior leaders and not the coach but I still think it was a concern. Happy to see how they go over the next few weeks though - if we have 3 more 1 pt wins in a similar manner I won't be too upset!

I don't put myself in the "doom brigade" but the game on Saturday was pretty concerning. Will wait and see how the next few weeks play out but I am not confident of beating the Bombers on Sunday, in fact I would bet against it. The difference between us and other clubs is that MFC regularly have these mental lapses in quarters/games/seasons that mean we rarely take advantage and go for the jugular when the opportunity arises. Every Melbourne supporter would have been thinking the same thing at quarter time; great to be up but I bet we let them back in. Until we develop the killer instinct and prove it over multiple seasons supporters will rightfully be dismayed with those kinds of performances. I've been following the Demons since I was 5 years old in 1987 - I am yet to see us put a complete season together where we grind out the season getting results and providing consistent performances. We have had the odd game where we steamroll teams but for the most part we have never been known to put the foot down - and we certainly haven't maintained that edge over the course of a season.

Exactly sue, as I mentioned earlier in the thread (or another thread?) the focus should always be on winning the next contest. The scoreboard is irrelevant.

In: Kozzy, Weideman Out: ANB, Jackson Maybe Smith for Hibberd though I think Essendon will kill us with pace so Hibberd won't help that

That was his dad

He was a GWS academy player. We could never have got him.

While I do agree with that I think it does provide an opportunity for Gawn to make a deal out of it to let the group know they need to focus and be on the same page if they want to have any kind of success. Use it as a symbol of the mentality of the group, the mentality that allows us to give up big leads or gets too full of ourselves with a few good showings.

What about Mahoney?

You don't think perhaps they were letting off steam after the last 12 weeks where they've barely been able to train together let alone get out of the house etc?

I missed both of those wins against the Bombers! In 1990 my dad must have been off the wagon after our mid-season slump. I remember that day I was at the G with my cousin instead watching his Tigers get done by the Hawks. My uncle was letting me know Melbourne were getting done too but I could see the scoreboard ticking over in the last quarter as we clawed back to a famous victory. Spewing I missed it I never saw is win at Windy Hill. 1991 I missed the Elimination Final. We were on a plane coming back from overseas. When we landed my dad asked who won the footy game and when we were told Melbourne we all started cheering.

Did he extend his contract with the Hawks last year after failing to get a clearance to come back to Melbourne?

That's not my worry, he clearly is a great talent and knows how to play his role. My worry is the team won't reach its potential before he gets too old and we will have wasted a top 5 pick that could've been used on a key forward.

It was lairising plain and simple and he should be pulled up for it. We were 7 goals to 0, if it was 7 goals to 5 I doubt May flies for that ball or at least punches it towards the boundary.

The latent support is there. We just need to have a good run of onfield success (I'm not even talking premierships though of course that word help. A decade or two of being a contender ala Sydney 1996-2016, Geelong 2004-2020 etc) We got 37k vs the Giants in 2018, and I reckon at least 60k to both finals that year (closer to 65k probably). While we have a smaller supporter base than other clubs I have a feeling (just a feeling could be proven wrong) that it's not much of a diaspora and is quite centrally located around metro Melbourne. Therefore we have a greater capacity to pull crowds than other smaller clubs. If we had a period of sustained success we would easily have a base membership of 60k (probably closer to 70-75k) which is plenty enough to survive and thrive. This would translate to attendances obviously which would further help the bottom line.

It's not working

Ha, well it would be relegation without promotion - so not relegation but expulsion from the AFL.

Fritsch is not a key forward. I thought the west coast gane proved that. Far too slight. We need to play TMac out of the square next week (assuming he plays).

I would've thought any reduction in salary would be for this year only - so we would still be on the hook for his original contracted salary for 2021/22 should we sack him. I don't know but that is what I assume.

To clarify Kangas have our pick 6 as per current ladder We don't get a pick back, we used it last year on Kozzie

We don't have to be "big". We just have to be financially sustainable and independent.

Where was Brayshaw when not in the middle? Half forward?

I agree completely. Nor do I think he should be sacked. I was just making the point for those who seem to be death-riding him that there's no way he's getting sacked this year or next year either. At the very least he is our coach til the end of 2021 and likely til the end of 2022.

Laziness and selfishness. Players have been getting away with this for ages. It's crucial, especially in the forward line to run hard for a ball you know you're not going to get to create space behind you for your teammates to work in. Along with failing to shepherd for your teammates after dishing off the footy its one of things that does my head in.

They should be planning and training for this mid-week, we have players and coaches watching tape of opponents and analysing their games - the strategy needs to be implemented before the game so that when things start going against us the players know exactly what to do to halt it. We have enough senior leaders onfield now that this needs to fall on them. The fact we seem unable to halt momentum and reverse back in our favour means we either haven't prepared well enough (that's on Goodwin and the FD) or we aren't able to do anything to stop it (that's on the senior leaders and playing group). Knowing which it is is impossible for supporters though if we do see some changes occurring you can assume that the coaches have at least tried to implement something that the players don't have the capacity to implement 100% of the time. The worry is if they can't do it against Carlton what hope do they have against the better teams.