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As for Daisy, fantastic. Singlehandedly shaking up the football commentary old boys'' club. She also had some great comments a month or so back when she responded to the put-down from Brereton and the like in regards to her doing Friday night football. Her point about people being able to recognise themselves in what they see and there not being a single, canonical POV was both insightful and spot on. Long may she reign.

When you look through some of the comments here you see the need for indigenous round in the first place - though clearly, the message is taking a bit of time to sink in for some.

On the back of no break and a long, intense 2021, we were cooked before the season even started, which only got worse as it wore on.

"We've got a fair bit of homework to do ... hopefully Goody will look at a bit of that and we'll come back fresh and ready to go" ...

"We need a break, we've been going literally since day 1 2021. It's been a two-year campaign." Max Gawn

"We need a break, we've been going literally since day 1 2021. It's been a two-year campaign." Max Gawn

Interesting interview summing up the season with Max on the MFC site. He twice mentions that they'd had a very short break at the end of 2021: "we didn't really stop, we went straight into another pre-season". We were kicking into the wind from that point on, and it eventually caught up with us. No real surprises, and not the first team to have a bit of a slump after a "first" premiership, even from teams who had the capability and did go on to win more. The toll it takes to win one is enormous, to win back to back ... Everest.

Some great points raised by Nathan Jones regarding fitness, that Melbourne expend a lot of energy playing a very physical, bullish kind of game but then have to constantly bat up again and run the other way as the result of turnovers. He made the point that the teams that looks the fittest are the ones that are most efficient. Though equally, efficiency and accuracy drop off with tiredness, so carts and horses?

Not backing up a premiership after winning one following a long period of not doing so isn't an exception, it's the norm. Taking all the "first-time" premiership winners for the last 20 odd years, not one has gone back-to-back following a "first" premiership. People talk about the Hawks: won in 2008 but then not again till 2013. Geelong: won in 2007 then went on/off for the next 4 seasons. Richmond won in 2017, then missed out in 2018. It's not just about last season and this season but this period of 5 years or so, 2021 - 2025. Fingers crossed that we don't lose the likes of Gawn, May or Oliver to long-term injuries for any of those.

This is one of the main points that Goodwin made in his presser. He also spoke about not executing the fundamentals. Also re kicking, that includes goal-kicking out of general play.

Neither you nor any of us know whether or not Neale wouldn't have got 18 possessions in any case - he's not a Brownlow favourite for nothing and usually gets off the chain sooner or later. Secondly, if Sparrow hadn't been generating much drive (which was the case?) it makes sense to give him a more defensive role and free up Brayshaw. Angus's team-lifting goal in the 4th that put us within 2 points is perhaps an example of what they were looking for more of. Finally, the mids are Adam Yze's area, so ...

Someone to play on tall forwards alongside Steve May? Just a hunch. (BTW, all very well to look at Petty's achievements up forward. Look at what was happening up the other end once we moved him. Lions got 3 goals I believe. That whole farce of a situation with Lever and McStay in the last quarter and resulted in a gifted goal to the Lions came about because Lever was caught out in a one-on-one role he doesn't play well. McStay had been Petty's man.)

Positives: - One more year and one more pre-season into the younger players, which includes a large chunk of our list. - Premiership window very much open. For me in fact, only just opening, last year was a year or two earlier than what you might have expected. I'm looking forward to the next few years and if supporters want back-to-back premierships they'd be better looking at 2024 - 25 than this year.

Can anyone confirm which Melbourne players are eligible, McDonald and Smith in particular. I thought I read somewhere that Tom wouldn't be eligible if Melbourne were eliminated - could be wrong.

Close thread. About the only thing going for it was the "conjecture" in the title, as that's all it ever was.

Too many players carrying injuries or niggles, plus the cumulative fatigue of spending 2022 at the pointy end + a long 2021 with a deep finals run + reduced off-season/break. Throw into that that a lot of our players are still comparatively young and don't have the deep fitness that 10 years of pre-seasons develops. Not a surprise that so few teams win back to back premierships. Nothing to do with the coaching, or even the fitness staff for that matter. Griffith had the runs on the board, was head-hunted by Burgess and the FD as Burgess's replacement, and spent a year being trained up by Burgess.

Setting himself up for a decent contract somewhere else?

If it was more than capable we wouldn't have gone out in straight sets. It's not Goodwin who can't hit a target, or sprays a shot OOB, or gives away 50's or downfield frees, or or or ...

How many goals did the Lions get once Petty went forward? By my count, 3. There is no free lunch.

It's not the players who need to realise that winning flags isn't easy. It's the supporters. Including quite a few on here.

I suspect you could probably add a few to that list, will be interesting to see who goes under the knife in the next few weeks.

Sure, but I think people are underestimating the physical toll of running deep into the finals right through to a GF and then the reduced turnaround until the next season. Perhaps no accident that both last year's grand finalists are out. I remember Hardwick talking about how hard it was physically to back up after winning a premiership.

Speak for yourself.

Who's your answer then? An untried kid who's been inconsistent even at Casey (but hopefully will be great in the longer term) or Mitch Brown? We had 22 shots on goal (more than them), not counting a few OOB on the full which were aimed in the general direction of the goals - that should be enough to win a game of footy. Not saying we don't need to look at what's going on with the forward line, but you can't lose your main tall forward/CHF and that not have consequences.

Absolutely this. Re kicking, there was a passage in the 3rd quarter where for 4 or 5 shots on goal we managed a couple of OOB on the full and a couple of points.