P-man

Assuming he’s not a late withdrawal, tip of the hat to T Daddy Mac on reaching 150 games - a game for each strand of hair he’s driven me to remove, but provided a lot of entertainment along the way. Here’s hoping he puts in a good shift, because by god do we need one right now. All the best Tommy ?

I'm weirdly confident this will be the week we turn things around. I'm sure it's completely misplaced. I just don't see how we can play much worse than we have been to date.

Credit to Big O but he's playing well in a team that's clicked into gear. Makes a big difference. Do we really think he'd be performing at a high level in the current dog's breakfast we are putting out on the field? He's performing above expectation but I'm not crying into my cornflakes over this particular oversight. Finlayson was pushed to full forward against the Tigers on the weekend and looked a natural on the way to kicking 5 goals. Could be one to keep an eye on. If he can be pried away.

Some accurate observations but in the main I just think he’s down on form. My faith is wavering with a few but not Hibbo. He will come good.

We need a circuit breaker of some kind. I doubt something as basic as an “honesty session” is the answer, but it can’t hurt.

Not entirely sure tbh. Ripped it off BF. I’m hoping it’s from this week.

Footage of Essendon training. This is what we’re up against https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOB0cGM60aJsn05SjZA0QhwpVeryIuU_WI_dwWlBesEuf5OaX3dRnnWseY2FPnBUg/photo/AF1QipOda96wPTCvI_375X2Cd7oOWztupSz2dsTKuLYh?key=Z1VzRG5VbnFQcEFIYkZNWDVJMlcyd1FlYXFsYTVR

The upside is if the above happens, the media blowtorch will be heavily applied, and that’s when we will see a response and maybe get our season up and running.

We should win, however this is set up perfectly for Essendon to come out and absolutely roll us. It would be the quintessential MFC kick to the guts while laid on the floor. I wait to be pleasantly surprised but right now a 10 goal Essendon win would not surprise me in the slightest. That’s what this club has done to me ?

Yawn. No surprises. It’s sobering to get a reminder of a good man like Bails being dragged into that mess. RIP.

I’m not going further down this rabbit hole so this will be my last post on it. Trying to equate actual cyber bullying with calling a celebrity a [censored] on Twitter is a false equivalency. It’s argubaly insulting to those who suffer from proper cyber bullying. I wouldn’t go quite that far. I just think it’s silly. Go and watch “celebrities read mean tweets” on the Jimmy Kimmel show. They read out the ridiculous things said about them on twitter and laugh it off, often poking fun at both themselves and the people who write this stuff. That’s how you deal with it, in my opinion. Not solemnly looking down the barrel of the camera and tearing up a sheet of paper. Agin, if this was racist, or sexist, that’s different, but do you seriously think Nathan Jones gives a rat’s [censored] about someone calling him a “dirty dog”? He could barely keep a straight face reading it out. Nice idea. Poor execution.

We all know social media is a cesspit and I’m sure many parents will attest to cyber bullying being a real issue. The execution of this idea, however, leaves a lot to be desired e.g. Tom McDonald tearing up a sign of someone calling him a [censored]. I’m glad his feelings were able to be salvaged. Racism and other forms of bigotry are obviously in a separate category. But a highly paid professional athlete being called a [censored] is not the same as a 13 year old girl being told to kill herself on a daily basis. They could not be more different. As I say, I understand where they’re coming from, but the execution is a bit cringeworthy.

I don’t think many are panicking just yet. But by god we have some work to do fix up both ends of the ground. Was an absolute shamozzle on the weekend. ”Connecting” in the forward half seems to be the latest buzz word. We need to improving our “connections”. If it doesn’t improve soon my remote will be “connecting” with my tv screen,

Viney is probably the biggest positive out of the game for me. He’s such an important part of the side going forward. It was a strong sense of relief to see him running freely.

This thought did occur to me as well. The Dogs’ high was a premiership. Our high would be a flogging in a prelim. Ah. The life of a Melbourne supporter.

Not pretty. At all. There is more work involved to turn the ship around this time. But it is Round 2. It can be done.

That’s all fair enough although TMac does concern me. If our fortunes hinge on his form like you suggest then that’s a worry. Last season he had Hogan as a foil a lot of the time. Being the main man and partnering up with Weids is a very different story. Others have pointed to the Hawks loss last season which is fine. In that instance our zone wa too high and teams were getting out the back with acres of space and scoring with ease. We saw a similar thing happening last night, although our backline and forwstdline somehow looks even more dysfunctional this time around, and there is a seeming inability to defend the ground balls. Once it hits the deck it is advantage to the opposition almost every time. So there are additional things to rectify. That is I think what many people are alarmed by. We are also again getting too many players drawn to the ball and getting killed on the outside. I understand we play a heavily conetsted game but surely the balance there can be improved somewhat. I don’t think anyone who has reacted strongly to the result is a weak supporter as there are some very real concerns including the overall quality and balance of the list which I think some have overrated, although that’s a separate topic. In the cold light of day I can “take a breath” and see the positives, namely the vast improvement of our engine room which is what our game is based upon. It’s the other areas that need to be fixed quickly as we need to capitalise on the upcomong fixtures. Which certainly, we are capable of doing. It’s not season over but Goodwin is going to really start earning his pay. This season and those beyond. He has not been handed the keys to a Ferrari by any stretch.

if we’re being honest, Petracca’s stagnation is going to hurt going forward. Individual brilliance matters. Forget about taking a game by the scruff of the neck. He barely looks capable of taking a game by the hand and asking it out for a coffee.

I hadn’t seen that stat. That’s actually hilarious.

Too slow. Too unskilled. We’re just not that good a side. We can play better than this but who would say our ceiling is as high as a team like Collingwood or WCE. We’re a mile off. I also can’t help noticing how much smaller we look than the oppo. We look like a bunch of shrimps compared to most sides.

Our forward line is complete puss. T Mac is a slow, awkward doofus. Weed ain’t ready. Milkshake is badly out of sorts. Trac is a perennial disappointment. Our small forwards are...who are our small forwards again? What we need is a strapping West Aussie who makes us walk an inch taller. A day in the life ?

Next week’s game will be one for the highlights reel ?

This is a solid start. We currently have the game on our terms. Need to capitalise.

That’s probably the only positive I’ve taken from this garbage so far.

@McQueen....tell us more about that fishing rod.