DEE fence

Here in Finland this week, (Kenya was last week) playing K2K with a new Sherrin and loving the game. Both going mental in the last quarter. We won in the wet and used the ball well, mark of a side with excellent skills, primed for September. Also let me get this in here, our defence is Premiership standard, put under mad pressure today, but I thought Richmond got lucky bounces for a few and didn't see any major breakdown of structure. Salem/Rivers/Lever/McVee(mancrush) rebounding is so good. Great link play by Langdon and Hunter clearly putting his body on line with contact today. Also what ever was wrong with May last week clearly addressed. Shout to the umps for paying HTB in the last. Obvious Richmond tactic to slow the game up and with a parochial crowd they didn't melt and swallow the whistle. Speaking of which, mad love for Melks effort, but he can do 200 penalty push ups for the stupid 50s he gives away each week, just because he's in the fwd line is not good enough. Richmond fans whining that Taranto>Viney... Hahhahah only thing I noticed was Taranto sooking. We are running our second string midfield and it is holding up, Gus and my personal jesus (Viney) holding up without Oliver and Trac. Gawn has had 3 games this year where he has been phenomenal and clearly the games best ruck. I feel like those 3 games have put him back in AA frame, they are that good. I was for delisting Smith and Melksham, clearly I was wrong, while Melks has had his chances over the years, he has changed his attitude somehow and is getting to the ball 1st allowing himself a chance to score. Smith I am so happy for, gives every contest his all and did great work on Dusty, I love these redemption stories, he looked so nearly and now he looks just looks dangerous. Feeling smug about Petty, but the most 21 thing about the fwd line for me was the goal assists are back, am sure there are more lay-offs to a better position. Makes me feel the team is in the best headspace. (kudos to Brown last week leading the way). And seriously ANB was great today, serious fwd half tackle pressure, did alot of work under heavy pressure, the turnovers only tell the story to the simple minds. Our 4th quarter fitness is still there, our whole team provided huge pressure on the Richmond ball carrier, magnificent premiership standard effort. Jordan and Harmes 21 and 22, felt Dunstan was stiff not getting a run today has done the work. Woey stays I like his run.

Chandler Came back invigorated ANB Harder than Sisyphus Petty Leave him Forward

It's a shame GWS has come good, I want Taylor more than anything and would swap our pick 4 and a players for him. Petty goes forward and we have a replacement for May in a year or two. I actually think we are OK for mids and smalls. But if May gets injured structurally we are stuffed and neither Petty or Tomlinson are #1 Gorilla minders. Sorry bit of a broken record on this one..

6-1 Viney Pickett Gawn Chandler Gus ANB Sorry Rivers

So over here in Nairobi, Kenya, you have @Nairobi_Demon and DeeFence (having never met before) who met up to watch the game! Very happy with the result. Crows played a brilliant game, happy with the win, absorbed the pressure. We are a greater team than the sum of our parts, demonstrated yet again. Thanks coach. Viney just a wrecking ball, Pickett's intense energy on display. Our HB line giving great run, Salem/Rivers/McVee with Hibbo in the pocket is gold dust. Chandler came back with endeavour, Woey didn't do much but did it well, ANB some lovely touches a few weeks in a row. Captain doing Captain things. May was off no doubt, but that came off his epic game last week, not worried as he is moving with speed still. Also a few had a chance to kill the game and kicked points. Leaving Adelaide a chance, wasn't just May stuffing it up. Also Umps missed some flagrant holding the balls that ended with Crows scoring and why is Lever 1/10 second late a 50, but Gawn can be cannoned into by a bum to the head after the balls is 5m away...

Idle fantasy I know, but imagine Jeff in today's team, he was such a gun, and this isn't a knock on Brodie, but he could kick a goal or two. If Kalani has the heart of his old man we'll be going very well.

I thought Tommo was very stiff to get dropped (after KB game) as was Smith. On merit, ability and match - ups though I would like to see Smith as starting 22, with and I know it is unusual, Tommo as sub, our defence is our foundation, all of the unexpected losses have nearly always revolved around a key defender injury early in the game. We have plenty of flexibility in the midfield and with the forwards (while I would love a dominant KPF that is in the wishes/fishes category). But a settled back six with the big defenders in place makes us a fierce beast. Having a utility as sub who can't play that KD role hurts more than in other positions. So I think Smith has the right to some continuity, and I would love to have Tommo in the pocket. If needed Smith could go forward during the game and Tommo take the defence position Smith starts in. Otherwise wouldn't mind Chandler over Spargo, I felt like Chin after a great start was trying to do much and should stick to his role which hopefully a spell has taught him. Spargo is confusing to me the difference between his best and worst regularly happens back to back within game. If Hibberd right to play then he has a role with the smart Adelaide small forwards and I could live with Bowey going forward as an experiment in either the spargo/chin role.

6, Petracca - not just the four snags. 5, Gawn - Will and leadership and 10 bloody clerances 4, Vine- we won because he played, huge body of work. 3, Melks - clutch goals after stuffing 3 shots at goal showed supreme composure 2, Rivers - on replay he is clearly our best at rebounding from HB. 1, McVee - Best game so far.

Men with guns came running I was screaming so loud, (they thought they had an active shooter inside the wire) here in Baidoa, Somalia. We are 4-4 against top 4. Media commentators GAGF, nothing being taken for granted by Melbourne players, we were cooked more than a Chiko roll in a Frankston Fish&Chip shop and did not give up. I am sorry Jake. Can the haters say sorry to Goodwin, he’s changed things, tried things, and obviously has more of clue than the numb nuts on this forum. We are a team, two of the best mids in club history come out of the center, in goes Angus, Jordan, Pickett, and Sparrow to get the job done. People need to acknowledge that our club trains kids well and is lead by a first class coach. Viney is my personal Jesus, Oscar 206cm, 110kg stripped by Jack 178cm, 84kg, another entry for the JV made me cry. Trac, OMG, boomshakalaka, finding ways to will himself back into the game. Joel Smith is the sub. Still Woewodin, looks like he belongs. …loving Jonathan Brown crack it on FNF. Also my comments would have been the same had we lost by 1-18pts, the effort was there. Brisbane should have won, they lost their heads and started going down the line instead of taking the game on. Which was the way we smashed them early. McVee was silk again. More to say, after a rewatch.

That was a mark to Spargo and then they Brisbane player ducked into the high contact. Bloody rubbish soft frees so far

paging KDA for a retraction thanks

I could be wrong but my understanding was he warned the club in a letter against the programme, the initial batch of drugs were given without his knowledge and the AFL withdrew all 38 charges against him and he was exonerated. The Age article is illuminating https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/these-drugs-have-been-given-without-my-knowledge-letter-reveals-a-conflicted-doctor-20130821-2saw5.html I love your work M. but on Bruce I feel you have the wrong target.

In Kenya the house keeper and the nanny were always removing the Demons kit from around my son’s crib. They were really disturbed by it, really had to explain that I was not a satanist and going to sacrifice the boy!!!. Likewise, Bombers kit not popular in the places I’ve worked (Lebanon/Sudan)

Bu66er Kane and his off the shelf option, I can think of half a dozen players, who should be wearing hand made boots, last thing we want is Viney wearing screws-ins and getting another PF injury. Or Clarrie for god’s sake. I’m all for screw-ins and get the point about falling over, but only when married up to custom boots to protect the players’ feet. Kane is blithe to the issue when he says ‘a player can put up with sore feet’ he’s missing the bigger picture if the player can’t get on the park the following week. You don’t put Simex Extreme Trekkers on a BMW M5 CS.

Viney is my God. Many thanks to Ethan and Mary for the tickets, you guys are ace!

I waded through Nick's footy and not much better there either, was hoping for something funny.

De Goey, the bogun frequent flyer… I almost wish I didn’t care about this match, as it would be great to watch as a neutral, ignoring the hysteria of the pundits. Both teams play modern (Cruyff) style ‘Total’ football, have some genuinely exciting players to watch, and some villains opposition love to hate as well. There is the fact the Pies have had the wood over the Demons for ever (am sad to say most of my family is too scarred to turn up). Then there is of course the MND campaign which also bring a sense of occasion (although to be honest I think most of us are just hoping for some hilarious costume failures.) But for me it is the first Collingwood game I’ve seen live since 2005 and I really, very deeply, care about the result. Personally I think this will be an excellent test of the two best defenses going around. I’m in favour of leg speed and accountability so prefer Chandler to Melk and Gus back with Oliver in the middle and Tommo the unlucky fella. Sidear$e and the BFF are huge outs, along with other selection challenges should really see us over the line. And no one will take us seriously because they will point to the outs. God forbid we don’t get up because then everyone will highlight their outs as well.

That was a Wednesday win for Goodwin picking Tomlinson for a role last Friday. He is definitely an option when playing against an opposition tall fwd line. I have been so happy with Chandler I could live with Sparrow as the sub, Chandler's defensive running is elite, and would like to see Pickett rotated through midfield more to get him in the game. He is more than a small forward and could cover Sparrows role.

Hi DOF, I can answer that, must be a forward.... cheeky 😁

Please start with 'thank you', what they have built defensively in the last few years has been extraordinary. Question 1: God forbid, But if May unavailable and he had his pick of KPD from any team, who would he choose. Question 2: Who from the current players would make a good coach and has a desire to do it. Question 3: just by the by, the soft cap is a joke when AFL management salaries go up but the line coaches etc don't share. Why is the AFLCA not making more noise?

My first live game since Carlton 2018, flew in Friday morning after a 31hr trip from West Africa arriving at 5.30am, (must admit was hoping for a replay of that game), so anyway I’m officially not a jinx. Rewatched the game at 5am this morning as still jet lagged and a few things stood out. Goodwin is not wrong about getting our contested game back, there was a small period in the middle of the first where Carlton had a run on, but apart from that our structure held up well, and some areas of the defense where we had been lacking this year had clearly been addressed. Carlton was forced into kick/mark because our defense was set and was kept well all game. Extraordinary fitness to keep our zone going a whole game, the running efforts of the team are much more apparent live, and it takes a truckload of work, we didn’t win this because Carlton was bad, but because our guys played a perfect Melbourne game. For sure I would have loved better accuracy, but we owned the game. I think Goodwin deserves some praise for selection integrity and game plan. My take aways: That was a massive game from May, really rejoiced to see him play so well. Hard to split him and Trac for BOG. Really good time for he and Lever to find form together. Petracca was tagging/standing Cripps in the 1st, Carlton tried to break this, putting a 2nd on Trac to try and give Cripps space (didn’t work) but while Cripps was Trac’s mark, he remained dedicated to the task, that clearly demonstrated a team first attitude and willingness to set a standard that I think had a positive affect across the group. Trac’s defensive presence in the first stopped Carlton’s early midfield drive into their forward 50, and over all that was a very Melbourne defensive game from him. McVee is a jet and deserves a rising star, clinical in some big moments. Poorest 1st half have seen from Gawn since 2014, loved that he kept fighting and he did exactly what I wanted with his bomb from 50, instead of laying it off. Huge heart to keep trying when clearly he is hampered by something ATM. Best Captain in the league right now. My voice is just recovering. Hunter’s best game this year, very promising for me was his connection to team mates, it’s getting better each week. His value over Gus, is the speed of his decision making, it is elite and he seems to be able to create a sliver more of time for the receiving player than Gus does. That said Gus, is crazy brave and good at getting the ball out and heroic defensive efforts. Best game so far from JVR, didn’t kick a bag of goals but played a nice hybrid role CHF and showed great decision making with his connection to others, loved his game. Have been able to observe growth in his games already, seems willing to learn. Bailey did some great things and laid a couple of good tackles. He is a leopard in the f50, runs into space so well, so he didn’t shoot the lights out, not really worried, was happy with his improved defensive efforts. Gus worked really bloody hard, Likewise Viney, thought he was a bit subdued compared to the last few weeks but then watching replay realized he was playing a role. Smith, initially underwhelmed but then realized how mobile he was and definitely contributed to forward half defensive pressure, and upon reflection would keep him over TMac al least until Petty returns as a forward. Tomlinson fought hard, wasn’t disgraced, played his role on an absolute Gorilla in McKay. I would say 4 goals from Curnow/McKay was par, if not a small win for us. Rivers played his usual gut busting game, was sad he didn’t convert as been hoping he could be more of a defensive forward but didn’t seem likely on the day. Grundy was running hard and definitely connects better with our midfielders than Max ATM. Umpiring was evenly bad they maybe got 4 that were not there, but neither was Spargo’s free in front of goal. Comedy gold was Pickett facing off against Jacob Weitering (have changed my love to Sam Taylor from Jacob) But most exciting for me is Salem’s game, he’s back in a big way, has found his step inside traffic and our second half of the season will be much better with him in the side, really very happy he is back. Spargo has come back well, no lingering concussion effects observable. Got to see Kozzie live, so special I think he will light Collingwood up next week. The Melbourne defensive wall will be back in full force, bring on Collingwood.

People like watching Carlton lose, must be a ratings winner.

No thanks, Choco might fix the kicking but he's not a heart surgeon. Harry looks like he's playing to preserve himself.

Sort of like Jayden Hunt (but and with apologies to JH), better decision making. I also like his use of hips to slip tackles,

Blakey's composure to bounce the ball while going full tilt, speaks volumes. Buddy doing the team thing squaring the ball up was also good to see. Obviously invested in team over self.