8 hours ago, layzie said:

6. Viney

5. Oliver

4. Petracca

3. Rivers

2. Brayshaw 

1. Neal-Bullen 

Me too

Frosty was a liability no doubt, but loved the way he flew the flag for team mates.

Melbourne Demons forward Jacob van Rooyen’s controversial two-match ban upheld after appeal

[censored] West Australian, I have been hitting search every so often waiting for a result, and this was the headline, thought we had lost. 

Well done to the club!

1 hour ago, Chook said:

'Scuse me while I quantum-email this back to the 2014 version of myself.

Round 20, 2016, is what I wanted to post to my 2014 myself, Gawn and Viney were sensational. That was the end of the Hawks 9 game winning streak, icing was of course 2018 final, lets not talk about 2017.

2 hours ago, Neil Crompton said:

What is evident from that behind-the-goals video is that Jacob, after his spoil effort, still managed to bend his elbow in an attempt to lift his arm over Ballard’s head. If he had not done that he would have taken Ballard’s head clean off. To me that shows a duty of care to Ballard.

Was about to post something similar, after watching many, many times it looks like after he has gone for the spoil  he was simultaneously trying to jump and roll his arm and shoulder over the top of Ballard's head to avoid contact but was unable to get enough height/clearance. The fact that he has avoided contact with his body on Ballard's body is also significant, as he can demonstrate duty of care by not electing to bump.

1 hour ago, binman said:

By the by, my take is Rooey could have ruined him but actually appeared to take great care not to get him in the head.

All sound points, but for me this stood out, the long camera shot shows JvR moving like a missile towards the fall of the ball, (loved how he was motoring), looked like it was going to be a Jordan/Harbrow traincrash. JvR did a lot to minimise the effect. It is the clumsy look of it (and not being Hawkins) that has him cited. But I think an appeal has a good chance.

Watched it twice, plenty of credit for Melbourne was given, yes they were barracking for the underdog but so what, it’s what you do. And the underdog played really well. On 1st Crack King et al all said he would get off on appeal. I am more concerned with they are slow to commentate with speed of play, lots of good touches and efforts get missed all around. In ‘21 King got on board Melbourne early, now we are expected to be good, get used to it. I am over the fact that for season now any analysis of Melbourne has been 40 seconds worth at max. We had so much more airtime previously. I’d settle for 20% of the airtime Nick Daicos gets, for the whole team. Although they did acknowledge that Grawndy will be a weapon in the finals. 

I think the thread should be a bit more optimistic, 'How many wins for top 4 or 2?', we are almost unbackable to be in the 8.

So anyway, 17 for 4, 18 for top 2.

2 minutes ago, SPC said:

Didn’t watch the game due to an event. Should I give the replay a miss? 

You should watch, Viney had a superb game 

Close game to watch, so I forgive the 4y.o. sooking going on but FFS, we got the bloody ice-cream. Tough conditions, you could see they were cooked, humidity was between 70%-80%, you’d be sweating in your armchair.

Viney immense, body on line time and again. Look at the coach’s reaction, was totally pumped he knew they’d just won an unbelievably hard game.

They found a way, winning a difficult road game.

Willing to agree with Petty back if the opposition brings 3 talls, but the forward experiment is far from over.  

Bit worried about JVR, I think he still gets done for being clumsy and not Hawkins. No intent it was the inside of his arm and I was wondering if it was a neck sprain causing the drama rather than a concussion.

Umpiring felt like a win for us, but Kozzie also missed some frees. More to say later, going to watch it again because I like contested footy, ice dancing not so much. I saw effort from everyone.

12 hours ago, Sydee said:

I've heard about Marngrook, but I thought our game was the brainchild of this fella (Tom Mills).

Don't get me wrong Australian rules football has and will always be infinitely better for the participation of our indigenous players but not sure there is any tangible evidence for the above claim. If there is I happily stand corrected.

Tom was the driving force (which I knew), but my understanding was the similarity of many aspects of the game with Marngrook was beyond a coincidence, and had thought it was fact that he had adopted aspects of the game, hence my post. After your entirely reasonable post I did some more research and have to state it's not conclusive either way. I am not into revisionism at all, so while I hope I am right and there is compelling evidence,  I acknowledge your point. My last thought is 'every contact leaves a trace' (is a police saying) with all the coincidences or similarities between Marn grook and other indigenous games, where Willis grew up and Australian Rules, I still think it's fair to talk about influence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marn_Grook

I prefer forward 50 defensive pressure with multiple goal scorers and ground ball ability. I actually thought Schache had some ok touches, incl. for 1st goal by Chandler, he positioned perfectly for the ariel contest and tapped well to Petracca. But would have Petty back in as his forward defensive 50 ability is an asset to contest against an Aliir Aliir type (Sydney must still be spewing he is playing for PA). And we need to get a block of games into JVR, it is an investment that needs to be made. 

Totally agree about Bowey burning a few with his lobbed kicking, (a bit Cameron Bruce), but need to see that Salem has his run back, we'll die if he can't motor properly.

McVee to my eye is playing better than Bowey, incredible how he has come on.

Our brilliant game is partly an indigenous product of an indigenous culture, every time we honour that fact with recognition, we are telling the truth. Just by the by, totally for this, anywhere I go where the presence of multiple cultures is acknowledged, has always appeared more vibrant and harmonious. 

In my work place there is an incredible amount of tokenism (for us it's 'Orange Day') representing equality for women, and it makes me gag because we have dozens of HR policies that are stuck in the 50's, and I see people dressing up in orange, who are using it as cover, when I know they are misogynistic basterds. Doesn't mean I'm not 100% a feminist, I just don't need to wear orange to make a manager feel good. (caveat: there has been some small progress in my time with the UN)

For me the yardstick is the indigenous community, Narrm is welcomed by our players and the community, then for me that is enough, I have great confidence they would call out BS, if they thought it was.   

PS. ALSO enough already, would Jetta please just come back to Melbourne.

His take on Hawkins and Buddy, comparing them from his POV?

Joke - Has his boxing improved? 

'The Maps' whenever they are annoying.

The obvious risk for the federal government is building a stadium that is never used properly the way some countries do with Olympic venues. We (Australians) are just not like that, we're the modern equivalent of Romans, we like our (sourdough) bread and (AFL) circuses. Even without the political spin the business case is pretty strong that it will drive economic growth in the area. I also don't mind the government money as football is thank god, not privately owned. It's not America where club owners hold a metaphorical (maybe they hold real ones nowadays?) gun to the governments' heads demanding public subsidies of privately owned enterprises or they will move the team.  

Take a bow Tim Lamb, really good work, especially getting it done before mid season when the angst on this site would have been at nuclear waste levels.. 

2 minutes ago, Sydney_Demon said:

I think this is all a bit irrelevant. Essendon no doubt were the best team by a long way in 2000 but of the 9 premerships won by the other teams 2001-2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013-15 the premiers only finished on top of the ladder at the end of the H&A 2 of those years. What matters is probably finishing Top 4, being in form with limited injuries at the right time of the year, and having a bit of luck.

Geelong last year had an incredibly soft draw (they played West Coast & North twice each) and were probably lucky to beat Collingwood in the Qualifying Final. They met Brisbane and Sydney after those teams had had very tough wins and effectively were ripe for the picking. Similarly Melbourne had pretty much everything fall their way in 2021. 

Let's just keep banking the wins, not overreact to a few unexpected losses, not get ahead (or behind) of ourselves, and hopefully we'll be where we need to be at the sharp end of the season.

I'm talking about whose 'game' is the best, when 'on', you're not responding to the opinion proferred. Where you finish, and banking wins, of course matters. But I was responding to the thoughts on Collingwood's luck and game style and people saying they're the best in it. Which I don't agree with.

Collingwood has it's strengths but hardly Essendon 2000, or Brisbane/Geelong/Hawthorn in their pomp.  

Our best is still the best going around, by a margin. The biggest factor this year between Pies, Us, Brisbane is the team we are able to put on the park. Saints, love their work but don't see them at the business end with their tall stocks. Am still not a huge fan of Brisbane away from the Gabba. And I think the draw has confused the seedlings early, a larger sample size will see a reshaping of the ladder. 

Love the Pies 'total football' though is very fun to watch, but Melbourne on a roll reminds me of the final battle of Avengers end game, the most ferocious contest, with a devastating result (for others).

Really wanted Adelaide to do us a favour, but justice was served in terms of result. Umpires need a full review at the end of year, I just get the impression there is not a big enough base to produce all the cream required for top level. I mean FFS, the standard atm makes Razor look good.

Was playing with the ladder predictor, and I think there are two/three clubs fighting for the #1 pick that just have better excuses to lose than Freo. If I bet, I would take a multi that they beat the hawks twice and WCE once more. Leaving a  minimum of five wins, and maybe another one or two on merit.

So welcome Pick 4, not a bad track record with it ;-)

56 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

Never seen so much love for such an average plodder. Should have been dropped about the middle of last year.

Whatever

Very happy about this, consummate professional, elite runner, staunch team mate. Proof of what a championship team is all about. And just quietly, would be starting 22 in any other club.

1 hour ago, Earl Hood said:

Gee Dee fence, just noticed where you reside. I thought you might have a other priorities to at the moment rather than MFC’s draft strategy? But I agree with your thoughts. Good luck over there. 

Thanks mate, I bugged out and am currently ‘live’ in Abidjan, Cote de Ivorie, working remotely on Sudan. I notice you reside in Fitzroy, my spiritual home, used to love walking to the G when I lived there with one of the Mario’s from the cafe, who is also a Demon tragic, then a beer at the Napier after the match.

Trust Taylor, I'm just about to tattoo his face on my leg I love that man so much. 

I'm in favour of needs, and I think we are most susceptible to age/injury down back. For me nothing has transformed our team as much as when we went out and built the league best defense (to some derision on $ spent). 

When I was a kid I thought defense was so boring, was always about the power forwards, 70's (wasn't much of a tactical observer it must be said), 80's (fully into wanting a messiah), 90's (happy to not be merde, but anguish that Balme never got a great run with injuries), 00's (hoping to pinch one but always aware we had gaps). Anyway when I look at these teams, with many players I dearly loved, none of them were as tight defensively as what we have now. For sure a Wight, Whelan, Walsh, J.Rivers or Lovett would make it into the current team, but in the big defender department we had Ingerson, Carroll types, who had their (with respect) limitations. The best big defender I could think of was Shanahan who was a bit cooked and cameos from Nietz.

I think our midfield will be set for awhile yet, and midfielders are more common, even if every new one makes the press wet themselves. Also I'm in favour of multiple options in front of goal, but what I really want a settled defense with new Lever/May types coming through. Petty also gives away a few too many frees for my liking in defense(if he was sneakier he could stay a defender). Petty might become a Lever type, but like Tmac, I think he's best suited forward, going straight for goal.

Re Reid, he could be a superstar mid, but I'm pretty happy with the superstar known quantities we have right now. And I'm not basing this just on May's last few games, been thinking this for a while, Jetta had Hibbered take over his lock down role, I can see McVee replacing that. Salem is a question mark, Bowey is good but not Salem game breaking good yet. But Lever and May both seem fragile, and they are the pillars that everything else works off. More defenders please.

I would even trade a picks to Carlton for Weitering, to take over from May and be our 3rd tall defender.