DEE fence

I am still not used to seeing a Melbourne ruck bounce the ball...since Stynes...

12 hours ago, Tracca said:

Spargo is going nowhere. He’s our best pressure forward by a mile according to all the champion data stats and kicked 6 goals in 4 games prior to his concussion. We can play the 3 smalls as one will push up the ground, it worked prior to last week. Laurie would probably make way for him and potentially could be a sub to get him back into the team

Like this, tbc wasn't potting Spargo, just that chances are difficult.

Joeboy - Clueless As Usual

Sparrow had a good game which was timely for him, Dunstan is banging the door down and deserves reward. Bare my ar$e in Bourke street though at the idea of Chandler getting dropped. Much more interesting is what happens to Spargo? He might be the Jayden Hunt of the season. 

Just saying, I think there is a chance for World Peace if I can be happy about the Pies winning

A great round of football. Things to love (non MFC):

Weid having a good day out, really nothing but love and hope for the young fella. 

Geelong are done, nothing about the Sydney smashing makes me think otherwise. They have loaded up on easy kills as we did with WCE, but now they have to earn a few more. 

Darcy Moore well spoken young man, not better than Gawn, but still a damn fine captain.

Collingwood, You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies, who doesn't love that the premier rivalry from AFL/VFL history is back. I love the way Collingwood play, it is exciting to watch, will be even better when we beat them. All those shaking in their socks about Collingwood, we are that good, we make other teams scared, but they are not perfect, we have weapons, we only need belief, go find some.

Nick Daicos, has transcended Collingwood, it's like potting the All Blacks, makes you look churlish, he is a phenom, that said, we have a couple of our own...

Bradley Hill, love that he has found a path to clear air, consumate player, that Jack Sinclair goes OK too, St Kilda doing well and Carlton sucking balls is proof that AFL is a team game and that prima donnas (Hello GWS) will fail. Love that Carlton is still trash. Likewise several other games this year, effort brings reward. 

King's Birthday - 96,000 please

Otherwise:

Umpires need work, increase the cash or whatever incentive is needed, umpiring is much like policework, is not a skill that can be learnt in an academy, it involves experience. Getting the buggers to have a feel for the game, allow for intent and taking their own ego out of decision making requires alot more people doing it so we can get the elite for our game. 

8 minutes ago, A F said:

If I brave the replay, I'm keen the check out how often we did the following... we seemed to do something different with our zone tonight and I couldn't work out if we were letting the zone accidentally go this way or whether Richmond were using it against us, or if it was a legitimate tactical tweak. I noticed it in the third quarter. When we were defending a stationary kicker at half back, for 30m or so, we went 1v1 and behind it we played zone.

One of my St Kilda mates reckons St Kilda were doing something very similar early on in the season. 1v1 defending inside D50 and zone when defending the corridor and the higher parts of the ground.

I wonder if we're taking cues off Ross Lyon or if it's something we've come to ourselves? Because it means if you can prevent the running handball off half back and hold up the kicker, the little short angled kicks into the corridor and along the boundary, are made into legitimate 1v1s, so it forces the kicker down the line and plays into our intercepting hands (literally, hopefully). It is vulnerable to the switch though, which would mean the defensive team would have to implement a zone in transition rather than 1v1 or simply play 1v1 right across the ground from certain plays. It would seem flicking the switch between the two modes would be way too difficult to coordinate.

Wouldn't you love a replay that you could choose the wider shots to look at this sort of thing. Very interesting post thanks.

6 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Red what was the free for to Kozzy on the boundary towards the end?

Couldn't see at the ground.  Downfield?

Late bump on Viney

That was a brilliant game, all those dismissing it are not crediting Richmond who really brought the heat. Richmond won the 1st quarter and then our team went to work. Exactly the sort of effort you want to see. JVR, haven't been as excited about one of our forwards since Schwarz in 1995! McVee is playing like Jarred Rivers did on debut, just so bloody reliable and clutch. Quickly becoming my favourite player, he's one of those guys that doesn't drop his head, just goes every time, not a confidence player, just a player and will get a RS this year. It was a hard game to watch because it was close, we are too used to perfection, but we won, we are still a team you can trust.

Jack Viney, people can go punch themselves in the heads when they bag him, you just don't understand football, it's not ice dancing. I honestly feel like he is one of the reasons (along with N.Jones) that we got through the dark years. Did you see the way he barreled in when JVR was getting kneed? (shout out to Grundy as well), provided pressure but didn't give away a silly free, tell me that you don't walk taller with the way the team back each other.

Our defense is so much better with Lever and Hibberd in it, and I am still firmly in the Petty forward camp, feel like today was proof. He stretched Richmond and Fritsch was unlucky to not get off the leash. Time and again he provided body and protection.

Gawn, welcome back, our rucks managed to swing the game after we arrested the early damage. Brayshaw super reliable, another huge team man, ran all day, huge km, likewise Langdon, just got where he needed to be, great efficiency lovely goal. This ruck combination, if fit, will clean up this season.

Petracca and Oliver got into the game, Oliver looked to really think his way through disposals today, and that 2nd qtr goal was class under pressure. Trac did thing that I take for granted and shouldn't, great presence.

Chandler another tribute to our recruiting and craft brining young men on.

ANB provided huge defensive pressure and run, easily tracking for best season so far.  Carlton can take their beauty queen bunch of a team, I will take the ANB's and Chandlers that just do a power of work to get the best out of themselves and play a role perfectly in a team game.

May needs a reset, he's riding the wrong emotions in game, needs to get his head right, am worried he's NQR 'cos his calf isn't right for explosive movements feel like he's going to cost us a free or two in critical moments. Bowey is still a bit off but after a booboo he laid a smother that Bradley Hill would've been proud of, was pleased he kept his head in the game, but at the moment if Salem is fit, Bowey is who I would drop.

Umps sucked, but our class is such we didn't drop our heads. Loved the Crowd, we match Richmond for Noise, well done @WCW and others.

More to say but am dealing with Sudan right now, this is the first time off I've had in seven days, 18hr days, 3 colleagues killed, after distributing rations to refugees, another three shot (one of who we couldn't extract for 3 days, a good friend kidnapped, and dear friends still trapped inside. That and I've lost everything I own, clothes, photos/HD, blah blah, but seriously seeing the stress of friends who cannot get out of a warzone is emotionally tough, my french colleague was in Cairo for weekend and her kids were trapped for a week, one 10yo son with a family in Amarat, the 8yo daughter in Riyad with the nanny and noone else, they only just made it to Djibouti yesterday, mum is going insane. I needed today, thanks Dees.  

6, Viney, 

5, Gawn, brilliant game, we don't win without him.

4, ANB, critical game, pick pocketing Richmond in the fwd half was critical, defensive forwards are key, Voss needs to show vision of ANB to fix carlton.

3, Lever, such a clutch player

2, McVee, I swear he went at a 100% DE, clutch moments time and again saving goals

1, JVR, take a bow, probably stole the RS nom off McVee

Chandler took his chances he needed to take. Grundy looked a bit lost but the way he stuck up for McVee, (1st time Viney has been second in backing up a team mate ever), really gave me the warm fuzzies. Feel dirty about Langdon, should probably have McVee's spot but need to share the love. Oliver and Tracc I have both taken for granted.

Loved Ralph for the 1st time ever, got real excited. Must say he's got some credit for awhile now. Kozzie staying is such a key piece of the team. He makes us hard to plan for.

And Bradley Hill could be best 22 at the Dees, I’m almost wondering if Weitering could be a replacement for May when he retires, and Jacob is looking to play in a successful team.

Umpires were putrid today for St Kilda.

7 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Surprised to see Cotchin is still playing this year. I assumed he retired already… his numbers and impact back this up! 

I don't watch much of him, but the number of dog acts he pulls has increased. 

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Of course, it comes down to mindset. We've shown that we still don't have the mature/professional mindset to bring our best each week like some of the great teams of recents years. Look at the Geelong side of 07-11 they would turn up to play every single game, bring the right mindset and pummel teams into submission early before easing off later in games once the 4 points had been won. Unfortunately it seems our players still think they can turn up some weeks and just bank 4 points without doing the hard work. The secret is you have to do the hard work every single week from the first bounce if they figure that out they'll be unstoppable.

I actually thought it was the second when we didn't adjust, the first was ok, effort was there, the second was trash.

I really hate Essendon, but the basterds turned up to play, that was honestly the best I've seen them since 2001. They marked everything. Ran like the wind and used Stringer as a decoy perfectly. We just couldn't take a trick and a side missing Lever, Hibbo and Salem notices it.

Full credit to McVee I think he was the best defender today. Bowey NQR. Tmac has used up his credits for mine, a flat track bully against WCE was angry at how out of position he was all day. 

May had a bad day, has proved over the journey that happens, he will adjust. Likewise Grundy got too cute (4 bounces in one game, Max hasn't had one in 10 years) but with Gawn back we are a different team. Essendon basically played like we do.

Overall a bit sad with our talls but think today is the aberration not the standard. 

I enjoyed that, loathe Carlton, and looking forward to us vs Crows, just quietly I still think our deefence remains the best and Crows won't get as many freebies. Also happy for Nicks to enjoy some 'limited' success, 13 losses to start your career was pretty grim. But anyway, knew Carlton are pretenders their defence isn't whole team, we will cream them as well.

The conversation around Cripps being better than Oliver just needs to end. You can count the games Clarry hasn't impacted on one hand. Cripps has half a dozen every season. That Brownlow last year was a total fraud. He can do special things when he wants, emphasis on 'He wants'.

I’m prepared to give it a go, we play better interstate, regardless of the Brisbane match, and I think it’s a nice sop to the crow eaters considering they are never going to see a Grand Final in their state.

Very pro Petty as a forward, but not silly, with Lever out he is required back, not sure Tomlinson is the right match up for Stringer, Hibbo would have been better. I guess Rivers can have a crack. I’d actually start JJ before Tommo, I think the team is too tall for the conditions as well.

6 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Did lever hurt his ankle?

Was stressed when I saw him standing the mark testing it, but we were 10 games up and they let him play on, so assume he rolled it only and they let him run it out to stop it swelling.

50 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

To all the "Petty Forward" disciples just want to point out you were wrong.

He always was a natural defender.

Nah not wrong, recency bias, he is a defender, he is learning to be a forward and I’m sorry but let me check, oh that’s right, we are 10 goals ahead of anyone else on the ladder, damn it’s been a total failure. He is not getting in the way of the other forwards, he contests and he provides great forward defensive pressure. Wasn’t his best day but give him a go, has truly earnt it.

Credit to WCE for not turning their toes up, that was a par win for us, even if there were many excellent performers. Yeo and Kelly had a red hot go. I don’t mean to whine but I think we left another 6 goals on the table, that said I’d rather we did that, than going back to bombing it, was clear they were trying to think their way through the fwd 50 entries and stuffed it up a few times. Also Kozzie didn’t get a great return score wise, but played well, he is from the JV school of strong. ANB is having a brilliant season, actually gets award for most underrated player, an immense game today.

The tackles and contest made it clear what a professional unit we are, no hubris or disrespect on display, made for a relaxing game even if we didn’t smash them, everyone very accountable.  

Am hoping the AFL puts the Viney tackle on a video so we can add it to the JV made me cry thread. He was a great captain today, led from the front and monstered WCE packs.

Grundy was very smooth, the only time I thought we looked a tad unsettled was with Petty in the ruck, I hope he can do this against some of the better ruck teams to come, but this was a great game for him to find touch. Also am ready for people to forget about him playing for Collingwood, much like May and Lever and Hibbered, he needs to be just spoken of and to as a Melbourne player.

Bowey is starting to float his kicks a little, he needs to stop that fast, against another team we will get opened up on turnover, floating kicks defensive side is death. I thought this last week and more so today, it’s like with less pressure his kicks float more, he did have the time to execute (by his standards). McVee on the other hand has that same amazing mojo that Bowey started with, looks so classy with the ball, love that with hard work he has changed his destiny and where and what people thought he could be.

Tmac did his stuff, am super happy for him, but again it’s par as he didn’t have Mc Govern on him, but did his job. What I did like was his timing, much better, and not taken under the ball. That said JVR is the future, did the future start today or a week ago or in 2 months time, tough to be a selector, but I think JVR over Tmac as he looks more dangerous in a pack.

Chandler is growing each week, really loved that he got a classy goal, was reward for all his work.

Hibbered is still best 22, great use of sub with Jordan as well, this arrangement with optional sub makes us stronger with all the depth we have now, more licks of the ice cream for everyone. Loved that Jordan came on bursting with energy and no sooking, just showed he has a big heart.

BF 31 with 32 consecutive games scoring a goal is another that will be AA squad at least, leading, snaps and set shots is just special, probably the best pick of JT’s career apart from Oliver.

Petty didn’t score but I like this experiment, one more week up front is my wish, I feel like he was a tad off in timing but not heart, and these games are a great time to learn forward craft.

Hunter and Langdon are under done for praise so far but both played their role. Spargo some crafty goals, Sparrow played better than last two weeks, maybe a fire under him?. Brayshaw had good touches, with others all playing better he is perhaps lost in noise, but played his role and consistent. Lastly, Trac, I know he started slowly but he kicked the goals he needed, I didn’t think he linked with team mates as well as he normally does, but I love that he got a couple of goals. His link to team mates will come back, however getting the goal kicking monkey off the back is very bad news for the competition.   

Viney - gets six because where our class was on display was contested ball, he loves Perth. Another tackle for the JV made me cry thread.

Oliver - Contest king, if he’d had a few outside possessions we would be losing our minds, is sometimes hard to appreciate how good he is.

ANB - great effort, 111 tackles, huge pressure and km all day, having a killer season.

Grundy - a great display, but not against a recognized ruckman, so am paying those who won contests more, he did also crack in at ground level

Rivers - In everything down back. Will be a sneaky for AA squad this year.

Tmac - 4 goals, would have been higher if he’d snagged the 5th, also normally he’d have McGovern, did like the mark he took though, clean hands at the top of the balls’ arc. 

Stiff : Fritsch - just silk, pokes holes in the defense. McVee - very stiff, when does he get his rising star. The team all good, the tackle sheet demonstrates they are drinking Shiraz and not bath water..

6 hours ago, Salems Lot said:

BUMP Just watching Show Me The Money on Stan.

Well worth reading posters views on TLs appointment on this thread 11 years on.

In Dees I Trust!

GREAT BUMP

https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-afl-round-three2023

Titus going missing again with the 'Really Unhelpful', been wondering if his talent was fuelled by his MFCSS, and now that we seem like a legitimately good and consistent team, that has wavered. That or maybe he got a girlfriend, who knows? Anyway if he ever lurks (which I doubt because Demonland would make for some pretty decent source material) he should know that he's missed. And that I am not going to brain him if he tips Melbourne... he was a fair kiss of death some years.