Pates

Having Gus sign on for us can’t be underestimated. There are players that are stars that do the impossible and there are players that will do anything for the club and the team. Angus absolutely falls into the last part. He is heart and soul, and he’s bloody good at what he does. 

2 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I hope you realise now, having seen Brisbane lose to Hawthorn and Fremantle lose to Collingwood, just how ridiculous this post was.

But if not, here are some more reasons:

1. GWS beat West Coast by 52. We beat them by 74.
2. GWS played them home. We played them at Optus
3. GWS conceded 86 points to them. We conceded 38

If "miles off" means being 10-0 with a percentage of 161%, two games clear of second, three games and 35% clear of fourth, and with just one side within 35% of us, then your expectations are horridly skewed.

Literally couldn’t have said it better. 

Banking wins whichever way they come is huge, Brisbane losing to the Hawks could be huge at the pointy end. Also just a side note, an embarrassing record fell yesterday. We had never beaten North at Marvel/Docklands/Etihad/Colonial, but this team have broken that record. 

Just a word on the crowd numbers, I’m willing to give passes for a while given we’re creeping back from covid and I understand picking certain games to go to. But next week we NEED the support, it this game was in Perth it would be just about a sell out with with crowd absolutely going bonkers for Freo. Our players, for all the incredible work they have put in over the last 18 months deserve to have our fans turn out for this crucial match and make some noise. I have to work and will only get there for the second half, but I want to stands to be packed and loud. Is that asking too much of our fan base?

TMac looked sore after his final involvement in the game resulting in the shot on goal. Really should’ve put his hand up and say someone else take this kick. 

They looked like on the minor end of injuries in both contests but he will probably be on light duties all week. 

Really hope Lingers is ok, was a heavy crunch so he might need a week. 

Just a random one, Gus had a very heavy tackled applied on him resulting in his head hitting the turf. Played out the game but could there be lingering symptoms given his history?

Really hope Viney is good to go and pulled out for precautionary reasons. 

Was a bruising day vs the Kangas. 

I think Melks or Dunstan will go out if Viney is right. Could just be the one change, though I thought Bedford was lively when he came on so it it would be good to get some proper game time into him. 

4 minutes ago, godees said:

He was *that* close to landing on his neck/head. Free kick was there. Won’t/shouldn’t be suspended

Agreed, I’m comfortable with it being a free kick. I do genuine believe if roles were reversed (and Pickett has done a couple of spear tackles in the past) that most on here would be saying play on. 

26 minutes ago, wizardinoz said:

And yet all the commentators said the tackle was fair.🤮

Personally I felt it was fair and just hard, if the shoe was on the other foot I reckon most would say it was good attack. 

Pickett loves doing tackles like that as well, just a bit of bad luck for Linger. 

Pros:

- We got the 4pts (and makes it 10-0 to start the year, one better than last season)

- TMac continues to hit the scoreboard 

- Fritta got 3

- Oliver continued his bloody good year

Cons:

- seems likely a costly day medically speaking; Lingers, TMac, Gus, even Trac at one point all looked very sore/injured

- our goal kicking failed to put a team away earlier again

- our inside 50 efficiency continues to be sub-par

I’ll also put a question to Demonland: are we playing arrogant and will it come back to bite us? 

I just feel watching us the last couple of weeks we almost don’t care against lesser opposition. They seem to go hard for a period and then leave it at that, the hunger hasn’t there recently. 

Next week is a massive game, we play like we’ve been playing the last two weeks and we will fall to Freo. 

Happy to bank the 4 points and move on, but I hope there boys will be switching on through the week. Oh, and how Brown managed to miss that soda in his 150th is beyond me. One of his worst games for the club, shame it had to come against his old side. 

EDIT one other thought: Luke Jackson hasn’t been on for a while. Not suggesting he get dropped but any thoughts on why this could be?

3 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Seemingly strange question. Can someone please let me know how long there is to go until kick-off? 

Game starts 4:35, just over 40min from this post. 

Anyone in the cheer squad will you be embracing the Narrm name? Will the chants be for Melbourne or Narrm?

Also interested to know what the Dees fans turnout will be today, I’ve sadly had to work but would’ve gladly gone if I could. 

I’m sure the irony won’t be lost on him and the Kangas fans, gave great service to them so they should be giving him a cheer at some point (though not holding my breath). 

Would love nothing more to see him kick a huge bag and remind them of how good he could be. 

Melksham isn’t going to get a much better chance at having a string of 2+ games. This week provides an opportunity for him to get settled and play his old link man role. Personally would’ve chosen Bedford, but not upset that Melks get a chance to close in on 200. 

10 hours ago, AC/DeeC said:

I think Chandler has been treated unfairly by the MRO

I found some footage of tackles similar to Chandler's as a visual comparison 

August 2021: Hawkins tackles Joyce (concussed). MRO decision: NO PENALTY

August 2021: Cordy tackles Koschitzke (played on) MRO decision: $2000 PENALTY

May 2022: Chandler tackles Foley (concussed) MRO decision: 2 WEEK SUSPENSION

Footage below:

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/chandler-hits-foley/video/c180b325d3e3589d2116f5f72310ac56

As I said, I think Chandler has been treated unfairly by the MRO.

MFC should appeal.

Seeing these and the results the MRO is the most frustrating thing. If I had to guess the MRO has penalised Chandler heavier for two reasons.

Firstly the optics of Foley after the tackle, he was out and looking in a bad way. These are images that the AFL hates as it goes against their policy of “head is sacrosanct” and all that has. Forget the fact that he was actually sitting up and looked a lot better than other concussed players, the initial aftermath of his teammates helping to shift his head around looked “ugly”. 

Secondly he is a fringe player and so a hefty penalty gets shoved under the radar. Lyon made a strong point of the football act Chandler did getting penalised heavier than Ryan’s deliberate elbow to Bowser is ultimately wrong but that was the largest outcry I heard. 

I’ve given up trying to rationalise the MRO findings. 

29 minutes ago, Deedubs said:

Lol. that's exactly what I'm saying. 2 sets of standards. But I'll take what your saying as I'm an effing legend too.  Cheers! 

I suppose my larger point is that it seems laughable for the fans to complain about a 74 point win. By all means be critical, there hasn’t been one game that it’s all clicked in my book, but at the same time I just sit back and enjoy the fact we are 9-0 and still waiting to see the best of our team. 

Not the first time a Melbourne fringe player has been hung out to dry on a dangerous tackle, is there a reason why we seem to cop the harshest suspensions for these?

Challenge, big time. Have to stand up for Chandler here. 

Was it a bit careless? A bit. But one action, and the player wasn’t concussed. Based on others surely it’s a week at most. 

1 hour ago, Deedubs said:

So why would May say that wins feel like losses? Because this is definitely how I've felted after scraping over the line against some pretty average teams. 

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/melbourne-demons/afl-news-2022-melbourne-def-st-kilda-steven-may-interview-undefeated-streak-fixture-how-good-are-they/news-story/15b4697e3786c5800a00a1ee995553a5

Because May is an effing legend and is keeping the boys on the straight and narrow. He also basically said we take the wins and get on with the next job. I don’t take any win for granted whether it’s a 1pt win or a 100pt win, and May knows that things can turn quickly if we’re not switched on. 

He also knows we’re capable of better, so he expects better of them. 

Remember the feeling of losing by 70+ points and thinking the other team barely tried? Well the Eagles get to feel that, and that makes me happy. 

The only way Brown doesn’t play this week is if he’s injured. He must be priming himself and I would love nothing more than to see him kick a massive bag against North. 

Just a thought could we bring JVR in for Harmes?

Sure whoever comes in must know they are more than likely to only be in for one week. 

I don’t know what to think when I’m hearing fans of a team that watched us go through seasons of winning 2 games for the entire year complain about a 74 win that was just about stitched up by quarter time. 

Could we have played better? Absolutely. But I actually do buy the theory that our club ethos right now is do what we need but don’t over exert. I laugh about the fact that this time last season there were complaints that we weren’t putting teams to the sword. Now we do but it’s not enough?

Far out we are spoilt right now. We know the level these guys can go to, I trust the coach and the players to bring it when required. 

By the way, TMac getting a little bit better touch is only a good thing. I actually like the fact our forward line gets a spread of goal kickers rather than one guy getting bags of 5-7 and the others bobbing up for one or two. 

I think he will be suspended and I don’t think it’s right but the MRO is about results and having the perception of protection players (despite several questionable decisions to the contrary). 

It looked bad on the day, I know Simpson and the medico’s are saying he doesn’t appear to have concussion but he looked pretty out of it in the immediate aftermath. I can’t imagine how that doesn’t translate into concussion. 

Did Chandler do much wrong? No, the only thing he did, not so much wrong but a contributing factor, is he came at such pace and pinned the arms thus making Foley helpless. 

For me I feel what Zack Jones did to Langdon was far more dangerous and deliberate, but I feel this is something the MRO is targeting. 

Might come out of it with a fine. 

I’m not saying this was a danger game but last year around the same time we lost to a plucky Adelaide team that was getting smashed by all comers. I only saw the 2nd and 3rd quarter, and bits of the last, I saw the eagles physically have a dip but our class shine through. I saw us miss very getable shots and opportunities, I also saw the blazing away that Lewis spoke of. 

We won by 74 points against a team that just under 4 years ago embarrassed us on the Preliminary Finals stage. 

I’m happy to move on from this and work on two parts of our game that most weeks have been a bit of an issue: kicking for goal and forward/midfield connection. 

1 minute ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Underwood's pre-game preparation . . . make sure I:

1. mention the 2021 grand final 200 times,
2. remember that Jackson is from WA,
3. note that Brayshaw's brother is at Freeo,
4. remind everyone that Jackson once played basketball,
5. always refer to Ben Brown as Big Ben Brown,
6. say that Jackson used to love Nic Nat,
7. declare that May and Lever are good footballers,
8. mention that Jackson used to support Meth Coke 10 times,
9. observe that Kosi is a good footballer,
10. suggest that Jackson will be keen to drive his price up today (five times).

Part of me feels sorry for Underwood but really I put her in the same bracket as BT, Dwayne, and Brayshaw. Their voices alone drive me nuts, but their insistence to keep adding in puns to the calling is what really grates me. 

There’s still time but dropping games like this can derail the season, we know that better than some. 

Much the same that Saints dropping the Cairns game to Port, this could be the start of a dip for Freo. 

2 hours ago, BAMF said:

I don't quite get the point he is making by releasing the audio.

Eddie did the Adam Goodes thing. Heritier made comments which didn't support the club (threw Eddie under the bus).

What does the audio prove? Have Collingwood denied that they thought he threw Eddie under the bus?

Thanks in advance.

I’m not sure that you say calling out racist comments as throwing someone under the bus. The bizarre thing about all of this is that it sounds like the Pies PR team asked him to speak without first asking what his position was. If they did and he said he stood with Eddie, then “went rogue” I could understand it being considered as throwing Eddie under the bus. 

I do think it’s not a great look in releasing only snippets to the public, and battling it out over twitter is so cringey. Even if he released the full recordings to the media for them to sift through it would provide more balance. I doubt your average footy fan will have the patience to go through the hours of audio he has. 

Still don’t know if he was worth the Jesse Hogan pick…

Just kidding the guy is a bloody legend and one of my favourite players, as the guys said on the show he’s a great person to have interviewed as he’s not a robot with his responses. He gives honest answers and is such awesome ambassador for our club. 

Loved hearing him say he gave Trac a spray with 3min to go in the Grand Final with us 60+ points up! 

2 hours ago, BAMF said:

Even that's not fair as you wouldnt play every team on there home ground and vice versa.

That’s it, the only possible way a fixture is fair is to play them at home and away. But that would make too many games to fit into the entire year unless they were to go down the round ball path and make the team on top of the ladder wins the premiership. 

56 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

3rd qtr they only scored 2 goals to our 1. They did have a lot of the play though

It’s funny my memory had them put on three for the third quarter, but yeah I’m not sure what point the AFL website are trying to make. We lost one quarter to them, the third, by one goal. If that’s a win for the saints then good luck to them.