Pates

I’m not exactly sure where you get garbage from, we won last week so it stands to reason minimal changes would be made. What makes you hot on Smith coming in? Brown I can understand, more experienced body would’ve been my preferred choice but I also recognise the LJ was close to plucking a lot of marks in his first game, he may have had the jitters. I’m ok with them giving him another crack at it, and LJ can provide Max with some much needed relief.

That was a concern I had with us selecting Jackson over Brown, I’m not entirely against it but I worry that we’re hoping a large portion of our goals will come from a combination of a returning young forward who’s trying to gain confidence and a first year high draft pick who’s more ruckman than forward. Perhaps LJs bigger role will be to provide foil for Weid and larger amount of ruck duties to allow Max to play forward. I also can see a few magnets getting thrown around a bit at times. Would’ve preferred Brown for his experience but still good luck to Luke!

It was interesting last week seeing May drift forward at one stage, it indicates that Goodwin isn’t averse to trying that every now and then. May didn’t do a lot right up there but his last quarter was downright bizarre, took some good marks but had diabolical disposal and decision making. Who knows, May could become a swing man for us as and when he’s needed.

The difference is that McCartin isn’t on our list, Brayshaw was a contracted played when his issues started and I believe he even had an additional year at least to run. Brayshaw was our responsibility so it stands to reason that we would give him every opportunity to get better, I should also mention that even though they were taking his issues very seriously the general chatter from the club was that progress was being made. The same, from what I can see, can’t be said about McCartin which is why St Kilda and Paddy decided his best opportunity (whether that be life or football) was the not continue to be on the list. We’ve helped Brayshaw and Jetta recover, given KK an opportunity but it doesn’t look great, as I’ve said barring the general consensus being that he’s passed the worst and the chances of that “one knock and he’s set back a year” being low I wouldn’t like us taking a chance with him. That’s not double standard, that’s list management.

I've seen plenty of players make contact with the ball and the umpires still say "unrealistic attempt". He jumped early and took May out of the contest, from what I've seen that's usually a free kick. EDIT it's also true it's open to interpretation, so my "every day of the week" point was probably a bit over the top! ?

It's a different situation, we had Brayshaw on our list so we intimately knew his situation and everything that he was going through. We also did the same with Jetta so I'm well aware that the club has stuck with players suffering through concussion issues and come out the other side. But bringing on KK with his problems shows the risk you take when the player hasn't been regularly assessed by your own medicos and the inherit unpredictability when dealing with brain injuries. Paddy might well be feeling good right now, but one knock could set him back to where he was 1 year ago. Or it could be he recovers immediately, but with long term concussion issues there is still so much uncertainty. It was unfair for me to say KK was clogging our list, he was a cheery on top of the May deal that I could see a reason for us taking the punt and I genuinely hope he's able to recover from long term concussion issues.

It's a no from me, Burgess is a great asset to have at our club but he can't do anything for concussion issues and we've had our list clogged by Kolo helping him through his concussion issues, not interested in us taking in another unless there's a huge confidence he's out the other side. Even so, I just don't feel it's the right move.

Just watching the final quarter, in the lead up to Rankine's goal where he sharks Gawns tap (great goal, absolutely give him that) all of the commentators choose to completely ignore the fact that he should've been pinged for a stone cold push in the back from his leap taking May completely out of the contest. Now if the player nabs the mark he is given it, but if he doesn't it is a free kick to the other player. EVERY. DAY. OF. THE. WEEK. The commentators have every reason to get excited about him but their blind bias around him is infuriating to listen to.

Another way our lack of home games to start the year has hurt us. I hope there will be a away to transfer at least some of what we would've got over to the games at Metricon and the Gabba.

He's a project player that I think is going to take time. For me his instincts resemble more of a Russell Roberston and I think he's more suited to playing as a forward. He's got the natural athleticism, but just doesn't seem to have much of a footy IQ, for me that's why he looks like a liability in defence. I'm hoping at some point this year he gets a crack playing forward. If he's able to take out opposition players in the same way he took out his teammates against Carlton that could actually be quite valuable.

I doubt it would happen but wouldn't it be something if collectively sporting codes removed themselves from twitter until some kind of accountability was created.

Really happy to hear that, our play on at all costs style has sent us into trouble way too many times.

Jeez that's lucky, Dr. Browny was worried his retina was damaged. ? Seriously though that is really good to hear, will be interesting to see how they play it with him. It's not exactly an injury you can deal with other than waiting. If they decide not to go with TMac I think Brown comes in, possible switch up is bring Smith in and play him as a forward. I just worry they will get in each others way. Brown's experience I think will combine better with Weiderman.

I was one that was really baffled by the inclusion (and continued selection) of Smith over Oscar from the start. Keep in mind I would never want Oscar as my number one, best defender, but as a second defender he usually doesn't do a whole lot wrong. In fact I've pretty much always rated him over the likes of Frost who so many on here fawn over. What Oscar brings to the table is simplicity; he is a defender, he mostly gets himself in the right positions and when he spoils, he spoils properly. He has been guilty of brain farts in the past (like many current and former Melbourne players) but structurally we look better with him in. For depth I'm happy to continue with the Smith experiment in the background, but long term I think Smith's attributes suit him more to being a forward.

That was very much my take as well, Max was marking it so well all night that it made it work. Perhaps their belief is keep going to him if he's clunking them, but if he doesn't seem to be in good marking form perhaps they look at other options. I'd like to see more variety with our exits from behinds, look for short kicks in the centre of the arc and launch from there. We just look really predictable. Also May is usually a good kick but that was definitely not the case Saturday night. A bit heart in mouth at times!

If we were marking him on a A+ to F system I’d give him maybe a generous B+, he had good periods to the game where he was timing his runs well to give him the best opportunity to mark it or at the very least bring it to ground. Ironically his best passage of play involved him not even marking the ball, he had three opponents going up for the same ball as him and he crashed the pack (taking out another suns player) and it resulted in a goal for us. It was Neitz/Ox like. 2 goals and 2 contested marks is a decent first up effort, I’d hope this is a starting point. Need a bit more follow up work as well which was a highlight of his at the end of 2018.

I feel like some of the changes could be dependent on whether the AFL does announce a lightning period of games being in short succession. If that does happen I could picture a couple potentially being rotated. Its really interesting reading how many D-Landers see things differently, perhaps it’s the classic playing favourites, maybe it’s just seeing things a little different. One thing that is interesting is that Melksham, AvB, Hannan, Pickett, and Fitta all had low possession games but all impacted at different times. Personally I felt that of that group AvB was the least effective but I also acknowledge he had some telling moments. I had Melksham and AvB as the two on notice leading into this game, did either do enough to keep their spot? Who would we bring in for them? Jones, ANB, Brown, Bedford, LJ? As for Tommy has there been any work in his eye? If he got a proper rack of the eye (totally accidental) it could’ve done some serious damage and could take a bit to heal. If he’s ok then I think he goes again but if not then I feel Brown comes in for us to continue with the two tall forwards approach. I think to have both Weid and LJ could be problematic with two younger players as our targets.

It’s really good to see some of the real fans of other AFL clubs saying things like “his goal is the moment of the year”. I think most people appreciate his talent and the difficulties he’s face (both self inflicted and bad luck). Another great step in the right direction, if he stays out on the park this year he will have a BOG game where he tears a team apart. Personally I hope it’s against either Freo (definitely some salt there!) or the Pies.

Twitter/instagram etc have created a popular platform whereby someone can abuse another human in a way that would be considered completely unacceptable in normal society, logic would surely dictate that they should be looking at options whereby people/sporting organisations can place restrictions on who can comment if they are unwilling to give away personal detail. I bet you if that tool had to provide their mobile number, or work details they wouldn’t have been so keen to say what they said. He/she is a coward.

Harley did that as well, he hand balled to a player and immediately made the block in the player that was pursuing him. Too often the hand balls our players make appear to be more about passing responsibility rather than the team “thing” to do. If I had to guess (without being an expert) I feel like the 1-2 overlap is being more coached rather than the handball > shepherd. Just on Kozzie, how good was it to see a Melbourne player have the intelligence to tap forward to Fritta rather than take possession? Definitely something we need to employing more of.

He was impactful but you’ve left off that by foot I think he was tracking at about 35-40%. He definitely had a good game and could well end up in the Brownlow votes (watch them give the 3 to Rankine), but he butchered some golden chances and I’m sure he would acknowledge that. Ultimately he kicked the clutch goal when it counted and is definitely the player you want around the ball when the game’s in the balance.

Just heard Huddo’s smart [censored] comment of “jeez you’d think they’ve won the flag with that reaction”. What a [censored] he is, instead of that comment why wouldn’t he say something like, “look at them get around him for his first goal in 3 years”. I know this is pretty much the way it is but some commentators literally need a change of pants if one of their favourites does something they like, but something actually heartwarming and uplifting in these difficult times gets met with that. What a [censored].

So right now we have the highest score for the round, I feel like 80 could become the new 100 with the old rule of first to 100 usually wins. Good to see that we’ve (at least for this round) gone back to being one of the highest scoring teams. We still need to make the most of inside 50s, we had about 9 before the suns got one in the second quarter and they really should’ve got a goal out of it. One step forward this week, Hawthorn next week is a big one. Win that and I think we could really gain some confidence.

Rankine is exciting, can’t deny that. Jetta and co were worried around him and made mistakes. He’s a talent that actually almost won the game for them. But he was given an armchair ride in his debut, as stated he dropped the ball for his first, should’ve been pinged HTB but got a high tackle he ducked into, and that inexplicable free against Oliver that the club should follow up.