Pates

Do we weaken ourselves by playing him and getting games into him to help build his confidence? Could be academic if Hogan ends up being rested, won’t drop Weids and rest Hogan in the same week.

Agreed, there is nothing that we've shown this year to make me believe that we will bring our A-game every week. If anything I'm less confident than last year.

The third quarter of the Richmond game was about as fired up and heated as I’ve been for a long time but it wasn’t to do with the frees the tigers were getting. Most of the frees they got were correct decisions but what fired all the Dees fans up was that they simply weren’t paying obvious ones to us. Several holding the balls/incorrect disposals (two against Martin, one which directly resulted in a goal to them), a deliberate out of bounds that would’ve been paid under the old interpretation, head high contacts (are they being told not to pay high fend offs against Martin). Plus there was a plain as day 50m penalty not paid to us in the first quarter. I recognise the umpires job is not an easy one but it must have deflated the players that their tackles weren’t being rewarded. It wasn’t the umpires fault we lost that game but it seriously screwed our momentum for the 4th quarter.

Like many here I’m wary of the wounded animal. Bombers copped a bit after ANZAC and were the better team in the first half so we need to focus on being ready for them to come hard out of the blocks. In a twist though it appears our game plan seems to suit etihad stadium more than the G. We seem to relish the fast track with quick transitions through the middle. With any luck Petracca will be good to go to remind them of the stupid decision not to take him.

Not meaning to drag us down further but I am so effing sick of us looking to an “exciting future”. It’s about bloody time this started happening now. That said you are right, our defence did what they could on the weekend. It was in the middle that they got let down.

Massive game for both teams, so I’d expect a big response from the Bombers. We need to be prepared to run this game out better than them, we’ve got the extra day and they also had to play much of today two men down. As for what I’ll do we lose, I’ll just give up on this year. Doesn’t sound like much but I feel like this was a year for us to move forward past our horrific recent history. We will be a laughing stock if this year is a bust.

There’s been talk from the club that TMac could come in, if he comes in Weids goes out. Harmes could be another to make way, he was poor tonight. I don’t think we can have both Stretch and ANB in the team, they both look like deer in headlights when the pressure is on. Pederson had a good game for Casey, if TMac isn’t ready he comes in for Weids or Harmes. My choice would be Weids, I really hope I’m wrong about him but I don’t feel confident he’s going to be the player we hoped.

Not in my list of people to be dropped, thought he was ok without being amazing. He’s got skills in him and did some good things.

First quarter we were the better team but didn’t have the poise or class to make the most of it. Then in typical Melbourne style gave up cheap goals to give them the lead. Second quarter we were back to last week where we had no structure and no one pushing the team in the right direction. We’re were lucky to be only down by 20 points with them missing some good chances. Third quarter was the Melbourne we can be; exciting and high pressure. Unfortunately our skill let us down again and the umpires were an effing disgrace. We should’ve been much closer. Fourth quarter when we kicked the first goal I thought we could at least make it a close game but when they got the quick reply and we didn’t take some chances we gave up. Mixed in with more woeful fumbles and VFL level skills they ran riot. I got to see two games this year, tonight and last week. I go back to the UK thinking we’re going backwards. Viney is a lot more important to us than we realise, he’s our barometer and our inspiration. Not meaning disrespect towards Jonesy as I love the bloke but he’s been carrying us for so long. TMac is also more important to our structure now that Hogan’s playing further up the ground.

I’m personally happy with the changes although Pederson offers more flexibility IMO. I think the match committee have made a call that they want to give games to Weids to get him experience with Hogan, he’s had mostly good form in the VFL so it’s not unwarranted. Would be nice to see him make an impact. Hunt should’ve been back last week for me but it’s understandable the club wanted him to string two performances together.

Sorry you’re right, the eagles got the after the siren goal. Still they made finals, better than us. I guess I’m saying I could live with us winning every game we were expecting to win and then pinching a game or two against a quality side. Still too early to tell what any team is.

Port were “flat track bullies” last year, they got through to the second week of the finals. I will take that this year.

They were to little effect last Sunday, don’t misread what I was saying, I was placing him in the same category of all his teammates where he had a bad day. Most of the time his taps are to our advantage, I would imagine he was well down on his usual “taps to advantage”. That is clearly down to poor communication between him and the likes of Oliver, Jones (who was too busy marking Mitchell), and the other midfielders. That also comes down to poor coaching by Goodwin and co as they did not correct the problem. Can only hope they fix that for Tuesday night.

I'm hoping we get about a similar crowd to last year but I do feel the loss on Sunday could cost us 3000-5000 people, even worse though is if we put in the same display as we did last weekend vs the Tigers. Getting thumped on Sunday arvo is one thing, getting thumped in a marquee game will be a disaster for PJ and Bartlett trying to promote our club. They'd better be setting themselves for a big night.

I don't know where things broke down but so many of Gawn's taps went to spaces where there were no Melbourne players, he may have "won" the ruck duels but our ball winners were nowhere near it.

Are we going to be too tall with Frost in? Do we maybe move Melksham to defence as a mid-sized player and Hunt comes in to replace Lewis, maybe Frost then comes out for Pederson to have a marking forward/relief ruck. Tyson obviously comes back in, despite ANB's ground covered numbers I haven't really seen him do anything worthwhile for most of the games this year (maybe I'm missing something though). I honestly don't know what the selectors are going to go for though, it's still baffling to me how bad we were on Sunday.

I think Viney needs to be managed to the point where he isn't making the decisions. He must feel like a caged animal right now but fact is his overeagerness and our clubs desperation to try to make finals made his injury so much worse than it should've been. I personally don't think we should aim for him to be back until after the bye and give him plenty of time to tick all the boxes. TMac I'm in a similar camp to but he did a fair bulk of pre-season training so again we should make sure he ticks all the right boxes before he comes in. We should not be trying to get him up for Essendon we should be waiting for whatever games comes up for him to be in the best possible condition.

Am I the only one that thinks its baffling that Hunt can roost the ball a mile and yet Hogan (a power FF) can't seem to kick past 45 meters? Surely that's something the coaches need to work on with him. I used to love seeing Neitz mark the ball from 48m out and be confident he'll not only clear the distance but at least be close to the big sticks.

Hunt for Lewis maybe? Melksham must be on the chopping block, hasn't had one good game from memory, maybe bring in Hannan for him. Bugg had a great game against North but was back to the Bugg of old on Sunday, tough call as he finds a way to make opportunities, he's just a god awful shot for goal. Jetta rolled his ankle so do we take a chance on his fitness vs Richmond? We probably need him especially against the smaller forwards of the Tigers. Lever stays but boy that was a mare of a game on Sunday.

Played terribly v Hawks, so did 90% of the team. Played very well v North and from what the club said they were happy with his role v Brissy. He's an important player but for me he's not doing enough. Maybe this time off gives him a chance to get a few other niggles right, and he can maybe lend his experience in the coaching box.

Reflecting on the loss (again) one of the things that gutted me the most was the way we showed no fight at the end. How many times have we had other teams 35+ points down only to let them back in the game or let it become nothing more than a scrappy victory. To give up like that was a slap in the face of long suffering Melbourne fans.

He was very far from our worst, when he got the ball he did some good things. ANB and a few others in front to be dropped IMO.

Lever was dreadful on the weekend. He was not alone. It was the worst game i've seen for quite a few players, but Lever was close to WOG. That said, he is so much better than that and I think it's a case of him feeling under pressure. He did so many strange mistakes from a player that's usually quite intelligent. Biggest (unfair) problem for him is the price we paid for him. I wasn't happy about it at the time, and I'm definitely not happy about it now, we should've played hard ball on him and it's about time the club actually grew a bloody spine when negotiating trades.

My mates an umpire and was going ballistic at the umpires for letting it go on. They are not meant to shepherd the player on the mark until the kicker has gone well and truly off his mark and the umpire calls play on. They did not do this and should've been made to go back and kick it again.

So I've avoided D-land for the day, that was just a shocking performance that left me bewildered as to how a team that had prided itself on being hard at the footy and exciting at times could put in such a shocker. I'm hoping that that's what it was, a shocker that will hopefully wake us up. We were so uncompetitive and completely rolled over for a half of footy, and that isn't the team I feel we've been watching for the last couple of years (even back to Roos). The good thing about this happening at this time of year is that redemption can only be a week away. They've got to hit the track hard this week and atone for that non-effort.