Pates

That was the best we’ve played since the Grand Final and far and away the best we’ve played this year. Our back 6 was back to their what made us such a hard team to beat. Lever has had a poor year by his lofty standards but wow he was unstoppable. Absolutely back his AA best. May being back must’ve been a huge help and I really hope he’s learned his lesson because he is massive to us. Viney was a man possessed last night, they even said it post match that he always goes in hard but last night it was finals like the way he went about it. For me BOG. The interesting thing from last night showed that our forward line isn’t our best line, but it just needs to be functional to a point and it needs the midfield to win their battle further up the ground. When that happens Fritta and Co get on the end of opportunities. I thought Bedford looked really lively (his checkside goal was the highlight of the night for me). Nibbler looked more like himself (but really needed nail that one in the third quarter) his forward pressure was exactly what we need, really needs to fix up his finishing. I thought JJ showed great confidence on “his wing”, kicking two goals is fantastic for him. I also have to tip my cap to Harmes for his job on Neale (and then kicking a goal on his as well). This was the well oiled machine we saw last season. Max said it in the rooms afterwards that those losses could be the tonic we needed. I’ll also pat him on the back for the mini slap in the face to the AFL for our “shortest bye ever”. I’m almost surprised it’s not in the AFLPA agreement that the bye week must have a minimum length, 10 days is a joke. Well done to everyone, and well done to the crowd at the ground. I made a decision not to go as I’d had a super busy week and felt it would be too much to go. Thursday night footy sucks, but it was fun to watch last night.

If we lose this week we run the risk of becoming a forgotten premiership winning team. It will be spoken of and remembered fondly by Dees fans, but ultimately it was done in Perth and it won’t mean as much. I can see a very real possibility of us losing this week and finishing outside the 4, I’m not trying to be pessimistic here but three weeks in a row we’ve had good leads that have evaporated to nothing. We’ve had a dysfunctional forward line for most of the year, these are issues that have not shown any signs of being rectified. On current form you have to tip the Lions for this week and it’s on the coaching staff and players to dig themselves out of this funk. We can do it, I felt similarly late last season and the GWS loss ended up being the tonic the team needed.

There are very few guarantees in footy, todays hero can become tomorrow’s forgotten man in a blink on an eye. He has shown great potential and you’re absolutely right in the GF he was a big part of taking the game away from the dogs. But real value comes when he takes a position and makes it his own. I’d also be very cautious about taking big money and a long contract because that immediately puts him under the pump. Still reckon taking a 3 year extension is his best course of action, but clearly I’m very biased!

Weid has actually filled the second ruck role decently in the past, it’s not his preferred position but I feel like as a forward he almost tries to avoid contact, whereas as a ruckman he knows he has no choice and it seems to settle his issues about the physicality of it. At the end of the day where we are at now is “decent” is the best we can get, we have injuries, last year we got a good run. We clearly have a very good best 22 but now we test the depth of the club, as well as the character of the players. Oliver, Trac, Viney etc will have to work a lot harder to win the clearances now and frankly I feel like they have been getting way too used to the armchair ride they’d had from Gawn.

Agreed, I would bring JvR in before holding onto M Brown in the team. He’s had some solid games over his time with us but his time is up.

If he wants the big money then this period with Gawn out is his perfect opportunity to show his worth to us or to another club should that be his preference. I still feel like he’s staying short term but then I was gullible enough to take Scully at his word that he wanted to be a one club player so I don’t have great form here. If a trade were to pop up I would definitely go hard at us getting Brayshaw, they see him as one of their young players to build their team around so let’s see how much they really want LJ. Get big bro Gus in his ear telling him how good the Dees have been to him and that the folks will be happy having him home in Melbourne. Ultimately the sum of this isn’t just on his footballing abilities, it’s also the fact that he is a part of our future planning. We got him because we knew that Gawn was coming to the twilight of his career, so we would need compensation not just for the now but for the future.

I wondered this myself after the Pies loss, the question is is his loss of form due to the rest of the team playing poorly or is his form drop separate to the larger team? There are many players where when the top falls they can’t contribute in the same way (ANB, Spargo, Sparrow come to mind here). I hope Bowey is separate to that, he looks a long term prospect but when you look at someone like Brayshaw who still gives everything to get us over the line when the rest of the team isn’t performing, that’s the sort of player I want Bowser to become.

That’s exactly it, he may well have given a better go the Mitch Brown but he wasn’t playing well and didn’t deserve to be picked.

Haha did that once, it was a good day out and we’ll do it again, but it’s not her thing. Definitely not a fan of night matches either.

This is away match related, but the QB just proved why I don’t bother with away games. You always get one numpty away fan that think they’re a hero for baiting the opposing fans. An absolute [censored] that made the whole experience so much worse than it needed to be. As for my primary reasons for non attendance, firstly I work in the broadcast of the sport so very often I’m working during our matches. Secondly main reason, I’ve got a wife who’s new to the country, I want to spend time with her. I do feel like the have tried too hard to create a match day “experience”. Stick to the KISS model.

Looks cringey but if he hasn’t done anything wrong in this instance the news story is that a bloke’s gone to Bali and acted like a [censored]. It’s hardly stop the presses sort of stuff.

If they’ve got the opportunity through unfair means (ie they pushed our player in the back, or mark paid but didn’t have enough of it) I’ll happily boo but beyond that I’ll leave it to others if they want to put him of.

Like Scully, I actually feel a bit for JHF. He’s 18 years old and being expected to carry the weight of a really struggling club, we have seen how that damages a player several times with our young draftees. I thought the way GWS approached Scully was disgusting, instead of using their cap to entice a known and experienced gun they went after low hanging fruit in a young kid who was at a lowly club. If I’m 19 and being offered that kind of a deal, particularly given the uncertain nature of professional sport, I would be taking the deal. Scully didn’t handle it well, neither did we. JHF is getting smashed by the AFL media for something he hasn’t done yet, he does come across as an arrogant little [censored] at times but as I said we’ve seen what carrying the weight of a footy club can do to people.

I personally feel like he’s going to re-sign up to free agency, there has been very little chatter about homesickness or being disgruntled at Melbourne. So by that token the carrot is in the coin not the enticement of coming home. Quite happy for Horne-Francis to take all the headlines of “want away young player”.

Damn you make some good points. For all our issues with forward and defence, it’s starts in the midfield and ends (potentially) with them spotting up and hitting leading targets.

FMD Ok, I still want to find a way to get Petty to the forward line so I would be up for Tomlinson coming in for Turner. For what it’s worth I still see long term Petty as a defender but sending him forward could shake things up.

Max out for me really makes me feel we need to really change things up. The positive to this is that I feel we have become predictable and obvious in our play, it was working for so long and teams tried to smash through it to beat us but it took time to wear it down (as well as quality opposition). With that in mind I WOULD LIKE these changes, although not sure it will happen. Firstly to the obvious, Weid comes in. He comes in for Max as he has been second ruck for extended periods before. His tank is nowhere near as good as Max but he needs to affect contests and work on second/third efforts. If he can 1 goal + then that’s a win, I don’t expect him to win lots of taps but he needs to do his best to break even and our ball winners need to step up and beat their direct opponents. Keep Turner in, May comes in, send Petty forward, M brown out. I know we love Petty the defender but there needs to be something new and fresh in the forward line. Something opposition defenders aren’t used to, he also brings a hefty load of mongrel up forward and apart from Pickett (and maybe ANB) there isn’t enough of that in the forward line. I would also drop Nibbler for Bedford, time to re-earn your sport Nibbler. I would also consider dropping Sparrow but not sure who for.

If ever Jacko had a perfect opportunity to press his claim for a juicy contract, this is it. If ever Weid is going to step the F up, this is it. If ever we are going to prove we are not the sum of one player, this is it. It sucks, but let’s not look at this as “we are [censored]ed” but look at it as the new Melbourne and say “bring on the challenge”. Rest up skip, get yourself right for the pointy end.

I don’t know again if I’m being biased, but I think that a little different. I’m not saying it’s good, and the fans shouldn’t have done that, but booing a fantastic player who’s being singled out for being fantastic seems particularly vindictive. They also boo’d him during the game because he pushed one of their players off our guys and then got shoved hard for it. Oliver isn’t liked by any oppo fans though, admired as a player but he gets regularly boo’d for no good reason.

Maybe I’ve got rose tinted glasses but I can’t see the Melbourne fans booing a player for being named BOG. Oliver was an absolute freak on Monday, similar to Max the other week he alone almost dragged us over. Pies fans really are a special breed of filth.

I actually thought the same thing that Cox has done this in the past, I wonder if this was Toby Greene we were looking at would he be suspended (for the v Lions incident, I actually haven’t seen the moment he did it to Max)?

Could this be Majak Daw’s opportunity to get some game time in the seniors? Have to think long game here, if we push Max to breaking point (if we haven’t done already) it could put us up the creek without a paddle for the pointy end of the season. We have to dig deep big time now.

I think the team only areas at least need to be made available, and while I know it’s not going to stop it (there’s a few foul-mouthed dheads in the Melbourne reserved area) it at least stops this kind of baiting which can lead to fights. Myself and the other guy laughed it off, what happens if I was a puss loaded Melbourne fan who takes a swing at him for baiting me? Australia has a problem with booze, hate to say it but it’s true. Drunken behaviour has been laughed off and normalised for too long. Sorry to derail the thread.

It might be time for the AFL and the MCG to create team areas that you can book so Melbourne fans sit with Melbourne fans and Pies fans sit with Pies fans. We had a real nuffy jerk right in front of us who was trying to bait myself and another Melbourne fan behind me. Made the experience really unpleasant and frustrating, I don’t mind us losing and I don’t mind an oppo fan having banter, but being a [censored] about it is unnecessary and pathetic. Sorry to hear your son had such a bad experience, I hope he gives it another go.

Yep I’ve been thinking for a while that Sparrow needs a run at Casey. There has been this belief amongst the coaching staff and selection committee that it will just come good. It hasn’t, there are players out of form that need to be dropped.