Pates

Going to respond to a reply from @Rodney (Balls) Grinter What a load of BS. Was Tom Mc Donald solely responsable for our whole first Qtr? That's where the game was lost. ---------- I agree first quarter was of course where the game was lost. But the game was in the balance at the end, we had the opportunity to come back from it or at the very least mitigate the %. He's a leader, hell he was temporary captain, he had the chance to take a kick from 48-50m out directly in front and chose to kick it to a 3 on one. This was not long after he butchered a kick out that went straight to Cox, who he proceeded to get stuck into. How about worrying about your own game Tom? Perhaps unfair to say "he cost us blah, blah, blah" but FMD dead he was disgraceful with those 2 efforts (plus embarrassingly getting into Cox).

I'd say TMac's had a mostly good year but he did two things today that could be crucial for costing us finals. That VFA level kick out, and choosing to pass it off when he had a kick from 48m out. He's a dumb footballer, simple as that.

Would love to see a replay of that finals marking contest, really thought TMac was dragged down over the shoulder. Clearly he thought so too. Hard to know whether Pies started to cruise or we lifted. This is it though, this is where we find out who we really are.

Woke up in London praying to myself "please let us be comfortably in front, or at least in front, I'll take that!" To be almost 30pts down at half time is sickening, the Pies have put many of their best players out for next year, they don't have finals to play for, the only things they are playing for is pride and the chance to humiliate us. I think something that annoys me the most about this is how many times have WE been in the same situation in the last 10 years and gone out with a whimper (flogged by Geelong final round last year), say what you like about the Pies but they have pride for the jumper and the club. I was quietly confident about this week but was also concerned about the premature finals talk. I love this club, but sometimes I hate following them. This second half is where we find out the metal of these players and perhaps if Goodwin is able to get them up again. STAND THE F--- UP DEES!!!!

If it's between the two of course you go for Kelly but I don't think there's any chance of us going for him seriously. Lever on the other hand I think we've got a very good chance of getting.

I have to admit, when I first heard that the Dogs were playing a game in Ballarat I kind rolled my eyes a little and laughed. But if they're able to get that ground up to a 17-18,000 capacity stadium and they play 2 games there a year that will surely play much better for them than traveling all the way to Cairns to lose any home ground advantage. My biggest gripe about our draw this year is easily the consecutive 6 day breaks WITH us doing the second biggest travel in the AFL (aside from the China game). It definitely put us in the hole when facing Sydney for our one and only Friday night game for the year.

Interesting point you make actually. There's been a growing frustration in the AFL community with this "rule of the week" thing. The umpire's department deny it, but it's impossible to ignore when you're watching it. Instead of the umpires department just tightening individual rules week to week behind the clubs backs it would be cooperative if they sent memo's to each club saying "following review's of the past few weeks we feel there has not been a tight enough interpretation of the blocking ruck infringements, please inform your coaching department this rule in particular will be closely monitored this week and going forward". Communication is the key here, right now it feels like they're going behind the backs of the players and coaches.

I have this feeling the Pies will come out very hard in the first quarter, they don't have anything to lose and I think their pride has been dented a lot with missing finals again. If we match/beat them early I think we will get on top for the rest of the game. I just don't want it to come down to the wire.

I reckon he's going to be a man on a mission this week. Max is one that's been around the club for a long time and would be as desperate to play finals as anyone at the club. Grundy killed us last time but he really had to no opponent, this week he comes up against last years AA. This could be a day out for Max (as long as the umps don't give stupid frees).

The funny thing about this Buckley situation is that I swear I remember Nathan himself saying that if they didn't make the finals he would step down himself. FWIW I actually don't think he's a bad coach, but it might be a case of he knows more about the caper now that he's been in it longer. He should've done a full apprenticeship at a different club to gain some alternative insights. It was a stupid romantic move by Eddie and it's backfired. As for how things could play out Sunday, we need to look at this as a final. It essentially is in a lot of ways. Play it like it's an elimination final, hit them hard, and play like men possessed. We ARE better than them, we just need to bring the finals intensity to this game and we'll win.

Of course there are plenty of players out there like that, but for every one of them is a Watts who does need a good coach to be able to get the best out of them. Jones is one that's self driven, Watts occasionally needs a firecracker rammed up him to remind him he's not a monty to be picked every week. I think he'll be picked this week and be given very specific KPI's he has to hit in order to maintain his spot. Bugg surely will have another week in the VFL, didn't set the world on fire at the VFL and should we make the finals he will have another VFL week to try to push someone out.

I'm going to make all my European housemates watch at least some of the match to show them the greatest game in the world! And wear my Melbourne Polo with pride!

It's often been said in commentary that as soon as our handball vs kicking ratio goes out that's when we start to turn to poo. I think the idea of our play is to have about 2-3 linking handball chains to set up kicks further up the field. Problem is it comes driven from a "play on at all costs" mentality, I think we're number 1 (or close to it) for playing on from marks. When that's working it looks breathtaking, but a few too many times (particularly recently) we've played on with nowhere to go which creates the frenetic handballing game, and a lot of turnovers. With our players getting tired from a long season I think this needs to be tempered a bit. It's causing situations that are unnecessarily frantic, and all too often leads to turnovers.

Agreed, I think Salem was dropped to kick him a little kick up the tush. Maybe started to feel comfortable in his spot, but I think it was the selection committee's intention to bring him straight back in. He obviously ruined that with the suspension, but Wagner is just not quite up to it and Salem has done that role well all year. Vince just should not take kick ins, unless we're needing someone to roost it when we need to get a quick score he just gives me heart attacks almost every time. I don't know what has happened to him but his kicking boots have been well off this year, I know he had a toe injury at the start of he year but surely that's not still affecting him. I'd still like to find a way to squeeze in Watts, Pedo is in fantastic form and I agree with not wanting to disturb that but Watts played some great footy last year as a link up forward. Jesse can play deeper, Pedo and Watts can be the link men. Big thing is Watts will need to compete harder to either take the mark or bring it to ground.

Strangely, I'd kind of be up for that. Although he was poor in his suspension game and he let the team down badly with his punch I feel like we played our best footy with him in there being a pest. I don't think it'll happen because he didn't sound like he set the world on fire for Casey, but he's the kind of player people love to hate and can draw some undisciplined attention from the opposition. Imagine if we play Sydney at the SCG in the finals and he comes in! I'd picture boos to rival what Adam Goodes got in Perth!

I'm in agreement with you on that one, if we had gone on with our 32pt lead in the final quarter and recorded a 40+ point win then I'd be a lot happier to talk finals, but lose to the Pies and we are on VERY shaken ground. I honestly don't care who play should we make it, finals has been my goal for the team this year. So let's just beat the Pies and whatever will be will be. Apart from the two Sydney teams (who I feel caught us at bad times) we have matched up well on all teams in the 8. At our best we can beat anyone, anywhere.

That last goal was brilliant, he showed great athleticism and poise finishing it off. I wish we could've kept going after that. He's been so important the last two weeks.

Woops true!

As much as I wouldn't like us to face Sydney in the finals, I ultimately just want us to make it. So it's simple for me. Lets beat the Pies (1pt or 100pts I don't care), the rest can sort themselves out.

I admit I wasn't concerned about the 6 day break initially but that was before I realised they'd given Essendon an 8 day break because of it. Seriously it's not hard, Essendon plays Freo at ES on Saturday gets a 7 day break and we play Collingwood on Sunday and also get a 7 day break. Is there something at the AFL that prevents them from seeing the obvious?

I see what you're getting at and that ultimately is the most frustrating thing about the fact we took our foot off in the last quarter and jammed on the breaks. We had a really good opportunity to kick on and get some breathing room percentage wise but we didn't and now because of that the door is still ajar. We should be the Pies though, we do have a better team than them and we have everything to play for. If the players can't get up and be manic with pressure for that then they shouldn't be playing AFL footy. Players like Jones, Gawn, TMac and others who have been around should be firing the boys up through the week. I was happy to hear Jones say they haven't counted their chickens yet.

I only watched the final quarter, we got off to a flyer and were out to 32pts. I thought fantastic we'll cruise now, unfortunately so did the players! Why can't they jut do it easily!? We've got the win, that's what matters. But Dees, we need to learn to put teams away. When you get out to a 30+ lead there shouldn't be any concerns, not when you're playing bottom of the ladder at home. Credit to Brisbane, they looked well drilled. They'll come good.

C'mon Melbourne put them away!!!!

Grrrrr game starts at 4:10am over in the UK, I decide I'll set an alarm for around 3 quarter time and I was hoping to see us cruising to victory. I know this is 1st world problems given not long ago any kind of win would do but we need to learn to pulverise lower teams. We should be murdering the Lions. Instead they're putting the fans through hell, again.

I don't know about Salem, but yeah I'd be very surprised if Watts doesn't come in. Should we beat the Lions and do it well we should be solidly placed in the finals, we can manage players better and give others like Watts and Hogan a good chance to get some match fitness. We could look back at this as a stroke of genius. Well done to Casey they had to struggle through our injuries through the year and have come out the other side very well.