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Interesting, I must admit this isn't something I've heard before. That said I remember hear a lot of players towards the at of the season last year expressing their excitement about getting stuck into Goodwin's gamestyle and ideas. And just on the original OP's topic I would say his safer bet would be to go to the Gold Coast if he was going to go anywhere. Pies fans and stakeholders will be after immediate success if they replace Buckley, but I can see Roos doing a bit of a clean out to shore up the culture. Gold Coast he may well have to do the same thing but coming off a lower base with lower expectations he wouldn't be under the pump as much. FWIW I kinda hope he doesn't coach again. He's left good legacies at both clubs, he's managed to pocket himself some very nice coin in the process, and he is an excellent analyst for Fox Footy. I'd be inclined to say he's happy to say goodbye to that bubble.

As annoyed as I am I think all this talk amounts to very little as we've accepted the suspension. The only thing I would say is that I'd be very happy for a coach or someone from the club saying the only reason they accepted it was because of the risk of the additional week, and further point to inconsistencies with the fact that Thompson got off easy with a week. I would almost cop Hogan's if Thompson had been given a fair whack but the MRP have basically said, "go ahead and elbow someone in the head as long as the ball is within 5m, but don't you dare open palm a guy off the ball." FWIW I still think Hogan should be suspended, it was a silly act off the ball that gave us zero value and just made him look like a [censored]. But 3 down to 2 is such an over the top verdict. At least Lewis's might have affected Cripps in our favour. Hogan's just cost us a shot on goal and him for two weeks.

Vince comes in fo Lewis, that's the easy one and with Salem in good form we at least have a bit of coverage there. Hogan's the difficult one. If we bring in Kent then the players will have to move the ball quickly and lower the eyes, otherwise the Geelong defenders will rebound really easily. Otherwise we can bring in Spencer for the dual ruck experiment. Gawn looked a little battered at the end of the game last week so I wouldn't be totally against this. I think training this week will give us a window into Goodwin's thinking. If Spencer and Gawn have more time with the forward group, that could be the way we go.

Good luck with that, we'd have Hogan out for 3 and Lewis out for 4 in 2 minutes. We'd have to actually prove something to get them reduced. As I said Hogan's is the only one I could see that working for, would've expected a similar outcome to Vince's MRP report last week. This current system doesn't seem to deliver players a fair ruling and then if they have a good record the option to reduce. It weights it against the possibility of an appeal to get their desired penalty. They wanted him out for two weeks and they got it, they knew we wouldn't risk losing him for three.

What would you appeal with? Lewis was off the ball, Cripps has a fractured jaw, and Lewis has a bad record. Hogan I could maybe see it being reduced but again what do you argue? Less impact? Off the ball always carries more weight too. We have to cop it, the only thing I would say is it'd be fair for the club to say "well hold on, what about the other reported incidents. Where's the consistency?"

I think that's what gets me as well. We cop our whack that's fine but it really feels like they threw the book at us and threw a pillow at everyone else. Scott Thompson in particular I thought was worse than Hogan's. That sort of action can some serious damage with the elbow.

Well, didn't see that coming. Obviously if Cripps suffered a fractured jaw as a result of Lewis than it was a harder than we first thought. I still think 3 weeks is OTT but he has a bad record so we knew what we were getting with him. Hogan's 2 week sentence feels harsh particularly as it's weighted to be 3 down to 2. First offence, stupid but the player continued for the day unless I'm mistaken. Maybe there was a further medical report that did Hogan in as well. To those who were advocating the "unsociable Demons" how's that looking now? 3 of our most important players unavailable for a total of 6 weeks, worth it? As I've said earlier, we need to be tough and uncompromising but that's not what this is. Hogan was frustrated so he lashed out. Lewis loves his cheap shots, always has and let's be honest if he was still wearing brown and gold we'd probably be cheers this decision. I'm glad we're not in bruise free footy anymore, but let's get tough at the footy and not be sniping idiots.

I'm sure it was April fools day yesterday. If he gets done for more than 2 I'll be shocked. My gut feel is 1 week down to a reprimand. I don't think he even needed a concussion test. If he gets 1 week then so be it.

It took until the last quarter for him to start getting his hands out to mark it. What happened? He took a really strong mark that resulted in a gaol for us. I don't know why he goes for the chest mark, he has good hands (mostly). It was an interesting showcase of old Watts v new Watts. Looked out of the contest and one step behind for much of the game but lifted to his 2016 level in the last quarter. I think that's what frustrates the fans, we KNOW he can do better and when he does that we are a much better team.

[EDIT] I'm not worried. He was ok without being brilliant last week, had a poor one this week but is better than that today. He'll be fine.

So having looked at the footage there (still crap quality but marginally better) I'm going to change my mind, both could be in a little trouble. Hogan may be ok because of a good record and just get a reprimand, it was stupid at the time because we had the shot on goal. Lewis appears to give Cripps a clip to the side of the head before Viney comes along, with his bad record that could mean a week. There's a difference between being tough and being brutes. Vince last week, Hogan and Lewis this week, these are three of our most important players doing silly sniping things that only cost the the team. I wouldn't mind the club bringing in side fines to a charity for acts like this in the future.

Carlton heaped the pressure on us all day save for that small period in the second where it looked like we might kick away a bit. If I were a Blues fan I would be very happy with what Bolton is teaching them, they were mostly disciplined and moved the ball well in that third quarter. I think we absorbed the pressure when it came but as Lewis said we over used the ball too much at times, I get the chip and go idea and hold onto the ball but we need to also look at releasing into space and not boxing ourselves in. Well done to Harmes today, not a starring role but did some very important things and held his position well. Oliver is a freak, he's going to be (if he already isn't) an absolute star for us. I'd say he's in front in our B&F. Salem played a great game and I'm stoked for him. If anyone deserves a clean run at it it's him. Jetta was phenomenal, how good was his contest against Kruezer and he stood up at the end! I could go on but ultimately it won't be a fondly looked at game, we won in most of the key areas but butchered it a lot of times to keep them in it and then the Blues got a sniff in the third term. We can be so much better and we got the win so onto Geelong, be ready to take some huge pressure into the game next week because it they thought this week was tough I feel like next week could be a really charged atmosphere.

I only saw the Hogan one through the blurred pathetic vision that comes from foxtel go but it appeared to be an extremely soft free kick against Hogan. Would've thought insufficient force. The Lewis one was weird because it literally just looked like he pushed him. I actually think he caught Viney on the way through so I don't think there should be anything in that, if it does get reported I would've thought lack of evidence would clear him.

We didn't do it well but we did it. That's all I care about right now. Goodwin & co have plenty to analise from today, we need to look at forward structures when they drop a man back, but ultimately we were the better team and showed it when it mattered. 2-0 feels a lot better than 0-2!

Foot to the throat Dees!

Thank god Petracca nailed that. Lift Demons!!!!

What the hell is going on with our forward structure? Jeffie has been our "target" 3-4 times with him being outnumbered almost every time. Pathetic quarter from us then, we need to be and are better than this. Leaders need to stand up. Watts needs to start taking marks out in front of his eyes instead of chesting it. We need lift from a lot of our senior players. I'm backing us, but boy we need some of the boys to pull their finger out and stop playing like rockstars.

The moment we went 24pts up we took our foot off, this is a very typical Melbourne performance. Viney, Jones, Lewis it's time for you all to step up. Vince, how's that stupid hit looking now?

Bloody Cripps is killing us.

FFS melbourne.

I was never thinking that today, we just need the win, what comes after that comes.

So I only watched the last 5min of he quarter but I would dispute that big time. We were on top for much of that time I was watching but just made poor decisions with the final kick into the 50. We are on top in the middle, we just need to make the most of it. Goodwin also needs to give TMac a clip for that last few minutes. A direct and unnecessary turnover turned into what should have been a forward thrust for us into a forward entry for the Blues, then preceded to bump a Blues player off the ball when we got the short kick in. Result: Blues get another crack at it and a goal. That has given them momentum going into the second half.

I'm on the other side of the world so only just woke up, I know last week one of our issues in the first term was blazing away without lowering the eyes for short passes (particularly going into the forward 50), is there a bit of that going on?

I haven't been able to get this to work on my iPad or iPhone, suspect it's an Apple thing. But I have got it working on my laptop.

I know what you mean, they'll be insufferable if they make the 8. Really don't want that to happen. Saints were unlucky this week, actually very similarly to how we lost to the eagles last year. Inaccuracy and the umpires torched them, eagles just did enough when it counted. It's a shame the umpires need to be able to hear in order to catch things like touched off the boot, otherwise I'd say they should look into noise cancelling technology to cut out the crowd. Zero doubt it has a massive influence on their decision making and any umpire that tells you otherwise is lying.