Pates

That was some kind of half from Oliver, far and away BOG. Some better play from his teammates and we could be further in front. Some of my thoughts are: - we got the game on our terms that quarter, we were able to set up and prevent them from having any of the goals out the back they had in the first quarter - Oliver and the midfield got much better at winning second and third balls, clearances wise they still seem to be better but we’re working harder - we had a period where the ball was camped in our forward 50 but it took a while to get the goal, it was crucial we got that reward for effort otherwise I could’ve seen some frustration brewing - inaccuracy has cost us from having the game very close to put to bed. Petracca x2 was the most frustrating and TMac missing his one chance after having a quiet game was annoying in particular - third quarter is huge here because we let them get a sniff get ready for a tough final quarter. - them constantly winning the centre clearances is concerning and I really hope something is done about it

Likewise, that goal right on 3 quarter time the difference in the end. GWS lucky though, Sydney had plenty of chances they should have taken.

Off the top of my head I can’t think of one 30+ player at our club that plays a regular key role. It’s a great thing for our future!

Nervous, felt ok yesterday but now that the day is upon us I’m nervous. It’s hard to ignore that this is easily the best opportunity for us to win a flag and winning this week would set us up.

Game should be over, it’s actually quite good seeing Port do this because I doubt that Geelong will come back but it shows their players still lack connection and don’t have the team first mentality. Geelong look like they want the season to be over, Scott and Dads Army disappointed that the AFL reinstated the proper 20min quarters. They were lucky to be there in the GF last season, very lucky.

Genuinely torn on who I want to win this, if Cats win then facing them in the Grand Final would be big. And while we’ve been able to arrest a lot of the demons that have been held, I must admit I’d still prefer to avoid them where possible.

May and Lever are the ones I really feel happiest for. May came to us with a lot of pressure on him and his first year was a write off largely due to poor preparation on his part in the off season. But he knuckled down hard and put in the work to make himself one of the most dominant defenders in the game and frankly was jibbed by not being put in the AA squad last season. He went back to the drawing board, and has made himself even better. If Max and Jack were unavailable, personally May would be the one I’d want to named as captain. Lever also came with a lot of pressure and unfortunately for him he did his knee first year with us. It took him a while to gain confidence in that knee again and all the while people were potting him and fans were questioning whether he was worth it. He has had such an incredible year, record breaking in fact. He has owned the role he’s in and is such a general down back. I got the number 8 on my back way back when Chip was the best defender, but number 8 will always and forever have a special place at the club because of Jake.

I have this feeling that she will become the women’s head coach for Melbourne some time in the future. She has a passion for the game and communicates really well.

Ah my bad, you’re spot on.

I think you’re right and it will be an interesting proposition seeing Ross Lyon return to coaching. His methods were dull at times but put his teams into a position to win. My biggest criticism of him (from the outside) was that he seemed divisive and left places in a mess.

Don’t think so, he was an Adelaide born boy. His Melbourne connection was that he and Viney were best buds so he was really close to the whole Viney family.

I thought that myself Picket, but I have to admit Smith’s recent form as a defender has been good. Still behind a number of players but he’s improved a lot compared to where he was as a defender. I don’t think we’ve seen him do one stupid attempt at MOTY the games he’s played this year.

I just want to make a quick comment that I love the talk of season 2 starting now. It’s almost like the club has internally separated the two achievements of H&A vs the finals series, it acknowledges that’s it’s a new ball game now and the success that we’ve had this year could all be for nothing if we don’t give everything we’ve got now.

Jones is depth, he’s be acutely aware of this, but you never know what can happen in the space of a few weeks. He’ll be making sure he’s ready to go in case he is needed.

It’s an interesting match because at each end of the ground are two forwards that were bug talking points during the off season. I remember Daniher had an awful second half against us and looked so off the pace, it’s not so much a match up but it’s going to be curious to see who has the better game. Could well decide the result. Would love Benny to have a massive game first week of finals.

I agree that I think our first preference would be to keep hold of him, so I think largely the ball will be in Sam’s court if we can convince him that a future exists with us. But for now he’s just not getting a look in at all, I really would have liked to see him get a run vs Adelaide but I understand why the club didn’t go down that direction. I would like him to stay and back himself in in a similar way the TMac did. Tom was fantastic in the beginning of the year (hell people were talking AA squad at one point) but he has tapered so form can be fleeting sometimes and as Tom himself has experienced, you never know when an opportunity might just drop at your feet. You’ve just got to be good enough to take it. Incredible to think that pre-season it was all about the combo of Weid/Brown.

I think he will, but a lot whether he stays or leaves will be dependent on whether feels part of the future and part of the push towards us becoming a regular force. If he’s constantly going to be behind players then leaving to just about any club where he can get first team experience will be of benefit to him. It’s a bit of a shame the AFL doesn’t have a loan system similar to Football in Europe and the UK. I would gladly loan him to another club for a year.

I wouldn’t say our wet weather form has been great this year, mind you we did shift that against West Coast. I feel like a lot of our good ball movement comes off the back of intercept marking from Lever, May, Max, and Petty (to an extent). When the ball goes to ground in our defensive zones we look quite shaky. I don’t see any changes, apart from Hunt there isn’t anyone that I would say is a walk up start 22 that’s not coming available. Melksham and Hibberd who have been warriors for us would be in consideration for their experience but neither of their recent form demands they come in. Jones, the old favourite, would be in the thoughts for experience and sentimentality but he hasn’t played first team footy for a while. Jordon has been solidly in the best 23 for almost the entire year so he would be my pick for sub.

Amazing effort from Jayden, wouldn’t be risking him week one but give him some more time to get right and he could be really important to us. Smith would probably be the one to make way of the current group, Bowey came in for him but has put a foot wrong.

For what it’s worth I don’t think any of this noise will go near the players. I’ve never seen a more focused group of Melbourne players. I’ve kept a lid on it all year, just enjoyed the ride.

Bad luck to him that the only viable club sounds like Carlton, they genuinely seem like a basket case right now. Love it.

FWIW a friend of mine went to a cardiologist today who said the pop up vaccination clinic in St Kilda is a good bet for walk up injections as quite a few people are missing appointments.

I think NSW will be first, they aren’t going to get to Covid Zero and they have been the state to try to keep things open. VIC next, there’ll be a big push by Victorians when they see NSW open up and Danny Boy has been pretty strong on vaccinations being the pathway to freedom. WA last. McGowen indicating he wants COVID zero even after vaccinations have reached their targets is not only laughable but damaging. If they really want that then they won’t be able to have tourists while the rest of the country opens up.

Who was the guy on ABC chuckling at Max saying, “is he gonna miss? He’s gonna miss isn’t he.” Sounded like an absolute dope. The K-Rock is enjoyable because you can very easily see where their allegiances lie. Triple M was interesting because the main commentator didn’t even say he’d kicked it, left it to the female commentator to actually say it. All very enjoyable, all pretty much agreed that i) the Brayshaw insufficient attempt was ridiculous and ii) the 50m was correct. They were all unsure about Max kicking it as well (I was with them on that!).

He did actually look back at the umpire to say WTF. It was so obvious and I was absolutely gobsmacked the umpire missed it. Max was perfectly positioned, exactly where he was meant to be, the cats player with no eyes for the ball completely blocked him. I found it funny that the two pieces of analysis that King put forward in First Crack, one was a blatant free kick to Gawn and the other was a kick that travelled 10m but was given as a kick on goal. EDIT: thought this was the post match thread. So one more time, I love Spargypants!