Pates

May will be missing regardless you'd think. Whether it's concussion or something more serious I can't see him being right for the Hawks. Definitely time to bring Petty in, does that mean we shift Tommo as our key defender or have Petty take the main role initially and make sure our zone is well set up for Lever? Daw could be an option as well, bring him in with BBB and perhaps look at shifting TMac into a defensive role. Also does Melksham keep his spot, for me he didn't do a whole lot apart from kicking his easy goal. I'd say give him another week to give him a chance to get some form but he got so many chances last year. I think he get's one more week but thin ice. I thought Jetta was good, didn't do a hell of a lot wrong. The argument keeps coming though are we better with him or Hibberd in?

Haha I missed most of the first quarter, might've been around then he dominated! But I'll gladly bow and say I missed his contribution, 9 marks as a CHF sort of position is solid day at the office in awful conditions.

First off: **** YEAH!!!! Secondly what's interesting is I think we still have more gears to go to. Our pressure around the ball is very good and you can see how linked our game is to that pressure. The moment it drops is the moment teams are let back into the game. What I loved: Petracca being the dominant beast he is. BOG today for me. Lever stepping up in more ways than one. When that cheating ump gave the tackle free kick against Jetta and then Brayshaw got done for his late bump tempers were flaring, Lever brought everyone into line and got us to reset. Big tick in a leadership capacity after May got subbed out. Fritta being accurate, 4.1 in a tough day for kicking was huge for us. Particularly the fourth one he nailed. Finishing the game knowing we're 4-0!!!! What I liked: I thought Brayshaw had a good game today, he seemed to be floating in different areas and provided a cool head at times. Salem continuing his outstanding year. Was he beaten once today? Langdon continuing his outstanding year. Gawn's goal. Absolutely ridiculous but the way the boys got around him, love it! What I didn't like: 4 weeks of being clearly the better team up to 3 quarter time but not putting them away. It's going to bite us in the bum if we're in that position against WB, Tigers, WC, and Port. We kicked well mostly last week but back to the bad this week. I accept that conditions weren't easy but there were shots that should've gone in regardless, strangely Spargypants was probably the worst offender. We kicked them when they mattered though. May out for how long? Fingers crossed there's not a fracture but I worry we won't be that lucky. After Tom's good start to the year he's gone back to being mostly ineffective. I think he's still staying involved in bringing the ball to ground but he dropped marks he should be taking today. I think he gets one more week if BBB is having another Casey run, if not Tom could be going back to the seconds. EDIT: I missed Tommy's marks, and contribution. Hand up, my mistake! Oh and one more thing: the umps. Bloody frustrating and seemed to keep the cats in the game, some downright bizarre calls (we got a couple as well).

Melksham at his best is pure quality, 2020 was poor from him but so it was for others who have been good over the first few rounds. Here's his chance at redemption. Sparrow will be back.

Will be interesting to see if Duursma gets some kind of MRP review, the ball was dead and the port player completely vulnerable and not expecting a bump. Could’ve been really dangerous had his head hit the LED sign, it’s a really thuggish thing to do.

Really glad to hear it, I feel like it was bad wording then. Perhaps saying in order foe you to specify where you want to sit you have to pay extra.

Bearing in mind I live in the UK so might not be up on what’s going on with ticketing, I saw the guide to match day email and it was saying at the bottom that if you’re a general admission member you select that option and then pay a further $50 to get a reserved seat. Is that a mandatory option? If so then the AFL and MCG are an absolute disgrace, surely if you’re a gen admission member you select that option and if finds you a spare seat that you don’t have to pay for. People were doing it tough last year and most held onto their membership last year despite there being zero value to it, to make people cough up more money to go to a match that they have already paid for with their membership is disgusting. Someone please tell me this isn’t the case...

I have been thinking about this ever since our first two rounds of awful kicking about whether training at Casey is hampering our goal kicking practice. Fritta in particular I’ve considered it because I notice the tough angles he seems to make a damn good first of or kicks them on game day but the easy ones he misses.

Looks like Essendon aren’t going to be as bad as people thought they might be, it’s the best part of this time of year because you’re still finding out how good/bad a team really is. Case in point is us where we have won the first 3 but we’re still really waiting to see where we sit in the actual rankings. Credit to Sydney for managing to rebuild so quickly without having too long down the bottom. I know there’s a degree of enjoyment with seeing certain teams get shafted by the umps, but ultimately you just want a level contest that is purely decided on which team is better on the day/night.

Alright, not a bad plan. I don’t like Eddie but when he gives something some thought and passion he can get things moving. But speaking of put up or shut up, maybe he should put his hand up for a board member (or even president) role. The break down of his ideas with my thoughts Roofed stadium - 100% and see if you can get Cricket Australia in on the party. No more cricket called off for bad weather down there. Money and commitments - I totally agree that if they want to get into the competition they should be committing to providing something right now in both money and players. There should be a pathway set up (perhaps state sponsored academy opportunities with Vic clubs). One club commits to being the team that keeps footy there - definitely. No more shared duties with North/Hawks, and stop sending low key matches there. There needs to be a Essendon vs Carlton or Hawks vs Pies that gets the town buzzing. 20th team in North QLD/NT - bold but not against it. My concern would be can the AFL afford to support another club that could be a drain. That said we would be truly the National game, it’s a good statement to have. A third SA/WA team would be the safer bet. 20 rounds - play each other once. Yes to this for sure. Flip flop the draw so there’s no fixing it, play each other once at home one year, away the next. No more sending us to KP every year Final 12 - hell no. Rewarding mediocrity. Maybe do a final 9 that has 8th vs 9th play an elimination wildcard game in the finals bye week. Perhaps to add another bold element, reduce the players out onto the field down to 16 with 4 on the bench. We can then make list sizes a little more compact therefor not stretching the talent pool as much. Some interest thoughts from Eddie though, I’m not sold but if Tassie is to come into the comp it needs to be better than just being a top up club. There has to be buy in from Tasmania to make it an attractive club to play for.

It’s interesting seeing the debate of Jetta vs Hibberd. For me I look at it as pure quality and I think Hibberd is ahead of Jetta in most key aspects, I also feel that when he needs to be Hibberd can play defensively. If it was just that change we have a bit of flexibility with Jordon and Sparrow as potential options to move onto a small forward. It’s a really tough call though. As for Jonesy and his 300th, he’s doing his role. He’d be in our bottom 8 players but he’s contributed positively every week so far so right now every game he gets isn’t being gifted at all. Moot point right now.

I think it’s more to do with where they rank Hibberd vs Jetta. Hibberd can play tall and small, and probably has more legs in him. I agree that Jetta’s first two rounds were good so I’d hesitate to drop him, but he was found out against Greene and made some very poor decisions along the way. Why he chose to scoop the ball back for Greene’s first goal baffles me with his experience, clearly could’ve rushed the behind. If the club stays healthy (big if knock on wood) I’m starting to wonder if we take more of a squad mentality along the lines of football teams in Europe. Perhaps we rotate some of the players in and out to keep them and the team fresh, don’t do more than say one or two changes per week but give others a crack, while potentially giving some older players rests/lighter loads.

Looking at the other goals surely he wins again. Betts’s goal is class but actually tame by his standards, the Pies goal is a great team goal but goal of the week? Kozzie makes the ground for the intercept, keeps his feet, picks the ball up cleanly and then snaps across his body with only his instincts on where the goals are.

I’ve long believed that over the years we have really been in contention, luck has been the variable we haven’t had and it’s also the variable most premiership teams have had. Look at the doggies drought breaking year, they got luck with the timing of their form spike (plus some very one-sided umpiring in the GF). No way were they the best team that season. The Pies when they drew with the Saints, were it not for a bad bounce for Milne the Saints would have won the first week. Even Essendon in 2000, they had zero injuries that season. They were a powerful and good team, but I think they changed their squad twice in the year.

Definitely not locking in anything, we're looking good but if we've learned anything from the first few rounds it's that being off your game by a little bit can catch you out big time. I live in the UK so let me say this to any Dees fan that can make it to the G, GET THERE AND MAKE SOME NOISE!!!! When I watch it this week I want to hear a noise level like what we had in the elimination final against the cats in 2018, be that extra element that gets the boys over the line like the cats have at KP.

Looking at the clip again the thing I really love about it is he backed himself in 100% all the way. Trac was right around him, LJ was there as well but he put the burners on and took it upon himself. I felt last year he was a classic case of a young player trying to find his feet, sometimes getting caught in two minds on whether to give it off or take the shot. Now he's making the decision and there's no second guessing it. The Brayshaw goal you could say he might've found a way out of traffic but in the split second he had to make the call he made it and gave Gus a shot on goal. Get out to the G on Sunday Dees fans, make some noise for Kozzie!

I don’t know if defeatist is the fair way of describing it. Deboer did a very good job on forcing him out of the contest, I think Oliver and the coaches wanted him to try to shake the tag but sometimes the tagger is beating you, that has happened to some of the best the game has ever seen. He moved into positions to allow his teammates the best opportunity to get the clearance, that’s not defeatist, that’s team footy. I didn’t feel like he had the best attitude but the best way to respond to it will be to get back to his best against the cats. It won’t be easy as I’m sure they’ll have someone wear him like a glove.

Sadly I disagree with that, his goal kicking has been very suspect from day one. He’s not the only gun midfielder who does that, Dangermouse is another example of a player who fluffs a lot of set shots on goal. What I didn’t like about his game wasn’t that he got tagged out of the middle, or that he missed those relatively easy shots for goal, it’s that every time he made a blue, got beaten, or missed a goal he had a smug smile on his face. I love Clarry, so don’t think I’m a basher, but it’s a common trait of his to try to smile it off. His attitude was very poor until he got off the leash in the final quarter.

If anyone is talking us up then they aren’t true rusted on Melbourne fans. I’ve been happy with our wins, but they’ve been far from polished wins and they’ve been against average to decent opposition. Sydney beating the tigers at the G was a much bigger win to put a team in the frame than us beating an ego-bruised but wounded Giants in Canberra. I wouldn’t say we’ve beaten nobody, if our three wins were Kangaroos, Essendon, and Hawthorn then I’d be saying we haven’t beaten anyone of note. But Freo gave us trouble last year, Saints have always had something over us and played finals last year, while GWS have some absolutely guns and were copping a belting from the media. All three were both winnable and losable, but guess what, we won!

He’s put the competition on notice now, so get ready for the tag and defenders roughing him up. I don’t know why but I can very easily see Nibbler being the first in to protect him. I think the boys should be ready to “fly the flag” against the cats. For that matter though Kozzie tackles as hard as anyone in the team so he will be up for it!

Here’s the thing for both Trac and Clarry, some clubs over the last 10-20 year have managed to create history and dynasties by keep the list together because the players have bought into something that means more than money. I guarantee you that there are players from the past that have taken a contract that yielded them say an extra $300k but sacrificed the chance of playing in a premiership. They might say differently but I bet you they’d trade that extra $$$ and more to have a premiership medal. This doesn’t mean that Trac and Clarry should undervalue themselves, but should we keep playing well and give ourselves a genuine shot at the big one, these two may well need to make the choice: money or legacy. I think if we keep playing well and winning then these two (and other important players) won’t be going anywhere.

I mean that’s a forward line that you wouldn’t hate seeing at AFL level. Flew very much under the radar (I like it) but both played in a Casey/Melbourne intraclub match. Nothing said about how anyone did but that’s big for their recovery. Fingers crossed for clean bill of health after next weeks games. ?

I gave him top votes this week, might’ve been a little rose coloured glasses as he’s always been a favourite of mine, but no doubt it was his best game since he burst onto the scene as a running half back. What I really liked was that the first half he got the ball and dashed away but stuffed the disposal, second half he lowered the eyes and started hitting targets. He probably wasn’t BOG, but if he can get confidence from that game and continue with it we’ve got a proper dashing HBF weapon.

Totally agree with all of that, particularly the bit about the pies. They must’ve lost a lot of credibility with the way they went about their business during the trade period was awful, I know there’s a level of prestige and exposure that comes with playing for Collingwood but why would you trust them after how they handled those two players exits?

It’s strange but Tom seems to play better when he is not directly targeted by our players but rather comes later to the forming pack and jumps with full conviction. This week he looked more like his 2020 self where he was having the ball kicked directly to where he was rather than him moving to accept it. I like Gawn having stints in the forward line at times but I also really like it when he plays the sweeper role that prevents other teams from kicking long.