Maldonboy38

We have to play Hore, Petty, Baker, Dunkley and Preuss. They will definitely be at the club next year and need a run of games. If Lever plays, May stays down back. These two plus Jetta and Hibberd need to play alongside each other to develop the connection that has been missing so much. Omac. I passionately defended him about 2 years ago here on DL, saying wait until he has developed to 70 games. I waited. His development has taken a massive step back this year. No more games but keep unless another tall back develops. Long term, I am not hugely impressed by the Wagner boys, so don't mind if they are dropped. And I actually think we a real good chance against the June premiers Collingwood.

Aaah Melbourne, your consistency is ... humiliating.

Sounds like a great appointment. But we have had a lot of "great appointments" - PJ, Glen Bartlett, Roos, Goodwin, Viney as captain, Lever, May ... the list continues. And yet, here we are, sitting 17th on the ladder. This year's pre-season was the big killer for me. Totally stuffed up our season. I know lots of players needed surgery, but to have 17 players not ready by the time the NAB cup (or whatever it was called this year) came around was a shipwreck. If this new fitness fella can be part of renewed matrix, whereby our fitness, medical, sport science, allied health and coaching staff can unite on a pre-season plan that prepares us well for season 2020 - then I might applaud.

Return to the Holding the Ball rule. If you are caught with it - free kick against you regardless of prior opportunity or any other bulldust open to interpretation. Yes, that means you can bounce it, drop it, tap it on in front of you, but not throw it. Most of us older blokes will think of Kevin Bartlett. This means you have to think before you tackle.

I was at the game but got home very late after V-Line decided to go 3kmh through Sunbury and Gisborne. As a supporter, there were very few moments when I was up out of my seat yelling and barracking. It wasn't a very appealing match, and Collingwood have n othing to cheer about. They won off our boot.. Three things dominated Melbourne's loss: Woeful kicking and handballing, often under no immediate pressure, often to stationary targets not expecting the ball. Case in point - late in the last quarter when the game was over, a free Dees player handballed to a free Jones on the far wing, both players 5-10 metres clear of any opponent, and the handball missed Jones by 5-7 metres. Very little movement forward of centre. If we did kick it well, it was to a stationary target, and the Pies backs just floated across to spoil or outmark. I will give some kudos to Weideman who moved well inside F50 after half time. Goal kicking. Not just set shots, but 25m out, roving packs and stoppages and constantly missing the target. I am not a fan of dropping people very week, but 3 clear outs after the QB clash. I hate to say it but Garlett was soft and didn't enter the fray on an umber of occasions when he should have. Spargo ( I have been a bit of a fan) was shown up as having limited impact in clinch moments around goal, and Wagner whose limitations were on show. Not sure how the injury situation is, but would love to have Preuss, Jetta and Lockhart come in.

Love him or hate him, Ablett junior is the best footballer I have seen. That was a roving masterclass last night. At 35, his positioning, pace around the packs and pure skill are simply a pleasure to watch. It's not a wonder that Miers is so good at "front-and-centre"; he only has to follow Ablett around and learn. Pity I loathe the team he plays for so much.

Three combined things; 1. Technique. A lot of players don't have great technique, but their natural eye-hand co-ordination covers for it. Think of James Hird's poor technique, yet he was a wonderful kick. Petracca in particular has a very high ball drop. TMac's is actually ok. Hunt's is poor etc... Whoever is our current goal kicking coach or adviser needs to be replaced because the message is not getting through. Some great explayers with great technique are Barry Hall, Jason Dunstall, Wayne Carey, Matty Lloyd. 2. Routine. Practice the goal kicking routine so much you don't have to think about it. Have a look at Jack Reiwoldt - 3 steps and kick while moving in a direct line to the target, every time. Great to watch. 3. Exhaustion. Our preseason of surgeries and late returns has cost us big time, as has a further poor injury record this year. Strange thing is though that we are missing easy set shots early in games when exhaustion is not yet a factor. If any one of the three above are missing, it is easy to overthink the kick and stuff it up. Welcome to MFC 2019.

I'm glad Ablett got off last week's. For mine it was a free kick and 50m penalty, a small fine at worst. But I have no idea how he got off this one. Atrocious.

I remember the lack of success, and the wooden spoons of the 70's and early 80's. I remember the horror of the Neeld era. We won. I am happy. Unwatchable football and no joy in watching the game, but a win.

Yes, when Trevor Marmalade left, the show changed direction. Talking about football decreased, the journalists began to gain profile and all those annoying political stories and Sam became the central focus. I have rarely watched it since.

It can't just be "this payer for that" because of one or two incidents or because we loathe certain players. Looking over the four quarters there were actually very few 4-quarter players, as each and every one had some very poor patches. Two main issues for me: 1. Our mental fragility. We have lost the chaotic, press forward, run your guts out, manic attack from the last half of 2019 which required a fairly arrogant sense of ability. The players simply BELIEVED. Apart from current and obvious fitness/surgery issues it is this underlying lack of mental confidence and freedom which makes us so wobbly. I see it returning a little more each week but I reckon Weideman was one of the leading sufferers. So who are the other players who are suffering this. Omac? Petracca (occasionally). TMac? Hibberd? Others? 2. The Suns are quick - very quick - and we have seen what speed does to us on the outside. Our main game is winning at the contest then spreading with precision, power and confidence. We might have 1 or 2 too many lumbering types whose lack of pace could be costly. Can we keep OMac, Lewis, Hibbo, ANB, Hore in the team while adding Preuss? Probably not. Not being fully up to date about injuries from the Hawks game, I reckon 2 of OMac, Lewis, Hibbo, ANB , Hore to be moved out. But then, looking through the available players there is a continuing lack of pace.

A pure natural footballer and leader. He was a ball player and a ball magnet. His skill and poise over the ball were only bettered by the great Robbie. It will always be his kicking that stands out most in my memory. Absolute gun of the highest order.

Good question - difficult to answer. You wouldn't pay him more than $500K now and that is not going to happen, unless the Swans paid him $2m in a single season which leaves less in the following years. Not sure if it is within current AFL Player's Association rules to change the contract like that mid-term. We won't end up with him, but he remains effective wherever he plays. Absolute gun.

Sydney have to reap what they have sown. A 10 year contract. No compassion from me there. But I would take a match-winning, 6 feet 5 inches, quick, goal-kicking, freakish super-star any time. Yes, there are times when he is unbelievably selfish and yet there are times when he is ruthlessly selfless. He draws attention to himself and is also able to bring team mates into the game. Is he past his best? Yes. But 85% of Buddy is still about 120% of other footballers. The only question for me would be cost.

A big yes from me.

In the past few years, the Saints have really troubled us with outside pace - especially over the back if any of our midfielders or defenders are slow in their two way running. Lewis will come back in. Even though he is not the player he was and now he makes some decision errors, he reads the game so well, is often in the right place at the right time, and is a defensive beast which we need. But he does not help the outside pace quandry. Hunt has been improving each game, but I wonder if he needs to play wing/half back to help with the defensive spread, and limit the easy one over the back? His pace will be important. Frost's pace was highlighted against Buddy and will be useful against the Saints. Do we consider Garlett and if OMac misses due to concussion, do any of the Casey defensive talls possess decent pace?

Very happy with the result. Even happier that I could watch a game without a gut-wrenching knot in my stomach due to constant dropped marks and kicking errors. I loved the grunt, the really good pressure, and the team defence. A big shout out to the back six who really stood up. To poor old Frosty who can do so much right and so much wrong in the same game - he is the one defender who Buudy will not take on to run away from. A lot to like but an imperfect game. Around the stoppages, Sydney ran and handballed their way around us far too easily for most of the game. LOVED hearing the team song.

The more I think about the game, the more I feel our main problems are twofold: 1. Poise. We get heaps of the ball, we get repeated inside 50 entries, then fold under little or no pressure. I am not expecting players to play without any errors, but more to have a consistent mindset over the ball that minimizes skill and decision making mistakes. 2. Intensity. We can't play a full quarter at the same intensity, let alone an entire game. And often we have whole quarters where every player looks like they are running through mud or jogging around.

Stop the turnovers (the perennial MFC issue since Daniher left) We are way to easy to score against. It looks like we win ball often, then simply turn it over by poor kick or dropped mark while all our players have sprinted forward of the play , leaving us exposed to pace out the back. Must have happened 20 times tonight. I am not a huge fan of dropping players because of single poor games, but Hibberd, Frost, ANB and Omac looked poor for most of the game. Kolodjashnij seemed to pep up a bit. What has happened to Nathan Jones?

What is it with un-pressured errors? Simple, uncontested marks dropped. Un-pressured kicks going sort-of near a target but never hitting. And we are getting slaughtered at the ball drop, which was our strength. Melksham, Kolodjashnij, Omac, Hibberd having absolute howlers.

Quarter 1. Gut wrenching, inadequate, sub-standard, weak in the contest, slow. Quarter 2. Intense, running in waves, hitting targets by foot, actually marking the ball. Following the Dees is always so Jekyll and Hyde. Wagners x 2 and Lockhart looking really good. Gawn decided "enough is enough" and just started chucking himself at it and gut running two ways. what a difference it makes when his mindset changes. The run-and-carry was back. My man Brayshaw - gold!

This weekend raises some interesting discussions, but for me 3 main things: 1. The general quality of football was very poor across most games, with many quarters almost unwatchable. Some atrocious kicking, dropped marks, handballs to no-one. Most games saved by some amazing end-to-end goals that were great to see, and/or some close scores at times the only point of interest. As a footy fan I found most of it fairly boring. 2. Round 1 is absolutely no indication of how this season will unfold. Dees, Eagles, Crows and Pies are nowhere near as bad as they played and we will see a pattern of gradual increase that we saw from Sydney in the Roos era, where he gave no credence to the pre-season games and started most seasons slowly, building through the home and away rounds towards finals. 3. Freo, Lions and Blues will worry a few this year.

Harmes surprised me last year - didn't have him in my best 25 at the beginning of the year. Weideman showed a bit in the finals series and I hope his improvement continues. If vandenBerg can get his kicking for goal worked out (he misses to the right a lot, missing very gettable goals) then he could be a big improver. I think this is his first season having done a full preseason so I reckon we will see a very sharp rise. The one I would love to see fulfilling his potential is Hunt. If he can add composure to his kicking, and staying in the game for longer periods, the sky is the limit. But there is a LOT of pressure on for positions in the back 6.

1. Totally ignored rubbish sports like NBA and NBL, NFL, 50 overs cricket, women's soccer, women's cricket, lame level golf (the level I play at!) and enjoyed telling all within earshot how rubbish these sports really are. 2. Watched 1 of the most sublime games of tennis ever played - Djokovic in the Aus Open final was tennis perfection. 3. Tried really hard to stay interested in the MFC and AFL websites during the pre-season, but got bored really quickly with facile, superficial, vacuous spin masquerading as football news. ... for the love of all things sacred, hurry up season 2019...

I cannot believe that any media outlet is giving airplay to Nick Riewoldt on moral/health issues in sport. Under his leadership and later captaincy, the entire St Kilda playing group was a disgrace to sport for every social-issue reason you could think of - performance enhancing drugs, illicit drugs, sexting and nude photos, sex with probably underage girls, group sex with drugged and drunken girls who might not even have been willing, the list goes on. He was an amazing footballer but has no credibility beyond football.