Jaded No More

We did it with JVR and aren't you glad we did! I trust that our coaches, who watch him play each week and train multiple times a week, know exactly what they are doing.

He was really good on the weekend. I know we played Coburg and they are terrible, but he looked promising both in the air and at ground level. He needs to put on more muscle so he doesn't get push off the ball at AFL level, but I reckon he has all the markings of a good modern day KPF. Athletic, able to take contested marks as well as compete for the ground ball.

Because he loves to steal our Western Australian talls and over pay for them

Peter Bell is crying

On the socials today there is a video of the full group doing run throughs and Clarry is in there.

What a risky sub choice

Signed for another year with the Crows. He is a questionable human, but is aging like fine wine. Kudos to him, has had an unbelievable season.

Who is going to be the one to tell him?

Burgess came straight over to our bench after the game on Sunday and gave Goody and a few of the trainers/fitness guys a hug. Was nice to see. I was tempted to kidnap him and not release him back to SA until he gets Clarry back to playing.

For mine we need Hibbo back this week. Richmond have too many dangerous smalls, and this dude called Dusty who can do a thing or two. McVee might be due for a rest anyway. Bowey has to stay in, we can't lose one of the few really good ball users in our side, especially if we are trying to play more attacking footy.

I think people are overrating Richmond again Their last month: - Smashed by Brisbane by 81 points at the Gabba - Beat Sydney at the MCG by 13 points - Beat West Coast by 38 points - Beat Hawthorn by 1 point after trailing all game They are still a threat, especially with Dusty in good form, and they took it right up to us earlier in the year, so of course we have to take them seriously. But they will struggle to make the 8, with games still to come against us, Dogs, Saints and Port away. They had the draw, but so did Geelong and Carlton, who are on the same number of points, but have a far better percentage.

I don't disagree, but I don't think there are any of these types available at the moment. Larkey was my great white hope, but he's chosen to stick with North. Naughton seems doubtful, but would be really good if he doesn't re-sign with the dogs next year when OOC. Hopefully Jefferson becomes that player for us. He looks to be developing nicely at Casey, just needs like 10-20 more feeds per day.

Georgiadis on the cheap is our most likely option, but he won't play until at least the middle of next year with his ACL. JT is a big fan and wanted us to draft him, but Port got in first.

Freo supporters digging their heels in and reckon the Jackson trade has been worth it. Such a bunch of cute delusional purple idiots

Freo’s percentage should get worse with games against Geelong in Geelong, Brisbane and Port.

Sure, you got a few mines laying around you could gift him? He is signed at West Coast and they have showered him with money we cannot possibly match. And he’s a local boy. A nice dream.

Oliver has one thing over those other mids. He has great bursting speed and he can pick the ball up off the ground at top speed. It’s why we looked so good with Kosi in the middle on Sunday. Kosi can also pick the ball up at speed and burst through. He’s no Clarry tho because he doesn’t do it 30+ times a game. I think you are completely underestimating what an impact losing Oliver has had. For one it allows teams to put more time into defending the stoppage, it’s why we’ve reverted to having an extra mid at stoppages, which has seen our forward half pressure drop off as a result. Secondly he’s the best clearance player in the game, so we’ve dropped right back in our clearance numbers, where as we usually sit comfortably in the top 2-3 in the competition. That impacts how we play and how much harder we have to defend. It also meant we couldn’t play Trac forward as much as we would have liked, when we desperately needed a forward spark. You cannot tell me that Clarry playing against GWS isn’t worth more than the 2 points we lost by. Or that Geelong dominates clearances in the last quarter like they did, if Clarry is playing. Any side that misses their best player for 3 months is going to be impacted by it. Maybe May is a bigger loss because we don’t have as many good tall defenders as we do inside mids, in terms of balance to the side, but you can never replace star power like Clarry. To say we are a better side without him is laughable. He’s a 2 time coaches award winner, a 4 time B&F winner and a 3 time AA. At 25. He is a freak.

A real Peter Bell type move that one

I think it’s far too late in the season to be making those types of moves. It’s a very Hail Mary desperate scenario if you’re throwing a guy who hasn’t played forward in 10 years up forward 5 weeks out from finals. The FD clearly don’t like Tomlinson, and I can’t figure out why. He comes in and plays well then inevitably gets dropped when the first choice defender is fit to play again. It’s pretty rough on him, and I can completely understand why he’s looking elsewhere. I think Tomlinson’s biggest issue tho is his pace, which is why he would struggle as a forward and it’s why BB is struggling to impact as much as we’d like him to. He was a really dangerous forward when he was on the lead. But he doesn’t have any power to accelerate anymore off the mark which is a shame, because it makes him easier to defend.

Demonland is certainly not the place to come for rosy views of Melbourne… you’ve been here long enough to know that 😂

I’m all for Petty going forward. I’ve said that over and over again. Clearly Goodwin and co want him down back. Brown is playing for lack of options. It’s no wonder they’re trying to force the forward issue with Grundy. They know BB and Tmac are cooked and we need another big body to force a contest, but Grundy will never have the forward smarts or leading patterns of Ben Brown. Go back and watch some of the goals yesterday. The space we were able to find inside 50, was often because Ben Brown was leading higher up to pull his defender and open the space behind him for the likes of Kosi and Chandler, who could never take a mark with a big pack around them (and rightly so, they’re smalls). He still, bung knee and all, commands respect in the contest. Do I think he is just about done? Yes I do. Do I think anyone has the right to call him soft? I think you and I both know the answer to that. A man who has kicked over 300 AFL goals and was an integral part of a premiership winning forwardline, is not, never has, and will never be soft. And on a side note, he is also a magnificent human off the field who gives a lot of his time to worthy causes. He deserves more respect than he’s currently being shown by a few keyboard heroes.

It’s the state of the AFL media as a whole that gets to me. The sensationalist garbage and the reactionary narrative. It doesn’t matter who it’s about, you would hope that you could listen and actually gain something from these so called experts. You can’t. I get more valuable information on Demonland than I do in the media. But most people only go off what they hear on the radio or watch on TV, and so the BS narrative continues. It’s pretty pathetic that a multi billion dollar industry with over a million paid members, has to be subjected to such rubbish low level analysis from morons who can hardly string 2 words together. So laconic 🙄😂

I could not give a flying elephant what any of these idiotic commentators have to say. I just think it’s hilarious how they continue to underrate us. Tomorrow they’ll be like “Melbourne is not a top 4 side, I believe North is ahead of them” 🙄

Can’t wait for the “drop Buddy” posts next year calling him old and soft and a has been.

Because his knee is a very valid excuse for why he’s not the player he once was. To call him soft when he’s playing in pain and risking further injury is absolutely a pathetic call from someone sitting in the comfort of their home behind a keyboard. Why is he playing? I’ll let you work it out. Hint: it’s because he is the smartest and most effective key forward we have in terms of bringing ball to ground, leading and creating space, and not getting out marked. Even with a bung knee.