Jaded No More

We are not sitting 10-0 this year. We need to secure at least two of the next four wins or we may not even make top 4.

We have 4 incredibly difficult and important games coming up. This is not the time to rest our best goal kicker.

Of course knowing our luck it’s some sort of rare hamstring injury that only 3 people on earth have sustained and all 3 ended up with a full leg amputation 😂

Paging @WalkingCivilWar for the latest

I’ve been saying this for years. Gawn gets illegally manhandled more than any other player in the game and we just sit back and let it happen as a club. Imagine if he played for Geelong. Scott would not stop sooking about it until something was done. Why is Gawn allowed to be hit high repeatedly but a Melbourne player contesting a spoil ends up having to go to the appeal board just to be allowed to play?

How was Petty moving?

What? How can there be damage and recovery all within 48 hours? What sort of wizard is Oliver?

But appealing is a waste of time and money and it’s an unnecessary distraction. This should never have been a suspension.

So at least we know his hamstring is still at least somewhat attached to his body… or he’s doing a Steven May circa 2021 😂

Glad we are challenging. MRO hates us and I’m sick of it.

Is Petty still in the moon boot or wearing real shoes? Bowey making an appearance is good. His calf must be ok. Will go cry in the corner about Oliver now.

Of course we can win without him. But to say that he isn’t an enormous loss is frankly admitting that you don’t watch Melbourne play. If tomorrow was the grand final and Oliver was out, would you feel confident of winning?

If we lose 2 of the next 3, which is possible, we will likely miss top 4. The season is a waste if we don’t win a flag. This is just where we are at with our list. Making up numbers isn’t a pass mark anymore. Our supporters majorly UNDER rate Oliver. He is a once in a generation midfielder. Supporters don’t know how good we have it because he’s rarely missed a game. You take him out of our shallow midfield, and we go from an A grade midfield to a C grade midfield. Viney is a good player, but without Clarry and Trac who are A++ players, our depth is significantly tested. Even with Oliver in the side dominating weekly, we are struggling to beat top quality midfields. You think without him it’ll get easier? We are playing an in form Freo, an under the pump Carlton and the goddamn Pies in the next month. We lost to Freo this time last year with Oliver and haven’t beaten the Pies in years. I was already worried about the next month, especially after our poor first half against a quality side in Port. Now it just got that much harder because our best player is out injured.

That would be best possible case. But the next two games are no walk in the park based on our current form and clearance woes.

Get Angus to nullify Andrew. That will go a long way to beating Freo.

Sparrow was badly missed on Friday night. He does a lot of work off the ball to help Trac and Clarry. His absence meant that Port could shut down Viney, which they said was a tactic post match, and it left us very vulnerable in the middle. People underestimate his role. I’m glad he’s back this week. Just sucks that Dunstan is injured! Rubbish timing.

Why did he even go back on? I would rather risk Bowey blowing a calf, than Oliver getting a grazed pinky.

Why couldn’t this happen during our stretch of playing cellar dwellers? Why now?

And even if they lift by 845% they still won’t reach Clarry’s level of talent, skills or importance to our side.

I mean who am I to be dramatic or negative, but I feel like I’m just going to come out and say it. We are cooked.

I’m now in the mindset that we are unlikely to win the flag and if we do, then it’ll be a nice surprise.

BECAUSE WE ARE IN PANIC MODE

WHY OH WHY DID HE KEEP PLAYING?????????

I know this will come across as incredibly defeatist, but I rather not make a grand final, than make one and lose to the Pies.