Jaded No More

I didn't think it was obvious at all what they were doing. ANB looked set to take the kick, so much so that nobody bothered manning up Lewis. I didn't see it coming and neither did most people at the ground. For all the umps knew, Lewis was telling ANB to settle and take the kick. It's not until you see it close up on TV and you can see him peering around that you think he might pass it off.

At the end of the day we still won the draft because we got Oliver

I didn't hear anyone booing, but if that's true, that is p*ss poor. Booing a player who just came back from the death of his dad and his own cancer battle, is pretty pathetic.

Unfortunately I emailed them and they said it's not being shown. Guess I'll just follow the scores online and watch the replay when I get back to the hotel at night, assuming it's worth watching.

I hear they all spend their pay checks eating smashed avocados. Those animals!

Thanks. Weather looks like it'll be great, especially by London standards! I've been to London maybe 20 times in my life and experienced clear skies probably 3 of those times. Hopefully this is going to be the 4th, and a good omen that the sun will shine on the Dees that day...

When it comes to drafting and list management I would give Jason Taylor and Todd Viney the benefit of the doubt over Silvagni. Just saying.

Cheers. I've sent them an email to see if they'll show the game. I will watch the replay on watchafl but I won't have a chance to sit and watch the whole thing live. Hopefully I can catch the second half over lunch.

Totally random question, but I'm going to be in London on Saturday for work. Any ideas where I can try and watch the game, preferably near Oxford street? Not sure I'll have time but could always sneak a pub lunch and watch the second half, if anyone has a hot tip?

I just can't make sense of this one. I would think the club would at least say something about supporters not touching players?! Come on! Yes we want to move onto next week, but we need to defend our players on these issues.

If you're a Melbourne supporter and you don't love this guy, are you even a Melbourne supporter? Nobody more consistent in his output and application in the team. Has he played a bad game in the last 3 seasons? Am I jinxing him now?

Super disappointed with the club on this one.

Plus I think Tom makes better decision forward of the ball. He is a natural reader of the play, so he can take a mark and knows where to lead. His tank is enormous so he'll run his opponent into the ground, and for some bizarre reason his goal kicking accuracy is the complete opposite of his field kicking accuracy. I think Frost and Omac have done a great job down back, and Joel Smith could be a keeper going forward. We've been crying out for a second tall forward, someone who can really play deep and compete in the air. It frees up Hogan to roam, which is where he excels, and takes pressure off Watts to have to compete in the air all the time, which we know is his weakness. It also gives Weiderman plenty of time to develop in the VFL. It's a total win, and I would definitely be keeping him up forward for the rest of the year.

Fair enough. There were a few Melbourne fans around me who were rubbing their hands with glee when he came off. It clearly looked like a bad injury, so I thought it was pretty poor behaviour. Different he got a bit of a corky and came off, but it looked very nasty. Given how crappy we've had it with injuries to young gun players, I would hate to think our fans would be happy to see that happen to players from other clubs. After all, they are still somebody's kid who is probably watching on horrified.

I hate Carlton, their supporters, their doctors, their fans... but I would never wish injury to a player, especially a young gun player. It's just a crappy thing to do. Cripps had a legit broken jaw, and yes you can play with a broken jaw. What the doctor wrote is out of his hands. It would be the same as West Coast fans being happy if Oliver broke his leg. It's a scummy thing to do.

I don't disagree, but if that supporter said something racist to Jetta and Jetta got stuck into him, would we have the same reaction? Using a disgusting word like c*** at the footy, when there are kids watching, and yelling it directly at a player that got pushed towards the boundary line is as just bad. Players have the right not to cop it from low life scumbags, and you can imagine Oliver's reaction was a split second thing. Besides, if you lay a hand on a player, you are fair game. That is so not OK. I was sitting right about the incident on level 2, and I was shocked he wasn't evicted. I don't think Lewis would have reacted the same, but he has 10 years on Oliver, but to be fair so do I, and I would have told him to shut the f up and eat another donut.

I agree with this, and he will learn as he gets older. But gees players don't need to deal with try hard loser fans getting stuck into them over the fence. Like seriously you fat [censored], go home and polish your concrete mailbox.

Exactly. Cripps got hit rather stupidly by Lewis. Lewis deserved a suspension, and Cripps had nothing to do with the scathing report the Carlton doctor sent. There is nothing to rejoice about a young player getting injured. I think we are better than this as Melbourne supporters. Just as I was happy that Carlton fans did not boo Hogan for his hit on Rowe.

As did Lewis of sorts and he was still pretty poor. As I said above, his disposal and decision making is ordinary at best. He isn't best 22 in my opinion.

Come on, you know me better than that. I don't jump on players for one bad thing. He is consistently poor with the ball in hand. Has been all year. Granted his tagging has been ok, but with no Jones and Viney we can ill afford turnover merchants running around the midfield. I know they won't drop him, but for a "senior" player he is very poor and in my opinion he isn't best 22.

I agree in a way, but it's a team balance thing. If they wanna shuffle the deck chairs, they can drop Kent and bring in JHK or BenKen, but both are as ordinary as the former at AFL level. Kent was super rusty and his goal kicking is pathetic at the moment, but he actually worked harder than he did before he got dropped, so that's a start. He must know he is on thin ice, so I would give him a couple more games until Jones and Viney are ready to come back, and see how he goes. Re: Hogan- he is very short of a run, you could see that. Needs time on the ground to get going. Lets give him 3 more weeks before we start having a go at him. Same for Gawn, both are running in concrete at the moment.

As much as it pains me because I'm a MASSIVE Pedo fan, we can't carry all of Hogan, Watts, Tmac and Pedo, and it's obvious Tmac is the new Gary Ablett Senior. If Tyson and Watts are fit, I would drop Pedo and Melksham I know they won't actually drop Melksham, but I can't deal with him as a footballer. He is awful!

Total understatement. Oliver- as good as any of Carlton's seasoned midfielders. Freak of nature.

100% correct. We were fortunate that Carlton had 2 on the bench, one of which is Cripps who is a star. I hope the kid recovers well. Always terrible seeing a young player go down. Luckily it's not the knee! I was weirdly confident we will win. This was the calmest I have been at a game, even though it was a close contest and I knew there was a lot riding on the result. I kept saying to my dad we will prevail because we are a class above. We played at probably 30% of our best, Carlton were at 100%. We pushed through at the end and won some vital contests and held on for the 4 points. We were so mature in the way we handled this match, missing 5 of our best 10 players, and our entire engine room. Very proud of Oliver, Trac and ANB for stepping up in the absence of Jones, Viney and Tyson. I thought they were exceptional. ANB was brilliant in the last quarter. He has been good all year, and it's obvious his best role is inside mid. That he does some damage on the scoreboard is even better. Great work from our defensive unit too. Best game I've seen Wagner play, and as usual Jetta is a freak. If he doesn't make the AA team, it is as rigged as I believe it to be. He is the best small defender in the competition. I would love for someone to prove me otherwise! Hogan and Gawn will be better for the run. And yes I know Joel Smith was rusty, but gees he has some impressive attributes. I'd love to stick with him. His agility, his speed, his disposal, are all top notch. Love him.

Smith did some good things. It's his second AFL game! Give him a break. Hogan didn't do a lot but his presence further up the ground was very important. Gave Tom more space up forward.