poita

I fully agree that the competition is a joke, but why wouldn't Casey have a bye in the same week as the senior team? If they didn't, Casey would be fielding 23 Casey listed players whilst the MFC players take their mid season break.

I still feel that our forward line issues are much less to do with personnel and relate far more to our system, ball movement and positioning. We all know Petty is unlikely to ever become a 50 goal a year key forward, and I certainly see his long term future as being in defence. However it is hard to blame him for our current woes when you have Rivers repeatedly bombing away and hitting Howe on the chest, or Oliver kicking out on the full running into an open forward line, or any number of the other blatant skill errors that we saw on Monday. When we put the ball to his advantage and allow him to compete fairly, Petty is not losing too many contests. Van Rooyen in his current mindset is probably a different story.

"Mixed" seems a significant improvement from 7.21. Maybe we will graduate to "Adequate" before the end of the season.

Given how the Brayshaw, Viney and Oliver deals have panned out, I find it unbelievable that the club would go down that path again so soon. I love Pickett and would love for him to play his entire career at the club, but locking him up for 9 years (irrespective of the money) is just ridiculous. There is really no downside for Pickett, as he gets paid whatever happens. And, if the west is calling out to him in a couple of years, does he put out his hand for another pay rise? All the risk is with the club who is stuck with a contract for a player who could lose form or interest in the game, or get seriously injured at any time. And let's be honest, in 9 years time he may well reach the 16 week suspension threshold for automatic deregistration from the league. If we can find some middle ground and give him 5-6 years, that would be perfect.

Daisy is an absolute superstar both on and off the field, and we are so lucky to have had her at the club when we did. Hopefully she will return in a coaching capacity at some stage. As an aside, it is fantastic that Daisy and Erin Phillips have been acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the game. However, and this is said as a fan of the AFLW, I do hope the AFL don't go overboard in trying to fast track large numbers of AFLW players into the Hall of Fame over the next few years. The same eligibility criteria need to apply for the women as for the men to maintain the integrity of the HOF.

Long, long overdue and very much deserved. I was too late to see Robbie Flower at his peak, but Garry Lyon was clearly the best Melbourne player I saw play until Gawn and Petracca hit elite status. He was an All Australian as both a defender and a forward, he captained Victoria when State of Origin was still big business, he was a fantastic captain and leader of the club and a great spokesman as well. Unfortunately injuries cost him a lot of games, and possibly cost him a premiership as well, but he was as good as anyone in the game when fit. Congratulations Garry.

The umpiring was pretty ordinary yesterday, with a handful of particularly awful decisions, and yet it still wasn't the reason why we lost. However, if the AFL was serious about helping the umpires out, the first thing they would do is provide them with a permanent training facility instead of shunting them off to whichever school oval or gymnasium is available on that particular night. The next thing they would do is give genuine support and training to junior umpires in the local leagues, instead of relying on kids in their late teens to mentor kids several years younger than them. They would then identify and nurture those with high potential and ensure that they are given everything they need to improve.

I've been critical of Goodwin, but he did plenty right yesterday to give us a chance of winning that game. Ultimately we weren't good enough to do so. I will say that I think his management of our younger players has been really poor. Lindsay clearly needs a rest (probably should have been the St Kilda game), and arguably Langford as well. Windsor is horribly underdone and out of sorts, and needs a spell at Casey. Tholstrup has been played underdone, deservedly sent to Casey and then brought back without much justification. We've had Sharp and Jefferson sit out this week as emergencies for no reason, when getting game time was more important.

The effort was outstanding, but we're just not a good enough football team to overcome the breathtakingly bad skill and decision making errors that we throw in every time we get some positive momentum. It felt as though almost every Collingwood goal was the result of a Melbourne turnover.

As much I have criticised some of Howes' work over the past year or so, I thought the Freo game was one of his better efforts at AFL level. Therefore it is disappointing that he hasn't been able to work his way back into the squad since then. If the club is convinced Blake's future is as a defender, they really need to have a look at Salem's position, particularly once finals are out of the equation. Other than racking up cheap little possessions, I don't think Salem is offering much as a defender, or as a creative option. I would also like to see Howes get a run up the ground at some point - let's face it, he couldn't offer much less than Sharp or Spargo at this point.

My Dad's metal drink bottle sets off the alarm every week and he gets his bag checked as a result. I'm not sure what they would do if he just kept walking, as anyone with a concealed weapon would.

Not sure whether everyone will be able to access this article, but none of our draft prospects are listed in the top 40 prospects. I assume we're better to buy low and hope they flourish in an AFL environment, rather than having to spend big and hope they make it. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/draft/afl-draft-2025-top40-prospects-for-june-ranked-ahead-of-national-under18-championships/news-story/fda887b8d8c4deae27b2f1e3e92cf9b5?utm_source=HeraldSun&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Editorial&utm_content=HS_PREM-PM_NEW_01&net_sub_id=285217633&type=curated&position=17

Anyone who doesn't think that goal kicking is a skill that can be improved over time needs to look at Russell Robertson's progression across his career. His career goal kicking accuracy was 50% early on, lifting slightly to 55% by 2004, although his kicking was pretty poor that last year. He worked his backside off in the 2005 pre season to improve his technique, and kicked 73.30 that year (71%). He went at above 60% for the remainder of his career as well. There is really no excuse for current players to not be able identify and fix their issues (technical, mental or otherwise) with all the resources at their disposal.

Let's be honest, the $500K we earn from the game equates to around 2000 adult members, or 1000 memberships with a reserved seat. I'd rather we spend our money trying to find some new long term members and sponsors, rather than flying 50 or so people up to Alice Springs to have a mid season holiday and to put in a half arsed effort on the field. There's no doubt we do plenty of good work in the Alice Springs community, but it is not translating to financial benefits for the club or even to support at the ground when we play there. By that measure we could hold our pre season camp up there, or play pre season games there, and still achieve the same good. I think its time to move on and to focus on building connections within Melbourne.

A 5 - 7 win/loss record, a percentage below 90% and six losses of 28 points or more. That is not the profile of a finals side, nor is losing (by big margins) to all of North Melbourne, Essendon and St Kilda. Clearly our season is dead and has been for a long time. The Brisbane game was a pleasant surprise, but the reality is that we've beaten nobody else this year and certainly not by a margin that would suggest that we have come to terms with the way we need to play. Collingwood on Kings Birthday is not the time to throw the magnets around and take risks (it will be ugly enough with the current group), but thereafter we need to get games into that next tier of players. That gives us 10 games to work out whether the likes of Fullarton, Henderson, Culley, Howes, Woewodin, Brown, Kentfield, Sestan and Verrall have a future before we need to make a decision regarding new contracts. Howes, Brown, Woewodin and Sestan are the key names that we have to take a look at, because none of these really justify more time on the list if they don't show some serious signs in a hurry.