poita

Shocking timeslot, but any games we get to go this year are a bonus. A 25K crowd would be a good result given where the two teams are at.

If you are going to play three crumbing forwards, then you need some big contested marking types for them to crumb to. Crumbers become redundant when the talls are Fritsch, McDonald and Jackson, all of whom are leading forwards, and none of whom really crash packs or provide a strong aerial contest. With our current structure, we may as well play drop Spargo and Neal-Bullen and play Melksham and Vandenberg in their place. At least they are capable of providing a target inside forward 50.

I don't believe we have a Jack Viney problem, but we certainly have a problem with overall team balance. Jack was okay against Essendon, less so against GWS, but will certainly improve with more match fitness. The issue we have is that Viney & Harmes didn't play in the same side between round 2 & round 14. Now we have both playing significant midfield minutes, and that is taking midfield time away from others. All the combinations that were working early in the year have been broken up, and the new combinations are yet to gel. Now we have pushed Petracca forward more, where he is capable but not at his most dangerous; Jordon on to a wing where he is having little impact and is also reducing Brayshaw's effectiveness; Sparrow is inexplicably getting midfield minutes when he is a complete liability in there, and we have to manage Oliver and Viney who can't play anywhere but the midfield. The answer is clearly to remove Sparrow from the equation, and perhaps Harmes needs to spend more time forward unless he has a defensive role to play. Our other key issue is that Jackson is critical to our overall structure, but is contributing nothing as a forward. He has been good in the ruck, but Gawn was conspicuously absent from the centre square for much of Saturday's game.That is certainly not ideal.

Who knew that we lost on Saturday because of umpiring decisions? I had assumed it was because (a) we are incapable of putting the ball between the big posts, (b) most of the players looked completely disinterested for most of the game and (c) the opposition played better than us.

https://womens.afl/news/72888/listen-dees-flag-push-plus-humorous-reaction-to-tayla-trade Interesting interview with Todd Patterson, the AFLW list manager. A fair amount of talk around the trades for Olivia Purcell and Tayla Harris, but also the overall list strategy. Despite the obvious improvement over the second half of the season, there was significant disappointment that they didn't win the premiership. This will be the goal in 2022, as it is every year.

Our 6 specialist forwards contributed a grand total of 3 goals between them last week, and Goodwin thinks that all is well - the mind boggles. How many uncontested marks will Haynes & Davis take this week because we are looking for the marking option that doesn't exist? Forecast is for 60% chance of any rain, with possible rain of 0 - 1mm. Hardly a torrential downpour and certainly no reason to keep Brown out.

We haven't had a home game in Melbourne for 7 weeks. The club can't just assume that everyone is across what the current rules are given that they are changing by the week, if not the day. The club website is typically useless - see below. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/member-ticketing/r16 Do we need to book tickets? Can we use our reserved seats? Does anyone know what is going on?

Jones is still clearly ahead of Melksham and Sparrow in my eyes and, if we ever revert back to 2 tall forwards, there is a further spot available. Spargo's goals have dried up and it would be a big effort for Jordon to play every game. I'm sure Jones could step in for either if required. There are plenty of opportunities for Nathan if we can get some consistent VFL games into him.

I can't believe people are complaining about the umpiring on Monday. We clearly had the better run of things, despite being second to the ball most of the day. Umpiring was about the 833rd biggest reason we lost.

This was the most disappointing thing for me. We were putrid all day, but Collingwood's inaccuracy in front of goal kept us in the game. When we took the lead in third quarter (twice), all we needed was ten minutes of committed, team first football to break the game open. Instead, McDonald misses a sitter, our defensive pressure vanished again and we reverted to the selfish, half hearted football of the first half. Even in the last ten minutes of the game we had chances to put Collingwood under real pressure. Pickett's effort in the dying minutes where he burned Fritsch and dribbled the ball into the square was as bad as I've ever seen. He has generally been very good this year, but no doubt he has listening into hype about his Brisbane performance.

I've never been a fan of Weideman, but I've also never judged him solely on goals, marks and disposals. His output against Brisbane & W.Bulldogs was poor, but he was at least getting to contests and getting his hands on the ball (before fumbling). His effort yesterday (or lack thereof) was putrid. He wasn't even in the screen in most of our 54 forward entries, including a number of occasions when his direct opponent took uncontested marks. If I saw a stat line of 0 scores, 0 marks, 0 kicks & 1 tackle, I would assume the bloke played the last 2 minutes as a medical sub, not a full game in perfect conditions. I said two years ago that his only chance of being a successful AFL footballer was as a defender, and it was just a matter of whether we made the move or his next club did. He is a nice looking footballer who thrives in a sub-standard VFL competition, but he simply doesn't have the competitiveness or workrate to be a quality forward at AFL level. There is no question that he must be dropped for the Essendon game and, if the VFL comp doesn't resurface soon, it is hard to see him playing another game for the club.

MELBOURNE In – Olivia Purcell (Geelong), Tayla Harris (Carlton), picks 44 (Carlton) and 49 (Adelaide) Out – Chantel Emonson (Geelong), picks 15 (Geelong), 32 (Carlton), 42 (GWS) and 47 (Adelaide) That's an amazing deal on the face of it - two mid range draft picks & a fringe player for two potential stars. Well done MFC. Now we're just a key defender away from a premiership team.

The late finish times are a major deterrent for most people attending or watching games, particularly with children. The earlier the better as far as I'm concerned, and that goes for Sunday afternoon games as well.

Good news for all the Melbourne fans who hate Marvel stadium - $225M worth of new function rooms and a market area (whatever that is) will solve all our concerns. Luckily nothing will change re stadium access or viewing from the cheap seats, because we know those things are perfect already. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/marvel-stadium-revamp-to-begin-at-end-of-afl-season/news-story/3c057e6dd89314a778b40199403bb56e

At the risk of derailing this thread further, I am involved with a junior team and only a small portion of the girls teams are currently coached by women. There are plenty of opportunities for women to be involved in coaching roles at our club, either as head coaches or assistants, but they are not volunteering for those roles. There are plenty of women involved in other roles (team managers, trainers, sales, etc), and we get great support at matches, but coaching roles don't seem to appeal. I'm a big supporter of women's football, and it would be great to get greater female representation in our AFLW program, but I think we need to accept that some jobs simply don't appeal to some people as much as they do to others. You mentioned Daisy Pearce as an option. We would certainly want to keep Daisy at the club, but why would someone with two young children and a career want to take on a coaching role as well? I'm no great fan of Mick Stinear, but I'm certainly not forcing him out of a job just to get a less capable woman in the role because it looks good to outsiders.

I would have thought that with Viney's history, you take the initial diagnosis, double it, and then add another week just to be sure. He is his own worst enemy, and has form for coming back too early and causing more damage. I certainly wouldn't be playing him against Adelaide.

I thought we'd drop one of Sydney or Carlton, but am not worried about this week. If we keep doing what we've been doing, I think we'll win and win well.

Chandler was truly awful, and has no place in an AFL side. Some of his decision making and positioning was abysmal. Sparrow is probably the best option, but even Melksham would touch the football occasionally and make his opponent be accountable. As I've been saying since Brown came to the club, he and Weideman are playing the same role and cannot possibly play in the same team. I'd usually prefer Brown but, if he can't take a turn in the ruck, then Weideman gets the gig. Ideally we would replace with another mid sized forward who won't fly for marks against the other talls.

Because every SMJFL player has the option to add a free 3 game St Kilda membership to their playing registration. I get one for my son each year so that I can compare their communications with members to what MFC members get.

NRL clubs have been announcing teams on Tuesdays for years. Not sure why it is so hard for AFL clubs to commit to Thursdays.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

It is really hard to make changes to a winning side when none of the possible replacements (other than Jones & Baker) will have played a game for 17 days by the time next Sunday rolls around. That said, I don't think we played particularly well on Saturday and there are a few players who look in need of a rest or a couple of weeks at Casey. Jordon and Melksham would be the prime candidates.

I've been convinced for weeks now that Max is playing injured, and it is showing in both his ruck work and his marking efforts around the ground. Most likely it is a shoulder or back injury that is restricting his ability to get his arms up and then twist around to hit in a variety of directions. That said, our midfielders too often give up front position at centre bounces and are too often stationary. When Max is hitting to neutral areas, Sydney's midfielders in particular were much quicker to react. It was really disappointing that nobody, particularly Jordon as a more defensively minded player, made an effort to neutralise Parker at any point. Jackson's leap is making up for his lack of height, and his athleticism makes him effectively a fourth midfielder which is tilting the balance in our favour. We look far more dangerous with him in the ruck at present.

Agree re Fritsch, but Salem is sixth in the AFL Coaches Award (ahead of both Oliver and Petracca).

Bad news about the postponement, given we finally have AFL & VFL games in the right order. Is an used AFL injury sub allowed to play the next day in a VFL match, or are they deemed to have played already?