poita

As with Hawthorn taking Scully & Patton from GWS on seemingly favourable deals, the eagerness of NM to be done with Brown should have been a warning sign for Melbourne. But yet again we were so desperate to add talent from other clubs, instead of developing our own, that we rushed in to sign Brown with $3M worth of contract. Thankfully we had talked McDonald's value down so far that there were no takers, otherwise we would be looking at starting another season with Weideman as our only true key position forward.

It seems unlikely that Downie and Gay will rejoin the team this week, so we'll need to go with last week's side again. I haven't seen Richmond play, but this strikes me as the sort of game that we have historically struggled with. Our forward line looked okay last week, but the defense looks undersized. I think we'll need to throw Scott back as reinforcement. Hopefully our midfield can dominate and we can keep the ball in our forward half much more than we did last week.

I'm looking forward to see whether the team has improved some of its connection issues from last year. There is no questioning the ball winning ability of the team and they generally create plenty of scoring opportunities, but the forward line setup rarely worked last year. The younger players are so much more advanced than most of the older players were at the same stage. It was crucial that we added some serious young talent in the last draft, and it will be a lot of fun watching these players develop over the next few years. With 8 of 14 teams playing finals, every team would be expecting to play finals each week. This group should be looking to finish 4th - 6th, all things being equal regarding injuries and fixturing, so winning the first two games is essential.

Unfortunately this is just the way Goodwin rolls. No ruck depth, no key defensive depth, starting to look light on in the middle as well with no kids coming through. Basically just cross your fingers and hope for the best. But why bother with these critical positions when you can have 27 small forwards on your list?

I'm more interested in Salem's future than anyone else on our list. At the moment he's a good, occasionally very good, player. There is no doubt he has the ability to be much better than that. Would another club, say Essendon or Hawthorn, make him an offer he can't refuse based on potential? Will he take another step forward this year and make himself indispensable at Melbourne? Or is he happy just being a top 10 - 15 player at a middling club? Gawn will resign, but hopefully on a reduced rate. The other five could all be gone by year end.

Laughable comment and totally unhelpful.

Great decision, she is a gun.

Some more information from the AFL website. Karen Paxman's haircut reminds me of Nathan Carroll. https://womens.afl/news/55794/practice-matches-pies-stun-roos-dees-and-lions-impress The Cats were on fire early, booting four of their five goals in the first term, but struggled to maintain their intensity as the match progressed and the Dees kicked into gear. Maddie Boyd was a dominant force up forward early, booting two goals, while developing Cats mid Becky Webster put in a solid performance and Denby Taylor was typically tough in her first game since an ankle injury ended her 2020 AFLW season in round two. Rising Melbourne midfielder Tyla Hanks – already earmarked to spend much more time on the ball in 2021 – was her side's best, while Lily Mithen was strong rotating between the middle and forward. Forward Jackie Parry, whose 2020 debut was delayed until round four due to a hamstring injury, found some space in attack, finishing with two goals. The Dees picked up two minor injuries, with All-Australian captain Karen Paxman (who was excellent in the half she played) initially sending some anxiety around the ground with what was ultimately a corked quad, and defender Meg Downie finishing on crutches with a sprained ankle. GEELONG 4.0 4.0 4.2 5.4 (34) MELBOURNE 0.1 5.3 7.5 8.7 (55) GOALS Geelong: Boyd 2, A. McDonald, Clarke, Purcell Melbourne: Parry 2, Paxman, Mithen, Hanks, Cunningham, Zanker

I'm in no way condoning Patton's behaviour, but I hope that all those laughing at Hawthorn's current situation are prepared for this story to expand in other directions. There is no way that he is the only listed AFL player to be acting in this manner.

I'm okay with him getting a shot as the last player on the list if he has some potential. The issue becomes when we give a bloke a shot, then keep him on the list for way too long (eg Bedford & Chandler).

Once again I think this club is taking it's existing, long term members for granted. I, for one, am bitterly disappointed that they haven't acknowledged our loyalty by waiving reserved seat fees and other such payments that provided zero benefit last year. This generosity is not going to last forever, and a club that has played finals once in the past fourteen years can't afford to be upsetting its loyal supporters. They acknowledge that we had one of the lowest cancellation rates in the league, and even with that we lost $2.9M. That follows on from a $1.6M loss in 2019 when we couldn't capitalise on playing finals the previous year. These losses are becoming ingrained and at some point we will exhaust these remaining cash reserves. Then presumably we resort to selling the Bentleigh Club, and eliminate our last non-football asset. We don't have enough income coming in from sources other than an under-performing football team. This is not sustainable in any environment, let alone one in which a global pandemic can reduce football income to nil in the blink of an eye.

Is there any chance that this poxy excuse for a website might be updated some time this millenium? The AFLW draft was more than 10 weeks ago and we still don't have pictures of the draftees on the website. The men's page has not been updated for any post season player movements, although it is good to see Oscar McDonald still on the list. I get that clubs are working with a skeleton staff, but surely someone can spare five minutes to add some pictures to the website.

Pretty exciting really to contemplate who we might get with our first pick at #40 or thereabouts in a strong draft. Or will we trade away first round picks for the next 10 years to get back into the first round?

Do we have room to add another 170cm forward in the rookie draft? I'm worried about our lack of depth in that area.

No coincidence that Mahoney has been a senior member of the football department for 13 seasons, during which time we have played finals just once. He hasn't been able to get the right support network for Goodwin in that time, and we have a playing group that stills picks and chooses when it wants to play. His appalling contract management has held us back for years, to say nothing of signing off on years of ridiculous pick trading which leaves us without a meaningful selection in next year's super draft. Essendon are welcome to him - they deserve each other.

Oscar McDonald provided better value for the size of his contract than Lever. Ditto Frost. I love Max Gawn, but gun ruckmen don't win premierships in the modern era. I'll always believe Mahoney is clueless until he stops giving four and five year contracts to average footballers (and three year contracts to players with major injury concerns). If you are less than 180cm tall, you'd better have some serious talent. We have three such players who have no place on an AFL list. If you are less than 190cm tall and can't get a kick in two years at VFL level, you'll never get one at AFL level. Weideman will never be a quality AFL forward, and I can't see him and Ben Brown working well in the same forward line. Jackson will never be a quality AFL ruckman. Tom McDonald is a better player than at least 2/3 of our current list. Jetta should have retired. Trading out future draft picks is the AFL equivalent of a ponzi scheme that will hurt us big time at some point - probably next year.

The development boss who hasn't actually developed any young players in the past four years? I'd say not.

Chandler, Bedford, Jordon, Kolodjashnij, Nietschke. We're heading into 2021 with five blokes on the list who will give us nothing. This club is so weak at times. So we get to the end of next year and presumably Jetta & Jones retire. We've got five clear delistings carried forward from this year (see above), plus M.Brown. We also have Baker & Neal-Bullen come out of contract. That leaves an absolute minimum of 8 to 10 players to replace at the end of next year, and we currently don't have a first round pick. This is going to end really badly.

There aren't two players in the entire football playing population of Australia who are better prospects than Chandler & Jordon? I find that absolutely extraordinary, particularly given that neither plays a role that can't be easily replaced.

By my calculations Salem is now the sixth longest serving player on the list, but he still seems happy to just coast along and be a good solid role player. I hope he has watched Petracca's progression towards being an elite player and really dedicates himself to maximising his ability over the next couple of seasons. I believe he has the ability, but don't believe he has the desire.

Only Melbourne would sign a bloke to a five year contract and then play him everywhere but the position that justified the contract. I almost wept as I watched Sparrow get monstered by Boak against Port whilst Harmes was stinking it up on a HBF. I rate Harmes as a defensive midfielder resting forward, but I'm not sure he can do much else.

As good a season as I have seen from a Melbourne midfielder since Woewodin's Brownlow year. B&F win, All Australian, top 3 in all of Brownlow Medal, Players Award & Coaches Award. Congratulations Christian, you worked your backside off and got the rewards. Now the challenge is to back it up next year.

I like him, but we can't persist with this ridiculous situation where Goodwin won't play him in the one spot that suits him well. He's not a wingman or a half back, if we can't / won't play him in the middle, then we need to maximise his value and trade for a better fit.

Unquestionably the best ruckman in the competition and a great leader and ambassador for the club, but our lack of success over his career confirms that there is almost zero correlation between being an elite ruckman and being part of a successful team. I'm not saying I'd actively try and trade Max, but I'm not sure that I'd stand in his way either if he wanted out at some stage and we had the opportunity to add a top CHF or CHB to the list.

We took a punt that cost us little and ultimately delivered nothing, so we move on. I hope Harley doesn't sit back in a few years and think what might have been if he had been able to see this season through.