The heart beats true

Is there any point not showing the players a countdown clock anymore? They know anyways.

Zero chance

The Pies speed on the ball is catching everyone out, but like our strength behind the ball last year it’s also the opportunity. I’d be very confident that by mid next year coaches have figured out Collingwood. Might be better to give up clearances and have more numbers back. Let them run themselves ragged and trust that their run and gun style will give you opportunities on the rebound.

I really liked returning home late from games and reading how it sounded like we weren’t making any noise from those who watched on the TV.

I reckon if he was in this years draft he’d be top 5. He’s developing very, very nicely.

I think we have to play him forward, fully understanding that our defence will be weakened. Smith, Turner and Tomlinson need to step up and fill his void. Petty, JVR and TMac forward of the ball (with Fritsch and Koz) is a massive step up from what we had last night, and is significantly harder to defend.

The cupboard isn’t bare. This is making me feel better.

JVR, Petty and TMac up forward in the AFL please.

Any idea when memberships go on sale for 2023?

Watching Casey one of Turner, Smith or Tomlinson need to become our third defender. Petty to go forward and work with JVR, Fritta and Kozzy for the next decade. Tom Mac to come back next year. All of a sudden our forward line looks a lot more dynamic. I love what the Casey boys are offering up today. A nice little reminder that we’ve got options.

After we won 10 straight? Doubtful

I think in 40 years we will still look back and think ‘how did we lose 2 finals on the G to interstate sides?’. For me I think you have to go back to the middle of the year. The game plan began to be exposed, until the formula to beat us solidified. Simon is a systems coach. He backs in his system every time. Once it was exposed we couldn’t do it for 4 quarters teams got a lot of confidence they could outwork us. I think we assumed at some point it would click. That’s the learning for the footy department. Make it click. Work on it. Don’t expect that it will. I hope it’s the making of a more adaptable side.

Did we ever get to the bottom of why Laurie is out?

That bloke worked for CUB. They sell the coin toss as part of the multi million dollar sponsorship packages.

I reckon he’s been hampered since he got that knee injury in July. Not had the same leap or drive in his running.

That makes sense in terms of our list demo and recent scaled contracts.

I agree with you to a large extent. I think we got complacent about the plan. I think we probably had the right to try the plan again, but it didn’t work for months and nothing shifted. If anything straight sets will show us how far off we are with the current plan.

I find it fascinating how people want to ignore the obvious. Outscored after halftime in 11 of our last 15 games, gave up 22 point leads 6 times (all during that period), and won only 6 of our last 14 (one of those being daylight robbery against Carlton) Sometimes the simplest answer is a big part of the answer. Watching at the G you can see we didn’t have the legs to go again and again after half time for the last few months. I will never know but I strongly suspect we tried to replicate 2021 in terms of training load but didn’t have the same base due to a shorter preseason, and more injuries to contend with. We had absolutely nothing to give after halftime for 3 months. I interpreted Goodwins post Game comments last night to essentially say that the club was going to investigate this.

Fitness

If Freo get rolled this week I expect an announcement this week. Is that unrealistic? Goodwin made it sound like they expect to know in the coming days.

And we are back talking about the 2018 preliminary final review/lack of review again. Let. It. Go.

Do you really think any Melbourne supporter is shocked to see a stat that says we haven’t been a consistently good side for 30 odd years? We all live it BBP. I didn’t mean to come across so dismissive. I just feel like we all know this in our bones 👍

This narrative is absolute rubbish. 85% of the crowd last night was Melbourne. Every metric you look at shows we have the second best turn up of Members to games across the comp (second only to Freo because of their member numbers and where they play). The supporters are tired of seeing the side get beaten in exactly the same way for the last 3 months. Last night we turned up and we wanted it. I can not stand that supporters blame other supporters. It’s factually incorrect, and an entirely useless exercise.

What an utterly meaningless stat.

The vast majority of supporters around me were fantastic. I have to say, and this is a criticism I’d gladly tell anyone at the club who’d listen, it’s incredibly difficult to go to our home ground (which we’ve been banned from for 2 years prior) and see the side get beaten in such a comprehensive and consistent manner after half time week in and week out. I know people have been critical of the supporters but each game was so eerily similar I think it’s a lot to ask of supporters for them not to go into their shell and think ‘here we go again’.