Lucifers Hero

Tomlinson for Petracca would have been a good late change even without knowing May would go down in the first 10 minutes. We knew Petty had been injured the week before and we knew TMc wasn't playing so having Tomlinson in the team or medi sub was the %'age play. Whether Petracca played or not I think we missed a trick not having Tomlinson as medi sub. We may not have won the match with Tomlinson as medi sub but he would have prevented the breakdown in our defence when Petty went down and reduced the need to shuffle so many players into unfamiliar positions. Having said that may we selected Dunstan knowing Petracca wasn't well and kept our fingers crossed on Petty. The medisub was a real dilemma for the coaches. I would have leaned to Tomlinson. It was a 'Murphy's Law' day.

Hi Df, my post after yours isn't related to your 'depth' comment. i was typing while you posted and didn't see it so I wasn't criticising your pov.

I still believe in our depth but yesterday was a bridge too far. A lot of our first choice 22 were out: Salem, McDonald, Harmes, Langdon. All other things being equal we would have won with the selected team. But with May, Petty and Petracca 'not available' (and Max looked hampered) for much of the game it was too much for our replacements Bedford, Dunstan, Melksham and Weideman to plug those gaps. Altho credit to Bedford's work. Which 'absentee' was the 'straw that broke the camel's back'. I don't know. But we had to shuffle best 22 players to unfamiliar roles which weakened structures, ball movement and fwd half pressure. imv that has little to do with our depth.

I think you have the 'cause' and 'effect' back to front: Maybe we were well on top because Gus propped up the defence almost single handedly when others went down. And in the third when Petty was off the ground for part of it and when on heavily restricted, the dam walls broke.

Thanks.. iirc, I think the original question from Demostone was related to the MSD.

They are rookies. Only senior list spots can be used for the MSD.

Buddy has been suspended (but they will most likely appeal).

We lost it because we didn't make the most of our 2nd qtr dominance. And in the 3rd qtr when Petty was off for much of it they took advantage of our lack of height. We moved Weideman back which was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' as it left Brown totally exposed in the fwd line. Max and Jackson couldn't plug the gaps fwd and back. As a result we lost our structures all over the ground. Our ball movement suffered, our confidence suffered and by the time the last qtr started the momentum was all Freo's. The better team won but I can't imagine we will ever play that badly again.

Love what GCS are doing. Annihilated the Hawks!! Hate that Bulldogs will be in the 8 after this weekend. Hopefully, it won't last.

I'm beginning to wonder about our 'we do not rest players policy'. Its admirable but a few players have sustained injuries in the last month: Lever, Max, Petty. And a few played today with heavily bandaged legs. WCE and North were a good chance to give them some respite as we did Viney. Not to mention a bunch had covid which would have taken something out of them. It all adds up to being way off our best physically and today it all came home to roost. While the bye is coming soon I'm not sure that will help players carrying injuries as we get two 9 day breaks rather than a longer break of 13/14 days. Can make a real difference to resting tired bodies and being ready for the second half of the season.

OOps! Try this one. https://www.afl.com.au/video/770136/full-post-match-r11-demons?videoId=770136&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1653732319001

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1134991/rd-11-simon-goodwin-media-conference

Petty was injured last week and surprised to see him selected. Even then I thought he may be a late out when Tomlison was an emergency. Knowing that Petty could break down and that TMc wasn't there for backup if he did, I was really surprised Tomlinson wasn't sub. It was a risk which backfired and made worse by May going off as well.

In the post game Jonathon Brown said it was Matt Stevic, one of the umpires last night. The umpire on the spot (Howorth) has umpired about 50 AFL games, Stevic about 430 games. Stevic must have been in another part of the field. When consulted he was quite clear and definitive about the free and the 50 m penalty not being applicable. If they were to pay the 50m after the siren then they should reverse it for dissent, especially from Riewoldt also after the siren.

To put his Demon career in perspective: when he joined, Salem was in his second year, Brayshaw his first and, Petracca and Oliver had yet to play a game. He had to sit out 2016 but his impact after that is in the same category as Byrne, Vince, Cross and Lewis. They came at a time when we really needed their respective skills and experience. Without him would we have made the 2018 prelim which gave us the finals experience to 2021 success? He has done his job for the mfc and has earnt the right to celebrate his 200th game which haven't come easy. Listening to the interview shows his humility and how special this is for him and his family. Hope they all have a great day.

Some of the 'infringement'/undisciplined act frees of the last few weeks that look 'soft' appear to be when the players are over the boundary line rather than in play. Not sure if that is a rule of the fortnight...

Let's get behind Melksham: unforeseen-success-melksham-s-role-in-demons-rise “I actually didn’t come to Melbourne for finals and flags and stuff like that,” he said....“The club was struggling – or hadn’t had much success...“It’s been awesome.” While Melksham didn’t receive a premiership medallion in the Demons’ historic 2021 premiership, the role he played in getting the club there should never be underestimated. And seeing some of his best mates achieve the ultimate is something he is incredibly proud of. He has been very good for us, not great now but he was key when we needed some silk and experience while our now stars developed around him. And have now overtaken him. He should be praised for his role in their development and his role for us.

Slowing the vision down it looked like Buddy's fist opened at the end of his follow through. He will still just get a fine: Careless, Low Impact, HIgh Contact is a fine. If they rate it as 'deliberate' then it is a suspension. It won't be deliberate as the argument will be he was aiming for his chest but his hand slid high. If it is rated as 'deliberate' it will be appealed to have it re-rated as 'careless' and every chance it he will get off. It seems that being 'behind play' doesn't feature in the MRO's penalty calculation. Anyway, I don't mind if he plays next week as May will take care of him. It was pretty dumb of Hardwick to keep a new draftee (Gibcus) on Buddy until the damage was done. He kicked 4 goals before putting Grimes on him with just 15 minutes to go. Giving a kid experience is one thing but against the best forward of this generation, they deserved to lose the game on that miscalculation alone.

How does this sound for tips: All the Home teams except Geelong, Lions and Saints😉

Lever says: No! Over may my dead body!! Edit: Changed 'may' to 'my' - bit of a difference eh, seeing we have Steven May in the team 😐

Sydney - Help keep Richmond out of finals Giants - Protects our top 2 spot Crows - Help keep Cats out of top 4 Demons - Cement our top two spot Eagles - Help keep Bulldogs out of finals GCS - Like what they are building Roos - Help keep Saints out of top 4 Coll - Help keep Blues out of top 4 Port - Loathe Ess OK - I know someone teams need to make the top but the harder it is the better.

That is exactly why I didn't start the video straight away!

Eagles would do very well if they trade their #1 or #2 pick for two top 10 picks and upgrade some later picks for a late 1st round pick and aim for some combo of Hewett, Gilbey, Busslinger and Broadbent all from WA. That will get their rebuild off to a decent start and save them the trouble and trade cost of trading WA talent back from interstate at a later date. iirc most of their 2021 draft choices were from WA.

Glad I read the comments before listening to the audio! Saved me from enduring 3 of my least favourite commentators.

Quite right, rules for late withdrawl are the same for all 22. And there is no particular significance to being on the bench rather than the starting 18. My musing was about both McDonald and Petty being hampered last week and played less than their usual game time. Petty more so than McDonald. Then having both Tomlinson and Weideman in the emergencies made me wonder if one or both might play. Having said that our policy is players play through 'niggles'/soreness so my throw away line about 'maybe a late change' was just an idle thought.