Lucifers Hero

Max led virtually every statistic for us: 25 disposals, 13 contested poss, 8 marks, 6 clearances. He played a better around the ground game than any of our on-ballers. They should be embarrassed and that includes our two captains. I hope Max gives them all a good talking to. It is not acceptable to waste all that work around the ground by Max (and his 35 hitouts). Max is the lone ranger and there is a limit to how much he can do week in and week out with very little support. He deserves better. And before folks say it:Preuss would have made no difference; it was the ground level players that blew this.

Nice Freudian slip!?

He had several concussion episodes in the 18 months before the brick incident, which was in 2017 preseason. On a side note, just read that Paddy McCartin has been put on the LTI list and still can't train. Really sad for him. So while it is disappointing to lose Salem today I'm glad the club is being cautious, especially with his history. Concussion symptoms come and go. He may have been fine a few days ago but not today. Even if he hadn't fully recovered by selection time, I reckon the club hoped he would be good by game time. Either way we did the right thing to wait till the last minute and to pull him out when found to not be ok.

Yes? and am finally (trying) to learn the language.

Very clever!

They are different players so difficult to compare. My thoughts (based on this week's selected team) May and Lever will force two of Frost, Oscar or Petty out otherwise there are too many talls. Would like to see Petty have more games. Hibberd will force one of the Wagner's out. Hore will probably stay until we get Jetta back. Even then he may be in front of the other Wagner.

With North and probably Carlton and Saints looking for a new coach they may be looking in our direction, specifically Rawlings or Jennings. While I'm very keen to see changes amongst our [censored] Coaches, they aren't two guys I would like us to lose. North is also likely to be looking for a new Football manager so I guess they will have Mahoney on their list of possible candidates. This is the problems with North going early on their plans, it can easily be disruptive to other clubs , in particular Saints and Carlton. Don't like what Scott and North has done from any perspective. Edit: the {censored} word was [censored] for 'Assistant' - very finally tuned censor?

Hence my first line - 'we needed a backup for Max'. Another ruckman had to be at the top of our recruiting list last year and we did well with Preuss.

A bit selfish to leave the club in caretaker mode for half the year and leave players in limbo, particularly recent arrivals and those coming out of contract this year. Can't help but feel he has lined up or is lining up the next gig. Could be the Saints as according to this article Scott to leave Roos he has a strong relationship with Lethlean. Its bad enough when players break contracts but even worse when a coach does it 18 months ahead of it expiring because 'he can't commit long term'. Should have thought of that when he renewed, which if I recall correctly he did to give some hope of getting Kelly from GWS and/or Dusty from Richmond. I find it all a bit unsavoury. Nonethless, they would do well if they can get Ratten as coach.

We needed a backup for Max. And, after watching WCE win their way to a premiership with two ruckman and the expectation was that the rule changes would favour ruckmen, I reckon we decided to get another. Other clubs followed and found another ruckman in the rookie or post season sup draft. As the season progressed and the rule changes had a different impact than expected, playing two ruckmen isn't always viable. Even WCE have played with one in recent months (except last week). If we didn't get another ruckman DL would be screaming about it. Preuss may need to find a few more strings to his bow to get a regular gig.

No. He has never struck me as being very smart. More brawn than brains. His habitually whinging is grating and, wears a dour look far too often for my liking.

Lewis plays at Casey which will please a lot of people. My read is that the club is happy to put games into Petty and Hore. I like it, given our prospects for finals this year are near zero. Position ourselves for 2020.

He sounds happy and is enjoying it up forward. Hunt recovers his flare Being played out of the square gives us greater flexibility and unpredictability i50. Played tough 'aggro' footy in the last few weeks and was a key part of our last minute wins vs Hawks and GCS.

Nothing in it apparently, but thought folks would like to know. The last thing we need is for our coach to be on the Injury List, so hopefully he is ok and in the box on Sunday. MFC twitter feed:

Sorry, I wasn't thinking of you when I wrote the comment to 'binman' (which is why I didn't directly quote him) as your comments are generally quite fair. My post was more a frustration with some posters who have a go at Oscar, Petracca, Garlett etc at every opportunity and repeat the same vitriol in many threads week after week.

Not being pedantic DV8, just weary of generalisations to whip players so am now looking for real info/facts. I'm not happy with how most of the players or the team are tracking this year but that doesn't mean I am going to whip players or unfairly target one or two.

Your post said the last 3 years. Last time I looked 2017 was a bare 18 months ago... Anyway, I can see that you aren't interested in facts so I am not going to bother with this any longer.

If its a knock on the club why zero in on Petracca to say the club is unprofessional. Numerous players are struggling this year. I don't take an alternate view 'just to be different'. My view regarding the 'Bump' post: The club has not been unprofessional in its management of Petracca as there is no evidence to support that claim. Just for the record in 2017 he kicked 26.6.

. Wish we could delete posts ?

Can you back up these claims?

Do you have the stats to back this up or is the 'bump' of this thread another way of beating up on him?

There is a big difference between encouraging violence and suggesting argy bargy and legal aggro ala the Hawks game I referred to. As Goodwin said a while back - he wants us to play 'grumpy', some call it 'unsoiciable' 'football or a hard edge. It is not encouraging violence to play aggressively within the rules. Lots of things could have been different in the last that caused us to lose. But we played the game without a hard edge and were timid in last quarter in every sense. A bit more legal aggro or 'grumpiness' was called for. We didn't show it for Smith or Gawn, nor in the immediate aftermath of those events against the perpetrators. It certainly worked vs the Hawks.

In the Hawks game we got back into it when Hunt started the argy bargy with Sicily. It set off a chain of aggro and it really fired up the team. And the aggro was all legal. Can't help but think had the someone done the same after the Smith incident it would have fired the team up. We may have even won. There was no sting in our game vs WCE so when the low life Vardy went for Max most players did nothing - in fact it was the 'juniors' who stood up for him. Wouldn't have minded Jones, Viney or Harmes putting some physicality into Vardy at the next center bounce or two or lay a few heavy tackles and fall over him by accident.

Save your breath, binman. Some posters have a near pathological dislike for a player. Sadly, Oscar is one. In nearly every thread they find a way to abuse their particular whipping boy. Then all the cohorts jump in. The same posters with the same comments. Thread after thread, week after week, ad nauseam. They get some weird joy from cracking their whip at every opportunity. Its sad and sick. I just hope they aren't using the player's personal twitter, instagram etc to voice their vitriol.

I was surprised by Hurn's 9. He had an excellent final term but thought he was relatively quiet before that. Yeo was outstanding. They received 4/5 from each coach and Max 3/3 from each coach. As you say it tells the story. 9 Shannon Hurn (WCE) 9 Elliot Yeo (WCE) 6 Max Gawn (MELB) 2 Jeremy McGovern (WCE) 2 Jayden Hunt (MELB) 1 James Harmes (MELB) 1 Andrew Gaff (WCE) I was really pleased to see Hunt get 2 votes (both from one coach). He has been very good in many games this year and the votes are worthy recognition.