Lucifers Hero

Sorry, there was no exaggeration by Oliver; he is as tough as. If it was exaggerated he wouldn't have gone off the ground. Jones won't be suspended as it didn't look high; should still be sighted for rough conduct, medium impact, off the ball and get a decent fine. More if they take into account his past poor recorded.

From Goodwin: "He's been sensational the last two weeks and he's getting reward for his effort now..."He's winning a lot of one-on-one contests, he's working really hard...He's developed a few techniques to get off his man and I'm really liking his game at the moment." He is growing with every game. Some of the things he did last night were outstanding. Time to cut him some slack.

Tigers are without their big 4: Dusty, Rance, Riewoldt, Cotchin. They play Port at Adelaide oval. If Port play their 'control' game they will win. Crows dropped Gibbs. Big statement by the club. Would be handy for the Saints to beat Hawks and Bulldogs to beat Pies but can't see it happening. Sad to see Tyson dropped by North. Hoping for Suns win over Blues and Lions over Ess, partly to see the Qld teams do well and partly because as I loathe the self-entitled, arrogance of Ess and Blues. Results this weekend will go a long way to shaping the final 8.

Our game started to turn when our wingmen manned their opp at centre bounces, instead of playing at the defensive end of the square. We had played off them a lot in the first 3 games and badly beaten in the middle as they had space to get the ball fwd while we chased. Most obvious vs Port. Until half time our HO:Clearances was woeful. Florent in particular was very damaging, lots of centre clearances and several goals. Different game after he had an opp on his heels and we gained the ascendancy. Hard to tell who his opp was after half time; maybe Harmes? Whoever it was did a very good job to neutralise their playmaker.

Terrific game: 20 poss @ 7% eff, 9 marks, 8 rebound 50's and plenty of pressure with 3 tackles and 6 1%. Plays a similar rebound role to Hibberd and while it is early days he seems the one most likely to understudy and eventually, to replace Hibberd. In the meantime, he is a very handy back up for when Hibberd or Jetta are unavailable.

Loved the huge bear hug Gawn gave Preuss after the song. Awesome for Preuss to get that welcome from his partner in crime.

Wouldn't mind seeing a front view of the hit Jones laid on Oliver, miles off the ball. Oliver was kneeling in pain on the field and when he went off. Commentators dismissed it as he just being winded. Looked more than being winded - there must have been a backhanded, clenched fist or elbow. Jones is a repeat offender and deserves to be cited.

After the round 4 Hawks debacle last year Jackson came out and said the players 'Trashed Our Brand'. He said questions were asked of the football and coaching departments. I wonder how long it will take Pert to come out with fire and brimstone if we lose badly tonight and we are 0-4?

Jetta a late withdrawl - no reason given. ? He hasn't looked right all year so better to let him recover than risk whatever it is getting worse. Hore to replace him. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/jetta-adds-to-melbourne-s-personnel-crisis-20190411-p51d8v.html Grateful that it is Hore not ANB to replace Jetts

So we go to Sydney without a crumber in the team... btw I'm not counting Lockhart. He did a nice job last week but is essentially a midfielder being tasked with a job he has not had time to develop in. Given that our talls are not excelling at i50 marks going in without a crumber, I can see the ball bouncing straight out again like it did vs Geelong when we went in without one. I get the need for fwds to exert pressure and keep the ball i50 but it would be handy to have someone who can make something happen when the ball falls free.

Not only did the team not step up for Max's 100th, they did not step up for Viney's 100th a week later. Very sad when a team can't step up for their vice-cap and co-cap (btw I don't necessarily mean to win but at least put in an honourable showing for 4 qtrs). So this team's track record is not good in teamate's milestones (or special events eg Roos' last game). Nonetheless, I hope they step up tonight and at the very least for Tom to get some mojo back. He has stuck with us thru thick and thin so would really like to see him have a memorable game.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-04-10/kolodjashnij-ruled-out-with-concussion

True but I would still rather Garlett over Spargo. He is a much better crumber and averages 2 goals a game. If Tom McD doesn't play we will have only 1 recognised goal kicker in the side: Melksham. Perhaps Jeff just needs to be backed in by the coaches to play a string of senior games to get his mojo back. Other players have been given that.

Can't believe Jeff was not on the plane! He is the only one with a bit of x factor and knows where the goals are. His defensive skills can't be any worse than anyone else in the team. He was out injured for just a few weeks so how many games at Casey does he need? Instead we take an undersized, underdeveloped kid who was dropped after one game and recovering from a broken jaw. Just don't understand our selection criteria anymore. Fear his card has been stamped.

Brayshaw said the same thing after the game, yet it is they, Oliver who had the blowtorch applied to them by 'senior players' in the honesty session. Now HS and The Age are also getting stuck into those kids (and to a lesser extent Viney). Seems our mids and our 'senior players' don't see it the same way.

Quote: "The blowtorch, if it is to be applied, is better directed towards a bunch of blue-collar mids who have begun to play the game like millionaires. Harsh and unfair. Since when are 23 yo 3rd in the Brownlow and 23 year old AA 'Blue collar'? I say hyperbole! Quote: "But if any Melbourne supporter thinks the co-captain is the cause of the team's poor start to the season they are misguided". More hyperbole! Ryan has been reading Demonland. No-one here is saying Jones is the cause of our poor start. The comments here are saying he isn't doing enough for the team and as a captain and leader. Quote: "Talented with the ball in hand and tough inside the contest, opponents have begun to realise that Clayton Oliver, Angus Brayshaw, James Harmes and Jack Viney don't seem to want to work as hard this season as they did at the end of last year to help out a defence that has begun to leak like a colander held under a waterfall". I can't agree with that. Sure the midfield is not getting back to help out the defence but those four players have made 28% of our 206 tackles this year! They can't do the inside work, the tackling and the running back and forth. Others need to get the blowtorch as well - Jones gets off scott free in that article.

Thank you. Hmmm, a blunt message from the senior players? To the few who have performed this year? Certainly all players need to run both ways but senior players (Viney, Jones and Gawn) have done far less in the middle than Oliver, Brayshaw and Salem. Going on Brayshaw's comments after the game that all players need to buy in (ie he doesn't think they are) is hard to reconcile with he, Oliver and Salem getting wrapped over the knuckles. One wonders if it Sunday was really a 'finger pointing session'. I hope the senior players game themselves a 'blunt message' or commit to the young guys how they are going to lift their game in the middle. Otherwise poor leadership. The kids can't do all the work. They need help.

Harmes: “We’re pretty one-on-one and it’s hard for the backs to take aggressive position if the mids aren’t getting back to support and if the forwards aren’t doing their job...Everyone needs to work together in defence – it’s not a one-on-one style that we play.” We can turn it around I think he is saying we have been playing one-on-one (could have fooled me) which is not what we want. No wonder our defence looks confused without cohesion. Players don't understand which system they are supposed to be playing.

There is an article on HS website titled 'The stats which damn melbourne's midfield' which is about two-way running. I only saw a glimpse of it as it is behind a paywall. I think it says that at the meeting Oliver and Brayshaw were told by senior players they had to work harder. Can anyone get behind the paywall to check what it says, please.

The Dusty hearing is under way and the Tribunal members are similar to those in the May case. Given that the grounds are identical: optics, medical report, player reaction, potential to damage, hopefully we the Tribunal upholds the MRO decision. It will not be pleasant for the MRO if every time a 'big' club goes to the Tribunal that his decision is overturned ie Cox last week (with a totally different Tribunal).

The value of honesty sessions is often who facilitates them and who attends. Ideally, it would be an external facilitator (are we still using Leading Teams?) who is experienced in setting the right tone so everyone feels comfortable in participating and can manage the dynamics. Sometimes without coaches, players can give honest feedbackabout game plan, role, demands etc to an external person if they can't say tehm directly to a coach. Doesn't need to be a sinister reason, could be opportunity, experience etc. Player only meetings have another benefit - they take ownership of the issues and commit to each other a course of action/behaviours. Remember after our first final Lewis took only the players aside to say 'well done but we've done nothing yet'. They went out the following week and knocked off the Hawks. AFL 360 with Lewis might make interesting viewing tonight.

Fwd flank? Jones doesn't chase, tackle or do the 1%. We have enough problems with lack of forward pressure to keep the ball i50 and his lack of defensiveness would make it worse. In the middle he doesn't run both ways or apply mid-field pressure. Its a case of where does he do least damage to see out the year...tough choice for coaches. I thought it significant that yesterday Ben Guthrie wrote that Jones' position this week could be under review. He wouldn't make up stuff like that about a much loved player and co-captain. Maybe Goodwin will get ruthless sooner rather than later and tbh Goodwin has a duty to put the team and the club first. Nonetheless, can't see Jones' being dropped but expect his defensive game to lift.

Not sure why folks think SCG is a 'small ground': 155m L x 136m W. As a reminder: Round 2, 2019 @ gmha: 170m L x 115m W. We lost by 80 points. It is the wider grounds that trouble us because opp spread wide and stretch our defences on the outside. SCG has more room for this play than gmha had. If we can't win on a ground that is 115m wide I can't see it happening on one that is 20m wider.

For the last three weeks we have been crying out for that but it hasn't happened. Would desperately love to see it but its not how he rolls. Just yesterday Viney said it will be good to get Lewis' leadership back on the field. Not sure he noticed the elephant(s) in the room implied in that statement...

On the plus side: Much loved champion of our club. Loyal, a demon forever. Sets off-field standards Works hard Plays tough football On the negative side: Can't or won't run both ways. Does not chase opponent, instead goes ball chasing or 'hands-over' his opp to a team mate who has to leave his man to cover Jones' opp, leaving a free player or sometimes two if he doesn't cover Jones' opp in time. Defensive skills are now limited: stats this year for tackles and 1% are woeful. When attacking into fwd 50 he rarely hits a target. Poor reader of the state of game so is limited in effectiveness as an on field general. I see someone who is aging, who is showing more 'individual' rather than 'team-first' behaviours. He may be preserving himself (purely speculation) or he may just be physically worn out from almost single handed carrying our club. Do the negatives outweigh the positives? In the past a resounding 'No'. For the future I fear they do. We need senior players and especially captains to set an example for expected on-field behaviours and to engender confidence in their charges that if we get into a hole during a game the captains know how to digs us out of it. I can't see Jones overcoming the negatives so I feel it is time to hang up the boots. When? End of this year. It means he ends his wonderful career about 15 games short of 300 and without a flag. Sadly, just like a former #2. He will always be an immortal at mfc. I imagine Jones will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into retirement but I trust Goodwin to have the hard conversations, like Clarkson has.