Lucifers Hero

PR and optics that the club was imploding. Panic and paralysis set in. The more interesting question is who recommended against and prevented the trades: Interim CEO Interim President Alan Richardson I know who I'd put my money on!

As mentioned I don't want them to go. I may have worded it poorly but my point was, as FA's if Chandler and Sparrow ask to be traded we can't directly stop them and we will do better in a trade than an AFL comp pick.

"Contested footy" is the bottom line and essential part of every team. Not negotiable. Not sure it even warrants mentioning. We excelled in contested footy in 2021 but started to lose our way in 2022/2023 and were relatively poor in 2024/2025 so much so that we lost most games as a result. So, I would contend the building blocks were crumbling. Our contested footy assets impacting this year are new players (Steele, L. Pickett for implied pressure, Mihocek) or players getting more opportunities/roles (Sparrow, Culley, Sharpe, Howes etc), As to the question of whether we've changed the way we play, I'll let the coach answer that: "We're game three into a new game plan and new system so for us, we're just chasing constant improvement," King said. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1980845/press-conference-focuses On that note I exit this conversation!

Not sure that all long kicks qualify for long bombs. In the past we had hurried kicks that went long, high and floated ie long bombs to i50 packs and most often intercepted. This year fwds have better running patters and are spreading better; sometimes leading, sometimes out-maneuvering their ops. Mids are finding them, sometimes with long kicks but rarely long high, floaters. GCS def were taller than our fwds yet didn't outmark us very often. An example is Sharp's bullet pass from just inside the 50m line that found Melksham at the top of the goal square. It was low and flat. As an aside, two of Sharp's prior attempts were points when he burnt a player better placed and closer to goal. Reckon someone told him to lower his eyes. At the ground you could see players do that, look for targets and not just throw the ball onto their boot.

2nd round AFL picks will be pick 40+ !!! So II hope we match any offer forcing a trade with better results. Having said that I wouldn't want to see them go. There is so much distortion of the first round of the draft it makes a mockery of 2nd round and later picks.

Talking of byes. We have defied the odds! Our last two op have had 2 weeks rest and we won both convincingly. Our fitness levels must be through the roof! btw, King has an unblemished record at the G. May it become our fortress!

In one of the prediction threads I wrote we would make finals (ie top 8); prediction was made before the wild card round was announced. I still think we can make the top 8. We play Ess and Rich twice. Yet to play Eagles, Pies, GWS, North, Port and GCS again. I'm not putting those down as wins but on current form the odds are on our side that we win the majority of those and perhaps steal a couple of wins from the top teams. I think we will drop a few games mid year as we don't get our bye until round 16 and have a few i/state games around mid year. But post bye most of our games are in Vic. Am still going with a top 8 finish and with luck top 6.

An update. Again no tickets at all in the app. I found two, unrequested GA guest passes in my Ticketmaster account. Saved them to Google Wallet and took screenshots. As a test run I entered the ground with the screenshot but took my card to enter the Redlegs area. Worked a treat! Called the club last week. No update at all. Just got "i can't help you". Usually, I'm full of praise for the membership team but it is very disappointing they aren't keeping us informed or keeping track of the problem, particularly as it isn't possible to send a ticket to someone else - can't snail a mail card .... !!! 🙄🙅🏻‍♀️

Pity Ess showed some grit in the second half last night. They will take that and their record in Gather Round as a confidence boost next week. We will still win!

Agreed. It was only when their big chequered flag waved that we knew. Even players weren't weren't very animated. Not a lot of encouragement for each other after the first quarter.

I'm going to brag od. I tipped us in the Game Day thread and took a bit of flak for my optimism; all good-naturedly. But I wasn't optimistic enough predicting a win by only 7 points!

Another comment on crowd noise. I haven't been a fan of player songs after a goal but love it at the ground especially when the crowd can sing along. Sweet Caroline gets quite a rendition so it is great when Sharp goals. Adds terrific atmosphere.

Talking of crowd noise. There was zilch for GCS in play or after goals at least that is how it seemed from the Southern Stand and their Temu cheer squad was at the city end. I watched a few minutes of the replay to see how it sounded on tv. The broadcasters are doing thier covid thing of inserting fake crowd cheering/noise. No wonder they have a poor track record interstate - their is no-one cheering for them and they have to endure the roar of op fans. It will cost them games 😁 and yesterday it cost them momentum but not the game!

It was fascinating especially in last quarter: gcs player running to space to mark or collect loose ball dees player gives chase but is a meter or more away dees fans roar like there is no tomorrow hearing the roar gws player gets nervous and fumbles hearing the roar demon player closes in and pounces demon fans roar even louder ball up or free implied pressure intensifies the dees crowd was amazing and suspect it will be bigger in future and our wins bode well for membership numbers

As predicted their midfield was ordinary today 😁 And the predicted win was awesome!