IRW

Just finished watching the other Anzac game between the Pies and my least favourite team.

Undoubtedly a great game with a fitting result but all I can think is why is Max Gawn the only  MFC player who can take an overhead mark with one grab. [censored]!!

With apologies to Maysie

55 minutes ago, loges said:

McAdam?

Fair enough 

52 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

So impressed with Tmacs return to form. I just hope Bbb can back to how he was against the dogs. I thought Tmac was done and dusted but he has re.. reinvented himself down back again and doing a very solid job.  

As for Bbb I think he may have been hampered by his injuries again  in his last two outings and so yea he sadly needs a break.

 

Yeah they are both playing in the lap of the injury gods . TMac works well down back ,but I hope in doesn't get the stage where they move him forward to cover a problem.

The only "ins" forward should  be Melksham ,"rotating smalls" and players coming up from Casey.

Milkshake eventually would have  a good feel to like TMac and BBB

35 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Would be great to see a functioning fwd line tonight.

100+ points and JVR and Petty to take some strong marks and kick a few snags

I see they have put BBB down as omitted,is the opinion that is they have gone for balance and for or are they taking the opportunity to "manage "him.

Either seems credible, what do we think?

Any insider track watching clues?

Getting Brown and TMac through the season as live options seems crucial to finals success

2 hours ago, monoccular said:

 

or maybe a 15 yo girl waiting to be 16 Taytay lookalike?

No I'm an overweight 75 year old wadling around in a MFC jumper with number 6 on the back.

This is pathetic and I expected better from you

8 hours ago, deanox said:

Genuine nuffy level comment.

It's a lack of nuance in the English language that it has only them and us (as opposed to other languages that have multiple words to describe groups that may or may not include the speaker, the reader, etc).

But if you really want to get technical and claim supporters aren't "part" of the club: as a company limited by guarantee, any paid up member is legitimately a member of the club, with voting rights and other rights under the constitution and therefore can quite correctly refer to themselves as part of the Melbourne Football Club. So "we" is entirely appropriate in most instances around here.

My reply was in response to a question.I dont need to justify it.

I did like your notion of nuance in language and the possibilities that it present.

I find some of what I have called conflation embarrassing,  but it doesn't matter much to me .

I am content with watching them play and supporting their efforts.Apparently unlike the supporters on the balcony vs the Lions who were abusing the players( our team) 10 minutes into the first quarter.

Summary ..Carry on ,I didn't raise the issue and I'm happy to watch them play ,appreciating their skills and courage.

The "us and them " nonsense around here is sometimes embarrassing and childish though.

At least outside of the coaches motivational instructions.

Vicarious triumph and despair is for fat Presidents  who imagine they could/ should  have been a player .

I was a little  like that in 64 without any of the qualifications you list.

3 hours ago, Skuit said:

Maybe you can enlighten. I've often wondered if your moniker relates to our disrupted six-peat as some sort of angst you've been holding onto for 65 years? Like the MFCSS version of long-Covid? 

Yeah something like that, I joined Ology around the Neeld era and remembered greater  competitive spirit, commitment and results from the glory years of my youth. 

I have never seen a need to change  it even though most of those matters are now irrelevant .

Numbers 6 , 9  , and 31 still belong to that era  for me emotionally

I do remember a power Club off the field though and a genuine rivalry with Collingwood as a primary issue.

Off course that's just a teenage memory I seem to share with similarly aged mates who support Collingwood .

5 hours ago, 58er said:

We’ll miss him not THEY?  Who are they ? 

The Melbourne Football Club .

Conflating the Team with its supporters is like sixteen year old girls dressing up as Taylor Swift 

44 minutes ago, layzie said:

"Trust I seek and I find in you" In the words of James Hetfield

He's been underrated as part of a cohesive backline team ,how he goes in the chaos of the Melbourne forward line is uncertain ,given the small sample.

Either way they'll miss him

15 hours ago, Jumping Jack Clennett said:

You aren’t…..wow!

I have a life as well as supporting the MFC

But apparently if Kossie hadn't been suspended 3 times he might have got off with a fine.!!

Are you still talking about this?

Wow

3 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Petty typically provides average pressure for a key forward but he’s had a limited preseason so I think he’s down a bit in that regard this season. 

Brown is all offence. He needs 3 goals per game to be a positive. 

Yeah I meant to suggest that Petty will up his defensive game over the coming weeks as he gets game fit.

They have to kick it to Brown not just lob it forward as in the past.

On 12/04/2024 at 08:59, titan_uranus said:

I'm definitely open to pushing Windsor behind the ball more, particularly now that we're down both Bowey and Salem (good kicks x 2). I'm also very much in favour of pushing Rivers into the middle more but without Bowey and Salem, that robs us of so much run. Hence the Windsor move, which as you say then opens up a spot for Hunter. Goodwin alluded to this as an option in his mid-week presser, when asked about how Hunter gets back into the side, so I reckon it's a reasonable chance of happening.

Brown and Petty were both bad last night, albeit at least Petty has the excuse of having Harris Andrews as his opponent. On last night's evidence one should be dropped, but the principal problem last night was the belting we got in the middle. When we have been strong in the middle, Brown's presence forward has been very important for us. I think we need to cut him and Petty some slack for last night.

Petty will get better,Brown can lead and mark and kick straight if they kick it to him. JVR is apparently the future and has to ruck and compete at against bigger bodies down forward,which is poor. Fritsch is defensively lazy ,probably doesn't even know what the word means but is the leading goal kick from marks and opportunist positioning.

Who arnt you going  to pick?

 BoneonBone BBB probably needs the bye more than anyone and with proper management possibly shouldn't have played on Thursday.

He will likely be the sacrifice for AFL stupid and irresponsible fixturing

On 12/04/2024 at 11:37, Fat Tony said:

I agree that the issue is in the middle. Will Oliver's injury improve over the break? If it does not, I would definitely be playing Rivers as a centre midfielder, even if it causes further instability in the back half. We need to do better at clearance and Oliver is a liability with only one hand. (I would probably still play him if we are convinced it won't make the injury worse, but as a high half forward.)

And the issue with Brown and Petty is not just a last night thing. The lack of pressure from Brown, Petty, JVR and Fritsch means we can only play three IMO.

Surely as part of a previous elite backline  team we can expect more pressure from Petty ,but which of the other three doesn't get a game according to your thinking?

Presumably Brown, who can lead mark and kick straight!!!

On 10/04/2024 at 09:11, Willmoy1947 said:

Greg Williams and Rod Grinter send their regards, along with many others

Oh please stop fighting ...Kossie isn't a thug( or Williams) he's getting suspended for undisciplined and unnecessary minor infractions that a few years back ,when he started, probably would pass unnoticed

I said to the first posturing response " choose your adjective. " :undisciplined, careless,    unnecessary, wasteful.??

Then mentioned his genius with ground balls..suspension is wasting his talent and contributions.

Now go away

8 hours ago, Willmoy1947 said:

Lets get you over and done with first. Condescending doesn't become you, and i will not engage in that.

Presumably you are in the know about how he is to play?

So the premise of the rest of your writings is null and void.

I know he's been rubbed out three times .

That's enough to form an reasoned opinion

1 hour ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

Standard claim by those who reckon he’s undisciplined. You don’t know if he makes his bed and I’m sure you also don’t know what Goody and the coaches tell him to do on field either.

If there was a serious issue with the way he plays he would’ve been at Casey working on it in the twos at some point. 

The Cripps bump was silly but hardly outrageous, this one is not worth a and discipline had nothing to do with it. 

Of course if you were paying attention to what I  wrote you would note I balanced my frustration/ criticism with his genius in the ground ball mix.

I doubt he' d be going back to Casey,hes too important for that,more likely the leadership group would be pointing out that he needs to not be  missing games through lack of discipline. 

Still, carry on with your  MFC can do no wrong polemic and no critical opinions should be voiced.

3 minutes ago, Axis of Bob said:

I have similar thoughts but probably for slightly different reasons.

Since the evolution of tactics in AFL, from an '18 one on ones' style before the mid-2000s, we now have an ability to refine the gameplan far more to suit the philosophies of the coach and the personnel they have available to them. In that time (last 20 years) pretty much every good team has set that balance of attack and defence in a similar way ... except for us. 

2005 Sydney - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Hall, O'Loughlin, Goodes etc) and undersized defenders (Barry and Bolton)

2006 West Coast - attacking gameplan with great defenders (built around Glass and Wirrpanda) with ordinary forwards (Hansen and Lynch)

2000s Geelong - attacking gameplan with great defenders (Scarlett, Enright, Mackie, Milburn, Harley, Taylor/Egan etc) with comparatively ordinary forwards (Mooney, N Ablett, then smalls like Johnson etc)

2000s Hawthorn - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Buddy and Roughy) and undersized/ordinary defenders (Gibson, Gilham, Lake, Spangher etc).

2010s Richmond - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Riewoldt, Dusty, Lynch) and comparitively ordinary defenders (Rance for 2017, but just Astbury, Broad, Grimes, Vlastuin thereafter).

2023 Collingwood - attacking gameplan with great defenders (Moore, Quaynor, Howe, Maynard etc) and a bad forward line (Mihocek, Elliott, McStay).

 

We have been different, with our strength being our amazing defence (May, Lever), ordinary forward line but still going for a defensive gameplan. The reason why this is mismatched is because the marginal gain of May and Lever is small when you set up your team to protect them whilst, at the other end, you're asking JVR and Ben Brown to compete against the odds all game (which they aren't really good enough to do). 

As an example, Richmond beat Geelong in the 2020 GF because the game was tight and congested, with scoring difficult. At 3/4 time they led 46-44 (7 goals to 6), so it was hard to score. In the last quarter they kicked 5 goals to win it (Prestia, Lynch, Dusty, Riewoldt, Dusty). Between Dusty, Riewoldt and Lynch, they kicked as many goals as Geelong did. Defending was easy with the extra numbers - kicking goals against those extra numbers was hard and that's why Richmond's best players were the ones to do it. Conversely, Collingwood could get relatively easy goals in 2023 (Hill, Elliott, Michocek, Ginnivan, McCreery and Frampton had 19 contested possessions between them - about 3 each on average) because they kept numbers forward and relied on their more talented defenders to win the difficult contests. 

You don't need to make the job easier for your good players because they're going to win you more of those really important contests (like Dusty against 2 opponents, or May one on one against Curnow), so they don't need as much support. But if you can then use those extra numbers somewhere else to make it easier (like supporting Astbury in defence, or playing an extra forward to allow Ben Brown a 1-on-1 and space to lead) then you're helping them enormously. 

May and Lever may help a defensive plan reduce the opposition's score by 20 points, but an attacking plan could help our forwards kick 30 extra points because they need that extra help a lot more than May and Lever do.

 

tldr; Teams usually create game plans to add support where they need it most, trusting their best players to play well without support. We've given May and Lever too much support when they don't need it, and I am happy that we're now giving that support to our forwards (who do need it). Also sorry it was so rambling! 

Go to the naughty corner  you said Maynard was a " great" defender not a serial offender,a thug who should be charged and banned forever .

Everything else was interesting though.

3 hours ago, Willmoy1947 said:

I presume you have a reason for knowing that he is undisciplined?

Has he just come back from suspension for a tackle? 

Maybe it was just the  bias against MFC.

Get real pal, none of us know anything first hand and we can only post opinions based on what we see

3 hours ago, Willmoy1947 said:

I presume you have a reason for knowing that he is undisciplined?

I watch him play. 

I don't know whether he makes his bed or washes the dishes at home.

He regularly jumps at impossible marks rather than being waiting at the bottom of the pack. 

He jumps into body contact " tackles" when apparently Maynard should be in jail. 

Choose your own adjective.

I see" playing on the edge"s the go to club talk ," he's still "working on it" apparently".

Thanks for your  interest 

2 minutes ago, biggestred said:

I believe Maynard's was intentional as he'd been interviewed the week before saying he was going to make a statement and hurt people, but that's by the by.

I think kozzie deserves a week. I think it's not a good look for us to appeal. BUT

I hope we use "soligo moved into kozzies way" "kozzie was protecting himself" "he was just trying to smother" "it was a football act"

Just give it rest. 

Kozzi is undisciplined whether it's  "tackle/ bumps " or ridiculous leaps at impossible balls.

On the ground and in the mix he's a genius

On 01/04/2024 at 18:29, FearTheBeard said:

Dad and me always sit amongst the Crows/Port supporters in the Eastern Stand level 3 or 5 and have never really had any problems with them.

Perth and Brisbane we have had run ins with absolute twats.

They look pretty user friendly to me.

The abuse seems to coming from the internet

MacDonald  continues with commitment 

1 hour ago, deegirl said:

And the 7 commentators didn't mention it once.  

Brian Taylor  useless facile mistakes

Brian Taylor  reads from script

3 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Interestingly though, in his presser Goody said we need to improve and the only star he cited as example of why is inside 50s - he said we have lost that count a few times this year and we aren’t going to keep winning if we keep losing on the inside 50 count. 

Obviously they need to improve;  its looking like a red hot season and no weaknesses can be allowed