chookrat

I'm quietly confident we will lift to the occasion and win a hard fought, gritty and at times spiteful clash against a key rival which we will build on through to September. Bring our contest and pressure and we are a very difficult team to play against.

Viney showing his age. The younger/cool kids would wear crocs covered in Jibbitz rather than Birkenstocks.

Good point re MCG and how our supporters respond during moments i the game. I think the club is well aware of this and Pert had said on many occasions how our supporters inspire our players on the field - I see this as a positive way of highlighting that the way the crowd responds has a positive or negative impact. Paul Roos often spoke of the veil of negativity from our supporters during games. Contrast this to Collingwood who have a ridiculously good record of winning close games at the MCG and coming back in the 4th quarter over the past few years. This cannot be purely down to luck and I think is in large part due to energy their supporters provide. Re our forward line I think too much is made of our lack of key forwards. Late last season our forward line was absolutely firing with Melksham straightening up our entire forward line before being injured in our round 24 win v Sydney. Petty looked like Tony Lockett kicking 6 v Richmond in round 20 before being injured in round 21 v North Melbourne. Fritch returned in round 24 after missing 6 games to kick 5 goals and Pickett, Trac and ANB were regular contributors. In finals we were without Melksham, Petty, JVR (in the semi final v Carlton) and were within a kick of the Collingwood in the QF and had the lead vs Carlton until very late in the 4th quarter.

I the 6 - 6 - 6 rule change has driven this change where after a goal is scored teams can get on a run because the opposition cannot setup behind the ball. To beat Brisbane we will need to control the game by roughly breaking even in the contest and bring lots of pressure so they cannot move the ball through the middle of the ground, and then for our forwards to play well and kick goals. I think we are a good enough side to beat Brisbane we just need to bring our contest and pressure game, which is more about system than personnel. Our coaches have shown the ability to find this each of the past few years and I'll back them to do it this week. I'm predicting a hard fought and at times spiteful clash.

Good to see Trac back on his regular gig on AFL 360 a couple of weeks after his injury. It is staggering the amount of over reaction in the media re duty of care and whether he will play footy again. He is probably lucky he didn't lose his spleen and will make a full recovery. It is a difficult injury to diagnose which is evidenced by it being picked up after 3 MRI scans and that would have been knowing what to look for based on his symptoms. It is also worth noting that Mason Cox lacerated his spleen and had internal bleeding that wasn't picked up until 4 days later by his GP and not until he had lost 3 litres of blood. While the trauma of emergency surgery and having to have a blood transfusion would still be pretty raw I think he will play finals if we make it but that there isn't much point thinking about it until he can return to training which isn't for another 5 weeks to start jogging laps and then building to full training in the 5 weeks that follow. If we play well over the next 5 weeks I reckon Trac's focus will quickly change from recovery to rehab and conditioning. While he won't be able to regain 7+ weeks of lost fitness over 5 weeks, he would still be effective in the forward line or as a super sub in the 4th quarter. This said if we don't look to make finals then Trac will be able to focus on his rehab and be fit for next year.

He looks a bit relaxed for someone who is supposedly in hiding from the media and supporters.

Just had a look at the Save Our Caulfield Racecourse Reserve facebook group and they have a total of 59 followers in an LGA of more than 150k residents. This is clearly a case of small number of people who are convinced they are fighting for what is right while they simply want revenge on society for whatever reason. Rather than use logic and reason we should find a way for them to redirect their anger at Bruz and let go of their ideology.

Absolutely spot on. During the Collingwood game my kids we're complaining that we were going to lose and worried about what their friends would same to them at school the next day. While I understand this from the kids I am amazed that adults on here link their personal wellbeing to the way Melbourne perform on a week to week basis. It is one thing to get frustrated during a game but to talk about it days later is a bit unhinged.

A not too subtle message to the AFL that the appointment of Gillon to head up Tabcorp has not gone unnoticed. Dees!

Is Covid still a thing? I thought it ended in 2022.

OD, May missed 1 week with broken ribs while recovery from a punctured lung is 6 - 8 weeks and a lacerated spleen is 2 - 2.5 months to return to full contact regardless of grading. While Trac will not be able to train at all for a few weeks he should be able to start with light exercise within 4 weeks and gradually build up to full training including contact after 12 weeks. The biggest challenge will be building up to return to play if we make Finals after losing 2 months worth of conditioning.

But the club doctors are sports doctors and not radiologists. They rely on the radiologists doing the scans to report on what they find, and so unless the AFL is able to also have a panel full of specialists at every game waiting by the machines there isn't much point. Another thing I'd like to add is that the majority of diagnosis are made based on how the patient is feeling supported by MRI's, ultrasounds etc to try and identify what is happening inside the body. In many cases the problems do not show up on the scans and are easily overlooked unless the person knows what they are looking for. As an example Mason Cox had a lacerated spleen which the radiologist did not pick up on during scans the day after his injury. They only picked up on it 4 days later when he presented to his doctor with symptoms consistent with a lacerated spleen and internal bleeding.

Note that I'm laughing re your tirade not that we will lose to North. I reckon were only about a 70% chance to beat North.

I think at the time bringing in Grundy made alot of sense: 1. Jackson was leaving to join Freo and created a gap for a key role on our list. 2. We needed a KPF but none were available and luring one would cost $1.5 million per season. 3. Grundy was available and would cost us about half of what we would pay for a KPF. 4. Gawn was pretty banged up by the end of 2022 and we identified he needed support in the ruck. 5. Gawn had demonstrated his ability to take contested marks in the forward and back half of the ground as well as kicking goals. The key question was whether the whole would at least add up to the sum of its parts and ideally be greater than it. It worked with Gawn and Jackson but unfortunately when the evidence came in the result was that Gawn and Grundy diminished each others value. As for not playing Grundy in finals I can only speculate that once it was decided that Grundy would look to join another club that we opted to select players for finals that would be on our list the following year. This was probably also helped by Gawn and Grundy diminishing each others impact on games.

Malthouse looks at what Pert said last year about our culture from the perspective of the media. I reckon at the time Pert was more concerned about backing our footy department publicly while assuring supporters, more specifically members, and sponsors. I rarely watch opposition pressers but used to almost religiously watch Carlton's when Malthouse was coaching them because he would pick fights with Journos pretty much every week.

Sydney need to maintain their form for the second half of the season. While their position 3 games clear on top of the ladder provides opportunity to be fit and firing leading into finals alot can happen in the next 10 or so games.

OD I suspect it was to do with Dusty not finishing high school. Very poor by our footy department to not meet with him and get to better understanding of him and his story.

I wouldn't be against this OD. Play Van Rooyen, Petty and Fullarton and see how the latter two compete for one of our two KPF positions. While Petty has shown glimpses of what he put on show last year the sample so far raises questions re whether he cam play the role. We recruited Fullarton to play Forward / Ruck but haven't seen what he can do at AFL level despite our forward line not firing. Also I reckon we need to look at playing McVee in the midfield. With Bowey and Salem both in the side and Lever coming back in we can cover for him in the backline. I reckon his decision making, ball use and speed will improve the balance of our midfield. I'd prefer we play Rivers off the backline as his intercepting, speed and long kick are more useful getting the ball from the back half into the front half rather tham finding targets in close.

I wouldn't be opposed to bringing Pyke in just to wheel him out from time to time to stare at the players for 7 minutes during quarter time huddle. Sometimes the fewer words said the better.

SPC, you are correct as I remember it was the bravest kicking in danger in the history of the game.

I read the news that Trac is out for the season to mean he is not expected to be available for home amd away matches. Lets see how he goes over the coming weeks and if he returns to light duties in the rebah group in the next 3 - 4 weeks or is out for longer. In any case its a positive that he didn't have his spleen removed and is out of intensive care.

Hopefully Trac's recovery runs smoothly and his spleen fully recovers. Based on a recovery time of 2 - 2.5 months for a spleen to fully heal and return to full contact and that Trac will need to be off legs for at least the first 4 weeks before being able to perform light aerobic activity, I cannot see him being able to be available for senior footy for at least 10 weeks. Pencil him in for round 24 when we play Collingwood for a top 4 spot or put him on ice if come round 24 we are ruled out of challenging in finals. The upside to all of this is that our entire team that has become too reliant on Trac will need to lift significantly if we are to challenge in September. Regardless of where we end up this season we will learn alot about our list and ability to adapt to our tweaked game style. Dees!

As the head of the footy department Alan Richardson is the only person to make a statement re how Trac's injury was handled by the medicos. There is no story here, Trac passed the tests and any club would have cleared him to return to the field in the second quarter. I would be worried if the President starts talking on football matters.

The medical staff did their job. The assessed Trac at quarter time, diagnosed that he had likely cracked some ribs, and while in some discomfort he was able to breathe and did not display any of the red flags for organ damage. If he had difficulty breathing or had shown sides of organ failure the they would have sent him to hospital immediately. When he didn't improve and wasn't able to perform he came off and was subbed out of the game.

I'm not to concerned when considering that we tend to look flat in the lead up to the bye which I suspect is due to how we structure our training loads throughout the season. I had a quick look at our win/loss record back to 2018 and here is a summary of how we have performed in the lead up to the bye. 2023 - This is the only season we won in the lead up to the bye where we beat Carlton and then Collingwood. Lost the next 2 after the bye. Finished 4th. 2022 - Lost 3 in a row vs Freo (MCG), Swans (MCG) and Collingwood where we looked flat and disinterested. Won the next 2 after the bye. Finished 2nd. 2021 - Great wins vs Doggies (Marvel) and Brisbane (Sydney) before losing to Collingwood. Won 2 out of 3 after the bye. Finished Minor & Major Premiers. 2020 - Did not have mid season bye due to Covid. Won 3 out of 4 btw rounds 10 - 13. Finished 8th. 2019 - Lost 4 in a row leading up to the bye and won 2 out of 3 after the bye. Finished 17th. 2018 - 6 wins and then a loss before the bye before losing the next 2. Finished 5th. Our performances have been pretty mixed all season this year where it looks like we're spreading the load more particularly through the midfield and also being more aggressive with our ball movement. We have been very ordinary the past 3 weeks where we haven't been able to defend the corridor, win contests or execute skills when the heat is on. I reckon the Footy Department deserve some credit for 2021, how we started in 2022 and the position we put ourselves in last year despite our challenges with personnel in the forward half. I back them in to get us in a good position come September, we have heaps of upside and I'm expecting us to be switched on and sharp on Kings Birthday. Let's see how we go over the next 5 rounds.