chookrat

Monbon, thanks for sharing. This approach might work as a penalty for players scrapping off the ball but not sure it would get past the AFLPA, not unless the AFL does something radical such as increasing the % of gambling revenue that goes into the next TPP agreement.

I liken the AFL trying to sanction a player for staging during an off the ball scrap to a parent punishing only one of their kids when they are both niggling each other.

Surely Long wasn't fined for that 😮

Redleg I reckon it's relevant that Maynard played for a free kick during off the ball push and shove while May was tackled fairly and played for a free kick. I've got no problem with the May staging fine, noting that the umpire should have called for a ball up as soon as it became clear May's arms were pinned, and reckon it would open up a can of worms if the AFL started to issue fines for staging during off the ball pushing and shoving.

I thought we matched Brisbane from a workrate perspective across all 4 quarters and fitness wasn't the difference. Both sides looked pretty gassed in what was a relentless 4th quarter and while the held momentum we had our chances and didn't convert. Similarly they missed in what was a brutal finals like game. Re impact during the loading phase it won't so much affect the ability to run out games as overall the players are stronger aerobically but players lose some explosiveness due to the cumulative muscle fatigue caused by the increased training load. At the end of the loading phase the players would have around a week of tapering, or reduced training load, which is short enough to keep the aerobic fitness gains they have made while freshening up and regaining their explosiveness. This is the same approach taken by endurance athletes where they load up 2 - 3 months before an event and finish with a 7 - 10 day taper for the event. Looking at how we played vs Brisbane our pressure was relentless and we would stick tackles which in previous weeks we would look slow or lack the explosiveness to bring the player to ground. My take is that we are absolutely in the hunt this year but don't have much wriggle room to lose games like we did vs Brisbane. While it's only 1 week I'm optimistic that the Melbourne contested pressure brand of footy is returning.

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.