Straight Sets Simon

The midfield didn’t have much to kick to. There was very little movement and Collingwood got back quickly to clog up space.

Exactly. Brown clearly isn’t fit. Petty is out. Melksham is out (albeit isn’t a key forward but was still structurally important). JVR is out.

Can’t be worse than what we saw on Friday night.

Can the Grundy trade talk, I want to know how he can help us win a flag in the same way Jackson helped us in 2021. Gawn needs to learn to play with him, if anything it should be Gawn who is the one spending more time forward as Friday night showed we needed someone to take a contested mark down there.

When it first happened, I thought it was clearly just an unlucky incident and Maynard will get off. However, the more I have thought about it, if you take the attempted smother out he essentially ran past the ball and took Brayshaw out. We often see people say “the player left the ground to bump”, well Maynard left the ground to smother and in the end chose to bump. I’m skeptical he will get suspended but he should.

Blues will pump us.

Blues will pump us.

I’d play Grundy the ruck and have Gawn rotate between forward and dropping back into defence.

The game was lost in the first half, their pressure, ability to win the ball and our inability to handle the wet conditions meant we were never a chance. Our goal kicking was bad, but they missed some sitters early too. I was wrong about the McDonald call, I have always said Grundy needs to be in as a second ruck (Gawn needs to accept this and make it work) and we were exposed badly in this area last night. Hibberd in was the right call but we really needed a third tall defender.

Agree, I thought the McDonald move was correct but he was even less mobile than I thought he would be. Also, I prefer him taking centre bounces over Gawn.

I should have stuck to my guns on this. Hibberd in was the right move but you are right another tall down back was needed.

The worst part is we are screwed for the rest of the finals as we don’t have any key forwards left.

Indeed, quite.

Changes are good. I was one of the first on the third tall defender island for much of the year but Hibberd in for Collingwood makes sense. If he plays well and we do need a tall third defender the following week then suddenly there is added pressure on Salem and Bowey. McDonald makes sense as he can ruck which keeps JVR fresh, hopefully he can stay fit.

We are yet to win a game in the wet this year, is that correct?

By Gawn learning to play with a second ruck again.

If Gawn does a knee (again) and we don’t have Grundy on the list who is rucking for Melbourne?

It is scary how similar Schache and Weideman are.

More like it just confirms Grundy will be gone.

This exactly.

Like the NBA, I think every player on the list should get one, only the players on the day get them on the day. Many players probably wouldn’t want it or may not feel they have earned it, but I’m firmly of the belief that it is a list that wins a flag, not just 23 players. As mentioned, Melksham is a key reason we held on to top 4.

Except it worked yesterday.

I was surprised he got another contract this year but he has been very good. The thing about Melksham is the way he plays hasn’t really changed much in the past few years, so if he does come back I don’t see a huge drop off because of his age.

Go GWS.

Devastated for Melksham.