Game Chat – Melbourne v Western Bulldogs

Written by Motts on March 16 2022

Welcome to the first H&A Game Chat for 2022. We’re going to pare these right back this year to reduce the amount of work we have to do to get them up. After all, Game Chats are about what YOU have to say, not us. Any information we previously had that you’re keen to read, you’ll find in the AFL Match Centre hyperlink that will take you through to the match preview page on AFL.com.au.

Time: 7:10pm

Venue: MCG

AFL Match Centre

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93 thoughts on “Game Chat – Melbourne v Western Bulldogs”

  1. Late Changes

    Jake Lever OUT, Adam Tomlinson IN. Toby Bedford sub.

    Stefan Martin OUT, Ryan Gardner, Hayden Crozier IN. Lachie Hunter sub.

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  2. Martin out is HUGE.

    Anyone already considering English has to be more confident. He may still get monstered by Gawn and Jackson. Anyone on willing for the sort term pain English train ?

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    1. He’s my R2 currently and has been for a bit.. hope he does enough to ease my anxiety of not starting gawn but not enough to jump on everyone’s radar I don’t need him dropping a 140+ haha

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  3. Evening FT,
    Absolute chaos trying to post stuff tonight.
    Good to have so many on this wonderful site though.
    All the best to you and everyone.

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  4. Any chance that “The Teams” post can be pinned to the top of the site – with news of rookies dropping, it would be a great idea to have it for easier access!

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  5. Hi Lisa,

    It should be already pinned but with the huge amount of traffic this evening the site is running slower than normal.

    I will double check.

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    1. Weird – I refreshed and it is now, but wasn’t before – all good now.

      How good was the pre-match unfurling of the premiership flag – I got a bit emotional and I’m not a Demons supporter, but seeing the great Barassi, Nathan Jones, Gary Lyon – and all the Melb supporters / captains etc, able to be at the MCG after missing the GF being over in WA – its a GREAT thing and well done AFL.

      Footy’s back baby!!!

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      1. Absolutely agree Lisa, I think we may see them be able to do that this year at the mcg as they’re a pretty good shot for back to back

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  6. Jason Johannisen is a (very) late withdrawal (leg soreness) after the warm-up. Lachie Hunter comes into the 22, with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan becoming the sub.

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  7. Every time I watch Melbourne play I laugh at north’s headquarters as brown continues to play a huge role and is now a premiership winner. I can’t imagine how much it hurts north fans seeing arguably their best key forward since Carey be traded for chips

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  8. Great to see live SuperCoach scores on the app. Go to game day tab then tap see H2H scores. It will show u your teams live score. Very cool!!!

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    1. they’ve finally done what has always been in the NRL SC … lets hope it stays … but they dont have many of the scoring categories showing …

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  9. I know it happens with sc scores sometimes not being up on fan footy but has anyone noticed apart from after the game they don’t come up at all?

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  10. With Salem and his injury to his knee early in the first, I wonder if Bedford will make a small debut from this.

    Edit: he has come on the field now questions will be asked on whether he will be able to hold his spots for the coming weeks

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  11. The Herald Sun SuperCoach mobile app has live SC scores in the Gameday Live / Match Centre. Way better than Fanfooty / Footywire.

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  12. Gawnie is looking / playing like a speed bump thus far … looking to be struggling around at times … and not getting rewarded with scoring points for his taps … English currently giving him a bath scoring wise …

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    1. Hoping it is a one off coaches that own him. I’m currently glad that I didn’t start him but still a lot can happen

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      1. never live T-Rex – always see it at close of game … the live function now copying the NRL SC version – which is great if it stays!

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        1. Interesting T-Rex – I always have Gold, but not a paper subscription … will be interesting to see if it disappears when the “free” period expires …

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  13. English just doesn’t look interested and looks clueless at the contest after he’s Rucked.. missed several tackles too from just watching blokes with the ball within an arm’s reach of him.

    *EDIT*
    How the hell is he on 70 at HT, my goodness haha

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      1. Yeah I did see that thommo! Ha
        I do agree with you though if he plays solo all year he could be fantastic. His around the ground work is solid it’s just at an actual ground ball contest he looks lost in bad positions and stays away from it all.. but I’ll take his 70 haha

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        1. He looks a bit like Big Bird at times but he could be another Dean Cox if Bevo let’s him ruck 70-80%

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    1. I don’t disagree Maverick but he has racked up 69 SC points to half time.

      I’d take a disinterested looking player who scores like that any day of the week. I don’t have English but I have Gawn who has only scored 40 points.

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  14. I reckon English may have just tweaked his knee before that last Demons goal, still went up for next centre bounce but looked proppy.

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  15. Right now anyone who took Petracca over Oliver would be happy.

    Anyone who took English would be happy too. This is probably as tough an assignment as he could get and it’s a great return on investment. If he had the ruck craft of some of the others what a gun he’d be.

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    1. Martin was a late out though, so Bevo and his team selection and Martin on the edge of the team still causes doubt

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      1. But Martin’s not been fit in the preseason.

        If there was any game they really would have wanted 2 rucks for it was versus Gawn/Jackson so it doesn’t bode well for Martin.

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  16. Didn’t take Dunkley in the end. It’s about what I was expecting from him.

    It could hurt me but for the structure I think going Ridley and Durdin over Dunkley and a non playing rookie defender might be a better long term pick, both for points and cash.

    There’s some weeks it’s gonna hurt you, for sure.

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  17. Tracc being interviewed straight after game … hasn’t even broken a sweat by the looks of him … hmmmm looks like he should have been a starting mid after this first game … DE at 76% … so if that stays up he will be right up there near No1 mid …

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  18. English 30 points more than Gawn for $275K less … anyone keen?????

    Well done to those that picked English!

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      1. yeah I know Bruce – but he also played against one of the best ruckmen and earned the frees … Gawn still out tapped him 2-1, but didn’t earn the points for his taps … bit of a dilemma … but I think he will definitely prove value into the FWD line …

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      1. Chasing last week’s scores esp game 1 is not a recommended approach.
        Agree on the long season esp with quarantine stuff. Trades will highly valued.

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  19. made English my R2 as soon as i saw Martin out. Darcey is my R1. i have dpp with hayes to move him to the fwd line when Grundy or Gawn come down in price.

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    1. Same move, with English replacing Witts as soon as he was rucking solo. While he earnt plenty of frees, he took so many turnover marks! Let alone taking on the Gawn/Jackson combo…

      Should Witts fire, I might still bring him in by Rd3 by opting to shift English forward to replace a faltering Treloar/Heeney or similar

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  20. Personally passed on Gawn because of the increasing ruck split, but to those who did start him: don’t worry.

    Was at the game, had eyes on him.

    Played a hard hitting game, lot of unrecognised grunt work, 6 free kicks against, some uncharacteristic use issues and Dogs inside strength negated a lot of his hit out work. Tough for SC.

    Still a rock solid pick long term. Don’t stress.

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    1. He went for 92 in first game last year – plenty jumped off him and he then went for 137 163 135 172 147
      History doesn’t always repeat – but it often rhymes.

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    2. Agree Gunboat, I thought he was pretty good too, nothing to stress about. He grassed about 10 contested marks that he had put himself in a position to take, so remove the free kicks against and clunk only half those marks and it could have been a very decent R1 dusting off of the off-season cobwebs. Dominant in the ruck too, with a low percentage to advantage – the blue chip Dees mids will sort that out in the next week or two.

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  21. Just the usual Round 1 post:

    Stay calm! It’s round 1.

    1. Maxy spent plenty of time in the ruck and looked like he will take a week or two to remember how to coordinate those long legs. The Doggies are one of the best sharking teams in the league.
    2. English was good around the ground but the Dogs couldn’t score and lost. If Schache doesn’t improve soon (again, it’s only Rd 1), English could get pushed forward more often and Martin will have to play. That said, there’s few good forwards so he’s likely a top 6 forward anyway.
    3. Petracca is a beast. I wish he played for the Hawks.

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  22. JS Everyone !!
    With SC Gold, if you go into the players list & filter the two playing teams , it will give you the running scores for Every player in that game.

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      1. Just watched it – he tore into Tom Morris in the presser – little about the game. Good on him! Now if only a coach would do that to Caro Wilson too!!

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    1. I’m starting to worry about his mental health tbh.

      His little preseason “revolution” speech and then this.

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  23. In so many ways it felt like w have been here before.

    Up to half-time was remarkably similar to GF.

    Gawn sub 100 – same as last year after R1. Everyone queried the pick and he went on an absolute bender starting R2.
    Bailey Smith – last year I couldn’t bring him in quick enough after a big opening round – didn’t score another ton until R15.

    Dirty on Petracca – Had him in my starting side all pre-season but swapped him to Oliver quite late as cash became available when I decided to downgrade Treloar to Heeney. (Not regretting that one so far!!) I think Petracca is the number 1 player in the comp this year and my tip for the brownlow. If you think that then you should follow your convictions and just pick him. And that’s why I’m dirty on myself. Just thought he might become the next Dusty – more interested in winning premierships and being the difference rather than churning big scores week to week.

    The bottom line is its early days and keen to see how Petracca goes in R2. After all, Dusty has always been a R1 specialist and then hibernates for the next 10 weeks..

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