No Pendlebury, DeGoey, Greenwood, Wells, Adams, Varcoe.
That’s too many out of the midfield group.
Melbourne can’t let this one slip, as there is still a chance that WC find something against the Crows, and a 4 goal margin might be enough to get them over the Dees.
Melbourne can definitely still miss the Finals.
They have to win !
The fact that they could get 50 points up against the sleeping crows and only manage to draw the game is not a reason to think they’ll win IMO.
FWIW, I thought maybe they were a chance but not missing half their midfield. Dees with finals on the line will be too good. I’d love it if they got rolled but don’t think it’ll happen.
A few Port people in the know reckon the AFL has told them it will be a Thursday night final at AO and that as the ladder stands currently it’s more than likely Port v Essendon will be Thursday night
Bulldogs played in Perth on Sunday last round and then had to go back to Perth on a Thursday night for finals.
Will definitely be a final in Adelaide on Thursday just depends on how the cards fall this week as to who it is
Thursday night footy is ridiculous considering it’s a very very good chance that there will be no footy in Melbourne. I doubt I can take 2 days off to go to the footy, 1 would be no problem
The bye enables the AFL to schedule the Thursday final which in turn means they don’t have a Sunday final which in turn means no side goes into a Semi Final the following week off a 6 day break.
It actually makes perfect sense.
And then there’s TV ratings which will likely be better on a Thursday night than a Sunday afternoon.