I don't agree with your comments on McGovern, Morgan.
Yes he's been an All-Australian so you don't play to his strengths as we did today and oddly enough in the previous 5 derbies. Yes he averages 8 per game and today he had 11 not 10. There were at least another 10 - 15 intercept marks inside our forward 50, especially in the last quarter when we came at them.
Can we not learn from games won and lost this year? The games we won, we actually looked for targets inside the forward area. Today, looking for targets was the exception not the rule.
I'm asking myself, do the players and / or the coaches not have sufficient faith in our ability to hit targets? Why do we persist in the long high bomb forward?
Today was a winnable game and we lost it the same way we lost the last 5.
Team selection played a part and for all his years of sterling service, MJ is at best a depth player. He's no longer best 22.
Ballantyne is a bit the same. He bobs up for a couple of goals but was missing for most of the game.