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Interesting radio people and reading the papers today gave Lever best on ground. I tought he was great.

Thank goodness I have to work this afternoon so I don't have to see a second of todays game. I don't want either team to win.

Off the field that's Melk at the moment. BBB probably provides some guidance when he's in the side? Agree though. An on field / in game forward line leader / general has been lacking for us when Melk's out of the team.

It was woeful because we all know that we can do better than that. To see stars and reputable players kick and handball like many of them did was horrible. Don't agree with Dunstall often but he referred to our team as in a malaise. Although we played better in the last we still looked off. Let's face it, if it was a top eight team the scores would have been reversed. This is a top four team of the last three years. I honestly don't understand how we can play like we have in the previous two games. But last night was much worse than the lions game. How do players like Tracc, Viney and even Lever and Max just kick under no pressure straight to opposite players? I thought Oliver was good despite a few hack kicks. At least he got the ball. Max. Always solid The backline saved us big time. And wowee what a gem we have in Turner. I'm genuinely interested in views as to how we were so bad. The handballing at times was so errant it looked as if nobody wanted the ball. There were over a dozen premiership players from three years ago . It's hard to explain. An anomaly that maybe can't be explained ? You have a good football brain BBO....what happened?

I do understand where you are coming and they are outstanding leaders but our forwards constantly push so high up the ground that they are standing next to Mr Lever and Mr May. That is not leadership that is structure.

Some of us peasants have to work on Friday 😜

Yes i reckon it's a must for Petty now Mike. Goody has certainly given him plenty of chances to improve and perform. However, sometimes a player just needs to reset and find the fitness & belief again at the lower level. Seen it work so many times before and no reason why it wouldn't for Harry. Personally i think it's mostly (60% - 80%) a match fitness issue with the remainder above the shoulders. A few matches under his belt with some more time and space to execute at Casey, the belief should start to return again and then the confidence and results should (in theory) follow. The other concern you have to ask... Has his mind / heart already left the building IF he knows he is moving on at year's end? That's not to say he's intentionally doing this. But if he's made the decision to do so, surely must be playing on his mind... possibly even "in game" at times? If that's the case then a spell at Casey is a non-negotiable. And as a coach you must ask him the committment question (without asking the question) by doing so. And what i mean by committment is "are you capable of putting that all behind you and performing at your very best each week for the remainder of your tenure?" If so all good. But seeing is believing. Of course he may be staying and all of that means diddly squat and it's purely a fitness/form/belief issue. Only time will tell

Abby is very good interviewing players and I think he has built up the trust with them.

Perhaps against the Cats.

I've listened to Jenkins a few times on SEN. Loves to make controversial comments. I think he's a Kane Cornes wannabe but doesn't possess Cornes understanding of the game. wouldn't pay too much attention to him.

gotta say it's a great start to a long weekend to win on a wednesday

I reckon our forward line just needs a strong leader to guide and organise during play much like we have in the backline. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other backs refer to them as Mr. Lever and Mr. May.

I had 2 great uncles who served in WW1 one never returned. My father was on the Kokoda track in 1942. A school friend died in Vietnam. I think of them every ANZAC day plus the many others who served.

You read the game day thread?

You almost needed Benny Hill music playing whilst watching that first half. Skills and decision making were deplorable. You would see better play watching suburban football. I understand the argument 'a wins a win', but with so many entertainment choices these days, watching that garbage wouldn't be too high on my priority list.

Now that the knot in my gut from last night is beginning to unwind, and I have checked the gaps in my hair from pulling so much out, I can actually appreciate some of the good stuff from last night's game. The 45 degree kicking. Yes, the skills involved were so poor, but we continued to attempt it. We took the risk, and often the switch/change of line was open and on. For so long, we went down the line from back to the forward pocket, caused a stoppage, and tried to score from that. I feel McQuallter has emphasised the reward over risk so we go for this more often. And I love it. It is just a shame that TMac, Woewodin, even Lever and Windsor stuffed it up so much last night. This is why we need Bowey and Salem. Still a work in progress, but our forward line is beginning to MOVE. So often, we are stationary. Turner and Fritsch were moving. Kozzie got on his bike. JVR led at times also. It didn't work all that well, but it was great to see this change. On top of those things above, we have the best captain in the AFL, and the best backline ever.

Substitute Wednesday for Thursday

I read the game day thread before I was able to watch the match. Correlation factor about equal to our percentage gain. Good win and great to see older stars like Lever and May play well and possible emerging new talent on display.

Terrific stuff. It's worth noting that the standard 7 day break program as detailed in that article includes two all team sessions (not including the captain's run) - a recovery skills session and a main session Goody said pre game that after the lions match they gave the players a 4 day break and then did three big sessions (which i think he said included a match sim). We had a 13 day break into the tigers game. The players had a 4 day break, meaning back on deck Tuesday before last, and the captains run on Tuesday this week. Meaning they had 3 big sessions in a seven day period, with at least a couple of weight sessions too no doubt. In other words, they did increased training loads in the lead up to the Tigers game (ie more work than they would do in a standard week as per the article). They could have flipped that and done the increased load in week one of their break and then given the players their break. That would have meant being fresher against the tigers. But i would suggest they did not do so because they are targeting the cats and blues games. Maxy said post game that they will have just the (standard) two sessions this week. I assume they then have a very light load in the 5 day break into the blues game. It's interesting that the article notes that 'teams coming off a bye playing away against a home side without a bye have performed, on average, a goal below expectation.'. We were such a team last night. On weight sessions, it is worth remembering load management involves two elements - aerobic (wrong word I think, but y'all get the drift) and power/strength. Increased power/strength loads, done away from the prying eyes at training sessions, mean some players (particularly young players, like Windsor for example) will feel the effects (eg jelly legs, sore muscles etc) on game day. Which will likely negativley impact their skills, for example their kicking.

Agreed. I had the same thought with Petty as well. He looks like he just needs a short spell with Casey, just to get some touch back. I dont think it'll take much.

It's time to see these games through the red and blue glasses. Even so they are hard to select. Geelong v Carlton (a draw perhaps and if not a thrashing of Geelong) Giants v Lions... I'm going for GWS in hope that Lions remain in the 9-12 group Freo v Dogs... Dogs please which should send Freo into a crisis of confidence Port v Saints ... Port which will end the Saints season The others I am less concerned about. Unfortunately someone has to win between Bombers and Pies

chaplin in the pre-game interview was clear - he's a forward they love his ability to get to contests and at a minimum get the ball to ground i don't think he's at risk of being dropped, and as long as he's not injured he'll remain in our starting 22

Thanks Captain Obvious Jenkins. Play him down back or play him at Casey. We are not good enough to carry a player who is a net negative.