Why did we run out of puff?

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Anyone agree?

I reckon you'll find that the demons' approach to the game was to get the score on the board in such a big way that whatever comeback the Power mounted wouldn't be enough. I think it's a sound tactic to have them run themselves into the ground for the first 20 minutes of the first 3 quarters, get 30 points clear by 3/4 time, then just lean on them for the win. We could have gone at 90-95% for the first 3 quarters and had plenty in the tank, but that would have made for a struggle for the whole 120 minutes. Either way it's a close game.

FWIW, I dont think either Jetta or Watts looked underdone in Darwin.

They may not have "looked" underdone, but I think both looked stuffed. Watts by half time, and Wonna in a general sense. And that's fine. Not every player can do a Miller/Sylvia and come in and score 5 goals straight up. Particularly not when you're still a kid and/or have has serious injuries and no senior footy. Watts isn't a professional footballer in build/engine yet. Wonna has been curtailed. Both have good reason to be a bit off.

But that's just the way I saw it.

[Kiss of Death 708]

Young kids, players that were underdone as previously mentioned, would have affected our rotations bigtime. They were going at an interchange a minute in the first quarter, considering the effort they'd made in the first three quarters it's no wonder we lost a bit of zip in the end.

Doubt there'll be much training this week.

[dee-luded 2,958]

I think of those three Cats, Podsiadly is going to be the hardest to contain because of his ability to break packs. This will probably get me laughed out of town, but I wonder how someone like Dunn might go on that kind of opponent? I know he has done a lot of tagging, but has he ever been played in the backline (I can't recall)? Is it worth a try?

I think Pods is too big & too strong for Dunny.

[SuzDee 13]

I ran out of puff before the game even started, then endured an evening of bathing in my own sweat. The conditions were horrid for spectators, without daring to think about how the players felt.

Don't ever underestimate our players G&D. In Q4 I saw Jack Watts lose his feet. He was alone in our forward 50 and started staggering. Millsy came along to prop him up, the trainers ran in, then the ball was moved into our forward area and Wattsy shrugged them off and ran to the contest.

I'll be thrilled to wear multiple layers while I watch footy at a chilly Skilled Stadium this week. I can only hope the boys recover well and turn up ready for a contest.

As much as I enjoyed going to Darwin it was really hard work for everyone just surviving the conditions.

[optimus_grimes 4]

The days of two specialist ruckmen are over. One is enough in any side. With the amount of interchanges and the speed of the game, it's all about having run in the side. Kreuzer and niknat will be invaluable to their teams in this respect. Ruckman need to be mobile in todays game and having spencer in the side last week would have been a mistake and bails couldnt move miller from the goals. Sylvia rucking was an attempt to have an extra runner on the ground which almost back fired. Bails rolled the dice and it came off just. I'm glad he had the balls to do it.

Going forward, Stef martin is the type of player you want to be playing that backup role but it really doesnt matter. I can actually see someone like morton or another forward stepping into this role when we have some more height in the forward line. All the other teams will go this way eventually. Numbers are equal on the ground so in theory it doesnt matter if you lose the ruck. Sure forward momentum helps but is not worth anything if you dont have the talent on the ground as we've seen in freo's case for the last few years.

Jamar is a monster and i cant express how impressed i've been with the big russian this year.