Not sure why all the hand wringing over the free against Watts at the end of the 3rd. He spoilt the ball cleanly but unfortunately collected Wingard in the face on the follow through. A free every day of the week

Except Monday to Sunday.

Worst decision of the round.

Jetta = first name on the team sheet

Tyson = the rock around which our midfield will be built

TMac = Future All Australian FB

T Mac still can be out positioned and makes makes crucially dumb errors!!

Like most I am fed up with Grimes. I just can't wait for Grimes, Bail and McKenzie to be weeded out like Terlich and Jones have been.

Terrible miss by Kent on his preferred left on the edge of the goalsquare.

Jordie McKenzie poster from 30m out directly in front was park football stuff.

Howe's kick in to a flat footed Garland with 3 port players within 20m was just terrible, as was Dawes' inside 50 which could have been raffled by the 2 port players when it had to hug the boundary.

Ah Jordie Mc Kenzie? just a park footballer, a sure sign of our lack of depth every time he gets a game!

I really like the game of Aiden Riley today.. Thought he was stiff to be subbed off..

Yes Aidan was great.

Well I'm looking forward to some top draft picks ( who'll add grunt to our midfield ... or goal kicking potential .... or 200 gamers) and, of course, a big preseason and ....... FMD call me a groundhog. (whatever that is)

Groundhog! (whatever that is)

Mate.

I am not having a go just wondering what you see. He had 10 touches at 40% efficiency, kicked one excellent goal which was the only time he used his speed offensively or defensively that I recall. He lost a couple of crucial contests. I think he deserves another game against Brisbane but his performance would want to be improved on today to get more games passed that.

The coach speaks:

"Overall it was a terrific effort … that's the sort of standard we want to set as a footy club."

umpires got port the win!

keep them both.

The spoil by Watts on 3/4 time compared to the manhandling of Pederson early in the last, it's a two goal turnaround caused by nothing but the incompetence of full time umpires

Incompetence yes, full time no and that's partly the problem.

Except Monday to Sunday.

Worst decision of the round.

It was a charge. You must turn your back on your opponent in that situation. Jack made the spoil but he was face on which made it illegal. That's the ruling.

Last part is the key for me. Others have been given blocks of games to show their worth, both Blease and Tappy deserve the same.

They'll be given blocks of games to show their worth on the trade table I reckon.

There won't be any unforced changes forthe next couple of games. Reckon Strauss will be given a chance at some stage though.

Think the side was better balanced this week - looked slow and top heavy during the previous games.

My first post.

Just heartbreaking yet again - so many in the last 50 years.

Better to be that close than pumped by heaps and some little positive signs e.g. Jetta better than I thought.

Don't like the knocking of Grimes - still a good player - I know his disposal is not great at times.Don't like bagging umps - if a team is good enough it wins BUT the Bail decision against the Doggies and today's crazy one against Watts (great spoil) right on 3/4 time very hard to cop.

fossil

Welcome to the madhouse and congrats on losing your posting cherry.

Many thanks for the welcome.

Yep - Have to be mad to be passionate about the Demons tho I can remember the 50s and 60s triumphs.

Will always stay loyal.

Gradual progress but still a million miles to go.

Obviously the list still has to be improved greatly so any consistent success will take a lot more time.

Somehow have to retain Peter Jackson and Paul Roos for much longer than they have so far committed. Hope is a wonderful thing and they have given us it.

Have to keep letting them know that and that we desperately want them in for as long as it takes.

Don't ever want to lose that hope again.

Fossil.

A painful loss - really gutting. To lead with 3 minutes left and lose is always going to hurt, especially when it was going to be such a memorable, courageous win.

I can't really fault any particular moments because the effort was sensational. Five goals down against a SA team in Adelaide just so often results in 10+ goal losses for the Dees, so to fight back and kick six goals in a row and take the lead and nearly win the game is a fantastic effort from the players.

It was probably the best we've played on the outside since the last time we played Port. We moved the ball well, got some valuable uncontested ball and linked up much better than we have in the last six or seven weeks. Geelong and Fremantle in particular really smashed us on the outside and facing a quick hard-running team in Port I was concerned this would happen again. But we beat them in uncontested footy and although they ran the ball better than us I thought our ball movement and offensive spread at least matched them.

We just lack that class and run/pace to capitalise on our momentum - we waste opportunities to put scoreboard pressure on the opposition and instead of piling on 5-6 goals we manage only 2-3 and it keeps the opposition in the game. This also hurts us late in game when it's close - just that lack of class and composure to make the correct decisions and see the game out. It's a little like a lower team in soccer being 1-0 up against top opposition - so many times the top team finds that late equaliser because the lower team just lacks the class and composure to see it out.

For me Tyson is already a key for us - when he is up and about and winning clearances we are a far better team. I don't think it's a coincidence that his drop in form since Round 12 has seen a corresponding drop in performance from the team and that his best game since then led to our best team performance.

I won't go into the umpiring as it has all been said in this thread - but the one that disgusted me the most was the free to Westhoff against Viney. Jack did so well to spoil a guy double his size, and then when Westhoff went to ground and Viney tripped over him he actually cushioned his landing to prevent him from falling on Westhoff's back and did it quite successfully in my opinion. Yet the umpire pays a push in the back. Let's just say my TV is thankful that Westhoff missed.

At the end of the day there's no doubt it is absolutely gut-wrenching to lose another close one and gee it would've felt incredible to get the win. But the players really dug deep and put in a great performance on enemy territory and you can only be proud of their efforts.

I dont see why we are blaming Dawes, Jones, Grimes, Howe or any individual players as a team they all pretty much made mistakes at times that could have won the game for us. Our disposal efficiency was woeful for quite a few players, still we were playing in adelaide, in front of a very one sided crowd which does unfortunately have an adverse effect on the impartiality of the umpiring. All in all I was pretty happy with the teams performance, it was not pretty football but they played as a team and applied pressure most of the day and did not rollover. These final matches are not so much about winning but about keeping the lessons going and identifying which players will be leaving us at the end of the season. Which will probably mean that we may give games to players who would not necessarily be in our top 22 so that Roos and co can see if they have a future with the MFC or not,

They both should get at least a few more weeks to see if they're up to it. I said it earlier in the thread, but Blease is an upgrade on M.Jones and Tapscott is an upgrade on Terlich... even if their impact only comes in patches.

Agree both should get remaining games to show their worth.

Blease and Tapscott did exactly what they have always done. They did not do much but Tapscott had one moment where he played with elite hardness and Blease had one moment that showed elite pace. We then hang onto these moments thinking they can consistently use these facets and become good players ignoring they were but moments of the game.

very tough, neither have played at this level in a year (bar tappy last week) and I thought Blease looked like tappy last week, struggling to adjust to AFL after playing VFL.

Tappy was much better than last week and played an important role. Contested well, was a target and helped out down back with some strong bullocking play. Should play out season and hopefully continues to get better

Tappy and Blease probably just did enough today to stick around next week. Both showed flashes of the players they can be. Hope these two make it.

very tough, neither have played at this level in a year (bar tappy last week) and I thought Blease looked like tappy last week, struggling to adjust to AFL after playing VFL.

Tappy was much better than last week and played an important role. Contested well, was a target and helped out down back with some strong bullocking play. Should play out season and hopefully continues to get better

I am not saying don't play them next match or forward if form allows. I just think their match was very typical of their careers to date.

My big question is how Riley was chosen to be subbed off.

He'd laid seven tackles, had 19 pressure acts in just 51 per cent game time.

I am looking at replay now to see if he copped knock, but it's hard to figure out why.

Tapscott, Blease, JKH and even one of our tall forwards were more obvious options.

It was a charge. You must turn your back on your opponent in that situation. Jack made the spoil but he was face on which made it illegal. That's the ruling.

That isn't the rule, it is just commonly a free kick because it's very risky.

If you spoil the ball (ie, clean contact), rather than hit the player, it isn't a free kick. The rule is that if you are not looking at the ball and make contact with the player (and not the ball) then it is a free kick.

As it was, the umpire paid the free kick for high contact, not for having his back to the ball.