We still haven’t proved  we are the real deal but we are in the position to prove it. Things are a little different when at this stage last season we expected to cruise in and blew it. There are tough games ahead that cannot be taken lightly. The injection of small forwards, the discarding of the third tall  and more emphasis on pressure and tackling is a step in the right direction.

Edited July 15, 20186 yr by america de cali

STK loss costly, we’d be sitting 2nd this morning. When you think of Cats, Port and STK games, it’s what could of been. Fingers crossed for a great run home and we hit some form against sides above and around us.

Edited July 15, 20186 yr by SFebey

2 hours ago, Adzman said:

Geelong game is worth 8 points to us in the run home. It's gives us 4 and takes 4 away from Geelong who should be going in as slight favourites gown at Geelong.

Beating them is so important to our finals chances.

Just remember Geelong starts with a five goal umpire advantage which consists of two dubious frees in front for the Cats and three not awarded to us.

It’s a rabid atmosphere there 

Has anyone else become tired of 'GHMBA Stadium' yet? I've started slurring in in an attempt to make a sensisble sound, but all I've got so far is Goomba, as in the little mushroomy monster from Mario.

So I'm convinced next week we are going to Goomba stadium. How could we possible lose, just have to jump on their heads.

7 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Has anyone else become tired of 'GHMBA Stadium' yet? I've started slurring in in an attempt to make a sensisble sound, but all I've got so far is Goomba, as in the little mushroomy monster from Mario.

So I'm convinced next week we are going to Goomba stadium. How could we possible lose, just have to jump on their heads.

I still call it Kardinia Park, stuff the league wide advertising 

We need to bring our second half skill level to all our games coming up. In that way we will win at least three which will get us there.

I see the Toiges rate us higher than GWS by letting them run over them and put more pressure on us to hold our spot, because that result was not what we were looking for.

1 hour ago, SFebey said:

I still call it Kardinia Park, stuff the league wide advertising 

I refer to it as Sleepy Hollow.

16 hours ago, old dee said:

They are not the team they were a few years ago. They are beatable and we can do it if we are switched on from the start. It is vital we start well.

Four quarters including the good start.

5 hours ago, Nasher said:

I think from a top 4 point of view we would prefer Collingwood to beat West Coast wouldn’t we? Given we play West Coast in the run home, it could be their spot we are trying to pinch, whereas we have no influence in Collingwood’s final ladder position so they may as well win every game from here on.

I'm not so sure.  And then there is the 'I hate C'wood' factor.  We still have to make the 8 so I'd prefer to play WCE when they are not desperate rather than plan on a top 4 finish.

15 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

We can roll the Cats at Kardinia Skilled GMHBA Stadium.  What works in our favour is the smaller ground - I'm going by assumption, but I think it's closer in size to Adelaide Oval (someone will prove me wrong no doubt, which I deserve as I didn't check) and it will suit our game style.  Gawny should give us first use out of the middle most of the time, and if we can have the same synergy like we did in the second half today then that will go a long way to helping us win.

I still see us as a huge chance against the Crows (we play that oval well) and against the Swans and GWS over here.  The Eagles in Perth is always a challenge, but we did it last year so there is no reason why we can't do it again.

I think the players are full of confidence and I'd back us in for our last 6 games of the season.  There is no reason why we can't win all of them.

Great post Wise, this is the attitude the club needs to take into every one of the last 6 games. every side has been flaky at some stage of the season. Geelong ffs lost to the Dogs 2 weeks ago, have lost 2 of their last 3 why can't we go down there and put them to the sword?Sure they beat Sydney, that just means to me Swans are no world beaters either. Bring our best and we're a chance against anybody, its time we announced ourselves.

1 hour ago, loges said:

Great post Wise, this is the attitude the club needs to take into every one of the last 6 games. every side has been flaky at some stage of the season. Geelong ffs lost to the Dogs 2 weeks ago, have lost 2 of their last 3 why can't we go down there and put them to the sword?Sure they beat Sydney, that just means to me Swans are no world beaters either. Bring our best and we're a chance against anybody, its time we announced ourselves.

It is not so long ago I was going to watch the Dees and the only thing to be decided was the size of the loss. I prayed for the day that we were a good chance in every game, IMO we are now.

Feels a lot better. 

Our hardest game in the run home I believe wIll be GWS. They will have most of their team in and be hard to beat. As for next Saturday get ready for it. We will play 21 players. and if some one scratches Selwoods pants he will be awarded a free for around the neck. The rest we can beat, even nicnat less WC. I really fear next week. Get ready to piff your tinnies at the idiot box.

This weekends results have really helped us with respect to the other teams' runs home.

Geez next week's fixture is infuriating. Every team in the top 10 can bank a win, either playing another team in the top 10 or playing rubbish teams like GC, STK, WB or Carlton. We can't afford consecutive losses in the next two weeks, simple as that. We'll be out of the 8 in short order.

22 hours ago, Born to Run said:

Keep looking at the ladder and worried about how we win three of the run home (if 13 wins required to get in).....

geelong next week huge....

WC, Swans, GWS, Adelaide, Geelong all hard games (not sure anyone could be confident in any of those results going our way.

Suns game would hopefully be ok.

So which two games can we wil of the ones above?

cats, swans and crows are potentials i reckon.. maybe even gws at the G, but prob pretty unlikely.

46 minutes ago, SaberFang said:

Geez next week's fixture is infuriating. Every team in the top 10 can bank a win, either playing another team in the top 10 or playing rubbish teams like GC, STK, WB or Carlton

That will be the case for 5 of the last 6 rounds.

1 minute ago, Petraccattack said:

That will be the case for 5 of the last 6 rounds.

Indeed. No one dare drop the ball 

..sts

22 hours ago, Born to Run said:

Keep looking at the ladder and worried about how we win three of the run home (if 13 wins required to get in).....

geelong next week huge....

WC, Swans, GWS, Adelaide, Geelong all hard games (not sure anyone could be confident in any of those results going our way.

Suns game would hopefully be ok.

So which two games can we wil of the ones above?

Yes, it will be challenging to win 3 more games with our draw, but if we don’t, we clearly are not good enough. Geelong are 100% vulnerable as are other teams given some key injuries. 

I believe we’ll make the 8 and closely miss the 4, that midfield display we saw in the third yesterday to be more on display.

i tipped this round based on the most advantageous outcome for Melbourne, including telling  my 10 year old lions barracking nephew, to do the job on the hawks. 

Ive done well, with wins to the lions, freo, and adelaide. Bonus points to see hawks end the round at 10th - out of the 8, Long may it continue! 

No matter what happens from here on, if anyone says "we don't deserve to play finals" as if implying we deserve it any less than Geelong, Port, Hawthorn or any of those other clubs around our mark, I'll know they're full of it.  Our game against St Kilda has nothing on what Port just served up against Freo.

This year's flag is anyone's at this point. 

21 minutes ago, Nasher said:

No matter what happens from here on, if anyone says "we don't deserve to play finals" as if implying we deserve it any less than Geelong, Port, Hawthorn or any of those other clubs around our mark, I'll know they're full of it.  Our game against St Kilda has nothing on what Port just served up against Freo.

This year's flag is anyone's at this point. 

But if we can’t beat a top 8 side surely were not good enough, also considering we were 8 and 3 only a few weeks ago?

For the record I’m confident we can win two out of Geelong, Adelaide or Sydney. 

1 hour ago, Jibroni said:

But if we can’t beat a top 8 side surely were not good enough, also considering we were 8 and 3 only a few weeks ago?

For the record I’m confident we can win two out of Geelong, Adelaide or Sydney. 

If we finish in the top 8 then we're good enough by definition.

But a quick look at the ladder and some mathematics indicates we're not going to finish 8th or higher unless we win at least two, and likely three, of Geelong, Adelaide, WC, Sydney and GWS.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-run-home-will-your-team-make-the-top-eight-20180715-p4zrmu.html

3 hours ago, Jibroni said:

But if we can’t beat a top 8 side surely were not good enough, also considering we were 8 and 3 only a few weeks ago?

For the record I’m confident we can win two out of Geelong, Adelaide or Sydney. 

We will beat Geelong AND Sydney.

I feel it in me waters.

Finals is ours to lose, and we have done enough losing over the past decade. The drought has to break eventually, and we have the team, even if our gameplan is a bit hit and miss.

ITS TIME 

 

9 hours ago, deanox said:

This weekends results have really helped us with respect to the other teams' runs home.

 

GWS upsetting Richmond was a pain for us, but the other results went our way.

17 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

Has anyone else become tired of 'GHMBA Stadium' yet? I've started slurring in in an attempt to make a sensisble sound, but all I've got so far is Goomba, as in the little mushroomy monster from Mario.

So I'm convinced next week we are going to Goomba stadium. How could we possible lose, just have to jump on their heads.

Goombaya Park where the city meets the country

This upcoming match against Geelong is one of the most important games for us this year as it’s a team we are very close to on the ladder and the ramifications for a wins vs loss are huge. 

We are also very similar in ability, both teams have shown their best and worst although we are yet to get a win over someone else truly in contention other than Adelaide. 

That round one loss against the Cats must sting, we were a little lucky to be kept in it when they could’ve put us away but they were equally very lucky that Maxy missed a chance to win it for us while we dominated the inside 50s and didn’t make the most of it (seems to be the theme for the year). 

Bottom line is we owe them for that loss and the Cats are one of those teams that inflicted so much pain on us for so long that I want us to give some back. We can definitely beat them on their own turf and if we do it could be the making of this team. 

One week at a time, let notch up our first big contenders win for the year