When Kosi kicked his last goal we were 35 points in front. Port were dispirited and buggered, there were 7 minutes to play. I’ve known some Melbourne teams not as good as this one, who  would  have Won by 50 . Even the last goal by Dixon was quite costly. If we miss a top 2 position on percentage, we will think about a few passive last quarters when we haven’t poured on the gas 

There was a run in the early round where that was absolutely the case, but I'm willing to give the guys some slack on the road on a 5 day break. They took the heat out of the last quarter, kicked a couple of sealers and ran the clock down pretty much perfectly until the last 10 seconds or so.

The worst error we made last week in terms of costing us percentage and a bit of pain in the game was the goal right before half time. We kicked out with 30 seconds left and instead of sharing the ball around for 3 uncontested marks we immediately went long and then let Boak get an easy clearance from the throw in. A soft Dixon free and a 4 goal lead becomes 3 goals.

There's still work to be done on building a tempo kicking game.

The 4th spot on the ladder will be between Melbourne and Port according to my calculations. And that will be decided by %. 

To be fair, I don't think its lack of endeavour as to why we never have big wins. It's just due to poor kicking for goal. every week. Another 14 behinds with about 3 shots that missed everything is a consistent story for us and we're going to kick ourselves out of a final unless we pay it the respect it deserves. 

Edited July 9, 20213 yr by Dr.D

I think its also we just do what we need to to win.  No point flogging ourselves for percentage if it means we lose the following week.

So passing the ball around rather than going full throttle probably helps ensure we don't get too fatigued.  I think this is Geelong's plan - given they've shown they've been unable to peak in September in recent years.

I agree on both your points.  It is indeed minor, and a quibble!

 

4.10 in the 2nd half. Had we capitalised on our setshots in the 3Q, the game would have been over and the 4th quarter would have allowed us to stretch it out the margin closer to 60 points. The issue is that with most of our wins the opposition still have had a sniff at 3Q time.

 

Speaking of the last goal of the game from Dixon, am I blind or was Dixon nowhere near the ball with his hands on that first grab?

To me it looked like he didn't even get close on the first bite and then it magically landed in his hands on the second bite.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it paid. Or am I genuinely going crazy?

8 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Speaking of the last goal of the game from Dixon, am I blind or was Dixon nowhere near the ball with his hands on that first grab?

To me it looked like he didn't even get close on the first bite and then it magically landed in his hands on the second bite.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it paid. Or am I genuinely going crazy?

Only one of about 20 howler umpiring decisions on the night Jimmy

I agree with you 200%. I haven't watched it in slow motion but at normal speed it looks like the ball comes out of Marshall's hands and Dixon got the rebound. If you're crazy, we can be crazy together. I yelled at the telly as soon as I saw it.

2 hours ago, Dr.D said:

The 4th spot on the ladder will be between Melbourne and Port according to my calculations. And that will be decided by %. 

To be fair, I don't think its lack of endeavour as to why we never have big wins. It's just due to poor kicking for goal. every week. Another 14 behinds with about 3 shots that missed everything is a consistent story for us and we're going to kick ourselves out of a final unless we pay it the respect it deserves. 

Yesterdays win makes this a very unlikely scenario.

We are two wins ahead, with 10% lead.

Ten percent is difficult to make up late in the season as the denominator gets larger and larger.

Port probably would have to win three more games than us to displace us in the top 4. That would mean they win all of their remaining games and we lose three of ours.

We have 3 teams in the 8 to play. 2nd - Dogs, 3rd - Cats and 7th - Eagles - 1 home game and 2 away

Port have two teams in the 8 to play. 2nd - Dogs, 8th - Giants. - both away games

We have shown that we can beat top 8 teams. Port have shown that they can't.

All the teams in the top 4 are most likely set.

 

 

1 hour ago, JimmyGadson said:

Speaking of the last goal of the game from Dixon, am I blind or was Dixon nowhere near the ball with his hands on that first grab?

To me it looked like he didn't even get close on the first bite and then it magically landed in his hands on the second bite.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it paid. Or am I genuinely going crazy?

thought the same when i saw it. really poor umpiring