Wouldn’t be surprised if we start this game with an extra at the ball, I get a feeling Goodwin has been saving this all year as a bit of a shock and awe tactic if it works we can smash them round the ball and put them away early but if it fails revert to the extra behind play and grind it out. We tried this vs cats last week in the first half and it might have worked if we made more of our chances and cats didn’t have that run on late in the 2nd. But as we showed we can grind back from basically any deficit so it’s worth the gamble. 

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Fritsch, come on down :)

He barely got near it against decent opposition last week either.

Watching the replay of our last game against the Lions and it's such a similar game to the Cats game, we didn't finish our work and our pressure was a bit off and they got on top, we clicked back into our footy and we absolutely pulled their pants down. 

it shows that our best is THE best 

They definitely tried to isolate our defenders 1v1 which worked in the first half because our work rate and pressure was down and they had a fraction of extra time and space, in the second the pressure forced more high kicks and we won the battles in the air, even with Hipwood down there. 

they worked hard to make sure Salem got no time and space, knowing he's our quarterback, i suspect they'll go again with this and we will try the same thing with Rich 

Oscar McInerney was good enough to stop Gawn getting clean hit outs, but Gawn clearly has him around the ground, and our mids seemed to get the better of the chaos ball when Jackson is in there, what i love about him is he's so different to Gawn, he doesn't seem to have any real purpose beyond just getting his hand to the ball, and our players just react to it. when it's Gawn both sides are just watching his palm and it ends up with a bees to the honeypot situation. 

I think if we are going okay in the middle we can afford to send Petracca forward because Starcavic will have his hands full with Fritsch, so they won't have a good match up when he's down there 

Everything starts with Neale, like Libba if we can contain him, we can take away their engine room 

Want to get fired up to win - take a deep breath and have a look at this - about the most disappointed I've been after a match (Tuohy goal after the siren now erased by Big Maxy heroics)

https://www.afl.com.au/video/670516/last-two-mins-melb-v-ess-ef-2004-bombers-last-finals-win

Edited August 25, 20213 yr by Pollyanna

Quietly nervous for this one.

We rolled them at Giants Stadium, but can we expect to keep their very potent forward line quiet twice? While our forwards are nothing to sneeze at, I reckon they’ve got us covered there’s

For mine, the centre is where we need to dominate. McInerney is the only ruck they have, and we need to press our advantage there. I feel our mids bat slightly deeper than theirs, but not by much. We started to beat them last time by quick extraction from the centre, and slashing attacks from the wing and half back. The explosiveness of Petracca and Oliver means that we need to be daring, but not reckless. 

Nerves are starting to set in. Geelong is now a memory. The second season starts now!

 

Does anyone know if we are taking the whole playing list to Adelaide/Perth?

12 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Does anyone know if we are taking the whole playing list to Adelaide/Perth?

Good chance we will be taking a large contingent:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/cats-dees-to-go-to-perth-as-afl-waits-on-grand-final-confirmation-20210825-p58lsb.html

Probably going to be away for 3 weeks, and will need others to train with at least.

So who's going to the game on Saturday?

7 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

The two night slots are the prime time slots. The club and the AFL want us playing in one of them.

That is right, the script is for the benefit of the AFL not MFC.

7 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

If you're of the view that 7 days is light on, how does Brisbane feel?

My argument is not about the effect on this game but on the finals campaign. We are on an even playing field against Brisbane. 

That is why I feel the Dogs get a hand up. Nine Days to prepare for the next phase of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they turn their form around and give the finals a shake.

 

7 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

And as to venues, there is evidence to suggest we were offered a choice of venue and chose the Adelaide Oval

I understand the choice for Adelaide. The beautiful stadium, neutral crowd, accessibility, but it still involves that quarantine. Which again disrupts our pre-finals preparation. 

You can keep saying, my arguments are obviously wrong, but it is my opinion.

We are being shafted.

The last 4 weeks of Home and Away were tough, good teams, excessive travel, quarantines, we did alright finishing top. Though, no benefits what so ever, from it. 

My preference would have been, play Brisbane at the MCG on the Sunday.

Allow fully vaccinated  spectators in, or no crowds. 

Edited August 25, 20213 yr by kev martin

Just now, kev martin said:

The last 4 weeks of Home and Away were tough, good teams excessive travel, quarantines, we did alright finishing top. Though no benefits what so ever.

This game should've been played at the MCG as a reward for our 1st place finish. A qualifying final is a crucial final as winning it is the clear gateway to winning a premiership as opposed to toughing it out for 4 weeks and potentially not having a break since round 14.

Brisbane have not won at the MCG since 2014 and have a 9 game losing streak there and lost to Hawthorn of all teams down there last year. Plus they hardly ever play at the G. Tell me that's not an advantage to the MFC! 

Alas, the AFL caved into the Gerard Whatley's of the world who were visibly offended and upset that a final would be played at the home of footy in front of nobody, and are now going to play the game in front of a whopping 4,000 or so diehards interstate. I'd understand if we were giving up our home ground advantage for a massive money making event where crowds are in the 20,000's or 30,000's, but not for the small crowd that they'll probably end up getting where almost 100% of respective club members can't go (VIC) or won't go (Brisbane fans that have to COVID test every 4 days while in SA). 

With that being said, I expect to win on Saturday night and win well.

Gil's just confirmed that the grand final will be in Perth or the MCG.

So well done Perth.

Delete

Edited August 25, 20213 yr by dazzledavey36

9 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Gil's just confirmed that the grand final will be in Perth or the MCG.

So well done Perth.

He also dangled a carrot that crowd capacity could increase for this weekend but didn’t want to speak for the government. But he knows something we don’t. 

28 minutes ago, Megatron said:

He also dangled a carrot that crowd capacity could increase for this weekend but didn’t want to speak for the government. But he knows something we don’t. 

which one Mega?

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Does anyone know if we are taking the whole playing list to Adelaide/Perth?

We need to prepare that we may well be away for the next 4 weeks. That means we have to factor in lots of scenarios, including match ups, injuries, players having to go home for an emergency (eg- Jonesy for the birth of his twins?)… I am guessing that we won’t take as many to Adelaide but may have a few extra fly directly to Perth from Melbourne? But overall I’d say we go to Perth with minimum 30 guys. You need a backup for just about every single position on the ground. 

58 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

which one Mega?

SA government. Talking about crowd sized for the AO oval games.

Weather for Saturday night. 
9-17°c with 90% chance of shower 5-10mm….

4 hours ago, kev martin said:

That is right, the script is for the benefit of the AFL not MFC.

My argument is not about the effect on this game but on the finals campaign. We are on an even playing field against Brisbane. 

That is why I feel the Dogs get a hand up. Nine Days to prepare for the next phase of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they turn their form around and give the finals a shake.

I understand the choice for Adelaide. The beautiful stadium, neutral crowd, accessibility, but it still involves that quarantine. Which again disrupts our pre-finals preparation. 

You can keep saying, my arguments are obviously wrong, but it is my opinion.

We are being shafted.

The last 4 weeks of Home and Away were tough, good teams, excessive travel, quarantines, we did alright finishing top. Though, no benefits what so ever, from it. 

My preference would have been, play Brisbane at the MCG on the Sunday.

Allow fully vaccinated  spectators in, or no crowds. 

Your arguments are just silly.

It's not just the AFL who want us on prime time. We want to be on prime time. After all the hard work we've done to make ourselves relevant, you want us to be off broadway.

Why do you care about the Dogs? If they win their EF they have to back up into a 6-day break for their next game, against a side (us or Brisbane) on a 7-day break. See how that's an advantage for us? And we'd be on an even playing field with Brisbane as to days break no matter what day the game is played.

You're arguing conspiracy theories and AFL "shafting" when the reality is the AFL has made a really obvious decision (I'm talking timeslot, not venue) that shouldn't need to be explained.

On the issue of playing in Adelaide vs Melbourne, I share some sympathy with the argument that for a crowd of 15,000 max (with no guarantee we get the full 15,000 there), there is little benefit to playing the game in Adelaide as compared to an empty MCG. But such is life. It would have happened last year but it was coincidental in the extreme that 1st and 2nd were Port and Brisbane, who then both won their QFs, which took the decision out of the AFL's hands.

2 hours ago, OhMyDees said:

Weather for Saturday night. 
9-17°c with 90% chance of shower 5-10mm….

Where are you reading that? Just checked BOM and it says 50% chance of showers 0-4mm

Just read that there is talk of a potential crowd capacity increase in SA this weekend.

Hopefully this is common sense prevailing. 

7 hours ago, Dwight Schrute said:

Watching the replay of our last game against the Lions and it's such a similar game to the Cats game, we didn't finish our work and our pressure was a bit off and they got on top, we clicked back into our footy and we absolutely pulled their pants down. 

it shows that our best is THE best 

They definitely tried to isolate our defenders 1v1 which worked in the first half because our work rate and pressure was down and they had a fraction of extra time and space, in the second the pressure forced more high kicks and we won the battles in the air, even with Hipwood down there. 

they worked hard to make sure Salem got no time and space, knowing he's our quarterback, i suspect they'll go again with this and we will try the same thing with Rich 

Oscar McInerney was good enough to stop Gawn getting clean hit outs, but Gawn clearly has him around the ground, and our mids seemed to get the better of the chaos ball when Jackson is in there, what i love about him is he's so different to Gawn, he doesn't seem to have any real purpose beyond just getting his hand to the ball, and our players just react to it. when it's Gawn both sides are just watching his palm and it ends up with a bees to the honeypot situation. 

I think if we are going okay in the middle we can afford to send Petracca forward because Starcavic will have his hands full with Fritsch, so they won't have a good match up when he's down there 

Everything starts with Neale, like Libba if we can contain him, we can take away their engine room 

This game will be won at the contest, and in particular, the middle. Zorko is their man and has been in great form. Shut him down and we’re in with a very big chance.

In regards to their forwards, I’m mainly concerned about Cameron. I think Hibberd has to come in and do the job on him. Cameron will be too smart for Smith.

We’re lucky Hipwood is out. He was looking very dangerous against us in the first half earlier this year but couldn’t capitalise. I think May will do well on Daniher and has beaten him in the past. Rivers will go to McCarthy who is dangerous in his own right while I think Lever will run off Ah Chee.

6 hours ago, praha said:

So who's going to the game on Saturday?

I'm signed sealed and delivered Praha🇭🇹🙏

7 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Just read that there is talk of a potential crowd capacity increase in SA this weekend.

Hopefully this is common sense prevailing. 

Might be the case tommorow Daz, The Powa fans going absolutely mental over it.

This is the most even finals series I can remember in that every team has a genuine chance in the first week.

From memory, the last time we played Brisbane they got on top around the ball and gave their two key forwards first use which was hard to stop.

We need to control the centre and as always control clearances as that will ultimately dictate if we can get on top and more importantly stay on top.

Edited August 25, 20213 yr by Clint Bizkit

10 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

This is the most even finals series I can remember in that every team has a genuine chance in the first week.

From memory, the last time we played Brisbane they got on top around the ball and gave their two key forwards first use which was hard to stop.

We need to control the centre and as always control clearances as that wil ultimately dictate if we can get on top and more importantly stay on top.

Agreed CB. 6th has won 15 games... That doesn't happen often. 2016 and 2012 are the only times I believe (i checked back to 1964 - FMD if I am going further).

Plus GWS are full of good players and Essendon are full of themselves.

That's mean but they are full of belief.

Will be a ripper series and I just hope we show ourselves for 3 games and continue to trust ourselves, our teammates and the gameplan. We will win if we do that.