I'll quite happily take wins like this. Very methodical. Never out of second gear. Conserve ourselves for later in the season when the temperature rises.

May looked much more comfortable with Rick playing. Our defense is rock solid

Midfield had its moment but generally sloppy. They'll be better v GWS

BB coming back in will make a big difference to our forward set-up

A leisurely, sedate, boring inter-state win with players to come back in.

4-0. We're motoring along nicely

I am not so sanguine with this win. What should have been a large victory became a hard slog. No way to develop good habits and a ruthless streak

Five goals in a single burst in Q2 and then 5 goals for the rest of the game? Only two scoring shots more than the powerless from many more forward entries? No reliable forward entry method without BBB?

Playing wide with numerous uncontested possessions in an attempt to spread us and defeat our more direct game did not succeed for them because it ruined their game even more. But other more competent teams may try it as well with success.

Nine days recovery might be the tonic we need.

GO GOODY GO DEES

 

8 hours ago, binman said:

And please, if I read one comment along rhe lines thst the lions will destroy us playing like that my head will explode.

 

The Lions will destroy us playing like that...😐

The good thing is we didn't play well and are 4-0.

I remember back in 2015, some bright spark wrote a letter to Roosy stating that he’d rather see us lose than win the way we did against the Brisbane Lions in that year’s corresponding fixture. Like last night’s fixture, it was ugly and grinding, but ultimately we won.

My sentiments then are as they are now: I won’t ever watch the replay as it was far from an entertainment spectacle. But would I prefer the alternative to winning? 

Do we really need to have that conversation? Has everyone forgotten 2007 to 2015? 

Just read the 'Votes' thread.

Who would have thought we would thrash a team with Oliver and Petracca getting only 1 vote each from the 'trillion'* possible from about 25 DL'ers.

Have we ever won a game in recent times with neither among our best 6.  It is like they were rested for the game but on the field.

That must frighten the bejesus out of the rest of the comp.  Take both champs out of the game and still be thrashed.

Happy days for a team not reliant on any player(s):  Us.

Oliver and Petracca don't have bad games, just good ones and great ones.

Last night they merely played good games but others stood up.  I'm loving it.

It was good to see Petracca lay without any knee bandages.

9 hours ago, 640MD said:

Ok again 

how long since we won 4 wins start. Two years in a row. Must be in the 50’s

Apparently 55 and 56?

2 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

It was good to see Petracca lay without any knee bandages.

He said in an interview it was precautionary as sometimes his knee swells off short breaks ever since his acl injury in his first year with us. Nothing more than that which is pleasing to hear.

18 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Just read the 'Votes' thread.

Who would have thought we would thrash a team with Oliver and Petracca getting only 1 vote each from the 'trillion'* possible from about 25 DL'ers.

Have we ever won a game in recent times with neither among our best 6.  It is like they were rested for the game but on the field.

That must frighten the bejesus out of the rest of the comp.  Take both champs out of the game and still be thrashed.

Happy days for a team not reliant on any player(s):  Us.

Quote of this thread LH.

And you can add the same for when we get the forward line connection working again. At last nights presser Rucci asked goody about the scoring behemoth in the PF and GF that was the Dees.  Goody said we are a work in progress and know we can improve.

Scary indeed for others when things click in the future games.

41 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Just read the 'Votes' thread.

Who would have thought we would thrash a team with Oliver and Petracca getting only 1 vote each from the 'trillion'* possible from about 25 DL'ers.

Have we ever won a game in recent times with neither among our best 6.  It is like they were rested for the game but on the field.

That must frighten the bejesus out of the rest of the comp.  Take both champs out of the game and still be thrashed.

Happy days for a team not reliant on any player(s):  Us.

The beauty of having three superstars.

If Petracca or Oliver don’t get you, Gawn will.

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

Yes the Max toss was umpiring at its WORST. Since when can you throw a player over your shoulder and deny him a contest?? Only ever seen on WWE or WWF Wrestling

And also face him, not look at the ball, wrap your arms around him and block him getting to the ball - but no free for Max

Said it last week and say it again - our tall forwards need to spread - not all go to the same spot/marking attempt. Last night with Port’s lack of height we needed decoy forwards going into space and we would have given one of our tall forwards an easier attempt to mark - if so would have won by a lot more

Sparrow is a bit of a myth. Had his Weid-esque finals campaign where he was great but not really convinced he's very good.

Positives are that we clearly have the best defensive system in the AFL and another win to add to a long home and away campaign is all you want this early in the season as well as no injuries. 

I disagree with the notion that we didn't get out of second gear. It's such a pointless throwaway line and it contradicts those who congratulate our defensive system. You can't play a first class defensive game in second gear. 

The negatives are that our forward half game and our connection going forward continues to struggle. 

Brown's leading patterns and forward craft have been sorely missed the last two weeks. Our entire forward 50 function so much better with him in the side so he can't come back soon enough. I think Brown helps our ball movement going inside 50 also. Last night our efficiency going inside was awful and again Tom Mac and Weid were tangled up going for the same balls. 

Weid did himself no favours with his game but T Mac was hardly any better. And a fair bit of blame can go to ball use going inside. I think Trac and Oliver went back to blazing away inside 50 with no real care at times.

Overall, it's hard to complain given we're still banking wins whilst still having areas that need clear improvement. Looking forward to coming up against a full strength quality side to really give us a test. It's almost as if we're waiting for a challenger to get our arousal levels up!

Cant believe I'm saying that as a Dee's supporter. 

 

Interesting run in the fixture coming up.

9 games to go before the bye. Of those, only two aren't at the MCG, and those are West Coast in Perth and North at Marvel.

The MCG games are GWS, Richmond, Hawthorn, St Kilda, Fremantle, Sydney and Collingwood.

IMO the only true premiership and top 4 contender in that slate is Sydney (the others IMO are Brisbane, Geelong, Carlton and the Dogs).

Doesn't mean we're going to win the rest, in fact on 2021 form you'd expect us to drop one of the games to the mid-table sides coming up.

2 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The Lions will destroy us playing like that...😐

They’ll lose tonight..Chris Scott to collect Lachie Neale at quarter time. 🤪🤪

15 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Positives are that we clearly have the best defensive system in the AFL and another win to add to a long home and away campaign is all you want this early in the season as well as no injuries. 

I disagree with the notion that we didn't get out of second gear. It's such a pointless throwaway line and it contradicts those who congratulate our defensive system. You can't play a first class defensive game in second gear. 

The negatives are that our forward half game and our connection going forward continues to struggle. 

Brown's leading patterns and forward craft have been sorely missed the last two weeks. Our entire forward 50 function so much better with him in the side so he can't come back soon enough. I think Brown helps our ball movement going inside 50 also. Last night our efficiency going inside was awful and again Tom Mac and Weid were tangled up going for the same balls. 

Weid did himself no favours with his game but T Mac was hardly any better. And a fair bit of blame can go to ball use going inside. I think Trac and Oliver went back to blazing away inside 50 with no real care at times.

Overall, it's hard to complain given we're still banking wins whilst still having areas that need clear improvement. Looking forward to coming up against a full strength quality side to really give us a test. It's almost as if we're waiting for a challenger to get our arousal levels up!

Cant believe I'm saying that as a Dee's supporter. 

 

Great post. 
i think we clearly work very hard to make our defensive system work, but resting Ed Langdon the last 7 minutes when he usually plays 100% game time, playing Lever for 89% of the match when he also usually plays 95%+ (injury not withstanding), playing both May and Rivers less than 95%, we rested players we never rest. Also, doing  nothing to break Trac’s tag, playing safe down the line for most of the last quarter when the game was done. That certainly wasn’t top gear, it’s not disrespectful to our defence, they were excellent, but even they got a rest they don’t get when we’re going for it. There were many things our side could’ve done to ratchet up the game but we chose to take a five goal win with no injuries in the last quarter coming off two 6 day breaks rather than going for broke. I’d call that second gear, sorry.

5 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Positives are that we clearly have the best defensive system in the AFL and another win to add to a long home and away campaign is all you want this early in the season as well as no injuries. 

I disagree with the notion that we didn't get out of second gear. It's such a pointless throwaway line and it contradicts those who congratulate our defensive system. You can't play a first class defensive game in second gear. 

The negatives are that our forward half game and our connection going forward continues to struggle. 

Brown's leading patterns and forward craft have been sorely missed the last two weeks. Our entire forward 50 function so much better with him in the side so he can't come back soon enough. I think Brown helps our ball movement going inside 50 also. Last night our efficiency going inside was awful and again Tom Mac and Weid were tangled up going for the same balls. 

Weid did himself no favours with his game but T Mac was hardly any better. And a fair bit of blame can go to ball use going inside. I think Trac and Oliver went back to blazing away inside 50 with no real care at times.

Overall, it's hard to complain given we're still banking wins whilst still having areas that need clear improvement. Looking forward to coming up against a full strength quality side to really give us a test. It's almost as if we're waiting for a challenger to get our arousal levels up!

Cant believe I'm saying that as a Dee's supporter. 

 

Interesting observations

Last nights match was the first time (possibly ever) that I never for one second thought we could lose the game such was the dominance of our defensive structure behind the ball 

I agree that our forward connection was NQR and at times it did seem players were just bombing the ball into the F50 without much thought. It certainly made life difficult for our forwards who when they did get separation from their defenders were regularly let down by kicks that were not to their advantage. Several times we had forwards running back to an open goal only to have passes fall short allowing Port players to intercept mark - a well weighted kick would have led to a very different outcome.    

57 minutes ago, adonski said:

Sparrow is a bit of a myth. Had his Weid-esque finals campaign where he was great but not really convinced he's very good.

Rubbish. He is a bull. Booming kick. He’s a baby and he gets limited minutes playing in his true position because he is competing with Oliver Trac and Viney. 

Has a lot of talent and will be a great player. 

We might have been a bit sub par in offence last night but I don’t think any side would have got within 3 goals of us. The defensive effort was incredible. 

It interested me that even though we were beaten in the last quarter by a lesser team, those that were interviewed after the game, Petracca, May and Lever all stayed positive and focused on the win. In the past the 'disappointing last quater that we can learn from' rhetoric would have come into play. The mindset of this team is all about winning, not percentages. Go Dees!

 

11 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I've seen plenty worse and we were often on the other end of it. [censored] me some of you people are fickle. That was an outstanding display from our end I loved every minute of it.

"I'm happy we won", and "purely from an entertainment point of view".  Don't get me wrong, I'm loving supporting a winning team, and understand what we are trying to achieve, and we are achieving it with aplomb.  I'm merely saying that wasn't one for the archives.  Perhaps I was spoiled by the 100 point burst in a quarter and a half in the GF.

On a side note, I'm hoping the umpiring department can provide clarity on whether it's a free kick when a player walks the ball over the boundary line with no opposition pressure.

Langdon was pinged last week for insufficient intent, a port player in the last qtr last night wasn't. Sure it's a hard game to umpire for consistency, but these were two identical examples where the umpire could easily reach a consistent ruling. Highly frustrating.