Well here we are Sunday evening - Monday morning Melbourne time and I’m feeling very sick here in WA. There’s a bad flu going around and  I’m very very sick - I’m just gonna have to stay home tomorrow and see what’s on telly. 
 

We lose tomorrow and I will absolutely grow increasingly doubtful of our capabilities this year. 
 

Big game. 

Edited June 11, 20231 yr by McQueen

I may stay overseas for an extended period of time...

If we lose we ain’t a contender. Pure and simple. 0-4 against the big boys and I include Essendon (8-5)  in that group.

The revised goal will be to win ONE final if things go south today.

Edited June 11, 20231 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

Watch more Casey to see who in the next generation can plug gaps for the 24 premiership tilt.

I too will question our ability this year if we can't knock off Collingwood without Elliot, DeGoey, McStay, Sidebottom and a quarter of their players being unwell.

Yes we have Oliver out but they're ripe for the picking today.

Time to make a statement today.

7 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If we lose we ain’t a contender. Pure and simple. 0-4 against the big boys and I include Essendon (8-5)  in that group.

The revised goal will be to win ONE final if things go south today.

'Too many people get caught up in the immediacy of results, but winning a premiership is the execution of a long-term plan, rather than a reaction to a win or a loss.'

 

44 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

a quarter of their players being unwell.

Six of their starting 23 were crook during the week?

According to whom?

I find it curious the pies have been the ones who have leaked this palaver out.

Howes talked about it on fox footy for petes sake.

Preparing their fans for a loss and giving the media (and DeeSpencer) their talking points to explain/excuse their lost me thinks.

Didn't hear us talk up the fact that we had mutiple crook players coming into the bombers match.

Edited June 11, 20231 yr by binman

28 minutes ago, binman said:

Six of their starting 23 were crook during the week?

According to whom?

I find it curious the pies have been the ones who have leaked this palaver out.

Howes talked about it on fox footy for petes sake.

Preparing their fans for a loss and giving the media (and DeeSpencer) their talking points to explain/excuse their lost me thinks.

Didn't hear us talk up the fact that we had mutiple crook players coming into the bombers match.

Stop making so much sense on this forum 

Rebuild? 

We need to put on a strong performance. If we lose by a small margin it’ll be very disappointing, but not the end of the world as we too are missing very important players. Namely our best player in Oliver. 
 

However if we get blown away and it’s not even a contest, similar to the Brisbane (pre lights out) or Essendon game, then I think even the ever optimistic @binman will have doubts over where this season can take us. 
 

My main concern today is having to listen to their toothless brainless moron supporters chanting Collingwood while I spent 1.5 hours getting home after the game. 

You say optimistic Jaded.

I say realistic.

Always like a half full glass.   !

If we win i will make a solid donation toi MND.  If we dont…i probably still will…

8 hours ago, McQueen said:

Well here we are Sunday evening - Monday morning Melbourne time and I’m feeling very sick here in WA. There’s a bad flu going around and  I’m very very sick - I’m just gonna have to stay home tomorrow and see what’s on telly. 
 

We lose tomorrow and I will absolutely grow increasingly doubtful of our capabilities this year. 
 

Big game. 

'Medicinal' spliff today Steve ?

41 minutes ago, binman said:

Six of their starting 23 were crook during the week?

According to whom?

There are rules around how many and what changes can be made to the announced teams.

Excuse or not, if my hunch was correct that the delayed team announcements was so Coll could assess player fitness then it is very probably true.

Agree with Jaded here. It's not about the Win or Loss. It's about whether we are in the game for long periods and generally show up to play. Collingwood and Port are both a few games ahead of the rest on the ladder which is reflective of them being the most consistent teams this year. I'd love to tke them down today but If the result ended up similar to the port game I don't think anyone would really say our season or flag credentials are shot. 

If we can't get over Collingwood we're the same as most sides.

2 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

There are rules around how many and what changes can be made to the announced teams.

Excuse or not, if my hunch was correct that the delayed team announcements was so Coll could assess player fitness then it is very probably true.

Sure, it might be.

Might being the operative word.

And any players who had say, covid might have been completely asymptomatic and only had their preparation impacted. 

My point is the pies have been the one letting people know about players being crook.

On the timing of the announcement of the teamss, I checked the afl site on Friday, assuming the teams would be announced then. The site said today's game would be announced Sunday evening.

You might well be right that it was delayed because of covid etc.

The question I have is, is that ok?

Why should the pies not have to announce their team Friday, even if there are some queries about individual players?

I mean it happens all the time players get selected even though there is some injury cloud.

More AFL  kowtowing to the pies?

12 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

There are rules around how many and what changes can be made to the announced teams.

Excuse or not, if my hunch was correct that the delayed team announcements was so Coll could assess player fitness then it is very probably true.

Did they delay team changes? Do we know this as fact or just surmising?
 

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I too will question our ability this year if we can't knock off Collingwood without Elliot, DeGoey, McStay, Sidebottom and a quarter of their players being unwell.

Yes we have Oliver out but they're ripe for the picking today.

Time to make a statement today.

I think a few forget Petty is also a huge out for us. 

12 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

Did they delay team changes? Do we know this as fact or just surmising?
 

Yes they did delay from normal timing. Monday squads are usually announced Thursday or Friday evening and finalised Saturday 5pm. The most recent example Easter Monday:

https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/1300645/afl-squad-selection-easter-monday

17 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

I think a few forget Petty is also a huge out for us. 

Massive given neither bb or tmac can get on the park and schace is seemingly not in the frame for selection.

I don’t think todays game makes any difference.

The season is all about reasonably collecting as many wins as you can, while managing the fitness of your best 26 players. We already know our game style and are tinkering with it over the season to learn what we can.

Thats what Geelong did last year. That’s the blue print for teams with top end talent. Then it all starts again in September, and it’s much easier if you’re fit and healthy.

I always remember when they were the bottom side and beat us on the SCG in 2021. I thought we were pretenders. Turned out ok in the end.

It’s just a game. The big stuff is months away.

8 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If we lose we ain’t a contender. Pure and simple. 0-4 against the big boys and I include Essendon (8-5)  in that group.

The revised goal will be to win ONE final if things go south today.

You mean like the 2015 premiers who finished 3rd and lost to 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th during the H&A season?

1 hour ago, binman said:

'Too many people get caught up in the immediacy of results, but winning a premiership is the execution of a long-term plan, rather than a reaction to a win or a loss.'

 

Blah blah blah, we need to win this and you know it.