Firstly, I just want to clarify that my question to George last week regarding Melksham was intended to come across as tongue in cheek! Secondly, love the pod, keep up the great work gents. Thirdly, in the post match presser Goody described BBB's game as a little quiet. However, the commentators on channel 7 mentioned how effective he was despite the stats sheet not showing this. In my opinion, he regularly provided a target and brought the ball to ground, at one point in a 4 against 1 situation. I thought he was a critical tall target and provided plenty of ariel contest work. What do you guys think?

3 minutes ago, Hoof Harted said:

Firstly, I just want to clarify that my question to George last week regarding Melksham was intended to come across as tongue in cheek!

That's the age old problem with Text based conversations. I will note it in the show tonight.

More a question about the remainder of our home and away season. We are 2 games and a good percentage clear from 5th spot with games against North and Hawks in our last 5 games. 
Do we start to manage a few players in order to have them cherry ripe for finals. 
Chandler looks like he has benefitted from a stint in the twos. 
Jack Viney, Max, Judd, maybe even Trac are all players that could probably do with a rest before finals both to avoid injury and have them cherry ripe come September. Thoughts?!

players from both sides were absolutely exhausted at the conclusion of the game - for melbourne, how much did our lack of run in the last have to do with an extended 10-day break and the conditioning that comes with consistent week-on-week football?

it would seem to me that whenever a team has an 'extended' break they tend to look like they're running in treacle during the subsequent game

Re May. Im wondering if age and dodgy hamstrings are catching up with him...or it was purely an off day.  He was sublime a couple of weeks ago but even then  his kicking, while it's  always had its occasional flaws,  is beginning to feel like a genuine  liability. Everytime he goes to kick it I realise I have no trust it's going to a melb player!  We obviously need him, he's still a star,  but my question is do we need to take the kick ins off him entirely and / or do we need to try to get him to handball now rather than kick as we might do with someone like Max? 

12 hours ago, BigMacjnr said:

Anyone else get shades of 2021 round 19 vs the Bulldogs with this game? Feels like Goody wanted to create a shootout to kick the offence into gear pre-finals. When it happened last week you take that as possibly a once off, when it happens again and happened in 2021 you take it as something planned, at least that is how I saw it. 

Can you talk a bit about Kozy's performance. Nice to hear Goody mention his forward half pressure hasn't wavered one bit but my goodness that was a special performance today!

Do you mean 2022? We played them in Rd 19 in both 2021 and 2022. 2022 was a shootout. 2021 was not.

Excellent Podcasts the past few weeks guys. Top Stuff as always.

I thought our pressure was well down this week. Would be interested to hear what the pressure guage was for this match as Binman will no doubt speak to in his Stats File segment.

We had 1 measly tackle Inside 50 to 13 for the Crows. We average 12 a game usually so we were well down on that stat. Adelaide average 10 so they were well up with their 13.

The Crows had 69 tackles for the match up on their average 66 a game whilst we only managed 47 tackles well down on our average of 60 a game.

52 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Do you mean 2022? We played them in Rd 19 in both 2021 and 2022. 2022 was a shootout. 2021 was not.

Yep got my years wrong. Good call. So correction on initial post:

Taking learnings from 2022, Goody is looking to kickstart the offence like we did same time last year. Have to hope we put it all together and don't fall off a cliff like we did last year. Maybe they are thinking the formula worked last year they just didn't have a fit list?

I need to look at avoiding certain media pendants after the weekend. Pies were outplayed for a vast majority of the match but someone else should get Cox's premiership medal this year...meanwhile the Dees didn't win, the Crows lost... 

Do we prefer to finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th?

Finish 4th and it's MCG against the Pies.

Finish 3rd and play Port or Brisbane at their home ground.

2nd looks unlikely but there is still a chance, which would be a home final against an interstate team.

I believe we are travelling better this year at the G, so my guess is that we prefer 2nd or 4th. We don't want to finish in 3rd.

5 hours ago, buck_nekkid said:

If we get Oliver and Fritter back, what is your guess at a best 23 for round 1 of the finals from here?

We might leave this to closer to the finals.

1 hour ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Do we prefer to finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th?

Finish 4th and it's MCG against the Pies.

Finish 3rd and play Port or Brisbane at their home ground.

2nd looks unlikely but there is still a chance, which would be a home final against an interstate team.

I believe we are travelling better this year at the G, so my guess is that we prefer 2nd or 4th. We don't want to finish in 3rd.

We might also leave this one for a couple of weeks time.

If we can finish 2nd then that is my preference. Still torn on 3rd or 4th. I don't like having to win in Port (or Brisbane) in the first week of finals and initially 4th place against the Pies to snag a home prelim seems the preference but if we lose that game we will be faced with a Prelim in Port or Brisbane.

Really wished we had that extra win in the bank that we coughed up in the Alice.

Watching yesterday it once again became apparent we are susceptible when we can’t force teams down the line for May and Lever to intercept.

Crows did it via short kicks and marks and finding a target till they were in range.

Last week it was the lions moving the ball through the corridor which they inexplicably abandoned in the last qtr once they felt the game was safe.

Essendon from memory also refused to go down the line earlier in the season when we played.

It also explains why we struggle in wet conditions where intercept marking is more difficult.

How can this be mitigated or is this a potential fatal weakness and just the reality of how we choose to play and we knowingly accept this trade off.

Also what are your feelings on smith, he was the spark we needed in the final term, do you think he should be in the starting 22 over Brown.

The Tigers worry me a little bit. Early in the year I was hoping that this return game against them would be a cakewalk as their season would be in tatters by now. Now for the second week in a row we're playing against a team with their season on the line and a sniff of finals. Whilst I would love to end their season I don't think we will have an easy task of it.

What do we need to do to put them out of their misery.

Love the Podcast and I'll take my answer off the air.

12 minutes ago, Demonland said:

We might also leave this one for a couple of weeks time.

If we can finish 2nd then that is my preference. Still torn on 3rd or 4th. I don't like having to win in Port (or Brisbane) in the first week of finals and initially 4th place against the Pies to snag a home prelim seems the preference but if we lose that game we will be faced with a Prelim in Port or Brisbane.

Really wished we had that extra win in the bank that we coughed up in the Alice.

Should do this tonight…..

3 minutes ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Should do this tonight…..

George has spoken.

I'm going to cut off the questions here. I need to get the notes for tonight finished and I'm a little bit under the weather and anymore questions might make this a longer show than the game warranted. 😜

31 minutes ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Should do this tonight…..

This may very well define our strategy moving forward in terms of resting players and managing the effort for each round.

We need to make sure all our superstars are in prime physical condition for finals.

4 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

This may very well define our strategy moving forward in terms of resting players and managing the effort for each round.

We need to make sure all our superstars are in prime physical condition for finals.

Agreed but we also don't want to slip out of 4th.

9 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Agreed but we also don't want to slip out of 4th.

I reckon we are almost a lock in the top 4. Win against North and Hawthorn means Dogs,GWS and Geelong would need to win all 5, at the very least 4, of the remaining 5 games.

Hard to see us losing the 4th spot if we win those two games that should be a given.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

We might also leave this one for a couple of weeks time.

If we can finish 2nd then that is my preference. Still torn on 3rd or 4th. I don't like having to win in Port (or Brisbane) in the first week of finals and initially 4th place against the Pies to snag a home prelim seems the preference but if we lose that game we will be faced with a Prelim in Port or Brisbane.

Really wished we had that extra win in the bank that we coughed up in the Alice.

Just win each week as it comes up and let September take care of its self. 

G’day all, love the podcast, first time poster here. Question, even if you weren’t a fan of Brown’s game/numbers on the weekend, it is so clear that we need an experienced tall forward to take a key defender, lead away from others, run the patterns, etc. I thought Brown was vital to our other forwards having the game they did on the weekend, but probably was a bit slow with pressure and seemed like he couldn’t keep up with the game. Smith made an immediate impact, but don’t see him as the answer for a whole game. What do you think the solution is? Persist with Brown; Try Grundy/Gawn; wait for TMac to be back; keep Tommo back and swing Petty forward; Keen to hear your ideas. 
Shorty. 

If it’s not too late, my question is:

Is Schache near the cusp of selection? I’m just not sure we can carry someone like Brown for much longer if he’s not hitting the scoreboard. I also think Schache could play the second ruck which would leave JvR as a stay at home forward. 

26 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

If it’s not too late, my question is:

Is Schache near the cusp of selection? I’m just not sure we can carry someone like Brown for much longer if he’s not hitting the scoreboard. I also think Schache could play the second ruck which would leave JvR as a stay at home forward. 

@george_on_the_outer will no doubt talk about that when talking about Casey. @binman was at the game too so he can give his opinion. 

Tonight is our 200th Podcast

54 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Tonight is our 200th Podcast

Huge congrats and enormous thanks!  The work you obviously put into every episode is hugely appreciated by this Demonlander, and I’m sure, many others!  I don’t think I’ve missed one.