3 hours ago, hardtack said:

I don’t know if you noticed, but at one point he appeared to be talking tactics with Dusty; and Dusty seemed more than happy to share. A nice moment.

I saw that too. Almost like Dusty was explaining to McVee how to cover the territory better. Helping a first year player. I was impressed by that. 

Someone mentioned Cotchin in this thread before.

Legit didn't even realise he played so I went and checked his stats.

9 disposals at 44%.. yikes! Pack it up son, you're cooked.

The Richmond fans behind me suddenly came to life in the members and the ones in front. But by the time the siren went they were nowhere to be seen.

When Petty kicked his 6th I reminded them he's doubled his pb and he's a backman. 

By the way surely Cotchin is retiring. As great as he has been he was barely sighted yesterday 

Can someone please explain why we have let in 100 points three weeks in a row? It’s a concern that our rock defensive has gone to sleep. Not sure I’d be wanting to take in a shootout game plan into finals. 

2 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

I saw that too. Almost like Dusty was explaining to McVee how to cover the territory better. Helping a first year player. I was impressed by that. 

Yeah, saw that on the replay. That sweep of Dusty's arm seemed to suggest he was telling the kid his preferred working space. Nice.

BTW Dusty really turned back the clock yesterday. He was terrific and I hated him for it, of course. Bolton also good so I hated him too. In my glass half-full moments and before it was clear we would run away with it I thought the best thing about the game was that the Tigers brought finals-like pressure. Regardless of the result it was going to be a good workout.

As it happened it was our best win of the year, better than Brisbane since the pressure both ways was more sustained.

I have been an advocate for Petty forward but that was more than I ever hoped for. With JVR he could be our best forward pairing for a long, long while.

Fritter btw, indicated to supporters in the MCC area that he was still four weeks away and Sparrow one week.

Edited July 30, 20231 yr by pitmaster

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Saw one getting dragged out of AFL members by two cops, another screaming at the umps during the whole last quarter and his kid begging him to shut up - like I said earlier it was glorious ❤️💙

Yeah i saw that bloke getting escorted out also.  I had a couple around me who moaned about every free kick we got.   It was beautiful to stick it up’em! 

Edited July 30, 20231 yr by Demons11

11 hours ago, Dee-monic said:

Given Petty's form today, Van Rooyen's continuing improvement, Fritsch to come back, and and Joel Smith also competing for a spot, what does Ben Brown do now? He is contracted for next season, surely won't find another AFL club and may be content just to spend a leisurely year with Casey. Or then again he might just retire with a well-deserved premiership medal to his credit.  I hope it's the latter.

If he is prepared to do it, i think there is a real role for him as a mentor and (effectively) on-field coach at Casey, as well as continuing his involvement with the women. He is clearly a wonderful person. As i see it, his move to the Dees has been win-win; he got a premiership medal, and he helped us get them. 

10 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

We are building nicely but intriguingly.

We were 4 goals down to Brisbane but fought back and won.

We had Adelaide run us down twice in the last quarter but held on and won.

We were 20 points down to Richmond in the third quarter but won by 6 goals (a 9-goal turnaround in 1.5 quarters).

But in each game we've conceded 90+ points.

I said after the GWS game that we needed to relax our defensive mindset to try to "unlock" higher scoring. It appears we're doing that, and I think it's working. But I'm sure we'd prefer it if we weren't conceding as much as we are. 

There was so much pressure on us today, knowing how many sides around us lost. Securing the win, against a good (not great, but good) side, is IMO huge. 

Petty today makes you wonder why we rushed him back after his long injury to put him in the backline forcing us to drop Tomlinson in the process, when Tomlinson was coming off one of his best games for us. We have to leave him forward now, even if he kicks 0 next week and struggles, and even if Tomlinson struggles. We can't keep moving him around. We've dropped Brown to get him into the forward line, let's leave him there. We now have to back Tomlinson in or, if need be, revert to Smith or Hibberd.

Can Gawn make AA if he keeps this up for the last month? Darcy's out, English is fading, and neither can do what Gawn is doing.

No one can do what Gawn is doing 

22 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

If he is prepared to do it, i think there is a real role for him as a mentor and (effectively) on-field coach at Casey, as well as continuing his involvement with the women. He is clearly a wonderful person. As i see it, his move to the Dees has been win-win; he got a premiership medal, and he helped us get them. 

I think this is spot on.   

How I slept knowing we’ve ended Richmond’s season

 

There must be quite a few coaches that would be worried by what they saw yesterday. Firstly the incredible form of Max who has been well below his best since Grundy started playing. But yesterday Max simply went to a new level. He monstered it with his contested possessions and I think he was the best in the comp for this round. Given that he bairly touched the ball in the first half , this is a telling statistic. Secondly, Melksham played another very good game and I imagine his size would be hard to match up. Thirdly, Oliver and Fritta are still in the wings. Finally there was Petty who played his first full game as a forward and kicked SIX goals.

Obviously we need Oliver back ASAP but it seems with Max getting his hands on the ball like that, our midfield is even stronger. And now we also have a forward line that is tall and mobile and accurate and strong in marking.

Our backline did look a little troubled at times ..May looked a little fumbly and Salo was slow to get going but the ball was moving at a very fast pace. Tommo didn't play at his best either but I was glad that Lever seemed a lot better . Besides we have the option of bringing Hibbo back who has from what understand been playing well at Casey.

With him , Oliver and Fritta this is a team with many options and playing well. The stars are aligning at just the right time. Hopefully the cats beat power at kardinia this weekend and we climb into second spot with a good percentage win over North. From there on, destiny is in our hands and we can secure a home final against power or lions.

 

48 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

Yeah i saw that bloke getting escorted out also.  I had a couple around me who moaned about every free kick we got.   It was beautiful to stick it up’em! 

The umps gave the tigers a pretty generous run in the first half. We were tackling much more than them and  had several tackles go unrewarded. I think their supporters got use to it. Also possibly their players. So when the whistle finally came out and they got pinged several times they were very upset . The Kozzie one must have sent them over the edge. So sad.😀

11 hours ago, DEE fence said:

On the telly what you describe came across, but it felt like they were being so silly they became easier for the umps to ignore. 

I watched it later on the tv. They’re way worse in real life

1 hour ago, Demons11 said:

Yeah i saw that bloke getting escorted out also.  I had a couple around me who moaned about every free kick we got.   It was beautiful to stick it up’em! 

At one stage they were 7 frees to 2 and we got a free kick and the Tiger's supporter near me (with face tatts mind you) was carrying on like a European Soccer player who barely got clipped yelling that the umps have been giving us freebees all blinking day. I didn't have the heart to correct him. He didn't seem to be the kind of guy who likes to be informed that he is wrong by someone with immaculate dental hygiene.

3 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

I saw that too. Almost like Dusty was explaining to McVee how to cover the territory better. Helping a first year player. I was impressed by that. 

Yes that’s how l read it too.Not like Dusty was in his face , 

laughing at him.

11 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

We are building nicely but intriguingly.

We were 4 goals down to Brisbane but fought back and won.

We had Adelaide run us down twice in the last quarter but held on and won.

We were 20 points down to Richmond in the third quarter but won by 6 goals (a 9-goal turnaround in 1.5 quarters).

But in each game we've conceded 90+ points.

I said after the GWS game that we needed to relax our defensive mindset to try to "unlock" higher scoring. It appears we're doing that, and I think it's working. But I'm sure we'd prefer it if we weren't conceding as much as we are. 

There was so much pressure on us today, knowing how many sides around us lost. Securing the win, against a good (not great, but good) side, is IMO huge. 

Petty today makes you wonder why we rushed him back after his long injury to put him in the backline forcing us to drop Tomlinson in the process, when Tomlinson was coming off one of his best games for us. We have to leave him forward now, even if he kicks 0 next week and struggles, and even if Tomlinson struggles. We can't keep moving him around. We've dropped Brown to get him into the forward line, let's leave him there. We now have to back Tomlinson in or, if need be, revert to Smith or Hibberd.

Can Gawn make AA if he keeps this up for the last month? Darcy's out, English is fading, and neither can do what Gawn is doing.

Great post, but as for AA, English can have it imo. He has developed superbly from barely competent geek to an excellent ruck over several seasons. Max has six AAs already. The only thing that can enhance his career is another FLAG!

Here I am on Monday morning the last of July, the sun is shinning, the Dees have won by 5 + goals against the Tigers in their GF and the world seems wonderful. For the first in the season our team setup looks capable of winning the flag in 2023. We have put two games and percentage between us and fifth. Who knows with a little luck we could finish second. Of the three above us Port are the only team we have not beaten and that was a close run game. Look out here come the Demons! . 

1 hour ago, Ollie fan said:

If he is prepared to do it, i think there is a real role for him as a mentor and (effectively) on-field coach at Casey, as well as continuing his involvement with the women. He is clearly a wonderful person. As i see it, his move to the Dees has been win-win; he got a premiership medal, and he helped us get them. 

Even though his body is cooked he can teach Jefferson and JvR so much and is realistically the only FWD we have that reached that level, if he is a decent leader would love him to continue to mentor the young KPFs

2 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

Great post, but as for AA, English can have it imo. He has developed superbly from barely competent geek to an excellent ruck over several seasons. Max has six AAs already. The only thing that can enhance his career is another FLAG!

Totally agree, think English is very deserving of it this year and has taken his game to another level. 

11 hours ago, demon3165 said:

Unfortunately Gawn is a solo ruckman so where that leaves Grundy as a ruckman i don't know but he is back to great form.

Just keep playing like that and with a bit of luck one never knows.

And JVR is proving a more than capable back up. Competitor and a great vertical leap

I had two lovely normal well spoken Richmond fans in front of me, who left 10 minutes early to catch a train to Bendigo and wished us luck for the rest of the season on the way out. 
I nearly fainted. 
 

10/10 behavior from them. They were gracious and really nice!

4 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

I had two lovely normal well spoken Richmond fans in front of me, who left 10 minutes early to catch a train to Bendigo and wished us luck for the rest of the season on the way out. 
I nearly fainted. 
 

10/10 behavior from them. They were gracious and really nice!

The multiverse of madness.

14 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

McVee looked completely out of his depth in the first half. He was fumbly, losing his feet in contest and seemed to just lose his composure. 

His ability to fight back in the 2nd half and change his game around was very impressive.

Won some huge one on one contests and was able to compose himself much better and compose himself a lot better.

 

His second half was sensational.

He's the type of player that doesn't get fazed if he loses a one on one contest. He can put it behind him and move on to the next one easily whereas it lingers with some other players. He's got the head for AFL footy. 

2 hours ago, bandicoot said:

Can someone please explain why we have let in 100 points three weeks in a row? It’s a concern that our rock defensive has gone to sleep. Not sure I’d be wanting to take in a shootout game plan into finals. 

It’s the nature of the teams we’ve played against. The Crows and Tigers played with a lot of run from stoppages. Adelaide have a great forward half so they want that high scoring style. Richmond got lucky with their scoring efficiency in the first half, but they also burnt us with run and opened us up early. With Brayshaw, Jordan and Viney on ball they tried to use speed to spread with Bolton and Martin, and it worked really well. Clayton makes us more dynamic in their.

Goodwin feels as you do though. He said in the presser that scores like that ‘aren’t the plan.’

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Someone mentioned Cotchin in this thread before.

Legit didn't even realise he played so I went and checked his stats.

9 disposals at 44%.. yikes! Pack it up son, you're cooked.

Only noticed him after watching the replay last night when he bobbed up for a behind. Didn't see him at all when at the game live.