The biggest benefit to the Blues of the player changes for tonight's game are Young and Williams out. They were directly responsible for numerous defensive lapses against both Geelong & Collingwood. Had the Blues been cleaner in defence, they would have won both of those games.

As for McGovern, he is not a superstar defender but he is competent, a very good mark and actuallly provides some initiative when transitioning from defence, Young just slows everything down.

17.9 instead of 9.17 this time please

‘Watertight’ defence vs ‘leaky’ defence.   
It might be close game, but I’m backing the ‘watertight’ defence every day of the week.
Dees by 19 points.

Supremely confident.

 
Carlton do not play top 4 brand of footy, yes they have stars on every line but they gamble too much in the way they play in particular at clearance.
When it works they look incredible, when they play the lower ranked sides it’s less likely their stoppage gambles will get punished if they get beaten at clearance. 
Sure sometimes they will play at 100% efficiency and beat a top team on their talent alone. But that’s just it they need everything to go their way to get the win… 

Not going to happen tonight. 
 

dees by 14 in a low scoring affair 

1 hour ago, Heather said:

Thanks Bintan for your comments. Last week against Geelong you gave me confidence we could win

SWYL: Thanks Bintang. Last week against (those despicable [censored] [censored]) you gave me confidence we could win. 

28 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Re umpires:  Not a lot of change (see post above for the changes).   Stevic is a very good umpire.

Had a quick look at Bigfooty and they share our feelings about Williamson: 

• Who are we going to tag #22 Williamson with, he is brutal in our games
• #22. Gives us grief every game.

They made me chuckle!!

 

Good to see that he is universally hated.

He really is an awful umpire, one of the absolute worse in terms of consistency, or lack thereof. 

 

I will not bet on who wins tonight, but I will bet my house on Carlton winning the free kick count comprehensively. 

Looking at our last 3 games:

• In first quarters we've kicked 7 goals total
• In second quarters we've kicked 1 goal total
• In third quarters iwe've kicked 8 goals total
• In fourth quarters we've kicked 15 goals total

Can we please, please score more heavily in the first half tonight? Especially the second quarter?

@davejemmolly If you and your family are seated near bay M33, your kids are very welcome to come to the front of our bay before the game to grab flags (we have a variety of sizes), handheld banners or a giant head to wave during the match. As long as they’re returned after the match (we once had a kid who got halfway to Jolimont station carrying a giant Tmac head because he sincerely thought he could keep it. Bless).

Same goes for everyone who sits in our bay or an adjoining one. I’m only singling out Dave because he and his family are visiting from Perth.

GO THE MIGHTY DEES!

❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

36 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Not sure of the mood in this thread but if anyone needs convincing that we will win and win well lets compare the teams from the 2023 Semi and this week:

The major reasons we will win:

• Our fwd line of Turner, Petty, van Rooyen is far superior to 2023: Smith, McDonald, Schache (who was the unused sub).
• Our overall line up is far better than theirs. 
• Their best defender Weitering suffered a corked thigh then played the next week on a 6 day break and he could barely run ... very slow.  This week he is on a 5 day break.  McGovern is a lazy footballer.
• There defence struggled to contain our depleted line in 2023, they will do no better this year.
• Superior tactics and what was learnt from the Geelong game.
• Their field defence is poor.
• TMc to follow McKay up field as he did Cameron, May to take Hawkins, leaving Lever to do his thing.

I could go on but you get my drift.

 

Dees by 3 goals, 5-6 if we decide to inflict some pain rather than close the game down. 

Absolutely pretty much my sentiments. 

We belted them last year (yes, not on the scoreboard) with a far inferior forward line (+ destablised with recent injuries) and in the praccy this year (admittedly not always a good gauge). 

But honestly, provided our midfield holds its own, and we continue what we learnt/implemented w/Geelong - and keep Curnow/McKay honest, I don't know how they kick enough to win. 

Plus their defence is, as you say, and as reflected in the games this year, not up to it. 

No game is a gimme, but we are well placed to control this. 

Watch out for 'long fingers' Marchbank to claim he touched it from wherever he is sitting tonight.

For those complaining we don't score enough, and using 100 points as some arbitrary marker defining a competent attack.

18 teams x 8 rounds = 144 matches

of those 144 matches, only 30 teams have scored over 100 points.

I reckon that's pointing to something....😅

 

Edited May 9, 2024May 9 by Engorged Onion

How about make our weekend get off to a flyer with a no stress 10 goal win Dees??

We’ll all be happy campers then 😂

12 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Halfway to Jolimont Station (with a giant Tmac head)

 

 

Title for the next novel? 

3 hours ago, 640MD said:

Great comments, can I use them on my mates?

We are better than last year when we gifted the game.
Bowey in makes us better.

Petty usually keeps his form once he is up to speed.

and we have Leb on a wing.

and Disco is providing an alternative to our Mr Smith.

and I do not think the Captain’s run took much fitness away from us.  Just a loosen upperer.

more angst on the keyboards than on the field 

Go Dee’s 

 

I'd also add that I reckon that was Ed Langdon's best game in a couple of years.

Great to see him galloping up and down that wing in free space again.

Both Petty and Lingers really seemed to hit some serious form and rhythm last week.

Enjoy the game tonight folks.

Spending the day listening Steve Albini's incredible work and one of the best rock and roll bands I've ever seen, six ft hick have lost their drummer Fred to cancer.

Bring the white light white heat tonight Dees

Safe travels Fred and Steve.

https://youtu.be/poc6x0EiFfQ?si=31wLOYHk6HEGq3x2

8 minutes ago, Red But Mostly Blue said:

Watch out for 'long fingers' Marchbank to claim he touched it from wherever he is sitting tonight.

Or was it his wrist or forearm? Even he’s not sure 🙄 when asked immediately after the match which part of his hand/arm touched the ball he said the worst possible answer which was “…  Uhm…”

1 minute ago, Skuit said:

Title for the next novel? 

You write it, I’ll proofread it. We’ll split the $$$ 70/30. You’re fine with 30% right??! 😉 

We don't need a big score to improve our %, knock their % down and boot them out of the 8 !!!

85 to 60 will do all those.

Edited May 9, 2024May 9 by Lucifers Hero

4 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

For those complaining we don't score enough, and using 100 points as some arbitrary marker defining a competent attack.

18 teams x 8 rounds = 144 matches

of those 136 matches, only 30 teams have scored over 100 points.

I reckon that's pointing to something....😅

 

What happened in those other mysterious eight matches engorged? 

 

25 minutes ago, seventyfour said:

Looking at our last 3 games:

• In first quarters we've kicked 7 goals total
• In second quarters we've kicked 1 goal total
• In third quarters iwe've kicked 8 goals total
• In fourth quarters we've kicked 15 goals total

Can we please, please score more heavily in the first half tonight? Especially the second quarter?

Jeez that's rough reading

It'll be my shout in the 2nd Q. Happy to queue up to miss 1 goal in 3 games!

That 2nd Q last week was abysmal.

3 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

You write it, I’ll proofread it. We’ll split the $$$ 70/30. You’re fine with 30% right??! 😉 

Will you pay my fare on the Jolimont line at least, for some inspiration? 

6 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Or was it his wrist or forearm? Even he’s not sure 🙄 when asked immediately after the match which part of his hand/arm touched the ball he said the worst possible answer which was “…  Uhm…”

Yeah he certainly had difficulty remembering a pretty pivotal moment, right after the game...

Curnow and McKay combine for a 47 goal tally.

Fritta and Kozzy have 33( Fritta with 21 so not far off Curnow)

l know we have the best defense in the land but it will be tested tonight.

And it's fair to say at least one of our talls needs to step up tonight and hit the scoreboard. It's a coin flip how they will go goal wise. Turner a two time fwd was without a goal v cats as was Jvr. The latter only scoring Two goals from his last Three outings is slim pickings for him. He's even been missing shots he normally buries.

Petty worse in this area but if last week doesn't give confidence that this will change then nothing will.

 

Carlton's forward line is going to score despite our three horsemen down back, so our talls must do some damage. We know that Jvr and Petty can, so I'm hoping they will with at least two goals a piece. Disco the wild card and perhaps Chin and Nibbler helping Kozzie out given that our talls have certainly been getting the ball to ground.

18 minutes ago, Roy Boy said:

How about make our weekend get off to a flyer with a no stress 10 goal win Dees??

We’ll all be happy campers then 😂

Yes please

Wouldn't even mind a return to the days of getting 26 points ahead and entering the Bermuda Triangle

39 minutes ago, seventyfour said:

Looking at our last 3 games:

• In first quarters we've kicked 7 goals total
• In second quarters we've kicked 1 goal total
• In third quarters iwe've kicked 8 goals total
• In fourth quarters we've kicked 15 goals total

Can we please, please score more heavily in the first half tonight? Especially the second quarter?

I’ve written off the Adelaide game as a “non Melbourne” event. But 10 and 13 goals in the last two games tells a story (offence still a work in progress, which we all know). Given we play defensive, contested footy, I can’t see we’re suddenly going to have big goal returns early in the game against good opponents (although I hope this doesn’t age well)

The upside from your stats is that our fitness levels are showing dividends in the last qtr when the game opens up.