5 hours ago, Superunknown said:

My sense is GW doesn’t like losing either but also doesn’t like the sometimes nasty and personal attacks against players/club.

Bit of restraint / perspective needed perhaps.

Yes, this GW bloke we keep talking about seems to have the both very cool privilege and the sometimes wicked curse of knowing the players personally and, in many cases, their loved ones too.

It’s easy for a lot of us to sit here and chat [censored] about these players all day because we just see them once a week on TV and they’re just highly paid athletes blah blah blah. After Kolt kicked that shocker straight to a GC player I believe I referred to him to my partner as “a curly headed moron.”

But I imagine that if you sat and talked to these guys, their mums, or spent time around their partners and kids, they immediately become real people to you—and sitting on Demonland watching us launch personal attacks at people you know in many cases to be good men who are doing their best would be absolutely infuriating.

10 hours ago, The Cult of Disco Turner said:

Yes, this GW bloke we keep talking about seems to have the both very cool privilege and the sometimes wicked curse of knowing the players personally and, in many cases, their loved ones too.

It’s easy for a lot of us to sit here and chat [censored] about these players all day because we just see them once a week on TV and they’re just highly paid athletes blah blah blah. After Kolt kicked that shocker straight to a GC player I believe I referred to him to my partner as “a curly headed moron.”

But I imagine that if you sat and talked to these guys, their mums, or spent time around their partners and kids, they immediately become real people to you—and sitting on Demonland watching us launch personal attacks at people you know in many cases to be good men who are doing their best would be absolutely infuriating.

I went to a club function earlier in the season and Kolt was on my table. Couldn't meet a nicer young person.

Confident without being cocky. Engaging, funny and open. And likeable as all get out.

On an unrelated note, kolt will, in my opinion, be a gun.

Unlike say windsor and Lindsay, and more like Langford, I dont think he is a natural athlete, so will really benefit from multiple AFL preseasons.

Once he builds an AFL level tank and builds his strength he will be exactly the sort of damaging, powerful forward mid like Ah Chee and McCluggage I've been banging on about being so important in footy atm (the sort of player we really lack).

23 hours ago, binman said:

When Ed Langdon is your most efficient mid/forward kick you know you're in a spot of bother kicking wise (note: I'm guessing Spargo isn't included on that list as he's not a mid?)

I don’t think Spargo is considered in the ‘mid-forwards’ bracket no.

22 hours ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

Sorry to bang on about this, but when Langdon is 100 spots higher than Pickett in a stat supposed to measure quality of kicking, is that stat in any way meaningful?

Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t, for a kicking game I think it has some explanatory value of our entry woes, but that could just be me

12 hours ago, bing181 said:

Agree. But in the understanding that playing inexperience, young, fringe players we increase the risk that we'll lose games.

Lose games to win games in the future,Viney,Oliver and Tracc aren't the future

15 hours ago, binman said:

Don't get me wrong we were inexcusably poor in the first quarter.

The Suns should have buried us - but didn't because of their inaccuracy (how many times have we said that about us).

But I reject the narrative that the Suns put the cue in the rack, were in cruise mode afger quarter time and if challenged could just go up a gear.

if that was the case it would be reflected in the pressure stats, which it wasn't until the last quarter:

Team pressure

Quarter	For	Agn	Diff
1	160	209	-49
2	213	198	+15
3	174	189	-15
4	170	166	+4
Match	180	190	-10

The Suns were flagging and it's worth noting their game against the giants ladtvweek had almost exactly the same pattern in terms of pressure - incredible in the first and blew the giants away before dropping each quarter and having their worst rating by some margin in the last quarter.

If Melksham kicks his last shot at goal its 13 points with nearly 4 minutes of the clock and we had all the momentum. If that goes thru we are well and truly a chance of winning.

Again, its worth noting the comparison with their previous game.

22 points up at 3 quarter time, and seemingly in control, the Suns stopped to a walk in the last conceding 9 scoring shots and the game. The Suns had 5 scoring shots

Apart from the margin at 3 quarter time the numbers were almost identical

We had 11 scoring shots in the last quarter, and the Suns had 4, and as noted we could have snatched it.

The difference was we kicked 5.6 and the Giants kicked 8.1.

Again, we were woeful in the first but lets not fall into the trap of downplaying how well we played fir the remainder of the match, particularly given we were down a defender, our key forward and one full rotation for over half the game.

After the smoke settled and I studied the pressure ratings with eyes that were blind but now can see, I was drawn to our 2nd quarter 213 pressure rating. After the Tigers game, it's our best pressure quarter this season and I think it was reflected in the eyeball test. The commentators did their annoying thing of pumping up the team 5 goals down and saying they were still in it but I think they were right.

The intent was there but we just couldn't make the in-roads we needed to. There were moments where we would force a great turnover like Trac at half back when he intercepted and then kicked 3 metres into the man in front of him, if he kicks it over the top we easily get a run and a chance at goal. Then there was Salem finding Melksham in the pocket with a kick that may have just been a tiny bit high which Jake bobbled marking.

I'd argue if our skill level was 10% better in that quarter we would have gone into half time a couple of goals down at most.

Edited June 30, 2025Jun 30 by layzie

2 hours ago, binman said:

Once he builds an AFL level tank and builds his strength he will be exactly the sort of damaging, powerful forward mid like Ah Chee and McCluggage I've been banging on about being so important in footy atm (the sort of player we really lack).

If he's anywhere near these players then that would be good...but that's a very high bar, particularly McCluggage who I rate as top tier in the AFL.