I’ll admit I haven’t been Clarry’s greatest fan for the best part of 2 seasons. Yet a couple of weeks ago I noted on here that I thought I saw small signs of the old Clarry starting to reappear - only to be disappointed in him last week. But this week he started to look like the Clarry of old, his confidence, which has been sorely missing, just seemed to grow as the game progressed. I know the competition was poor, but if those signs continue over the last 3 rounds, he may well get back to his best next season. Fingers crossed.

I don’t think I’d be trading him.

Edited August 3Aug 3 by Neil Crompton

44 minutes ago, layzie said:

According to Nathan Brown, Brodie Grundy might have just pipped the AA Ruck position. He went on to say that Darcy Cameron has been good, Riley O'Brien not too bad but Grundy might have just sewn it up.

No-one else..

I think both Gawn and Grundy get the nod. It wouldn't be the first time two rucks have been selected.

19 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

That's a relief !

Max another AA surely

Culley, great debut

Viney a bulldozer

Langford a star of the future.

But ..... [censored] me ..... umpiring and rules !!! I just don't have a clue.

Media quietly sinking the AA boot into Max.

Also heard the Captain in waiting at pies is not waiting.

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

btw, loved Max's huge smile and teammates all over him when he kicked the 'round the corner' goal. 100% strike rate using that technique 😁. I'm sure we will see more of it.

Back in the Dreamtime when Max’s captaincy was in its infancy. At a pre-game practice session at Marrara. Max ball in hand came charging out of the Michael Long Centre down the player race onto the oval. Perpendicular to the goal posts Max kicked the ball off the outside of his left boot at a right angle through the centre of the goals. Casual as you like, did Allen Jakovich proud.

Grundy has had a great 2nd half of the year, and a great game v Essedon. But really, getting 40 touches against a semi retired Todd Goldstein is not what gets you an AA jacket.

Saying that, I would be happy to see Gawn and Grundy make the 22.

Went to the game as planned. Sooo glad I did. Gawn had a fantastic game. Petty played well too. Fritch good. Only Kozzie a bit rusty. Niece and nephew had a great day and enjoyed seeing their team win. A special shout out to out to all who attended and showed their love for the team despite a setback.

18 hours ago, Demonstone said:

It's no surprise that the cohort of foul weather "supporters" who are always front and centre when things aren't going well are conspicuously absent from this thread.

20 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

That's a relief !

Max another AA surely

Culley, great debut

Viney a bulldozer

Langford a star of the future.

But ..... [censored] me ..... umpiring and rules !!! I just don't have a clue.

The not 15m calls when the ball is still halfway in the air and the player is running after it, kills me.

Just wait a few seconds before calling it.

Where does Jai play.

He's described as a midfielder but he's 194 cm I think. And he has a decent leap.

???

2 hours ago, layzie said:

According to Nathan Brown, Brodie Grundy might have just pipped the AA Ruck position. He went on to say that Darcy Cameron has been good, Riley O'Brien not too bad but Grundy might have just sewn it up.

No-one else..

Has a great game against a 900 year old and he’s suddenly the messiah. Has not been anywhere near as consistent as Max.

If Max doesn’t get his 8th blazer it’s an absolute abomination

I've liked Fritsch's turnaround. The less said about his start to the season the better but his form over the past 8 weeks has been fairly close to the Fritsch of old. It's impressive that he can still end the year with 40 goals considering his early season form.

I still think we'd be crazy to let him go at the end of the year.

6 minutes ago, Hopeful Demon said:

I've liked Fritsch's turnaround. The less said about his start to the season the better but his form over the past 8 weeks has been fairly close to the Fritsch of old. It's impressive that he can still end the year with 40 goals considering his early season form.

I still think we'd be crazy to let him go at the end of the year.

His improvment started after he was made sub in the Brisbane win. He came on during the last quarter and had a huge impact in the win.

His form since then has been much better.

12 minutes ago, Hopeful Demon said:

I've liked Fritsch's turnaround. The less said about his start to the season the better but his form over the past 8 weeks has been fairly close to the Fritsch of old. It's impressive that he can still end the year with 40 goals considering his early season form.

I still think we'd be crazy to let him go at the end of the year.

In my book he’s a must keep.

1 hour ago, Cassiew said:

Went to the game as planned. Sooo glad I did. Gawn had a fantastic game. Petty played well too. Fritch good. Only Kozzie a bit rusty. Niece and nephew had a great day and enjoyed seeing their team win. A special shout out to out to all who attended and showed their love for the team despite a setback.

I really enjoyed the game live. Was always going, but glad I did.

Even watched the replay

On the replay there was footage of koz being given some pills of some description, and the commentators notedhr might be a bit off.

Despite his quiet game, how's this for a stat to show just how important he is for us - from his 26 disposals (which is not a bad haul) he had a game high 10 score involvements.

Nearly half of his disposals contributed to a score on a day he didn't kick a goal and only kicked a point - that's seriously impressive.

Koz's pace in the middle is so important. And for the same reason I really liked Windsor in the middle.

And for similar reasons I really like Tracc playing predominantly forward - he creates a matchup challenge, is awesome one on one and him playing forward allows faster plsyers like Windsor t8 take his spot in the middle.

I've been bullish on Culley, and was super pleased he played so well. Is a rich slow but like Langford thinks quick and had high footy iq.

He's also tough, is a neat kick and has good hands. If he can get super, super quick he can cement a spot in the bbest22 as a wing or high half forward.

Speaking of high half forward chin's running was berserk yesterday. I loved his attitude and intent.

Edited August 3Aug 3 by binman

20 hours ago, DubDee said:

We developed him at Casey very nicely imo.

His form was poor early days but he started impacting games and got his chance at the right time to perform well at AFL level

He was managed very well indeed.

They helped build his tank and two running up in the early part of the season by playing him off a wing for the most part.

He was then switched into the middle / pushing forward (similar to his work on the wing in this regard) a fair chunk of the time in the last 6 weeks or so (don't hold me to the exact timing or % of time spent in the middle vs the wing during). I believe the fitness / tank plus defensive focus on the wing plus the ability to push forward and impact there both in the air / and pressuring inside 50 really helped. He also looked much more at home (at Casey) when being played through the middle and whenever he pushed forward.

His height and size a huge asset when playing forward. He's a big boy on the flesh and ready built for the riggers of AFL.

6 hours ago, At Least I Saw a Flag said:

Bravo Dees, especially after half time.

I presume we also won on 'expected score'? haha

Not on mine. 2 weeks ago I had us winning this game by 14 goals so we actually lost a close 1 by a point.

On a serious note :

WC are terrible and played true to form. We should have beaten them by a massive margin and we did.

I am of the opinion that the ball travels slightly further at marvel which explains Frittas goal from 50+ metres and perhaps Langford not quite holding those marks.

Go Dees.

1 hour ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

The not 15m calls when the ball is still halfway in the air and the player is running after it, kills me.

Just wait a few seconds before calling it.

I know this isn't a rules thread but since 15m is mentioned..... Players kicking out after a behind often seem to run far more than 15m without bouncing the ball. It easy to see because the goal square is 9m, so if they run twice that they have obviously exceeded 15m. Have the rules changed while I was napping?

3 hours ago, layzie said:

According to Nathan Brown, Brodie Grundy might have just pipped the AA Ruck position. He went on to say that Darcy Cameron has been good, Riley O'Brien not too bad but Grundy might have just sewn it up.

No-one else..

Nathan brown is a moron

1 hour ago, binman said:

I really enjoyed the game live. Was always going, but glad I did.

Even watched the replay

On the replay there was footage of koz being given some pills of some description, and the commentators notedhr might be a bit off.

Despite his quiet game, how's this for a stat to show just how important he is for us - from his 26 disposals (which is not a bad haul) he had a game high 10 score involvements.

Nearly half of his disposals contributed to a score on a day he didn't kick a goal and only kicked a point - that's seriously impressive.

Koz's pace in the middle is so important. And for the same reason I really liked Windsor in the middle.

And for similar reasons I really like Tracc playing predominantly forward - he creates a matchup challenge, is awesome one on one and him playing forward allows faster plsyers like Windsor t8 take his spot in the middle.

I've been bullish on Culley, and was super pleased he played so well. Is a rich slow but like Langford thinks quick and had high footy iq.

He's also tough, is a neat kick and has good hands. If he can get super, super quick he can cement a spot in the bbest22 as a wing or high half forward.

Speaking of high half forward chin's running was berserk yesterday. I loved his attitude and intent.

Quiet for Kozzie of course. I mean he’s not going to be a superstar every time he plays

Edited August 3Aug 3 by Cassiew

Just glad all the predictions I heard:

“Eagles will win mark my words”

“Will be 60% eagles fans.”

“Be lucky to get 6,000 there.”

“Even if we somehow won, won’t be a thrashing.”

Didn’t come true, granted some were sarcastic.

Demon through and through. Through the hard times and the good times.

1 hour ago, sue said:

I know this isn't a rules thread but since 15m is mentioned..... Players kicking out after a behind often seem to run far more than 15m without bouncing the ball. It easy to see because the goal square is 9m, so if they run twice that they have obviously exceeded 15m. Have the rules changed while I was napping?

Excellent point. It makes a mockery of the rule.

It looked to me that Petty moved more freely than in earlier times. I watched him play those games against Richmond and North when he looked and lead like an actual forward.

I don't think he has been fit for the past 2 years

Just a second thought.

Maybe he should train with TMac

A great comeback from him!

3 hours ago, binman said:

I really enjoyed the game live. Was always going, but glad I did.

Even watched the replay

On the replay there was footage of koz being given some pills of some description, and the commentators notedhr might be a bit off.

Despite his quiet game, how's this for a stat to show just how important he is for us - from his 26 disposals (which is not a bad haul) he had a game high 10 score involvements.

Nearly half of his disposals contributed to a score on a day he didn't kick a goal and only kicked a point - that's seriously impressive.

Koz's pace in the middle is so important. And for the same reason I really liked Windsor in the middle.

And for similar reasons I really like Tracc playing predominantly forward - he creates a matchup challenge, is awesome one on one and him playing forward allows faster plsyers like Windsor t8 take his spot in the middle.

I've been bullish on Culley, and was super pleased he played so well. Is a rich slow but like Langford thinks quick and had high footy iq.

He's also tough, is a neat kick and has good hands. If he can get super, super quick he can cement a spot in the bbest22 as a wing or high half forward.

Speaking of high half forward chin's running was berserk yesterday. I loved his attitude and intent.

Interesting comparison between Langford and Culley, both being fairly tall and built strong enough to compete with bodies with more preseasons under the belt. Neither are overly quick, and I do wonder if it's possible to increase leg speed I can't really remember any players in the past that have noticeably increased pace, but it may be possible.

Langford had multiple chances to mark the footy overhead close to goal and had he taken those could really have had a day out - both could become weapons overhead in years to come if they continue to improve imo

What I liked about Jai's marking is that he seemed to be able to stretch even further mid air.