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At least we were reminded of who the real #1 ruck is

We played some pretty good footy at times today. Now … I reckon .... we only need to learn how to kick, mark and handball … and we'll win a few games.

Disappointing just because I deluded myself in to think this would be better, but really it was just more of the same: getting heaps of the ball but just not translating it in to goals. Heaps of positives from this game though. Lever at 80% added heaps. I thought May in his first full game was good. Our whole backline looked far more cohesive and kept us alive in the first half. Hannan got better as the game went on. Weideman slowly but surely hitting form and becoming a forward threat again. It might be that thing of deluding myself again but I truly think we’re not as far off as ladder position might suggest. Thought Maxy deserved a paragraph of his own. He is simply immense. He’s playing as a genuine midfielder now without giving up any of his other strengths. If we were winning he’d be being lauded as the best player in the game on current form.

this is a disrespectful thread, calling a young man who tries his guts out for his club a potato, the worst player in the league, is weak as pis, while I admit he is out of form, there is no need for these insulting untrue comments, give the bloke a chance, let him try find some form in the vfl, give him a go up forward, bulk him up a bit, he has played some good games and has shown ability at times, you are not the worst player in the league if you have played 70 odd games of afl football and still only 23 yo.

There were actually some very good signs today imo. Yes, Spargo and Garlett were dismal but May and Lever did well given time away from the game. And, really, Gawn was the best player on the ground. We are missing another key forward but it's far from hopeless.

He SHOULD be selfish. He should watch de Goey's game and see how a talented player turns half chances into goals. Tracc has the talent, he should not have to worry about game plans, defensive pressure, etc. Just go out, see ball, get ball, wreak havoc. That's what freaks do, but he's not allowed to celebrate his freakdom. He's being turned into a second rate robot.

Spargo or Oscar.

Positives for me were our backline actually played well. Our midfielders were too dam lazy to give them a chop out. Lever, May, Hore Hibberd and even Fritsch all played extremely well. It is officially time to take the captaincy off both Jones and Viney. Jones is Finished and Viney is an ordinary footballer. Max Gawn to me has captain material written all over him with Lever to take over afterwards. Be done with it and just give him the AA honours. Definitely has the best and fairest sewn up. That'll be Wagner's last game in the red and blue. Will be delisted. Should have brought in Stretch. Worse game i have ever seen Salem play. McDonald can [censored] off to Casey. Get Pruess in and get him rotating with Gawn up forward. At least we'll have a top 5 draft pick.

The lowlight was having to report a scum supporter today for abuse. No idea if anyone will follow it up, but he was drunk and abusive and of course had a small child with him, because why not continue the cycle of being a filthy piece of dog [censored]?! Anyway I thought our backline was good. The difference May and Lever made was immense. May was excellent. Lever got better as the game wore on. Hannan likewise. So nice to have some quality back in the side. Gawn was superb was always. Grundy can clean his shoelaces as far as I’m concerned. A superb midfielder and leader. Our contested work was good, but as has been the case all year, we have no purpose using the ball going forward of Centre. I don’t know what the game plan is, but it’s failing. Chaos ball is dead. Speaking of dead, Tom McDonald’s career... what has happened? I would give him the rest of the year off and pop Preuss at FF. How much worse can it get?!!

May, Lever, Salem and Hore all back. Its the best team we have fielded this season by far. Get the win today and launch toward a finals berth. The next 4 games are vs Fremantle, Brisbane, Carlton and Western Bulldogs. All very winnable. Last chance to turn around the season, must get the job done. Good luck to Lever and May in their comebacks.

Disagree with this to a point. IMO he was good but not great. His problem today was he looked to overuse the handball at times (a trend for him in 2019). But IMO there were certainly times where his handballs set players off on their way into space. However, the best exponent of the attacking handball today was Harmes. He should be really proud of his progress as a player.

That is complete garbage. Nothing irritates me more than people making stuff like this up. You are a total muck raker.

Great seeing Greeny's boys run out with the team.

I actually feel like Demonland, and the supporters, go pretty hard on him. I also think you’re going too hard on him...

But why is it up to indigenous Australians to be nice and play the reconcilers? Their culture has been killed, their languages gone extinct, their land taken. Indigenous Australians have lower life expectancy and higher incarceration rates. So why is it on them to take white Australia's hand and gently lead them into the future? Goodes got booed for calling out the reality instead of falling into line of rubbish tokenism of events like Dreamtime at the G. In the eyes of the majority Adam Goodes was an 'uppity [censored]' who didn't know his place. That's why he got booed.

Shat me too. Gawn is the reigning All Australian ruckman. Gawn absolutely destroyed Grundy today. Gawn is the number 1 ranked player in the league at the moment according to afl website. The media should give him the respect he deserves as the unarguable and official premier ruckman in the league.

It also annoyed the [censored] out of me when they said Grundy was the starting AA ruckman and Gawn was on the bench Goodness me A) Get your facts right, and B) WATCH THE GAME IN FRONT OF YOU!

I would not be shocked if he is struggling a bit with his mental health and they have given him a couple of weeks to freshen up. He had post season surgery, an interrupted pre season as a result and not been in great form. On top of that he cops all manner of abuse on social media and foorball fan forums from.so called supporters. And as we know from players like Boyd, heath Shaw, weed and others that can take a toll.

Flat out wrong, indigenous Australians weren't even allowed to vote or be recognized as citizens until the 70's. Sounds a lot like Tibet or Sudan to me, his parents would have been able describe the invasion pretty well. Also massacres of indigenous communities were occurring in the 20th Century, this is not 200 years ago. Yet for all of this terrible history, we as a country are going in the right direction, let's not bugger it up by being dishonest about the historical record. Own it, and let's get on making it a place where everyone gets a fair go.

He will be 28 at the beginning of next year. Ha, ha - the club must think we are in premiership mode!!. We would only chase another tall defender if they were concerned about Lever long term which I doubt. The article talks about May going forward so maybe they are concerned about TMac's foot. If we want a fwd I we should go after a genuine forward rather than turn a key defender into a forward. Adelaide will want our first round pick and they know we will cave in. Walk away.

Petracca to the midfield waa a good move at least. Best game he's played all year.

Was at the game. I had a great view of Tom McDonald. He hobbled all game and struggled to break into a run. I fear that he has been mismanaged and should be rested the rest of the season to fix a very obvious injury.

Are you serious or having a Joke?? It is the job of the Senior Coach to have the team prepared. The skill levels of the entire team is about Under 12’s Nothing has changed all year...

It’s terrible binman, it’s happening weekly to OMac. Our own turn on him during games, I was at the scratch match against the Pies in the preseason and a group of young Pie fans were hurling nasty abuse at him every time he came near us. No other player was singled out. It seemed they were there solely for that reason. Simply appalling, can’t imagine what gets trolled out behind a keyboard. He destroyed Darling a few weeks ago and we hear nothing on his good performance, maybe a handful of positive posts. We keep reading and hearing if Lever and May are fit OMac doesn’t play, guess what, they weren’t available for most of last year and he performed admirably all the way to a prelim. We are sitting 3-8 with many performing at a below par level for one reason or another yet OMac has his own there’s the door thread. Seems unfair to me.

Another disgraceful effort by you JoeBoy - makes me wonder if you actually ever go to the game. Fritsch - best game 2019 Brayshaw - shades of 2018 Harmes - our prime mover Petracca - another step forward Weid - finally showing something

I know I'm going broken record in this... But How the complete F is Spargo getting picked ahead of... ANB, Stretch, JKH, Lockhart, Preuss, ... anyone else fit He's been pathetic the last 3 weeks, it was obvious to everyone, and he's picked again and puts out a totally shouse effort for most of the first half Seriously, he's not up to AFL standard and I don't care that he got a few kicks in a team that was winning last year... That's the definition of a downhill skier!

Gawn and Harmes were brilliant. Unfortunately, our midfield (with the exception of the two aforementioned players) doesn't know how to defend in transition. Until we fix this, we won't be a top 8 threat, let alone top 4 threat. Petracca is trying his guts out but IMO the coaches have completely ruined his confidence. He looks to pass off at every opportunity inside 50 and has done, since last year's ridiculous review of a single selfish effort. Goodwin is not going to make it as a senior coach unless he bites the bullet at the end of the season and changes the game style. Simple as that. We also need fresh ideas and fresh coaches to implement them next year. We need Salem, Fritsch and KK all playing forward of centre / on the wings. Our ball use going inside is still ridiculous and is rarely to the advantage of the forwards. We need genuine crumbers in our forward half with speed. Jeff is done. He's too soft and inconsistent. He is the only genuine crumber we currently have. I hope we're scouring the country for a couple of speedsters with an ability to crumb. We need another genuine KPF to support Weideman. Tom McDonald is a good second or third fiddle, nothing more. The way things are going, both McDonald's will be off our list at the expiry of their current contracts, but I thought Weid showed some good signs today. I think we'll struggle to win 5 games this year. It's all well and good to say our kicking was off, so it wasn't lost in the coaches box, but we have such little system to our play that it's time the blow torch was put fairly and squarely on Goodwin and co IMO.

Max should be Captain - best player, best leader, always at Casey supporting them, high profile. No brainer.

Bit harsh on Braysahw and Hore. We looked a lot more purposeful with Max, Clarrie, Gus and Harmesy around the ball.

It has to be Max. At a minimum he’ll be a co-captain but I’d prefer if he was sole captain.

here they are

Also it was good to see Weideman work his way into the game 2nd half. 50 more games and couple of pre seasons and he'll be cluncking more of those pack marks that he is jumping at.

2nd that! Jeffy's done guys. Can't catch anyone unless theyre next door and misses half his tackles. Has no strength through body or for the contest anymore and is running on talent alone. Lockhart has earned a call up after yesterday's solid performance.

The big bloke should not have to wear the responsibilities of the team - even when he can and does. An amazing champion, deserves the Captaincy - and some support.

Goody in pressa.

Spargo is simply not up to it

No matter what the stats say, I believe that his inside bullocking that creates opportunities for others goes largely unnoticed on this site.

I was referring to the girl calling him an ape. Changing the narrative to him ‘bullying her’ was largely based on people making up facts. I’ve seen hundreds of people posting ‘it has nothing to do with racism’ and then listing reasons why it is specifically related to racism. They just don’t understand why. Those people are racist. They don’t know they are, they won’t take the time to understand why they are, but they are. Are there some people who ‘hate’ Goodes and booed him that aren’t racist? Probably. But in my humble opinion, their morals aren’t something to be proud of and they are a part of the problem, whether they like it or not. Id prefer to be a part of the solution. Mass booing an individual isn’t.

Well, adults being terrified of an imaginary spear is sort of funny if not just plain embarrassing. But in the interest of discussion, I'll humour your attempt at defending people's right to mass bully a human being. The power of symbols and gestures hey? Fair enough. When Goodes tried to explain how symbolic it was to be called an ape, what did the white folk do? I guess in the politically charged atmosphere, the indigenous man should just do what the white folk say. How about, in this emotionally charged topic where everyone is too wrapped up in trying to defend their right to abuse people, we just LISTEN to what indigenous people are saying. Just listen to why they are hurt and stop thinking about ourselves. It might only take 5 minutes and an open mind. But even that seems too much to ask.

The first game Lever missed was QB , and the pies broke our 6 game winner streak , quite ironic he finally returns exactly a year later . I still think that game against the crows a few games prior when lever was hitting his straps intercepting off the backline was one of our one most complete performances over the past couple of years excited for the inclusion of May / lever/ Hore but have tempered my expectations, I think it will take some time for them to get in sync as a back 6 would love to have Nev back out there too the silver lining to our season will be our new look defence and getting it primed for 2020

I like Spargo a lot. I'm not sure he'll make it and I agree he is probably lucky to get a game on current performances. What I see is someone who creates and adds value to our current possession situation. Last year he would only have 7-15 disposals, but they would regularly improve our position by opening up space, getting a player on their correct side, creating a bit of time, etc. His possessions often resulted in us having the opportunity to attack. This year it hasn't worked as frequently, with more turnovers and less possessions, he has been poor.

Or I’ll be wrong.

I’ve experienced a better atmosphere in the Coroners Court.

I am wondering how much Gawn flatters our view of our midfielder possessions and ability. Any midfielder is going to get possessions with Gawn rucking but the heat needs to go onto the way the midfielders use the ball from those possessions. Oliver has probably had 20 and has done no damage and embarrassingly Collingwood are probably content to give him those 20. I remeber in Olivers first few years he used to handball to create space for the player to run into now, being well and truly in sync with our game plan he handballs to the first and closest target.

How does Garlett still get a game. He should be in the seconds and never to return. Here’s a thought put PREUSS in his place.

"Ape" has never been much of an insult to a white person as it has no particular context. I wouldn't care if you called me that. Calling a black person "ape" or "monkey" is another way of perpetuating the myth that black people are sub-human and inferior and is considered highly insulting and deeply hurtful. Throwing bananas at/towards black footballers is another symptom of this attitude. That is my understanding of the difference.

Flew in Saturday morning, love getting home, love the beer (strangely enough they have beer in Sydney too) love the food and love catching up with family and friends. No excuses today, we can take them. No more losses like those to the Crows and the Eagles.

hahaha omg so funny! You totally showed him!

with all due respect @bandicoot - I cannot for the life of me see that Pendlebury, or Moore, or whomever fretting over the r'ship of Buckley and Malthouse - it will be a non factor.

I’m a big fan of Kielty He is a natural footballer and team player Does what the coach asks Had they not decided to turn him into a forward and part time ruckman I believe he would have taken Oscars position this season and done a much better job