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I really like some of the comments here about how we were able to beat a top 8 team without winning the inside midfield battle. We won a structural battle with St Kilda, as we won despite giving them the stoppage and territorial advantage that we usually use to win games. We mostly didn't allow them to get in behind us and forced them to win contests against our excellent defenders in order to kick goals, and they weren't able to. We were really good at forcing them to go through our zone, rather than around it like the Dogs did and they simply could score because of it. They kicked a few goal because of rank turnovers but those , unfortunately, will happen in almost any game of football. It's a good sign that we can stay in games (and win games) when we aren't playing our best. It's a big tick for the plan and the scrappy, blue collar team we played with.

I wish people would cut out this argument. If we restricted commentary to those who had "played the position at an elite level of competition", Demonland wouldn't exist. @Cheesy D. Pun was fairly, and rightfully, pointing out that there may be a lot Pickett is doing that you simply cannot see on TV.

As my dad used to say jnr they don't put just won on the ladder.

The only touched controversy with this goal should be whether it was touched before Trac marked the ball. Clear mark in my book. Goes back and kicks a regular goal. The fact that Saints supporters and others like Cornes are upset only makes me hope it was touched before the line. Pay back for all the other crappy decisions and non decisions that have not gone our way in my Footy lifetime.

I’d be watching the last 5min again then if I were you, he laid some of the most important tackles of the team. Far more than AvB and Hannan did who are also there to pressure the opposition.

The enforcement of the protected zone is a farce. In every game I’ve watched there are several infringements ignored. The rule needs a major rethink. Very often the offending player poses no threat to the player with the ball. But the penalty is enormous.

Absolutely love this guy and think output in relation to cost he has been a much better pick up than Hill.

Vote it goal of the year and really upset him.

Coaches votes Very similar voting by the coaches this week. 10 Steven May (MELB) 8 Christian Petracca (MELB) 6 Jack Steele (STK) 3 Bradley Hill (STK) 3 Ed Langdon (MELB) Enormously deserved by May Leaderboard: 75 Lachie Neale 62 Christian Petracca 59 Travis Boak 58 Taylor Adams 58 Jack Steele Boak, Adams and Steel all have byes in the next few rounds so Petracca has a good chance of staying outright second. Unlikely that he will catch up with Neale.

Very good point. He also has the knack of being in space at the right time. A very valuable addition.

Mitch Brown beautiful set shot from 50 on the angle, ran back with the flight of the ball and got crunched, presented well, doesn't move like a statue. Thats an upgrade on T Mac.

Because if Harley comes in at the expense of Spargo watch a similar outcome to the Dogs waltzing out of their backline in the 3rd quarter 2 weeks ago Stats such as possessions mean little all they do is assist journalists who have no footy IQ in writing up the best players

I highly recommend for everyone to watch previous Swans match last round or at least look at their current team line up. It's all about match ups and analysing their strengths and weaknesses. I watched the game and Port had three talls in fwd line (Dixon, Westhoff and Todd Marshall) which gave headaches to swans as they have no tall defenders. During the game, Sinclair provided nothing in the ruck so he was moved to fwd line, Tom McCartin moved to backline and Aliir Aliir in ruck role which worked for a short period but not for long. Swans were easily beaten in height. Their tall forwards aren't great (Reid, Sinclair, Blakely). Only decent player in fwd line is Papley, he must be stopped. He is so dominant when the ball is close to him. Lockhart is a decent lockdown defender. It would be great if Goodwin give Lochkart a task on Papley. I must applaud Goodwin with team selection last week, matching 4 talls (May, Oscar, Lever and Tomlinson) on Membery, Marshall, Battle and King. I see a lot of people not happy with Omac but he had to play due to Saints tall fwd structure. Had no other options. Swans lack in height in fwd line therefore one tall defender has to go. Ins: Lockhart, ANB (pressure player to cover Pickett's role), Fritsch, Preuss Outs: Omac (omitted), Pickett (managed) Hibberd (managed), Hannan (omitted) My reason to bring in Preuss as a ruck and Gawn in fwd line is to beat swans in height. Swans have no ruck and no tall defender to stop Gawn. Gawn provides us a target in fwd line. Preuss is serviceable ruckman and Gawn can be rested in fwd line, less running and less jumping. We still have 7 defenders in the side (May, Lever, Tomlinson, Wagner, Salem, Rivers and Lockhart)

What improvement to our list TMF depth ? Or us he stopping development of Sparrow Jordan and even Jackson on the ball?

GOTY. 1 on 3 clutch goal at crucial time.

I want Oscar McDonald out and never picked again. Sydney aren't tall, and I thought he was terrible. His turnover kick, inboard from half-back/wing with no pressure on him + my subsequent reaction, abruptly ended the life of my Sony Bravia television.

Number four in the comp among forwards for pressure acts.

Why not, he has been poor since the North game. A total of 15 touches and 1 goal the last three games (averaging 5 touches and 0.3 goals), and his pressure has fallen away Should be dropped on form, and I would bring Bedford in to keep the team balance right.

Nominated for goal of the year. let’s get him over the line.

It’s not as if the Goal Umpire was staring off into the Red Desert. Perfect Position and Concentrating on the ball, but no Kane had a better view... Why is there no Media Attention to Tracc not being paid the Mark? Not one if them has mentioned that at all, that i have heard.

I would have thought the goal umpire was in the best position to make the call and not Cornes from his lounge room.

Looked over to me but who knows. Doesn't matter now. It's a goal. They're going to put goal line cameras at every game. Convo over. But also... He marked that ball. Even if the St. Kilda defender got some of that first touch this is mark every day of the week, I've seen one of these called everygame even when the other player gets first touch. Trac gets the majority of the first touch with his hand in front and you can see by the way the ball goes straight up that he had control of it using more palm as opposed to the other players swiping fingers (of which he if go most of it the ball would travel sideways). If this wasn't deemed a goal or simply rolled through for a behind we would be having a different more frustrating conversation as demons supporters because that was a mark. Quite a brilliant Petracca pure strength and skills mark.

Laughingly this morning on SEN Kane Corness admitted the umpire was in a perfect psootion and then went on "...but from where I was sitting it looked touched to me..." From his couch in his Adelaide loungeroom. This has to win some sort of media quote award this year surely?

No problem, mate. It wasn't my intention to sound arrogant or discount your opinion in any way and in fact, I tend to agree that he might need a rest at some stage. I was just expressing the opinion that possessions and goals are secondary for small forwards in the modern game - pressure is everything. We disagree on how the game looks and that's fine. Also, you are correct - on balance, you probably have the support of most posters here for Kozzy's omission. I'm ok with that.

Sorry, didn't realise I was chatting with someone who had played the position at an elite level of competition and knows how hard it is, and who can also see "running patterns" not shown on TV. I'm just a long-time, long-suffering fan who has only seen Pickett hardly get a kick for several weeks now. It is well-known that young players are prone to running out of gas in later games if they play continuously throughout a season. That's why there was the word "managed" next to his name in my post. And reading this thread, it appears that most posters agree with me about leaving him out this week.

Always happy with a win TU.

I have a permanent case of MFCSS. I just love the way everyone is assuming we will win against sydney and freo. I feel a cold slither up my spine.?

I think people need to let go of this. Watts was let go due to poor off field standards. He will also be nearing 30 by next. He's finished unfortunately.

If we make the 8 it will be an impressive effort considering our start. We’ll have to have won at least 7 out of 9 games. Playing away and flying around the country without a bye. Not to mention the heat in Cairns and short breaks

I'm not sure if we definitely fly in and out for both the Syd and Freo games. As our Sydney game is at 4.40pm (a time slot set for teams to fly back to hubs on the same day), suggests we do. But as no other team is flying to/from Cairns it doesn't make sense to charter a plane for just us. So hopefully sanity prevails and we stay in Cairns.

True, but the dominance of Steven May shows why we let him go. Frosty had his moments but he was far too unpredictable, and Goodwin wants a tough, dependable back line. Frosty was the anti-dependable defender, although I did enjoy watching him play. I'm not suggesting you want him back, Pates, more that I've seen other posters throughout this year lamenting how we let him go. I think we've seen enough now to show why we did.

Jones has been a great champion and servant of the club but the game has passed him by. There are roles there for the taking for him but he is unable to execute them. We either choose to focus on putting the best team out there to make and impact finals or we play Nathan and try and get him to 300 or close as we can. He did not just have one bad game changing Clanger last night he had 5, the equal highest on the ground. Not only that but playing wing/high half forward he had the lowest of 44 players for metres gained with 33m and only 4 pressure acts. When the heat was on in the last and you could argue his experience would help he did not have a stat. Th right thing for Nathan is to have him remembered as the warrior who gave his all and stuck with us through thick and thin. Not the guy who played too long and was gifted a milestone.

Formline for each club's last five games (i.e. ignoring byes. Also ignores percentages because I don't have that data right here, and might well mean we're not 2nd...): Geelong - 5-0 Melbourne - 4-1 Richmond - 4-1 West Coast - 4-1 Brisbane - 4-1 Port Adelaide - 4-1 Collingwood - 4-1 St Kilda - 3-2 GWS - 3-2 Fremantle - 3-2 Bulldogs - 2-3 Carlton - 2-3 Gold Coast - 1-1-3 Essendon - 1-1-3 Hawthorn - 1-4 Sydney - 1-4 North Melbourne - 0-5 Adelaide - 0-5

I honestly can’t see the controversy. If it was touched it was clearly after it crossed the goal line. Clear goal, move on.

Don't be surprised if Corey Wagner gets a call up for Kozzy. Has apparently been dominating in the lower level and could slot in to give Koz a rest. I know Spargo only had 7 disposals but he made some crucial tackles and I thought his pressure was better then most forwards.

If Watts was right in body and mind, he could be an import missing piece of the puzzle with his elite distribution by foot into forward 50 and also being a very accurate shot for goal. I think he'd do a lot better second time around with us, without the saviour level of expectation and us having build a fairly decient side which he could fit into. If he's available and our fitness guru gave it the ok, then I wouldn't be against it. The other interesting thing is that could all parties put the past behind them regarding his exit, which get the impression wasn't on the best of terms between Jack and Goody.

McCartin never had a real crack at it and nobody knows how he would have gone with a few injury free seasons under his belt. For someone here to refer to him as "McConcussion" is not only puerile but quite sad. Nobody wants to see a young footballer injured to that extent. I recently read where he is hoping to play again in 2021. Brave decision but I sincerely hope somebody talks him out of it.

AFL Life Membership includes preseason games. Jones is already over 300 on that total and was awarded life membership in the offseason

Sure he isn’t what he once was. Is he still better than half the list. Yup. Easily better than some on the weekend, would I rather a Wagner/AVB/Hunt etc or Jones on the list. Jones by a mile. He plays next year if he wants in my eyes, it may only be a game here or there but offers more than others younger and faster

Long term I'm reasonably confident that Kozzie & LJ will provide some answers but we still need a KPF and a good defensive forward if we're going to challenge. Weideman is developing ok and I haven't given up on T-Mac just yet. Brown is back up. Fritsch & Melksham can both be much better but it is up to both of them to get the best out of themselves. Playing forward these days means playing in crowded situations a lot of the time. So it isn't easy but we need to find the right mix. Meanwhile, the make up of the midfield and backline are more than adequate. Not perfect but both areas aren't of great concern.

I actually think that Spargo has more substance at the moment than Kozzie (who will be very good) Spargo is only 20 ,in his 3rd season AND HIS TACKLES STICK which creates forward pressure. I also think Wagner was good after a nervous start. Has pace and is a great team person . Presents. We are obsessed with stats and get excited about 25 possessions. However there are people in the team who "run with" and provide "the get out of strife" option. These roles do not have high stats ,but are integral to the team performance. I remember Roos saying one night that Jeremy Howe played the best 1 possession half he had seen . Richmond have it imbued into them .

O Mac comments both predictable and ignorant. Membrey had 3 marks for 1 (lucky) goal. Second most 1%ers behind Lever, and more than any St Kilda player/defender. No accident that May and Lever always do better when Oscar is in the side. I'd also take Oscar over Tomlinson as a stay-at-home defender any day. Though whether there's a role for him against the Swans, hard to say. Otherwise, Fritsch in, someone out, then perhaps Lockhart for Hibberd or just rejig around Tomlinson. Plenty of calls for Bennell, but from reports, he's not been exactly setting the house on fire in the two's (practice matches). Could be wrong.

Riccardi turned 20 in November so despite having played a season in the VFL last year, he qualifies and would be a certainty this week. Rivers is next in line on ability and in alphabetical order.

Summary: The team started slowly but really got its game going in the second half to win coming from behind. From halfway through the third quarter, they started to win the contests and the ground balls and they were outstanding with about six goals in the last quarter. The team wasn’t delivering it well to Tom McDonald but he didn’t drop his head and he and Bailey Fritsch teamed up well as the game went on. Fritta put in a quality game and kicked at least four goals - not only dangerous around goals but with his passing to teammates. From the sound of it, we can expect him Fritta kicked back for Thursday’s game against the Swans. Nibbler played an important role in the team’s comeback, not only when forward but also when on the ball. Others who impressed were Corey Wagner who used the ball well, Oskar Baker played his third good game in a row on the wing and kicked a couple of goals going forward and Nev was good in defence. Pleased with Austin Bradtke’s game helping with the clearance work. Note: James Harmes was the holdover emergency.