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Yeah, I’ve heard of them. I’m sure they were on a Liszt somewhere.

May is kicking to the Langdon wing ie our attacking side. Whether the ball is marked or it comes to ground we can set up to take the ball fwd. How often do we see the end to end ball movement with overlap handballs involving Langdon with Salem or Hunt. Gus on the other, defensive, wing is rarely seen in those overlap runs. For mine, as long as that system works May can continue kick ins to the left.

That should have been 50m, just get back and stand on the mark you muppet.

The thing that sticks in my head is a post match interview is Gawn saying “Lynden Dunn kicked a torp to the middle. Unfortunately he forgot to tell us he was going to do it.” I saw another quote from a player (didn’t hear it first hand) which might have been ANB, saying their forward connection has improved because they’ve had years of learning where each of the forwards wants the ball kicked, and that they haven’t developed that with BBB yet. What that tells me is that players want predictability from their teammates. Rather than being a negative, it’s a must have. The players receiving the kick-in have to know how and where to set up. It doesn’t necessarily mean he has to kick in exactly the same way every time, but the playbook can only really have a couple of items in it, otherwise it will be too complicated and hard to get right. The way the opposition set up from one of our kick-ins is going to be largely determined by how we set up anyway. Their backs will position their wall wherever they want, but their mids and forwards are just going to go wherever our mids and defenders go, because they know that’s where the ball will go, irrespective of whether they knew it in advance or not.

You would assume wrong. another frustration is for the Santa Teresa community who were going to get a visit from some at the Demons to open the newly grassed oval that that this week had the goal posts from the MCG installed. Saw them Friday, they look brilliant.

If the choice is Alice vs SCG I would take Alice: We get the $800k The flight to Alice is 30 minutes shorter than Brisbane to Alice. Not much of an advantage but not a disadvantage We play Pies 13 10 days later so even if we have to FIFO there is plenty of time to recover. Importantly, give the folks in Alice some enjoyment watching two top of the ladder teams. Edit: change 13 to 10 days.

Predictable to opposition, but more importantly, predictable to us. It's just part of a game plan that has seen us go 10-1 and whilst I agree that sometimes there are some really obvious targets free, quick play from a kick in doesn't allow our defenders the time they need to setup. And that setup a massive reason in how we're choking teams atm. Can't have everything unfortunately. We don't have the list to play the dogs' style of footy and I think I've come to accept that our game is not always pretty or pleasing to the eye. But if we can win a flag through our predictable but almost bulletproof game style, it's hard to complain! It's just a [censored] pleasure to go into a game feeling like we're going to be hard to beat! Wild.

and have some sympathy for the filth.......queens birthday was to be their grand final

It's not stupid. They want to keep playing games while they can. If you give everyone a bye next week you then have to play 9 games the week after and again after that. Using the byes over three weeks allows them to use some grounds repeatedly (e.g. SCG/Giants Stadium) to get through a week. The hope here is that by the end of the bye period Victoria will be closer to "normal" and games can continue down here.

Yes, my son was (hopefully still is, but not expecting it) going to be doing Auskick, as he was last year before the women’s game was a lock out. It’s a great time here, with the Finke desert race over the Queens birthday weekend, it is huge for Alice Springs. Unfortunately the government here really just focus on Darwin, it is where all the seats are, so am a bit worried about us getting screwed, but they have changed border restrictions overnight, so it does depend on what happens in the next 4 days, but am still hopeful.

Just like I wanted Cale Morton to be Dusty Martin. So close.

Haha is that all he wants Lipinski to be. Wants one of the softest wingers to become Oliver. No worries. A preseason should do it.

No, this thread isn’t a whinge about the lack of a ‘big win’, it’s a place to celebrate our miserly backline and team defence. Bang on again last night, conceding the standard 59 points (including only 2 goals after h/t) and racking up eye-popping intercept numbers. One of the things I’ve noticed in how we defend the ground is the position of the player (usually one of the wingers or half forwards) nearest their ball-carrier when the opposition is clearing the ball from defensive 50. We don’t press their player hard, but nor do we push all the way back, and while at first it appears they have time and space to clear, it kind of splits the difference and puts doubt in their mind. We’re set up well anyway, but it gives the rest of the team that fraction more time to get where they need to be. We’ve ‘guarded grass’ before, but not as effectively as this. The positioning is just right. One of the other tactics we’ve perfected this year which BT picked up on was holding the ball up for as long as possible at stoppages before giving it back to the umpire or player. We’ve been doing this all season, and again, it gives us a few more crucial seconds for everyone to get in position. We have more than enough talent up forward to match it with anyone, but it makes it fairly easy to kick a winning score when you’re restricting the opposition to just 60 point a game. Roosy would be most pleased.

I reckon this is a really good point. Which is one reason why I thought the no crowd might help us. People will underestimate the value of the win because there wasn't the big crowd buzz The dees have long been the but of jokes. And our game plan and model means of our games are often arm wrestles and ate not flashy. And it is harder to appreciate good defensive systems than strong offensive ones - particularly on tv We get a buffer and squeeze teams., unlike the dogs who look so exciting when they get on top. Happy to fly under the radar. Whichbis no mean feat at 10-1 and 4 points clear on top of the ladder.

I don't think I can Handel any more of these bad puns.

It only got 12 seconds on the Ch9 news as well... I actually don't care though. Keep undnerstimating the Dees and send the hype elsewhere.

It is probably not a coincidence that the states with the best approach to Covid have Liberal governments. Tassie has done well but NSW has really delivered without shutting borders, with multiple outbreaks, with taking the large bulk of arrivals from overseas and without unnecessary chest pumping. QLD have been a joke and WA just drive their own pathetic agenda. I wonder how quickly they’d open their borders if we took away the GST revenue we funnel to them every year. As for SA... stole our 4 points last week. Gave us a lockdown this week. Pr!cks.

Maybe so, but the point I was making is that the umpires stuffed up and it's not a symptom of some giant conspiracy or bias against MFC. Stop being a sook.

Mitch was huge for them in yesterday's game. Would it be a silly idea to put Harmes on to him? He's a tough nut and is probably about our best match up on Robinson...

Schubert: nuggety, short, round, rover type. Talented with the ball, good on either side of the body. Poetry in motion but never took care of his body due to too much alcohol consumption in season. Little known fact, he wrote every clubs' song. Hayden: prolific scorer. Beethoven: stingy defender. Holds record amongst "classical" era composers for total weeks suspended. Reinvented the way the game is played. Could have been a great coach but would never listen to his assistants.

Threatening harm on other posters is totally unacceptable and is not tolerated. I know I have been lenient in the past for some of SWYL's long list of other indiscretions but this was a step too far.

On the theme of predictability I noticed two pleasing unpredictable moves from Gawn on Friday night. First was taking the ball out of the ruck and pivoting with a kick forward. The other was a hit of twenty odd metres along the boundary line.

Each to their own, best footy journo there is for mine. And I’m not ashamed of our past and don’t want to cancel it. I’m proud of what we are achieving and where we came from just makes it all the more meritorious.

I’m going to go out of my way here to defend Angus Bradshaw. His role for the last 6 weeks has been almost exclusively playing the defending wing, which means he has to be hyper aware of his defensive positioning - especially for the switch. You’ll also note the amount of times he’s caught in between players and has to run back and throw his hands up to defend a player coming in to mark. That’s him doing exactly what he needs to do for the team. It’s a very unsexy position, but listen to how often the commentary is around how well set up we are. Angus is a huge part of that. I think he’s done his job amazingly well, and we should be very proud of him and his team first attitude.

the way you orchestrated that is the pits

Just on that game. I watched most of it and thought the players to impress in order were Sparrow, Lockhart, Jones then Chandler then Baker. Rosman looks good as a developing player and does some things that you would think can translate to AFL level but I'm pretty sure he won't be called on this year. Sparrow deserves a game and I think Lockhart may have passed Nev in the pecking order but he still does some risky things and under extreme heat may be a bit dodgy against a Charlie Cameron so I don't think they'll throw him into the furnace yet, but I would like to see him get a go at some stage and the Salem to the wing is quite a good idea (but dodgy groins and an uninspiring game against the dogs ) may rule that out too. Baker is almost the opposite of Gus in that he hasn't developed his defensive game much at all. You can see he just wants to kick a goal. I'm not convinced with Baker. Chandler is probably third in line behind Sparrow and Jones. I think Jones is probably the best choice against a seasoned hard-nosed side like the Lions.

For anyone who has kayo and wants a little more dees fix i highly recommend the kayo mini for the game. Not sure why, but the volyme of the commentary is way down compared to the full replay and the on ground sounds way up. Its really interesting to hear the players and boy the hits sound big.

Yes - no doubt we’ve benefitted from not being at the centre of international travel and lower population density. We did have a cluster very early though, visible in the graph, and it was shut down hard and fast. Irrespective of Tasmania having a lower degree of difficulty than Victoria or NSW, if one solitary case in 12 months doesn’t warrant at least a pass, and an admission the premier has at least two active brain cells, enlighten me on what would. Note: I feel completely filthy defending a Liberal premier that I voted against pre- and post pandemic, but the bottom line is our state government has kept us safe in this pandemic, and I’m extremely grateful for that.

Tackles of randomly selected KPFs this round so far: Naughton 0, Weid 1, Max King 1, J.Kennedy 1, Hipwood 2, Ben King 2, Hawkins 2

If lockdown ends on Thursday I’ll eat my hat. They’ll wait to get thru an entire 14 days incubation cycle given the number of exposure sites and the consistency of case numbers.

On Lever and our stingy (10 goal) defence. Matty Richardson said he could hear Lever often shout "block the corridor! block the corridor!" during the bulldogs game. Lever was suitably hoarse when interviewed after the game. 'Block the Corridor' impressed me for two reasons: Lever has to read the the play upfield and needs to pick the exact moment to order the troops into 'block the corridor' formation. A few seconds wrong either way and the opps get thru. The players need to know and get to their designated spot in the corridor quickly. On both counts the 'block the corridor' strategy worked brilliantly. Great example of on-field leadership and players playing their role, doing no more and no less. Last week Crows won by 'charging' our defence through the corridor. Not sure whether we didn't have 'block the corridor' tactic in our arsenal last week or just forgot how to execute. Either way we learnt heaps from the Crows 'charging the corridor' (also a key part of the Bulldogs plan) and our execution this week was flawless. The team would have been mighty proud of themselves for '10 goal win' v the bulldogs. Rightly so.

After the Crows game Lever was interviewed and said their aim was to keep the opp to about 60 points (10 goals) and generally we had achieved that. He wasn't at all happy that the Crows kicked 90+ pts. I can't remember his comments but sensed it was like an insult to their professionalism. No surprise the defence came back with a vengeance this week. Yes, Roos would be very proud: stingy defences win premierships. And we are becoming one of the stingiest defences in the game. In other threads folks talk about 'run away' wins. But they come at a cost - more attacking by us gives ops more chances to intercept then attack themselves and score. Any win will do me and I'd rather a stingy defence than a big win where the opps break down or break thru our defences..

How many came straight back? The kick out seems to be doing ok. If we mark it or win the contest we are away, otherwise we lock it in. The open side has less players to do this, and the chance of interception and return are higher.

lots of love here for CW. She has many years of good journalism and some low lows. Personally i’ll never forgive her fr the slow leaking tanking story she drove at us. And lest anyone say “ she was right” she wasn’t. she still says that episode was worse than the drug saga at essendon. she does. At the time she outright questioned whether we should continue as a club and wanted jimmy stynes statue removed from the G. let’s remember that she wasn’t speaking without “fear or favour” she was absolutely doing the bidding of the AFL. so many clubs including the big clubs ie hawks, pies, blues and others had done it, and the afl needed to stamp it out. this was mainly because there had been the entrance of big gambling sponsorship money into the game. So scapegoat was needed to a./ make it look like it was just ONE club and protect the AFL and b./ to scare all clubs away from the action. So despite the obvious cover up at the centre of her work ie that it was many clubs over many years, encouraged by AFL policy she tried to shame us literally out of existence. she outright tried to kill the club by poisoning us to death and questioning our right to exist. all of this in one of our darkest, weakest hours. was tanking good, helpful or beneficial nope. Especially fr us. was it worse than essendon drug saga??? should we have removed jimmy’s statue at the G? do we have a right to exist as a club? Caro will never look the same to me after that. i don’t care about anything she does or has done after that.

Forget best for footy. It’s all about best for us. I do not want to play Lions at their home ground. It’s our home game. We don’t deserve such a disadvantage.

I was being facetious. I meant Brown's Casey game. As I said in a previous post I think they wedged themselves They are not going to bring Brown in but I think he shouldn't have gone out in rbe first place. But to he honest I find both players a bit underwhelming and wonder if DeeSpencer might be on the money and come finals we revert to our rounds 1-5 set up. Weed should be compared to naughton, not brown. That's the level he should be at. Both the same height. Both drafted at 9. Same position. Naughton is miles ahead https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=12&pid1=4171&fid1=S&playerStatus2=A&tid2=8&pid2=6491&fid2=S&type=A Sam is two years older and so is running out of excuses for all those game he 'nearly' starts clunking his marks or kicking goals.

Well sywl PMd CH....ha..sounds like code.....and CH published the pm which was although nasty, was misinterpreted as tear you apart physically (when he meant with words on the forum) after the quote to the INXS song Never Tear Us Apart. It was a gut reaction after continual baiting if you ask me. But.... Silly thing to do and deserves some form of sanction. So maybe a season injury.?...i dont know its not my call and i feel for people who have to try and keep the place together. The other person was not banned but i think he knows what he did.

@Wells 11and @Lord Nev I've heard her say the 'tanking' saga was as bad as the Ess drug sage. I was angry but it passed. For some reason the 'tanking' hit a nerve with her and it has clouded her judgement about those events. I don't warm to her as a person but on the whole I find her articles well researched and reasonable. She is one of the best non-football calling reporters in the industry.

I disagree. I reckon without a 1-point loss last week we might not have given as complete performance as we did on Friday.

Good to see Weid come in to help him, but how about Razor just telling Weid to walk away and saying nothing about the bloke who kept bumping someone while he was trying to get up.

Who did they play for?

Yep. NSW is the only state in this country that appears to have a premier with more than one functioning brain cell.

Worked well not taking the game against Adelaide seriously enough, what could go wrong...

Call me crazy, but if it can't be played at tbe Alice and we get the gate I reckon we should pick the gabba. It would be a bold move. A statement. Anyone. Any where. Any time. We play ok there. Know it well after last year. And would get to play in front of a packed house. Good practice for finals. And as a home game all the qld demon fans could go, so it wouldn't be a totally lions crowd. Would have a much, much better vibe than bloody giants stadium with 33 people there.