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My bollocks comment related to your comment that Gus has had his 'career ruined' Which IS bollocks. In fact you could argue that playing him on the wing had been a major boost to his career. Why? Because if he wasn't able to adapt to the role he likely would have been traded. And if he had been traded, it may well have been to a mid table club like freo, or cellar dweller club like the roos or suns. So no finals. Why traded? And why to a mid table club? Because whilst he famously came third in the Brownlow he was a defensive liability. Did not run both ways. And no top club wants an inside mid who only runs forward. That sort of player is history. Viney, on the other hand is a fantastic defensive mid. Which is why, much to the confusion of some fans, he polls so highly in the bluey every year. On the wing Gus has turned his career around. His two way running, defensive work and selflessness is now fantastic. He will have earned heaps of respect in out club- and at others. And I reckon he will do well in the bluey this year.

Whilst staring at the gathering grey gloom over Ballarat today I saw something that, at first, I thought was a little ray of sunshine. I was wrong, it was just some of last night's chicken and tomato soup on my glasses. As I wiped them clean with my wife-made mittens, I heard a vague rumble and looked back at the cloud filled sky. Had the rumble been a portent of things to come? Was this a message from on high? Was I being given a glimpse of the Dees fate on Saturday night? I waited for a clearer sign, something more definitive. Another rumble; and then I realised it was probably just another New South Wales removal truck thundering down the nearby Western Highway. As I turned to go back inside, a pair of beautiful crimson rosellas dressed in their red and blue finery flew in to partake of the free seed we provide to our feathered friends. I took a detour so not to disturb their pecking and as I turned my back I swear I heard one of them call out, "Go Dees, we've got this!" I went straight inside and said a little prayer.

Of course, but rjay my old electronic friend, 20-30% of the eligible country will refuse the jab even when offered (in the US the anti-vaxx movement has become a political identity tied to the right and they are struggling to get past 60% - even Fox News are retreating their messaging it’s that big of a problem) and that will mean sickness and death and i know we have to open up even with a quarter of the country willingly vulnerable. I am just a worried dad with a 16 month old that knows a disease will be out there that he has no protection against and is just a unfortunate chance encounter away from testing his fate against a disease ‘we’ could get rid of in a year but won’t because of hubris, disinformation, ignorance and malevolence. Sigh.

First order of business. Distribute vaccines in order of AFL ladder as of 23 July 2021.

Gladys literally let slip that they will let the people of Sydney know what Aug, Sept and Oct will look like after the weekend. Old mate will be lucky to get out of lockdown before November. She sniggered at suggestions Victoria did a good job on classifications of essential workers. Well who is sniggering now? Your dumb political play has cost half this country their freedom and their livelihood.

I'm totally guessing to be honest But my best guess (based on our performances, the numbers, my impression they have looked fatigued and the scheduling timing of games) is that we have been loading since before the Pies game. And perhaps continued right up to the Hawks game. All guess work on my part, but surely they would be looking to start tapering now. Certainly you'd think they would want to be as fresh as possible for the dogs game, which would mean a lighter week on the track and in the weights room. For the port game, given the 5 day break and travel , we likely did very little aerobic or weights in the lead up which may explain why we were pretty fresh. Its worth noting though that we basically dropped down a gear in the last quarter of that game. Hypothetically, if Burgess wanted to do one last blast of high intensity training (eg extra weights sessions, extra running etc) after the Port game, the ten day break before the Hawks game provided the perfect opportunity to do so. By that I mean he could [censored] them for 5 or 6 days and still give them a four day spell leading up to the game. If we did do some heavy loads in the lead up to the hawks game then fatigue would continue to be a factor. I heard Leigh Matthews say, that watching the hawks dees game it look liked we had led in our boots. That's how it looked to me too. Extra loads would go along way to explain our performance. It was factor in the Pies and Bombers game - why not now? Increased training loads would also jibe with the significant reduction in game time for players such as Jackson, Max and Spargo in the hawks game (ie managing their overall loads across training and games). With almost every player on the list fit, Burgess has the luxury of being able to plan loads to an exact degree. Our ladder position and the wins we have banked give us another advantage in terms of loads. Other teams are not so fortunate. For example, Port are no doubt desperate to finish top 4 have to priorities winning games now. They also have quite a few injury concerns. If they did big loads now they might lose game they might otherwise win. But not loading might mean they are are not as fit come finals as us. The finals start in September. That's when we need to be at optimal fitness, not now. I suspect they have been still loading and will begin tapering from now and in the lead up to the finals do do limited aerobic or strength work.

Every time I see Todd Marshall I think of this amazing description from their fan forum when we beat them… ’floats around the field like a fern frond’ ?

Hoping a big game from TMAC.. more so I can hear Hamish talk again about how he was shopped around end of last season and no one wanted him and look at him now.. and Luke Darcy to mention again about his all meat diet..

If Jack hits one target out of all his i50 entries and we win vs Hawthorn I love his pressure, don't get me wrong, but pressure can't be your only trick if you want to be in the starting 22 for a team competing for flag. Accumulating 30+ disposals means little to me if none of the possessions are damaging, or conversely, damaging to us. I'm not a Jack hater, I would just like to see him improve in other areas of the game. It's not 2015 anymore, all players need to be more well-rounded if we are to be a chance this September.

Yep. Can’t understand his burgeoning ‘whipping boy’ status.

If you reckon things are bad now, just wait another 20 or 30 years when the place is being run by kids who were home schooled by alcoholics.

"Almost zero"? Fatality rate of covid seems to be 1-5% which is pretty high. Imagine 1,000-5,000 people dying at the MCG on grand final day. One thing that is very clear is that the fatality rate increases when hospitals are overloaded, which is why we are trying to keep cases low. But if you only look at fatality rates you are underestimating the issue. The personal (and economic) costs of covid is more than just the thousands who would die. It is the tens of thousands who would suffer covid symptoms for months, perhaps permanently, with "long covid". People in their 30s might not die, but there is a high chance they'll have long term respiratory system damage. https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/coronavirus-and-your-health/long-covid This is why most people aren't being selfish, and are staying home as asked.

Glad the weekend has rolled around so I have some footy to watch. Been a long week in lockdown

If Gladys gets her hands on our vaccines they will be distributed in marginal seats no doubt.

I suppose I'm being parochial, but really don't like the idea of Victoria giving extra vaccines to Sydney, just because they couldn't bring themselves to implement a proper lockdown. I know they're on a knife's edge, but so are we, and I suspect our knife is sharper: our State has suffered much more than the others. From what I've observed, so many people, businesses etc can't take much more (not speaking for myself - I can work from home, I'm fully vaccinated and I live in a lovely environment, but lots of others aren't so lucky)

I have no doubt their 'health advice' was to go hard and fast early, and they ignored it. I am sure their CHO is not pleased with the measures they have taken, and she seems to have absolutely no control over Gladys or that [censored] of a health minister who is just a combative [censored]. Listening to their press conferences and then listening to ours is like night and day. Chaos versus calm. They need to employ someone like Jerone. Their contact tracing has lost the plot, they can't keep up with close contacts let alone second and third tiers, which is probably why everyday so many people are found sick in the community. We have mastered the art of isolating rings and rings of contacts. Of the 14 cases today only 3 (maybe 4 pending interviews) were out in the community. 2 are family members of the guy from AAMI park who was a tier 2 and then became a tier 1 (and again due to hard lockdown only very few exposure sites), and 1 who was only out briefly on a tram to get a test (which is not something you can really stop as people need to get tested and not everybody has a car). That is the extent of our 'community exposure', because we shut things down hard and fast. At over 100 cases a day, you lose complete control which is exactly where NSW is at now. It will take them months to get back to any sense of normality, and I hope Daniel Andrew's plan for a hard ring of steel is approved at national cabinet, because if they keep seeding this Delta strain all over Australia, we will all be in lockdown with them until next year!

nz closes travel bubble "for nixt sux wiks, whun ut wull bi riassistid"

If you're a Chelsea fan - you'll get the link Actually Bin, I think you are on to something in the use of language of 'defensive'. If there was media commentary around that role and what it entails, then the midfielder (who is operating as a defensive mid) wouldn't be seen as performing as poorly, but performing in line with the specific role. Viney is an excellent defensive mid. Gus was not.

He would say that wouldn't he. Another person who thinks the world ends at the Tweed River. With a little luck we will be out of lock down on Tuesday.

What bollocks. Gus is having his best season since 2018. Has not missed a game in a team sitting in top of the ladder. And he has done a fantastic job on the wing. Hugely important to our structure Not sure why people think he is not playing the wing atm. He still is. Jordan is supporting him there, but Gus is still playing wing. He has been a bit flat the last few games, but so has the whole team. As I suspected we have been doing extra training loads which would impact all players. In his position has to do a lot of, often unrewarded, running. And unlike say Langdon, Gus is far from a natural athlete. So tge extra loading would have a pretty big impact on his output.

Yes he had his fair share of poor disposals, which unfortunately is part of his game, but his pressure was fantastic. And in a game where our pressure was down, and the hawks out tackled us, Jack had 11 of the team's 70 tackles , by far our most and I think topped the pressure acts. Jack got 2 coaches votes last week. So, it appears one or both coaches rated his game pretty highly

We're 9-0 against the top 11 and the only team we haven't beaten is the only team we haven't played. But you only need to read Demonland to see why people think, after the draw with Hawthorn (and the loss to GWS two weeks earlier), we're not good enough.

Some of you people laughing at Bevo could have egg all over your faces. And that is not just with the result Sat night. He probably does not care if the tallish forward line works or not but is willing to try it. He will be looking at finals and the various out comes in playing us then. He wont be worried if they lose Sat night as they have easier draw and if they finish 3rd or 4th wont bother him either as it will be us or Geelong in the qualifyings. And that may even be over at mcgowanville.

Hi CHF, happy to step in. Our result against the hawks - advantage them Midfield chaos thanks to Covid - advantage us MCG - advantage us no crowd - advantage them. Yo-yo result - advantage Sportsbet. This is an interesting game and the outcome depends on how we show up. If we keep the ball in front of us, dont get sucked into the contest and win the contested ball, we win. If we let them win the middle and fail to stop their throws/pinball out of the contest, we will get done. We need to see increases in accuracy in front of goal, and lifts across the park in terms of ball handling. This is not a make or break game, but it is important for how we see ourselves. Are we (cough) premiership material or are we falling over? A chance for the 2021 deMons to show up. Hope Brown gets a few, and we are cleaner by hand and foot. Dees by 25.

13-3-1 17 rounds played…..13 wins....and a draw????….. 54 points in the premiership bank and Still on top after a Bulldogs loss. 5 Rounds to go in the home and away season. Had a shocker and it was only worth 2 points, if that. Round 18 - 1 (Us) vs. 2 (Them) Earlier than expected but I predict a strong win for us. Apologies for the short version. A few things have come up at home that have made it difficult to give time to this. I hope to be able to give proper versions in Rounds to come

Thanks for clarifying! I hope we can all get through this together. There are going to be some tough times on the other side, but it will be worth it.

To be fair Bob does look fabulous in a Prada scarf.

But we can hazard a pretty bloody good guess! Coz there’s no shortage of jurisdictions the world over that can be shown as examples of what happens when lockdown isn’t enforced.

Of course I can see why people are fed up with lockdowns. I’m fed up with lockdowns as much as anyone. But what good comes out of protesting in large groups? What purpose is served? These imbeciles are running the risk of their behaviour potentially causing infection which would lead to more of very thing they’re protesting against… further lockdowns! I’m all for peaceful demonstrations for good reason but there are way more appropriate alternatives to gathering in large groups (with no masks, nor social distancing, to boot!). How about online petitions? Or emails? Or even a good old-fashioned hand-written letter?

...and a lot of them are agitators & conspiracy theorists who refused to wear masks when mandated. They thought it was against their 1st amendment rights. This has been hard for everyone but we will never truly know what the impact would have been if we hadn't locked down.

I guess so, but it feels disgusting.

the obvious solution would be to sack the state and federal governments and put demonland in charge of combating coronavirus......guaranteed success ?

Dont worry, ive got my four'n'twenty outfit currently getting dry cleaned Oi !!

Yes you cannot have half hearted lock downs with Delta. Fast and Hard or Nothing IMO.

You think Viney makes that call? In 2019 and 2020 they made a call on Brayshaw. And that call was his days as an inside mid at the dees were done. And his days at the dees were done, if he could not adapt and play the position Goody asked to play. Last year, in response to people calling for him to be played in the midfield and the rumors about him wanting out, I remember writing that he is a professional footballer who needs to suck it up and play where the coach tells him he has to play. And calling out how ridiculous it is for a supposedly elite player to only want to play in his preferred position or not be adaptable enough to play in other positions. I have a lot of respect for the way Gus has got his act together, do the work required on his game (eg fitness, defensive mind set) and realization that he needs to play the role his coach wants him to play, and his teams needs him to play.

Western Australia should immediately be ruled out as a grand final option. McGowan has twice plunged Perth into lockdown and locked out fans on the morning of game day. How can the AFL take that risk? It would be an absolute embarrassment and a farce if that worst case scenario transpired. Play it in QLD if they have to, or suck it up and cop a 40,000 crowd at the MCG as a show of goodwill to Victorians who have clearly done it the toughest since March 2020.

Last year, and even at the start of this year, it was really noticeable how much he was thinking about his delivery forward. He was looking for players rather than bombing, going short to the pocket or just inside 50, even looking sideways instead of just straight ahead, it seemed like he had really put work into that part of his game. Fast forward to him coming back in this year and it seems like his habits have gone back to the ones he had with this same inside mid role he formerly had. For mine, I think when he plays mid/forward he has more time to focus before delivering and that means he delivers better because he's not just going off his instincts which say 'kick it, kick it!'. Now that he's playing in the middle again those instincts control how he plays.

Yeah definitely agree Jackson and Rivers have dropped off a little bit, probably understandable given all the context around their age, amount of preseasons, COVID etc etc. I'm the same as you in that I would have liked to have seen Melksham in this week, seemed an obvious choice given our inside 50 delivery lately. The main thing I've found strange is the role changes going on with guys that were performing well in a top of the ladder team. Gus was finally doing really well on the wing and they change his role, not seeing Pickett in centre bounces, Viney as a pure mid as opposed to his mid/forward role that worked so well at the start of the year... Just hope we're not getting too cute.

Not whipping from my perspective Gus is just not being played in the right position because Viney cant or wont play anywhere else

Brayshaw is a victim of Goodwins' love for Viney Midfield would be better in my opinion with JV playing elsewhere But in truth in think Brayshaws' career has been ruined and should look elsewhere given that JV was handed a 5 year deal

As @titan_uranusintimates - if some on here established the odds markets we’d be just ahead of Carlton…

Pretty simple. - which team is undefeated against top 8, and which team has struggled in most of their big contender games this year - who convincingly won the last game the 2 teams played in a strong 4 qtr performance - Who has no injuries, and who lost one of their best players to a Covid isolation this week - who has responded very strongly after their 3 losses this year, and who just got over the line to a weak bottom 8 team, that they very easily could have lost the odds are pretty spot on IMO

Brayshaw back to defensive wing, Jordon back to primarily midfielder. Viney starting defensive half-forward flank, with occasional run in the middle. This is what has consistently worked - be pretty disappointed if it doesn’t happen. Harmes in the half-fwd flank, midfield rotations - depending if he has a tagging job.

I hate that umpire! Why would you let such a poor quality umpire anywhere near the best game of the round? He has already given the Dogs 8 random frees and it’s not even game day yet.

If I had $1 for every time I’ve heard that old saying… I’d have a grand total of $1. ?

I'm truly confused myself. Logic would say you play him in the position that made him finish 3rd in the brownlow right? Yet we prefer a plodder like Viney. If we are going to continue to [censored] fart around with him like this, then just trade him. He'd made a decent career playing in his suitable position.

Harmes on Libber

I would be surprised if we beat the Dogs twice within the H&A season They will be really up and about for this game. It would have been a target on their schedule since they lost to us earlier in the year.

Anyone else rather see Harmes in for Viney and Vanders hold his spot? gives us Grunt but can also be more damaging around the ground.